Tag Archives: disease

Dr. M’s Women and Children First Podcast #33 David Allison, PhD – Childhood Obesity Part III

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This weeks guest is Dr. David B. Allison. Dr. Allison is the third guest to tackle the topic of childhood obesity for us. He received his Ph.D. from Hofstra University in 1990. He then completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and a second post-doctoral fellowship at the NIH-funded New York Obesity Research Center at St. Luke’s/Roosevelt Hospital Center. He became Dean and Provost Professor at the Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington in 2017.
He has authored more than 660 scientific publications and received many awards over his distinguished career. Dean Allison has provided regular service to the National Academies, including the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Medicine.
His research interests include obesity and nutrition, quantitative genetics, clinical trials, statistical and research methodology, and research rigor and integrity.
“Dr. Allison coined “It’s about knowing” as the tagline for the School of Public Health Indiana University Bloomington for which serves as Dean, and the extended moto “It’s about knowing. Because conjecture is good, but knowing is better.” He conceived a book by the title “It’s About Knowing” written principally by Susan Brackney and co-authored by Dr. Allison. More information about the book is available here.”
This week we tackle the difficulty of performing meaningful research in the Obesity landscape. This is a conversation primarily about the study process and the difficulties in teasing out the variables.
Enjoy,
Dr. M

Dr. M’s SPA Newsletter Audiocast Volume 12 Issue 41

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Coronavirus Update #71 A look at the next pandemic

From a recent article, we see a 10 point series of mitigation measures for a future pandemic based on rational thought: “A more realistic public health approach is to adjust current mitigation goals to be more data-driven and to minimize unintended harms associated with unfocused or ineffective control efforts.”
a) Accelerate vaccinations, b) ease restrictions as fast as possible based on science, c) emphasize education and harm reduction, d) Encourage outdoor activity, e) reopen schools, f) avoid lockdowns, g) deemphasize ineffective mitigation measures, h) reassess testing, i) expand treatment and prophylaxis, j) prepare for future pandemics.
And more…
Dr. M

Dr. M’s Women and Children First Podcast #31 – Dr. Sandra Hassink – Childhood Obesity

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This weeks guest is Dr. Sandra Hassink, an expert in pediatric obesity.
Dr. Hassink has spent her career looking into the pathophysiology and social determinants of childhood obesity. Her career began at the Univeristy of Deleware where she studied Chemistry before heading off to Vanderbilt University to study medicine. After completing her training in Pediatrics at St Christopher’s Hospital in Philadelphia, Dr. Hassink began a long trailblazing road to treating childhood obesity, starting a weight management clinic in 1988 at Alfred I. duPont Children’s Hospital in Delaware well before most pediatricians even realized there was an issue to address.
She is now internationally recognized as an expert in childhood obesity prevention, testifying before Congress and serving as chair of the Delaware Governor’s council on Health Promotion and Disease Prevention and directing the AAP Institute for Healthy Childhood Weight. She has served as the president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, chaired the AAP Obesity Leadership Workgroup, the AAP Institute for Healthy Childhood Weight Advisory Committee, and the AAP Strategic Planning Committee. Dr.  Hassink is the chair of the Institute for Medicaid Innovation Child and Adolescent Subcommittee and a member of the  National Advisory Board. She authored numerous articles for parents and pediatricians and two books: “Pediatric Obesity: Prevention, Intervention, and Treatment Strategies for Primary Care” and “A Clinical Guide to Pediatric Weight Management.”
In a word, she is a teacher.
Today, we have the privilege of learning.
Dr. M

Dr. M’s SPA Newsletter Audiocast Volume 12 Issue 39

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Coronavirus Update #70 GOOD NEWS: This information is so important to help us all understand risk. Stratified risk is the only true way to measure personal risk. Let us look at some CDC data from the spring Omicron BA.1 and .2 spikes versus the fall 2021 delta wave.
Median age of hospitalization has increased from 60 years old with Delta to 64 with BA.1 and 71 with BA.2. Any underlying medical condition associated with hospitalization increased from 89% with Delta to 92% with BA.1 to 95% with BA.2 respectively. Length of hospital stay decreased from 4.8 to 3.9 to 3.3 days. ICU admission was down from 24% to 18% to 13% of admitted patients. Mechanical ventilation decreased from 14% to 8% to 6% of admitted patients. And Finally, death from 12% to 8% to 5% overall.

What we can glean from this data set is very clear. With successive SARS2 mutations coupled to increased population based exposure to virus via infection or vaccine, we are now seriously in a reduced risk state unless you are older than 65 years with a comorbid disease or younger than 65 with a serious disease. 95% of hospitalizations were related to a comorbid disease regardless of age. The other big takeaway was this: if you are in this high risk group, getting every available booster is vital to your survival based on the risk reduction data. For everybody else, the data is clear, you are ok – to boost or not to boost is up to you. But, absolutely work on your general health.

To your health,
Dr. M

Dr. M’s SPA Newsletter Audiocast Volume 12 Issue 36

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Biome Depletion Theory or Biota Alteration Theory
When we look at risk of disease over time in humans, we need to take stock in what was supposed to be versus what is. If we become mismatched genetically to the environment that we find ourselves in, then we will begin to suffer disease. The work of Dr. William Parker and colleagues is very fascinating here. His understanding of our immune solvency takes us back to a time when macrobes like parasites lived with us in a semi-symbiotic way. Most of them were harmless where a few were pathogenic. This matters tremendously because as we are learning, the microbes that exist within us play a major role in tuning the immune system towards tolerance and effective pathogen killing.
A lot to explore here,
Dr. M

Dr. M’s SPA Newsletter Audiocast Volume 12 Issue 33

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Coronavirus Update 67

Natural infection provides a much better route to transmission protection than intramuscular systemic vaccination because of the induction of mucosal immunity via IgA and tissue resident T cells. (Tang et. al. 2022) If you can tolerate a natural infection without much morbidity, this seems to be a reasonable choice at this time. This is especially important now with the immune escaping variants of Omicron lineage and the reality of the current vaccine booster pool is lackluster in its effect on transmission. This calculus may change dramatically with a newer Omicron BA.5 specific vaccine that is in the works. And much more this week!

Dr. M

Dr. M’s SPA Newsletter Audiocast Volume 12 Issue 29

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Coronavirus Update #65

This week we take another and deeper dive into PACS or long covid. What are the risk factors for it? How does the intestinal microbiome play out in this space? Are there certain bacteria that are associated with a negative outcome? Can we alter them to our advantage? We also take a closer look at the current variants of the Omicron lineage. Finally, we end with a discussion of social media concerns.

Enjoy,

Dr. M

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