2002

Israel and smallpox vaccination

December 26, 2002

Israel Will Expand Its Smallpox Vaccinations, but Not to Everyone Israeli officials said today that they had decided against vaccinating the entire population against the smallpox virus. But they said they were expanding the number of soldiers and health care workers who would be vaccinated to 40,000 or more. The officials said they made the [...]

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The Pharmaceutical Industry Fights Back

December 26, 2002

Drug Makers Battle Plan to Curb Rewards for Doctors. Drug companies and doctors are fighting a Bush administration plan to restrict gifts and other rewards that pharmaceutical manufacturers give doctors and insurers to encourage the prescribing of particular drugs. In October, the Department of Health and Human Services said many gifts and gratuities were suspect [...]

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Holiday greetings

December 25, 2002

May you and your family have a wonderful holiday season. Thanks for reading my blog. Writing this blog has helped me greatly. I have developed the discipline to think and write about medical issues daily. Thanks to the blog, I read the newspapers, review major journals, and peruse various web sites. I hope that some [...]

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The evils of nicotine

December 25, 2002

Millions of U.S. Smokers Ignore Warnings: Millions of Americans Keep Smoking Despite Doctors’ Warnings, Illnesses The story is well known to physicians. I have patients sneak off the floor after a myocardial infarction – to smoke – even when the temperature is in the 30s. I have patients remove their oxygen to go outside to [...]

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The year in review

December 25, 2002

Medical Milestones: Remembering the Top Stories of 2002. These are Dr. Tim Johnson’s top five – and he seems to have it right. Read and enjoy. viagra free viagra buy viagra online generic viagra how does viagra work cheap viagra buy viagra buy viagra online inurl viagra 6 free samples viagra online viagra for women [...]

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Beware the slippery slope

December 25, 2002

Dutch Doctor Loses Euthanasia Appeal This short article makes my point precisely. So what point is that (the curious reader is asking)? I am, have been, and will be against active euthanasia. I have read all the arguments in favor, and still believe that physicians should not engage in euthanasia. Here is my argument. We [...]

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Eat fish – at least monthly

December 25, 2002

Small Amount of Fish in Diet Is Said to Yield Big Benefits Men who eat seafood as seldom as once a month may cut their risk of the most common kind of stroke by more than 40 percent, a new study by the Harvard School of Public Health has found. Many studies over the last [...]

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Eplerenone is coming

December 24, 2002

We have used little spironalactone over the past 30 years. My only regular indication was ascites secondary to cirrhosis. While aldosterone blockade made sense as we learned about the renin angiotensin aldosterone system, the long side effects of gynecomastia and hirsutism (amongst other side effects) limited our enthusiasm. The RALES study – The Effect of [...]

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A philosophical view of screening for breast cancer

December 24, 2002

I tremble as I type this. Breast cancer screening may not work as well as we believe. Some experts have believed this since the 1950′s. Let me summarize their argument. What if tumors, as they originally develop, have genetic features which predetermine their aggressiveness (and thus the patients probable outcome)? If that were true, then [...]

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Generic omeprazole

December 23, 2002

Drug classes are not always filled with equivalent drugs. The first ACE inhibitor – captopril – has a shorter half life than the rest of the available class, and thus is more difficult to use. One could find many such examples of the first being the least useful. However, when it comes to proton pump [...]

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