mementomori | May 15, 2007 Eating plenty of fish rich in omega-3 fatty acids -- such as tuna and salmon -- may reduce the risk of advanced age-related macular degeneration [known as neovascular AMD], a new study says.
The study findings are published in the May issue of the journal Archives of Ophthalmology.
Fish, fish, fish! That's all I read in the papers these days - nothing but stories about how piscine-rich diets confer a clearly unfair health advantage over those centered around consumption of flesh from cloven hoofed animals.
What if I'm a hearty meat-and-potatoes type and suddenly I come across this story…
mementomori | May 14, 2007"A baby aspirin a day is healthy; but more than that can be dangerous"
"High Doses Of Aspirin May Reduce Colon Cancer Risk"
Far be it from me to raise the irksome voice of cynicism so often heard emanating from cable television squawkfests these days, but do I detect a contradiction in these headlines? On the one hand we have a meta-analysis performed by researchers at the University of Kentucky (published in the May 9, 2007 issue of JAMA) showing that people who ingest over 81 mg of aspirin a day increase their risk of gastrointestinal bleeding without providing any additional protection…
mementomori | May 10, 2007I've been thinking a lot about Ms. Melanson, the woman from Alberta who died after receiving the correct dose of infusional fluorouracil chemotherapy in an fatally incorrect short time. Cancer care professionals take their responsibilities seriously and are not known to be infiltrated with ignoramuses or reprobates. This doesn't guarantee that a mistake will never be made; in fact this Canadian tragedy is all the more painful because according to the reports the nurses involved were well-trained. Writing chemotherapy orders is a task that requires the highest degree of concentration. It…
mementomori | May 9, 2007Yesterday the results of two separate investigations into the death of a Canadian cancer patient were released. Both reports documented the mistakes made in the programming of a chemotherapy pump that was supposed to deliver a controlled infusion of fluorouracil over 96 hours:
On Tuesday, the Institute for Safe Medication Practices Canada released its independent report on the death of 43-year-old Denise Melanson last summer at Edmonton's Cross Cancer Institute.
A pump was supposed to deliver fluorouracil, a drug used to treat tumours, over four days, but it was given to Melanson over four…
mementomori | May 6, 2007Something unusual happened to the season today, to this season which has been dragging its cold, wet feet across the month of May. The day started inauspiciously. After parting the curtains only to see another morning cloaked in gray, lethargy enveloped us like the fog outside our bedroom window. At the end of the driveway we stooped over the newspaper and then shuffled back inside, avoiding the ocean of dreariness suspended above, as if even one furtive glance would release more rain. Spring has been an imposter this year, a slow, cold turning of the earth that has kept us frowning, if…
mementomori | May 4, 2007This has been a sad week in St. Louis. On April 29th at 12:30 AM Josh Hancock, a player for the Cardinals, was killed when his Ford Explorer struck a tow truck in the left hand lane of the highway. The truck was in front of a disabled car and had its emergency lights flashing when Hancock's vehicle hit it, killing the 29 year old relief pitcher instantly.
Today the St. Louis Medical Examiner announced that Hancock was legally intoxicated at the time of his death, and was talking on a cell phone when his SUV hit the tow truck:
Hancock's blood-alcohol level was 0.157, nearly twice Missouri's…
mementomori | May 2, 2007[Editor's Note: Today we pay tribute to the dual congruencies of American cinema and psychiatric disorders. For those readers who don't recall the source of the patients' quotes, the answers are below the fold.]
Psychiatrist: "Come in and have a seat on the couch. Now, let's begin by telling me what seems to be bothering you?"
Patient # 1: "Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit amphetamines."
Patient # 2: "Amputate a man's leg and he can still feel it tickling. Tell me, mum, when your little girl is on the slab, where will it tickle you?"
Patient # 3: "You talkin' to me? You…
mementomori | May 1, 2007Answer: they are the top two producing areas in the world of a foodstuff that is getting lots of attention lately for its health benefits.
What is this item? Well...
...it originated in the Holy Land and was a favorite of the Queen of Sheba.
...it was first imported to the United States in the 1880s, but didn't really become popular until the early 20th century.
...the first seed planted in America was by a California scientist in 1930, but it didn't mature until twenty years later and wasn't able to be harvested here until 1976!
Can you guess what this amazing member of the Sumac family…
mementomori | April 29, 2007Ever wonder how the art and science of medicine made it from medieval times to today without self-destructing, à; la alchemy? Meet Leonard of Bertapalia (1380?-1460), a prominent surgeon in Padua and Venice who was not only a dedicated anatomist but a visionary in the surgical arts. He authored one of the first texts on surgery of the brain and was a proponent of meticulous dissection, using every attempt to avoid infection or injury to the patient.
Leonard is best known for eight rules he wrote as a guide for the 15th century surgeon. In my opinion they should be memorized by all…
mementomori | April 26, 2007A physician survey published in The New England Journal of Medicine this week reveals that 94% of the respondents from six different specialties (anesthesiology, cardiology, family practice, general surgery, internal medicine, and pediatrics) "reported some type of relationship with the pharmaceutical industry, and most of these relationships involved receiving food in the workplace (83%) or receiving drug samples (78%)."
