Can we still recommend meditation?

Can We Screen and Still Reduce Overdiagnosis?

To be able to fully grasp the potential problem of overdiagnosis, it is important to understand the natural history of prostate cancer. In a very nice overview of van der Kwast et al., different types of prostate cancer in relation to their clinical presentation and symptoms are given (Fig. 2.1) [1]. To be able to address the problem of overdiagnosis, first the proportion of indolent cancers ne...

Smallpox: can we still learn from the journey to eradication?

One of the most celebrated achievements of immunology and modern medicine is the eradication of the dreaded plague smallpox. From the introduction of smallpox vaccination by Edward Jenner, to its popularization by Louis Pasteur, to the eradication effort led by Donald Henderson, this story has many lessons for us today, including the characteristics of the disease and vaccine that permitted its...

Comment on: IgM nephropathy: Can we still ignore it.

Can we still hear the Cro-magnon man?

This paper is an essay to connect with the stone Age coastal hunters who sheltered 28,000 years ago in the caves of today's italian Mediterranean sea shore cliffs. We have focused on the archaeological Gravettian layer in the Cavillon cave from Grimaldi occupied by Cro Magnons (informal name for Anatomically Modern Humans of the European Upper Paleolithic), which demonstrates the technical skil...

Should we recommend PEC and when?

Percutaneous endoscopic colostomy (PEC) was first described in 1986, by Jeffrey Ponski [1], who had invented percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy a few years before that [2]. Performed by 2 operators, PEC consists of placing a tube in the colon during colonoscopy in order to provide antegrade colonic enemas (ACE) in severe constipation or fecal incontinence [3,4]. The PEC tube can also be used a...