What do we know about the impact of COVID-19 on the physical health of health care personnel? Precious little. And we know even less about the psychological toll. Here are a few insights.
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The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) created queue guidelines for those receiving the COVID-19 vaccines. While vaccination of healthcare workers and residents of long-term care facilities is already underway, there's much being written about position jockeying for those in the groups that follow. Let's take a deeper dive into these deliberations.
The answer is yes if you believe a paper recently published in the British Medical Journal. The article gives data mining for results a bad name. It is more like data dredging – scooping out mud and trash. Not to worry, no patients were harmed in this study, although the popular media couldn't help but report on this new reason to fear surgery and surgeons.
What happens when you freeze, and then thaw, milk? Visible evidence suggests that it turns into spit-up. But is that what's going on? And why would anyone care? Read on, but only if you have nothing better to do.
Even in the time of COVID-19, antibiotic resistance remains a problem. Is it a particle or a wave? - turns out it may be neither. Zombies get all the press, but are vampires the real problem? Theory or practice? Finally, more on the science of gift-giving.
Can there be winners as well as losers as our climate changes? The truth about science. Is our ability to read some type of repurposed evolutionary skill?
We’ve all heard the “heartbreaking” stories – the passing of a loved one is met with the passing of their spouse soon thereafter. Are these sudden, paired deaths only coincidences – or is there a medical basis such that one can literally die from a broken heart?
The only thing that most environmental groups like the NRDC and Sierra Club do is complain, file lawsuits, and block things. They're never part of any solution.
New Jersey health officials' interpretation of CDC guidance is going to put smokers ahead of nonsmokers in the COVID vaccination program. Crazy? We think so.
A dangerous five-step program converts "vaccine-hesitant" people into full-blown anti-vaxxers.
What would happen if we approached antibiotic resistance with the same fervor that we have for covid? Is there a reason why we should not?
Back in August, the FDA issued an Emergency Use Authorization for convalescent plasma for treating those with COVID-19. With more data in hand, the agency has now limited its use to a subset of hospitalized patients.
The Trump Administration has sought to change how we review scientific studies used in regulatory decisions. Those changes have caused quite a bit of controversy, and now the Courts have sent it back to the EPA to "redo."
Increasingly there is evidence that even though COVID-19 is more deadly than seasonal flu, many of us mount an immune defense leaving us asymptomatic.
Our first two vaccines have greater than 90% efficacy; Novavax reports 89.3%, Johnson and Johnson’s reports 66%. Should we care? What do those numbers mean to you and me when we worry about the protection the vaccine affords us?
Fear sells, which is why news outlets provide so much of it. But constant bad news is bad for our health. Turn off the TV and social media.
Obesity remains a health problem for individuals, and collectively as a public health issue. The war against obesity, like that against drugs, has been waged for many years without significant change. A new study looks at why policy has so little effect.
The new Biden Administration has a full plate. Here are the science, technology, and health policies it should prioritize.
Among the unpleasant effects of COVID is a whopping portion of aches and pains. Whether there is anything you can take to feel better -- for example, Advil -- is not clear. But two, large retrospective studies seem to give the thumbs-up to NSAIDs.
This week, Jay Barber, one of our readers wrote to us asking about an article he had seen in The Intercept regarding the EPA ignoring a possible cancer risk. Luckily we have two toxicologists among our Board of Scientific Advisors, one of who was able to offer a critique.
CDC policymaking is coming up short, according to Henry Miller, M.D., and John J. Cohrssen. The agency continues to relegate policymaking to value judgments instead of hard data.
A new study out of Barcelona -- one that was not peer-reviewed -- suggests that vitamin D reduced COVID deaths by 60% and admission to the intensive care unit by 80%. However, the results are highly flawed.
Dr. Vivek Murthy, President Biden’s nominee for Surgeon General, previously did a credible job, and presumably if confirmed, that will be true once again. But with the Washington Post reporting that his income last year was $2.6 million, some see a possible conflict of interest.
"If you dust off a turd, it's still a turd." Even by my (admittedly) low standards, this is rather crude. But, what does it mean? I take aim at Genexa, a company that advertises "real medicine, made clean." A clever marketing scheme, but I don't know what it even means.
COVID-19 frequently dominates the nightly news, and it’s always there in today’s daily life. Is the pandemic ebbing, or is it still menacing the careless? Charts, tables, and statistics dominate the discussion. Some emphasize counts, some quote short-term percentage changes like a 20% drop. Pictures and statistics tell stories, but with COVID-19, it depends on how you look at them.
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