Viewpoints: Palliative Care Doc Wary Of $100M Infusion For Medicare; Rare Disease Treatment Breakthrough Near
Editorial writers examine these public health issues.
My field should be cheering this investment in whole-person care. Instead, I鈥檓 watching it with one eye on the evidence and the other on a pattern I鈥檝e seen up close: When uncertainty is high and emotions are higher, sectarian certainty moves in fast. (Kyle P. Edmonds, 4/9)
Rare disease, in aggregate, is one of the largest unmet medical needs on earth. What makes this moment different is that the technology to do something about it finally exists. (Jeff Coller, 4/9)
The global network of Pasteur Institutes, like the one in Tehran, offers three important lessons about war, innovation, and welfare. (Charentan Chatterjee and Guy Vernet, 4/9)
Bothersome backs are common among golfers. Scotland-based osteopath Gavin Routledge, who has teamed with renowned golf coach Gary Nicol in developing a treatment program for spinal injuries, views Tiger Woods鈥 medical history as particularly telling. 鈥淚 honestly can鈥檛 see a way out for him,鈥 Routledge told Golfweek. 鈥淲e have known for decades that once you have one disc surgery, the chances of having another are substantially higher, especially if you use the fusion technique like Tiger. It鈥檚 a domino effect.鈥 (Steven Henson, 4/8)
We tend to think of tastiness as a quality inherent to food: Cheesecake is delicious, cauliflower is not. However, perception of tastiness is strongly influenced by conditioning and our internal metabolic state. Remember your first sip of coffee or beer? It probably seemed disagreeably bitter. But many people learn to savor these beverages, as the pleasant biological effects of caffeine and alcohol become paired with their taste. Similarly, the same freshly baked bread and butter taste better before a large meal, when blood calorie levels are low, than after. (David S. Ludwig, 4/9)