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26 April 2012
By Max Sherman
Those interested in the history of medicine should read the details surrounding the therapy rendered to President George Washington by his physicians in December 1799. This article explores purging, bloodletting and other methods employed to help treat Washington, which actually hastened his death.
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24 February 2012
By Max Sherman
It can be argued that among the various illnesses associated with aging, including osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and Parkinson’s disease, none is more dreaded than Alzheimer’s disease. The affected patient suffers a progressive loss of cognitive awareness and his or her independence, and eventually dies, usually within three to nine years after diagnosis.
Alzheimer’s disease causes the mind to slowly vanish, leaving an empty shell of a person behind. More troubling, even after years of research, there remain more questions than answers about Alzheimer’s disease. This is not surprising, since the brain is the most complex structure in the universe and there is still much to be learned about its function. While research continues, it is troubling to know that Alzheimer’s disease may be inevitable for many people. This article is intended to enhance understanding of the disease by briefly describing its history, incidence, symptoms, diagnosis, etiology and current and possible future treatment. [
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27 January 2012
By Max Sherman
For those of us who travel frequently, there is a major hazard to consider: bed bugs!
Once nearly eradicated, these blood suckers have made a rapid comeback in the US, Canada, Europe and Australia. This spread may be a global pattern.
Traveling to and staying in hotels overnight in New York City is especially problematic, as this city appears to be particularly affected. New York, however, is not unique. Bed bug infestations have been reported increasingly in homes, apartments, hotel rooms, hospitals and dormitories in the US since 1980. Reports of bed bug infestations in San Francisco doubled between 2004 and 2006.
Bed bugs have superseded termites as the number one urban pest, and they have evolved to outsmart the latest generation of chemicals used to control them. Bed bugs are no longer kept in check by insecticides called pyrethroids. [
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1 December 2011
By Max Sherman
In a New York Times editorial several years ago, William Safire wrote an essay entitled, “Why Die?”1
According to the writer, nothing makes the weak strong or the fearful brave as much as the body’s innate drive to stay alive. His point was that the genetic clock is set to run no more than 120 years, although many people would like to live much longer. A government report summarized the will to survive, noting that the inevitability of aging and the specter of dying have always haunted human life, and the desire to overcome age has long been a human dream.2
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