Public Health

A new Cochrane Review analysis provided an independent, rigorous assessment of the best available evidence to date about electronic cigarettes for quitting smoking and found that electronic cigarettes may help smokers stop their smoking, and there are no serious side effects associated with their use for up to two years. The first Cochrane Review, published in the Cochrane Library in December 2014, also found that electronic cigarettes may be an aid to smokers in stopping their smoking. There haven't been any new randomized controlled trials (RCTs) with long-term outcomes looking at the…

I recently had the privilege of speaking with Dr. Brian Goldman of CBC’s White Coat Black Art to explore the growing presence of naturopathy in Canada. In an effort to provide balance to the criticism surrounding the oft uncritical, nonsensical, and expensive health advice naturopaths provide to patients, Dr. Goldman was fair to interview Canadian naturopath Dugald Seely—the director of the Ottawa Integrative Cancer Centre and also the executive director of research at the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine (CCNM). After I listened to the episode, I was disappointed that Seely did not…

Doctors and parents sometimes disagree about a child’s medical treatment. As the recent case of six-year-old boy Oshin Kiszko highlights, some disagreements between doctors and parents can’t be resolved by further information and discussion. Oshin has brain cancer. His doctors believe he should receive treatment aimed at curing his disease, while Oshin’s parents believe the potential benefits of treatment don’t justify side-effects and other negative outcomes for their son, such as the possibility of long-term health issues. They want Oshin to receive only palliative care to ensure his…

With the high level of attention to bisphenol A (BPA) over the years, it’s easy to get the impression that BPA is everywhere and we’re constantly being exposed to high and harmful levels in our daily lives.  You might even have seen BPA referred to as an “everywhere chemical.”    Adding to the confusion, the media is notorious for attaching pictures of products that contain absolutely no BPA to articles about BPA.  Perhaps the most common examples are pictures of bottled water.  Single-serve bottles containing water, sports drinks or carbonated beverages are almost…

A small study presented at the European Respiratory Society International Congress found what you likely knew, if you are old enough to remember when smoking was common; smoking made people thinner. But the paper says people don't gain weight after while quitting because of oral smoking habits being replaced by eating ones, they speculate about an effect on levels of the hormone ghrelin (also known as the hunger hormone).  Smoking and its cessation are related to weight change, as noted. Those who manage to stop smoking sometimes increase their weight, while current smokers are…

Traditional efficacy trials have limited relevance to everyday clinical practice and should be changed, according the authors of a new study into chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) treatments. The report in the New England Journal of Medicine details a new method of testing effectiveness of drugs which puts the patients' clinical experience at the heart of the process. Led by Professors Jorgen Vestbo and Ashley Woodcock from The University of Manchester's School of Biological Sciences, the research team conducted an effectiveness and safety trial of fluticasone furoate-vilanterol to…

Are e-cigarettes harmful? It's probably the wrong question. Caffeine is quite toxic but the Centers for Disease Control doesn't promote concern about Red Bull energy drinks. What is known to be harmful, the weight of evidence is indisputable, are cigarettes. With 200 toxic chemicals being inhaled into lungs, they are linked to every form of cancer and disease for good reason. Smoking remains, as the non-profit consumer advocacy group the American Council on Science and Health has long phrased it, a pediatric disease. If kids don't take it up at a young age, they won't. Yet kids rebel, they…

If you read media headlines or watch television programs like "The Dr. Oz Show" you might be convinced that an out-of-whack balance of microbes causes obesity, and that stool implants or fancy yogurt will cure it. No, you got obese because you eat too much. Every other claim is selling you something. A new paper in mBio finds there's no clear common characteristic of the microbe populations, or microbiomes, in the digestive systems of obese people that makes them different from the microbiomes of those with a healthy weight.  This lack of a clear 'signature' across more than 1,000…

A new paper by Lawrence S. Mayer, M.B., M.S., Ph.D. and Paul R. McHugh, M.D., both of Johns Hopkins University, uses more than 200 peer-reviewed studies across a variety of scientific fields including epidemiology, genetics, endocrinology, psychiatry, neuroscience, embryology, and pediatrics to try and explain the higher rates of and explanations for mental health problems among the LGBT community and scientifically addresses some of the most frequently heard claims about sexuality and gender.  They declare that: · The belief that sexual orientation is an innate, biologically fixed…

Indoor trampoline park injuries are an "emerging public health concern," warn doctors in Injury Prevention - because over 6 months, 40 children needed medical treatment at just one trauma center following a visit to one of these venues. Yes, they looked at results from one business and declare that parents have one more thing to worry about. They reviewed the medical records of kids under the age of 17 who sought medical treatment at a children's emergency care department between July 2014 and January 2015 for an injury sustained while at an indoor trampoline park. The closest trampoline park…