Causes Or Cures

Send us a textIn this episode of Causes or Cures, Dr. Eeks chats with Dr. Guillermo Barrios Morales about his recent research that modeled the effects of Mealses-induced "Immune Amnesia" while another outbreak is happening simultaneously. In this podcast he will discuss what immune amnesia is and its association to Measles, his predictive model and the assumptions he made, and the impact immune amnesia could have on the immune system's ability to fight off other viruses, both at the individual and population level. Could Measles wipe out herd immunity for another virus? Find out. Dr. Barrios Morales is a scientific researcher and physicist affiliated with the Universidad de Granada in Spain. A link to his study on measles and immune amnesia is here. You can contact Dr. Eeks at bloomingwellness.com.Follow Dr. Eeks on Instagram here.Or Facebook here.Or Twitter.Subcribe to her newsletter here!Support the show

Send us a textIn this episode of Causes or Cures, Dr. Eeks chats with Dave Hickey, president of Life Sciences at BD about their new AI-powered, smartphone-enabled, at-home test for COVID-19 called BD Veritor. We discuss the importance of testing, how accurate the test is, cost and accessibility, which are two current and concerning barriers for many people. You can visit BD's website here. To contact Dr. Eeks, do so through bloomingwellness.comOr follow her on Instagram here.Twitter here.Or Facebook here.Subcribe to her newsletter here!Support the show

Send us a textIn this episode of Causes or Cures, Dr. Eeks chats with Dr. Blima Marcus, an oncology nurse practitioner at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and an Assistant Adjunct Professor at the Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing, about her community-level, grassroots initiative to address concerns about childhood vaccines in her religious orthodox community that experienced a Measles outbreak not too long ago. (In general, there have been concerns about increases in Measles outbreaks in various countries due to lower vaccination rates during the pandemic.) Blima will discuss why she pursued this initiative, what "PIE" is, her approach to people who think differently than she does about vaccines, the type of feedback she's been getting and how she handles negative feedback. Blima has a doctorate degree in nursing and is also the president of EMES, where you can go and learn more about her "PIE" initiative and even get a copy for yourself. You can contact Dr. Eeks at bloomin

Send us a textIn this episode of Causes or Cures, Dr. Eeks chats with Dr. Nathorn Chaiyakunapruk about his recent study on intermittent fasting, published in JAMA Network here.  He will discuss his study, what he and his research team learned about intermittent fasting when it comes to health benefits and health associations; the health differences between intermittent fasting and plain ol' calorie restriction; what the evidence says about intermittent fasting working for specific diseases and most importantly, if there is enough evidence to say that we should try intermittent fasting in our battle against a growing obesity problem. Dr. Chaiyakunapruk is a researcher and professor in the Department of Pharmacotherapy at the University of Utah College of Pharmacy in Salt Lake City. He earned his Doctorate of Pharmacy from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and his PhD in Pharmaceutical Outcomes Research and Policy Program from the University of Washington.  You can read his full bio and research publica

Send us a textIn this episode of Causes or Cures, Dr. Eeks interviews Dr. Azza Halim MD, a board-certified anesthesiologist and doctor who specializes in aesthetic, regenerative and anti-aging medicine. She is a national medical director for several aesthetic startup companies and runs her own medical consulting company. You can learn more about her and follow her on Instagram here. You can contact Dr. Eeks at bloomingwellness.com.Follow Dr. Eeks on Instagram here.Or Facebook here.Or Twitter.Read Manic Kingdom here.Listen to her short audio parody on the wellness industry here.Subcribe to her newsletter here!Support the show

Send us a textIn this episode of Causes or Cures, Dr. Eeks chats with Israel's Dr. Ariel Israel, MD, PhD about his new study that resulted in the creation of a web-based calculator for determining your risk of hospitalization and death once infected with COVID-19. While the study is still in preprint and not peer-reviewed, statistical tests show that the predictive model is accurate. Anyone can access the calculator here and put in his/her risk values to determine overall risk of hospitalization and death. (Keep in mind that nothing is written in stone yet.)In this podcast, Dr. Israel discusses the study that resulted in the formation of the COVID calculator; what the predictive model tells us in terms of risk of hospitalization and dying of COVID-19, and he also discusses the current COVID and vaccine situation in Israel, along with what early treatment drugs they are using and how they assess vaccine safety vs how the US does. Dr. Israel is Director of Leumit Research Institute in Israel and has been h

Send us a textFluvoxamine is a cheap, generic, oral drug that is classified and used as an antidepressant. That said, recent trials have tested its use as early, at-home treatment for COVID-19 and so far, the results look extremely promising. So promising that an application was recently submitted to the FDA for emergency use authorization as early treatment for COVID-19. In this episode of Causes or Cures, Dr. Eeks chats with Dr. Eric Lenze, a psychiatrist and clinical trialist at Washington University in St. Louis, who ran one of the randomized controlled trials on fluvoxamine. His study was published here in JAMA. In this episode, he will discuss what fluvoxamine is, why he and his team decided to study its use against COVID-19, results of the trial and subsequent trials, dosing issues, side effects, concerns about withdrawal and how the drug can help bring an end to the pandemic. You can contact Dr. Eeks at bloomingwellness.com.Follow Dr. Eeks on Instagram here.Or Facebook here.Or Twitter.Read Manic Kingd

