Abnormal sexual development from unclear cause, environmental changes suspected. According to a new study published in the journal Pediatrics, 1 in 10 girls in second and third grade, of Caucasian descent, showed stage 2 breast development (small mounds of tissue under the nipple area), which is considered the first sign of sexual maturation. This is an increase of two hundred percent since the 1980s. For African American girls, the increase is even more alarming, with nearly one in four 7 and 8 year-olds showing the early breast signs. The causes are unclear, but suspects include: Pthallates, compounds that make their…
Big bellies bulge when a person's diet is particularly bad. Belly flab is an important external sign of metabolic inflammation. According to new research, even thin people with a little bit of belly flab are looking at problems down the road. A study published this week in the Archives of Internal Medicine suggests that relatively normal weight people who add bulk in the bellies, as opposed to other places, are at nearly the same risk of dying from respiratory diseases (like asthma and pnumonia), cardiovascular diseases (like heart attack and stroke), and cancers as people who are morbidly obese. "Even…
Have you ever had the experience of meeting the doctor who is going to perform your surgery only to discover that this surgeon had all the charm and charisma of a villain out of a Stephen King novel? Guys, have you ever, during an initial consultation for, say, a vasectomy, noticed something strange about the way a doctor was speaking to you? Maybe he refuses to look you in the eyes for the entirety of your visit, fixating on your Adam's apple as if it were talking directly to him. Ladies, what if you were about to get a hysterectomy,…
When I first saw those helicopter shots of red oil plumes staining the ocean, my only thought was: How could any animal survive in that? As a person who loves animals, this tragedy is too awful to think about. But as a doctor concerned with the prevention of human illness, I can’t help thinking about it. I can’t help but wonder: If the entire Gulf ecosystem is trashed, how will that affect us? It’s impossible to measure, let alone predict, the long-term human health effects that emerge from a major environmental catastrophe like the one we are now witnessing in…
