Doc Gurley

I once talked to a patient about how he spends his days - specifically how much of his day he devoted to his health (exercise, meds, hygiene, etc.), all in an effort to get him to feel more committed to changing behaviors that were hurting him. I said, “because, in the end, all any of [...]

This week’s Grand Rounds is up! In classic, screaming headline format, the latest and best of the medical blogosphere awaits your perusal over at Unprotected Text. I especially enjoyed Dr. John Crippen’s take on the latest U.K. attempt to rate doctors (anonymously) on-line. Join the fray and Read All About It.

Run (don’t walk) your fingers over to click on this link to a great article by Jane Gross of the New York Times. In it, she spells out four major steps she wishes she’d done differently when her mother was failing at home. Today more and more Americans are the sandwich generation, and, like Ms. [...]

Seems like a weird idea, right? However, research shows that children conceived by donor sperm (or eggs) benefit greatly from hearing about how they were conceived early in life - specifically before the age of 4. While this may be a bit hard from some of us to get our heads around, the facts of [...]

As regular readers know, we here at Doc Gurley like practical info - too often the news is full of fear-mongering reports, or information that you can’t use. So it’s the practical slant that we really like in this report on parental rage at children’s sports events. This study in Applied Social Psychology highlights the [...]

Wow. It’s been so long since we’d seen a BOGUS Award recipient here at Doc Gurley, we were starting to wonder if something was up - had all the science writers in America gotten smarter? Were people stopping to think twice for fear of being outed here at Doc Gurley as truly BOGUS?
Nah.
Our lack-of-faith has [...]

This week’s Grand Rounds is hosted over at The Blog That Ate Manhattan. It is a truly monster-sized event. Look for the best of medical blogging and then cruise this lovely site - full of wit, peace, gorgeous photos and solid medical info. Does it get any bigger or better than a Blog That Ate [...]

Further evidence that we become what we do - a study by Finnish researchers shows that older men who have more sex are less likely to develop erectile dysfunction. However, we here at the skeptical Doc Gurley headquarters advise readers to keep these important caveats in mind: First, erectile dysfunction tends to occur gradually over [...]

Vitamin D continues to be a little ray of sunshine in the health news. Think about it - can’t you just picture drug company executives gnashing their teeth because something sooo cheap (even in pill form), something sooo readily available (sunshine) could be associated with sooo many important issues? How did they miss out on [...]

Here’s an unfortunate title for a worthwhile study: CPR In The Elderly Is Very Successful. Hello? When someone dies, the alternative to CPR is…doing nothing. We here at Doc Gurley believe (with substantial amounts of data to back us up) that the mortality rate from doing nothing, at the time of certain death is, well, [...]

Interesting news from the heart front. Studies now show that trying to keep someone in a normal, sinus rhythm (if you have something called atrial fibrillation, or, in the lingo, “A-Fib”) doesn’t help. In fact, it’s probably BAD. A-fib is an irregular, syncopated heart rhythm caused when the atria suddenly decide to rumba. Doctors, and [...]

Here’s a potent argument in support of those Oh-So-Annoying JCAHO regulations - outpatients getting clinic-based chemotherapy came down with a rare, nasty blood infection. Clinics aren’t covered by those irritating rules and regulations. Perhaps the only way anyone really recognized the source of these infections is because the germ was sooo unusual.  Alcaligenes is a [...]

The Now-That-Hurts Winner of the week: anesthesia causes you pain. We’re not talking about that tube in the throat, or the botched IV. Instead, it’s more like what if your anesthesiologist asked you, “How would you like your chili-pepper powder? Blown down your lungs or directly stinging by vein?” That’s right - the type of [...]

Grand Rounds is calling you. This week’s extravaganza of the blogosphere is dazzling everyone with its new technology - Grand Rounds: The iPhone 3G Edition. Grand Rounds is being hosted over at My Three Shrinks - “A blog by Psychiatrists for Psychiatrists. A place to talk; no one has to listen. All patient vignettes are [...]

Here are twin news items that strike a powerful chord. First up is a report looking at whether or not doctors are willing to tell patients that, in essence, the game is up. A study shows that only one third of terminally-ill cancer patients say they have a doctor who has discussed end-of-life care. There [...]

Perhaps some of you (non-smokers?) remember the last claims of benefit from cigarettes - that they make you sharper. Nicotine was supposed to somehow improve alertness and mental function (separate, that is, from the improvement any addict feels when withdrawal symptoms are relieved). That last mighty claim of benefit just bit the dust. Well-designed large-scale, [...]

Sometimes playing the blame game is the right thing to do. Recent research is pointing an accusing finger at doctors who fail to obtain appropriate health tests and interventions for…well, let’s just say certain patients. As in, specifically, African American patients. Is this racism? Class-ism? Sexism? Do your doctor’s biases affect your health? Or [...]

Ah, that amazing sunshine vitamin strikes again. Studies are now mounting (this is not the first) to show a strong link between vitamin D and your heart. Low vitamin D levels are linked to increased risks of heart attack. This latest study is a case control study in the Archives of Internal Medicine that shows [...]

This nifty news falls into the category of “Things We Wish We Had Right Now As We Go Through Customs.” Researchers are developing a vaccine for toxic E. Coli diarrhea, otherwise known as traveler’s diarrhea. What makes this vaccine really swift is that it’s a patch you apply to your skin. Look Ma, no needles! [...]

Six Bay Area counties have banded together to promote Soda Free Summer, especially among youth. Why should you care? Let’s take a look at what that sweet fizzy liquid you’re holding in your hand right now is costing you in terms of health, shall we?
Liquid Obesity* Question of the Day:
What has the same number of [...]