Send us a textWe have heard a lot about mRNA vaccines in relation to COVID-19, but researchers are studying the technology to see if it can be used to make vaccines for other diseases. Lyme Disease is one of the most prevalent vector-borne diseases in the US that can have both short-term and long-term consequences, like chronic fatigue, cognitive dysfunction, arthritis, kidney dysfunction, constant muscle pains and more. In this episode Dr. Erol Fikrig, an infectious disease expert and professor of epidemiology at Yale School of Medicine who runs a lab studying vector-borne diseases, explains his preclinical research on an mRNA vaccine for Lyme Disease. He explains what is in the vaccine; how it works (differently than ANY other vaccine out there), results from his research conducted in animals, current studies and whether or not he sees this as something that might come to humans. You can contact Dr. Eeks at bloomingwellness.com.Follow Dr. Eeks on Instagram here.Or Facebook here.Or Twitter.Read Manic Kingdom

Send us a textIn this episode of Causes or Cures, Dr. Eeks chats with Ashley Tyrner, CEO of FarmboxRx, a company that helps get healthy and fresh foods to low-income and senior communities. Physicians can prescribe these food boxes for their patients, and Farmbox is partnering with a growing number of health insurance companies. Farmbox recently partnered with the USDA.Ashley was a single, Hispanic mother who started out in fashion and struggled herself with access to healthy foods. Passionate about connecting marginalized communities to healthy, affordable foods that are shown to cut down on rates of chronic illness, Ashley went on to create Farmbox. Here she discusses the beginnings of Farmbox, how the program works, the types of food in one box, successful case studies and current research, partnerships with health insurance companies and how anyone interested can sign up with Farmbox. You can contact Dr. Eeks at bloomingwellness.com.Follow Dr. Eeks on Instagram here.Or Facebook here.Or Twitter.Read Manic

Send us a textIn this episode of Causes or Cures, Dr. Eeks chats with former CIA officer Marc Polymeropolous about his experience with the mysterious Havana Syndrome that has impacted many people in the intelligence community. Marc discusses when he was first impacted in Moscow, his symptoms, the CIA's response, what he thinks might have happened to him and what he hopes to accomplish by sharing his story. You can contact Dr. Eeks at bloomingwellness.com.Follow Dr. Eeks on Instagram here.Or Facebook here.Or Twitter.Subscribe to her newsletter here!Support the show

Send us a textIn this episode of Causes or Cures, Dr. Eeks chats with Dr. Suresh Kuchipudi about his newly published research on the presence of SARS-Cov-2 ( COVID-19) in white-tailed deer. He will discuss how they conducted the study,  its findings and what they could mean for viral transmission, the "spillover" of SARS-Cov-2 from humans to deer and how it most likely happened, the symptom profile in deer, how multiple hosts may complicate mitigation efforts, and what this may mean for the trajectory of the pandemic. Dr. Kuchipudi is a clinical professor at Penn State University's College of Agricultural Sciences and is Associate Director of the Animal Diagnostic Laboratory where he oversees the microbiology department. He is a trained veterinarian and a board-certified specialist in virology and immunology. His research focuses on infectious diseases, zoonotic and emerging viruses, viral pathogenesis, diagnostic assay development and pathogen-host interactions. Currenty his lab is focused on

Send us a textMost people are focused on the mRNA vaccines ( Pfizer-BioNTech & Moderna) or the viral-vector vaccines, like J&J, but many researchers and companies are working on protein subunit vaccines for COVID-19. Dr. Petrovsky and his company, Vaxine, created a protein subunit vaccine for COVID-19 that was tested in randomized controlled trials in Iran and just recently approved for use there. ( I believe it is the first protein subunit vaccine approved for use anywhere.) In this podcast he will discuss how it was made, efficacy and safety results, possible side effects, where it is currently available, if it is easily updated and more. In the second half of the podcast he shares his experience of the political situation in Australia. I can't comment on that, because I don't know exactly what is happening in Australia, but it sounds concerning. Dr. Petrovsky is a doctor, vaccine researcher and director of endocrinology at Flinders Medical Centre in Australia. He is vice-president and sec

Send us a textIn this episode of Causes or Cures, Dr. Eeks discusses "misinformation vs dissent" with Dr. Joe Schwarcz. Topics discussed include: who/what are credible sources; censorship; who is doing the fact checking; who defines what misinformation is/isn't; how do you weed out scientific dissent from misinformation; what to do with anecdotes; and how one measures the potential impact of misinformation.  Dr. Schwarcz is Director of McGill University's Office for Science and Society which has the mission of "separating sense from nonsense." The office is currently focused on determining what is misinformation and what is not regarding COVID-19. Dr. Schwarcz is also a spokesperson for ScienceUpFirst, a national initiative funded by Public Health Canada, whose mission is to weed out COVID-19 misinformation. Dr. Schwarcz is also a chemistry professor, hosts "The Dr. Joe Show" on Montreal's CJAD and has appeared hundreds of times on The Discovery channel, CTV, CBC,

