It’s been a very, very interesting few weeks in the US regarding cancer screening. As I mentioned before, there were revisions from the highest-level agency Task Force that mammograms should be done less often for certain groups. I also mentioned how PSA tests are under a lot of scrutiny as well.… Read the rest
Category Archives: Prevention
Breast Cancer: Do You Know Your Lifetime Risk?
The New York Times has an excellent series of articles, called “Forty Years’ War”, reviewing medicine’s efforts to fight cancer over the last forty years. This weekend’s article reviews the important issue of prevention of breast and prostate cancer. For both diseases, there are well documented studies that show a decrease in new cases of those cancers with specific medicines taken over many years.… Read the rest
How Can Health Care Be More Efficient?
It’s impossible for me to ignore the health care debate raging in my home country. One constant theme in the U.S. regarding improving health care is the need for better monitoring of what hospitals and doctors actually do, and which treatments actually work.… Read the rest
Finish Your Chocolate Milk, It's Good For You!
Here’s a fun new study which kids everywhere can show their parents; chocolate milk is good for your heart! This study, just mentioned in this New York Times column, describes how the study group given skim milk plus cocoa powder had lower levels of inflammatory markers as well as higher levels of the good cholesterol, HDL.… Read the rest
Tylenol & Vaccines: Maybe Not A Good Combo?
There’s a very provocative new study in Lancet which may change my clinical practice. As parents know, vaccines are not a fun time for their children, and many doctors recommend pain medicines like Tylenol or Motrin with the vaccines. Now, unfortunately, there is good data from this new study that Tylenol (AKA acetaminophen, Panadol) may be blunting a very important biological immune response which helps to create protective antibodies.… Read the rest
H1N1 Hospitalizations Occurring at Any Age
Here’s a quick link to a good review from Medscape about the latest H1N1 information regarding hospitalizations and deaths. This latest paper was in November 4th’s JAMA. The gist is that hospitals are seeing complications at all age groups, including the elderly, which seemed previously to be partially immune.… Read the rest