To attract prospective employees after World War II, companies that couldn’t compete on wages (war era controls were still in effect) offered medical benefits. Today, more than 60 years later, roughly three-fifths of American have employer-subsidized, third-party health insurance. The problem with having a third party pay for our health insurance, however, is that there’s …
The FDA has issued a specific warning not to use quinine for leg cramps. Until recently, no quinine product was ever approved by FDA. They were on the market before FDA approval was required. Now that there is an approved product, Qualaquin, the FDA is forcing all the others off the market by June. This …
There’s a lot of buzz about the “wine pill,” resveratrol. Ever since the news that it can boost endurance and prolong life in mice, people have been rushing out to buy it. Resveratrol is one of the substances that are thought to give red wine some of its health benefits. It was first thought to …
Forget the lemonade-bring on the orange juice! Research published in The Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology suggests that orange juice helps prevent the formation of kidney stones better than other citrus fruit juices such as lemonade. What researchers found was that orange juice had greater alkalinizing and citraturic effects than lemonade, despite …
Sometimes with chronic illness, especially if it is of slow onset, we try to ignore the symptoms and as a result we become accustomed to not feeling well. But often times treatment can restore the body quickly back to normal Such was the case of Jacob who about a year ago started to experience nausea …
People with generally positive outlooks show greater resistance to developing colds than do individuals who rarely revel in upbeat feelings, a new investigation finds. The recently published study exposed 334 healthy adults to one of two rhinoviruses via nasal drops. Those who displayed generally positive outlooks, including feelings of liveliness, cheerfulness, and being at ease, …
A little water clears us of our deeds! Study results published in Science suggest that hand washing “cleanses” the mind of unethical behavior, a result the researchers call the “Macbeth effect.” They asked 170 undergraduate students to focus on their conduct throughout the day. Those who remembered a misdeed were more likely to feel dirty …
If you have to choose between Victor Frankenstein or a safety-breaching donor service, you may be safer with the former. New Scientist reported that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) shut down a firm that supplied body parts for surgery. According to FDA investigators, the firm harvested body parts and tissue from corpses in …
We tend to think of acne as a problem with just teenagers. However, it is not uncommon to have adults in the 20’s and 30’s come in with chronic acne that just does not respond to the typical antibiotics and topical creams that dermatologist prescribe. Julie, who is in her lat 20’s, has had acne …
It is not uncommon for patients to ask what is my opinion of circumcision of infants. Several months ago I wrote how circumcision helps protect against acquiring HIV. Another more recent study found that circumcision also protects against sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). The study showed that by age 21, 1.3 percent of the circumcised men …