Columns
Studies question tamoxifen data
Two European studies published yesterday cast doubt on the idea that the drug tamoxifen prevents breast cancer, as American researchers found in April. But a number of cancer specialists said yesterday that there is still reason to believe the American findings are solid and that women at high risk of breast cancer who take tamoxifen…
Damaged Brains; The outcomes are better and the outlook is better still
Susan Rioff, a 51-year-old mother in Lexington, was enjoying her last ride at a Wyoming dude ranch four years ago when her horse bolted, tossing her onto her (helmetless) head. For 24 hours, she hovered near death. For another 24, she slipped in and out of consciousness. Slowly, amazingly, she recovered, and today she is…
‘Routinely’ covered by insurance? Not always.
Hanna Gremp, a 6-year-old from Modesto, Calif., is a gorgeous child. Big brown eyes. Long blond hair. Button nose. But she was born with incomplete outer ears. She could hear with a hearing aid, but her ears looked deformed. She was an obvious candidate, it would seem, for reconstructive surgery. The Gremps’ insurer paid for…
Vaccines won’t win war on ticks
New Englanders and others who live in areas plagued by Lyme disease have been eagerly anticipating the advent of a vaccine, hoping perhaps to be able enjoy the woods and marshes again without eternal vigilance. Two vaccines are indeed on their way, but anyone who thinks they’ll put an end to Lyme disease anxiety is…
Kava root is hot herb for anxiety
Traditionally, whenever the people of the South Pacific islands wanted to welcome a visitor or provide a social lubricant for communal rituals, they drank a potent potion made from the roots of an intoxicating pepper plant, kava kava. The jaw-breaking job of turning the tough root of the piper methysticum into homemade brew fell to…
New depression therapy intriguing
For years, severely depressed people have had one last resort if antidepressant drugs and talking therapy failed: ECT or electroconvulsive therapy — better known as “shock” therapy. In ECT, electrodes placed on the scalp send electrical pulses to the brain, which, to be effective, must be strong enough to trigger a seizure. To prevent pain…
Diapers not only option
Over the years, Kathy Duffy, a 38-year-old school teacher in Reading, tried many treatments for her severe incontinence — pills, injections, exercises, even “retraining” her bladder. Everything helped some. Even so, she was always ducking out on her second graders to rush to the bathroom. She didn’t sleep much, either. The urge to urinate woke…
Mining veins – Endoscopy emerging as safer, less painful way to gather grafts for coronary bypasses
It’s early afternoon, a perfect spring day. Outside the UMass Medical Center, employees savor the last of their lunch break, faces tipped toward the sun, legs splayed on the grass. Inside, in operating room 3, Evelyn Kolat, 74, lies inert, dwarfed by a vast array of surgical instruments, anesthesia paraphernalia, and a heart-lung machine. 2:10…
If you feel the urge to fast, keep it short
Jesus thought fasting was good for the soul. So do Jews, who fast on Yom Kippur; Muslims, who fast by day during Ramadan; and Catholics, who fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. Ghandi fasted for political reasons – to liberate India in the 1920s and 1930s. IRA member Bobby Sands did, too, fasting in…
The water fad has people soaking it up
We’ve become a nation of water drinkers, so bitten by the bug to imbibe that we lug plastic bottles around all day, not just to stave off dehydration but to avoid just about every other ill from dry skin to constipation to fatigue, muscle weakness, and colds. Are we really that desiccated? Or just deluded?…
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