Mifepristone, the FDA, and Abortion Activism

by Carol A Westbrook The Supreme Court is poised to make another landmark decision this year, when it determines if it will uphold a Texas Federal court’s ruling that invalidates the FDA’s (U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s) updated labeling of the abortion pill mifepristone (pronounced mi-ˈfe-pri’-stōn) , brand name Mifeprex (Fig 1). Not only will…

The Many Faces of Dementia

by Carol A Westbrook Dementia refers to progressive, irreversible cognitive impairment usually seen in the elderly. The clinical findings of dementia almost always include some degree of memory impairment. We didn’t know much about how memories were formed in the brain until 1953, when the now-famous patient named Henry Molaison, HM, had removal of an…

From Analog to Digital

by Carol A Westbrook I gave my husband an Ember mug for Christmas. The Ember mug is artfully crafted, with its embossed monogram and satiny, comfortable finish. The magic of this mug is not its beauty, but the fact that it holds coffee or tea at a constant, pre-set temperature for over 2 hours. It’s…

You’ve Got Mail —Junk Mail, That Is

by Carol A Westbrook There was a time when getting an email was a rare event, a special event. Remember the 1998 film, “You’ve got mail,” in which Meg Ryan meets Tom Hanks in an online chatroom? Not recognizing that they are business rivals, they eventually fall in love, in what is perhaps the first…