Category: Mind, Body & Health
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How many times have you opened up the newspaper or a magazine to see large colorful spreads advertising the latest prescription drug, followed by precisely formatted fonts cooing at you to 'Talk to your doctor to see if this is right for you', and pages of print so microscopic that you need an jeweller's loupe…
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I hope the FDA stops this drug approval process in its tracks. The birth control pill was something women needed. This one they don't. Making up a malady where one does not exist, is the game the pharmaceutical companies like to play. But will the FDA go along? Will women? Ever since Viagra met blockbuster success in 1998, the…
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Bad Bro vis a vis Big Bro : the perils of the Intertube Age. (Note: the first link is to a humorous situation that I found myself in. I had thoughts about contacting my cell phone carrier to ask about number blocks and such, a genuflection of sorts at the altar of Big Bro, but…
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Remember the outcry that rose when Texas governor Rick Perry attempted to make HPV vaccinations mandatory about 3 years ago? He backtracked when clear conflicts of interest were revealed, along with the pharmaceutical company's links to the decision-makers in the administration. (Link to Ruchira's earlier post regarding this) Yesterday, a familiar news snippet surfaced in…
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The health care reform bill passed the House and was signed into law by President Barack Obama this morning. There is much background news, ups and downs, the determination of some and display of ugliness by others in the run up to this historic event. Here are some of the principle features of the bill and how it came to…
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Defying the Catholic church's traditional hierarchy, US nuns have come out in support of the health care bill. Their numbers and influence may be declining, but American nuns demonstrated Wednesday what generations of schoolchildren already knew: They are a force to be reckoned with. By sending a letter to Congress in support of the Senate health care bill, a wide…
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Does happiness chase away the creative ability? This intriguing New York Times article suggests that depression and its attendant emotions might play an evolutionary role that has led to its being preserved in the human species across time, perhaps for the creative advantages that it confers. Imagine, no Lascaux cave art, if it weren't for…
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Around the Thanksgiving break in last November, was one of the Feel-Good, Miraculous stories of the season: Rom Houben, a comatose Belgian who had been bedridden for over 23 years, was actually communicating with the use of helpers, even without the benefit of normal faculties like speech or much muscular effort. From the BBC article:…
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From the New York Times Well Blog, first, a story about tamoxifen. Tamoxifen is an antagonist of the estrogen receptor in breast tissue, and some breast cancer cells require estrogen to grow. It cuts the risk of developing breast cancer in half. The story mentions other chemopreventions drugs, too. Apparently, these aren't popular. This quote…
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