The progress and studies on COVID booster shots have been front page news for many months now, and the CDC and FDA have given recommendations on booster shots for all 3 approved COVID vaccines as of last week. Here’s the summary: For those who received an initial Johnson & Johnson (J&J) vaccine, everyone 18 and…
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HOW TO PROPERLY WEAR A MASK: Masks are very important to protect others from droplets that you might produce while speaking, coughing, sneezing or breathing. Please wear them in any public place, especially indoors to stop the spread of COVID 19. Below are the proper ways to wear a mask and to take it off.…
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I took the advice of one of my patients and read this fascinating book which details the background of a promising Silicon Valley startup, Theranos. When I first heard of the company in the glowing Wall Street Journal article, Elizabeth Holmes: A Breakthrough Instant Diagnosis dated September 8, 2013, I was wondering why another company had not developed this…
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With warmer weather and longer days, we spend more time outside. This brings plenty of opportunities to improve our health with exercise and events in the great outdoors. The great outdoors also exposes us to more insects such as ticks and mosquitoes that can threaten our health. We need to be preparing for protection. This…
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One of the jobs of a practicing internist is to help patients improving health through lifestyle changes such as diet, exercise and sleep. This can be quite challenging for me, so the fact that fascinating book The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business delves into the neuroscience behind our daily routines, was…
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The FDA approved the use of Shingrix, a recombinant inactivated vaccine, for protection against shingles in patients aged 50 and older on October 20, 2017. The American Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), recommended that Shingrix be given instead of Zostavax, the currently available live, attenuated vaccine which has been on the market since 2006. Shingles…
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February has traditionally been designated Red Dress month to raise awareness of the issue of heart disease in women. Now there is a special day and a website as well. The stereotypical heart patient is an older man who may have high cholesterol and high blood pressure. However the leading cause of death in women in the…
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The first book review I wrote for this website focused on The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee. I absolutely loved that book. Critics agreed, since it won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction. It is hard to top such a sweeping drama in terms of the breadth and depth of cancer research. Therefore, this book…
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When I saw the subtitle of this book, I immediately felt hope. It is good to think of the opportunity that lies with midlife. Often being in this time of life brings stress with aging parents, growing children and health issues. So often the word “midlife” goes along with the word “crisis”. Not so in this book. The author, a…
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