My last post, “Should You Have a Pap Smear?”, generated an avalanche of wisecracks from my male readers, mostly declining.  Thanks for that! I want to write another post about H1N1 flu about as much as I’d like to pour lemon juice on my paper cuts.  But there’s absolutely no other medical news to report and many of you are still much attuned to this developing story. Today’s Wall Street Journal ...

Last week I lamented that we can prevent so few cancers.  Cervical cancer screening is one of the success stories of prevention.  Regular pap smears can drastically decrease the risk of cervical cancer and makes death from cervical cancer virtually unheard of. Cervical cancer is a sexually transmitted disease, caused by human pappilomavirus (HPV).  Pap smears check for telltale changes in the cer...

What a better topic for Halloween than fear? All of us when hearing of a coworker or loved one who has been diagnosed with a life-threatening illness wonder if we could be next.  “What if I have lung cancer?  Should I get checked out?  There must be some tests I can get to make sure I’m OK.”  Those who take an active role in staying healthy are confident that they could do more to make sure they ...

Diversity of opinion is a mark of any free society.  Whenever I hear the latest conspiracy theory, see a commercial for a ghost-investigating “reality” show, or hear the latest quack cure advertised on radio, I remind myself that the spread of wacky fringe ideas is a consequence of liberty.  And, though I wish my fellow citizens would develop a bit of skepticism, I wouldn’t want anyone preventing ...

Dementia isn’t one disease.  Like cancer, dementia is a family of different diseases that have important similarities.  The diseases that cause dementia all lead to progressive memory loss and brain dysfunction.  Dementia is caused by Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia, Parkinson’s disease and several other rarer brain disorders.  The different diseases that cause dementia cause different symp...

Around the turn of the last century medical practice was in a sorry state.  Despite dramatic advances in physics, chemistry and physiology, the day-to-day practice of medicine was still entirely estranged from the scientific method.  Medical training and medical practice was still what it had been for thousands of years – an apprenticeship in which treatments were passed down from teacher to stude...

Countless of you (well actually, several of you) have asked me in the last few weeks “What about the swine flu vaccine?”  “Should I get it?”  “When will it be available?”  “Is it safe?”  “Does it not herald the coming of the zombie apocalypse?”  Well, your long wait for answers is finally over. So far the H1N1 infection has caused symptoms very similar to garden variety seasonal flu, except that ...

Resveratrol is a chemical found in the skin of red grapes, berries, plums and peanuts.  It is being widely promoted as the latest antiaging wonder drug.  Fortunately, to separate research from hype, this issue of The Medical Letter reviewed the current knowledge on Resveratrol. Resveratrol has shown some interesting benefits in animal experiments.  In obese mice, it increased insulin sensitivity ...

Atrial fibrillation is a very common abnormal heart rhythm affecting 3 million Americans.  The most dangerous complication of atrial fibrillation is stoke, which can happen when a blood clot forms in the fibrillating heart chambers and travels to the brain. Blood thinners have been the mainstay of treatment for atrial fibrillation.  They reduce the risk of stroke by preventing blood clots.  Warfa...

Many of my patients ask me whether they should take red yeast rice to lower their cholesterol.  This week’s issue of The Medical Letter has a very handy review of red yeast rice which I summarize below. Red yeast rice is a food that is produced by fermenting rice with a specific species of yeast.  It has been used in Chinese cooking and medicine for centuries.  It contains many molecules that are...