On Jan. 21, 2017, millions of women around the globe marched in solidarity with women in the United States to protest against various forms of social injustices and misogyny they experience on a routine basis. As I listened to the massive crowds chanting various slogans in repudiation of perceived inequities, one message rose above the(...)
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New Statin Guidelines Herald a New Era of Preventive Medications
Posted by | Did You See This?, Perspectives in ResearchIn medicine, we would like to believe that treatment decisions are black and white, evidence is clear cut and uncertainty is a bygone impediment, squashed decades ago by the tight jaws of the scientific method. Yet it seems the more we learn, the more we have to argue about. Uncertainty is here to stay. As(...)
At the Vanguard of the Psychedelic Renaissance
Posted by | Did You See This?, Perspectives in ResearchA priest, a minister and a rabbi walk into Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center to ingest psilocybin, the active ingredient in hallucinogenic mushrooms. Although this probably sounds like the beginning of a great joke, new advancements in the field of psychedelic medicine are no laughing matter. After nearly 50 years of prohibition, academic studies and clinical(...)
Nobel Prize Winning Research May Lead to New Therapies for Cancer, Alzheimer’s
Posted by | Did You See This?, Perspectives in ResearchYoshinori Ohsumi of the University of Tokyo was recently awarded the 2016 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work in mechanisms for autophagy. What is autophagy? From the Greek roots “auto,“ or self, and “phagia,” or eating, the word literally means self-eating. In cell biology, autophagy describes the way that cells recycle unneeded(...)
The Making of a Terrorist
Posted by | Did You See This?As we approach the final months of 2016, few would dispute that it has been one of the most politically tumultuous years in recent memory, punctuated by a hugely polarizing election, colossal political shifts, rising domestic gun violence — especially in the form of mass shootings — and horrifying terrorist attacks. Amid this discord and(...)
Implementing Precision Medicine in an Academic Hospital
Posted by | Did You See This?Precision medicine, or personalized medicine, is a growing field that uses big data to treat the individual patient. It uses tools such as DNA sequencing and bioinformatics to ask, “What are the individual characteristics of my patient?” — for example, in her genetic makeup, environment or in the mutation profile of her tumor — and(...)
Willpower and Self-Control: Tools of the Trade
Posted by | Did You See This?, Perspectives in ResearchWe confront challenges to our self-control every day. For those of us in the fields of science and medicine, the intense and fast-paced nature of our work only heightens the magnitude of these challenges. Do you leave early for happy hour or push through to finish setting up that last qPCR run? Do you break(...)
Vaccination Woes: HPV Vaccination Rates Remain Low
Posted by | Did You See This?, Perspectives in Research, Recently PublishedI was first offered the HPV vaccine during my college years. Although I had been counseled about the importance of the vaccine at that time, the steep price for the three-vaccine series kept me from getting it. With each injection costing $190, it was simply something I could not afford. By the time I started(...)
The Rising Cost of Pharmaceuticals
Posted by | Did You See This?, Perspectives in ResearchLast weekend, my husband and I visited our local pharmacy to pick up a prescription refill. The pharmacist chatted with us cheerfully as she rang us up at the cash register. Suddenly, her typing stopped. “Wow,” she finally said. “This is expensive.” The small pill bottle sat in her palm as she read off the(...)
Platelet-Rich Plasma: An Emerging Therapy for Musculoskeletal Injuries
Posted by | Did You See This?, Perspectives in ResearchAthletes engaging in sports often experience injuries to the muscles, tendons and ligaments. Due to frequent use, the shoulder, elbow, knee and ankle-joints are more susceptible to musculoskeletal soft tissue injuries than other joints. Musculoskeletal injuries account for about 30 percent of annual visits to primary physicians in the United States. Traditional treatments have included(...)