Month: June 2020

Did you know that cholesterol was first isolated from gallstones in 1784, and that 13 Nobel Prizes have gone to scientists researching cholesterol?[i] That history culminates in a banner year for statin drugs: in 1987, the FDA approved the first commercial statin for the management of cholesterol. A multipurpose drug Statins have saved millions of keep reading

Gone are the days of “exploratory surgery.” Today’s magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a widely used scanning method that provides accurate 3D pictures of physical anatomy and bodily processes. It is noninvasive, and there is no exposure to radiation as with CT/PET scans. MRI detects changes in atoms under high frequency radio waves within a keep reading

Baseball fans are familiar with the Baltimore Orioles, a team named for the state bird of Maryland. Since 1954, the bird has brought them luck: 7 pennants and 3 World Series. Now there’s a new ORIOLE that’s having a winning season in the fight against metastatic prostate cancer. ORIOLE stands for a study called the keep reading

“New Shimmer is a floor wax.” “No, it’s a dessert topping.” “It’s a floor wax!” “It’s a dessert topping!” These lines open a Saturday Night Live comedy argument between a housewife (Gilda Radner) about to damp mop the kitchen floor, and her husband (Dan Aykroyd) wanting whipped topping on his pudding. As the spat escalates, keep reading

There’s no way around the fact that humans will be technically outsmarted by machines in the near future, so the best thing we can bring to health care is those traits (like empathy and concern) that are uniquely human. – Idea embraced by Eric Topol, M.D. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a rapidly advancing information technology, keep reading

The arrival of the Novel Coronavirus quickly became a pandemic. Shortages of medical resources like personal protective equipment (PPE) for healthcare personnel and ventilators for hospitalized patients took an unprecedented toll on lives. Now, as I write this in early June, the U.S. is gradually reopening after months of lockdown. I look back from this keep reading

Youthful drivers may have the urge to put the pedal to the metal, but older cyclists might want to pause before putting pelvis to the saddle. The bicycle saddle, that is. An online Urology Times article presents the impact of bike riding on men’s health.[i] On the plus side, there are many compelling benefits, including keep reading