Category Archives: Medicine
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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Stroke Risk After COVID-19 Vaccination Among Older Adults
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 22nd March 2024Stroke Risk After COVID-19 Bivalent Vaccination Among US Older Adults is a study just published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. It examined the risk of stroke in a time period immediately after administration of either brand of a COVID-19 bivalent vaccine compared with a later time period among adults aged 65 years…
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A Shortage of Physician-Scientists
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 17th February 2024Most people have no idea what a physician-scientist is or the job description for such a person. Many think that by definition medicine is a science and therefore an MD must be a scientist. Physicians get training in the rudiments of science during the first two years of medical school and may get a bit…
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Cancer Statistics 2024
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 23rd January 2024Every year the American Society publishes the latest cancer data. Its two reports are linked below. The abstract summarising the data is below. I have not corrected the few stylistic and grammatical errors contained in it. Below the abstract are some of the report’s key findings. Each year, the American Cancer Society estimates the numbers…
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