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Sunday, May 31, 2009
Test Recording @ Hill Street
One of my favorite guitarists--Warren Mendonsa here..aka blackstratblues
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TMR Salutes America's Number One Mass Murderer -- Rachel Carson
For those of you who can't quite place the name, Rachel Carson was an environmental activist best known for her work of fiction entitled, Silent Spring, in which she posited a world devoid of birds and wildlife because of man's use of pesticides.
That little work of fiction, which has become an anthem for the environmental lobby, single-handedly brought about the ban in this country, and throughout the world, of dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, better known as DDT.
As a result of that DDT ban, more than 50 million people, mostly impoverished third world children, have died from Malaria.
And sadly enough, it was all a lie.
That little work of fiction, which has become an anthem for the environmental lobby, single-handedly brought about the ban in this country, and throughout the world, of dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, better known as DDT.
As a result of that DDT ban, more than 50 million people, mostly impoverished third world children, have died from Malaria.
And sadly enough, it was all a lie.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
One Doctor's 'Six Months In Sudan'
I only caught a few minutes of this story on NPR today, but the doctor hits upon the difficulty of going from a world of starving kids and living with a sense of urgency to deciding what to do when back home (in his case Toronto), e.g. go to the movies...
I still haven't successfully made the transition...
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Dr. James Maskalyk went to a contested border town in Sudan, called Abyei, with Doctors Without Borders. He treated malnourished patients and fended off a measles epidemic with limited resources. His six-month stint affected him more than he expected.
I still haven't successfully made the transition...
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Dr. James Maskalyk went to a contested border town in Sudan, called Abyei, with Doctors Without Borders. He treated malnourished patients and fended off a measles epidemic with limited resources. His six-month stint affected him more than he expected.
Myanmar Dissident Testifies at Trial
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — The government of Myanmar formally lifted the house arrest Tuesday of the pro-democracy leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, but she remained in detention facing charges that could bring her a five-year prison term, her lawyer said.
The house arrest was due to expire on Wednesday, but Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi had already been moved on May 14 to Insein Prison, where she is on trial on a charge of violating the terms of her detention by allowing an American intruder to spend the night at her home.
“She is free from that detention order, but really she is not free,” said her lawyer, U Nyan Win.
If she is convicted in court, he said, she would probably remain in prison rather than being given a new term of house arrest.
Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi, 63, has been held under house arrest for 13 of the last 19 years. Her latest six-year term of detention was about to reach its legal limit and many analysts had viewed the trial as a means to extend it.
The house arrest was due to expire on Wednesday, but Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi had already been moved on May 14 to Insein Prison, where she is on trial on a charge of violating the terms of her detention by allowing an American intruder to spend the night at her home.
“She is free from that detention order, but really she is not free,” said her lawyer, U Nyan Win.
If she is convicted in court, he said, she would probably remain in prison rather than being given a new term of house arrest.
Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi, 63, has been held under house arrest for 13 of the last 19 years. Her latest six-year term of detention was about to reach its legal limit and many analysts had viewed the trial as a means to extend it.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Children of the Nile
Here are a few pictures of the children I made friends with while my friends were rafting the Nile...
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"Adrift" in Uganda
Here is a picture of "Jeffrey,"the "Adrift"guide referenced in the NY Times article below, using his muscles to steer the raft filled with my friends..uvealblues
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Wild on the Nile in Uganda
It is hard to blog about this article..because I was almost doing this exact thing!--rafting down the nile with the individuals mentioned here--the "Adrift" guides, Josh and Jeffrey. I spent a month in Uganda last August, with 5 friends. We did much of the adventurous activities mentioned here--safaris, gorilla trekking, the monkey forest, hanging out in the Sesse Islands.
I was all set to go down the Nile with my friends, when I got a call from my wife back home the night before nixing the rafting trip. (She was greatly influenced by two other very close friends--you know who you are).
I was able to transfer my ticket to a friend and I spent the day on the Nile playing with the local kids and documenting my friends trip, instead of experiencing the thrill of level 5 and 6 rapids...
But I do agree with the author, Uganda, is an incredible country!
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WHEN I showed up to go white-water rafting in Uganda, Josh, the Canadian rafting guide who stood barefoot in board shorts and looked like a hardier, hairier version of Brad Pitt, greeted me with a simple question: Wild or mild?
