-
1 week ago | 
hampshirereview.com | Patrick Turnes
In the 1940s and early 1950s, the good old days in the godless Communist Soviet Union, a scientific theory called Lysenkoism flourished. The term comes from Trofim Lysenko, an agronomist who rejected the theories of Mendelian genetics and natural selection. He believed that plants developed over time not through genetics, but through Lamarckism, the theory of the inheritance of acquired characteristics.
-
2 weeks ago | 
hampshirereview.com | Patrick Turnes
In the May 20 edition of JAMA, the WHO (World Health Organization) reported that measles cases in Europe reached their highest levels in 20 years. Among the factors responsible for the rise was the reduction in vaccinations during the time of the Covid pandemic. Immunization rates in some European countries were as low as 80%, and in one region in Romania, the rate was less than 50%.
-
1 month ago | 
hampshirereview.com | Patrick Turnes
June is busting out all over. Flowers, trees, grasses, weeds, and.ticks. In the northeast and other parts of the country, June is also the peak month for an unwelcome present from a tiny creature known as Ixodes scapularis, aka the deer tick. That present is a spiral shaped bacterium called Borrelia burgdorferi. This bacterium can be found in a number of mammals, including white tailed deer and rabbits.
-
1 month ago | 
hampshirereview.com | Patrick Turnes
A man is calmly sitting on the roof of his house. Which ordinarily would be a little odd, but he is doing so in the middle of a hurricane because the remainder of his house is under water. A boat approaches and the rescue workers encourage him to get on board. He declines, saying, “I have faith that God will save me.” Despite their efforts, he refuses to get off his roof, and they proceed to rescue other people.
-
2 months ago | 
hampshirereview.com | Patrick Turnes
So far, in the U.S., there have been 884 cases of measles, occurring in 29 states. There have been 3 deaths; 2 children and one adult, all three were unvaccinated. The biggest factor in the measles outbreak is the high rate of unvaccinated individuals. It is estimated that about 93% of individuals have received MMR vaccine.
-
2 months ago | 
hampshirereview.com | Patrick Turnes
This past week, Washington Capitals’ Alexander Ovechkin overtook Wayne Gretzky to become the leading all-time goal scorer in the National Hockey League. The following reprised article relates a true story regarding a hockey fan who had an even larger impact. On Oct. 23, 2021, the newly minted Seattle Kraken hockey team played in their first-ever home opener against the Vancouver Canucks.
-
2 months ago | 
hampshirereview.com | Patrick Turnes
Those who follow West Virginia politics closely know what the numerical portion of this title means. For those who don’t, this is the vote count in the West Virginia House of Delegates that killed a Senate passed bill that would have broadened exemptions from long standing vaccination requirements. I bring attention to this, not to be smug or gloating, but to express what amounts to a sigh of relief.
-
Mar 26, 2025 | 
hampshirereview.com | Patrick Turnes
From the archives of the Hampshire Review’s Healthy Hampshire. The following is a true story. In the interest of privacy, the name of the subject of this story has been changed. Her name was Jane. She was an 18-year-old student residing in a college dorm in Maryland. I had seen her only one previous time, for a physical exam related to her application for college admission. Her parents were also patients of mine.
-
Mar 19, 2025 | 
hampshirereview.com | Patrick Turnes
As of March 6, there were a total of 222 measles cases in the U.S., 94% of whom were in unvaccinated people and 17% of whom have required hospitalization. Two people have died. Only 2% of those cases were in individuals who received two doses of MMR vaccine. The cases have been reported in 12 states, including Pennsylvania and Kentucky (states that border West Virginia). Those 222 cases have occurred in less than 3 months. In contrast, for the entire year of 2024, there were 285 cases.
-
Mar 12, 2025 | 
hampshirereview.com | Patrick Turnes
The first female medical student in the United States was Elizabeth Blackwell. After receiving rejections from multiple medical schools, Dr. Blackwell was admitted to Geneva Medical College in 1847 and received her MD degree. She subsequently had to move to France and England to get further training not available in the United States. In 1850, she returned to the United States and with two other female doctors established what is now New York Presbyterian-Lower Manhattan Hospital.
