The debate on national nutrition policies is heating up as two federal panels begin work on the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. At the center …
Category: Wellness
Benefits of dialysis for frail elderly debated
USA Today readers debated the topic of the benefits of dialysis treatment for the frail elderly with kidney failure in response to the story "Risks …
Get out your running shoes, Mom
Between my job here and all the pregnancy/parenting books I've consumed over the past three years, I thought I knew all the pros and cons …
Greider on women in science
I wrote below about the unusual number of women recognized during the 2009 Nobel Prizes. Since then, another woman , Elinor Ostrom, PhD, shared the …
The great IVF debate
Over the weekend, the New York Times ran a piece on the costs of the twin pregnances and births that often result from in-vitro fertilization. …
Girl Power – to the Nobels, and beyond!
Our office has a specific 'crisis plan' to deal with the annual announcements of the Nobel Prizes in Physiology or Medicine (one category), and in …
WIC food vouchers shape up
Big news this week for pregnant women, moms, babies and kids who receive food vouchers from the federal Women, Infants and Children program. For years, …
The increasing power of the placebo
Steve Silberman has written a fascinating article for Wired about the increasing power of the placebo effect and its potential effect on the pharmaceutical industry. …
Exercising makes you brawny and brainy
Besides a slimmer waistline, here's another reason to lace up your running shoes, take a bike ride or dive into the pool: aerobic exercise makes …
Facing mortality
Like most people, I have a vision of a "good death" that doesn't include respirators, gurneys, IVs or ICUs. And until reading Newsweek this week, …
Checking in early
Very few people look forward to the day when they'll have to check into a nursing home. So why would a perfectly healthy 38-year-old move …
Debunking a labor myth
Last spring, when Stanford researcher Douglas Owens, MD, mentioned to me an upcoming study on the risks of labor induction, I took an immediate (and …
Death recalls struggle over intern work hours
I don't usually read obituaries but a recent one in the New York Times caught my eye. It was for Sidney Zion, a prosecutor, lawyer …
Testing for Alzheimer's: the psychological risks
I've always thought it would be crushing to know that I carry a gene for some dread disease yet could do nothing to prevent it. …
Science: The musical
Today at Wired Science, Aaron Rowe brings us the Top 10 Scientific Music Videos. The topics range from the human heart to the Large Hadron …
Risk vs. benefit: Roche pulls Accutane
Drug manufacturer Roche announced yesterday (6/09/09) that for financial reasons it will stop marketing Accutane, a medication for treating severe acne. Roche's patent on the …