My advice, if you’re ever going to do this, is to choose wisely. Because the next thing I knew, I was upside down in an infuriated patch of the Nile River, a ceiling of white water above me, all those tranquil birds and flowers along the banks a violently disappeared memory and Josh screaming, “Dude! Watch out for the rocks!”
The Hidden Hunger
BISSAU, Guinea-Bissau
The most heartbreaking thing about starving children is their equanimity.
They don’t cry. They don’t smile. They don’t move. They don’t show a flicker of fear, pain or interest. Tiny, wizened zombies, they shut down all nonessential operations to employ every last calorie to stay alive.
We in the West misunderstand starvation — especially the increasing hunger caused by the global economic crisis —
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The World Bank has estimated that United Nations goals for overcoming global poverty have been set back seven years by the global crisis. It calculates that increased malnutrition last year may have caused an additional 44 million children to suffer permanent physical or mental impairment.
Yet one of the great Western misconceptions is that severe malnutrition is simply about not getting enough to eat. Often it’s about not getting the right micronutrients — iron, zinc, vitamin A, iodine — and one of the most cost-effective ways outsiders can combat poverty is to fight this “hidden hunger.”
Malnutrition is not a glamorous field, and so it’s routinely neglected by everybody — donor governments, poor countries and, yes, journalists. But malnutrition is implicated in one-third to one-half of all child deaths each year; the immediate cause may be diarrhea, but lurking behind it is a deficiency of zinc.
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“Lack of iron is the most widespread nutrition deficiency in the world, and yet you can’t really see it,” he added.
In my column last Sunday, I wrote about women dying in childbirth. One reason so many die of hemorrhages is that 42 percent of pregnant women worldwide have anemia, according to the World Health Organization. And here in Guinea-Bissau, 83 percent of youngsters under age 5 suffer from iron deficiency.
Where Life’s Start Is a Deadly Risk
The pictures that accompany this story are quite poignant.
The article hits upon the key points of unnecessary deaths in health young mothers, lack of access to healthcare, brain drain, etc...
In the maternal wards of hospitals I have seen in Africa, the conditions are quite abysmal as pointed out in this article, but also highlighted is the fact that it is unknown how many mothers die giving birth at home. I have a friend who along with his girlfriend ended up adopting a young orphaned child whose mother died in the bush of Namibia. My friends had been working in a hospital there. As per the tradition of the area, women went out in the bush to deliver their babies by themselves. They were supposed to return in 3 days. However, when the mother did not return the village elders went out and found the mother dead and the newborn barely alive.
The girl is now a healthy and beautiful 10 year old girl, living in Holland with Andre and Judy.
BEREGA, Tanzania — The young woman had already been in labor for two days by the time she reached the hospital here. Now two lives were at risk, and there was no choice but to operate and take the baby right away.
It was just before dawn, and the operating room, powered by a rumbling generator, was the only spot of light in this village of mud huts and maize fields. A mask with a frayed cord was fastened over the woman’s face. Moments later the cloying smell of ether filled the room, and then Emmanuel Makanza picked up his instruments and made the first cut for a Caesarean section.
Mr. Makanza is not a doctor, a fact that illustrates both the desperation and the creativity of Tanzanians fighting to reduce the number of deaths and injuries among pregnant women and infants.
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There are many nights like this at the hospital here, 6 miles from the nearest paved road and 25 miles from the last electric pole. It is not uncommon for a woman in labor to arrive after a daylong, bone-rattling ride on the back of a bicycle or motorcycle, sometimes with the arm or leg of her unborn child already emerging from her body.
Some arrive too late. In October, a mother who had been in labor for two days died of infection. In November and December, two bled to death. Doctors say they think that more deaths probably occur outside the hospital among the many women who try to give birth at home.
A few minutes’ walk from the hospital is an orphanage that sums up the realities here: it is home to 20 children, all under 3, nearly all of whose mothers died giving birth to them.
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The Global Perspective
Women in Africa have some of the world’s highest death rates in pregnancy and during childbirth. For each woman who dies, 20 others suffer from serious complications, according to the W.H.O.
