The other day I was flying to a conference in California and noticed the passenger sitting in front of me on the opposite side of aisle staring at a box with 36 squares. Inside some of these squares were what appeared random numbers. After a several minutes of thinking he would write in a number …
To continue the topic of brain training from yesterday, some researchers are finding that it is very beneficial for patients suffering from schizophrenia, depression, and obsessive compulsive disorder. Mike Merzenich, a neuroscientist at UC, San Francisco, has found that disturbances of memory, attention and executive functions in schizophrenic can be restored to normal with brain …
We are all familiar with the term “filthy wealthy” – I sometimes wish I were- but how about “filthy healthy”? Well, it is becoming more and more evident that filth is not all that bad at least in moderation. It has been known for quite a while that dirt and infections make us less allergy …
Judith spent a life time of working long hard hours to become director of a large public organization – the first woman to ever hold this position. But once she got there she found that the man to which she reported was jealous over her rapid assent and treated her with disrespect and outright disdain. …
Many doctors are dedicated to their profession and will make untold sacrifices to help those that are suffering. However, Stubbins Ffirth, a doctor-in-training living in Philadelphia during the early 19th century went further than most. Having observed that yellow fever ran riot only during the summer months he hypothesized it was not a contagious disease. …
The notion that some trinket or honorarium could alter their prescribing habits strikes most doctors as absurd, as various surveys have shown. And yet, drug makers continue to lavish as much as $19 billion annually on marketing to physicians- which suggests to some people that either companies have foolishly wasted their money all these years …
I found medical school interesting and loved learning. I especially loved physiology as we learned the intricacies of how the body functions in health. However, the real learning starts when a physician begins to see patients. As the time approached for my internship I was apprehensive and even a little bit scared. When I found …
Avandia is currently the top-selling diabetic drug with total US sales of $2.2 billion in 2006. A one-month supply sells for between $90 and $170. Several months ago the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) revealed that Avandia is associated with a 43% increase in heart attacks and up to 64% increase in cardiovascular deaths. …
The Greeks are credited with being the first to practice “science-based medicine and effective pharmacy around the 5th century BC. The first pharmacopoeia had a list of 600 drugs and how to acquire and prepare the ingredients. New evidence is emerging that the Egyptians during the time of the pharaohs knew about pharmacy. The biggest …
It seems like every couple of years there is a major injury to a football player that results in either permanent disability or occasionally death. Any such injury should not be acceptable. However, when compared to injuries 100 years ago we can see that there has been great advances in safety of the player. In …