Send us a textIn 2020, Singapore was the model country when it came to the COVID-19 pandemic. They had exceptionally low case numbers and an almost non-existant death rate. Many people in the US, a country with high case and death numbers, would ask, "Why couldn't we do it like Singapore did it?" In Dec'2020, I had Dr. Walid Abdullah, a professor and researcher in Singapore, on the podcast to discuss Singapore's model response. Unsurprisingly, Singapore also had a very successful vaccination campaign, having quickly vaccinated over 80% of their population. But fast forward to today and cases are surging in Singapore. Their death rate, while still low, is increasing. That does not make sense to a lot of people. What went wrong? Dr. Abdullah came back on Causes or Cures to explain what happened in Singapore.  Dr. Abdullah is a professor of social sciences and researcher at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He recently published a critical assessment of Singapore's

Send us a textCome one, come all, with your sarcasm hats and senses of humor, while Dr. Eeks provides pandemic updates and her perspective on why Big Pharma has our privileged selves between its teeth and is prolonging the pandemic. *Opinions do not reflect anyone Dr. Eeks works for.Don't be so serious, it's unbecoming & no one gets out of here alive. You can contact Dr. Eeks at bloomingwellness.com.Follow Dr. Eeks on Instagram here.Or Facebook here.Or Twitter.Read Manic Kingdom here.Listen to her short audio parody on the wellness industry here.Subcribe to her newsletter here!Support the show

Send us a textIn this podcast, Dr. Eeks discusses the current battle over the COVID-19 vaccine boosters, and how that ties into mandates, building the public's trust and what's happening in the rest of the world. Follow Dr. Eeks on Instagram here.Or Facebook here.Or TwitterOr YoutubeContact her through her website here: Blooming Wellness Support the show

Send us a textIn this episode, Dr. Eeks (Dr.  ErinKate Stair) chats with Dr. Jonathan Baktari about the rise of the Delta variant and the changing recommendations regarding masks; Delta and kids and whether kids should be required to wear face masks; issues with testing; vaccines and vaccine equity; natural immunity and what he thinks the future of the pandemic looks like. Dr. Baktari is a pulmonary and critical care medical doctor who also serves as CEO of  e7Health and US Drug Test Centers. He has served as clinical faculty for several medical schools, including the University of Nevada. You can read more about his bio here. Follow Dr. Eeks on Instagram here.Or Facebook here.Or TwitterOr YoutubeContact her through her website here: Blooming Wellness Support the show

Send us a textIn this episode of Causes or Cures, Dr. Eeks chats with Mary Pegington about her research into why young women gain weight. Mary is a research dietitian with the Prevent Breast Cancer Research Unit in Wythenshawe Hospital, Manchester.  She will discuss the reasons young women gain weight and have trouble losing it, when they are most at risk of gaining weight, life events and factors that lead to increased weight gain in young women, diets that put young women at a heightened risk of gaining weight, and she will also dispel common age-related myths about when most women gain weight and have trouble keeping it off. You can contact Dr. Eeks at bloomingwellness.com.Follow Dr. Eeks on Instagram here.Or Facebook here.Or Twitter.Read Manic Kingdom here.Listen to her short audio parody on the wellness industry here.Subscribe to her newsletter here!Support the show

Send us a textIn this episode, Dr. Eeks chats with Dr. Katie Sturgeon about the link between diet, exercise and breast cancer outcomes and survivability. This podcast will explore what diet, lifestyle changes and exercise program is optimal for improving breast cancer outcomes and survivability and why. Dr. Sturgeon will dive into the research. The podcast will also explore best preventive measures pre-menopausal women can take to lower their risk of getting breast cancer. Dr. Sturgeon is a researcher and assistant professor at Penn State Cancer Institute and works in the Department of Public Health Sciences, Division of Epidemiology. Her research focuses on how exercise and lifestyle changes impact chronic diseases and cancer. You can contact Dr. Eeks at bloomingwellness.com.Follow Dr. Eeks on Instagram here.Or Facebook here.Or Twitter.Read Manic Kingdom here.Listen to her short audio parody on the wellness industry here.Subcribe to her newsletter here!Support the show

Send us a textIn this episode Dr. Eeks chats with the obesity doctor, Dr. Fatima Cody Stanford, about all things obesity. In the first part of the podcast, they discuss why obesity is a disease and why every public health measure fails to lower obesity rates in the US. Dr. Stanford will explain the relationship between obesity and sleep, what a set point is and why that is so important, and the relationship between obesity and stress. They also discuss what to do for people who are "doing everything right" but still unable to lose weight. In the last part of the podcast they discuss how addressing obesity fits in with the Body Positive and Fat Acceptance movements, both prominent in society and on social media, and where her message about obesity intersects with theirs and where it deviates."Dr. Stanford, MD, MPH, MPA, MBA, FAAP, FACP, FAHA, FAMWA, FTOS practices and teaches at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH)/ Harvard Medical School (HMS) as one of the first fellowship-trained obesity medi