Answers To Diseases

The WSJ Health Blog wrote that Merck is considering selling their asthma medication Singulair over the counter.
It’s Merck’s best-selling drug, with revenues in excess of $1.3 billion. But internist Matthew Mintz has some reservations about the proposal.

The United States is often compared, unfavorably, to health care systems of other countries.
But it’s refreshing to read that, yes, there are indeed countries that are worse off than we are. (via Ezra Klein)
Like Russia, which allocates significantly less than the World Health Orgnaization’s recommendation of 5 percent of government spending to health care. [...]

If you aren’t following emergency physician WhiteCoat’s account of his malpractice trial, you should.
During one exchange with an expert witness, here’s how he described what a radiologist routinely did at his hospital:

A study from Utah State University took a look at the relationship between Alzheimer’s patients and caregivers — and how that relationship can impact the patient’s mental and physical decline.

I’ve always had rather vivid dreams — or at least been very good at remembering my dreams. Sometimes, this is a good thing. A dream inspired my first published piece of fiction. Sometimes, this is a bad thing…

I was driving around Portland last week when one of those traffic message boards nearly stopped me in my tracks: HIGH SMOG TODAY. It went on to suggest that I limit my driving (hard to do when one is already in the car and on the road).

Yesterday, we took a look at how anger works in the body — what it does to your hormones, your body language, your heart rate, and more. Anger isn’t just a mental state; it has an impact on the whole body.
Calming down can be a whole body process, too.