Politics, Science, and Other Assorted Musings
I love helping people understand issues and look at them from a different perspective. In this blog, I hope I can offer you some new insights—bridging the gap between basic science and your medicine chest—as I am still a practicing physician, as well as having had broad clinical research experience. I'm interested in developing new medicines and treatments, as well as caring for patients—and explaining these topics for you.
As medicine has evolved, so have my interests. I have also become increasingly interested in health disparities, social justice issues, and ethics. I invite you to join me as we explore a variety of territories. I hope that reading these posts will encourage you to learn, engage, and above all, work for the forces of good.
If there are topics you'd like to see me cover, please let me know—I welcome your input as to what you would like us to discuss in this column.
Coronavirus - COVID19
Please note that I will be posting Coronavirus Tidbits of news here. You can sign up for updates by clicking the box at the right and subscribe to Covid, Politics, and Science. All Covid posts will go here, and I will upload back issues as I have time. Please share w friends. Thanks!
I’m going to have a reference file here for articles I have found particularly worthwhile, and will update this here as we learn new information. Click on the COVID-19 Resources, below, to expand that.
If you see something terrific, please share. We’re all in this together.
Quick links News Diagnostics Drugs Devices Epidemiology/Infection control Tips Politics Feel good du jour Comic relief Perspective/Poem Bits of beauty Announcements: First, there is now a Resources Page here for the most commonly asked questions I’m getting. Happy to continue to answer your questions/concerns as best I can, so don’t be shy about that. New Post @Forbes: Rural Communities Needlessly Risk Covid-19 From Prisons Even as I wrote this today, the US Marshals irresponsibly transferred in more prisoners, including at least 1 who has already tested positive. News Trump Knew… And yet the Republicans remain silent… ~ ~ ~ More lies and hiding data by the Trump administration: The White House has been blocking access to its weekly coronavirus task force reports, enabling the administration and governors to downplay the threat of the virus, according to the Center for Public Integrity (CPI), which has regularly obtained those reports. ~ ~ ~ Proud Mama moment–daughter and her team got nice coverage in CNN! The FDA’s new CURE ID app for frontline doctors could help discover Covid-19 treatments faster This drug repurposing–researching already approved drugs for new, hard to treat…
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Quick links News Diagnostics Drugs Devices Epidemiology/Infection control Tips Politics Feel good du jour Comic relief Perspective/Poem Bits of beauty Announcements: First, there is now a Resources Page here for the most commonly asked questions I’m getting. Happy to continue to answer your questions/concerns as best I can, so don’t be shy about that. News Fauci warns that Labor Day celebrations could drive Covid-19 spikes https://www.statnews.com/2020/09/04/fauci-labor-day-covid-19/ Vaccine makers are planning a public statement to push back on pressure on the FDA: The effort is shaping up as a joint statement from the leading companies developing Covid-19 vaccines, including Pfizer, Moderna, Glaxo, Sanofi, J&J and others. The companies will likely pledge not to submit a vaccine to FDA without extensive safety and efficacy data, a bid to head off concerns that political pressure could see the agency rush out a shot. https://t.co/SsXln7SPz4?amp=1 ~ ~ ~ At least 15% of Big Ten athletes who were positive for Covid-19 have heart involvement #PennState‘s director of athletic medicine, Wayne Sebastianelli, says that cardiac MRI scans revealed that roughly 30-35 percent of Big Ten athletes who tested positive for COVID-19 appeared to…
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Quick links News Diagnostics Drugs Devices Epidemiology/Infection control Tips Politics Feel good du jour Comic relief Perspective/Poem Bits of beauty Announcements: First, there is now a Resources Page here for the most commonly asked questions I’m getting. Happy to continue to answer your questions/concerns as best I can, so don’t be shy about that. News Trump says we won’t join WHO-linked effort to develop, distribute coronavirus vaccine This unilateralism will come back to bite us in the ass. If our vax doesn’t work, no one will want to share theirs. And if it does, turning our backs on others will backfire. Trump endangers us more every day with his #whitenationalism. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/coronavirus-vaccine-trump/2020/09/01/b44b42be-e965-11ea-bf44-0d31c85838a5_story.html ~ ~ ~ Op-Ed by Harold Varmus, a former director of the National Institutes of Health and Rajiv Shah, the president of the Rockefeller Foundation. These changes by the C.D.C. will undermine efforts to end the pandemic, slow the return to normal economic, educational and social activities, and increase the loss of lives. Like other scientists and public health experts, we have argued that more asymptomatic people, not fewer, need to be tested…the C.D.C. seeks to dissuade…
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Quick links News Diagnostics Drugs Devices Epidemiology/Infection control Tips Politics Feel good du jour Comic relief Perspective/Poem Bits of beauty Announcements: First, there is now a Resources Page here for the most commonly asked questions I’m getting. Happy to continue to answer your questions/concerns as best I can, so don’t be shy about that. News https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/28/us/politics/joe-biden-trump-conventions.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage ~ ~ ~ Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) informed congressional intelligence committees that it will cease to provide in-person briefings on foreign interference with the 2020 elections…They will only provide written notices. ~ ~ ~ The Kenosha shooter was one year away from having a badge, a state-issued weapon, and qualified immunity… FBI warned of white supremacists in law enforcement in 2006, more than 10 years ago. Has anything changed? https://www.pbs.org/newshour/amp/nation/fbi-white-supremacists-in-law-enforcement ~ ~ ~ A Kenosha Militia Facebook Event Asking Attendees To Bring Weapons Was Reported 455 Times. Moderators Said It Didn’t Violate Any Rules. the next highest event for the day had been flagged 18 times by users compared to the 455 times of the Kenosha Guard event. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ryanmac/kenosha-militia-facebook-reported-455-times-moderators ~ ~ ~ Covid gag rules Workers at…