This is news? Doctors have been receiving free items from Big Pharma (hereafter referred to as BP) for decades; why are these researchers wasting our precious natural…
mementomori | April 25, 2007I know we doctors can be absent-minded, but I must be really out of it - I had no idea Vice President Cheney was diagnosed with a deep vein thrombosis (DVT) of the lower extremity in early March. He had a checkup yesterday which included a check of his INR (measuring the "thinness" of his blood while on warfarin) and a follow-up ultrasound of his leg, which revealed that the clot is "smaller."
Cheney has been taking blood-thinning medication since the clot was discovered in his left leg after he returned from a nine-day trip to Asia more than a month ago.
This is interesting because (as we…
mementomori | April 23, 2007A brief message to all those who are living with a serious disease:
When you awakened today something was in the room with you. It sat patiently by the window, waiting for you to arise. It dearly wants to harm you. Are you aware of the danger?
If it sees you smile it slaps you in the face, to persuade you that happiness is no longer a part of your life.
If it hears you talking to a friend it poisons your words, to drive away those who love you.
If it finds out you're on the way to the doctor it chokes you, to weaken your spirit at the time it most needs boosting.
If it sees you sitting…
mementomori | April 21, 2007I saw a patient of mine last week who is now around four months out from her last cycle of adjuvant chemotherapy. "It didn't go so hot" would be an understatement for this lovely woman - she suffered through most of the noxious side effects listed in the chemotherapy pamphlets.
Although she was working full time and denied any serious lingering symptoms, I sensed an undercurrent of fear coming from her, as if she had escaped from a prison camp and was now trying to walk unnoticed among those of us who have never been arrested. I asked her about a few minor things and convinced myself that…
mementomori | April 19, 20071981, Columbus, Ohio: Third year medical student Bryan Sasser begins his radiology rotation at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. He is assigned to Dr. Lloyd Vanderspiegle, Professor of Radiology, who has been working alone the past four years studying a new type of x-ray called "CT scanning." For the next two weeks Sasser works side by side with Dr. Vanderspiegle in his small reading room, learning the arcana of these mysterious scans. At the end of the rotation, without any warning according to archived police reports, Bryan Sasser is arrested for starting a fire in the…
mementomori | April 17, 2007"Doc, my knees hurt all the time."
"I can't hardly climb up the stairs my hip bothers me so much."
"I've had a bad back for years."
Even in my profession I encounter the sorrows of OA (osteoarthritis) all the time. Over 20 million Americans suffer from osteoarthritis and the biggest risk factor for the development of this painful condition is aging, followed by obesity. As more and more baby boomers enter their golden years [Don't get personal with me, Bub. -Editor] the effects of years of weight training, organized sports and creeping avoirdupois leave their toll upon the joints. Outside…
mementomori | April 15, 2007Alfred Edward Housman, born in Fockbury, Worcestershire, England, March 26, 1859, is almost the prototype of the sensitive poet. He was 'small and frail,' had six siblings and suffered the death of his mother when he was twelve. On his way to becoming a brilliant if not the preeminent classics scholar in England, he studied Latin and Greek at Oxford, where he fell in love with a handsome classmate, Moses Jackson. Jackson was heterosexual, though, and although they remained friends and even flatmates in London, Housman's affections were rebuffed.
Thus his everlasting misery, according to…
mementomori | April 12, 20071851, London: Arthur Leared presents a model of a "double" or biaural stethoscope (one using both ears) at the Great Exhibition. Three weeks later a prominent surgeon, Sir Norwood Holsapple, purchases a similar stethoscope from Leared and discovers that the tubing connecting the diaphragm with the earpieces melts in the summer heat. He returns the device and receives a new one, along with strict instructions to avoid exposing it to excessive temperatures. With the assistance of a local tanner, Sir Norwood fabricates a heavy pouch similar to a mail bag and packs it with ice, followed by…
mementomori | April 11, 2007In an interview with Fox News Channel's Neil Cavuto, the former Tennessee senator, 64, said a doctor conducting a physical in 2004 found a bump on his neck, which turned out to be non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. He said the disease is in remission with no illness or symptoms...
Cancer is getting quite a bit of attention in the political news these days, what with Elizabeth Edwards, Tony Snow and now another prominent name announcing that he has been treated for what I call the "cowardly affliction." Today possible presidential candidate Fred Thompson revealed that he has been treated with the anti-…
mementomori | April 10, 2007"The superiority of chocolate (hot chocolate), both for health and nourishment, will soon give it the same preference over tea and coffee in America which it has in Spain..."
-Thomas Jefferson (1785)
Talk about prescience! How did Mr. Jefferson know the truth back then, and when did he tell Mom about it? Remember those days when you and your friends came stamping in after a shivering January afternoon on the local sledding hill? Didn't your mother have a steaming mug of hot cocoa waiting on the kitchen table - with a plate of cookies, too, if you were lucky? Did you like hot cocoa back…
mementomori | April 9, 2007[Editor's Note: As promised in the mission statement of this blog we strive to bring our readers the brightest and the best in contemporary medical writing. Our latest entry (and painstakingly researched we might add) is the first of a series about the history of the healing arts.]
1889: Dr. William Osler, Chairman of Clinical Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, leaves Philadelphia to become Physician-in-Chief at the newly created Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. Regarded as the 'Father of Modern Medicine' and one of the greatest teachers of all time, Osler quickly…