The Obama Administration just announced their intention to take steps to increase the number of women in college science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) majors. As the dad of three very smart daughter, I’m all for that. Their stated goal is to expand the use of Title IX, the 1972 law that was designed to...Continue reading
Category: Policy
The Business Case for Paying Attention to Men’s Health
Most people know that men live shorter (by five years), less-healthy lives than women. They’re more likely to be the victim of a violent crime, die in a car crash, commit suicide, and be injured at work. Men also have higher death rates from nine of the top ten killers, are more likely to be...Continue reading
U.S. Preventive Services Task Force: Men Not Smart Enough To Make Own Healthcare Decisions
In what may go down as one of the most controversial—and most damaging—pieces of healthcare policy in decades, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force just issued a recommendation that men should no longer get routine screenings for prostate cancer. They believe that the test—called PSA, for the prostate-specific antigen it measures—does more harm than good....Continue reading
Warren Buffett’s choice to opt for PSA testing was a wise one
In 2008, the United States Preventive Services Task Force recommended that over 75 skip the routine PSA tests that have been an important diagnostic tool for decades. The reason for this recommendation? In older men, PSA scores can be high as a result of simply getting older or having an enlarged prostate. In addition, the Task...Continue reading
The stress of caring for a wife with breast cancer takes a heavy toll on men’s health
Men who care for a wife with breast cancer have weaker immune systems, and more physical symptoms, such as headaches and abdominal pain, than did men whose wives had remained disease-free. And the higher the stress levels, the worse the effect on men, according to a new study done at Ohio State University.
For the skeptics: The research on dads’ influence on girls’ puberty
Several people took issue (some in an unfortunately hostile way) with my post that mentioned research showing that girls with involved biological fathers start puberty later than those with a non-biological father or no father at all. So to satisfy the critics, here are several citations that should satisfy your inner (and not-so-inner) skeptic.
Exercise Has a Surprising Benefit
We have long known that exercise is important for many aspects of health. Now researchers at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) have identified an even more surprising way it benefits health. They found prostate health impacts nearly 200 genes and expression of 184 of those genes in the prostate gland is linked to...
Two Plus Two: Couples and their Couple Friendship
We know people with friends live longer, healthier and happier lives.Friends keep us mentally active, socially wired in and physically engaged in sports. They teach us how to use the equipment at the gym, play the latest video game and hit a better chip shot. They point us in the direction of the next Grammy...Continue reading
Diet Can Feminize the Average Male
In a recent 2012 article in Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology, there was an excellent discussion on the impact of estrogen on men. It points out that increased intracellular estrogen levels in men induce and promote obesity, gynecomastia, metabolic syndrome, type two diabetes, benign prostatic hypertrophy and prostate cancer. The problem is that with increased estrogen, relative testosterone...Continue reading
IPAB on the way out?
The Medicare Independent Payment Advisory Board, or IPAB, may be on the way out. Patient groups are celebrating the potential demise of the Board, established by the Affordable Care Act. IPAB was created to make decisions about payments for medical treatments, deciding what will be paid for and what will not. This might be acceptable...Continue reading