I grew up in a small town in the middle of nowhere. My parents house was 19 miles East of the Colorado border. The adjacent Colorado counties were so sparsely populated that the ranches were open range. There were no fences. The local hospital where I got my tonsils removed only had 9 beds. The hospital is county-owned, as is the long-term care facility. Some of the local health care providers are subsidized by the county, with free office space and guaranteed incomes. Otherwise, the only health care providers would be miles away in other counties.
Author: Devon Herrick
FDA Approves Fecal Transplants as though it were a Drug
Clostridium difficile infections (CDI) are difficult to treat and can be deadly. CDI is an infection of the gut when the gut bacteria are thrown out of balance and populated with Clostridium difficile rather than a healthy biome. The standard treatment is antibiotics, which can also wreck beneficial gut biome. CDI often is recurrent, coming back time and time again.
New Alzheimer’s Drug May be a Breakthrough! Or a Dud!
In June of 2021 the Alzheimer’s drug, Aduhelm, was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Aduhelm is a monoclonal antibody. It targets a specific protein in the brain that is thought to form plaques in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients, causing brain cells to atrophy and die.
NYT: It’s Not Your Fault You’re Fat
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) the prevalence of obesity among adults in the U.S. is about 42%, rising more than 10 percentage points in the past two decades. During that same period, severe obesity about doubled, to 9.2%. It is estimated that medical costs attributed to obesity are $173 billion, or about $1,861 higher per obese individual compared to adults with a healthy weight.