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Tuesday: Health

Urology Pearls: Hot pepper placebo wins Ig Nobel Prize

Don’t confuse the Nobel Prize with the Ig Nobel Prize! At first glance, one prize seems serious while the other appears silly. The Nobel Prize celebrates the achievements of outstanding researchers, writers, and peace activists whose work benefits humanity. In contrast, the Ig Nobel Prize rewards imaginative and humorous scientific studies that first make people laugh—and then make them think. The Ig Nobel Prize was created in 1991 by Marc Abrahams, editor and co-founder of the Annals of Improbable Research. Like the Nobel Prize, the Ig Nobel Prize is awarded annually. If ...

Health Matters: Radiowaves solve many nail issues

Life can be painful. Sometimes it’s the emotional kind, but the physical kind is experienced by most of us, at least eventually. Time takes its toll on the human body and the years too often bring illness or disease. This can frequently result in pain. The location of the undesirable sensation may carry with it great concern, the obvious example being pain coming from your chest. But a particularly common location doesn’t usually generate the same level of interest: the area of the toenail (aka nail unit). Other than beautification, much of the focus directed at our toenails is ...

US school-entry vaccination rates fall as exemptions keep rising

NEW YORK — U.S. kindergarten vaccination rates dipped last year and the proportion of children with exemptions rose to an all-time high, according to federal data posted Wednesday. The share of kids exempted from vaccine requirements rose to 3.3%, up from 3% the year before. Meanwhile, ...

Urology Pearls: No time for lifting weights?

In my previous article, two weeks ago, I wrote about the benefits of resistance training (lifting weights, for example). I wrote that resistance training is associated with a 21% lower risk of all-cause mortality, a lower incidence of heart disease and hypertension, and better physical functioning. I relied on an overview of systematic reviews by Dr. El-Kotov whose conclusion read: “Overall, resistance training improved health outcomes in adults and the benefits outweighed the harms.” The question remained, Where does one find the time, in their busy schedule, to take part in a ...

Health Matters: Studies show internet research does not make an expert

These are strange times, a simple statement most folks would agree with. Our coastlines creep inward, potentially displacing millions, as climate change alters the planet’s surface. Human interaction is a dwindling commodity. Americans are on their phones 24 hours a day, plugged into the ...