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How Will I Get to Heaven? Rounding at Iowa Podcast: End of life Doulas
I listened to the Rounding@Iowa podcast “End-of-Life Doulas” twice because I’m at that difficult age when I think about my personal death. I don’t think about it at great length, mind you, but when I think about it, I feel afraid. Early mornings tend to be the time I wonder how much time now until…?…
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Thoughts on Long Covid
I read Dr. Ron Pies, MD’s essay today, “What Long COVID Can Teach Psychiatry—and Its Critics.” As usual, he made thought- provoking points about the disease concept in psychiatry. What I also found interesting was the connection he made with Long Covid, a debilitating illness. He cited someone else I know who was involved with…
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Have You Heard about the Iowa City Brain Rock?
We’ve lived in the Iowa City area for over 37 years and never heard of the Brain Rock until today. I don’t know how we ever missed it. It’s a work of art called Ridge and Furrow created by artist Peter Randall-Page, a world-famous artist from the United Kingdom. It’s been called the Brain Rock…
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Reasons to Be Proud and Hopeful for the Future
As the month of May Mental Health Awareness draws to a close, I reflect a little on the Make It OK calendar items that are salient for me: 3 things I’ve done that I’m most proud of and 3 reasons I’m hopeful for the future. I’ll keep it short. One thing I’m most proud of…
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FDA Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee Meeting May 22, 2025
The meeting of the FDA VRBPAC on the composition of Covid-19 vaccines will be tomorrow, May 22, 2025 at 8:30 am-4:30 pm EST. Some materials have recently become available on the FDA website. The briefing document indicates that there will be a discussion of the most recent Covid-19 variants and whether the current vaccine needs…
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Writing is Dope
I learned a new slang word from Houston White, the guy who makes that specialty coffee in Minneapolis I blogged about yesterday: Brown Sugar Banana (I’m not a fan, but I admire him just the same). The word is “dope.” That used to be an insult or an illicit drug when I was growing up.…
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Hearing an Old Song
I have to admit that I’ve been mis-hearing some of the lyrics of one of my favorite songs, “Lean on Me” for the past fifty-odd years since Bill Withers wrote it. It stayed on the top of the charts for more than 3 weeks back in 1972. That was a special time in my life;…
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Earth Day Trees and Other Thoughts
Today is designated Earth Day although there is such a thing as Earth Month. Among the several trees Sena planted in our back yard trees are a few that we hope exemplify the Earth Day theme, which is Our Power, Our Planet. One of them is a dogwood, which we’re hoping will bloom soon. Dogwoods…
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CDC ACIP Meeting Today on Vaccines
There’s a CDC ACIP Meeting scheduled to start at 8:00 AM EST today (caught me off guard). The slides are here. Noteworthy: Dr. Denise Jamieson, MD, MPH is chair of the CMV Working Group. She is Vice President for Medical Affairs and the Tyrone D. Artz Dean, Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of…
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SAINT Therapy for Treatment Resistant Depression at The University of Iowa
First of all, if you looked up Saint therapy for depression, you might have accidentally found information on Saint Dymphna, the Catholic patron saint of those living with mental illness. Actually, SAINT stands for Stanford accelerated intelligent neuromodulation therapy. It’s a personalized protocol for using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to treat severe depression. The University…
Go Retire Psychiatrist 