Octomom's Doctor is Placed on Probation

Remember the media blitz over Nadya Suleman, the Southern California mother who underwent IVF and gave birth to eight babies?   The unemployed, single mother of 6 was only the second ever to give birth to a full set of octuplets.   Now, two years after the sensational births, the California State Medical Board has revoked the license of Beverly Hills fertility doctor, Michael Kamrava.  However

The Placebo Effect is Strong Medicine

Thanks to Kevin MD , (via Lukas Zinnagl, MD) for pointing me to this fascinating video on the Placebo Effect.  What is amazing is that placebos work even when the patient knows it is a placebo!  That is the power of the mind.  Check it out an be amazed!

Should Doctors Wear White Coats?

The Doctor's white coat has been a symbol of the profession for decades.  In the 1800's and up through the early 20th Century, doctors wore street clothes while performing surgery...rolling up their sleeves and plunging dirty hands into patient's bodies.  They often were dressed in formal black, like the clergy to reflect the solemn nature of their role.  (And seeing a doctor was solemn indeed as

Heart Disease and Heart Attacks

This amazing site called Kahn Academy is just filled with information on every subject!  This video explains atherosclerosis, heart attack and heart failure.  Watch and learn.

Why You Need a Colonoscopy

One of my pet peeves as a Physician is when people talk about screening tests "Preventing Cancer".  Mammograms, pap tests, prostate tests (PSA), X-rays, blood tests, ultrasounds do not prevent cancer.  The best they can do is detect an abnormality early and allow for treatment.  None of those tests prevent a malignancy.  There is one screening test, however, that CAN prevent cancer and that is a

Food Reward: a Dominant Factor in Obesity, Part V

Non-industrial diets from a food reward perspective

In 21st century affluent nations, we have unprecedented control over what food crosses our lips.  We can buy nearly any fruit or vegetable in any season, and a massive processed food industry has sprung up to satisfy (or manufacture) our every craving.  Most people can afford exotic spices and herbs from around the world-- consider that only a hundred years ago, black pepper was a luxury item.  But our degree of control goes even deeper: over the last century, kitchen technology such as electric/gas stoves, refrigerators, microwaves and a variety of other now-indispensable devices have changed the way we prepare food at home (Megan J. Elias.  Food in the United States, 1890-1945). 

To help calibrate our thinking about the role of food reward (and food palatability) in human evolutionary history, I offer a few brief descriptions of contemporary hunter-gatherer and non-industrial agriculturalist diets.  What did they eat, and how did they prepare it? 
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Facial Cellulitis

This 39 yer old woman had a small sore inside her nostril.  It worsened  and her nose started getting red so she was put on ciprofloxacin antibiotic.  The redness improved but 5 days into treatment two pustules developed and the erythema worsened.  A culture of one of the pustules grew out methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).  She was treated with intravenous antibiotics and her