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 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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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 Half of low-income communities have no ICU beds A new Penn Medicine study sheds light on yet another reason why the coronavirus pandemic is disproportionately killing the poor [read POC]: Residents in low-income neighborhoods lack access to intensive care unit (ICU) beds. Approximately half of communities with the lowest median household incomes (less than $35,000) have zero ICU beds per ten thousand residents age fifty or older, compared with just 3 percent of communities with household incomes of at least $90,000. https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-08/uops-hol080320.php and https://www.statnews.com/2020/08/03/covid19-icu-bed-disparities/…
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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 Handy Resource: Smart Dissent Be Smart. Stay Informed. Actively Dissent. Smart Dissent is a database of 750+ actions by Trump & @GOP sorted by topic. We have pages on Education, Healthcare, Immigration, Environment, Regulations, Foreign Policy, Economy, Justice, Taxes, Budget & more. http://www.smartdissent.com/ ~ ~ ~ Controversial ‘human challenge’ trials for COVID-19 vaccines gain support Challenge studies take volunteers who have received an experimental vaccine and deliberately expose them to the infectious agent (in this case, the SARS2-CoV virus, to see if the vaccine provides…
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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 The new multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children syndrome disproportionately affects Blacks (38%) or Hispanic/Latino (38%) https://www.healio.com/news/pediatrics/20200722/syndrome-linked-to-covid19-disproportionately-affects-black-hispanic-and-latino-children ~ ~ ~ Bad Omen: Nearly 60% of US parents say they won’t vaccinate their kids against HPV which is associated with 34,800 new cancer cases a year, causes more than 90% of all cervical and anal cancers, 60% of penile cancers, and about 70% of all oral cancers. Jul 21 Lancet Public Health study and commentary https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2020/07/news-scan-jul-23-2020 ~ ~ ~ Long-Haulers: And more: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/07/a-specialist-sounds-the-alarm-on-long-term-covid-19-effects.html ~ ~ ~ In Baltimore, a struggling,…
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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. ~ ~ ~ NEW Post at Forbes: #BumpDay Highlights Coronavirus And Racial Disparities In Pregnancy https://www.forbes.com/sites/judystone/2020/07/22/bumpday-highlights-coronavirus-and-racial-disparities-in-pregnancy/#7cee04ad74c4 News Feds brutally attack protestors in Portland, seemingly practicing for a run up to the election. Bets are on Chicago being next. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/portland-protests-trump-veteran-christopher-david-federal-officers-oregon-a9627466.html?amp=1 see also Ron Wyden’s statement and ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Fighting Pandemics Webinar hosted by TB Alliance, was pretty interesting today–at least the parts with Betsy McKay interviewing Dr. Fauci and Dr. Soumya Swaminathan https://vimeo.com/440719222 Diagnostics: still an incredible, negligent lack…
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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 Federal Law Enforcement Use Unmarked Vehicles To Grab Protesters Off Portland Streets Chilling story. People in camouflage were driving around the area in unmarked minivans grabbing people off the street. The tactic appears to be another escalation in federal force deployed on Portland city streets, as federal officials and President Donald Trump have said they plan to “quell” nightly protests outside the federal courthouse and Multnomah County Justice Center that have lasted for more than six weeks. Officers from the U.S. Marshals Special Operations Group…
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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 The administration has ordered hospitals to bypass the CDC in reporting data. Now they are to send all coronavirus patient information to a central database in Washington, controlled by the regime. Want to prove that cases are falling and all is well??? Now they will control the data and only report what they want. I’m sure everything will be rosy before the election. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ COVID-19 can be transmitted in the womb, reports pediatric infectious disease journal Case study provides…
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