Should we be using statistics to define disease?

Should we be using statistics to define disease?

‘‘Don’t worry about the physiology test—if everybody fails, everybody passes’’, Anonymous, Jefferson Medical College, Fall 1977. The first few months of medical school caused anxiety in most students, who typically went from environments where they were well above the ‘‘norm’’ in their classes to one in which they were just average. At the same time, the volume and difficulty of the material on...

How should we define health?

Machteld Huber senior researcher, J André Knottnerus president, Scientific Council for Government Policy , Lawrence Green editor in chief, Oxford Bibliographies Online—public health , Henriëtte van der Horst head , Alejandro R Jadad professor , Daan Kromhout vice president, Health Council of the Netherlands , Brian Leonard professor , Kate Lorig professor , Maria Isabel Loureiro coordinator for...

Fluoride varnishes: should we be using them?

Fluoride varnishes are fast becoming the standard of care as topical fluoride treatments. Fluoride varnishes still await approval from the FDA for use as caries preventive agents. In the meantime, their use for such purposes is considered "off-label." This article highlights the efficacy of fluoride varnishes as caries preventive agents and introduces some of the commercially available fluoride...

Should we all be vegetarians?

Should we be screening for early diabetic renal disease?