Archive for February, 2021

Cancel Culture and Offensive Stereotypes

February 28, 2021 — Is there a political hot button any hotter right now than cancel culture? The BBC aptly suggests these words have become potent weapons in political culture wars. A former president, voted out of office, defends himself a victim of cancel culture. The list is long for people who feel like aggrieved victims. So perhaps this […]

How Do Vaccines Reach People Who Need Them Most?

February 27, 2021 — Power and privilege serves itself first. So a limited supply of COVID-19 vaccines can bring forth an ugly dimension of humanity. Sharp elbows come out as some people try to put themselves first. But in other situations, we see a sharp contrast. We see people reaching out to help others who need vaccines urgently. The […]

Semaglutide and “The Answer” to Obesity

February 26, 2021 — “Medical care is nice, but it’s surely not the answer to obesity. Behaviors matter.” These words came to us from the audience of a webinar for a regional business group on health. Oddly enough, those words came on the same day that JAMA published yet another major study on semaglutide for treating obesity. Two weeks […]

J&J Makes Three: COVID-19 Vaccines Work in Obesity

February 25, 2021 — Yesterday, FDA released a detailed analysis of all the available data on a third COVID-19 vaccine up for approval in the U.S. Tomorrow, an independent advisory committee will meet to review this vaccine from Johnson & Johnson. But it already looks like it is heading for approval. For one thing, FDA reviewers concluded the vaccine […]

Is Diabetes Incidence Flat or Declining?

February 24, 2021 — Good news seems a bit rare these days. So reading that a robust new analysis says type 2 diabetes incidence is dropping in high-income countries prompts more questions. Is this trend real? Or is it an artifact of this one, very large dataset? Does this represent progress? Or merely a shift in the global patterns […]

Killer Croissants in the PURE Study?

February 23, 2021 — SF Eater tells us that 13 bakeries in San Francisco have “killer croissants.” The Atlanta Journal Constitution tells us that croissants, along with white bread, tie us to an early death. Their source for this epidemiological wisdom is the BMJ. That treasure trove of epidemiology – the PURE study – has yielded another publication. This […]

Tirzepatide and the Search for Better Obesity Treatment

February 22, 2021 — When NEJM recently published impressive results for a new obesity treatment, it caused quite a stir. Now it looks like semaglutide might have some serious competition coming right behind it. Late last week, Lilly announced results for two phase 3 studies of tirzepatide. These were both studies for type-2 diabetes. Effects on body weight were […]

Sorting Out “What the Science Says” Is Not So Easy

February 21, 2021 — There’s a new mantra making the rounds, but it’s really not so new. Let’s follow what the science says. That’s well and good, except that the science is seldom as definitive as we would like. In fact, when you dig into the details of any given study, you may find surprises – or more questions […]

Does Attractive Appearance Drive Academic Success?

February 20, 2021 — Let’s say you’re a brilliant economist. Does it matter how attractive you are? Perhaps it should not. But according to a new study, it most certainly does. Attractive economists get to study and work at more prestigious universities. They get better jobs in the private sector. They even get more more citations for the papers […]

Losing a Year of Lifespan in the First Half of 2020

February 19, 2021 — The lifespan expected for a baby born in America during the first half of 2020 dropped by a year, compared to what it was in 2019. But for a Black child, the drop in life  expectancy (2.7 years) was more than three times worse than for a White child (0.8 years). Life expectancy for a […]