The case of the month is an actual patient of The Turek Clinic The body has a whole bunch of really cool reflexes. These are things that the body does with conscious thought. It’s how the eye focuses. It’s why the knee jerks. It also explains blushing, sneezing, coughing, shivering and even yawning. And, believe it...Continue reading
Category: Fertility
Why Have Two in The Corner Pocket?
Growing up as a kid, you expect to find two jewels right where they belong down there. And about the size of small grapes. But did you know that 2% of boys at birth are missing a testicle? It’s just not there in the sac. Yup, undescended testicles are the most common genital birth defect. That...Continue reading
Is the Written Word Obsolete in Science?
Hard to believe, but I used to use Encyclopedia Britannica in grade school to research book reports. Imagine that, a 10 year old encyclopedia was the “latest and greatest” source of knowledge that you could get in a library. Back then, history was history, it’s in the past for Heaven’s sake, and science was evolving at...Continue reading
Don’t Stop Asking Why
I’ve been called a “disruptor” before, but I’ve never considered myself a “visionary.” To my surprise, I was recently called just that, and by colleagues about whom I might use the same term. Quite flattering, really. Meeting of Minds We met just outside of Washington, at the invitation of the NIH and CDC, to discuss what’s...Continue reading
Male “Prenatal” Vitamins: More Than Just a Pill
For how long have women been taking “prenatal” vitamins? Maybe a decade? Nope. A link between vitamin deficiency and pregnancy outcomes was postulated 70 years ago! And studies showing fewer neural tube defects in babies following maternal folic acid supplementation are now almost 40 years old. Indeed, prenatal vitamins have become a clutch player in the world of preventative medicine....Continue reading
What Happens When Boys Become Men
Let’s talk for a moment about life cycles. Companies have them, markets have them, and products have them. The trajectories for many product life cycles generally progress through well-defined stages: Introduction, growth, maturity and decline. I dare say that as boys become men, their health care shows a remarkably similar curve. Men’s Health Lifecycle Don’t...Continue reading
FNA Mapping: A Tool for the Trade
Do you have a favorite tool? Maybe a great cooking pot or utensil that really works for you. Possibly a shiny, worn and weathered but perfectly performing baseball glove, or a dinged and pockmarked surfboard that handles virtually every swell. Whether you’re a carpenter and fan of curly maple, or a car hobbyist who likes...Continue reading
How to Treat Male Sexual Dysfunction
A wide variety of treatment options are available for male sexual dysfunction. You and your doctor will decide which treatment is best for you based on any number of factors. The National Institute of Health has approximated that 5% of 40-year-old-men between 15% and 25% of 65-year-old-men experience erectile dysfunction on a long-term basis. However, more commonly...Continue reading
Behind Every Egg is A Sperm
It’s a tenet of American culture that if you try hard, you’ll succeed. Hard work pays off. The early bird gets the worm. No goal met without sweat. But, try telling this to sperm. It’s always been thought that the best looking, fastest moving sperm wins the egg. It’s why Woody Allen in Hannah and...Continue reading
A Special March Madness Bro Weekend
Here’s a notion from the natural world: there’s safety in numbers. Birds do it. Bees do it. Even educated fleas do it. But why is mass behavior safer? Apparently because having many eyes allows for earlier threat recognition and herds offer dilution of danger to individuals within it. Even in humans, research has shown that...Continue reading