Processed foods continue to get a bad rap
Geofencing January 6th Goes to Court
Zero COVID and Immune debt – Is China paying up?
And now, Dad Brain
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Last year around Christmas, I wrote an article about mistletoe, a not-very-poisonous plant associated with the holiday. I am fascinated that so many plants related to the holiday have toxic elements. I’ve included a couple of highly poisonous plants, belladonna, and hemlock, that appear in some of the greatest literary works and my favorite mysteries.
How physicians communicate with their peers and their patients has come under more scrutiny of late. Patient access to “open” notes has raised concern about physicians using hurtful terms. A new paper considers the problem of physicians communicating with their patients unconsciously using jargon that obstructs rather than facilitates understanding.
Let’s continue our countdown of the top articles written by ACSH this year.
Medicine, like the science that underlies it, is seldom transformed by “Eureka” breakthroughs; rather, it is most often a process of systematically accumulating knowledge and making incremental advances. Radiation treatment for breast cancer is a good example: New data has enabled us to revise and improve old approaches.
"Peer review" of scientific articles before publication is often considered the "gold standard" of reliability, but its luster has become tarnished by greed – the desire of the research community to tap into research funds, the pressure on scientists to publish or perish, and publishers of scientific journals seeking to maximize profits.
In 2016, the American viewing public was exposed to 663,000 television commercials for pharmaceuticals. That is a significant “ad spend” by Pharma, which we pay for through increased drug pricing. A new study looks at the therapeutic value of the more heavily advertised drugs. The key concept here is “market differentiation.”
Debunking bad science can be difficult. The misdirection, false assumptions, and biased narratives are often nuanced or built upon a series of citations requiring the debunker to go down the rabbit hole to find the underlying “truth.” Why is it so much harder to counter lies than to tell them?
Lessons from the immune system
The silent Award Season is upon us
How music touches us
For Thom, saving coffee from warming, global warming
Gold is a noble element, one so chemically stable that it’s found untarnished in the ground. But under some conditions, it can be converted to gold salts, which were the standard of care for rheumatoid arthritis. However, gold salts – which are quite toxic –have been replaced with a number of superior immunosuppressive drugs over the past two decades. The Golden Age of gold salts is over.
Plants can be genetically modified to produce high-value pharmaceuticals, a practice called “biopharming.” Many of these "biopharmed" vaccines and other biologics do not require refrigeration, special handling, or sophisticated medical equipment to distribute them, making them ideal for middle and low-income countries. They are also cheaper to produce than our current methods and can help reduce the increasing costs of biologics. But these products have not yet entered the marketplace in part because of regulatory constraints.
If you haven’t already given up on your New Year’s resolutions – clean out sock drawer, organize closets, exercise more, there is one resolution if you have a home water filtration system you need to add and make sure to keep – change the filter every few months (or as recommended by the manufacturer). In this article, I will explain why.
There is no longer any doubt that drinking alcohol raises the risk of multiple cancers. Why alcohol? What's it doing to us? And an episode of The Dreaded Chemistry Lesson From Hell. No extra charge!
An important study examining whether antidepressants were useful for pain was recently published in BMJ. The headlines stated varieties of the same theme: They "may not be effective" or "may have a small benefit." These conclusions are based on data from one table in the paper. Let's take a look at that data.
Deaths of despair, death from alcoholism, drug overdoses, and suicides have become a consistent explanation for the increasing mortality in middle-aged White males. A new viewpoint calls our attention to the deaths of despair among Native Americans.
A few years ago, I consciously decided to forgo eating octopus because it was "too intelligent.” But I continue to eat pork, arguably as intelligent because it is “so tasty.” That led – tongue firmly in cheek – to the taste-to-intelligence ratio test.
Social justice advocates continue to demand that professions like medicine become more "diverse." Critics contend this development could bring unqualified physicians into the profession and jeopardize public health. Should we be worried? The FDA wants to label certain foods in the grocery store "healthy." It's an awful idea.
Time with your doctor is limited. Here are some ways to get the most out of your appointment and make your healthcare expenditure in time and money more cost-effective.
If you think Prevagen is gonna help your memory, forget it. The stuff is useless. But that doesn't stop sleazy Quincy Bioscience from incessantly advertising it (often between other disgusting ads for legitimate prescription drugs). So if you're thinking about incinerating 75 bucks for a bottle of this junk, here’s some sound advice to remember: don't.
Will Tylenol alleviate severe pain? It will not, yet patients are routinely given the drug after major surgery. Thank your congressman for such insanity. Meanwhile, the drug store conglomerate CVS displays real pain relievers right next to useless homeopathic "remedies." A lawsuit could put an end to that dubious marketing practice.
“Claims like 'healthy' on food labels can provide information to consumers to help them identify healthier food choices at a glance. Foods must meet specific nutrient-related criteria to use the nutrient content claim 'healthy.'” So begins the FDA’s quest to label what is healthy and what is not. Good luck with that fool’s errand.
It was “Wall Street,” the movie released 36 years ago, that popularized thoughts about greed. But of course, greed has been a driver in politics and society for far longer. A new study looks at how U.S. senators speak of greed in their 280-character utterances that we call Tweets.
Recycle or reuse?
Body Rituals in Nacirema
The Real Tools of War
Killing Roald Dahl's "Little Darlings"
Panicked headlines recently warned that the popular artificial sweetener erythritol could increase heart disease risk. The study that generated these claims in no way supports that association. Dietary supplements are a multi-billion-dollar industry; they've also killed people. Do they need more regulatory oversight?
Advances in technology will continue to affect our lives in myriad ways. Technology Review magazine recently picked ten of the potentially most important ones. Let's see what we have to look forward to.
Pagination
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