Viruses and Health

Dr. Keith Roach  |  To Your Health Dear Dr. Roach: Over 40 years ago, about six months after having our first child, I developed scalp psoriasis so badly that just a touch of my hair would send "flakes" flying in the air! It was itchy, it often bled, and it was highly embarrassing! I kept my hair short because the sun in the summer seemed to help ease the itching and help the patches go away. After trying prescription shampoos, steroid topical lotions, and many over-the-counter treatments, in addition to at-home light treatments, I literally had my scalp psoriasis disappear overnight! A couple of months ago, I thought I would try an inexpensive, plant-based biotin and collagen shampoo that I found when my husband and I were grocery shopping. To my complete amazement, after using the shampoo that morning when I showered, the itching was gone, and my patches of psoriasis were nonexistent the next day! I didn't know if it was a fluke, but the pso...

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Nancy Moran, an evolutionary biologist at The University of Texas at Austin, will receive the 2023 Selman A. Waksman Award in Microbiology from the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). Moran is a professor of integrative biology and holds the Warren J. and Viola Mae Raymer Chair. Moran's pioneering research has expanded our understanding of microbial symbiosis and bacterial genome evolution, with a range of applications including improving the health of a variety of species, including honeybees, that are critical for agricultural and natural ecosystem health. Moran is one of 16 individuals being recognized with 2023 NAS awards and nine in the life sciences, with thi...

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Interest is booming in sports medicine and interventional cardiology, while fewer doctors are specializing in orthopedic surgery and radiology. The number of women doctors continues to grow and they are most apt to focus their practice on children, women, and families, while men are more likely to become surgeons. Those are among the findings in the AAMC's 2022 Physician Specialty Data Report , which highlights the numbers of physicians, residents, and fellows among the 48 largest specialties in 2021. For the first time since its inception in 2008, the biennial report presents data on the race and ethnicity of active physicians — showing, for example, that Asian doctors are especially likely to focus on nephrology, Hispanic doctors (regardless of race) on geriatric medicine, Black doctors on obstetrics and gynecology, and Pacific Islander, American Indian, and Alaska natives on pain management. Here are some notable trends revealed by the 2021 data, which covers about 950,0...

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