Critically Speaking

When we hear the term tumor or cancer, the image that often comes to mind is a bunch of bad cells next to normal ones, and growing. Like many things, it's just not that simple. How do the normal cells turn bad? Can our immune systems detect the cancer cell and kill it? Why does some, initially successful, chemotherapy stopped working? Why does cancer spread? These are all great questions, since cancers of one kind or another, will affect so many of us either as patients, friends, or loved ones. Well, basic science is providing some critical answers. In today’s episode, Therese Markow and Dr. Ajit Nirmal discuss just these questions.     Key Takeaways: If we didn't have an immune system, we'd all get cancer.  Drug resistance continues to be the principal limiting factor to achieving cures in patients with cancer. Once a normal cell has turned cancerous, it is likely dividing much faster than a normal cell. This rapid cell division is error prone, and can lead to accumulation of mutations at a much faster rate.   "I truly believe, with adequate basic understanding of the molecular underpinnings of cancer evolution, and how the tumor microenvironment helps it or promotes it, we will be able to predict the best course of action to target all cancer cells up until the very last one, and consequently to the patient." —  Dr. Ajit Nirmal     Connect with Dr. Ajit Nirmal: Professional Bio: https://scholar.harvard.edu/ajitjohnson/home  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ajitjohnsonnirmal/      Connect with Therese: Website:   www.criticallyspeaking.net Twitter: @CritiSpeak Email: theresemarkow@criticallyspeaking.net     Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You're the expert. Your podcast will prove it.  

Evidence is emerging that fluoride, a chemical that helps prevent dental cavities or caries, also is a neurotoxin that can cross the placenta and enter the developing brain. Recent studies reveal that excess fluoride during fetal development can result in impaired intelligence and cognition in children.    Key Takeaways: Fluoride helps prevent tooth decay. An excess during gestation can produce dental "fluorosis" , discolored and even pitted teeth in the children Fluoride is also a neurotoxin, detectable in the parts of the brain involved in learning and memory Recent studies show an association between fluoride in maternal urine during pregnancy and impaired behavior in children People are getting more fluoride now because it is used in beverages, personal care products, and polluted air.   "Strong associations exist between the level of maternal urinary fluoride, in other words, how much the mother was exposed to, and the test scores of their children." —  Therese Markow, Ph.D.     Further Reading:  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6923889/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5915186/     Connect with Therese: Website:   www.criticallyspeaking.net Twitter: @CritiSpeak Email: theresemarkow@criticallyspeaking.net     Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You're the expert. Your podcast will prove it.    

What happens when we remember something?  Therese Markow talks with neuroscientist Dr. Ben Albensi about how memory works, involving both chemical and structural changes.  They talk about the signals in the brain, the connections among different brain regions underlying memory, and the role of sleep in consolidating the memory process.  Dr. Albensi also describes what happens when a person suffers amnesia.    Key Takeaways: Memory begins in the brain region called the hippocampus, from which chemical signals and neural connections then extend to other regions. These connections are important for memory. Enriched environments result in more connections. Sleep is critical to the memory process.   "We’ve learned from scientific evidence and experiments that sleep is critical to quality of memory and memory consolidation." —  Dr. Ben Albensi   Connect with Dr. Ben Albensi:  Hôpital St-Boniface Hospital Profile: Dr. Benedict C. Albensi   Email: balbensi@sbrc.ca  Cell Phone: 973-668-0206 LinkedIn: Benedict C. Albensi, PhD, BCMAS, CRQM   Connect with Therese: Website:   www.criticallyspeaking.net Twitter: @CritiSpeak Email: theresemarkow@criticallyspeaking.net      Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You're the expert. Your podcast will prove it. 

Infertility is on the rise, leading otherwise healthy young couples to seek a form of assisted reproductive technology appropriate for their particular situation. This increase infertility of considerable concern. Is one sex affected more than the other? What are the long-range implications if the trend keeps going? Is it only humans that appear to be affected? And the critical question is why? In today’s episode, Therese Markow and Dr. Shanna Swan, author of the new book Count Down, answer many of these questions, including discussion of the types of chemicals and other factors that may contribute to the rising infertility.    Key Takeaways: The number of “good” sperm observed in human populations (as indicated by the WHO) has dramatically decreased. Other characteristics for function, such as abnormal shape, inability to swim correctly, and chromosomal abnormalities are increasing as well. Male and female infertility is about 50/50. Newborn babies are being born “pre-polluted” with up to 100 environmental chemicals.  One solution you can undertake yourself is to determine where your food comes from, as that’s what’s going into your body.   "I'm convinced that a large proportion of the decline we're seeing is due to chemical exposures, man-made chemicals." —  Dr. Shanna Swan   Connect with Dr. Shanna Swan: Professional Bio: mountsinai.org/profiles/shanna-h-swan   Website: shannaswan.com  Book: Count Down - shannaswan.com/countdown LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/shanna-swan-phd-339a4258 Instagram: instagram.com/drshannaswan Twitter: twitter.com/DrShannaSwan   Reference: Environmental Working Group: ewg.org     Connect with Therese: Website:   www.criticallyspeaking.net Twitter: @CritiSpeak Email: theresemarkow@criticallyspeaking.net     Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You're the expert. Your podcast will prove it.  

