Dr. Turek's Blog

Synthetic Cells: The Latest Vinyl?

Posted on by Paul Turek, MD

Believe it or not, science has now claimed to have made “synthetic life.” Life created from non-living substances. J Craig Venter and colleagues, after a decade of work, produced a man-made version of the entire DNA content (genome) of a bacteria (adding in a couple of harmless “watermarks” to track it) and inserted it into […]

Does Male Infertility Begin in the Womb?

Posted on by Paul Turek, MD

A relatively alarming study was published a couple of years ago that suggested that a pregnant woman’s behavior can determine the fertility of her unborn son. Researchers looked at the sperm quality of 387 men and compared the data to the amount of beef their mothers consumed while they were pregnant. They found that the […]

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The Curse of Women’s Urine

Posted on by Paul Turek, MD

There must be something in the air… or water. Bolivian President Evo Morales has asserted publicly that hormones found in mass-produced foods are “feminizing” men. He was referring to chicken in Bolivia, which he believes is “loaded with feminine hormones.” He further suggested that when men eat chicken “they are diverted from their nature as […]

Getting it Just Right

Posted on by Paul Turek, MD

Had a wonderful evening out with my wife last night at a Caetano Veloso concert at Masonic Hall on Nob Hill in San Francisco. Caetano Veloso is Brazil’s equivalent of Frank Sinatra and is endowed with an absolutely otherworldly voice and reigns from Bahia. He is an historically important figure having led the Bossa Nova […]

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No Fizzy Colas in the Cathedral

Posted on by Paul Turek, MD

How much coffee or tea do you consume every day? Since many of us buy Slurpee-sized cups of coffee in the morning, you should break those down into units of 8-ounce cups. Ask yourself the same for the number of cans of soda, particularly colas that you imbibe. It might be a good idea to […]

Handling The Truth

Posted on by Paul Turek, MD

How would you react to a doctor who, instead of explaining the entirety of your medical options, simply said “trust me, this is the right choice.” Maybe that style of “care” worked a generation or two back, but today’s patients have access to any piece of medical information that their doctors do. Patients want to […]

Genome: Repair Thyself

Posted on by Paul Turek, MD

Imaging parking your car at home after work and all the nicks and scratches are removed while you sleep, before heading to work the next day. All shiny and new, polished even, while you sleep. Believe it or not, this is normally what happens to your genes and chromosomes on a minute-to-minute basis. DNA mismatch […]

Stem Cells are People Too

Posted on by Paul Turek, MD

Not all stem cells are alike. News to you? Maybe not, but it has hit researchers pretty hard over the past several weeks. As you may have garnered from prior essays on this blog, stem cells are potentially capable of morphing into many different tissues, such nerves, heart or liver, and are the next wave […]

Adding Hope to Health

Posted on by Paul Turek, MD

The couple had been trying to conceive for 5 years unsuccessfully. The tension and anxiety in the relationship was palpable and strained. They had spent well into the 5 digits to have a child with test tube baby technology (IVF) and yet were still not pregnant. His vasectomy reversal had also failed them. And they […]

Good Job Government!

Posted on by Paul Turek, MD

A couple sees a reproductive specialist for infertility. She gets a complete evaluation and he gets a semen analysis checked. It looks like his semen quality is low and they are recommended to pursue in vitro fertilization  (IVF) and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) to conceive, the highest level of what is termed “assisted reproduction.” They […]