China’s Zero-COVID policy goes against the central idea of the hygiene hypothesis: that to be the fittest to survive you must be exposed to germs. Could China’s current dilemma be sufficient proof of the need for a sweet spot between filth and sterility?
Harm Reduction
Vaccination offers the best defense against COVID infection, hospitalization, or death. Effectiveness ranging from about 40% to 90% has been shown in various clinical studies depending upon the predominant variants of the virus, specific vaccines, and selected endpoints. Has vaccination “substantially reduced the burden of disease?”
A series of class action cases claim that Zantac can cause cancer. It is not Zantac per se, but a degradation-produced, N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA), which may cause cancer at high doses. What do we know about NDMA?
The question of the protection afforded by COVID infection vs. the immunity conferred by the mRNA vaccines is still unsettled. A new study may put our concerns to rest. Spoiler alert: each form of immunity has its strengths.
The data comes primarily from the CDC’s injury and mortality reports from 1990 to 2021. Here are some highlights.
Sweden has been the poster child of the live-free-or-die, no-lockdown crowd. The Great Barrington Declaration has its roots in the Swedish response. But beyond those snippets, what actually took place there? It is time for many of us, including myself, to find out.
Last year around Christmas, I wrote an article about mistletoe, a not-very-poisonous plant associated with the holiday. I am fascinated that so many plants related to the holiday have toxic elements. I’ve included a couple of highly poisonous plants, belladonna, and hemlock, that appear in some of the greatest literary works and my favorite mysteries.
How physicians communicate with their peers and their patients has come under more scrutiny of late. Patient access to “open” notes has raised concern about physicians using hurtful terms. A new paper considers the problem of physicians communicating with their patients unconsciously using jargon that obstructs rather than facilitates understanding.
"Vapes DON'T help people quit smoking normal cigarettes," the headlines blared this week, based on the results of another awful study. Let's examine the critical details most reporters overlooked.
For the reduction and eventual elimination of animal testing, change is in the air. And it could occur faster than many previously believed. It appears that more powerful voices are joining the choir.
Carbon offsets seem like an ideal corporate solution. Trade your excess carbon for some organization producing "too little" carbon and balance the books. If only nature used double-entry book-keeping. As this reprint from The Conversation points out, "Satellites detect no real climate benefit from 10 years of forest carbon offsets in California."
Private equity, those that Tom Wolfe described in the Bonfire of the Vanities as “Masters of the Universe,” continue to purchase medical practices. It creates a market force whose primary interest is the balance sheet’s bottom line. Let the patient beware.