Many people have addictions. While much of the time we think of substance addictions, such as drugs or alcohol, there is an increasing rise in behavioral addictions as well, which are often not viewed in society as addictions however real they are and however many issues they cause. Where are these addictions coming from? How do they form? How can they be treated?  In this episode, Therese Markow and Dr. Amanda Giordano, author of A Clinical Guide to Treating Behavioral Addictions, discuss just these questions and go into further details regarding the topics, including cyber sex addiction, genetic predispositions to addiction, and how the itnernet has affected the rise of behavioral addictions.     Key Takeaways: Our brains pay attention to what causes a release of dopamine and pay more attention to those behaviors, increasing the desire and motivation to seek out those rewards associated with that release.  There is a difference between high involvement in a behavior and addiction in a behavior. If it doesn’t hit the 4 C’s of addiction (compulsion, loss of control, negative consequences, cravings) it may not be an addiction.  There are resources available for behavioral addictions, like there are for substance addictions.  We're seeing that online relationships don't take the place of the offline connection and that need to belong.     "For the longest time, addiction was seen as a moral failing or the result of a character flaw. Unfortunately, that view is still very present today. But we know that it's not a morality issue - it's a biological, psychological and social issue." —  Dr. Amanda Giordano     Connect with Dr. Amanda Giordano: Professional Bio: https://people.coe.uga.edu/amanda-giordano/  Blog: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/understanding-addiction    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amandaleegiordano   Book: https://www.amazon.com/Clinical-Guide-Treating-Behavioral-Addictions/dp/0826163165      Connect with Therese: Website:   www.criticallyspeaking.net Twitter: @CritiSpeak Email: theresemarkow@criticallyspeaking.net     Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You're the expert. Your podcast will prove it.  

Sexual assaults of women, men, and children are always in the news. We know a lot about this when it comes to little children, but for adults, especially women, what constitutes a sexual assault? Lack of consent, forced intimate relations? How does one prove an assault took place? Often the information provided by medical forensic experts is brought to bear on these cases. Today's guest, Dr. Felice Gersh, is not only a distinguished OBGYN and Integrative Medicine Specialist, but she often serves as an expert witness when medical forensics are required to clarify if or what type of sexual assault took place. This is an important, interesting, and sometimes very fuzzy topic. In today’s episode, Therese Markow and Dr. Gersh discuss this process and the challenges of sexual assault cases.    Key Takeaways: When reporting acute sexual assaults, there are special nurses in the hospital called SANE nurses, sexual assault nurse examiners, that will do a detailed forensic examination on the victim. These exams are standardized nationally. In the courtroom, you speak about genitalia as the body parts they are. It makes everyone feel more comfortable when you speak of things anatomically rather than treating them as hush hush.  As a forensic medical expert, it is important to report the facts and what can or cannot be possible, not to decide if someone is innocent or guilty.    "My job [as a medical forensic expert] is really an educator. My job is to review the evidence, then explain everything in as clear, plain, and understandable language as I can to a jury so that they will understand what the evidence really means." —  Dr. Felice Gersh   Connect with Dr. Felice Gersh: Professional Bio: https://integrativemgi.com/about-dr-felice-gersh/  Website: https://integrativemgi.com/  Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrFeliceGersh  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IntegrativeMGI/  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/felice-gersh-md-b0422b13/  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dr.felicegersh/  Book: PCOS SOS: A Gynecologist's Lifeline To Naturally Restore Your Rhythms, Hormones, and Happiness https://www.amazon.com/Pcos-SOS-Gynecologists-Naturally-Happiness/dp/1911443119/    Connect with Therese: Website:   www.criticallyspeaking.net Twitter: @CritiSpeak Email: theresemarkow@criticallyspeaking.net     Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You're the expert. Your podcast will prove it.  

As the world experiences the continuation of the COVID-19 virus, we see a growing number of COVID-19 survivors who continue to have symptoms for weeks and even months after the acute phase of their disease subsided. These individuals have gained the name COVID-19 Long Haulers. What's this all about? What's happening to these patients and how can they be helped? Well, there's no better person to address these issues than today's guest, Dr. Jason Maley. In this episode, Therese Markow and Dr. Jason Maley discuss just these questions and Dr. Maley’s research and clinical work focuses on recovery and the long term outcomes for these patients and their families after COVID-19. Key Takeaways: Long Haul COVID symptoms can manifest differently depending on each person. While there are common patterns, each patient is unique.  We know how to treat the symptoms of Long COVID-19, but we do not yet know how to treat the underlying conditions.  Currently, the best studies have found evidence of inflammation and injury in the brain, but not evidence of the virus itself, however, research is still ongoing.      "There are theories, and some papers have been published that are early and not yet definitive, discussing the possibility of antibodies directed against other parts of patient’s bodies, autoimmune antibodies, that could play a role in Long COVID and be explaining why, in the absence of the virus itself, people continue to have months or even years of symptoms." —  Dr. Jason Maley     Connect with Dr. Jason Maley: Professional Bio: https://connects.catalyst.harvard.edu/Profiles/display/Person/160605  Twitter: https://twitter.com/jhmaley?lang=en  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-maley-b2486786    Connect with Therese: Website:   www.criticallyspeaking.net Twitter: @CritiSpeak Email: theresemarkow@criticallyspeaking.net     Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You're the expert. Your podcast will prove it.  

