Avandia is currently the top-selling diabetic drug with total US sales of $2.2 billion in 2006. A one-month supply sells for between $90 and $170. Several months ago the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) revealed that Avandia is associated with a 43% increase in heart attacks and up to 64% increase in cardiovascular deaths. …
New evidence indicates that aerobic exercise eases depression almost as well as antidepressants medication does. After following 202 patients for 4 months researchers found that depression largely cleared up in 45% of patients exercising in groups, 40% in those exercising at home and 47% of those taking anti-depressants. In exercising to relieve depression one avoids …
I found medical school interesting and loved learning. I especially loved physiology as we learned the intricacies of how the body functions in health. However, the real learning starts when a physician begins to see patients. As the time approached for my internship I was apprehensive and even a little bit scared. When I found …
The notion that some trinket or honorarium could alter their prescribing habits strikes most doctors as absurd, as various surveys have shown. And yet, drug makers continue to lavish as much as $19 billion annually on marketing to physicians- which suggests to some people that either companies have foolishly wasted their money all these years …
Many doctors are dedicated to their profession and will make untold sacrifices to help those that are suffering. However, Stubbins Ffirth, a doctor-in-training living in Philadelphia during the early 19th century went further than most. Having observed that yellow fever ran riot only during the summer months he hypothesized it was not a contagious disease. …
Judith spent a life time of working long hard hours to become director of a large public organization – the first woman to ever hold this position. But once she got there she found that the man to which she reported was jealous over her rapid assent and treated her with disrespect and outright disdain. …
The idea that the exposure to germs and toxins can prevent cancer is a relatively new one. What most people don’t realize is that over a 100 years ago a doctor was curing cancer with vaccines made from killed bacterial preparations. William Coley in the 1890’s found that his crude vaccine was effective in many …
We are all familiar with the term “filthy wealthy” – I sometimes wish I were- but how about “filthy healthy”? Well, it is becoming more and more evident that filth is not all that bad at least in moderation. It has been known for quite a while that dirt and infections make us less allergy …
“Neat freak”, “anal” are just some of the words that are used to describe people that can not rest until everything is “just right”. Unfortunately, these people never rest because it is impossible to have everything just right. Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) is a medical term that is frequently used to describe this particular type …
To continue the topic of brain training from yesterday, some researchers are finding that it is very beneficial for patients suffering from schizophrenia, depression, and obsessive compulsive disorder. Mike Merzenich, a neuroscientist at UC, San Francisco, has found that disturbances of memory, attention and executive functions in schizophrenic can be restored to normal with brain …