Anyone who thinks the laws which, in part, are intended to protect kids and teenagers from Big Tobacco can ever get ahead and stay ahead of their marketing savvy is dreaming.
Of course, adults can use some help avoiding tobacco products, too, but kids are the focus here.
Today there is news of a new, smokeless product [...]

Topics: News/Commentary

Although this is a meeting presentation which has not been published, it is an eye-opener.
Using data from the population-based Mayo Clinic Study of Aging, researchers found:

Computer use late in life is associated with a lower risk of mild cognitive impairment.
Moderate physical exercise is associated with a lower risk of mild cognitive impairment.
The data showed that [...]

Topics: News/Commentary

In the 1980s, AIDS struck.
I went to a hair salon here in Washington about every three weeks to get my hair cut. One April day in 1982 I went in only to see the chair next to the one I was in empty. “Where is ____?” I asked my stylist. “He is such a nice [...]

Topics: News/Commentary

There are key points to this story about an important new report from the Institute of Medicine(IOM), an independent arm of the National Academy of Sciences, which affect you or someone you care about.
This report matters to you.
The IOM did not say it this way, but I am fairly confident it is what they would [...]

Topics: News/Commentary

News/Commentary
If you got lost in the maze back there with the “public option” debate, The Economist, in a few crisply-written paragraphs, will help you catch up on health care reform painlessly.
We recommend painless whenever possible. Please read the whole piece.
The Economist
…”Completion of work on the bill is by no means a formality, though it does [...]

Topics: News/Commentary

News/Commentary
In my first grade, readers were divided into red birds and blue birds so the teacher could work with each group to its level. Of course, everyone knew who the good readers were (red) but it worked.
Health care professionals are dividing themselves into red birds and blue birds. Red birds are pro-vaccination. Blue birds are, [...]

Topics: News/Commentary, Top Stories

Patient, know thyself. A British study says it’s time for us to do our homework about ourselves.

Topics: News/Commentary, You, the Patient

News/Commentary
This is a balanced, physician’s account of what he already has discovered about electronic medical records (EMRs) through his hospital experience.
Some of what he describes—-the inability to include personal notes about the patient’s wish to wear her own flannel nightgown in the hospital or the inability to add stick figure drawings to show how a [...]

Topics: How To Speak Doctor, News/Commentary, You, the Patient

News/Commentary
By Cheree Cleghorn, Editor
We have taken our dogs to one vet for some 20 years, a practice headed by a man who is revered by other doctors and those who bring their pets to him.
His practice includes a mix of bright young vets learning from a master, whom he mentors and sends off to set [...]

Topics: How To Speak Doctor, News/Commentary, You, the Patient

News/Commentary
This is from Pauline W. Chen, M.D.’s column, Doctor and Patient, in the New York Times.
As a transplant surgeon, she makes a powerful case for how doctors and patients benefit from the kind of processes that are key to successful pre-transplant, in hospital and post-hospital care. It is a picture of what many health policy [...]

Topics: How To Speak Doctor, News/Commentary, You, the Patient