Some people live more than a hundred years with no health problems and very little cognitive decline.  How come?  While healthy lifestyles certainly play a part in healthy aging, these “centenarians” share a number of special biological attributes.  Furthermore, these attributes, along with attaining an age of 100 or greater, show a strong genetic component.  Dr. Stacy Andersen of the Boston University School of Medicine has been studying these centenarians and the factors that are associated with not only their attaining an advanced age, but doing so with no history of major physical or mental health problems.  In her interview, Dr. Andersen discusses what she and her colleagues have discovered about this unusual group of older people.    Key Takeaways: Centenarians are people who have reached 100 years of age, while “supercentenarians” are 110 and older. Recent studies of these groups of adults reveal that during their lives they have “escaped” the diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular problems, dementia, and diabetes that cause earlier mortality among adults born at the same time. Dr. Anderson discusses her work on the genetic bases for being an “escaper”, as well as the lifestyle and personality characteristics they have in common.   "The older you get, the healthier you’ve been." —  Dr. Stacy Andersen   Connect with Dr. Stacy Andersen: BUMC Bio: profiles.bu.edu/Stacy.Andersen       Connect with Therese: Website:   www.criticallyspeaking.net Twitter: @CritiSpeak Email: theresemarkow@criticallyspeaking.net     Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You're the expert. Your podcast will prove it.  

The last decades have seen a continuing rise in really serious and often fatal health problems. The list is long: cancer, heart disease, diabetes, infertility, autoimmune diseases, autism, just to name a few. While vulnerability to disease often has an underlying genetic predisposition, there have to be environmental triggers to set these diseases in motion. In this episode, Therese Markow and Dr. Aly Cohen discuss just these topics and what we can look for on a daily basis, as well as the small changes that we can, individually, do to make our lives a little healthier.     Key Takeaways: It's estimated there are about 95,000 chemicals available on the US market for everything we use from cleaning products, makeup, and everything we use. The US has only banned 5 chemicals since 1976. European countries have banned around 1200, on average. There are resources out there to help you to vet the products you are using in your life such as The Environmental Working Group and Skin Deep Database.   "The goal is less is more - use fewer products, the products that you use, if you want to use them, just vet them." —  Dr. Aly Cohen   Connect with Dr. Aly Cohen: Website: https://thesmarthuman.com/  TedTalk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSCeP0hyuTI  Show: https://thesmarthuman.com/podcast/  Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheSmartHuman  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheSmartHuman  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCb6NhglVIu6ruM19QNhpJDw  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aly-cohen-md-facr-0b570749/  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesmarthuman/  Book: https://thesmarthuman.com/dr-aly-cohen-and-dr-fred-vom-saals-new-book-available-now/    Connect with Therese: Website:   www.criticallyspeaking.net Twitter: @CritiSpeak Email: theresemarkow@criticallyspeaking.net     Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You're the expert. Your podcast will prove it.  

Should everyone go to college? Well, for years, this was considered an important goal in life - a college education. The idea being that with a college degree, a better paying job would result. There are so many college majors from art to business to engineering to language arts, among others. How does one know, besides what they happen to be interested in, if the degree they get is actually going to yield the expected employment benefits? In this episode, Therese Markow and Dr. Richard Phelps discuss what a college degree signals to employers, inefficiencies in the current US elementary and secondary school systems, the struggle that today’s school counselors have with traditional career guidance, as well as looking at how college systems work in the United States and around the world.       Key Takeaways: On average, college grads have higher lifetime earnings than non college grads, but there is overlap. Certified technicians in robotics or computer numerical controlled machining probably have higher lifetime earnings on average then college grads who majored in poetry or fabric art. Shorter programs can provide a career credential to students who would otherwise drop out with nothing to show for their time served The best career tech programs are found where career tech courses are offered in dedicated regional vocational schools. This can vary from state to state are more easily done in states, such as in the Northeast, where there is a denser population of students.    "Supporters of the one size fits all US system, often label the European and East Asian systems as elitist...And they'll say that our system is a more democratic Second Chance system. That contrast may have been valid 67 years ago, but I don't think it is anymore." —  Dr. Richard Phelps   Connect with Dr. Richard Phelps:  Twitter: @RichardPPhelps Website: RichardPhelps.net & NonpartisanEducation.org Research Gate: Richard P Phelps SSRN Scholarly Papers: Richard P. Phelps Academia: Richard P Phelps LinkedIn: Richard P Phelps LinkedIn Learning: Richard P Phelps   Connect with Therese: Website:   www.criticallyspeaking.net Twitter: @CritiSpeak Email: theresemarkow@criticallyspeaking.net     Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You're the expert. Your podcast will prove it.