Category: health care

  • Reminder: FDA Advisory Committee to Meet in May 2024 to Discuss Updating Covid-19 Vaccine:

    Reminder: FDA Advisory Committee to Meet in May 2024 to Discuss Updating Covid-19 Vaccine:

    Just a reminder: the FDA Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) will meet on May 16, 2024 to make recommendations on Covid-19 strain selections for the fall vaccine of 2024-2025.

  • Is it About the Nail or Not?

    Is it About the Nail or Not?

    I saw this essay about getting your hamster off the treadmill and being in the moment. It’s not just for University of Iowa employees.  I do the mindfulness thing, I juggle, I make dumb YouTube videos. And for a little over a month now, I have not scrolled past the first few headlines at the…

  • The FDA Did Send a 252 Page Recommendation to Reschedule Marijuana

    The FDA Did Send a 252 Page Recommendation to Reschedule Marijuana

    Finally, I have found a copy of the FDA recommendation to the DEA to reschedule Marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III. The whole document is in Dropbox and is 252 pages long. The actual recommendation starts on page 62. The basis for the recommendation is three-fold: The third one sounds like a reason not…

  • The Science on Super Beets?

    The Science on Super Beets?

    Sena recently got her bottle of Super Beets with Grape Seed Extract delivered the other day. They are capsules and the label enthusiastically advertises that they are “non-GMO” and will enable the average human to leap tall buildings in a single bound within just minutes of swallowing a total of 9,000 capsules (3 caps per…

  • The Changing Role of the Psychiatrist in Managing Depression with Medical Illness

    The Changing Role of the Psychiatrist in Managing Depression with Medical Illness

    This post is mainly a reminiscence about my days as a consultation-liaison psychiatrist. I often evaluated patients who had chronic hepatitis C. The liver disease itself and the treatment (interferon alfa) often led to patients struggling with depression. The impetus for this came from noticing a couple of items. One is the recent l blog…

  • Today is National Spinach Day!

    Today is National Spinach Day!

    Sena just told me today is National Spinach Day. Naturally this means she is going to prepare a big whopping mess of spinach for us to eat. She also recently ordered a 100-gallon keg of Super Beets supplement capsules as part of her health food project. She drank the Super Beet Kool-Aid, if you know…

  • Thoughts on the FDA Settling Lawsuit Over Social Media Post on Ivermectin

    Thoughts on the FDA Settling Lawsuit Over Social Media Post on Ivermectin

    I just saw the news item about the FDA settling a lawsuit brought by three Texas doctors who opposed the FDA’s social media posts as well as an FDA website page entitled “Why You Should Not Use Ivermectin to Treat or Prevent Covid-19.” I have highlighted a link to that article which is cited by…

  • The FDA Announcement on Kratom

    The FDA Announcement on Kratom

    Just in case you missed it, the FDA posted an announcement about Kratom in February this year. According to the FDA: “Kratom is a tropical tree (Mitragyna speciosa) that is native to Southeast Asia. Products prepared from kratom leaves are available in the U.S. through sales on the Internet and at brick-and-mortar stores. Kratom is…

  • Good Luck Dr. Chris Buresh

    Good Luck Dr. Chris Buresh

    Sena was looking up the meaning of a four-leaf clover the other day. You might call it a shamrock although that’s usually reserved for the 3-leaf variety. It’s fitting for St. Patrick’s Day to say the four-leaf clover is special because it’s rare to see one. The four leaves represent faith, luck, love, and hope.…

  • Remember The Calling

    Remember The Calling

    I recommend Dr. George Dawson’s recent posts on seeing the practice of medicine as a calling and his passing a big milestone with 2 million reads on his blog. I wrote a post entitled “Remembering Our Calling: MLK Day 2015.” It was republished in a local newspaper, the Iowa City Press-Citizen on January 19, 2015.…