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Understanding the part that the spleen plays in leukemia

DEAR DR. ROACH: I’m 80. Over the past 26 years, I’ve had low blood platelet counts. (In 1998, one reading was 168,000, and in 2026, the reading was 117,000.) I have an enlarged spleen (16.1 centimeters), and I understand that this could account for my low platelet count. I do have tiny red dots on my chest. However, my doctor thinks that I have leukemia and is preparing me for a spinal tap. My doctor seems to be ignoring the spleen issue. My brother had a spleen removed (at age 5) because it was destroying his blood count. My mother did die from leukemia. My question is, would my ...

Are we getting dumber?

Is it the end of the Flynn effect? Decades ago, the researcher James Flynn recognized a secular increase in IQ scores around the world that amounted to humanity getting smarter all the time. Now, technology appears to be pushing the other way. The new results are in from a 2025 Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development test of teenage educational achievement around the world, and it looks like the Flynn effect in reverse. “Learning outcomes have stagnated or declined in many countries, in some cases for well over a decade,” according to the OECD. It’s a ...

When war comes home: A Constitutional warning

A failed war does not end when the drones stop flying. It creates a new danger: A government that refuses to admit defeat and a president who, having failed abroad, seeks muscular victories elsewhere. The war against Iran is a case study in the limits of military power, the dangers of presidential overreach and the enduring wisdom of the Constitution’s separation of powers. It was unauthorized, unconstitutional, illegal, strategically incoherent and — by the standards by which wars must be judged — a geopolitical failure. The American people were told that force would achieve ...

Dear Annie: Feeling guilty about being happy

Dear Annie: My twin sister and I have been compared to each other for as long as I can remember. As children, people compared our grades, our looks, our friends and even our personalities. We always laughed it off, but now that we are older, I’m beginning to realize how much those comparisons still affect me. My life has turned out very well. I have a successful career, a happy marriage, a comfortable home and enough financial security to travel and enjoy things I worked hard for. My sister has had a much rougher road. She went through a painful divorce, had to sell the house she ...

Explaining autoimmune hemolytic anemia and its treatments

DEAR DR. ROACH: I’m about to turn 70. A month ago, I was diagnosed with autoimmune hemolytic anemia (AIHA) that’s idiopathic. Two CT scans and many blood tests have cleared me of all tumors; however, my spleen’s enlarged. My hematologist put me on prednisone, which is working very well. I don’t know how long I’ll have to take prednisone, which I’m tolerating very well. I’d appreciate any information and advice that you have on AIHA. — M.L. ANSWER: As its name suggests (“hemo-” is blood, and “-lytic” is destruction), with this condition, the body’s immune ...

The bell tolls for American generosity

Could doing a great job directing foreign aid ever be a giant step toward the presidency? It certainly was for Herbert Hoover. After World War I, Hoover led the American Relief Administration, which saved millions of lives in Central and Eastern Europe, including newly communist Russia. By 1920, he was nationally famous and won the presidency in 1928. A century later, the Trump administration initially offered $500,000 for relief to Nepal after last month’s floods. Nepal’s GDP per capita in 2025 was about $1,536 compared to the United States’ $90,027. As a percentage of U.S. ...