Commentaries

More information is available on the teratogenicity of psychiatric medications than perhaps any other class of medications women use during pregnancy, with the most data available for antidepressants. To date, many would argue that no signals for significant teratogenicity across psychiatric medications have been identified – with a few important exceptions... »

When first I heard about the phenomenon in Le Roy, N.Y., in which several adolescent girls were mysteriously struck by symptoms reminiscent of Tourette’s, I immediately thought: I think I know how to get rid of those symptoms.

According to reports about the case in the New York Times and on NBC’s Today show, the first girl – a high school cheerleader who... »

Evidence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy has been found in autopsies of four blast-exposed veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, signaling a potential overlap of the clinical signs and symptoms of the neurodegenerative disease observed in some athletes with a history of multiple concussions.

But the case-control study’s small sample size – four... »

Okay, we admit it – even we are becoming a bit jaded with all of the attention being paid to meaningful use. So we thought we’d give ourselves and our readers a break this month and instead write about a topic that gets far too little attention: optimization.

This is the concept of using electronic health records in ways that actually fulfill their... »

Americans are in excruciating pain. Pain is the second most common reason people seek medical care. The Associated Press recently reported that pharmacies sold enough oxycodone and hydrocodone in 2010 to give 40 Percocet (5-mg) tablets and 24 Vicodin (5-mg) tablets to every man, woman and child in the United States.

Opioids are the quintessential blessing... »

Visitors to my office often ask about the secret to maintaining "such a marvelous" 11-person staff. "You must pay them a fortune," they say.

Yes, they are compensated fairly; but that’s not why they stay. I know for a fact that many of them have turned down higher salaries at big clinics. Staff turnover is essentially nonexistent. (My... »

A point/counterpoint from Dr. Donald I. Abrams and Jodie Trafton, Ph.D. »