I found a pair of slides illustrating an important scientific discovery made in 1959, which became known as the Organizational-Activational hypothesis. A team of scientists experimenting on guinea pigs, discovered that hormones early in life play a crucial role in determining the sex of the brain, and whether an animal will have male or female […]
I had the great pleasure of speaking to the Washington Alliance for Responsible Midwifery (WARM) recently about re-framing the concepts around maternal health and understanding the biases in medical research. One of the great questions that has been occupying my time lately is understanding how the frameworks for understanding medical concepts emerge. Shorthand: how do […]
There is an old saying “for any workman who has only a hammer for a tool, everything is a nail”. Thus, I am in danger of writing article after article about one vitamin, B1, or thiamin/thiamine, but write I must. Thiamine is critical for energy production and the energetic demands of pregnancy are substantial. Insufficient […]
While searching through old research files for an article I am writing on mitochondria and hormones, I stumbled upon the presentation notes for my thesis defense. I thought some of our readers might find them interesting. Although, I was not able to find the original PowerPoint presentation, I did find a later presentation that included […]
In the Wall Street Journal, August 14, 2018, Your Health, written by Sumathi Reddy, recorded the case of a 34-year-old pregnant woman who went to the hospital with shortness of breath and dizziness. Doctors decided that they were “pregnancy-related symptoms and nothing to be overly concerned about”. The column goes on to say that eight […]
Infertility is really, really hard. It’s harder than I’ve ever even admitted to myself. It’s also deeply personal. Reminders of your infertility are everywhere. I’m not just talking about all of the babies at the employee picnic or the pregnant women at the grocery store or the mailbox full of baby announcements and shower invitations. […]
Over the last few decades, metformin or glucophage has become the magic pill de jour for PCOS and type 2 diabetes, so much so that prescriptions for metformin across pregnancy are commonplace. Is it safe? To read the majority of research from early 2000 thru 2010 or so, the answer would be an unequivocal yes. […]
I have addressed this problem before on this website. However, in the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday, March 27: an article appeared entitled “A Study of Sudden Infant Deaths Divides Doctors“. It goes on to say “The finding on sudden and unexpected infant deaths is surprising, says Joel Bass, of the pediatrics department at Newton […]