Day: October 8, 2020

Covid-19 Vaccine-Trial Volunteers Look to Make a Difference

By Shelton Muro 2 weeks ago

Victoria Smith had lost three patients to Covid-19, while another patient had lost her husband and brother to the virus. So when the New Orleans-area family physician learned in July that her health system would participate in a vaccine trial, she was in the lab to get her first dose the next day.

The trial that Dr. Smith entered, for

Pfizer Inc.’s


PFE 1.40%

experimental Covid-19 vaccine, seems a lot like any other medical study. There is paperwork, blood work and a pair of shots three weeks apart. She keeps a diary of how she is feeling to share with researchers. She has been paid about $400 so far. And yet the stakes make the Covid-19 vaccine trials unique.

“Being part of a trial to develop a vaccine is what’s going to help us get back to any sense of normalcy,” said Dr. Smith, who is 52 years old. “Because

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Why Apple Focuses On Health And Fitness

By Shelton Muro 2 weeks ago

In 2009, I discussed with an Apple exec who shared with me the impact Steve Jobs’ health crisis had on the Apple execs and many of its employees. 

As we now know, in 2003, Jobs was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, a disease that eventually claimed his life in 2011. Apple’s execs and other employees close to Jobs watched in dismay as they saw their beloved leader suffering through this medical crisis. Those who knew him well were deeply moved by what they saw as they sat by helplessly as his health declined.

In early 2010, Apple’s top execs made an important decision about Apple’s future. Although they were working feverishly to get the iPad to market by Q4 of that year, they started looking hard at ways that Apple could use their

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What We Can Learn About Cannabis From Chinese Medicine

By Shelton Muro 2 weeks ago

In partnership with The Fresh Toast

What roles do herbal and classic natural medicines have in common with modern medical research when it comes using cannabis for medicinal purposes? During the 2019 Cannabis Collaborative Conference in Portland, Oregon, Dr. Heather George, Doctor of Science in Oriental Medicine (DSOM), c-IAYT , TheLotusWay.org and AOMScholarshipFund.org, sought to address this question.

George offered a brief history of cannabis as a healing agent dating back to around 2737 BCE. During this era, Emperor Shen Nung, the father of Chinese medicine, was said to have used cannabis for medical purposes. During this reign form 2698-2598, Emperor Huangdi was said to have written the Nei Jing (Chinese Canon of Medicine).

Quoting from the Nei Jing, George pointed to how, throughout history, Chinese medicine sought to return the body to a state of equilibrium.

“The ancient sages treated all disease through living a peaceful life in

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How to safely go to the dentist during the pandemic

By Shelton Muro 2 weeks ago

My tongue first detected the problem when it caught a sharp edge on my teeth: A hefty hunk of my back right molar was missing. I’m not sure how it happened, but it meant that after months of avoiding any sort of physical closeness with other people, I needed to brave the dentist’s chair.

With the pandemic raging across the United States, the office I entered in Alexandria, Virginia, looked very different from the one I had visited months before. Two cups of pens sat on the receptionist’s desk, one for “clean” writing utensils and the other for those recently used. A plexiglass partition divided me from the rest of the office behind, and everyone—myself included—donned a mask.

Dental work is a uniquely risky environment for spreading SARS-CoV-2, since medical practitioners work face-to-face with open-mouthed patients for extended periods of time. “We, unfortunately, work in a danger zone,” says Mark

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