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We tend to think of over the counter (OTC) drugs for pain relief as interchangeable but this can be a dangerous misconception.

The European Society of Anesthesiologists is meeting this week in Berlin, and one study of note that will be presented describes the effects of administering cardiovascular medications to patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft (CABG).
CABG, known more commonly as bypass surgery, is performed when a patient experiences a blockage or narrowing of the vessels that supply the heart with blood. T

We talk about stupid stuff all the time. There is never a shortage. But, even with the inexhaustible supply of this commodity, once in a while we run into something that is off the chart on the right side of the Stupidity Bell Curve. This is no small feat.

Greenpeace really loves bees so much that they regularly hold bee die ins where they dress up in bee costumes and lie on the ground to be sprayed by faux pesticides. Environmental activists have also given eulogies and

There's a widespread misconception that sex is a risk factor for heart attack. However, a new study finds that this is just another one of those pesky health myths that needs another round of debunking.

Peter Shumlin, the Governor of Vermont, has a lot to say about narcotic abuse and addiction in his state. So much, in fact, that he is apparently willing to use half the story to make his point. Throw in a bit of irrelevant and incorrect information, and he makes his point rather convincingly. Or does he?

One company CEO's decision to exploit his monopoly of an important drug to increase its price by a factor of 55-fold is despicable indeed. However, it should not be used as a rationale by politicians to mandate government price controls on all Rxs.

A new study finds that our microbiome may extend beyond our gut and skin -- to the air immediately around us. The researchers, working at the University of Oregon, say that the constituents of these microbiome clouds may even be unique to the individual.

Coke does not think that doling out 1/1,000,000th of their annual revenue is causing any group to go from hating soda to promoting it. Yet simplistic conspiracy theorists often insist it must be so.

There has long been concern that dietary guidelines are increasingly political. A new analysis contends that the U.S. Congress was right to schedule a hearing with Obama administration officials to ask why only some scientific literature was included in the recent guidance.

The Salk Institute released a study in the journal Cell Metabolism which highlights the erratic behavior of human eating patterns. Researchers did this using a photo app that could have wider implications for diet, weight loss and public health.

It's known that certain viruses cause cancer. Time to add another to the list? A preliminary study implicates a viral infection in the formation of breast cancer. Yes, it's very early in the process, but the results are intriguing and worthy of our attention.

During Wednesday night's GOP debate, one issue that particularly caught the Council's attention involved vaccinations and autism. What a great topic for us to evaluate -- just on the science itself -- while remaining apolitical. We gave out grades to the candidates who weighed in. It wasn't pretty.

An organic farmer in Australia actually sued a neighbor last year -- and won -- claiming some of the neighbor's GM canola blew onto his field and caused some of his crop to lose its organic certification. But the Australian Court of Appeals has now reversed that ruling, which makes complete sense.

Last year's flu vaccine provided a mere 23 percent coverage which is about as bad as it gets. But now the CDC predicts that number will be significantly higher for the 2015-16 flu season. This development is similar to when the Mets trudged out for just their second season in existence in 1963; things can only get better.

Hospital-acquired infections in the U.S. have been known to affect more than 700,000 patients in a single year. A new report says some hospitals are combatting this problem by lining surfaces with copper, a practice that has ancient roots. Bacteria resistance, yet, is suspected to be an undermining factor.

While Dr. Norman Borlaug's humanitarian efforts are so vast, sadly they are so little-known to the public and even to scientists. That's why we're once again calling attention to a short documentary film which highlights a lifetime of life-saving work and his fervent devotion to eliminating global starvation.

Is meat and dairy an addiction? A group of vegans believe that it is, and like with smoking, harm reduction and gradual cessation may be key to transitioning to this new diet.

Congress tries to control drug prices and it blows up in their faces. How? Shortages of common drugs, and obscene price gouging for others. Unintended consequences? You bet, along with a few horrendously painful outcomes for patients.

The (thankfully small) subset of loons that are also known as "AIDS Deniers" must have been overjoyed to see the news today. Some of the abbreviated headlines seems to suggest what they have been believing all along: That despite overwhelming and irrefutable evidence that HIV is the causative pathogen of AIDS, all of it is wrong. So they say.

There are expensive drugs and there are expensive drugs. But they can be very different. Two new antibody drugs that drastically lower LDL cholesterol have just hit the market. But they cost about $1,000 per month for life. Hepatitis C drugs have been targeted as too expensive, but this is worse.

"Harm reduction" is a health-promoting policy, in which self-destructive behaviors are abetted but through measures to reduce abusers harms to their health. Yet our public health establishment stands fiercely opposed to reduced harm products for smokers. Why is that?

It's a little too soon to celebrate, but scientists in the U.K. may have come up with a new method -- a simple blood test -- that could radically revolutionize the early detection of cancer.

It's rare to see an alternative medicine proponent leave and join the science community but it happens. Britt Hermes, a homeopath and alternative medicine proponent, did just that. She even has a blog where she discuss the horrors of her former industry.

In the past five years, alcohol poisoning of children has skyrocketed by 400 percent. Most of this is from kids, believe it or not, drinking hand sanitizer. Fortunately, this is a solvable problem -- and it's not even that hard. Send in the chemists.