If you had the flu in 2017, you know what the influenza A H3N2 virus feels like. Australia had a bad round of H3N2 flu this year and often the Northern Hemisphere follows the same trend. What to do? Get the flu shot! So many people say that they get the flu shot but still get the flu. It is true that the vaccine has only a 40 to 60 percent effectiveness...
Read More
It has been observed for many years that parachutes slow down the descent of people jumping from planes, making those jumps survivable. “Parachute use to prevent death and major trauma related to gravitational challenge: systematic review of randomised controlled trials“ is an article accepted for publication in the British Medical Journal. The...
Read More
According to research from the Pew Research Center, 68 percent of adults in the US get their news online on social media. Yet news, whether online or from traditional outlets, can be misleading. Spin is the term used to describe a slant in the way information is presented. Unfortunately, many journalists rely on press releases in their writing and story...
Read More
The US Federal Government has an Office of the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology and nine years ago, Regina Holliday provided testimony at a workshop – the Health Information Technology (HIT) Policy Committee Meaningful Use Workgroup. This testimony described the harrowing experience of a patient with kidney cancer,...
Read More
In March of this year, Dr. Harlan Krumholz, a cardiologist at Yale School of Medicine, asked this question on Twitter. I am curious to know from patients…esp those recently in the hospital…what do you wish we did better? What were the most obvious ways that quality could be improved. Throughout hospitalization & in the transition home. We should...
Read More
Smoking is the number one cause of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or emphysema. But nonsmokers have been diagnosed with it more and more frequently. Why? The answer may be ozone. Good Versus Bad Ozone You remember the hole in the ozone layer. It is not that ozone. Ozone in the stratosphere is good ozone. Over six miles above the ground, ozone...
Read More
Chronic pain is not well understood, especially its mental and emotional facets. That’s why pain psychology as a psychological specialty is so beneficial. Pain psychologists are PhD level clinical psychologists who have completed an APA-accredited post-doctoral fellowship in chronic pain. Pain Sufferers According to a report by the CDC, approximately...
Read More
Recently researchers added a question to a common survey that patients can complete after they are discharged from the hospital. The question – “How often did you feel comfortable speaking up if you had any problems in your care?” available answers included: “(1) no problems during hospitalization, (2) always felt comfortable...
Read More
Phantom pain–pain experienced after limb amputation– used to be understood as something “in your head” but now it is recognized as real; fMRIs have shown that peripheral and central nervous system changes occur which cause this pain. The brain image on the left shows how the person with phantom pain has a greater amount of their brain lit up...
Read More
When you buy bottled water, you are buying it for its purity compared to water from the tap. But you may be making a mistake. At least that is the case with bottled water that is on the shelves of many stores in the United States. Recently, the Environmental Working Group, a non profit based in Washington, DC released a report naming 610 places in 43 states...
Read More
If you are looking for something to cook that has pretty easy clean up, try cooking in a cast iron skillet. Cast iron cookware has been around for a long time, since 220 AD. The process of sand casting iron cookware, which makes the cookware thinner was invented in England in 1707. Here is a recipe for your cast iron skillet that is diabetes friendly from...
Read More
The prostate is a tiny gland in a crowded part of the body. It is situated right below the bladder, right next to the rectum, near the blood and nerve supply for the penis. Unfortunately, one in nine men will get cancer in this tiny gland. According to the UsToo International prostate cancer website, nearly 3 million men in the US are living with prostate...
Read More
