Columns
Should you have that Mammogram?
Let those biostatisticians slug it out down at the National Cancer Institute – I’m getting my yearly mammograms anyway. Then again, the way things are going, should I? Last week, the latest panel of experts took a crack at sorting out the decades-old mess about mammograms: Do these X-rays really save lives? Or do they just…
A New Understanding of Depression
At McLean Hospital in Belmont, brain researchers have hit upon what could become a totally new way to treat depression – blocking a brain chemical called dynorphin, the “evil cousin” of endorphin, which triggers the “runner’s high.” At the University of California, Los Angeles, psychiatrists have modified the standard EEG (or electroencephalogram) to predict which depressed…
Unnecessary Dentistry?
He’s 81 now, this former Boston businessman, and when he retired to a southern state some years back, one of the most treasured things he left behind was his friend and dentist of 50 years, Dr. Wallace J. Gardner of Cambridge. In the south, the executive found a new dentist, who proposed a $5000 treatment…
Polycystic Ovary Syndrome – Common but Underdiagnosed
Okay, it’s Pop Quiz time: What syndrome affects at least 5 million American women, yet is believed to be vastly under-diagnosed, despite its rather startling symptoms: excessive facial hair, acne, high male hormone levels, irregular periods, infertility, significant weight gain and a strong tendency to become diabetic? If you answered “polycystic ovarian syndrome” (or PCOS),…
Inducing Labor For Convenience
You’re 39 weeks pregnant, not quite full-term. You’re still working, of course – after all, you’re a modern mom – and you’ve got everything under control. Except the obvious. If you knew exactly when the baby was coming, you could tell your boss when to start the maternity leave clock ticking. You could tell your mother when…
The Lesson Of Old Geniuses
Grandma Moses first picked up a paintbrush at 78, reportedly after arthritis forced her to give up the embroidery for which she was already well-known. She went on to paint for more than 20 years, finishing her last big canvas at 101. Giuseppe Verdi, the Italian composer, was also no slouch in old age. He…
Food Fight – The Latest Skinny on Diets
In the swampy world of nutrition books, clarity and credibility are as scarce as tofu and sprouts at Dunkin’ Donuts.But clarity and credibility are precisely the reasons you should toss out your old diet books, forget the government’s famous but flawed food pyramid, and get your hands on a new book, “Eat, Drink and Be…
When Illness Tests Marriage Vows
Several years ago, Dr. Michael J. Glantz, a brain cancer specialist, was struck by what appeared to be an extraordinary number of divorces and separations among his patients, many of whom had primary brain tumors that were expected to kill them in 15 months.Not only did there seem to be lots of breakups, but most…
Men Have A Biological Clock, Too
For years, many prospective parents – and doctors as well – have blithely assumed that, if an older couple’s baby has birth defects, it’s most likely because of the woman’s advancing age. And there’s some truth to this. The risk of mental retardation due to Down syndrome, for instance, clearly rises with advancing maternal age…
Some Advice: Make Sure That Personal Trainer Is Fully Trained
Marybeth Turner, a 35-year-old Lexington mother of two young children, has great legs. And arms. And abs. And strength. And balance. And endurance. Perhaps not surprisingly, given all that, she also has a personal trainer, in her case a huge, gentle guy named John Damon, co-head trainer at the Mt. Auburn Club in Watertown. “Squeeze….
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