by lbdsgnr | Mar 8, 2023 | Genetics, Policy, Public Health, Testing
A Lesson in the Law of Unintended Consequences. Understanding of DNA from 1955 to 2012 Spit in a tube and learn your risk of future diseases from your DNA? No, you won’t. Murky heritage Spit in a tube and learn your heritage? I am an Ashkenazi Jew from Russia, except,...
by James Edward Katz, M.D. | Nov 27, 2022 | COVID-19, Flu, Infectious Disease, Pandemic, Preventative Medicine, Public Health, SARS-CoV-2, Seasonal
Covid-19 Remains a Dangerous Illness This year the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) expects 125,000 Americans will have died from Covid 19 in 2022. 1 out of 8 people dying is under the age of 65. The risk of dying is 20 times higher in the unvaccinated than in those...
by James Edward Katz, M.D. | Oct 28, 2022 | Boston, COVID-19, Disease, Infectious Disease, Pandemic, Preventative Medicine, Preventive, Public Health, SARS-CoV-2, Seasonal
The annual influenza epidemic begins in the southern hemisphere and works its way north. It enters the USA in the southern and western states. The CDC uses reports from Australia to monitor the type and severity of each year’s incursion in the southern hemisphere....
by James Edward Katz, M.D. | Oct 16, 2022 | Aging, Policy, Public Health
Can It be Fixed in Time? A Quote Worth Repeating: “Population collapse due to low birth rates is a much bigger risk to civilization than global warming,” (tweet on August 26) — Elon Musk, president of Tesla motors. Read Part 1 here and Part 2 here How Do...
by James Edward Katz, M.D. | Oct 15, 2022 | Aging, Policy, Public Health
Only The US Working Population Resists Shrinkage Read Part 1 here and Part 3 here “Population collapse due to low birth rates is a much bigger risk to civilization than global warming,” — Elon Musk Elon Musk, the president of Tesla motors, SpaceX rockets,...
by James Edward Katz, M.D. | Aug 14, 2022 | Aging, Policy, Public Health
Read Part 2 here and Part 3 here The “Working-age population” around the world is shrinking. Birth rates have fallen in developed countries; climate change and food insecurity will undermine expanding population trends in less developed countries. The implications...
by James Edward Katz, M.D. | Jul 12, 2022 | COVID-19, Infectious Disease, Pandemic, Preventative Medicine, Public Health, SARS-CoV-2
Time to Dig Out the Masks A family of three Covid–19 Omicron variants – the BA.5 family – (BA.4. BA.5. and BA1.12.1)) are burning their way through the US population. BA.5 went from 1% of all infections in May to 21% in June. They are changing the rules...
by James Edward Katz, M.D. | May 17, 2022 | COVID-19, Disease, Long Covid, Pandemic, Preventative Medicine, Public Health, SARS-CoV-2
When is the next wave coming? It‘s already here. It‘s Long Haul. The first wave of Covid was horrific. Patients jammed hallways, unable to breathe, hospitals ran out of ventilators, and doctors, nurses, and first responders died with their patients. Workers placed...
by James Edward Katz, M.D. | Jan 17, 2022 | Activism, COVID-19, Infectious Disease, Medical access equity, Pandemic, Preventative Medicine, Public Health, SARS-CoV-2
You are either Working for the Virus or Working for Your Fellow Man Explanations why people don’t get vaccinated have as much to do with the bias of the reporter as the data available. For instance, Black and Hispanic minority groups were labeled “hesitant.” The plain...
by James Edward Katz, M.D. | Dec 22, 2021 | Activism, COVID-19, Disease, Infectious Disease, Pandemic, Patient Care, Policy, Preventative Medicine, Preventive, Public Health, SARS-CoV-2, Seasonal
Main Image credit: Sumanley xulx from Pixabay Dear John, It has been three weeks since the first report of the omicron variant. The newspapers are filled with headlines with contradictory information. If you feel confused, you are not alone. What should one do about...
by James Edward Katz, M.D. | Nov 6, 2021 | Activism, Cancer, Charity, Outdoors, Public Health
Image courtesy Larry Li on Unsplash In 2012, oncologist Joshua Schiffman of the Huntsman Cancer Center encountered an elephant that would change his life. He had taken his children to the Hogle zoo in Salt Lake City, Utah. They had recently lost their Bernese Mountain...
by James Edward Katz, M.D. | Oct 30, 2021 | Cancer, Patient Care, Public Health
Why is it Not in Common Use? Cancer cells are hypermetabolic. They manufacture cholesterol at elevated rates to build new cell walls which enables their uncontrolled growth. In cell cultures, tumors deprived of cholesterol stop growing. Pravachol (pravastatin),...