By Robert Mocharla, MD
Faculty Peer Reviewed
Both New York and the world had a busy last few days this week. We all shared a collective cringe when JP Morgan announced a monstrous financial loss in an already volatile (to put it lightly) market. However, with the news that the Rangers took game 7, we were invited to live in the moment for just a bit longer and turn the city back into a hockey town for a few more days. On the medical side,…
By Jessica Taff, MD
Faculty Peer Reviewed
With the thrills of the Kentucky Derby and Cinco de Mayo now behind us, we are left awaiting the May flowers promised by an abundance of April showers. In our state of anticipation for the warm days of summer, popular activities appear to be intersecting with modern medicine. This past week, Facebook introduced a campaign to urge members to announce their organ donor status on the social networking site in a hope that this issue would creep into…
By Vincent M. Santillo, MD
Faculty Peer Reviewed
The Wonder Drug that Works Wonders!
On March 21st, readers of the New York Times woke up to the headline “Studies Link Daily Doses of Aspirin to Reduced Risk of Cancer.” The author Roni Rabin stated that daily aspirin “may significantly reduce the risk of many cancers and prevent tumors from spreading.” Exciting news for those looking for some way to avoid a dreaded diagnosis, as well as those with cancer looking to prevent metastasis. The…
By Pansy Tsang MD
Faculty Peer Reviewed
While your weekend may have been filled with Irish Soda bread, beer and college basketball, this week’s journals were heavy on the reproductive system and cancer screening and prevention.
With ever-changing recommendations, many doctors may find themselves confused when it comes to cancer screening in daily practice. As described in last week’s Primecuts, a recent paper in the Annals of Internal Medicine confirmed that many US doctors really do not understand cancer screening statistics.
Screening for prostate…
By Jiah Shin Teh, MD
Faculty Peer Reviewed
Whether you’re a sports fan or not, the news that has recently captivated the attention of the city that never sleeps is about the Linsanity of the New York Knicks’ stunning turnaround from a grim prospect for the playoffs to the team to beat. The media naturally has put a microscope on Jeremy Lin’s zero-to-hero story giving it countless perspectives. Along with the movie Moneyball, Lin’s story highlights the fact that in any line of work, things…
By Aviva Regev
Faculty Peer Reviewed
Introduction
Few people these days are unaware of the “obesity epidemic,” with its inception here in the United States and its steady, insidious spread around the globe. The numbers are truly staggering: in 2008, the World Health Organization estimated that 1.5 billion adults–over 20% of the earth’s population–were overweight, and 500 million of those were classified as obese, with a body mass index greater than 30. In the United States, over a third of the population is overweight, and…
By Chelsey Forbess, MS4
Faculty Peer Reviewed
While some people in this country have been following the Republican primary elections this past week, others trending the economy, and others observing the changing global weather patterns, I think it is safe to say that most people have been focused on Super Bowl XLVI. Whether you root for Eli, Tom, or Madonna, the Super Bowl unites all of America in the name of sports. (And television.) Unfortunately, watching football has also become synonymous with high-cholesterol foods like…
By Robert Fakheri, MD
Faculty Peer Reviewed
This past week President Barack Obama delivered the State of the Union address. He comforted us that Osama bin Laden, much like Generalissimo Francisco Franco, is still dead. Meanwhile, the auto industry is well on its way to recovery and US exports are on the rise. Other comforting news are plans for reforms in the tax code that will simplify regulations and ensure fairness so that secretaries are not obliged to pay higher tax rates than their billionaire…
Please enjoy this post from the archives on July 16, 2009
By Chau Che MD
Faculty Peer Reviewed
You’ll have increased energy, radiant skin, reduced joint pain, improved asthma symptoms, and best of all…you will lose weight. These are some of the purported benefits of removing “toxins” (otherwise known as undigested material) from the colon through cleansing. As with fashion, music, and art, what’s old has a way of becoming trendy again…especially when celebrities such as Beyonce talk about it on the Oprah Winfrey show.…
By Matt Neimat, MD
Faculty Peer Reviewed
With the upcoming elections, a hot topic of debate is healthcare reform and it appears as though even the government is making New Year’s resolutions. A recent article in the Boston Globe detailed an interesting new healthcare intuitive: beginning on January 1 2012, 32 hospitals and doctor groups, including five in Massachusetts, launched a new healthcare model called Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) aimed at improving care incentives while lowering healthcare costs . ACOs contract with healthcare payers such…
By Alexandra Sowa, MD
Faculty Peer Reviewed
Happy New Year!
For nostalgia’s sake, let’s take a look back before we begin to look forward. The December 21st edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) detailed a fascinating study on resting heart rate.
Although resting heart rate is widely recognized as an independent predictor of cardiovascular risk, little is known about the temporal effects of resting heart rate (RHR) on mortality (Fox). Researchers in Norway attempted to bridge this gap by examining the…
By Nicholas Amoroso, MD
Faculty Peer Reviewed
The Holidays Are Upon Us…Mostly in Our Waistline Region
At this time of year our daily doses of gingerbread cookies, pumpkin pies, and glasses of wine are inversely proportional to the number of workouts and bike rides we partake in.
In this week’s New England Journal of Medicine, Wadden and colleagues published a trial of obesity treatment in primary care, randomizing 390 obese adults to 3 different lifestyle interventions. Groups were assigned to either quarterly brief lifestyle…
