MARC RENDELL, MD Due to the high prevalence of Diabetes and the many serious health problems which result, the health care burden of this disease on our society is enormous. We now are on the threshold of a major expansion of health care in our population. U.S. President Barack Obama has rightly recognized that health…
MICHAEL SHAHANI As we are in the midst of the back-to-school season with the winter months ahead, now is a good time to start thinking about what we can do to keep healthy as the weather gets colder. People will start to spend more time indoors, becoming more susceptible to colds and flu. Probiotics, sometimes…
ROBERT GUTHRIE A world of instant information and over-reporting can flood us with potentially vital but often trivial health information. Understanding the credibility of the study at the source can help you eliminate the static and recognize the relevant. Recently, I saw a small study published in a very obscure medical journal covered on a…
DAVID T. NASH, MD About three generations ago, most physicians learned very little about cholesterol during their medical school and in-hospital training, other than the history of very early work by a Russian researcher feeding cholesterol to rabbits, creating an atherosclerotic-like lesion. Many practicing physicians one generation ago doubted the value of treating elevated levels,…
ANNE CHILDRESS, M.D. AND LINDA FRANTOM, PH.D. When one hears the words attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), the images of a misbehaving child who is darting in and out of line, climbing inappropriately, interrupting the teacher, and having trouble paying attention may come to mind. Although these symptoms certainly can describe ADHD, which is often diagnosed during childhood,…
DR. LYNN JOHNSON Jacob owes school loans amounting to $155,000. He does have a law degree, though and, with associates in good firms earning $135,000 to start, he wasn’t worried. Two years later and earning substantially less than predicted, he has learned that he hates being an attorney. I help a bar association coach attorneys…
DR. VONDA WRIGHT Greater than 1.5 million young men participate in American football across all levels in the United States. They will sustain more than 1.2 million football-related injuries this year. Injury is an inherent part of football, a product of the game’s brutal nature and the alternate side of the coin that is American…
DR. ROBERT GUTHRIE Stroke, or cerebrovascular accident as it is properly known, is a common manifestation of the diseases of the arterial system that I have been discussing in previous columns. Stroke involves a blockage in the arterial system that supplies blood to the brain, or a bleeding (hemorrhage) from one of the arteries into…
DR. ANDREW CHAPMAN AND DR. KRISTINE SWARTZ Several weeks ago, Mrs. Smith, an 80-year-old widow, was diagnosed with breast cancer after she felt something in the shower. Her husband of 50 years died seven years earlier and she has lived alone since. She is scared about what the disease means and how to face it. …
DR. KENNETH BLUM Almost half-of the U.S. population has indulged in illegal drug practices. Presidential candidates are forced to dodge tricky questions of their past history involving illegal drug use and almost every American has sloshed down a martini or two in their life time. There must be a reason, a need, or natural response…