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Are those of us who want, expect, or even request opioid medications doing something wrong? Should we see each medical encounter for pain as an opportunity to be part of the solution to the opioid crisis? An academic who wrestles with the ethics of pain management explores this important issue.

There's no shortage of places to look for ways to help stop America's agonizing and ongoing school-shooting epidemic. And a recent study has identified one. It found that in homes where a child has mental health issues, only 1 in 3 gun owners take the recommended safety precautions to prevent unsupervised access when storing their firearms.
 
 

1. In USA Today, Dr. Alex Berezow had some context for the CNN organization about socialism, which has grown increasingly shrill and bizarre as its market share and credibility have declined. 

Your donations at work: We were at the FDA, the National Institutes of Health, as well as Congress. And that's only when we weren't getting hate mail from anti-science activists, who simply can't accept that they're slowly losing ground in popular culture.

Although you might think that living in an urban setting is worse for your lungs, recent data from the CDC point out that there's more Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease in rural areas. Why? Possible reasons include a higher smoking rate as well as more environmental exposures.

A surprisingly low number of women consider sudden, but persistent bloating as a serious condition — one with a serious underlying cause. The news comes from a recent study which showed that women are more likely to make dietary changes if they experience bloating — rather than contact their physician. Persistent bloating is the lesser known symptom of ovarian cancer.

The stated mission of 314 Action, a group that supports scientists in their bids for U.S. congressional seats, is laudable. Among its objectives is a desire to "elect more leaders ... from STEM backgrounds." However, if you're a Republican don't expect much action at all.

I have had the flu for two weeks. Well, to be honest, I never did get the test to confirm that it was, indeed, the flu. But, I am ok self-diagnosing this one based on the high fever, aches, chills, headache, sore throat, and barking cough. Rapid flu test or not, I'm going to call flu on this one. 
Did I get the flu shot? Yes. 
Was it worth it even though I ended up with the flu? Yes. 

Although we're used to hearing about studies in which people are given candidate drugs – which may or may not be safe or effective – this purposeful infection of healthy people with parasites seems to be a different type of experimental paradigm. Is this really ethical, or does it contradict the principle of "do no harm"?

Without actually knowing how many hours participants watched TV, and by comparing groups with very different risks, researchers concluded that TV watching is associated with clot formation. By extension, does this mean that binge-watching is harmful to our health?

A newly-developed genomic technology has solved part of an age-old mystery: What killed millions of humans 500 years ago in southern Mexico during the "huey cocoliztli" ? This work shows that one of the players in the epidemic was the bacteria Salmonella. 

Diabetes is a chronic disease and the longer it's present, the more it adversely impacts other body functions. Especially the cardiovascular system. 

We want American scientists to know as quickly as possible when an unusual case of the sniffles occurs in Africa or Asia. From there, we could be able to model the likelihood of the disease spreading beyond its origin. Such a strategy could help prevent Ebola from making a return visit to the United States.

Anthem's new policies contribute to the detriment of patient safety. The insurers "cost-saving" measures create more problems than solutions, while generating questionable financial benefits. 

You best get your drink on this week, while beer and wine consumption is good for you!
Over the years, there have mixed results on alcohol consumption and benefits to the body. This week, having two glasses of beer or wine could cut one's risk of premature mortality by 18 percent. At least that's the conclusion from one study which studied the habits of people who live past their 90s, since 2003. 

Nate Archibald, whose 14-year NBA career included a championship season with the Boston Celtics, suffers from an incurable heart disease, which he discovered by accident. Amyloidosis can affect any organ or tissue. But when it plagues the heart, death can arrive at any moment. 

Sufferers of asthma and eczema should be very thankful that drug companies continue to do research. There are now biological drugs that are very effective in treating both conditions. I should know. I take two of them. 

Anthem continues to practice medicine without a license in determining which patients should have anesthesiologists providing care during cataract surgery. 

A high-quality meta-analysis in the journal Scientific Reports tells us what scientist have known for years: That GM foods – in this case, corn – are not only not harmful to you or the environment, but may actually be superior.

Would knowing more about one's genetic makeup help select the best type of diet for weight loss? Apparently not, since researchers found that information about a person's DNA doesn't help when choosing between low-fat and low-carb diets.

We all want physicians to use evidence-based medicine, but sometimes the early evidence is literally "too good to be true." A recent study demonstrates the Proteus effect when early studies are often contradictory and fail to reflect real-world practice.

Last year, Italy had more than 5,000 cases, for an incidence of 8 per 100,000 people. Meanwhile, the United States had 118 cases, for an incidence of roughly 0.04 per 100,000 people. The populist politicians and anti-vaxxers are to blame.

Cosmetics and cleaners are not the great Satan of atmospheric pollution that the media suggests. But why let facts get in the way of a good story?

The American Cancer Society estimates that more than 13,000 cervical cancers will be diagnosed in 2018. Of those, more than 3,000 women will die. 
Cervical cancers stem from the Human papillomavirus, a sexually transmitted infection. And it can be prevented with a cancer vaccine already in place. Yet, the rates of immunization among young adults are low.

A media dustup involving statements made by a former medical director for Aetna has led to multi-state investigations into the practices of the insurance carrier. But for a doctor, is such a job even ethical in the first place?