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The women who die are usually young and healthy, and their deaths needless. The five leading causes are bleeding, infection, high blood pressure, prolonged labor and botched abortions. Maternal deaths from such causes were largely eliminated nearly a century ago in developed countries. In poor countries a mother’s death leaves her newborn at great risk of dying as well.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
The Science of Spirituality
Here is a link to the entire series, encompassing the post below:
Is This Your Brain On God?
More than half of adult Americans report they have had a spiritual experience that changed their lives. Now, scientists from universities like Harvard, Pennsylvania and Johns Hopkins are using new technologies to analyze the brains of people who claim they have touched the spiritual -- from Christians who speak in tongues to Buddhist monks to people who claim to have had near-death experiences.
Is This Your Brain On God?
More than half of adult Americans report they have had a spiritual experience that changed their lives. Now, scientists from universities like Harvard, Pennsylvania and Johns Hopkins are using new technologies to analyze the brains of people who claim they have touched the spiritual -- from Christians who speak in tongues to Buddhist monks to people who claim to have had near-death experiences.
Prayer May Reshape Your Brain ... And Your Reality
All Things Considered, May 20, 2009 · Scientists are making the first attempts to understand spiritual experience — and what happens in the brains and bodies of people who believe they connect with the divine.
The field is called "neurotheology," and although it is new, it's drawing prominent researchers in the U.S. and Canada. Scientists have found that the brains of people who spend untold hours in prayer and meditation are different.
The field is called "neurotheology," and although it is new, it's drawing prominent researchers in the U.S. and Canada. Scientists have found that the brains of people who spend untold hours in prayer and meditation are different.
Friday, May 22, 2009
Mango Buttermilk Smoothie
A nice recipe herethat should provide a good respite from the summer heat this Memorial Day -- lassi, in any vairiety has been a favorite since childhood for me...
Thursday, May 21, 2009
9 Practical Ways to To Help Stay Focused
Good tips here...
Your attention is everything these days. As the media and the people in your environment will always find new ways to distract you from what's important, it's even more important today to maintain your focus.
By doing so, you remain to be "the eye of the storm," calm and focused. Being focused is more of an art than it is a science. Here are 9 practical ways to stay focused...
Your attention is everything these days. As the media and the people in your environment will always find new ways to distract you from what's important, it's even more important today to maintain your focus.
By doing so, you remain to be "the eye of the storm," calm and focused. Being focused is more of an art than it is a science. Here are 9 practical ways to stay focused...
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Heidegger and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
An excellent review of what seems to be a interesting book. I say this not just because "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" is one of my all-time favorites, but also because, as alluded to in this review, I have probably spent 75% of my day today as a physician today "clerking" for insurance companies, instead of engaging in the cognitive and interpersonal elements of my profession, which is what I love...and why I went into medicine..and which is what I am able to do when I work overseas on mission trips...
I would much rather be looking (literally and figuratively)into my patient's eyes than at charts--filling meaningless data fields for insurance companies and their high-flying CEO's.
When Matthew Crawford finished his doctorate in political philosophy at the University of Chicago, he took a job at a Washington think tank. "I was always tired," he writes, "and honestly could not see the rationale for my being paid at all." He quit after five months and started doing motorcycle repair in a decaying factory in Richmond, Va. This journey from philosopher manqué to philosopher-mechanic is the arc of his new book, Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry Into the Value of Work.
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While doing the work of a mechanic provides intellectual challenges and the intrinsic satisfactions of completing problems from start to finish, Crawford knows that working in the trades is seen as déclassé and too limiting for a college graduate. And then he goes on to show how stupid that viewpoint is.
The first piece of evidence to consider is a quote from the Princeton economist Alan Binder about how the labor market of the next decades won't necessarily be divided between the highly educated and the less-educated: "The critical divide in the future may instead be between those types of work that are easily deliverable through a wire (or via wireless connections) with little or no diminution in quality and those that are not." Binder goes on to summarize his own take: "You can't hammer a nail over the Internet." Learning a trade is not limiting but, rather, liberating. If you are in possession of a skill that cannot be exported overseas, done with an algorithm, or downloaded, you will always stand a decent chance of finding work. Even rarer, you will probably be a master of your own domain, something the thousands of employed but bored people in the service industries can only dream of.
I would much rather be looking (literally and figuratively)into my patient's eyes than at charts--filling meaningless data fields for insurance companies and their high-flying CEO's.
