Welcome to the eleventh edition of Drugs and Pharmacology. Today, we discuss the effectiveness of cholesterol-lowering drugs, whether concealing big pharma contributions is illegal, why Cymbalta is under FDA investigation, and many more topics. Remember, we review the latest blogs related to drugs —... Read more →

Intelligence has been discussed throughout much of human history. Socrates gave one definition of intelligence: “I know that I am intelligent, because I know that I know nothing.” Intelligence over the years has been defined as such diverse things as understanding others, knowledge gained, who you... Read more →

Huntington’s Disease (HD) affects approximately 30,000 people in the United States. Less than 10% of these people are under 20 years old at the time of diagnosis. These patients with juvenile, or early-onset, HD and their family members face significant and unique challenges as they battle a fatal,... Read more →

The adage of those who do not learn from history are destined to repeat it rings as true in medicine as in any other field. Learning from previous patients and past experiences — even mistakes — is the best learning tool in medicine. The treatment and diagnosis of epilepsy is no different,... Read more →

Marcel Proust’s 3,200 page novel À la recherche du temps perdu has in it the famous scene where dipping pastry into his tea flooded him with his childhood memories. It was the odor which provoked it, and it has gone into psychoanalytical literature as the most famous literary evidence of the power... Read more →

Stroke patients may have a new tool in their rehabilitation shed: a mirror. A study presented at the 6th World Stroke Congress in Vienna, Austria, in September 2008 suggests that adding mirror therapy to traditional rehabilitation programs may speed the recovery of stroke patients. Mirror therapy is... Read more →

I write this article in honor of October being Breast Cancer Awareness month. Most of us know someone within our close social circle who has been through this terrible ordeal. This is not surprising, as the National Cancer Institute estimates that there were about 2.4 million women breast cancer survivors... Read more →

Misuse of antibiotics is the leading cause of emerging antimicrobial resistance — a public health crisis in the making. Inappropriate prescribing practices by health care providers contributes greatly to this problem, but now there is evidence that everyday cleaning and hand-washing may also contribute... Read more →

There is a rare neurological condition called alien limb syndrome in which a person has one or more limbs that will often move without conscious control. Little is known about the exact cause of this rare and interesting disorder. The person usually can have conscious control of the limb at times but... Read more →

In addition to the popular saying, “An apple a day keeps the doctor away”, maybe some day we can say the phrase, “Vitamin C a day keeps cancer away”. Who would have thought that oranges and lemons, fruits easily found in a local grocery store, may hold the answer to curing cancer?... Read more →

Medical miscommunication is a very real problem in healthcare today. Miscommunication is essentially the failure to convey relevant medical information to key players in the medical team; resulting in minor errors or even malpractice. Ineffective communication may occur between patient and doctor or... Read more →