JAMA 1 May 2013 Vol 309 This week’s JAMA is devoted to child health. This was a mistake, because although children are generally interesting, health generally is not. A study from Quebec tries out various doses of vitamin D in babies and finds you can only get to a reliably high value by using doses […]
JAMA 24 Apr 2013 Vol 309 1691 Last week I welcomed the imminent arrival of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) because it would classify every human being as insane, and so should provide the world with a good opportunity to step back and decide what psychiatry is really about. This open […]
JAMA 17 Apr 2013 Vol 309 1607 Why do some babies get colic every evening until they are about three months old? Dunno. Why do some children and adolescents get migraine? Dunno. Connect the two dunnos and you get a third—why are children and adolescents who get migraine six times more likely to have a […]
JAMA 10 Apr 2013 Vol 309 I try my best, dear Reader, oh I do. When I see an issue of JAMA devoted to Genomics, I don’t just sigh deeply: I brew the coffee and get stuck in. This is the future and it needs to work; the doctor of tomorrow will see this as […]
JAMA 3 Apr 2013 Vol 309 1355 With the runaway success of the Alltrials petition, it may seem as if everyone in the world has now agreed on the need to share every bit of data relating to every medical device and product used on millions of patients every day. In reality, this is going […]
JAMA 27 Mar 2013 Vol 309 1241 Have you ever heard of someone who’s recently had a heart attack going off and having 40 infusions of disodium ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, ascorbate, B vitamins, electrolytes, procaine and heparin? No, I hadn’t either, until I went to give a talk to some cardiac rehabilitation patients about 12 years […]
JAMA 20 Mar 2013 Vol 309 1125 Is aliskiren a good drug for heart failure? Despite the negative result of this Novartis-funded trial (ASTRONAUT), I think the answer is probably yes. First of all, let me remind you that aliskiren is a direct renin blocker. In other words, it acts right at the start of […]
JAMA 13 Mar 2013 Vol 309 997 Obstructive sleep apnoea is very, very common. In the preamble to this Australian study, a third of the adult population is accused of having symptoms that might be OSA. Previous studies have shown that polysomnography has no significant advantages over a home video, reporting by sleeping partners, or […]
JAMA 6 Mar 2013 Vol 309 887 The Greek for belt is zoster, while the Latin for girdle is cingulum. Add Greek for creeping (or snake) and you get herpes zoster, or break down Latin for girdle and you get “shingles.” Either way, you wish it not to happen, and wonder why it has. Concurrent […]
JAMA 27 Feb 2013 Vol 781 781 Heart failure divides into two broad classes: the first is caused by damage to the myocardium and is associated with reduction in the left ventricular ejection fraction, and we know pretty well how to treat it; the second is associated with stiffening of the ventricles and the main […]