When Matthew Crawford finished his doctorate in political philosophy at the University of Chicago, he took a job at a Washington think tank. "I was always tired," he writes, "and honestly could not see the rationale for my being paid at all." He quit after five months and started doing motorcycle repair in a decaying factory in Richmond, Va. This journey from philosopher manqué to philosopher-mechanic is the arc of his new book, Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry Into the Value of Work.
(..)
While doing the work of a mechanic provides intellectual challenges and the intrinsic satisfactions of completing problems from start to finish, Crawford knows that working in the trades is seen as déclassé and too limiting for a college graduate. And then he goes on to show how stupid that viewpoint is.
The first piece of evidence to consider is a quote from the Princeton economist Alan Binder about how the labor market of the next decades won't necessarily be divided between the highly educated and the less-educated: "The critical divide in the future may instead be between those types of work that are easily deliverable through a wire (or via wireless connections) with little or no diminution in quality and those that are not." Binder goes on to summarize his own take: "You can't hammer a nail over the Internet." Learning a trade is not limiting but, rather, liberating. If you are in possession of a skill that cannot be exported overseas, done with an algorithm, or downloaded, you will always stand a decent chance of finding work. Even rarer, you will probably be a master of your own domain, something the thousands of employed but bored people in the service industries can only dream of.
In Pursuit of Elegance: 12 Indispensable Tips
Matthew E. May is the author of In Pursuit of Elegance: Why the Best Ideas Have Something Missing and the ChangeThis manifesto called Creative Elegance. He spent nearly a decade as a close adviser to Toyota and works with creative teams and senior leaders at a number of top Fortune companies.
Question: How do you define elegance?
Answer: Something is elegant if it is two things at once: unusually simple and surprisingly powerful. One without the other leaves you short of elegant. And sometimes the “unusual simplicity” isn’t about what’s there, it’s about what isn’t. At first glance, elegant things seem to be missing something.
Question: How do you define elegance?
Answer: Something is elegant if it is two things at once: unusually simple and surprisingly powerful. One without the other leaves you short of elegant. And sometimes the “unusual simplicity” isn’t about what’s there, it’s about what isn’t. At first glance, elegant things seem to be missing something.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Clearer Vision After Cataracts
Like bum knees and crow’s feet, cataracts are the price we pay for getting older. Cataracts form when the normally transparent lens of the eye turns cloudy. At least three out of five people over age 60 will eventually develop them. Today, thanks to a steady march of advances, cataract replacement surgery often gives people better vision than they’ve had in years.
Progress in the field has been nothing short of astonishing, experts say, starting with the development of artificial lenses about 30 years ago.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Friday, May 15, 2009
A first in AMD treatment: patients show significant neovascular regression
Ophthotech Corp. has announced positive results of a phase 1 clinical study evaluating E10030, a novel anti-platelet derived growth factor (anti-PDGF) combined with an anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF), in wet AMD patients.
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The results were presented at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) 2009 Annual Meeting. E10030 is an aptamer targeting PDGF, a key molecule involved in the recruitment and maturation of pericytes. Pericytes in neovascular tissue have been shown to be protective and play a major role in anti-VEGF treatment resistance. E10030 strips the pericytes from the neovascular tissue rendering it highly sensitive to an anti-VEGF attack.
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The results were presented at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) 2009 Annual Meeting. E10030 is an aptamer targeting PDGF, a key molecule involved in the recruitment and maturation of pericytes. Pericytes in neovascular tissue have been shown to be protective and play a major role in anti-VEGF treatment resistance. E10030 strips the pericytes from the neovascular tissue rendering it highly sensitive to an anti-VEGF attack.
YouTube Toolbox: 100+ Tools and Resources to Enhance Your Video
There are some excellent links here from mashable.com..
YouTube (YouTube reviews) is still the undisputed king of video sharing on the web, so it only makes sense that there would be a slew of tricks and tools for it. From Adobe AIR applications that let you download videos to Firefox (Firefox reviews) extensions that protect you from RickRolls, and much more, here are over 100 tools and resources to help you enhance your video experience.
YouTube (YouTube reviews) is still the undisputed king of video sharing on the web, so it only makes sense that there would be a slew of tricks and tools for it. From Adobe AIR applications that let you download videos to Firefox (Firefox reviews) extensions that protect you from RickRolls, and much more, here are over 100 tools and resources to help you enhance your video experience.
