Broadcast from KSQD Santa Cruz on 6-13-2024
- Alzheimer’s Disease and APOE4 Gene
- Listener asks about the APOE4 gene and its association with Alzheimer's disease in the light of a recent sensationalistic Nature publication.
- The impact of amyloid beta and TAU proteins on Alzheimer's pathology.
- Differences in Alzheimer's risk among different ethnic groups with APOE4 with emphasis on the importance of cholesterol levels as a risk multiplier.
- Advice for a listener’s husband dealing with chronic back pain and sciatica
- Dr. Dawn presents a basic checklist for evaluating back pain symptoms and determining the need for urgent medical intervention.
- Potential causes are discussed such as spinal nerve compression from various sources.
- In this case, Dr. Dawn made a specific suggestion of McKenzie exercises and emphasized the importance of seeing a sports medicine doctor or physiatrist for a comprehensive evaluation.
- Dr. Dawn responds to a caller about managing knee osteoarthritis
- The role of glucosamine, chondroitin, and topical diclofenac in treatment.
- Discussion on non-pharmaceutical approaches like heat application and massage.
- Potential interventions like steroid injections, hyaluronic acid, platelet rich plasma and their benefits and risks.
- Dr. Dawn answers a question about dietary oxalates and their impact on kidney stones
- She emphasizes the importance of the oxalate content in foods and its limited role in kidney stone formation.
- She emphasizes the importance of hydration and maintaining a healthy microbiome.
- For specific dietary guidelines on oxalate in foods she suggests using oxalate.org.
- A concerned parent asks about aluminum and other vaccine adjuvants like formaldehyde for their infant's 2 month well child visit
- She expresses conflicting fears of being mischaracterized as a vaccine denier by merely expressing concern about vaccination for her infant.
- Dr. Dawn provides a breakdown of the necessity, immediate urgency and risks of each recommended vaccine (Hepatitis B, DTaP, Polio, Hib, Pneumococcal, Rotavirus) and suggests a social contextualization strategy to perhaps delay Polio, rotavirus and Hep B in this family's social context while emphasizing the importance of certain vaccinations to prevent serious illnesses.
- Dr. Dawn cites intriguing ambiguities in the literature that support the counterintuitive idea that smaller doses of aluminum may have a greater accumulation in tissues of brain and reproductive tissues than larger doses, and promises to research this further in a future program.
