Search results

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo would rather allow more Americans to become infected with and die from coronavirus than to allow an imperfect vaccine distribution plan to proceed.

As the search for a COVID-19 vaccine continues, we also continue to ponder who will be in the front of the queue. If we wish to restore our economy, we must undoubtedly consider vaccinating essential workers early on. But who exactly are they?

Pfizer's vaccine is based on RNA, which is a very unstable molecule that is prone to breaking down. Storing it at -94° F prevents this, but it creates the logistical difficulty of transporting the vaccine.

By any measure, today's announcement about the unexpected efficacy of the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine is great news. But, Pfizer's Dr. Robert Popovian cautions us that the job is not done. There are policies that are essential to ensure the vaccine is promoted to the public, distributed, and administered properly. And be priced so that everyone can get it. Devil. Details.

There's nothing like fear to generate abnormal behavior. And in the age of COVID-19 there's plenty of fear going around (so expect a lot of it). In the past few months, we've seen that one of these odd behaviors is attributed to a significant number of health-news headlines recommending vitamin C to purportedly assist one's immune response to COVID-19. Let's take a closer look.

Every year Livermore National Laboratory produces a chart of where our energy comes from and where it goes. The biggest changes, less coal, more natural gas. 

To reduce payments to doctors by device manufacturers and pharma companies, the federal government instituted a regulatory policy, the Sunshine Act, in 2013. The goal was to allow the disinfecting nature of transparency to reduce the ethical problem of obligation when receiving "gifts." Two reports update how that battle seems to be going.

Be honest. Few of us actually read nutritional labels. That said, marketing specialists have studied which labels may make a difference, and to whom. Can we use their findings to help us make other choices?

Operation Warp Speed brought together a broad array of government resources to achieve a similar, seemingly impossible rapid pace of development, regulatory approval, and distribution of vaccines to prevent COVID-19. But no matter how quickly or successfully vaccine(s) are developed we have been woefully ineffective in the development of other ways to tame the pandemic, especially readily available and accurate tests and proper PPE. Will the Biden plan pick up the slack?

There’s a new diet that’s the talk of the town. It advocates eating more calories, not less. So is it all fad, or is there a grain of truth to it?

I've been writing about the barbaric war against pain patients since 2013. Despite the hundreds of desperate emails I've received, and the stories I've read, it has never entirely hit home. Until now. My very elderly mom is being put through the wringer, in order to get some tramadol for back pain. If this doesn't demonstrate the colossal stupidity of our drug laws, nothing does.

There are three major reasons why SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus, will never be eradicated.

Should people who were given propofol be allowed to drive home? Are men drivers better or worse than women? Some ghastly chemistry poetry, and one of the funniest YouTube videos ever. Oh, to answer the original question: it's impossible to tell from this study. Here's why.

The value of hydroxychloroquine in treating COVID-19 patients continues to rise from the ashes of refutation in the medical literature. The latest iteration is a meta-analysis of utilizing the drug early in ambulatory patients' care to lessen the undesirable outcomes of infection, hospitalization, and death. Several of our readers and members of our Board of Scientific Advisors believe that this study is important and that we disregard it at our risk. We are letting a proponent of each side make their case. 

Polling is more art than science. Once again, American pollsters have shown that they aren't as good as we thought.

People with Type A blood are more susceptible to a particular kind of lung disease, which happens to be triggered by the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19.

On the literary menu this time: The disturbing past of statistics ... the intriguing past of textiles ... the hidden cost of flour ... and how we view dining out.

COVID-19 cases continue to increase. Public health officials continue to try and manipulate social behavior to reduce the rate of infections. So it's worthwhile to review our understanding of the disease that physicians currently confront.

The American media focuses on the failures to control the coronavirus in this country, but a larger perspective shows that the virus is out of control in much of the world, especially in Europe. Some other countries are doing worse than the U.S., at least for the time being.

It's looking like winter will arrive with rising numbers of cases in the U.S. and Europe. Hospitals are again beginning to fill up. But there's some evidence that the hard-won lessons in treating COVID-19 are beginning to improve outcomes.

America is now facing its second lockdown. Other countries are verging on a third. Repeated efforts at COVID-19 containment seem elusive. No respite seems in sight – other than hope of a vaccine. Along with concerted efforts in this direction, the vexing incidence of escalating vaccine resistance is raising its ugly head – yet again, stoked by a growlingly effective anti-vax movement and false prophets of vaccine doom. This trend seems to have hit the Black community particularly hard.  

Another product for suckers. Bulletproof-360 Coffee, brought to you by David (Avocado) Wolfe, easily one of the most annoying people on the planet. Does it really work? Will you really be bulletproof? Enough so to piss off narcoterrorists just to see what happens? Oh, and the company has had two products recalled in the past seven months. Maybe not such a good idea after all.

The current flu season is a nightmare, spreading ferociously. If that's not bad enough, there are instances where it kills within hours – just like it's 100-year-old ancestor, the Spanish Flu of 1918. What is going on here? 

Here's a case of a 13-year-old boy who pierced his skull with a 6-inch screw after an accidental fall. With unintentional injury the fourth-leading cause of death, here's how best to avoid a negative outcome.

One of the worst junk science trends in recent years is for grocery stores and restaurants to claim that they serve "clean food." Obviously, the not-so-subtle message is that everybody else is serving poison, so to be safe, you better eat their food. It's well past time to put aside the snobbish notion that eating clean, local, organic food makes you a superior, healthier human.