Who knows how much investment is going into finding the genes behind various chronic diseases? Fixing what is broken always seems to take more energy and effort than preventing the disease damage in the first place… an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. As a listened to a genomics podcast by Illumina…
Would you allow a government – academic collaboration to collect and analyze both your genetic data and other medical markers of health? This big-data driven mass collection of health information is called biobanking and the little country of Estonia in Europe has embraced it on a large scale. As a listened to a genomics podcast…
The genomic revolution stands eager to answer the age-old medical question, “nature versus nurture”. In a sense, we know that the symptom of disease we see in patients results from both, only with the advancing technology to sequence DNA have we begun to uncover the genetics half of the equation. For chronic diseases like…
Once, you needed a prescription in order to get an antibiotic such as streptomycin or oxytetracycline. Nowadays, though, all you need to do is go grab a Florida orange from your nearest grocery store. 480,000 acres of Floridian citrus trees receive 650,000 pounds(325 tons) of these formerly prescription-only antibiotics each year. The dangers of this…
Racial disparities in terms of varying prevalence for different diseases may have a multitude of causes underneath the surface. Sometimes genetics raises its guilty hand. Sometime geographical factors like sun exposure, fish intake, or local toxins may cast their vote in a person’s health future. Researchers entered into a study in JAMA (Journal of American…
The concept of cancer cells living off sugar has grown in recent years from just a functional medicine legend into mainstream science. Apparently, cancer does more than just grab a few morsels of glucose from the bloodstream like other cells. Scientists uncovered mechanisms by which mouse leukemia cells diverted glucose away from the body’s other…
Scientists have a bad habit of contradicting themselves or at least contradicting long held dogmas. This time aspirin stock took a bit hit with the New England Journal of Medicine reporting on an almost 5 year long study regarding benefits of aspirin usage in other healthy individuals. Despite a solid history of medical dogma that…
Sports Drinks And Breast Cancer Sometimes the weirdest discoveries pop up on my news feed. In this case researchers found that a common dietary supplement called cyclocreatine could inhibit the growth of drug resistant HER2-positive breast cancer tumors in mice. These human tumors had been grafted onto the mice for testing of therapies against their…
As a guy, we often possess the innate ability to overlook some smudges or small messes that our better halves (wives) quickly spot. Our spouses are much better at keeping things spotless, but apparently this may come at a price. A fellow physician recently shared an article and its press release with me that linked…
Brush Your Liver for Health Your gag reflex may be kicking in as you ponder how you might get your toothbrush down your throat far enough to reach your liver. Don’t worry, just brush those gums you see in the mirror and lower inflammation in your entire body. Researchers report on a study of patients…