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Shout Out to University of Iowa Hospitals Doctor Joseph Zabner!
Here’s a big shout out and congratulations to my former University Hospitals colleague Dr. Joseph Zabner who received the 2023 Distinguished Mentor Award.
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The Dragon Breathes Fire Again
Sena and I saw a news video about a technology called “DAX” which uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) the other day which promises to reduce or even eliminate pajama time for physicians trying to get their clinical note dictations done during the day instead of taking them home for several more hours of work. The video…
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New Dominant Covid-19 Variant EG.5
There is a new dominant Covid-19 variant called EG.5. It’s also called Eris. It’s descended from the XBB strains. It’s in the Omicron family and there is no indication it causes more severe disease and would be susceptible to current vaccines.
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UI Hospitals & Clinics Gets U.S. News & World Report Recognition
This is just a shout-out to The University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics for once again being recognized as one of the top hospitals in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. The Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences Department ranked 6th in the nation.
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Doctors Still Oppose Board Mandated Maintenance of Certification Programs
I got a pang of anti-nostalgia after reading the latest article calling for abolition of Maintenance of Certification (MOC), posted by Medscape on August 1, 2023. There is a petition by oncologists to end MOC. So, what else is new? So far it has almost 10,000 signatures. I remember my own petition in 2014 to…
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FDA Rumor Control Website
I just found the FDA Rumor Control website. It contains a lot of helpful information about the misinformation we often find about health care products and diseases like Covid-19, vaccines and more. It’s an eye-opener.
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Every Minute Counts in Physical Activity for Health Even If Your Step Counter Does Not Count It!
If you want a quick read for how every minute counts in physical activity for your health, see the JAMA article “Physical Activity for Health—Every Minute Counts” (Katzmarzyk PT, Jakicic JM. Physical Activity for Health—Every Minute Counts. JAMA. 2023;330(3):213–214. doi:10.1001/jama.2023.11014). Just for fun, I tried to see if about 5 minutes of juggling would result in a change…
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Thoughts on Battery Powered Toothbrushes
Sena bought a couple of Equate Polaris Vibraclean non-replaceable battery-powered toothbrushes with charcoal bristles (see below for remarks on charcoal) for us. When the battery dies, you just throw the brushes away. We had a rechargeable electric toothbrush a long time ago, but getting replacement parts for it was too expensive. We went back to…
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What’s Up with Shared Clinical Decision Making for the RSV Vaccine?
There are probably some questions about the new Respiratory Syncitial Virus (RSV) vaccine. Because I’ve seen TV commercials about the new website RSVandMe, I checked on a few things the other day. The RSVandMe website and the companion website are both produced by the RSV vaccine maker GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). As such, I consider them marketing…
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Beat the Heat with Cold Snap and Common Sense
Sena likes to be out in the garden no matter how blisteringly hot it is. A few days ago, she was planting some yellow coreopsis and lantana, whatever that is. It was 82 degrees and with the heat index (about 60% humidity), it felt like 86 degrees. Later in mid-afternoon it rose to 95 degrees…
Go Retire Psychiatrist 