Switzerland brings to mind money, delicious dark chocolate, the Alps and watches. Now we can add homeopathy to the list, because some Swiss doctors (regular MDs, not naturopaths) are prescribing "remedies" to their patients. Some are doing so for the placebo effect, but others actually appear to believe the hype!
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Researchers studying brain trauma are calling it a breakthrough. And it's creating significant hope that doctors will soon be able to reliably identify this severe degenerative brain disease, long before it plunges its sufferers into the throes of depression, rage, memory loss, and in some cases, suicide.
Uh oh. Winter is coming (sorry, Game of Thrones fans) and a little monster is getting ready to sweep through homes, schools, hospitals and nursing homes. The monster is norovirus aka the "stomach flu" and it's coming to get you. It can so easily since it's the most contagious virus of all. Anything to prevent it? Let's ask the "experts."
It's not an obvious answer. You might think malaria or malnutrition. But, no, it's pneumonia – which kills roughly one million kids under age 5 around the world. That's more than HIV/AIDS, diarrhea and malaria – combined.
More and more doctors are being prosecuted for murder, for inappropriately prescribing opioids to patients, resulting in death. How is it determined when a physician's actions have gone beyond malpractice?
Did a kid get poisoned from fentanyl on a supermarket shopping cart? Can a kid get poisoned from fentanyl on a supermarket shopping cart? All the teeth-gnashing aside, these are both easy to answer.
From the data that told you vegetarian mothers create drug-addled children, we now learn that vegetarian fathers are depressed. Is it the kids or the diet?
The mustaches are the symbolic equivalent of the pink ribbons associated with breast cancer awareness. Let's help the men in our lives take control of their health – and fight against preventable diseases.
Upon seeing what he deemed a poorly-constructed paper by a colleague in physics, Wolfgang Pauli is apocryphally said to have, "This isn't right. This isn't even wrong."
Warfarin, a drug that prevents blood from clotting, has long been used for those at high risk of clots, and thus at an increased risk of stroke and other ills. A recent study indicates that not only is warfarin effective for that purpose, its use might also protect against cancer.
Person-centered counseling is one of the most popular treatments for mental health problems. Often just shortened to “counseling”, the approach focuses on how patients view themselves in the here and now, rather than how a therapist interprets their unconscious thoughts. And the patient takes the lead in finding solutions to their own problems.
The International Agency for Research on Cancer is suffering through a period of critical upheaval, with ethical breaches of one of its environmental activists having been exposed. Meanwhile, IARC's posturing may get its funding pulled.
With pot, when it comes to cancer marketing finally a line has been drawn. FDA officials have issued warning letters to four companies, since these frauds are selling marijuana-based products with claims that they can prevent, diagnose, treat, or even cure cancer. Obviously, that's illegal – and a huge step beyond the shady claims that previously existed.
According to the 2017 Premature Birth Report Cards, provided by the March of Dimes, not only did Mississippi rank the worst in preterm birth rates but the state even saw an increase from last year.
The three top healthcare systems in New York City where recently given a lowly “C” rating for patient safety. The grades were issued by the Leapfrog Group, which has the longest track record rating hospitals. It was formed in 1998 by business leaders seeking to control their costs by identifying best hospitals.
ACSH Scientific Advisor Dr. Stan Young has been appointed to EPA's Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee. This is a great move for making sure we implement evidence-based improvements in air quality.
Proper use of antibiotics in animals, just like in humans, can slow bacterial resistance. Europe leads the way in cutting antibiotic use. Meanwhile, the United States lags behind.
Recently, CVSHealth offered this monstrous sum to purchase Aetna. Let that thought wash over you for just a moment: The corner pharmacy wants to buy the nation's third-largest health insurance company, while creating the largest merger of the year.
During a panel discussion I was once asked, if I could change one thing about agriculture in Canada what would it be? My answer, I would remove labels. I would get rid of the arbitrary distinction that separates “organic” from “conventional” so we can instead focus on the bottom line: sustainability.
Narcan can be lifesaving for someone who's overdosed on opioids, and it should certainly be made available to at-risk people. But putting it into every single pharmacy in the country, or suggesting that all New Yorkers should carry it on them, doesn't make a lot of sense.
A case report of 22-month-old conjoined twins evaluated and operated on last year at Massachusetts General Hospital was published in today’s New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM). The staff and family faced impossible choices requiring a bioethics committee's input.
Leverage. Leveraging. While these might seem like terms associated with Hollywood movies like "Wall Street", "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps" or "The Wolf of Wall Street", the reality is that leveraging is an integral part of academic science and policy research in the 21st century. With fiscal demands upon governments at the state/provincial and federal levels having increased dramatically over the past 20-30 years, innovative strategies were needed to ensure that the public sector’s high level of research (not to mention quality and importance) were not sacrificed.
Just three business days after getting the FDA's green light, Shingrix, a more effective shingles vaccine, will go before the Centers for Disease Control on Wednesday. A committee is expected to vote, formally recommending how often the vaccine should be administered, and to what age group.
This latest story refers to dogs' affinity for humans — even strange ones. New research demonstrates that dogs react more strongly when a person is facing them than when they turn away. And that reaction isn't changed by the presence of food.
And you think you have problems *now*? Maybe so, but if you're at a job interview and someone takes over control of your butt plug (which you probably should have left home, but I don't want to be judgemental) things are not going to go well. High tech sex toys and the people who hack them. Oh, the humanity.
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