By Steve Gillman What my cancer taught me about medical “evidence” and how much is enough I exaggerate. My oncologist probably does believe humans need food, but I suspect the belief makes him uncomfortable, since no double-blind studies have been done to prove it. Like many doctors, his general approach to treatment is that if something hasn’t been...
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Alzheimer’s Disease Today patients with mild Alzheimer’s Disease are being recruited for at least two clinical trials based on an interesting observation made by a graduate student at MIT. Hannah Iaccarino wondered if you could restore the brain’s gamma waves. One of the features of Alzheimer’s Disease is a loss of a type of brain...
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Hand Dryers Remember when public bathrooms didn’t have hot air hand dryers? Installed to eliminate waste and improve hygiene, research suggests that they are actually great at spreading germs, right back onto your freshly washed hands. A 2018 study brought this information to people’s attention. Researchers exposed petri dishes to bathroom air...
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Anger is an emotion that everyone experiences from very early on. Studies have confirmed anger in infants as young as two months old. There is a lot of literature that describes anger as a negative emotion. Yet, at least one anger researcher says that “anger is a powerful and healthy force in your life. It’s good that you feel it. You need to...
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In 1969, at a workshop about women’s bodies and health in the Boston area, 12 women met to discuss their experiences with doctors. As they talked, they realized commonality in their stories. First, all of the women shared that they had felt ignored or dismissed during their interactions with physicians and second, all noticed that they didn’t...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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,...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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