Because Good Medicine Deserves Better Explanations
Growing up and living with the diet-heart hypothesis through my professional career has been a remarkable experience. I was lucky. My mentors were great. I went to all the big cardiology conferences. I read the best books and I learned from the great masters. Early on, I was taught the fairly well established relationship between blood cholesterol and coronary heart disease. … Read more
When to prescribe statin therapy for people without established cardiovascular disease is a hotly debated issue among medical doctors. Recent clinical guidelines have recommended extending the use of these drugs to reduce the burden of cardiovascular disease. Recommendations on statin use are to a large extent based on meta-analyses on data from randomized controlled trials, either comparing statins to placebo … Read more
The science of Alzheimer’s disease has come a long way since 1906, when Alois Alzheimer first described the key features of the disease. Alzheimer, who was a German neurologist and psychiatrist, noticed abnormal deposits in the brain of a 51-year old woman who had dementia. It was later confirmed that patients with Alzheimer’s disease often have brain abnormalities … Read more
It was early Sunday morning. Mr. Mason watched his wife across the kitchen table. She appeared deeply engaged in the daily crossword puzzle. He swallowed his three diabetes pills with a large sip of orange juice. There was a momentary sparkle of light, a glint of sunshine through the clouds. He would give it another try. “I’m told that a highly prestigious … Read more
Since the 1970’s jogging has become an increasingly popular form of exercise. Jogging means running at a gentle pace. Going at a pace of less than 6 miles per hour (10 km per hour) is usually defined as jogging, while running is defined as anything faster than 6 miles per hour. There are many reasons why … Read more