I try to maintain my sanity, like many of us, by rationalising my own behaviour and trying to make sense of the world around me. I get to sleep at night by maintaining the likely myth that I have done more good than harm that day, either as a doctor or as a citizen, although […]
Richard Lehman’s journal review, 4 October 2010
NEJM 30 Sep 2010 Vol 363 1303 Spleen tyrosine kinase is an important inflammatory mediator, which for some reason has the abbreviation Syk rather than Stk. The editorial for this paper about fostamatinib therefore bears the title “Healing the Syk through Kinase Inhibitors” – bad enough to be one of mine. […]
Chibuzo Odigwe: How healthy is the giant at 50?
I tend to think of Nigeria as a giant, and with a population of about 150 million, it may be easy to see reason with me. It is once again that time of year when the drums, gongs, and flutes roll out across the country for the National Day celebrations. This year’s celebration is extraordinary, […]
Martin McShane: My nose is out of joint
As is my wont, I was skimming the BMA news and hovered over the “See one, do one” column about working and surviving as a junior doctor. It was a well written and entertaining piece about getting behind the real reason for a patient’s presentation. A youngish, male patient presented with nasal symptoms but, in […]
Andrew Burd on (alleged) child rape in hospital
The very concept of child rape is abhorrent and deeply unsettling. That it should happen in a hospital is deeply disturbing. On Saturday 2 October, the leading English language newspaper in Hong Kong, the South China Morning Post, reported that a 13 year old boy had been arrested for assaulting a 5 year old girl […]
Richard Smith: Who are the “medcomms community?”
Have you ever heard of the “medcomms community”? I suspect not, but they are shaping your world. It might be worth spending two minutes reading this blog to learn more about this shadowy crew. […]
US highlights 1 October 2010
A few weeks ago, I drew your attention to blogger Richard Lehman’s weekly review of general medical journals, a personal appraisal and one-stop shop of what’s interesting for primary care doctors. As well as Richard’s selection, we also have our own “Shortcuts,” a weekly section that provides concise summaries of articles from general medical journals. […]
Vasiliy Vlassov: WHO in Moscow
WHO-Europe had its big meeting in Moscow this month. It was an amazing mixture of bureaucratic exercises, real health care politics, and interaction with local events. You may not find the details of this meeting on the WHO website, but if you wonder what it was about you may go to see the programme buried […]
Manica Balasegaram: New treatment options for the control of visceral leishmaniasis
A recent report by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) of an outbreak of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) in southern Sudan comes at a time when increasing focus is being put on the control and elimination of neglected diseases. However, this outbreak raises questions of how far along we really are in reaching such targets. […]
Julian Sheather: Science, bad science and self abuse
I recently happened upon a fascinating article by Ben Goldacre – he of Bad science fame – on the ticklish question of the provision of pornography at IVF clinics to enable men, how shall we put it, to provide a suitably lively sample on the day. It seems that that most upstanding of organs The […]