Medicine

Do GLP-1 Drugs Have Effects Beyond Weight Loss?

October 11, 2026

GLP-1 drugs, such as Ozempic and Wegovy, mimic glucagon-like peptide-1, a hormone released by the intestine after eating. This hormone helps coordinate the body’s response to food: it prompts the pancreas to release insulin when blood sugar rises, reduces signals that cause the liver to release stored sugar, slows the passage of food out of […]

Hormone replacement therapy and dementia risk among postmenopausal women

September 6, 2026

Written by Neil Kurtzman | 6th September 2026 Hormone replacement therapy and dementia risk among postmenopausal women: Identifying responsive subgroups in the UK Biobank is a study published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association. This large observational study found that hormone replacement therapy (HRT) was associated with a modestly lower hazard […]

Cannabis Use Disorder in American Adults

August 28, 2026

In December 2025, President Trump issued Executive Order 14370, declaring it federal policy to increase medical marijuana and cannabidiol (CBD) research and directing the Attorney General to expedite the movement of marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III. The order stated that marijuana has credible scientific support for pain, medically related anorexia, and nausea and […]

Polymyalgia Rheumatica

August 19, 2026

Polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) is an inflammatory disorder that occurs almost entirely in people over the age of 50. Its name is somewhat misleading: although it literally means “rheumatic pain in many muscles,” the muscles themselves are not primarily diseased. Much of the inflammation appears to involve structures around the joints, including bursae and tendons, particularly […]

Cyclospora in the Salad Bowl

July 18, 2026

The United States is experiencing an unusually large outbreak of cyclosporiasis, a prolonged diarrheal illness caused by the microscopic parasite Cyclospora cayetanensis. Although the disease is rarely fatal, it can produce weeks of watery diarrhea, fatigue, anorexia, abdominal distress, volume contraction, and weight loss. Its tendency to disappear briefly and then return makes it particularly […]

Vaccinating Honeybees and Shrimp

June 12, 2026

The idea of vaccinating honeybees and shrimp would have sounded like science fiction only a few years ago. Both animals are invertebrates, lacking the sophisticated antibody-based immune systems that make vaccination possible in humans, dogs, cattle, and other vertebrates. Yet recent research has shown that even these seemingly simple creatures possess forms of immune memory […]

Increasing Use of Nurse Practitioners

May 19, 2026

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal focuses on the increasing use of nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician assistants (PAs) in filling patient care gaps in our medical system. There are now 461,000 NP active, an increase in 61% since 2019. They function in much the same way as do family practitioners; the same […]

Hantavirus – A Primer

May 15, 2026

The recent outbreak of Hantavirus infections aboard the Dutch expedition cruise ship MV Hondius, which had been sailing from Ushuaia through the South Atlantic toward the Canary Islands, combined with the painful memory of the COVID pandemic, has raised public awareness and fear to levels probably beyond the boundary of reality. Below are a few […]

New Blood Pressure Guidelines for Older Americans

March 18, 2026

In the 2025 American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology hypertension guideline, management of hypertension in adults ≥65 years has shifted from an age-based to a risk-based approach. Unlike prior guidance, age alone no longer mandates pharmacologic therapy for stage 1 hypertension (130–139/80–89 mm Hg). Instead, treatment is recommended if the patient has ≥7.5% 10-year cardiovascular […]

Cancer Statistics 2026

January 14, 2026

Every January the American Cancer Society releases the latest data about cancer in the United States. The full report can be downloaded below. As is typical for the society their press release highlights the increase in cancer survival. Below is a quotation from an article in the lay press: The five-year cancer survival rate in […]

New Insight Into the Cause of Lupus

January 9, 2026

Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic autoimmune disease where the immune system attacks healthy tissues and organs, causing widespread inflammation affecting skin, joints, kidneys, heart, lungs, and brain, with symptoms like fatigue, fever, rashes (especially a butterfly-shaped facial rash), joint pain, and mouth sores that vary in severity and occur in flares and remissions, […]

A New Yeast Infection

January 7, 2026

As if the strike zone were not big enough, nature keeps throwing spitballs at us. One such pitch is a relatively new fungal infection, Candida auris. The pathogen was first identified in a Japanese patient in 2009. Unlike most Candida species, C. auris is often resistant to many antifungal drugs. It can persist on surfaces […]

President Trump’s MRI

December 2, 2025

A White House memorandum from President Trump’s physician, Captain Sean P. Barbabella, stated that the MRI scan of the president’s heart and abdomen was “perfectly normal”. The memo, released in December 2025, explained that the advanced imaging was a preventative measure standard for a man of Trump’s age to assess his cardiovascular and abdominal health. The […]

Oral Hygiene and General Health

November 17, 2025

Most physicians are content to note the condition of their patients’ oral hygiene and then leave its management to the dentist. But poor oral hygiene is a state of chronic inflammation with all the attendant ill effects that follow in its wake. It’s a very accurate forecast of serious health problems in the near future. […]

Medical Reporting in the Lay Press

October 28, 2025

Relying on the lay press for medical advice can often lead to incorrect conclusions or misguided directions. The article linked below is a good example of how well-meaning but improperly thought out reporting can lead to conclusions not based on solid experimental design or reasoning. Drinking More Than 1 Can of Any Soda Daily Linked […]