Many changes in motor function or behavior are commonly mistaken for seizures. These include fainting, tics, and other sudden jerking movements, breathholding spells, migraine headaches, and episodic changes in behavior. Doctors who are aware of these types of behaviors can take a careful history and can usually separate them from seizures. Is It Fainting or [...]

Soon after the end of “World War I, a young Canadian orthopedic surgeon named Frederick Banting read about the experiments in which the ducts of the pancreas were tied off. He was particularly interested in diabetes because a neighbor’s child had recently died of the disease. Banting believed that extracts of the pancreas had not [...]

Diabetes mellitus is responsible for several health complications, including an increased risk for vascular disease and coronary artery disease. Everything else being equal, the risk of heart disease is increased five times in a diabetic woman and two times in a man. The jury is still out, however, on the question of whether careful control [...]