Wellness is big business. Everybody wants it and there are many providers ready to offer a route to the panacea. In addition, disinformation and lax regulations have allowed health and wellness products to flourish and prosper without the rigor and evidence requirements of prescription medicines. While some vendors are prosecuted for their misleading claims, very […]
Category: Research
The more we describe the human body, the less we really understand it. The latest enigma is the immune system. It is a complex, and ever-changing ecosystem composed of many cell types that constantly interact with their environment to protect our bodies and maintain our internal equilibrium. Maybe soon we will be able to buy […]
COVID lockdowns are fortunately behind us, and vacations are making a huge comeback. But how safe is it to holiday, especially on a ship? Cruise carriers bear a duty to keep their passengers safe. Despite the decrease in the number and severity of COVID cases, there are of course still risks in everyday life. Masks are no […]
Some people do not feel lonely when alone, while others may feel lonely even when surrounded by other people. The most widely described examples of this dichotomy come from studies of older residents in community dwelling facilities. Nearly all such residents feel at least moderately lonely (60%) or severely lonely (35%). Loneliness is a very expensive health problem. […]
Sex matters as much as gender. Sex differences still have an impact on the health of our populations. Despite an increased enrolment of women and the beginnings of understanding sex differences, very little has moved to explore these issues in the last three decades. Most clinical studies still do not include sex-specific analyses. It’s enough to keep […]
Excess prescribing of pharmaceuticals is a nightmare for both patients and prescribers. It’s much easier to add one medication after another than to take a patient off any. After all, if one is good, aren’t two or three better? And in countries that lack robust primary care, multiple specialists may prescribe multiple medications without any cross referencing. […]
Many countries are relaxing their restrictions on cannabis. It’s been a long time since a psychoactive drug based on a plant and already widely used illicitly has been regulated. That is not surprising, given the trajectories of use and abuse of three of the older regulated products – opioids, tobacco and alcohol. Can THC help? […]
The Prim, Regents Park Road, London
This week it is from TheThinker City Series and it is a pastel of a view of Sydney Harbour
A watch is no longer a watch. It is a wrist-mounted health and fitness monitor for a large and increasing population. Indeed, one in six consumers in the United States now uses a smartwatch or fitness band. Watches can do much more than watching. The accuracy of these devices is variable, depending on a variety of factors […]
Thinking and seeing are always linked. After a number of requests to see the way I view the world, each week I will be posting one of my artworks. This week it is from TheThinker City Series and it is a pastel of the Philadelphia Art Museum and Waterworks. Please feel free to download it […]
The first commandment of health information disclosure dictates that data shalt not be disclosed to any third party beyond what the patient has consented to. An awards program for health data would be a good start. Unfortunately, organizations create, store and have access to our health data. Big data is big business and there are a variety […]
The second decade of this century will be remembered as the decade of COVID craziness if we aren’t careful. There is madness all around and very little of it is caused by the virus itself. From vaccine frenzy to vaccine denial, it is difficult to tease out what should be done next. Start distributing more […]
Women are women and men are men – for the most part. Ovaries and testes can be removed, and hormones blocked or supplemented but it doesn’t change the genetic makeup of our cells. Well not yet at least. So, people born with an XY chromosome have different potentials and responses to disease and treatments than […]
There is a level of complexity in determining who is at risk from a serious COVID infection. Prior chronic diseases have a big part to play, and it’s not just based on which organs are affected by the chronic disease. Is it time to say goodbye to COVID boosters? For example, not all patients with […]
There is a new eating disorder coined every decade. Obesity: you eat too much. Anorexia nervosa: you ingest too little. Bulimia nervosa: you do too much of both – but not at the same time. Now, there is orthorexia nervosa (ON): you worry too much about eating healthy food. Maybe we should just stop eating […]
In the acute phase, men with COVID experience more severe symptoms and higher mortality than women. In that way COVID is no different from many of the viruses that have attacked humans over the last century. The health of women is not just women’s health Men are more attractive to viral infections than women. For example, […]
Last month I presented two virtual sessions at the Harvard Leadership program for women in the health professions. This is a sold-out event, mainly because of the hard work of Dr. Julie Silver and her team. I have been involved for several years and every year I have found the engagement of the audience increasing. Given the […]
Do booster vaccinations prevent breakthrough infections? Who knows? But is that the right question. Are breakthrough infections important to prevent? Afterall we do know that most breakthrough infections are mild or asymptomatic. Breakthroughs, boosters and severe COVID – are they really related? When we look at deaths from COVID amongst breakthrough cases, they occur at a rate […]
Medical evidence is in a state of constant flux. Most of us would feel comfortable if amassing research evidence was like completing a jigsaw puzzle. Each new piece would add to the greater picture. Unfortunately, that is not the case. When viewing medical research we must learn, as we did as adolescents, that not everything in our lives […]
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