Category Archives: Medicine

Abstract of the Year – Pregnant Persons

Written by Neil Kurtzman | 22nd October 2021

Below is an abstract that appeared in the Journal of the American medical Association. I assume it was written by the USPSTF, but I can’t sure. Regardless, I’d be careful about taking advice from anyone who has trouble realizing only women get pregnant. I certainly would want my pregnant wife, daughter, etc to be cared…


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Colin Powell’s Death From COVID

Written by Neil Kurtzman | 19th October 2021

The reporting of Colin Powell’s death exemplifies why the public is so confused about the COVID outbreak. Here’s a representative excerpt concerning the General’s demise: His passing represents a breakthrough death—when fully vaccinated patients die from COVID-19. Roughly 7,100 such deaths have been reported in the US, with 85% occurring in patients 65 and older. That the infection…


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FDA Issues Guidance on Dietary Salt

Written by Neil Kurtzman | 14th October 2021

The FDA has issued guidance about dietary salt intake. Their advice needs to be taken with a grain of salt – sorry, I couldn’t resist. The summary below conveys their intent and message. The whole report is below and can be downloaded. This guidance supports the goal of reducing sodium intake as recommended by scientific…


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Salt and Cardiovascular Disease

Written by Neil Kurtzman | 19th September 2021

We’ve known for a long time that some people are salt sensitive – ie, when salt is ingested in amounts greater than required to maintain homeostasis blood pressure rises as does the likelihood of stroke and other cardiovascular diseases. The remainder of humanity can safely ingest large amounts of salt without hypertension and its associated…


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Opera Doctors

Written by Neil Kurtzman | 18th August 2021

Given the title of this site, I can’t explain why it took me so long to cover this subject. Below are 10 operas in which physicians appear. Their role in each opera ranges from important to miniscule. Dr Bartolo is in both Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro and Rossini’s The Barber of Seville. In the…


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The Delta Variant and Herd Immunity

Written by Neil Kurtzman | 12th July 2021

CNN’s medical contributor Dr Leana Wen said: “So now we have this delta variant that is much more contagious. Because it’s more contagious, it’s going to be even harder for us to reach herd immunity.” Dr Wen who seems very intelligent and well trained (in Emergency Medicine) must have been on autopilot when she made…


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Noise – Book Review

Written by Neil Kurtzman | 6th June 2021

Noise – A Flaw in Human Judgement is a book by Daniel Kahneman, Oliver Sibony, and Cass Sunstein. The noise that is their subject is not that of honking geese or backfiring motorcycles; it’s the unwanted variability in judgement or decision making when the facts behind the decision or judgement are the same. Noise and…


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How Long Does COVID Immunity Last?

Written by Neil Kurtzman | 28th May 2021

Now that the COVID epidemic is receding in the United States, a critical question is how long will the immunity to the disease persist in patients who have recovered from the infection or in subjects who have been vaccinated against it? A study published in Nature suggests that immunity may last a lifetime. The study…


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On the Practice of Medicine

Written by Neil Kurtzman | 13th May 2021

As student, trainee, educator, scientist, practitioner, and occasionally as a patient I have observed medicine as an insider for close to two thirds of a century. While the power of medical technology has grown exponentially over this span, the general principles of medical practice remain the same. My subject is the interplay between these two…


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The origin of COVID: Did people or nature open Pandora’s box at Wuhan?

Written by Neil Kurtzman | 11th May 2021

The title above is that of a detailed report by the eminent science writer Nicholas Wade. In it he discusses the the possible scenarios for how the COVID-19 epidemic originated. No one else has examined all the evidence concerning the appearance of this virus with as much rigor and thoroughness as has Wade. His list…


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