Talks Hans Rosling on HIV: New facts and stunning data visuals
Hans Rosling unveils new data visuals that untangle the complex risk factors of one of the world's deadliest (and most misunderstood) diseases: HIV.
He argues that preventing transmissions -- not drug treatments -- is the key to ending the epidemic.
He argues that preventing transmissions -- not drug treatments -- is the key to ending the epidemic.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Indian Girl Cries Tears of Blood
In a weird and very unusual twist of medical fate, Rashida Khatoon, a young girl from northeast India cries tears of blood instead of water.
She and her unusual medical condition have been transformed into a holy shrine where worshipers come to watch in awe as blood drips from her eyelids several times a day.
What a Little Vitamin A Could Do
In the town of Koundara in northern Guinea, Amadou Bailo holding one end of a stick and his daughter, Mariama, holds the other. She has never been able to attend school because she spends her days guiding her father.
Nicholas Kristof talks about an issue that really bothers me...Vit A deficiency. I have seen much unneccesary blindness in the developing world for the lack of access to a 2 cent capsule. On my last trip to Sierra Leone, vitaminangels supplied me with much Vit A to distribute, which probably was just as important as any of the surgeries I did in terms of preventing blindness.
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I’m bouncing across West Africa in the back of a Land Cruiser with the winner of my “win-a-trip” contest, Paul Bowers, a student at the University of South Carolina, talking about wonky ways to tackle global poverty — such as vitamin A capsules.
Americans pretty much take vitamin A for granted, but many of the world’s poorest people lack it. And as a result, it is estimated that more than half-a-million children die or go blind each year. There’s a simple fix: vitamin A capsules that cost about 2 cents each.
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Americans sometimes don’t want to help poor countries because of doubts about whether aid works. There are legitimate doubts about the effectiveness of many aid efforts, but there also are extraordinary triumphs that don’t get attention — such as the war on blindness.
Which leads us back to vitamin A.
In the major Sierra Leone city of Bo, which is about a three-day drive from Koundara, we visited the Paul School for the Blind, an audacious private institution that struggles to educate blind children in one of the world’s poorest countries. Some of its students were congenitally blind — and one girl had plastic melted into her eyes by rebel soldiers — but 80 percent of the students had lost their sight for reasons related to vitamin A deficiency.
According to the United Nations, half of the children in many African countries are deficient in vitamin A (which comes from liver, mangos, orange-fleshed sweet potatoes and dark, green leafy vegetables), and a disease like measles will quickly deplete their supply further and trigger blindness. The upshot is that vitamin A deficiency is the leading cause of child blindness in the world today.
Health wonks have found that vitamin A supplements reduce not only blindness, but also death from diarrhea and other diseases. A review by Unicef and Helen Keller International reports that in areas such as West Africa where many children lack the vitamin, child mortality drops by approximately 23 percent after vitamin A capsules are distributed to children.
“Addressing vitamin A deficiency may be the most cost-effective intervention you can implement,” said Mr. Baker of Helen Keller International.
Nicholas Kristof talks about an issue that really bothers me...Vit A deficiency. I have seen much unneccesary blindness in the developing world for the lack of access to a 2 cent capsule. On my last trip to Sierra Leone, vitaminangels supplied me with much Vit A to distribute, which probably was just as important as any of the surgeries I did in terms of preventing blindness.
uvealblues
I’m bouncing across West Africa in the back of a Land Cruiser with the winner of my “win-a-trip” contest, Paul Bowers, a student at the University of South Carolina, talking about wonky ways to tackle global poverty — such as vitamin A capsules.
Americans pretty much take vitamin A for granted, but many of the world’s poorest people lack it. And as a result, it is estimated that more than half-a-million children die or go blind each year. There’s a simple fix: vitamin A capsules that cost about 2 cents each.
(..)
Americans sometimes don’t want to help poor countries because of doubts about whether aid works. There are legitimate doubts about the effectiveness of many aid efforts, but there also are extraordinary triumphs that don’t get attention — such as the war on blindness.
Which leads us back to vitamin A.
