WHO Says COVID-19 Is No Longer A Global Emergency
GENEVA (AP) — The World Health Organization said Friday that COVID-19 no longer qualifies as a global emergency, marking a symbolic end to the devastating coronavirus pandemic that triggered once-unthinkable lockdowns, upended economies worldwide and killed at least 7 million people worldwide. WHO said that even though the emergency phase was over, the pandemic hasn’t […]
Recreational Cannabis Use a Negative for Adolescent Mental Health
Cannabis use that doesn’t rise to the level of diagnosable substance abuse disorder was nonetheless associated with negative affects on mental health, national data showed. In the 2015 to 2019 National Surveys on Drug Use and Health, 2.5% of participants ages 12-17 reported repeated past-year cannabis use to a degree that led to clinically significant […]
Thriving After Cancer
“The Doctor’s Art” is a weekly podcast that explores what makes medicine meaningful, featuring profiles and stories from clinicians, patients, educators, leaders, and others working in healthcare. Listen and subscribe/follow on Apple, Spotify, Amazon, Google, Stitcher, and Podchaser. When we hear about people with cancer, the stories often end when the treatments end — either […]
Opinion | You Choose: Food or Medications?
The phone rings at 2 a.m. The resident doctor on call that night is contacted to discuss a Latinx patient who presented with seizures. He had missed his medication for about a week. He had recently been laid off and lost insurance coverage. He couldn’t afford to refill his eslicarbazepine acetate (Aptiom) prescription. This was […]
Thumbs Down From FDA Panel on Plastic Meniscus Replacement
An FDA advisory committee voted 6-2, with one absention, that a novel, synthetic knee meniscus replacement’s benefits do not outweigh its risks, and thus is not suitable for marketing. Members of the Orthopaedic and Rehabilitation Devices Panel of the FDA’s Medical Devices Advisory Committee said the efficacy data were too weak, and a nearly 50% […]
Water arsenic including in public water is linked to higher urinary arsenic totals among the U.S. population: Highest concentrations found in the West and South and among Mexican American and other Hispanic participants
A new study by researchers at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health shows that water arsenic levels are linked to higher urinary arsenic among the U.S. population for users of both private wells and public water systems. The findings are published in the journal Environmental Research. Long-term exposure to arsenic even at low and […]
Transplant Chief Was an Organ Recipient Herself
Though it wasn’t so long ago that Sara Kathryn Smith, MD, was a liver transplant patient herself, last year she became the medical director for pediatric liver transplantation at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center in Baltimore. Smith’s unique perspective on patient care has primed her for the role, and for advocating for the importance of organ […]
Diet high in fruit and vegetables linked to lower miscarriage risk
A preconception and early-pregnancy diet that contains lots of fruit, vegetables, seafood, dairy, eggs and grain may be associated with reducing risk of miscarriage, a new review of research suggests. Researchers at the University of Birmingham, funded by Tommy’s, analysed 20 studies which explored women and birthing people’s eating habits in the months before and […]
Warning labels on restaurant menus reduced likelihood consumers would order high-sugar foods: But labels should be designed for higher visibility, researchers suggest
Added-sugar warning labels reduced the likelihood that consumers would order items containing high amounts of added sugar in an online experiment led by University of California, Davis, researchers. Menu labels can help inform consumers about the surprisingly high amount of added sugar in even the smallest sizes of soda or in unexpected items like salad […]
Opinion | ‘Agree With Dog’ and Other Obscure Patient Chart Notes
I keep hoping that we are going to get to a place where we can use the medical record for what it really should be. As we evolved away from paper charts, and smeary, inky, illegible doctors’ handwriting, the promise of an electronic medical record that really helps us take care of patients emerged — […]