If the answer to those two questions should turn out to be an unequivocal “Yes!” that would definitely be cause for champagne and fireworks. Sorry to say that for now, at least, we have to put the champagne and fireworks on hold. But, who knows, might there be something – a few snippets […]
Author Bio
I have been a medical writer for about 25 years; before that I was a documentary film maker, and some of my films were about medical subjects. I am not a physician, but I have a pretty good scientific background. I wouldn’t dream of recommending any kind of treatment to anyone, and I cannot give medical advice. However, I understand the medical literature and the data and evidence behind it, and I have an inquiring and skeptical turn of mind.
I scrutinize and question and, sometimes, challenge the positions of some of the established health-care organizations as well as the marketers of health information. Eternal vigilance is a small price to pay for health. — Michael Jorrin (aka DocGumshoe)
Michael Jorrin is a paid contributor to Stock Gumshoe, he has agreed to our trading restrictions but he chooses his own topics and his words and opinions are his own.
Author Archives
November 10, 2020
More About COVID-19: Where Are We Now and Where Are We Headed?
As I write this, both the US and the world are seeing an upsurge in COVID-19. There has been a 46% spike in hospitalized patients, and in the past seven days more than a half-million more Americans have contracted the coronavirus. According to the Johns Hopkins dashboard that tracks COVID-19 cases all over the world, […]
October 22, 2020
COVID 19: What Are Prospects for the Duration?
The term “the duration” immediately recalls the Second World War. Nobody had any idea when it would be over, and so discussions of a lot of World War II-related events and conditions prominently featured the phrase “for the duration” – as in great numbers of combat fatalities would continue to be reported for the duration, […]
October 8, 2020
Another Look at the Current Migraine Scene
Thinking about COVID-19 almost gives me a migraine, or at least a heavy and achy sensation in my noggin – perhaps not an actual migraine, thankfully, but threatening and unpleasant all the same. Happily, thinking about migraines will not give me COVID-19. But migraines are by no means a topic of no consequence, […]
So now, more than six months after this pandemic was officially declared, some experts are telling us that the COVID-19 testing that we have been doing is all wrong, and that a totally different form of testing could be an effective way to end the pandemic. What they are saying is that the scientific […]
If there is a single lesson to be learned from the (I hope) valuable information in this piece, it is that health-care recommendations are somewhat fluid and also somewhat temporary. Attached to every guideline and recommendation and even to every firmly-stated conclusion in every written or spoken utterance about health care and related medical […]
August 3, 2020
Another Look at COVID 19
This will surely not be the last time Doc Gumshoe turns his attention to the pandemic that is now imposing misery on many parts of the world. I need to acknowledge that when what was then generally called the Wuhan virus first came to my attention, I expressed the view that, despite the dire […]
July 6, 2020
Some Non-Medical Aspects of Health Care
Mostly in these Doc Gumshoe pieces I try to keep my focus on what the physicians and researchers and pharmaceutical outfits are doing to try to treat, or at least manage, all these diseases, ailments, and conditions that affect our lives. But other issues keep thrusting themselves into the picture, especially the cost factor. […]
June 11, 2020
Mostly Non-COVID-19 Related Miscellany
It’s not as though the pandemic has cleared the decks of all other health-related issues. I’m sorry to report that people still have heart attacks, strokes, and cancer as well as all the plethora of other ailments, diseases, and conditions that affect our species. For example, I was thinking of putting in a […]
May 19, 2020
Doc Gumshoe – COVID-19 Miscellany, May 2020
I decided to add the year to my title in the event that this thing goes on for another full year, and I have to do an update in May 2021. I pray fervently that such an eventuality will not come to pass, but it’s certainly possible. Having said that, your obedient servant […]
May 6, 2020
What’s “The One-Hour Fix for Memory Loss?”
