By Elissa Driggin
Peer Reviewed
At almost every single one of my medical school interviews, each interviewer, noting my college major in nutritional science, asked some variation of the question, “What should I be …
Category: Clinical Questions
Clinical Correlations
Are We Too Clean or Too Dirty? The Hygiene Hypothesis in Asthma
September 21, 2016
By James Barger
Peer Reviewed
Asthma, an obstructive pulmonary disease characterized by bronchospasm and chronic airway inflammation, has afflicted mankind for millennia. In the 1st century AD, the Greek physician Aretaeus of Cappadocia …
Sex or Drugs: Why Do We See An Increased Incidence of Oropharyngeal Cancer?
July 13, 2016
By Tyler Litton, MD
Peer Reviewed
Oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC) is relatively rare but incidence has increased in the US over the past 40 years. [1] Tonsillar cancer is the most common …
Gun Violence: A Public Health Concern?
June 9, 2016
By Matthew B. McNeill, MD
Peer Reviewed
One can often feel numb or indifferent to the seemingly nightly reports of gun deaths on American news programs. Individual homicides, suicides, or accidental gun deaths are tragic …
Wearable Health Trackers: Better behaviors, or Fashion fads?
May 25, 2016
By David Valentine, MD
Peer Reviewed
Currently, well over one third of US adults use at least one health-related online service or app, with almost half of those focused on physical activity 1. …
Can N-Acetylcysteine be Used in Non-Acetaminophen Induced Acute Liver Failure?
May 20, 2016
By David Pineles, MD
Peer Reviewed
In the early 1970’s, scientists discovered in animal models that a minor metabolite of acetaminophen, N-acetyl-p-benzoquinone imine (NAPQI), accumulates in the body after ingestion. This metabolite is normally conjugated …
Bedside Rounds: How Useful are the Kernig and Brudzinski signs for Predicting Meningitis?
April 27, 2016
By Chio Yokose, MD
Peer Reviewed
Even in this era of modern medicine, bacterial meningitis remains a widely feared diagnosis in both resource-rich and -poor settings worldwide. Bacterial meningitis is among the ten most common …
Don’t Tie Me Down! Do Neckties Spread Infection?
February 24, 2016
By Gabriel Campion
Peer Reviewed
For over a century, neckties have been a staple accessory in the wardrobe of the American professional man. Although white-collar dress codes have trended toward a more casual …