Category Archives: Medicine
The Ghost of COVID
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 10th November 2024Niall Ferguson is a brilliant historian and commentator on current events. The following fragment of a sentence is from a recent article on the election. […the Covid vaccines that saved a significant number of older voters’ lives in 2021.] Ferguson’s topic is not the COVID vaccine, it’s politics. But he obviously thinks the vaccines were…
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Chronic Spontaneous Urticaria
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 16th October 2024Chronic urticaria is defined as wheals (hives), angioedema (swelling), or both that has been continuously or intermittently present for at least 6 weeks, in contrast to acute urticaria which is an episode of less than 6 weeks duration. This condition is common affecting about half a million Americans. It has recently been the subject of…
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Macular Degeneration and Drusen
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 8th October 2024Macular Degeneration (MD) affects central vision. It is most commonly observed in people over the age of 60. It is much more common in whites than in blacks or hispanics. Severity is divided into early, intermediate, and late types. The late type is additionally divided into “dry” and “wet” forms, with the dry form making up…
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The Olympic Boxers and 5-alpha reductase Deficiency
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 6th August 2024You may have heard of the controversy involving two boxers competing in the female division of the sport in the Paris Olympics. The issue causing the furor is whether the competitors are really female. The press reports state that previous testing has shown that the two have XY chromosomes and high levels of testosterone. They…
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LDL Cholesterol in China
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 23rd July 2024Low-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol, Cardiovascular Disease Risk, and Mortality in China is a study published in the JAMA Open Network. It is remarkable for the number of subjects studied – 3, 789, 025 participants! They were categorized into low-risk, primary prevention, and secondary prevention cohorts based on their medical history and ASCVD (atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease) risk. The primary…
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Malaria Prophylaxis with Subcutaneous Monoclonal Antibody
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 23rd May 2024Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects vertebrates. Human malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, fatigue, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. Symptoms usually begin 10 to 15 days after being bitten by an infected Anopheles mosquito. If not properly treated, people may have recurrences…
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New Treatment for Sickle Cell Disease
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 16th May 2024Sickle Cell Disease is a disorder caused by a single mutation that results in the production of Hemoglobin S. It is an autosomal dominant disease as it is not on a sex chromosome. If both parents possess the abnormal gene and each pass a copy to his/her offspring the child has sickle cell disease. Thus,…
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Mammography Should Start at Age 40 Says Task Force
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 2nd May 2024The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) just released a new breast cancer mammography screening recommendation. It advised that mammography should start at age 40, though the report nowhere mentions this new start. The Task Force’s full report is appended below. Here are some direct quotations from the report which presumably contain the evidence for…
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Screening for Colon Cancer in Older Adults
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 7th April 2024Screening for disease is not as straightforward as it may seem on cursory examination. Sometimes it does not influence the course of the screened for disease and other times it may cause more harm than good as early intervention may result in more morbidity than if the disease had been undiagnosed. Then there is the…
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FDA Approves First Treatment for NASH
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 25th March 2024Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is an advanced form of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). NAFLD is caused by a buildup of fat in the liver and is the most common form of liver disease in the United States. It affects patients who drink little to no alcohol. The fatty deposits occur when the liver can no…
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