I’m sweaty, crampy and I’ve got the shakes. Did I eat too much snow? (see the Doc Gurley post on yellow snow) Or am I suffering from withdrawal symptoms because the Dave Barry Forum is (gasp) gone? The site claims that Dave Barry is changing the forum’s technology, so it will be down for “4 [...]

Amazing story in the news today from the prestigious journal, Science. Researchers have discovered that up to 85% of snow flakes form in the atmosphere because ice crystalizes around (wait, wait, you’ll never guess it) airborne bacteria. And not just any bacteria–Pseudomonas. Doctors know Pseudomonas as a wicked, killer germ (Pseudomonas aeruginosa) with unbelievable powers [...]

It’s a busy Tuesday, so I grab a chart and speedwalk to the next patient at the homeless clinic. On the table sits a woman with this huge stiff tent of hair and a bad case of body lice. She’s rocking with her arms across her chest. She’s hearing voices. She hasn’t bathed in three [...]

There’s a nasty kind of email floating around that sounds oh so wonderfully positive and hopeful. It’s titled “The Latest News From Johns Hopkins” (but there are probably other versions, using different prestigious health-institute names). The email takes the reader through a point-by-point, logical-sounding set of “facts” which inevitably lead to the conclusion that cancer [...]

In our on-going coverage of Black Future Month news, we here at Doc Gurley have discovered the perfect present (as we head into June, the month of weddings) for a new Bride! Imagine, if you would, that you could hand someone you love–a beaming, happy young woman–a little gift (under $20!) that could save her [...]

 
 
OMG! I feel faint! As many (both) of you readers may be aware, I, Doc Gurley, have stalked written into the on-line Dave Barry for President Forum to ask a question or two, and His Barryness has, on occasion, gotten a restraining order replied. The situation has escalated into a Red Alert Crisis, due to [...]

Looking for a round-up of some great health blogs? Check out this week’s Grand Rounds here! Hosted by DailyInterview.net, it’s a clear, concise grouping of health blogs and topics, nested inside one interesting blog. Cruise over and give it a look.

For all of us who’ve had the sad experience of losing sight of our pubes at some point, there is wonderful news in the health research world. Study after study (including a new one today) has shown that getting that paunch over a belt (oh, heavens, just thinking about it makes me want to undo [...]

Grim news for those people continuing to suffer from Hurricane Katrina–tests show that the FEMA trailers have high levels of formaldehyde, with the CDC urging FEMA to move families out of the trailers as soon as possible. This Newsweek article is a review of the issue. Unfortunately, no one seems to be rushing to answer [...]

Was the esteemed urban laureate prescient when he wrote the words “Beef u dont want none so dont start none” (50 cent: life’s on the line)? Seems like the answer can only be, dude, of course he was. Today’s announcement of the recall of 143 million pounds of beef (let’s take a moment and let [...]

In our on-going coverage of BFM healthnews (see the Doc Gurley post, Black Future Month, for more info), we here at the Doc Gurley headquarters have found some important advances in news affecting people with salt-sensitive high blood pressure (which tends to be over-represented among African Americans). Salt-sensitive high blood pressure is pretty much just [...]

Perhaps it is the fact that the Elton John song by this title is acted out by writhing cartoon animals, but Doc Gurley has always found the phrase “Can you feel the love tonight?” somewhat clinically disturbing. What if you can’t? Are we talking a sudden neuroparesis with selective sensory loss that paradoxically maintains motor [...]

Our first Black Future Month post explains that some diseases/syndromes affect African Americans more frequently, and sometimes more severely, too. In our on-going coverage of Black Future Month, we’re going to be hunting for health news on issues/diseases that disproportionately affect African Americans. We here at the Doc Gurley health farm were out at [...]

Here’s some more grim news on the diet soda front. Circulation published a study that found that drinking diet soda (specifically) raised your chances of getting the horrible threesome of diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol (called the metabolic syndrome) by 34% among people who drank one diet soda a day–even when everything else [...]

Instead of Black History Month (which I love) I’m going to kick off something new–Black Future Month, focussed on the future health of African-Americans. As part of Black Future Month here at Doc Gurley (the only place it exists, so far), together we’re going to launch the 2008 Black Future Month Campaign. Read on for [...]

Looking for a great historical take on some of the quirkier Valentine’s Day traditions–as well as a wonderful review of health news, opinion and review? Check out this week’s Medical Blog Grand Rounds for all of this and more.

Okay, so I come from a kind of Southern gothic family–but don’t we all have at least one uncle who’s been saying since the eighties that artificial sweeteners will make you fat? The argument goes–people who are overweight use artificial sweeteners, therefore, artificial sweeteners make you gain weight. Association, therefore, cause. Everyone at the dinner [...]

Ah, the seamy underside of cost-effectiveness research. Doc Gurley has done cost-effectiveness research, including published studies, in one of her many previous careers (Doc G assessment: not as interesting as waitressing, fewer tips, more messes, fewer laughs). There is a nasty, secretive part of cost-effectiveness health research that no one publicly discusses which (shockingly!) [...]

In hospitals, if you’ve gotten a patient all better and discharged them, only to find your patient back in the emergency room in less than 72 hours, that scenario is called a bounce-back. Bounce-back is a word that carries a lot of negative connotation–when you say it, you kind of sneer it at someone “hey, [...]

In another egg-on-our-face medical moment, researchers have shown that giving anti-psychotic medicine to prevent aggressive behavior in patients with severe intellectual impairment is actually (drumroll please) worse than placebo. That’s right. The infamous, low-cost, no-side-effect sugar pill waayy out-performed new, expensive (or old) anti-psychotics in a true double-blind test that included the caregiver’s impression [...]