Category Archives: Medicine
Increasing Use of Nurse Practitioners
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 19th May 2026A 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…
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Hantavirus – A Primer
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 15th May 2026The 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…
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New Blood Pressure Guidelines for Older Americans
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 18th March 2026In 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…
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Cancer Statistics 2026
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 14th January 2026Every 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…
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New Insight Into the Cause of Lupus
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 9th January 2026Systemic 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,…
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A New Yeast Infection
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 7th January 2026As 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…
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President Trump’s MRI
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 2nd December 2025A 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…
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Oral Hygiene and General Health
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 17th November 2025Most 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….
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Medical Reporting in the Lay Press
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 28th October 2025Relying 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…
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Acetaminophen During Pregnancy
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 23rd September 2025Confusion now hath made his masterpiece Politics and medicine make for a bad amalgam under the best of circumstances. The Trump administration’s warning that acetaminophen (best known as Tylenol, but widely available under other marques) might cause autism has created a mess – there’s no other word for the situation. There are so many things…
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