Beyond 23 and Me: The Many Ways We are Using Genomic Science
Thursday, 28 November 2019
I vividly remember the July morning in 2000 when the New York Times printed a front page article reporting the White House announcement that we finally had unraveled the structure of our DNA: the collection of genes that make living things who and what they are. Among the other amazing revelations, it was apparent that
- Published in Dr. Legato's Blog
No Comments
Scientific Snippets
Monday, 25 November 2019
The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) has just reported an interesting shift in end-of-life interventions offered to patients in European Intensive Care units over the past 17 years: withholding life-prolonging therapy and withdrawing of life-prolonging therapy increased by 10% and 14% respectively. The proportion of women patients was roughly the same (about half)
- Published in Dr. Legato's Blog
When Women’s Memories Work Against Us
Thursday, 21 November 2019
“You’re bringing up that again?!?” The husband of my patient Bella* came to her five years ago and confessed he was having an affair. Although he swears that he has been faithful since, that long-ago infidelity still pollutes every moment of her waking life. There’s no pleasant afternoon spent together that isn’t colored for her
- Published in Dr. Legato's Blog
Why Men Never Remember and Women Never Forget
Monday, 18 November 2019
There is some evidence as a very title of this book suggests that women have better memories than men do for the spoken word. Never is this more apparent than during an argument! During a disagreement, one of my partners – a lawyer – wryly asked me to “read back his last statement” as he
- Published in Dr. Legato's Blog
The Differences Between How We Listen and What We Hear
Thursday, 14 November 2019
What Did You Say? The Differences Between How We Listen and What We Hear “You never listen to me!” “Have you even heard a word I’ve said?” “Men just don’t get it” In some ways, meeting one another and getting together are the easy parts. All too often, it’s when we start really relating to
- Published in Dr. Legato's Blog
Can We Leave the Lights On? Sex Differences in the Bedroom
Monday, 11 November 2019
In Plato’s Symposium, Aristophanes tells us that the first humans were both male and female. They were very beautiful, insufferably pleased with themselves, and, above all, self-sufficient (as many of us surely would be if there was never the need to woo and keep a mate!). According to the story, these early humans were so
- Published in Dr. Legato's Blog
The Flu Shot: ?Effective ?Dangerous ? Worth the Trouble?
Monday, 04 November 2019
There are fads and fashions in what the lay public accepts about medical information. One of the most alarming at the moment is the resistance to vaccination, including the one we are dispensing at the moment against influenza. Persuading patients to get a flu shot, even when it’s free at their local pharmacy, is not
- Published in Dr. Legato's Blog
Baby Editing: Controversial and Moving Ahead Despite Concerns
Thursday, 31 October 2019
It’s hard to believe that less than 20 years ago, the White House announced what may be the most important discovery in human history: we had unraveled the structure of the human genome. After years of painstaking effort from scientists all over the world , we finally discovered how the genes that make us who
- Published in Dr. Legato's Blog
Women and Work for Pay: Why They Do It and How Happy It Makes – or Doesn’t -Make Them
Thursday, 17 October 2019
There’ve been a few interesting studies of women in the workforce lately; unfortunately, the data for the most part are based on interviews from small samples and don’t describe the attitudes, demands and expectations of different generations of women. In any case, most observers agree that societal expectations of men and women are not only
- Published in Dr. Legato's Blog
Remembering And Forgetting: The Role Of Sleep In Memory
Thursday, 10 October 2019
Our fascination with sleep is universal and ancient. One of my favorite images from Greek mythology appears repeatedly in the cameo brooches of the Victorian era. It shows the goddess of night, Nyx, with a baby on each shoulder. One is her son Hypnos, the god of sleep and the other Thanatos, the god of
- Published in Dr. Legato's Blog