Domhnall MacAuley: Awardholders responsibility

Daffodils, ribbons, sponsored runs, and elegant balls. Peer pressure appeals to a higher nature and a little tugging at the heartstrings. But, its not all innocent fun, youth, and glamour. When people give to medical charities, they believe money is going to relieve the suffering of others. That little old lady who puts a few […]

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Richard Lehman’s journal review – 6 June 2011

JAMA  1 June 2011  Vol 305 2184   Diabetes is a state of increased risk for many things, including fractures. The most striking thing I learnt from this study is that a man on insulin treatment has double the fracture risk for any given level of bone mineral density. The additional risk is less dramatic in […]

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Richard Lehman’s journal review – 16 May 2011

JAMA  11 May 2011  Vol 305 1863    It’s hard to think of any physiological rationale for trying out a bolus dose of epoetin alfa following successful percutaneous intervention for myocardial infarction, but apparently it reduced infarct size in animal models, so this trial gave it to humans. It did not work; in fact it may […]

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Richard Lehman’s journal review – 9 May 2011

JAMA  4 May 2011  Vol 305 1769    When I first started writing comments on the medical journals in 1998, coronary artery bypass surgery had become the commonest major operation in the developed world. The alternative was balloon angioplasty, though increasingly this was being augmented with the insertion of bare metal stents. And then, as most […]

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Richard Lehman’s journal review – 3 May 2011

JAMA  27 Apr 2011  Vol 305 1625    Obedience is no longer a fashionable concept, though it was once prized as the most essential virtue in religion and society (see Psalm 119 vv1-176, Dante’s De Monarchia, Hobbes’ Leviathan; look up the meaning of the Arabic word islam). Nowadays we go to endless lengths to persuade ourselves […]

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Richard Lehman’s journal review – 18 April 2011

JAMA  13 Apr 2011  Vol 305 1441   The old JAMAs were comfortable: they looked good and I looked forward to getting into them – there was a nice feeling, like fluffy cotton against the skin. But sadly the old garment is getting threadbare: I report on this week’s issue more out of a sense of […]

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