In the major Sierra Leone city of Bo, which is about a three-day drive from Koundara, we visited the Paul School for the Blind, an audacious private institution that struggles to educate blind children in one of the world’s poorest countries. Some of its students were congenitally blind — and one girl had plastic melted into her eyes by rebel soldiers — but 80 percent of the students had lost their sight for reasons related to vitamin A deficiency.
According to the United Nations, half of the children in many African countries are deficient in vitamin A (which comes from liver, mangos, orange-fleshed sweet potatoes and dark, green leafy vegetables), and a disease like measles will quickly deplete their supply further and trigger blindness. The upshot is that vitamin A deficiency is the leading cause of child blindness in the world today.
Health wonks have found that vitamin A supplements reduce not only blindness, but also death from diarrhea and other diseases. A review by Unicef and Helen Keller International reports that in areas such as West Africa where many children lack the vitamin, child mortality drops by approximately 23 percent after vitamin A capsules are distributed to children.
“Addressing vitamin A deficiency may be the most cost-effective intervention you can implement,” said Mr. Baker of Helen Keller International.
Blindness in Sierra Leone
This video brought back memories of the wonderful people and their wonderful singing voices on my last trip to Sierra Leone, in which I operated in a small one room OR in the outskirts of Sierra Leone. It was in the village of the Archbishop of Sierra Leone, who himself was a very charming individual. Can't wait to go back....
With Nicholas Kristof in Sierra Leone
Paul Bowers, the winner of this year's Win-a-Trip contest, talks about the prevalence of blindness in West Africa. With Nicholas Kristof in Sierra Leone Paul Bowers, the winner of this year's Win-a-Trip contest, talks about the prevalence of blindness in West Africa.
Many became blind as a result of trachoma, a chronic contagious viral disease
With Nicholas Kristof in Sierra Leone
Paul Bowers, the winner of this year's Win-a-Trip contest, talks about the prevalence of blindness in West Africa. With Nicholas Kristof in Sierra Leone Paul Bowers, the winner of this year's Win-a-Trip contest, talks about the prevalence of blindness in West Africa.
Many became blind as a result of trachoma, a chronic contagious viral disease
Making Presentations in the TED Style
As followers of this blog know, I love the TED talks--here are some hints how to make your presentation more "TED like" from the great website "Presentation Zen."
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
You asked Seth Godin absolutely anything -- and he answered
Tidbits of wisdome from Seth Godin
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If you were a James Bond villain, how would you take over the world? -- Andrew Noseworthy
I'd release a pheremone that increases the fear that people have about doing great things. It would only increase it by 3%, but that would be enough to wipe out most competition. I'm convinced someone is already doing this, by the way.
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What have you learned today? -- Antonio Ortiz
I learned that a long walk and calm conversation are an incredible combination if you want to build a bridge.
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If you were a James Bond villain, how would you take over the world? -- Andrew Noseworthy
I'd release a pheremone that increases the fear that people have about doing great things. It would only increase it by 3%, but that would be enough to wipe out most competition. I'm convinced someone is already doing this, by the way.
(..)
What have you learned today? -- Antonio Ortiz
I learned that a long walk and calm conversation are an incredible combination if you want to build a bridge.
Perfectly Happy
IF YOU WERE given the choice, and you wanted to reduce human suffering by as much as possible, would you cure blindness or back pain?
The new science of measuring happiness has transformed self-help. Now scholars suggest it could transform society.
The new science of measuring happiness has transformed self-help. Now scholars suggest it could transform society.
Has Google killed the riddle?
A timely and entertaining blog entry from famous author and physician, Abraham Varghese...
So I'll often ask a medical student or resident, "Why do we say, 'Beware of the patient with a glass eye and a big liver?'
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Ideally that's how a student would reason. If however the student were to decide to "google" the question by typing in "glass eye and big liver" as I just did, the first hit is NEJM: Solution to a Medical Mystery, which gives the answer to a photoquiz the New England Journal of Medicine put in its pages in 1997, showing an elderly lady with one eye that was clearly yellow with jaundice and the other which was pearly white. (The latter had to be a glass eye because there is no earthly reason for jaundice in just one eye. And she was jaundiced because she had melanoma metastases in the liver.) A total of 928 readers had the correct answer. No surprise I suppose because it's an old riddle.
If the Journal were to repeat the photoquiz with a similar patient in the years to come, Google would lead the readers right to the answer.
