United Healthcare's schemes unfold, Peripheral diseases for profit sold.
Sociologic studies are hard to define, Qualitative truths are a different kind.
"The Bear" reveals high cuisine's toll, While Google stands as monopoly's role.
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Texas, oh Texas, is green energy's pride, surpassing California by projects wide.
Kamala and Vivek from caste to elite in one generation's span.
Mount Everest's video shows climbers reaching the sky.
With thirty years of grilling fame, George Foreman's Grill is a household name.
Ozempic, the blockbuster weight-loss drug, has ignited a ferocious debate over the ethics and efficacy of treating obesity with medication. Oddly, this intense ideological battle has glossed over perhaps the most important question we should answer: How does the drug impact individual patients? Dr. Chuck Dinerstein, ACSH's Director of Medicine, is working to correct that oversight by documenting his own experience with Ozempic.
Why is it that brilliant ideas proven in research seem to lose their spark faster than a cheap battery in the real world? Welcome to the Voltage Effect. In today’s episode, aspirin triumphs in the lab, but in the wild? Well, let's just say doctors are sticking to their old scripts.
As the August sun sets on another summer, it's time to dive into conversations and debates across various spectrums. From the contentious discussions surrounding the banning of cell phones in schools to the emotional undercurrents fueling riots in the UK, the mounting criticism of ultra-processed foods, likened by some to the early battles against tobacco, and a visit to the timeless insights of Tom Wolfe, whose sharp observations continue to resonate. Here's a look at what I'm reading this August 22nd.
Food ads for kids, and on-screen exposure to tobacco for adults, are still a thing. Two studies suggest that the little ones are bombarded with junk food commercials, and adults are stumbling over tobacco promotions in the dark corners of streaming platforms. Maybe it's time to ask: Are we really this helpless, or just looking for something new to regulate?
We live in a country where becoming ill might as well come with a foreclosure notice. Despite insurance, many of us are saddled with medical debt, and "land of the free" doesn’t quite describe a bill that’ll outlive you.
Lilly, the pharmaceutical giant, would love for you to believe that tirzepatide is the silver bullet we've all been waiting for — slashing your diabetes risk by 94% while you shed pounds. But dig a little deeper, and nearly two-thirds of those taking the placebo managed to normalize their blood sugar levels, too, just by eating better and moving more. Tirzepatide does the job. But is it the miracle cure, or another way to avoid those pesky lifestyle changes?
Keto this. Keto that. Does anyone really know what it means? This may – or may not – help.
Fluorine is the most reactive element of all. Most chemists will never use, or even see it. But, there are a few people with more than a few screws loose that will demonstrate how reactive it really is. You won't believe it.
Chatbots’ ease of use and ability to rapidly create human-like text, including everything from reports, essays, and recipes to computer code, ensure that the AI revolution will be a powerful tool for students at every level to improve their capabilities and expertise. The list of apps and services is growing longer every day. But, like most powerful technologies, the use of chatbots offers challenges as well as opportunities. We need strategies to minimize the former and accentuate the latter.
Calley Means, co-founder of TruMed, recently raised concerns about conflicts of interest within the FDA and the influence of corporate funding on public health guidelines. Thereby, he joined the ranks of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr and his newfound friend, former President Trump, who argued for "a special Presidential Commission of independent minds who are not bought and paid for by Big Pharma."
While it's true that “racism” has left its fingerprints over medicine, STAT recently began a new investigative series looking at racial bias baked into the clinical algorithms used by physicians. As with all journalism, I believe they got some of the story right, and in other instances, nuances were lost in translation resulting in getting some things wrong. I encourage you to read their reporting, but here is my take.
Chemicals that contain fluorine have perpetually been in the news for two primary reasons. One is the controversy surrounding the fluoridation of drinking water. The other is the latest chemical scare over fluorinated "forever" chemicals. Fluorine, fluoride, fluorinated. Confusing? You bet. Maybe this will help.
The three pillars of DEI—diversity, equity, and inclusion—are flawed, misdirected, unfair, partially self-contradictory, and have seriously undesirable consequences. DEI has devolved into a threat to our educational system, our economy, and our society. It is time to dismantle the entire edifice and return to the basic values of merit, achievement, and the vigorous pursuit of non-discrimination of any kind.
This week, Scientific American urged readers to "Vote for Kamala Harris to Support Science, Health and the Environment." It's a senseless, shortsighted move that will inflame America's disdain for science. The upside is that it could incentivize needed reforms in our ideologically slanted academic and public health institutions.
Much like the Sorcerer's Apprentice, who unleashed a flood by over-relying on enchanted brooms, we seem eager to offload responsibility onto AI while clinging to the illusion of control. In our quest for technological wizardry, research reveals that the presence of a manual mode often leads us to blame people more, even when AI is at fault.
Was Vincent van Gogh the original chaos theorist? While we admire the beauty of “The Starry Night,” physicists decided to crash the party and analyze its swirling sky like a science experiment. It turns out van Gogh wasn’t just painting stars and spirals, he was capturing the essence of turbulent flow. Who needs an advanced degree in fluid dynamics when you have a paintbrush and an eye for chaos?
The National Center for Health Statistics reports that overdose deaths have dropped 10 percent over the past year. Is this just a pause in the fatality rate before a climb resumes, or is it the beginning of a new trend? Though it is too early to know the answer, many factors might explain the encouraging new numbers.
A long-time family friend had to decide whether to undergo five years of antiestrogen therapy following surgery and radiation for her breast cancer. The odds were high that she would be OK without the treatment and only slightly higher with it. Seven years ago, Elle Macpherson had to make the same decision. The right answer? There really isn't one.
As fall rolls in and some dream about apple picking, pumpkin spice everything and Instagram-worthy foliage, Medicare beneficiaries and healthcare insurers are gearing up for their own seasonal delight: the dreaded coverage selection circus. Forget the cozy sweaters. It’s time for the avalanche of Medicare Advantage and Part D ads to suffocate your screens, reminding you that choosing healthcare is as festive as bobbing for apples in a vat of bureaucracy.
If you think scientists collecting "unfresh" condoms sounds like my latest contribution to the body of tasteless, juvenile humor, you're only partly right. Admittedly, it’s not exactly dinner conversation nor glamorous-sounding work. But what comes next is serious science with big public health implications for controlling the spread of mpox.
When Lars Larson asked me during our on-air conversation whether black-robed judges, instead of white-coated scientists and physicians, should be trusted with healthcare decisions, I couldn’t help but wonder whether they or Congress are experts in gene therapy – or for that matter, air pollution or the siting of nuclear power plants. (Spoiler alert: They're not.)
Volunteers were infected with the COVID virus in order to ascertain whether there were cognitive effects of infection. It represented the failure of safeguards against unethical experiments.
How do you explain one Zantac manufacturer kiboshing a favorable trend of defense verdicts and decisions – with a massive $2.2 billion settlement? The answer appears to lie with the whistleblower suit brought by Valisure, the private laboratory that instigated the personal injury litigation and product recall.
Pagination
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