Although humans die in large numbers every day, every hour, from heart disease and automobile crashes, deaths from exotic viruses seem to command far more urgent attention in the media. Whenever [...]
Author: Dr. Micozzi
Playing bureaucratic games without a helmet
Bicycle riding can be a very healthful activity for its benefits in providing exercise, access to nature, and stress reduction. (Except on days off, when “weekend warriors” on bikes try to claim [...]
In appreciation of Senator Arlen Specter
This week, the nation lost a great legislator. And Congress sadly lost a great legal mind and expert on the U.S. Constitution. Not to mention a much-needed, often independent voice. I had the [...]
The law and unintended consequences
In keeping with one of this week’s themes on cost-effective health care…I can’t help but point out recent reports on the Affordable Care Act. Just like anything else, sometimes these government [...]
Back to basics–while NIH parties like it’s still 1998
I showed you how the National Institutes of Health’s Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) has turned its back on one of the core tenants of its original mission. To research [...]
NCCAM fails at most basic mission
Once again, proof has been provided that when it comes to research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH)…unfortunately, it seems some things never change. In this case, a new report [...]
It’s (not) in the bag
Bagged lettuce. An overpriced, bad idea to begin with that has generated several small fortunes. All because consumers are too busy to prepare their own salad. Unfortunately, there have been six [...]
The incredible shrinking brain
No, this Dispatch is not about the effects of spending too many years working in the government. I’ve written before about how dynamic the brain really is. Far from being constant in terms of [...]
Weighty matters
Not all obesity and overweight are alike, as my friend and colleague Dean Ornish reminded us in a recent editorial in The New York Times. It still matters what you eat beyond the actual number of [...]
What ever happened to philanthropy?
I’ve written about the constant needs and demands (not always one and the same) for more money to fund medical research and to foster true innovation in our modern medical establishment… [...]