Which is why when I offered a new riddle to my students last week while we were rounding, I emphatically added, "Don't Google!
So I'll often ask a medical student or resident, "Why do we say, 'Beware of the patient with a glass eye and a big liver?'
(..)
Ideally that's how a student would reason. If however the student were to decide to "google" the question by typing in "glass eye and big liver" as I just did, the first hit is NEJM: Solution to a Medical Mystery, which gives the answer to a photoquiz the New England Journal of Medicine put in its pages in 1997, showing an elderly lady with one eye that was clearly yellow with jaundice and the other which was pearly white. (The latter had to be a glass eye because there is no earthly reason for jaundice in just one eye. And she was jaundiced because she had melanoma metastases in the liver.) A total of 928 readers had the correct answer. No surprise I suppose because it's an old riddle.
If the Journal were to repeat the photoquiz with a similar patient in the years to come, Google would lead the readers right to the answer.
Which is why when I offered a new riddle to my students last week while we were rounding, I emphatically added, "Don't Google!
Stethoscope
I recently bought a noise-reduction, sound amplification stethoscope that is amazing. Thus while while the original stethoscope (c.1816)may have evolved out of a sense of modesty (so that the doctor didn't need to place his chest on the bosom of his patients), my new one is so powerful I feel like I can hear sounds from "miles" away!
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The stethoscope was invented due to a doctor's modesty...
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The stethoscope was invented due to a doctor's modesty...
Toothpick Acupuncture Works Just Fine
Acupuncture research keeps showing that the ancient practice relieves pain, and yet scientists become more and more mystified by just how it works. A recent study found acupuncture to be more effective for back pain than standard treatments, regardless of whether patients got poked with needles or toothpicks.
How To Ask A Doctor Out
The always informative and entertaining Doc Gurley with a great post here..a must read!
2) Analyze the (al)lure - you may want to know how deeply your doc is leveraged. Nowadays, the myth of the rich doctor has tumbled faster than a Madoff investment scheme. Well, more accurately, that’s true if your doc is a primary care, internist, pediatrician or family medicine type. For those professions, we’re not just talking dismal future earnings, either...
3) The ring issue. Ah, you’re right in thinking that maybe a wedding ring is not a good indicator of marital status. If she’s a surgeon, she might not wear a ring to work because of the problems of scrubbing in over and over. If your doctor is an out-patient or non-surgeon doc, he might not wear one even if he’s married because he cares about his patients - rings contribute to the spread of nasty, resistant germs, even when people wash often and well.
2) Analyze the (al)lure - you may want to know how deeply your doc is leveraged. Nowadays, the myth of the rich doctor has tumbled faster than a Madoff investment scheme. Well, more accurately, that’s true if your doc is a primary care, internist, pediatrician or family medicine type. For those professions, we’re not just talking dismal future earnings, either...
3) The ring issue. Ah, you’re right in thinking that maybe a wedding ring is not a good indicator of marital status. If she’s a surgeon, she might not wear a ring to work because of the problems of scrubbing in over and over. If your doctor is an out-patient or non-surgeon doc, he might not wear one even if he’s married because he cares about his patients - rings contribute to the spread of nasty, resistant germs, even when people wash often and well.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
In Punjab, Crowding Onto The Cancer Train
All Things Considered, May 11, 2009 · Every night at about 9:30, Train No. 339 pulls into the shabby station in the northern Indian farm town of Bathinda, in Punjab state.
Locals call No. 339 by a chilling name — "the cancer train." It routinely carries at least 60 cancer patients who make the overnight journey with their families to the town of Bikaner for treatment at the government's regional cancer center.
People say they never used to see so many cancer patients in this farm region. Cancer was considered an urban disease, suffered by people who lived in cities choked with industry and pollution.
But research by one of the most respected medical institutes in India recently found that farming villages using large amounts of pesticides have significantly higher rates of cancer than villages that use less of the chemicals.
Researchers caution that the findings do not prove that pesticides are causing cancer. But they say the passengers crowding the cancer train are part of a medical mystery that could have repercussions around the world: Are the modern farming methods brought by the so-called Green Revolution of the 1960s and '70s making people sick?
