South African track star Caster Semenya is in the middle of a controversy that she had no part in making. Her testosterone levels are naturally very high, and the International Association of Athletics Federations won't let her run certain races unless she takes medication to lower her testosterone. Should she have to take performance detracting drugs?
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It is officially July! In the medical world that means fresh graduates become interns or fellows or attendings. Along with such promotions comes high turnover departures and the refrain "don’t get sick in July." But, does this annual transition actually make patients more vulnerable to adverse events?
There is a fair amount of confusion about the terms "pharmaceutical fentanyl," "illicit fentanyl," and "fentanyl analogs." Read this and the confusion should go away. It is important to avoid inaccuracies here. Words can make a big difference.
In science and health, we are often looking for results that are considered to be “statistically significant.” The golden rule is if the p-value is less than 0.05, then the result is statistically significant, or “publishable.” However, the interpretation and use of p-values is often misconstrued.
What is a p-value?
A recent study was published estimating that killings of unarmed black Americans contribute to an excess of 55 million poor mental health days per year. Is this estimation accurate?
Because Medicare Advantage programs are paid in part, by the value their care-partners provide, they choose their partners carefully. And when incentives are aligned, patient outcomes seem to improve.
With a constant surge of competing profit centers fragmenting healthcare, more layers than ever are conspiring to erode the doctor-patient relationship. Here is a guide to being your own advocate. It will help reduce your anxiety, eliminate unnecessary suffering and improve outcome and recovery.
This very dangerous plant is in the news because it's being increasingly spotted across the United States. But what you probably don't know is that one of the chemicals that makes the plant so dangerous is also a drug that treats psoriasis.
Vaping is substance agnostic, although the controversy and debate about vaping only involve tobacco or nicotine. The harms of vaporizing depend on what is being vaped. To clear away the smoke we need to be more specific about our concerns.
Trichloroethylene is a colorless, volatile liquid that is nonflammable and has a sweet odor. It evaporates quickly into the air, but can also be found in water and soil. It also has a variety of uses, which we explain here.
Using a novel source of information – obituaries – researchers looked at whether religious affiliation could extend your physical existence on this planet. The short answer is yes. But is there more to it than simply faith?
Groups like the EPA have used "secret science" to legislate without being accountable to the public the way Congress and the President are. It's time for that to end.
When first hearing about Abilify MyCite, the controversial new digital drug, one might likely recall the famous movie scene from "The Matix" when Neo ingests a red pill that also delivers computer code. It also might make one wonder about the kinds of people being remade through this new biotechnology.
The negative impact of (1) "at-all-costs" breastfeeding campaigns, (2) the political zeal of "lactivism" and (3) societal pressures have done a proven disservice to women and families. So much so that formal health policy had to be changed.
We understand that patients may be victims of medical error. But should physicians also consider themselves victims when the medical failure results in disability and death?
Infrastructure maintenance is not just an issue for bridges and roads. Sometimes the infrastructure that needs an update is how we assess risk, especially for patients where treatment continues to change.
A large study focusing on breast cancer treatment demonstrates that for estrogen responsive, HER2-negative cancers, the majority of women do not require chemotherapy.
Summer is approaching, which means that all sorts of life forms will be out to get you. Possibly the worst is poison ivy. It contains a nasty chemical called urushiol, which is perfectly designed to make your life an itchy hell. And it's all because of chemistry.
Reductionism is the basis for most science. Since so many factors can be involved, isolating them in a lab-bench experiment can yield valuable insights. For epidemiological studies, it doesn’t work as well.
With the proposed consumer privacy initiative in California a reaction to internet data abuse, it's time, long overdue, to discuss the murky territory once-presumed-protected health information has entered.
When environmental activists discovered that it was bad optics to be opposed to natural gas, because it lowered the CO2 emissions they insisted must be lowered drastically or else the apocalypse was nigh, they changed tactics.
Scott Gottlieb is warning the public not to buy alleged sun-protection supplements from four companies – because they do not work. The FDA Commissioner says that if an effective, ingestible product was legally on the market, it would be considered a drug and would require FDA approval. But the agency has never approved such a product. So what should you stay away from? Here's the info.
Throughout its history, ebola has caused humanity to hunker down and hope for the best. But in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the battle has turned. Instead of containment, quarantine and waiting it out, science is attacking.
There's crazy, and then there is crazy. This is both. Researchers in China are exploring herbs and acupuncture to treat pain and perhaps mitigate the carnage of the opioid fentanyl crisis. Where does the fentanyl come from? China. Go figure.
A premature infant is born with a form of severe lung injury that carries a 20% chance of survival. Her physician decides to throw a medical “Hail Mary” and try an untested adult technique to bypass the injured lungs. The infant survives, and after a few more tries, the physician realizes that the survival rate may be as high as 80% with this new treatment. Does he know enough that the treatment should become standard practice, or is a randomized clinical trial required?
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