palmd
Posts by this author
July 21, 2009
Having a daughter in my late 30's, I began my fatherhood journey a bit later than many. I don't have much to compare it with, but I do wonder how I'm going to keep up with the little princess. Mrs. Pal got us a Trail-a-Bike for Father's day---that's one of those "half bikes" you hook up to your…
July 21, 2009
Dear Fred:
First, I'd like to thank you for guarding the integrity of the swimming pool in my folks' neighborhood. I know they feel safer because of you.
On that proud day twenty years ago, the day they handed you the thin cotton t-shirt with the banded collar and sleeves that reads "Pool…
July 20, 2009
In 1994, Congress enacted the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA). This act allows for the marketing and sales of "dietary supplements" with little or no regulation. This act is the work of folks like Tom Harkin (who took large contributions from Herbalife) and Orrin Hatch, whose…
July 19, 2009
One of my Sciblings, one Ethan Siegel has issued a charity challenge. If one hundred commenters head over to his place and leave a comment assuring him that they will donate 10 USD to the charity of their choice, and name the charity, he will cut off his luxuriant locks.
Please, do it. His hair…
July 19, 2009
Yes, this post is a repeat from long ago, but I was reminded dig it up after reading a piece at a friend's blog. Thanks for indulging me. --PalMD
If Bob Dylan provides the soundtrack for much of my life, then coffee provides the "smelltrack". I did not start to drink coffee until I was about 20…
July 19, 2009
Yes, the new PalCast is finally up. Get it through the feed or on iTunes. Perfect for 18min30sec car rides!
July 17, 2009
If you've dipped even one toe into the science blogosphere lately, you've seen discussion of Chris Mooney and Sheril Kirshenbaum's new book, Unscientific America: How scientific illiteracy threatens our future. I have very little interest in the arguments currently raging but not because I don't…
July 16, 2009
An old medical joke goes like this:
An oncologist goes to check on his patient, a 90 year-old man with Alzheimer's disease and metastatic pancreatic cancer. The doc is about to start him on a new round of chemo, but when he goes to the patient's room, he's not there.
He demands of the nurse, "…
July 15, 2009
I've frequently written that alternative medicine beliefs are much like religion, and often cult-like. When reading about alternative medicine, you'll often encounter charismatic leaders, faith in the unknowable, and conversion experiences. A fine example of the latter is currently up at the…
July 15, 2009
Influenza is a fascinating virus. When it undergoes antigenic shift, as the novel H1N1 ("swine") flu did, it efficiently evades most people's immune systems. Non-novel flu strains are bad enough, but antigenically novel strains can have a ridiculously high attack rate. John Barry's book, The…
July 14, 2009
I've got a lot of patients who are worried about health care reform. Most of it is expressed in right-wing radio talking points. They quite literally believe that they will no longer be able to choose their doctor, or that other doom and gloom events are imminent.
Have they no experience with…
July 13, 2009
By now, we all know that the Huffington Post represents the zombification of medical news---interesting ideas are taken, eviscerated of any real meaning, their innards replaced with pablum, and the reanimated creature set loose on the world.
Reanimation of the undead is, it would seem, a rather…
July 12, 2009
A month ago, I was diagnosing several cases of influenza-like illness (ILI) every day. Then, as suddenly as it began, it disappeared---no ILI, no positive nasal swabs for influenza A (and hence H1N1/swine flu)---just the usual strep throat, poison ivy, ankle sprains, etc. So what happened?
The…
July 9, 2009
On July 4th at 5 a.m., I'm loading the family into the car and driving very far away, where cellphones, pagers, and most critically the internet, do not work. Blogging has been very hard for me lately. I love writing, but due to work and family mishegos it's been hard to keep up with the posting…
July 8, 2009
On July 4th at 5 a.m., I'm loading the family into the car and driving very far away, where cellphones, pagers, and most critically the internet, do not work. Blogging has been very hard for me lately. I love writing, but due to work and family mishegos it's been hard to keep up with the posting…
July 7, 2009
On July 4th at 5 a.m., I'm loading the family into the car and driving very far away, where cellphones, pagers, and most critically the internet, do not work. Blogging has been very hard for me lately. I love writing, but due to work and family mishegos it's been hard to keep up with the posting…
July 6, 2009
On July 4th at 5 a.m., I'm loading the family into the car and driving very far away, where cellphones, pagers, and most critically the internet, do not work. Blogging has been very hard for me lately. I love writing, but due to work and family mishegos it's been hard to keep up with the posting…
July 5, 2009
On July 4th at 5 a.m., I'm loading the family into the car and driving very far away, where cellphones, pagers, and most critically the internet, do not work. Blogging has been very hard for me lately. I love writing, but due to work and family mishegos it's been hard to keep up with the posting…
July 4, 2009
On July 4th at 5 a.m., I'm loading the family into the car and driving very far away, where cellphones, pagers, and most critically the internet, do not work. Blogging has been very hard for me lately. I love writing, but due to work and family mishegos it's been hard to keep up with the posting…
July 3, 2009
Yes, every skeptic on the web has posted this, but it is irresistible. Remember, yanks, that A&E in the UK is not a boring cable TV channel but what they call an ER.
July 2, 2009
In case you hadn't noticed, the advertising present on the top and right of the blog has been a bit odd lately. Dr. Oz's smiling face has been showing up above mine, you may have just won $59, your teeth can be whiter than white, and last but not least human trafficking in "Russian brides".…
July 1, 2009
The medical education calendar begins and ends on the first of July each year, and in the hospital, that means a brand spanking new crop of young doctors. While this may sound a bit scary, the facts are a bit subtle (and not terrifying). Some of the questions regarding the so-called July…
June 30, 2009
Major depressive disorder (hereafter referred to as "depression") is a prevalent and disabling illness. According to the National Institute of Mental Health:
Major Depressive Disorder is the leading cause of disability in the U.S. for ages 15-44...[and]...affects approximately 14.8 million…
June 29, 2009
A long while back, at the original wordpress incarnation of this blog, I wrote a piece on the reasons that chiropractic is unscientific nonsense. Because it was popular, I moved it over here. Well, a chiropractor has come to bravely defend his field and left us a comment.
A study in the May 2007…
June 28, 2009
(NB: as is usual with my more "science-y" posts, oversimplification is the rule. --PalMD)
It's been a very long while since I've updated my series on cancer. I keep meaning to, but you know how things go. Lately, though, I've been curious about radiation oncology, the use of ionizing radiation to…
June 27, 2009
PalCast 12 is up.
Some relevant links:
Anal Cancer
HPV and cancer
Simon Singh and chiroquacktic
A blogospheric proposal
Bad medical ideas
Crazy new autism ideas
June 25, 2009
Medical science rarely undergoes revolutionary changes. Progress tends to be slow and steady, with new ideas undergoing extensive investigation before being implemented. This pace can be frustrating and every once in a while, someone comes along who thinks they have discovered The Secret to It…
June 24, 2009
Everyone who uses the internet leaves some sort of footprint, even if it's just a string of visited addresses. This presence is magnified if you've ever been in the news, been listed on a website (e.g., as faculty), or if you write a blog. Social networking sites such as facebook and Twitter add…
June 19, 2009
I've been a bit remiss in my coverage of the Simon Singh case, reviewed in detail by Phil Plait, among others. As many of my readers already know, respected science writer Simon Singh is being sued for libel in England by the British Chiroquacktic Association (BCA) because he described some of…