Good news on health care in 2014, but we’re still spending too much
By Wendell Potter The end of the year is always a good time to reflect on what went right and what didn’t and to speculate about what might happen in…
Using weights to target belly fat
Healthy men who did 20 minutes of daily weight training had less increase in age-related abdominal fat than men who spent the same amount of time doing aerobic activities, according…
Leading role for Murthy: New American Surgeon General
Harvard health experts anticipated bold pronouncements on tobacco control, obesity, and mental health this week, as they digested the news that Harvard Medical School physician Vivek Murthy had been confirmed…
Using Prescriber Checkup: A Quick Guide
By ProPublica by Charles Ornstein UPDATED December 2014 Download a PDF of this tipsheet here. Until recently, there was no way for members of the public to assess whether doctors…
Creating ‘genomic origami’
In a triumph for cell biology, researchers have assembled the first high-resolution, 3-D maps of entire folded genomes and found a structural basis for gene regulation, a kind of “genomic…
Health worries pervade North Texas fracking zone
By Jamie Smith Hopkins DALLAS—Propped up on a hospital bed, Taylor Ishee listened as his mother shared a conviction that choked her up. His rare cancer had a cause, she…
A Comparison of Side Effects With Prescription Medication and Marijuana
I just read an article on Bloomberg called The ‘Marijuana Middle’ is the New Drug Policy Majority. The article speaks of the changing public opinion on marijuana. Even conservative Republicans…
Cannabis oil clinical trial could cost Georgia $8 million
By Homer Scarborough from the Checkerboard Gang Hold on! A few questions first, if you don’t mind: 1. Is a clinical trial going to be legally required in the proposed…
A Look at Medical Marijuana in Georgia: Why So Slow?
Yes I called it marijuana and not cannabis for the same reasons people use the term tobacco and not Nicotiana tabacum. There is no reason to try and sanitize a…
Ebola: Paranoid Frenzy in America While Brits Remain Calm Cool and Collected
In some pockets of America, people are freaking out about getting Ebola. Parents in Mississippi kept their children home from middle school because the principal recently traveled to Africa. A…
Cosmetic surgery can be a Symptom of Psychological Issues
This inspiration for this article came from a TV commercial I was just watching while having dinner that featured Marie Osmond for Nutri Systems. At first I wasn’t quite sure…