How could I resist this tease? I’m the guy, after all, who needs to stir his little grey cells to recall the name of that beautiful shrub growing at the northeast corner of our house. Eureka, I’ve got it! – it’s called viburnum. I’ve always attributed my lapses in memory to the […]
April 20, 2020
COVID 19 Update and Other Brief Bits
It’s hard to stay away from the coronavirus pandemic, even though Doc Gumshoe basically has no information that’s any different from what’s flooding into your inboxes or TV screens or, for those of us who are still members of the ancient fellowship of newspaper readers, the pages of our daily newspapers. But a few […]
April 1, 2020
About Parkinson’s
The last time I wrote about Parkinson’s I had not yet become Doc Gumshoe. It was quite a few years ago, and I was working on a continuing medical education project in support of donepezil (Aricept, from Eisai/Pfizer). Aricept, as you may know, is one of a very few drugs approved for the […]
March 3, 2020
Brief Bulletins of Interest
Having just devoted an entire Doc Gumshoe piece to the notorious coronavirus (COVID 19), I’m going to make those coronavirus updates brief – it looks to me as though the news media is devoting a major part of its capacity to covering most aspects of this pandemic – and, yes, it now certainly looks like […]
February 19, 2020
Coronavirus Update – February 2020
Don’t look to Doc Gumshoe to keep you up to the minute on the spread of the Wuhan coronavirus. The figures I’m quoting below are as of mid-day today, February 18th. These will have changed by the time you see this piece, and they may be unreliable in the first place. But, […]
January 30, 2020
Warm Bits for a Cold Month
Please indulge Doc Gumshoe while he presents his musings on what’s going on in general in the health-care arena, and in particular, which new drugs are getting the FDA blessing and why, as well as which ones are getting the short straw. My impressions and conclusions are in some cases only loosely based on […]
The answer to that foolish question is certainly going to be “both.” But the finger pointing at the guilty party has wobbled around a good deal in the past few years, and just before Christmas, the American Heart Association came out with a set of dietary recommendations once again apparently putting at least some blame […]
December 19, 2019
Update on Antibiotic Resistance: December 2019
The headline that snagged my attention was this: ‘Thirty-five Thousand Americans Die of Antibiotic-Resistant Infections Each Year” This was based on the Centers for Disease Control’s Antibiotic Resistance Threats in the United States, 2019, which led off with the statement that more than 2.8 million antibiotic-resistant infections occur in the US every year, and more […]
December 5, 2019
A Look at the Promise of Gene Editing
“CRISPR” is the word in the headline that signals that the piece is going to be about gene editing. Doc Gumshoe did not want to put that word – actually, it’s not really a word, but an acronym – in the title of this piece because gene editing is a whole lot more than […]
October 23, 2019
Recent Comments: Responses and Reflections
The many welcome comments to the Alzheimer’s piece that posted a couple of weeks ago prompt me to supply answers (if I am able to do that), but also set my mind to wandering on the fringes of a number of issues that may be of interest to the Gumshoe constituency. Anavex 2-73 At the […]
Recent Author Comments
Posted on November 24, 2020
Posted on November 23, 2020
I am a nincompoop! Yes, it's CRTX![...]
Posted on November 23, 2020
Thanks a lot, Michael - I appreciate it a great deal ![...]
Posted on November 18, 2020
I don't yet have full data on the Moderna vaccine, but will pass it along when I do get it. For sure, we're not better protected with placebo![...]
Posted on November 16, 2020
Ron, thanks for the hint. The hard data on which modes of transmission are more likely to cause infection are not exactly crystal clear. In the early days of COVID-19, contaminated surfaces were thought to be the most dangerous, but now direct person-[...]
Posted on November 13, 2020
I don't disagree with herd immunity, only with the notion that we should achieve herd immunity by letting the pandemic run wild with minimal effort at restraint.[...]
Posted on November 13, 2020
Disagreeing with me is not a felony, just a misdemeanor. Thanks to all for all comments, whether laudatory or semi-felonious. And also, best to all! Do not attempt to contribute to herd immunity at this point .[...]
Posted on November 10, 2020
Part of the reason that you only seldom get the flu is that a lot of the people you come into contact with have been vaccinated. You aren't contributing to herd immunity. Or is herd immunity also fake?[...]
Posted on November 10, 2020
Might be helpful if you indicated which analysis was horribly wrong. Or was I horribly wrong from beginning to end?[...]
Posted on October 23, 2020
The theory that the coronavirus is a bacteriophage was proposed by Sandeep Chakrabory a few months ago. Bacteriophages are viruses that employ bacteria as their means of multiplying. The particular bacterium suggested by Chakrabory are the Prevotella, [...]
Posted on October 22, 2020
Yes, the Brits are planning a challenge trial. A challenge trial, in case you don't know, is a clinical trial in which doses of the infectious agent - in this case the coronavirus - are given to volunteers who have received a vaccine to attempt to dete[...]
Posted on October 22, 2020
The proposal to protect the most vulnerable and let herd immunity grow as the rest of the community gets infected and (hopefully) gets over it without harm ignores the elementary fact that the virus is passed on quite efficiently by persons without sympto[...]
Posted on October 22, 2020
Comparing Sweden and Italy is not valid - when the coronavirus hit Italy, the world was totally unprepared. When Italy instituted containment measures, both the infection and fatality rate dropped dramatically. By the time the coronavirus started to [...]
Posted on October 22, 2020
Thanks for those leads - I'll follow up![...]
Posted on October 9, 2020
Most important, I made a serious error in the bit about botulinum toxin. The thirty subcutaneous scalp injections are given every 12 weeks, not every month. This makes it a somewhat more attractive treatment option. In response to another comment, it[...]
Posted on September 25, 2020
The rant with which you led off was nothing short of superb!!! Stay well![...]
Posted on August 23, 2020
An intelligent and highly qualified reader just sent me a correction, noting that Biktarvy is not the drug used for pre-exposure prophylaxis for HIV. My source stated that it was a combination of tenofovir and emtricitabine, which is now marketed under[...]
Posted on August 20, 2020
Don't know of any information as to when best to take Xarelto. Stay well![...]
Posted on August 4, 2020
You're right! I'll try to watch my p's & q's! Thanks & best.[...]
Posted on August 4, 2020
A tidal wave of comments - all welcome, and thanks for all! I have noted several items that I will need to follow up, and I will, in time. As I've said before, I'm skeptical of glowing reports about the benefits of drugs/vaccines etc when these come [...]
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Can't really comment on Anavex. The blarcamesine trials are still in early stages, both for Parkinson's and Retts syndrome. If it worked at least to some degree in Retts, that would be a huge blessing for those kids and their parents. As to the stoc[...]