My late father-in-law practiced psychiatry in the Midwest, and was—by any standard—brilliant. For one thing, he never received a grade lower than “A” from grammar school, all the way through his medical education… Continue reading
Category Archives: Medicine
Meds Aren’t Always The Answer
Posted in Health, Medicine, Pharmaceuticals, Psychology, Public health miscellany
Tagged meds, psychiatry
More Medicare Scam — Grocery Card Giveaways
These take advantage of innocent seniors who believe the government is helping them… and the Inspector General has determined that it’s all perfectly legal. Continue reading
Posted in Medicine
Claim: Baby born with HIV ‘cured’
“More testing needs to be done to see if the treatment would have the same effect on other children.” Continue reading
Posted in Medicine
Seniors more vulnerable under Obamacare
Here are two stories the mainstream media isn’t jumping all over themselves to report. Continue reading
Posted in Cancer research, Medicine
Obamacare red tape burden: 127,602,371 hours yearly
“Complying with the raging tsunami of new Obamacare rules and regulations will cost American businesses and families 127 million hours annually, enough time to carve out another 1,039 Mount Rushmores which took 14 years complete, according to a new House report.” Continue reading
Posted in Medicine
The hydra of government in medicine
Americans for Free Choice Medicine cites the EPA human testing controversy in this critique of government meddling in medicine. Continue reading
Posted in EPA, Human testing, Medicine
Costly breast cancer screenings don’t add up to better outcomes
Breast cancer-screening mania was originally pushed by the medical-industrial complex. Now the forces behind ObamaCare want it reined in. Continue reading
Posted in Medicine
Antibiotic use during pregnancy – a link to childhood asthma?
Children whose mothers took antibiotics while they were pregnant were slightly more likely than other kids to develop asthma in a new Danish study… Continue reading
Posted in Medicine, Scientific method
Scientists debunk ‘junk DNA’ theory to reveal vast majority of human genes perform a vital function
The genetic “control panel” of the human body that regulates the activity of our 23,000 genes has been revealed for the first time in a scientific tour de force that could revolutionise the understanding and treatment of hundreds of diseases. Continue reading
Monday’s medical myth: you need eight hours of continuous sleep each night
We’re often told by the popular press and well-meaning family and friends that, for good health, we should fall asleep quickly and sleep solidly for about eight hours – otherwise we’re at risk of physical and psychological ill health. Continue reading
Mike Shaw: 29 billion reasons to lie about cholesterol
Justin Smith published a book with that title in 2009, and next month, the movie will be released. In the meantime, check out the many resources on his website. Continue reading
Rep. Brian P. Bilbray and Dr. John C. Reed: ‘We choose to end cancer’
As laudable as their aims may be this is misguided. The “war on cancer” has been a major failure and the money for the most part could have been far more effectively applied elsewhere. Worse, much of the available research money and effort is squandered on fashionable maladies (big voting block, women, better really care about breast cancer, even though it’s a lousy way to allocate funding and effort). As it happens the “choice to end cancer” was made several decades ago but the problem has proven less tractable than the relatively simple engineering challenge of going to the moon. Continue reading
Medical Radiation Soars, With Risks Often Overlooked
Radiation, like alcohol, is a double-edged sword. It has indisputable medical advantages: Radiation can reveal hidden problems, from broken bones and lung lesions to heart defects and tumors. And it can be used to treat and sometimes cure certain cancers. Continue reading
Giving babies antibiotics early on could lead to obesity later in life, say scientists
Treating babies with antibiotics risks making them overweight as they grow up, say scientists. Continue reading
The human microbiome: Me, myself, us
Looking at human beings as ecosystems that contain many collaborating and competing species could change the practice of medicine Continue reading
Posted in Antibiotic resistance, Health, Medicine
Daily aspirin reduces cancer risk and slows its spread, study confirms
“Overall risk of dying from cancer was reduced by 16% among people who took daily dose of aspirin when healthy“
Hmm… RR 0.84 for those taking aspirin prophylactically. RR <0.5 might be something but a null result even on 100K patients isn’t really compelling given they had no history history of cancer nor obvious risks. What non-cancer morbidities did these people suffer? Were they exacerbated by this prophylactic treatment? Continue reading
Animal-based research is still relevant and necessary
Drug development is a slow process involving years, even decades, of research and animal models have always been integral to this work. But progress in translating animal work into human benefits has been uncertain. Continue reading
More harm than good: rethinking routine prostate cancer screening
My offer for a public debate was accepted after I co-published opposing viewpoints about the high rates of over-diagnosis and over-treatment of early stage prostate cancer with leading urologist Professor Tony Costello in a Melbourne newspaper last year. Continue reading
Posted in Medicine, Public health miscellany
Giving men choice: the case for routine prostate cancer screening
Prostate specific antigen (PSA) is a common blood test used by doctors to assess whether an individual has prostate cancer. It also predicts the risk of developing prostate cancer sometime in the future. It’s a good blood test but not a perfect one and the risk of cancer does increase with increasing levels of PSA in the blood tested. Continue reading
Posted in Medicine, Public health miscellany
The way to reduce prostate cancer rates? Diagnose it less
Expert says up to 10,000 men a year at low risk of the disease in the UK get no benefit from treatment Continue reading
Posted in Cancer research, Medicine, Public health miscellany
