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. 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. Honored to have been cited by New Yorker author Jane Mayer in her long read, “How Mitch McConnell Became Trump’s Enabler-in-Chief” and in her interview w Terry Gross on NPR’s Fresh Air from WHYY. News Trump suggests any relief for states hit hard by COVID will require ending “sanctuary city” policies and turning residents over to ICE. https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/4/28/21239903/trump-coronavirus-aid-leverage-states-sanctuary-cities “We would want certain things” as part of a deal with House Democrats to aid states, he said at a White House event on Tuesday, “including sanctuary…
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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 Pretty pathetic. As a result of Trump’s press briefing 4/23/20 touting ingesting bleach as a possible treatment for COVID-19 “Donald Trump: (29:46) https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/donald-trump-coronavirus-press-conference-transcript-april-23 A question that probably some of you are thinking of if you’re totally into that world, which I find to be very interesting. So, supposedly we hit the body with a tremendous, whether it’s ultraviolet or just very powerful light, and I think you said that hasn’t been checked, but you’re going to test it. And then I said supposing you…
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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 Today’s WTF? Watch this embarrassment. Or read it: Trump just mused about whether disinfectant injections could treat coronavirus. Really. ~ ~ ~ Federal appeals court stops earlier order, says Texas doesn’t have to give inmates hand sanitizer or face masks for now https://www.texastribune.org/2020/04/22/texas-prisoners-hand-sanitizer-appeal/ ~ ~ ~ A mysterious blood-clotting complication is killing coronavirus patients even those on standard anti-coagulants are getting clots. ~ ~ ~ Disparities: Navaho Indians also have disproportionately high deaths from COVID-19 https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/videos/us/2020/04/17/navajo-native-american-coronavirus-pkg-tuchman-ac360-vpx.cnn?__twitter_impression=true ~ ~ ~ Full fields, empty fridges Huge…
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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. Pesach is always a bit rough anyway, so I will turn to more nature. Happy to continue to answer your questions/concerns as best I can, so don’t be shy about that. News Patients may have severe pneumonia with minimal symptoms Picking up hypoxemia (low blood oxygen with a finger oximeter moniter) early and positioning patients to lie on their stomach or sides could avoid intubation (need for mechanical ventilation) We are only just beginning to understand why this is so. The coronavirus attacks lung cells that make surfactant. This substance helps the air sacs in the lungs stay open between breaths and…
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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. Pesach is always a bit rough anyway, so I will turn to more nature. Happy to continue to answer your questions/concerns as best I can, so don’t be shy about that. News Yom HaShoah – Holocaust Remembrance Day: I was honored to be the keynote speaker at the interfaith commemoration for Yom HaShoah in Providence, RI, at Temple Emanu-el. There were significant technical difficulties, but you can see the talk here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_ASqXKmf3g&t=3604s I also wrote a post for Forbes: Kindness In The Age Of Coronavirus – Lessons From The Holocaust Diagnostics: Will antibody tests for the coronavirus really change everything? “There are…
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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. Pesach is always a bit rough anyway, so I will turn to more nature. Happy to continue to answer your questions/concerns as best I can, so don’t be shy about that. News America’s shame: A coronavirus outbreak has sickened at least 37 children at a Chicago shelter for unaccompanied & undocumented immigrant youth. These poor children should not be in group shelters. Many have relatives in the US to whom they should be released. https://abcn.ws/2VCoTV8 ~ ~ ~ Big Idea: A National Digital-Cyber Land-Grant University System to address the growing imbalance in wealth and access to technology and technological expertise, which…
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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. Pesach is always a bit rough anyway, so I will turn to more nature. Happy to continue to answer your questions/concerns as best I can, so don’t be shy about that. News: On Trump’s decision to halt US funding to the World Health Organization (WHO). Professor Peter Piot, Director of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said: “The COVID-19 pandemic is the greatest global health challenge facing our societies and economies for more than 100 years. At this critical moment in our history we must stick together. Solidarity is crucial to defeating this virus. We need the World Health Organization now…
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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. Pesach is always a bit rough anyway, so I will turn to more nature. Happy to continue to answer your questions/concerns as best I can, so don’t be shy about that. News Urgent: Contact Congress to Save the Post Office As I wrote yesterday, Trump and Mnuchin refuse emergency aid for the USPS. See more here or at Resistbot. Trump has long wanted to privatize the Post Office, apparently to hurt his perceived enemy, Jeff Bezos/Amazon, and to enrich his cronies. One other, more nefarious reason, it to stymie states efforts to expand voting by mail. Killing the Post Office will particularly…
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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. Pesach is always a bit rough anyway, so I will turn to more nature. Happy to continue to answer your questions/concerns as best I can, so don’t be shy about that. News Urgent Volunteer Opportunity: NIH begins study to quantify undetected cases of coronavirus infection to determine how many adults in the United States without a confirmed history of infection with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), have antibodies to the virus. The presence of antibodies in the blood indicates a prior infection. Just requires you to obtain and mail a pin-prick of blood in a kit they will…
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