The main issue with assessing the impact of contraceptive pills on women’s health is that lifespans are longer.
The “Pill” is a product of the 1960s.
The first generation of 20-something users now are only in their 60s. Of course, women in their 30s and 40s used the Pill and would now be in their 70s and [...]

Topics: News

U. S. News and World Report

“The Department of Agriculture has recalled 1.7 million pounds of ready-to-eat beef taquito and chicken quesadilla products that contain a flavoring ingredient probably tainted by salmonella , the Associated Press reports. The move comes a week after the Food and Drug Administration announced that hydrolyzed vegetable protein manufactured by Basic [...]

Topics: In Brief

The first time I was a boss, I had to, of course, do a budget.
I liked everything else better. The budget, to be sure, was a necessity but boring. Nothing new or creative to be done there, I thought. We were trailblazing, or trying to, clinically. The clinical side was much more interesting.
The doctor who [...]

Topics: Focus

News/Commentary
This full free text article from The New England Journal of Medicine, by Ethan Basch, M.D., explains that clinicians’ assess patients’ responses in clinical trials.
Nobody’s asking the patients what they think they are feeling or experiencing.
This article says that getting information from patients could add valuable information. “Self-reports are more sensitive to underlying changes in [...]

Topics: News

The new age of genetic coding to be used in clinical care is almost here, say various experts.
Even one leading critic, a Duke University geneticist, who has disagreed with current approaches in the field, agrees that over the next few years human genetics finally can be used to “systematically deliver clinically meaningful findings.”
The hope has [...]

Topics: News

News/Commentary
Cancer is many diseases but, in general, is associated with aging. Risks go up with time.
In a study of cancer deaths, taking age into account, cancer deaths declined among men by 21% since 1990. For women, cancer deaths are down 12% since 1991.
That is significant progress but there remains significantly more work to do. The [...]

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Healthier people are more likely to be sexually active as they get older, says this examination of two American studies on aging.
However, almost half of older, sexually active adults have at least one “bothersome” sexual problem and one-third report two problems. Physicians rarely address sexual concerns in older adults—particularly in women.
The reason physicians talk to [...]

Topics: Focus

Reuters
“The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said the H1N1 swine flu virus would probably spread at low levels during 2010’s spring and summer, and be the dominant and threatening strain in the winter flu season.
“It seems unlikely that there will be another spring/summer pandemic wave in Europe unless there are significant unrecognized [...]

Topics: In Brief

Does drinking lead to weight gain for women, free of major diseases and at normal weight, at 40 and the years afterward?
This study of close to 20,000 women aged 38.9 and older tracked women for eight years, using surveys the participants completed (self-report) about their body weights and alcoholic consumptions.
Archives of Internal Medicine
“The obesity epidemic [...]

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At the risk of sounding like America’s mom, you have got to get a good night’s sleep.
This is a health issue of no small consequence. Sleep quality is important to health in too many ways to list here .
The right answer to sleep problems is not, “It’s just stress.” There is no “just” in stress. [...]

Topics: Focus