There’s a little piece of San Francisco history – special to this wonderful city – that isn’t really all that well known except in a few communities. Transgender Tuesdays. 18 years ago a team of HIV providers at Tom Waddell Health Center and trans activists from every ethnicity broke the mold by providing something crucially [...]

1. Meet San Francisco’s 477 Most Expensive HUMS (High Utilizers of Medical Services)
2. Women’s History Month–Boycott Menopause!
3. The San Bruno Blast: Let’s call it a N.E.W. Day

Aspirin! (Photo credit: (adam) THEO)

There have been two pieces of medical news this week that seem to be unrelated but do in fact have one thing in common – your heart. First up, we knew that aspirin was good for your heart but we didn’t know just how good. A new study shows [...]

1. Your Brain On Cigarettes
2. Brain-travel – get your summer vacation here!
3. The Sixth and Mission death corridor: assaults, brain trauma and homicide

A complete weight training workout can be performed with a pair of adjustable dumbbells and a set of weight disks (plates). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A group that performed a previous study showing that strength and weight training could postpone the onset of dementia in elderly women has done a follow up study that shows [...]

1. Junk Food Can Make Men Less Fertile
2. Patients Satisfaction Surveys: Valid Test, Or Make-Work for Money?
3. Yet Another Reason Why Money and Medicine Make Bad Bedfellows

Bordetella pertussis on Charcoal Agar - detail (Photo credit: Nathan Reading)

I’ve written about whooping cough (pertussis) before. One time recently was when it was announced that it was being recommended that adults over the age of 65 also get pertussis vaccinations. Another was about a study that hinted that the current pertussis vaccine [...]

1. Whooping Cough – Is It Time To Vaccinate Everyone?
2. Whooping Cough Vaccine – Still Effective But Not For As Long
3. 5 Crucial (and Weird) Whooping Cough Facts To Know!

Adult deer tick, Ixodes scapularis.

Experts are predicting a big jump in black-legged tick (aka deer tick) infestations this year because of a strange chain of events involving white-footed mice and acorns. Basically the white-footed mouse is a favored carrier for black-legged ticks because it is common, low to the ground and has few [...]

1. It’s No Surprise That Training Helps Doctors Communicate Bad News Better

Popcorn (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It turns out that one of the most maligned snack foods is actually pretty good for you – as long as you don’t load up on the salt or butter. Popcorn has been found to have a high density of polyphenols, a category of antioxidant that prevent damage to cells [...]

1. Once Again Chocolate Found To Be Good For You
2. Licking Yellow Snow…Not Good. But Now This, Too?
3. Good News About Malaria

Bordatella pertussis (Photo credit: AJC1)

An influential panel at the CDC, called the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices has recommended that Whooping Cough (Pertussis) vaccinations be extended to all adults as well, including those aged over 65. The recommendation is in part because it is recognized that adults get the disease and then pass [...]

1. Whooping Cough Vaccine – Still Effective But Not For As Long
2. 5 Crucial (and Weird) Whooping Cough Facts To Know!
3. Haiti Journey: Clinic time begins

Are you feeling the post-holidays blues and the days stretching away before you can travel? Winter can be a tough time and there are some good medical strategies. If you don’t spend your days outdoors you should probably be taking vitamin D. Because if you don’t ever go outside, even the greatest free drug isn’t [...]

1. How To Break Bad News
2. Whooping Cough – Is It Time To Vaccinate Everyone?
3. Haiti Journey: Clinic time begins

Image by James F Clay via Flickr

It is pretty common knowledge that wearing headphones can be bad for your hearing, especially if you don’t take the time to use volume limiting tools, but a new study now also confirms that wearing headphones can be bad for you in other ways.

The study, published [...]

1. Some Bad News About Some Vitamin Supplements
2. Bad Beef An Opportunity For The ‘New’ FDA
3. It’s No Surprise That Training Helps Doctors Communicate Bad News Better

Image by tanakawho via Flickr

A recent and shocking ProPublica article looks at a growing trend for suspicious deaths of elderly people to be ignored. Unfortunately, after elderly people pass away, overworked and underfunded coroner and medical examiner’s offices across the country are sometimes missing cases that should be examined more thoroughly or are [...]

1. College Care
2. This Friday – you can ask questions about Haiti LIVE, to people working there now
3. Patients Rating Doctors: Let’s Pay Popular People More!