Great recent article for the new year on the online site, Medscape, from its editor, Eric Topol. He listed 15 of his favourite scientific articles from 2018, studies that, he says. were meant to “challenge the dogma” of established medical theory and practice. And among them were the following. From the journal, Cell, a study […]
Quick quiz question: Which medical specialists in the US prescribe the most antibiotics? The answer that might surprise you is: Dermatologists. That’s according to a recent study in JAMA Dermatology in which researchers analyzed American data covering roughly 8 years worth of prescriptions. Part of the reason for that huge mountain of antibiotic prescriptions by […]
You know that sitting too much is bad for you, right? Well, it is. But the simple reality is that many of us have to sit for long periods of time cuz that’s how we make a living, and no use pretending that standing instead of sitting (like at a standing desk) does much to […]
Even more proof – as if we needed any -that fitness is directly linked to better health in a straight line. That is, the more fit you are – at any age – the lower your risk of major chronic illnesses and the greater chance you have of being alive when your grandkids get into […]
The fastest-growing demographic group (at least percentage-wise) in North America is the old old, that is people over the age of 75. This is also the cohort with the highest rate of complex chronic medical conditions. And this is also the group that takes the most drugs, often several, sometimes many, for their many health […]
According to results from the PESA CNIC- Santander Study recently published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, both not getting enough sleep (less than 6 hours a night on average in this Spanish study) and suffering through frequently-disrupted sleep (in which a person wakes up several times a night) are linked to a […]
The Dunning-Kruger effect is much in the news these days since the best example ever of this truism, the current president of the United States, provides nearly daily proof that this effect is pervasive, real, and in his case at least, totally worrisome. The Dunning-Kruger effect refers to a study back in the 1990s by […]
Vitamin D supplements, the current darling of the supplement world, is likely a waste of time for people over the age of 70 worried about maintaining their bone health, despite the fact that this age-group is often strongly urged by their health care providers to take this supplement for their bone health. But according to […]
Falls in seniors are linked to significantly higher rates of disability, brain damage, chronic and debilitating pain, and of course, death, so that it’s commonly repeated that 20-33 % of elderly who break a hip – and the main way to break a hip is to fall, of course – will die within 6 months […]
The main problem with so many medical studies – nearly all of them, in fact – is that no matter how hard the investigators try to even out differences among study participants- that’s the part where they always say, “We controlled for differences in income, smoking, diet, type of vehicle, favourite sports team, middle initial, […]