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August 11, 2010

Early Puberty: What does it mean for tomorrow’s women?

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…

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August 10, 2010

Lose Belly Flab in Three Weeks!! (It can be done, and here’s why you should)

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…

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August 1, 2010

Can Creepy People Make Good Doctors?

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,…

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July 21, 2010

New Hope for Alzheimer’s?

According to a leading researcher of Alzheimer’s disease clinical trials, Dr. Paul Aisen (photo), our drugs don't work because doctor’s like me are not prescribing them early enough. But I think doctors should not promote extended use of drugs without proven benefit.
Oil Spill
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July 18, 2010

One more vital food source down the drain: The health effects of the BP oil spill

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…

No more free lunch for doctors

I don’t actually know anyone who sees drug reps anymore. The programming by we are influenced these days is much harder for our patients to see—even reporters seem not to know to write about it. It’s called “Pay for Performance,” or P4P.

Do you want your doctor to think for herself?

If you are the kind of person who wants to see an independently minded physician who treats you as an individual rather than a disease state to be fitted into a predetermined algorithm, you might not like the direction medicine will be headed if people like Dr. Pearson have their way.

If diabetes medications make you tired, read this:

If you have diabetes, fatigue may be a sign that your medication dosages may bee too high and you are at risk of dying from fatal arrhythmia. If your medications make you tired, schedule an urgent visit with your doctor and bring the reference I cite at the bottom of the article so they are up to date.
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June 6, 2010

Dr. Cate and Luke Bid Farewell to Beloved Kauai

After relocating to New Hampshire I'm finally bidding farewell, officially, to beloved Kauai. It was a wonderful 10 years of living in paradise, enjoying beautiful scenery, weather, fresh local foods and of course the company of so many wonderful people that make up this very special island community. Thanks to Malama Kauai, Unity Church, Borders Books and Music, and to everyone I befriended during a decade of aloha—and especially to West Kauai Medical Centers who have been so good to me and to now (semi-) retired Drs. Robert and Linda Weiner who first hired me way back in Sept 2000!…

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January 29, 2010

Low Carb Diets Reduce Blood Pressure

A new study suggests Dr. Atkins was right: A high carb diet is not a healthy diet, and cutting carbs trims more than just your waistline. While both low-carb and low-fat diets can help you loose weight, Duke University's well-designed study makes it pretty clear that if you want to reduce your weight and your pressure, a low-carb diet is a better choice. From Today's Medscape Family Medicine: "January 25, 2010 (Durham, North Carolina) — A new randomized trial comparing a low-carbohydrate diet with a low-fat diet in combination with the weight-loss drug orlistat has found that both strategies produced meaningful weight…

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December 30, 2009

FDA Officially Unconcerned that Crestor Causes Diabetes

Imagine a world where everyone is on powerful cholesterol-lowering drugs. Not just sick people. Everyone. Astra Zeneca has imagined it, and now they're going to see their dream come true. On December 16, the FDA announced their approval of Astra Zeneca's cholesterol-lowering drug Crestor for use in people without high cholesterol despite the fact that a new study showed conclusively that the drug causes diabetes. By a vote of 12 to 4, the panel judged that even people at very low risk of heart disease should take the cholesterol medication anyway. "I do think the diabetes problem is real, but…

Vaccine Shot In Child's Arm
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December 16, 2009

Humans as GMOs? New Vaccine Technology Alters our DNA

I am not a vaccine skeptic. I think that most of our vaccines are safe enough for widespread utilization as long as they don't do anything stupid during the production process, like contaminate them with squalene or mercury which they often do.
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December 5, 2009

Can Cancer Go Away Without Treatment?

The USPSTF has recognized that by treating tiny, early stage breast cancers so aggressively, doctors may also have unknowingly subjected hundreds of thousands of American women to unnecessary procedures, leading to needless complications including disfigurement and even death, all the while assuming they were saving people’s lives.
Brain Health
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November 27, 2009

Tiger Woods’ Concussion: What kind of recovery can he expect?

Tiger Woods recently had a single car accident--a nasty one. Reports say he was out for as long as six minutes when his wife found him. When a doctor hears that a patient has suffered a brain injury severe enough to alter consciousness, they get concerned. Loosing consciousness altogether suggests a significant insult to the brain. With an injury like that, I would tell a patient to expect between six weeks and six months of after effects, including headaches, irritability, and concentration deficits. This can be frightening and frustrating for both patient and the people they live and work with.…

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