We now have both mRNA (Pfizer, Moderna) and vector (AstraZeneca, J&J) vaccines. As we move to boosters, can we – should we – mix and match? Is choosing one from Column A and one from Column B better, worse, or just the same?
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In recent years, the “Death with Dignity” [1] movements have been racking up victories. Thirty years ago, only Switzerland allowed assisted deaths. Today, no less than 12 countries and 10 states plus the District of Columbia sanction (or decriminalize) euthanasia (where the doctor administers a lethal drug) and Medical Assistance In Dying (MAID), when the patient does the deed.
The CDC 2016 Opioid Prescribing Advice, which has caused so much hardship to so many pain patients, has been tossed out and replaced by a revised document. Is it better? Sure looks that way.
An unexpected delay in the FDA's authorization of COVID shots for children under age 5 could amplify parents' existing concerns about vaccinating their kids. Here's what we know about the situation.
The American public has been concerned with radiation safety as far back as the tragic story of the “Radium Girls,” female factory workers who contracted radiation poisoning from painting watch dials with self-luminous paint between 1917 and 1920. While there is substantial data demonstrating powerful carcinogenesis from high-dose radiation, e.g., an atomic bomb explosion, can small doses of radiation cause cancer? Some believe that they can.
All over the U.S. the lines for COVID testing often stretch around the block. You can wait an hour or two just to be tested, before learning that the results are not available when you need them. President Biden is going to send us all two home tests. But what are the science-guided recommendations? The New England Journal of Medicine provides a very reasonable answer, beginning with a simple picture.
It's time for another installment of the "Health Ranger Chronicles," where we critically examine the strange ideas promoted by Mike Adams' wildly popular website Natural News. This time we investigate a story about Monster Energy's "Satanic" plot to poison our children with sugar and caffeine.
Patients and their doctors have voted with their scripts. Overwhelmingly, they are choosing Pfizer's Paxlovid and rejecting Merck's molnupiravir. So much so that when Paxlovid is unavailable (which is most of the time) many don't even bother to try the other option. Surprising?
Four months after President Biden announced his innovative plan to compel vaccination, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled on its validity. Biden’s plan had three parts; the Fifth Circuit Court struck them all down.
Could anything be more terrifying than your child being seriously ill? Children have been the last group to begin to receive vaccinations. We rightly suggest they congregate daily in schools. How at risk are they in the face of the rising cases of Omicron?
It's been said that women will do almost anything to look good. If that’s true, they can’t even compete with some male bodybuilders who take legal drugs, illegal drugs, and down another substance you might find distasteful. Perhaps disgusting. And it doesn't even work. Unreal.
Ah, the influencer. It’s a new job category for someone who can move markets – at least for goods – by sharing their love of them. This used to be solely the domain of celebrities, but social media has significantly changed that. So when it comes to subjects related to nutrition, the question is: are they using their influence to help or hurt?
The 2021 annual conference of U.S. Mayors adopted a resolution to create community “Blue Zones,” as part of the Well-Being Initiative to Combat Disease and Comorbidities. The Blue Zones program is derived from the work of Dan Buettner, a National Geographic Fellow, who identifies regions around the world where people purportedly live extraordinarily long and happy lives.
The World Health Organization (WHO) adopted a dose-response function for PM2.5 that lumps outdoor ambient air quality, second-hand (passive) smoking, and indoor household air pollution. It has been used in 80 published studies of the “Global Burden of Health” (GBD). Here I take a closer look and incorporate some additional risk estimates.
In an essay in the London Review of Books, David Wallace-Wells contrasted the 5.5 million annual global deaths from COVID [1] with the 7 million deaths attributed to air pollution (AP) projected by the World Health Organization [2]; he bemoaned the lack of attention being given to the latter. [1] He noted that other AP mortality estimates run as high as 8.7 million and 10 million if indoor air pollution were included. This is getting downright scary.
The CDC has reported that COVID-19 vaccines are working well, but reduced protection against mild and moderate disease over time is apparent. It is appropriate to examine trends now that our primary vaccination program has been in place for a year. While recently vaccinated members of a population have much lower rates of infection, some suffered breakthrough infections that may be associated with reduced vaccine effectiveness.
The scarlet “A” was meant to shame Hester Prynne, stigmatizing her to the community as an unworthy individual. Today, the letter is often replaced by words. A new study suggests that physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants often use stigmatizing words in describing their patients. But as you will read, many of their “findings” depend upon whether you believe those words are, in fact, stigmatizing at all.
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?
Should organic farmers grow gene-edited crops? A leading figure in the agroecology movement says "yes"—and so does the generation of environmentalists following in his footsteps.
Horseshoe crabs, those almost pre-historic-looking creatures that we occasionally see washed up on the shore, hold a special place in medicine. But that's about to change.
Alternative health guru Joe Mercola claims there's been a massive increase in autism cases since the 1960s and that the weedkiller glyphosate is a "key culprit." He's wrong on both points.
The published literature on COVID now exceeds 211,000 papers, books, and documents, which include: 22,866 observational studies, 19,591 reviews, 1496 meta-analyses and 781 randomized control trials. These publications comprise the backdrop for our research and writing. The project began in the spring of 2020 based on a limited source of cumulative COVID-19 data and has broadened considerably. Here is what we have learned.
Should we end anonymity on the Internet to bring civility back? The Great Barrington Declaration, Making a Deal with the Devil, a contrarian opinion on the value of a vegan diet.
Finally, there are antiviral drugs that will keep people with COVID out of the hospital (and the morgue). But, good luck getting a prescription if you should need it. The FDA has pretty much guaranteed that this will be almost impossible. Here's why.
Perhaps you’re familiar with the sentiment about how a child's behavior is often transformed into how they act as an adult. A new study finds a connection between some early lifestyle and health choices and later-life concerns.
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