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In the mood for a lesson on drug-drug interactions? I didn't think so. But you got one anyhow. Might as well read it, no?

You wouldn’t want to be cared for by a doctor who doesn’t wash his or her hands. You wouldn’t want to be operated on with instruments that weren’t sterilized? So why would you want to be treated by a doctor wearing a white coat that hasn’t been washed in a week? Many white coats are covered in bacteria like MRSA -– and they are dirty. So it’s time to hang them up for good.

The Centers for Medicare Services released its ratings of our nation’s hospitals last week, which caused considerable consternation among hospitals and academic medical centers. But when you consider its only reporting the average star ratings for New York hospitals based on a star rating that itself is a weighted average of 64 measures, the report doesn't contain a great deal of useful information.

Prions are the smallest and possibly the most dangerous of all infectious pathogens. They are also unique in that they contain no genetic material at all — just proteins. But as guest writer Steve Schow describes, those proteins can do some horrible things if they get into your brain. 

This is some potentially exciting news coming from China: a Covid drug called Azvudine (originally an HIV drug) that appears to be quite effective in reducing symptoms from the infection. However, there are two problems: 1) The information comes from Chinese newspapers, not journals; 2) the science doesn't add up.

EDP-323, an investigational inhibitor of Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), is showing promising results in Phase 2a trials. While other RSV therapies and vaccines are approved for prevention, EDP-323 could become the first antiviral drug specifically designed to treat RSV infections. Here's a look at some promising data.

Methanol sounds scary but fear evaporates quickly when people find that even if you consume nothing but aspartame all day, you will get about half the methanol that's in a banana. Yet charlatans continue to claim artificial sweeteners will give you cancer.

Usually, our strategy to handle unfair attacks is to ignore them. But occasionally, the assaults are so egregious that they deserve a full-throated rebuttal. This is one of those times.

Between COVID, HIV, Dengue, Ebola, and emerging flu variants, the last thing the world needs is another type of pathogen, let alone with no treatment or cure. But, although rare, prion diseases, such as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease are both infectious and fatal. Although they may sound mysterious, much of the pathology of prions can be explained with simple organic chemistry. (Which may or may not be worse than the disease itself.) Enjoy.

Some people look at you as if you have a cancer death wish when they see a Diet Coke can in your hand. But their glass of wine is a far greater risk. Here's why.

A new JAMA Open Network paper concludes that Paxlovid is effective in reducing hospitalizations and deaths in high-risk patients who have been vaccinated or have acquired immunity from previous infections. And a look back at how the drug works its "magic."

The British broadcaster has become part of a cynical anti-science collaboration.

Tattooing and body piercing are somewhat trendy now, having gained popularity in the 1990s. However, these forms of "body modification/body art" are anything but new. Both have been around since ancient times and are practiced in many cultures. Although their popularity attests that millions of customers feel both procedures are worth doing, there are some potential risks and complications.
Tattooing

A new rumor claims that Paxlovid, Pfizer's Covid drug, is merely a "dressed up" ivermectin molecule with little difference other than price. The term "Pfizermectin" is even being used to emphasize this. But biochemical and pharmacokinetic data say otherwise. Here are the numbers.

Although COVID-19 is giving us a temporary respite, influenza in humans and animals remains a serious threat. Its deadly H5N1 strain is spreading geographically and in more species of mammals, making the emergence of a pandemic strain more likely. We need to prepare.

Rock Hudson, Arthur Ashe, Ryan White, Liberace, Alvin Ailey, Freddie Mercury, Anthony Perkins, Rudolf Nureyev. Remember when you could hardly go a month without hearing about someone famous dying of AIDS? And the New York Times obituary page was filled with thirtyish men, often in the arts, who had died "after a short illness." When is the last time you heard this? Probably about eight years ago. So what happened?
The pharmaceutical industry is what happened.
"The Gay Plague"

Can a degradation product and chemical used to make sucralose – sucralose-6-acetate – damage our DNA? As is often the case, it depends. Here, it's about your metric of DNA damage and your exposure. Leaving the scary headlines and media confabulation behind, here's a breakdown of the study. 

There is an inherent conflict of interest – and the potential for injury to public health – when a federal department both regulates and promotes an industry. Nowhere is this more evident than at USDA.

•"The Scariest Health Threat You've Never Heard Of: Autoimmune Disease," from the September 2008 issue of Glamour, quoted Jeff Stier saying, "People want to blame chemicals where they don't have another explanation for the cause of a disease. I think we need more psychologists rather than more toxicologists."
•The September 29, 2008 New York Sun piece "Salt Is Next on City's Hit List" quoted Dr. Gilbert Ross likening New York City's anti-salt plans to the trans fat ban.

Inoculations are a welcome development, but the public should temper its excitement.

There are both advantages and disadvantages of studying repurposed drugs to battle COVID-19. In an interview, ACSH advisor Dr. Kathie Seley-Radtke weighs in on this method while providing a glimpse at some of the very promising research now going on in her lab. If you want to know how antiviral drug discovery might tame COVID-19, this is a must-read.

Drugs that don't work when taken orally are the bane of drug discovery chemists. Now it's the bane of the world. But there are techniques that can convert orally inactive drugs, like remdesivir, into pills. Here's how they work.

November 16, 2007: No Industry Experts Allowed -- They May Eat iPods
-- Quote to Note: "So the immediate takeaway is, don't eat your iPhone or your earbuds?" --CNN American Morning co-anchor John Roberts, about reports that iPods contain phthalates and bromides.

MORNING DISPATCH 10/10/08: Tobacco, Infections, HIV, and Rights for Plants

October 22, 2007: FDA Man Likes Special Cigarettes, Hospital Workers Dislike Flu Shots
-- Quote to Note: “We know that vaccinating nursing home staff reduces influenza-related death rates among frail patients." --Jane Zucker, infectious disease epidemiologist.
-- Unbelievable. Not only does this word describe the weather in New York (high of 78 degrees in late October?), but it also describes several health-related stories published this weekend.