Most of the posts on this page will relate to things you can do or things you should know to improve your health. This post is an exception. It's about what you can do to help other people's health. It's a reminder to give blood.
I'll be donating this Sunday at a blood drive for the Red Cross.
You may not know that every unit donated is separated into three products -- red blood cells, platelets, and plasma. Each is given to a patient who needs that specific product so each donation has the po...
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Calcium and Vitamin D Supplements: Still Modestly Beneficial
Last week's New England Journal of Medicine article publishing the results of a large National Institutes of Health (NIH) study on the effects of calcium and vitamin D supplements on risk of bone fracture and the risk of colon cancer has generated much media attention. The results were disappointing to some, but I believe that they help make our expectations of calcium and vitamin D more realistic.
You can review...
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Preventive Care — Separating Facts from Myth
This article published yesterday in the Los Angeles Times features a great summary of the current scientific evidence about preventive care. (Registration is required by the Times to read the article, but is free.) Some of what is known may surprise you. The annual physical examination -- for example listening to the heart and the lungs, feeling the ...
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Low Fat Diet Does Not Prevent Breast Cancer
This very large study of the effects of diet on the incidence of breast cancer was just published today in The Journal of the American Medical Association and has received much media attention, including this article in the Los Angeles Times. The study is...
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Electronic Medical Records Improve Patient Care
In his State of the Union Address this week, the President specifically praised electronic medical records.
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We will make wider use of electronic records and other health information technology, to help control costs and reduce dangerous medical errors.Our office has had electronic medical records from the day we opened, three years ago. I believe that electronic records make possible improveme...