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In this episode of Causes or Cures, Dr. Eeks chats with Dr. Comninos about Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder (HSDD) and his and his team's research on a potential new treatment called Kisspeptin. He will discuss prevalence, diagnosis, symptoms, how the diagnosis may be misdiagnosed as Erectile Dysfunction Disorder, and current treatment approaches to HSDD. In detail, he'll describe what Kisspeptin is and how it might help. He'll also talk about the clinical trials he has conducted involving both men and women diagnosed with HSDD and how well Kisspetin worked in those clinical trials.
Dr. Comninos is a Consultant Endocrinologist at Imperial College London where he also leads the Imperial Endocrine Bone Unit. He has authored over 75 clinical and translational publications in reproductive endocrinology, with a focus on reproductive hormones and their influence on both behavior and bones. You can learn more about him here.

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In this episode of Causes or Cures, Dr. Eeks chats with Dr. Andrei Gudkov and Dr. Joseph Wakshlag about their research on extending a dog's lifespan. They both are part of a group of scientists at Vaika, a non-profit medical research organization that is dedicated to extending the lifespan of domestic animals. In the podcast, they will discuss the aging process, how it might be reversed and how some of the things they are learning may apply to humans too. They will also talk about some of the research they are doing, including testing drugs to slow or prevent the aging process in retired sled dogs that were in kennels around the US and are now living out their retirement on spacious grounds in upstate NY. You will hear more about the dogs and their way of life in the podcast too. 

Dr. Gudkov is one of the founders of Vaika and a professor of oncology and senior vice president of research technology and innovation at Roswell Park Cancer Center. Dr. Wakshlag is a veterinarian with Cornell University and the medical director of this "sled dog study."  

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On a topic near and dear to her, in this episode of Causes or Cures, Dr. Eeks chats with "misinformation scientist" Dr. Sacha Altay on what we are getting wrong about misinformation. This podcast will focus on his and his peers' paper published in the journal Social Media and Society  titled Misinformation on Misinformation: Conceptual and Methodological Challenges. His article identifies 6 big misconceptions about misinformation and provides a lot to think about when it comes to our current aproaches to identifying and managing misinformation. 
In the podcast, Sacha will discuss some of the misconceptions about misinformation when it comes to prevalence and circulation, as well as misconceptions associated with its impact and reception. Essentially, concerns with how we are measuring the impact of misinformation and communicating that to the public. He will then discuss how the aformentioned things are associated with misinterpretation of research results. Finally, he will suggest a better path forward when it comes to misinformation. 

Dr. Altay  is an experimental psychologist working on misinformation, misperceptions, and (dis)trust. After completing his PhD in Cognitive Science at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, he did a postdoc in Oxford at the Reuters Institute. 
As "misinformation policies"  is a "triggering" topic for many,  I request that you listen with a few deep breaths and a curious mind. 

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In this episode of Causes or Cures, Dr. Eeks chats with Dr. Naveed Sattar, a clinician, researcher, and professor of metabolic medicine at the Institute of Cardiovascular and Medical Sciences at the University of Glasgow and a leading expert in diabetes and cardiovascular disease research.
 In this podcast, he discusses the most accurate ways to measure body fat and why that matters, and he talks about the "obesity paradox", what that is and how it unravels when using more accurate measures of body fat...particularly when it comes to a specific kind of heart failure. (If you are interested, you can read his study on it here.)
He discusses how tackling chronic diseases without specifically focusing on and tackling excess weight leads to significantly more problems. (And you can read his study on that topic here.) He shares his views and concerns on the new obesity medications that are trending in the news, and finally, what  a good, population-level approach to obesity might look like.
You can read his bio here. 

