Here’s a fun little calculator that estimates your expected life span, based on your BMI, driving record, exercise and smoking habits, and so forth. It’s from Northwestern Mutual, the life insurance people. (I have no business association with them.) Click here for link I don’t have detailed information on the calculations used, but the initial page […]
More bad news for fans of tanning beds…. Another study shows a significantly increased risk of melanoma – the worst kind of skin cancer – in users of tanning beds. Click here for CNN story. (link) What will be interesting is whether or not the FDA will put restrictions on the use of tanning beds, particularly […]
A new study, published Friday in the British Medical Journal, suggests that the widely-used cholesterol lowering medications known as statins may cause side effects such as a higher risk of liver, kidney, muscle and cataract problems, and patients who take these medicines should be monitored for side-effects. The study analyzed data on more than two million […]
It’s 50 years old (as of Sunday, May 16, 2010) – and still just as cool as ever. The first laser was fired up 50 years ago, by a clever researcher named Theodore Maiman, at the Hughes research labs (now Raytheon) in California. Despite getting a laser working first, Maiman didn’t get his name on […]
Here’s a nice summary of sensible dietary recommendations, courtesy of the CBC News website and nutritionist Andrea Holwegner. ********** Nutrition plays a major role in reducing many of the risk factors for heart disease. Making healthy eating choices is not only important to keep your blood cholesterol levels and blood pressure healthy, it greatly influences […]
Well, it was a very exciting weekend for political junkies. The president’s healthcare plan passed the House, by an oh-so-narrow 217-212 margin. So, the Senate-approved (initial) bill will become law as soon as the President signs it.What does this mean for you & me?Well, some of the details will depend on what happens with the […]
We all think of Vitamin D as “the sunshine vitamin”, something that’s good for your bones and as a supplement in milk. It turns out that this humble vitamin may have a whole lot more going for it. A number of scientific studies have been looking at the links between Vitamin D deficiency and various […]
I’d like to recognize the humanitarian efforts of one of my longtime friends, Dr. Paul Vanek. Paul, who is a double-boarded plastic surgeon and general surgeon, and I trained together in Plastic Surgery, at the University of Michigan, more than a few years ago. When the earthquake struck Haiti, Paul knew what he had to […]
A new study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine gives further evidence to the linkage between exercise and good health. The study, entitled “Physical Activity at Midlife in Relation to Successful Survival in Women at Age 70 Years or Older”looked at 13,500 women, who were part of the Nurses’ Health Study who had survived to age 70 […]
One recent breakthrough in the understanding of aging, aging-related diseases and cancer has to do with the detailed mechanics of how our human cells divide. It’s really a pretty nifty discussion – and I promise not to get too technical. But it has major implications for research and development of new medical therapies, as well […]