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Quick links News Diagnostics Drugs Devices Epidemiology/Infection control Tips Politics Feel good du jour Comic relief Perspective/Poem Bits of beauty Announcements: First, there is now a Resources Page here for the most commonly asked questions I’m getting. Happy to continue to answer your questions/concerns as best I can, so don’t be shy about that. NEW post on Forbes: Mouthwashes Are A Cheap Tool In The Fight Against Coronavirus http://www.forbes.com/sites/judystone/2020/08/27/mouthwashes-are-a-cheap-tool-in-the-fight-against-coronavirus/ News ALERT: Multiple alarms for decisions at the FDA and CDC @CDCgov now says people exposed to COVID-19 do not need to get tested. -They also said people who travel into the country or interstate from high prevalence areas should not be quarantined. One hypothesis is that he is trying to depress the case numbers to look good…but cases will inevitably spike, as will hospitalizations and deaths. Andy Slavitt has a more likely explanation: Make an enemy of the scientists? They’re not supporting him anyway. This isn’t fascism. Its dangerous populism. He’s not running on the death toll. He couldn’t compete. He’s running on the stock market & the American way of life. Yes 5 million people have been…
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Quick links News Diagnostics Drugs Devices Epidemiology/Infection control Tips Politics Feel good du jour Comic relief Perspective/Poem Bits of beauty Announcements: First, there is now a Resources Page here for the most commonly asked questions I’m getting. Happy to continue to answer your questions/concerns as best I can, so don’t be shy about that. News More on Long-haulers from Ed Yong Early pandemic mistakes are STILL costing long-haulers dearly. Testing screw-ups in Feb/Mar meant many never got tested; in Aug, that means many are still being gaslit, & can’t get into post-covid clinics The COVID-19 caricature—kills a few, “mild” for the rest—was sketched early in the pandemic, and then calcified. It kept long-haulers out of research studies. It brought them dismissal from employers. It hurts them still. Every long-hauler I’ve talked to has a story about being dismissed & gaslit by doctors, who tell them they just have anxiety or stress. This medical gaslighting is worse for women & esp. WOC. It’s almost as bad as the symptoms themselves. Long-haul COVID has a LOT in common with ME/CFS, dysautonomia, & other similar illnesses. Those communities are offering…
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Quick links News Diagnostics Drugs Devices Epidemiology/Infection control Tips Politics Feel good du jour Comic relief Perspective/Poem Bits of beauty Announcements: First, there is now a Resources Page here for the most commonly asked questions I’m getting. Happy to continue to answer your questions/concerns as best I can, so don’t be shy about asking. My new post on Forbes: What Do Coronavirus And Lyme Disease Have In Common? More Than You Might Think https://www.forbes.com/sites/judystone/2020/08/18/what-do-coronavirus-and-lyme-disease-have-in-common-more-than-you-might-think/#3b12660137e3 News wave of myocarditis (heart inflammation) in young athletes caused cancellation of some sports In a new study from Germany, researchers studied 100 individuals, with a median age of just 49, who had recovered from Covid-19. Most were asymptomatic or had mild symptoms. An average of two months after they received the diagnosis, the researchers performed M.R.I. scans of their hearts and made some alarming discoveries: Nearly 80 percent had persistent abnormalities and 60 percent had evidence of myocarditis. The degree of myocarditis was not explained by the severity of the initial illness. ~ ~ ~ MGH researchers show children are silent spreaders of SARS-CoV-2 The infected children were shown to have a significantly…
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Quick links News Diagnostics Drugs Devices Epidemiology/Infection control Tips Politics Feel good du jour Comic relief Perspective/Poem Bits of beauty Announcements: First, there is now a Resources Page here for the most commonly asked questions I’m getting. Happy to continue to answer your questions/concerns as best I can, so don’t be shy about that. News For some good news, see Diagnostics, below. ~ ~ ~ Trace amounts of COVID-19 virus found by Chinese cities on packages of frozen foods By Dan Flynn on August 14, 2020 Food Safety News City food inspectors from Shenzhen and Xian, China report finding traces of the COVID-19 virus on the packaging for imported chicken wings and shrimp. China in June stepped up its scrutiny of imported food, saying the possibility that it could spread infections could not be ruled out. Two months later, local testing claims to have found traces of the virus on the frozen packaging of chicken wings from Brazil and shrimp from Ecuador. In the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has found no evidence of food or food packaging being associated with the transmission of COVID-19. “Unlike foodborne gastrointestinal…
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Quick links News Diagnostics Drugs Devices Epidemiology/Infection control Tips Politics Feel good du jour Comic relief Perspective/Poem Bits of beauty Announcements: First, there is now a Resources Page here for the most commonly asked questions I’m getting. Tidbits will likely be a bit shorter and a little less frequent for the next little bit. I have been immersed in it and I need to spend a little more time on self-care, which for me means seeing the spring flowers emerge and digging in the dirt. Happy to continue to answer your questions/concerns as best I can, so don’t be shy about that. News 1 pm today: STOPPING PANDEMICS CONVERSATION with Dr. Anthony Fauci and experts from National Geographic and ABC News, as well as Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, on why the pandemic is wreaking havoc on communities, and the lessons we can learn from pandemics throughout history. https://stoppingpandemics.us17.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=1e16e79e9a4cb49603fdc2f43&id=7c1417e988 ~ ~ ~ Over 1,000 health professionals have signed a letter titled “Shut It Down, Start Over, Do It Right.” “We continue to lack a coherent national strategy to prevent the transmission of COVID-19,” @meganranney on why she chose to help write & sign the letter https://to.pbs.org/31nOEf7…
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