The Advent of Public Health During the first half of the 1800s, something extraordinary happened. Carried along trade routes and with the movement of troops, the world truly unified, but not in a good way. Bacteria, viruses, and parasites traveled easily and frequently, bringing successive epidemics of plague, yellow fever, and cholera across...
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In the United States, four out of ten people will have cancer in their lifetimes. [1] Worldwide, the figures are a little better, “about 1 in 5 people develop cancer in their lifetime, approximately 1 in 9 men and 1 in 12 women die from the disease.” As the American Cancer Society notes, lifestyle, environmental factors and family history can...
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Did you know that London taxi drivers take a test called the “Knowledge Exam” in order to obtain a license to drive a taxi? It’s been a requirement for London taxi drivers since 1865. According to the official website: “London’s taxi service is the best in the world, in part because our cab drivers know the quickest...
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Brain health, what is it? A recent study using the data from the United Kingdom (UK) Biobank Research Study that can give clues as to ways to keep brains functioning like a well tuned automobile. What is the UK Biobank Research Study? Between 2006 and 2010, the UK Biobank Research Study recruited half a million (500,000) participants aged 40 to 69....
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Clang, clang, clang…I didn’t set that alarm…what’s going on? I don’t know if I said that, or thought it but in the fog that is 2 in the morning, I didn’t know what I was hearing. The ringing didn’t stop. “Oh, it’s the phone! Oh, yeah!” I said, fumbling at my bedside for the phone....
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Image by rawpixel.com It’s hard to see people in lab coats and say, “there goes a superhero.” But that is what I call the people who created the first vaccines for some extremely scary diseases. They took a perilous journey into unknown territory. In early days, before there was a clear understanding of germs and how they...
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A month focused on men’s health and mustaches, what’s not to love? It’s Movember! Movember started in 2003 in Australia when a couple of mates sat in a pub moaning over the loss of the mustache as a “Fashion Do.” At the time, mustaches (or Mo’s in Aussie speak”) were a “Fashion Don’t” with...
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There are people whose illnesses and symptoms have not been believed by medicine. Research has begun to change their experiences. From the Cleveland Clinic:https://my.clevelandclinic.org/-/scassets/images/org/health/articles/mast-cell-activation-syndrome Newly recognized disorder Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS) is a relatively new disorder...
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It’s like your dentist always says, brush and floss your teeth! Tooth care is not only about a bright smile and reduced cavities. It is also a way to prevent several chronic diseases, including periodontal disease (PD). Research has found associations between periodontal disease and several chronic illnesses. So what is periodontal...
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As she sat on the paper-lined treatment table, surgery staples in a bag beside her, Caroline Wright learned her brain tumor was the deadliest type — a glioblastoma (GBM). [1] The average length of survival for this tumor is 8 months. [2] At the breakfast table one day, Henry, age 5, asked his mom, “Who will take care of me if you die?” image from...
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Pain has been defined by the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) as, “An unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with, or resembling that associated with, actual or potential tissue damage.” [1] There is a long added note to this definition which acknowledges that “Pain is always subjective” and “that if...
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Is there a link between fat and prostate cancer? A study published in April 2024 looked at 16,960 healthy men over a 22 year period (1994-2016). The research tracked their body mass index (BMI) and their health status. Over those 22 years, the men who were obese at the beginning of the study, and who then gained more weight over those years, were at...
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