Living in an urban area I, like many, exercise in the park.  I was doing so before the pandemic started and I have continued.  My local park is big and beautiful and is seeing a higher level of use now that the gyms are closed.  It feels safe and reasonable except for one thing: the runners who brush past on the paved trails.  They are too close; ( Read more... )

Being a doc and a dork too, I've been studying on COVID-19 since it first appeared.  Still the magnitude of the crisis is shocking.  This will be a life-changing event and it may last for years.  I could loose both of my parents.  I would not be shocked if I also were to die, but then I have been expecting to die since early in life.  What ( Read more... )

It is much more important to know what sort of person this disease has than what sort of disease this person has.
--William Osler

Here's a list of the excipients in US vaccines, compiled by the CDC and last updated almost a year ago.

http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/pinkbook/downloads/appendices/B/excipient-table-2.pdf

Source: Rick Ungar "from the left" at Forbes Magazine
http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2013/01/16/here-are-the-23-executive-orders-on-gun-safety-signed-today-by-the-president/

President ( Read more... )

• This epidemiologic analysis revealed that mortality rates are increasing in the middle-aged white male population, largely due to preventable conditions like poisonings and overdoses.
• Reductions in mortality were seen in other racial groups.

( ARTICLE from Medpage, primary care )

When I have a morning at home alone I work on my lists and I fall into my practice more easily.  The sun is streaming in and I am doing triage on piles of "urgent" items which have become buried under a stream of distractions and amusements like my nonstop study of public health.  One observation this morning is that the strong balancing poses ( Read more... )

Over the Edge: Death in the Grand Canyon
by Tom Myers and Michael Ghiglieri

This book logs all the mistakes you can make at the Grand Canyon.  There's an interview with the authors here.  There have been some changes since the first edition.  There are more environmental deaths, climbing deaths down in the canyon, and suicides than when the book ( Read more... )

Arabian peninsula = Bahrain, Iraq, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Leb¬anon, Oman, Palestinian territories, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, United Arab Emirates, Yemen ( Read more... )

Statistics show that the "stroke belt" is also where you have the highest likelihood (in the US) of dying of cardiovascular and lower respiratory disease (smoking), cancer and accidents. Obesity, diabetes and metabolic syndrome are probable causes, but what about accidents? Why do southerners have the most accidents? Bless their dangerous little ( Read more... )