Commentaries

Dr. Andy Baldwin’s first visit to Kenya was for an endurance event – an ultramarathon that served as a fundraiser for vulnerable children in Kenya, Ethiopia, and South Africa. He chose to return last fall for a different type of endurance event: A month of medical practice and teaching as part of his family practice residency.

"Being in the Navy, I... »

Evidence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy has been found in autopsies of four blast-exposed veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, signaling a potential overlap of the clinical signs and symptoms of the neurodegenerative disease observed in some athletes with a history of multiple concussions.

But the case-control study’s small sample size – four... »

When the Surgeon General released its 31st report on Preventing Tobacco Use Among Youth and Young Adults: A Report of the Surgeon General earlier this year, media outlets picked up on the slowing of declines in youth cigarette smoking and the stalling of declines in smokeless tobacco use. The report estimated that more than 3 million high school students –... »

I am a huge fan of adjunctive, nonpharmacologic treatment for a lot of patients. As physicians, our instinct is to provide instant relief, and we do that typically by prescribing medications for every problem that patients bring to our attention. But I frequently remind patients that they need to do some of the work themselves. I am a huge proponent of... »

Americans are very tired. The National Sleep Foundation recommends that adults sleep 7 to 9 hours per day, yet the percentage of U.S. adults securing at least 8 hours of sleep on weeknights has fallen from 38% to 27% since 2001. Sleep promotion is a recognized national health agenda with a Healthy People 2020 objective to increase the proportion of adults... »

We all learn about the importance of a good history and physical in medical school, but to really understand what makes a patient tick, you have to be curious about the patient’s life outside the office. Patient tattoos have always interested me, and this sometimes leads to unexpected discoveries. It’s hard to explain what makes one tattoo interesting,... »

There is no new rigorous and scientifically valid evidence in the published literature that calls into question the 2008 decision by the World Health Organization to endorse the continued use of thimerosal as a safe preservative in multidose vaccines for children in the developing world.

In preparation for a treaty on environmental protection, the United... »