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In this episode of Causes or Cures, Dr. Eeks chats with Dr. Victor Tseng about his and his team's study on how AI (ChatGPT) came close to passing the United States Medical Licensing Exams (USMLE), tests that all medical doctors must take and pass in order to practice medicine in the US. The study was published in Plos Digital Health here.
Dr. Tseng will tell us more about what ChatGPT is and its current capabilities, how they set up the study to test its performance on the USMLE, results of the study, future studies his company may perform, and perhaps most importantly, where ChatGPT could take medicine and public health in the future, while highlighting some of the major ethical and philosophical concerns. Will robots replace us?!? Let's see...
Dr. Tseng is a practicing pulmonologist (lung doctor) and the Medical Director and Executive Vice President for AnsibleHealth, a digital theranostics and AI-enhanced medical practice focused on care for diseases of the lungs.

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Would you ever donate your kidney to a stranger?
In this episode of Causes or Cures, Dr. Eeks chats with Elaine Perlman, Director of Waitlist Zero, an organization with the mission of representing kidney donors and ending the waitlist by making it easier for living donors to donate a kidney. Elaine will walk us through her journey (from start to finish) of donating her kidney to a stranger. She'll also tell us about the journey of her son, who donated his kidney when he was just a teenager.
Elaine will also explain what the "kidney crisis" is, how long the wait on the waitlist is, and the cost to living donors, a burden which Waitlist Zero hopes to decrease. Finally,  she'll talk about the biggest reason people give for donating a kidney to a stranger, and the main reasons people give for not wanting to do it.

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In this episode of Causes or Cures, Dr. Eeks chats wit Dr. Michael Santos about the A-PLUS trial, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, which looked at the effects of a cheap, widely available antibiotic, Azithromycin, in preventing sepsis and death in women during childbirth in low- to middle-income countries. Dr. Santos will explain the prevalence and life-threatening nature of sepsis in women during childbirth, particularly in low-resource settings. He will discuss what they knew about Azithromycin and maternal sepsis prior to the study, how they recruited for this study and conducted it, the results they found, and the wider public health implications.

Dr. Santos is Vice President of Science at the Foundations for the National Intitutes of Health (FNIH)  and was in charge of the work FNIH did on the A-PLUS trial. He was previously Deputy Director of the Global Health program of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.


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In this episode of Causes or Cures, Dr. Eeks chats with Dr. Brennen McKenzie, a veterinarian, epidemiologist and Director of Veterinary Medicine at Loyal, a clinical-stage veterinary medicine company developing drugs to prolong the lifespan and healthspan of dogs.
He discusses the aging process in dogs, age-related biomarkers, and the link between dog size (big vs small) and lifespan. He explains what a dog's "methylation age" is, how that relates to "epigenetics" and  how that is similar to and differs from a dog's chronological age. He talks about the studies Loyal is conducting and the drugs they are developing to prolong a dog's lifespan. (You may be able to enroll your dog in a study, right from home, if interested!) Finally, he describes when he thinks we might see a "noticeable" difference in a dog's lifespan. 

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In this episode of Causes or Cures, Dr. Eeks chats with Dr. Anushka Ataullahjan about her research on the polio eradication efforts in Pakistan. Wild polio is still endemic in Pakistan, and Dr. Ataullahjan will discuss different eradication programs and initiatives they've tried over the years and the different barriers they've met, including threats of insecurity and  people's beliefs and concerns. She'll discuss how various  global events impacted polio eradication efforts, including how the CIA's 2011 fake vaccine campaign in Pakistan contributed to widespread vaccine mistrust.  She also will offer insights and recommendations for future efforts.
Dr. Ataullahjan is a professor, poet and researcher who studies public health issues as they relate to Pakistan, including this study on polio eradication efforts published in Expert Review of Vaccines. You can follow her on Twitter here. 

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In this episode of Causes or Cures, Dr. Eeks chats with author Susan Salenger about her book, SIDELINED, How Women Manage & Mismanage Their Health. Some of the topics covered in the book and on this podcast include why women put themselves second when it comes to health issues, why "nice girls finish last," the shame and blame game for when women are hit with an illness, a breakdown of communication when navigating the healthcare system, how pharmaceutical industries target women with their ads, the downside of the wellness industry and positive psychology, and an intriguing stroll through history to explain the context for why women mismanage their health. She will also provide tips on how women can better manage their health and even save their lives. You can learn more about Susan on her website.

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