October 21st, 2011 by RyanDuBosar in Research
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Women who smoke begin menopause a year earlier than nonsmokers, researchers concluded, adding that earlier menopause is associated with osteoporosis and heart disease.
Researchers conducted a meta-analysis of the available data about smoking and menopause, finding 11 studies comprising about 50,000 women, using age 50 as a threshold for early or late age at natural menopause (ANM). Results appeared in Menopause.
In five studies, participants were classified as Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at ACP Internist*
October 20th, 2011 by John Di Saia, M.D. in Opinion
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In years gone by, I spent far too much time removing small skin bumps in the office. At the time, I was sharing space with another doctor who was profiting by any service I provided. His staff scheduled me with tons of things that simply made me no money. [Meanwhile his stuff diverted some of my better business into his schedule as opposed to mine.]
The facts of life are that medicine is a business and when I am paying a huge chunk of change to overhead, I need to make that back or I operate at a loss.
Patients frequently don’t understand why I cannot remove their moles for what their insurance pays and make a profit. Well, Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Truth in Cosmetic Surgery*
October 20th, 2011 by GarySchwitzer in News, Opinion
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MSNBC commits an egregious example of disease-mongering in a piece they headlined:
“Plastic surgeon wants to fix your ‘runner’s face’. “
What is so egregious? Let us count the ways:
• They pass along a plastic surgeon’s news release about his treatment for a condition he calls “runner’s face”.
• So it is a promotion for his treatment for a condition he has named. This is what is called “advertising” – not “journalism.”
• They provide no data.
• They describe Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Gary Schwitzer's HealthNewsReview Blog*
October 20th, 2011 by RamonaBatesMD in Opinion
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I caught this movie last week flipping though channels looking for something to watch while I knitted.
“Five” stars Patricia Clarkson, Rosario Dawson, Lyndsy Fonseca, Ginnifer Goodwin, Josh Holloway, Tony Shalhoub, Jeffrey Tambor, and Jeanne Tripplehorn. It is an anthology of five short films exploring the impact of breast cancer on people’s lives.
The first one, the story of Charlotte (Ginnifer Goodwin), is set in 1969. Charlotte lays dying in her bedroom while the family mills around the house and the TV showing the mans first step on the moon. Her story for me was taken over by the effect of her cancer on her young daughter Pearl who only wants to see her mom. Finally she manages to sneak into the room.
The second one is Mia’s story. Mia (Patricia Clarkson) is the tale of Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Suture for a Living*
October 20th, 2011 by Lucy Hornstein, M.D. in Opinion, Research
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Hallelujah. At last there is an actual, published paper (full text behind subscription firewall, unfortunately) objectively documenting not only a lack of longevity benefit for several commonly consumed dietary supplements, but a numerical association indicating potential harm. Finally!
Investigators looked at nearly 39,000 women (in scientific terms: a lot) over 19 years of follow up (in scientific terms: a long time) and found increased risk of death in women who took supplemental iron (strongest association), copper, zinc, magnesium, Vitamin B6, and multi-vitamins.
Wow.
If nothing else, that should at least give one pause when considering whether or not to take supplements at all, especially in the demographic studied (the “older female”). But are they overstating their case? Scare-mongering? Not at all. In fact, the following caution was explicitly added by the researchers: Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Musings of a Dinosaur*
