At one time or another, most of us need to deal with serious health conditions. How often do we hear our health providers tell us we are suffering from an autoimmune disease, which is commonly described as a situation where their body chemistry, “…mistakes some part of their body as...
The world of health has been turned upside down over the past few decades. Doctors had been derided for not prescribing enough pain-relief medicine back in the 1980s. Pain control had become so important that the world of health even saw fit to add a fifth indicator of health. The...
This was posted on “x.com” by someone whose handle I couldn’t copy. The post is true to the extent that I concur with it. He wrote, “… I started the process of building 18 units for families in (desperate) need of housing. I ran into a bunch of red tape...
Is Neosporin a Devil in Disguise? Neosporin, known as triple antibiotic ointment, is a medication that’s been used to reduce the risk of infections following minor skin injuries. It was created in the 1950s and approved for use by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) in 1971. It does not...
Story One. You’ve probably heard the story about the cocktail party. There was small talk and a smattering of serious conversation as well. Cedric, a small business owner, was in a group with Anna, an attorney. Cedric posed a legal question to which Anna hesitated to reply in detail. After...
Semaglutide was developed in 2012 by the Novo Nordisk company. It mimics the action of incretin glucagon-like peptide – 1 (GLP-1). It reportedly increases insulin secretion which removes excess sugar from the blood. It is still under patent and offered to the market as several trade name products; Ozempic (injection),...
Wikipedia defines Artificial Intelligence (AI) as “… perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by humans … [including] speech recognition, computer vision, translation between languages, as well as other mappings of inputs.” Currently, AI is reported as either dangerous, useful or just silly. Some reports...
Salt, table salt, sodium chloride, NaCl, has a history that stretches back millennia. It’s mentioned in several old texts, including the Bible, and it would be rare to find anyone who doesn’t know what it is and what it’s used for. In most of our history, salt has been on...
Risk is a relative term that applies to groups, not individuals. If all is held equal in a group, changing one element can increase or decrease overall risk for the group, but not the risk to each individual who makes up that group. What’s the point in making a change...
The United States and New Zealand are the only two countries in the world that allow drug companies to market prescription drugs directly to potential patients on TV, radio, print, and social media. Visitors from other countries are often shocked when they see ads in the U.S. which promote expensive...
Media unrelentingly blasts us with drug advertising. Most often, the drugs are referred to medicines, or treatments. In recent years we’ve been hearing about adjunct treatments – which generally means that there’s another drug that a person can take along with the drug(s) they already take, which might help the...
The Standard American Diet (SAD) often fails to supply the amount of useful nutrition we hope it would. Convenience seems to have taken the lead when it comes to getting food from the fields to our tables. Science and business have joined hands in altering food items so they will...
It used to be called “cold and flu season”. Since the COVID years, we seem to want to ignore that seasonal changes bring on troublesome symptoms. For the moment, let’s sidestep the health complaints associated with actual infections, bacterial and otherwise, and turn our attention to less onerous maladies. As...
“Scott Raymond Adams is an American author and cartoonist. He is the creator of the syndicated Dilbert comic strip, and the author of several nonfiction works of satire, commentary, and business.” (Wikipedia). I listen to his blogs, and I’ve read several of his books. He’s entertaining and informative. In recent...
Commonly, a profession is a paid occupation, one that involves prolonged training and a formal qualification. Someone talented at a sport, for example, who works diligently at perfecting her skills, is a professional athlete when she gets paid for playing her sport. Most of us could paint a house, and...
Scott Adams is the creator of the comic strip Dilbert. He’s the successful author of non-Dilbert-related works, including a popular novel called “The Religion War.” He recently proclaimed that we are all living at the threshold of the Golden Age. How can anyone possibly think that things are improving when...
Popular for decades, the Doris Day song, “Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be Will Be)”, speaks directly to a belief system that many people want to disagree with. There’s a deeply-held trust that everything is caused by something else, often referred to as cause-and-effect. It appears that way, but what...
Every rational person claims that they study, analyze, evaluate, and make decisions based on what he or she know to be true. The sad fact of the matter is that what we believe often is not true. It should be a simple matter, though, to gather solid data and change...
I once told a doctor that I place my hands and arms over my head when I get into bed for the night. He explained that wasn’t a good idea. According to his thoughts, raising the arms above the head changes the body alignment in such a way as to...
According to a radio commercial, it supposedly happens to all men, at some time or another – Urinary Incontinence (aka dribbling). The announcer suggested that one out of every two men will begin to experience urinary problems after they’re 40 years old. Although that number seems wrong, it’s not worth...