Music affects how we perceive facial expressions
Music can be thought of as a form of emotional communication, with which the performer conveys an emotional state to the listener. This "language" is remarkably powerful - it can evoke strong emotions, and make your heart race or send tingles down your spine. And it is universal - the emotional content of a piece of music can be understood by anyone, regardless of cultural background.
Are the emotions evoked by piece of music similar to, and can they influence, other emotional experiences? The answer to these questions is unclear. But a new study, which has just been published in Neuroscience Letters, provides both behavioural and physiological evidence that the emotions evoked by music can be transferred to the sense of vision, and can influence how the emotions in facial expressions are perceived.
(via NYTimes science section)
Are the emotions evoked by piece of music similar to, and can they influence, other emotional experiences? The answer to these questions is unclear. But a new study, which has just been published in Neuroscience Letters, provides both behavioural and physiological evidence that the emotions evoked by music can be transferred to the sense of vision, and can influence how the emotions in facial expressions are perceived.
(via NYTimes science section)
Device for Visually Challenged People by Erik Rydell
Visually handicapped people are facing difficulties to perform everyday communications. Sometimes, bad eye sight occurs to many people for reduced self confidence due to not being able to perform independently. This is an innovative concept device that will help visually handicapped people when they are in a mobile situation.
This electronic device is combined with a speech synthesis and a digital camera with a shape of a traditional product.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Sight Unseen : Photographs by Blind Photographers
A spectacular new exhibit at the University of California, Riverside raises extraordinary questions about the nature of sight
Enter
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Happy Mother's Day and Happy Birthday Bono
To celebrate both of the above I present the U2 song
"Trying to Throw Your Arms Around the World"
"Trying to Throw Your Arms Around the World"
Saturday, May 09, 2009
The 4 hour Workday
I totally try to work in the manner described here (although I call it "explode into the moment").
Some of the most effective people I know work in like manner.
uvealblues
How to complete a full workday by noon? Sounds impossible, right? But on many days, by 12 o’clock, I have completed work that should normally take eight hours. And I don’t wake up at 4 a.m. to achieve this.
Some of the most effective people I know work in like manner.
uvealblues
How to complete a full workday by noon? Sounds impossible, right? But on many days, by 12 o’clock, I have completed work that should normally take eight hours. And I don’t wake up at 4 a.m. to achieve this.
Fish hook surgery
Fish hooks in the eye can be a tricky situation due to the barbs. The surgeon here chose to enlarge the entrance wound to pull out the hook. Another option would have been to cut the hook internally and remove the piece from the initial wound, which had been used to remove the cataract via the lens glide...
uvealblues
More interesting videos here.
(via kevinmd)
uvealblues
More interesting videos here.
(via kevinmd)
Thursday, May 07, 2009
Recalculating Happiness in a Himalayan Kingdom
The formula for happiness (at least in Bhutan):
= 1-(.25+.03125+.000625+0)
= 1-.281875
= .718
Mathematical formulas have even been devised to reduce happiness to its tiniest component parts. The G.N.H. index for psychological well-being, for example, includes the following: “One sum of squared distances from cutoffs for four psychological well-being indicators. Here, instead of average the sum of squared distances from cutoffs is calculated because the weights add up to 1 in each dimension.”
Every two years, these indicators are to be reassessed through a nationwide questionnaire, said Karma Tshiteem, secretary of the Gross National Happiness Commission, as he sat in his office at the end of a hard day of work that he said made him happy.
= 1-(.25+.03125+.000625+0)
= 1-.281875
= .718
Mathematical formulas have even been devised to reduce happiness to its tiniest component parts. The G.N.H. index for psychological well-being, for example, includes the following: “One sum of squared distances from cutoffs for four psychological well-being indicators. Here, instead of average the sum of squared distances from cutoffs is calculated because the weights add up to 1 in each dimension.”
Every two years, these indicators are to be reassessed through a nationwide questionnaire, said Karma Tshiteem, secretary of the Gross National Happiness Commission, as he sat in his office at the end of a hard day of work that he said made him happy.
Saturday, May 02, 2009
One nation, seven sins
The question of evil and where it lurks has been largely ignored by the scientific community, which is why a recently released study titled
“The Spatial Distribution of the Seven Deadly Sins Within Nevada” is groundbreaking: Never before has a state’s fall from grace been so precisely graphed and plotted.
“The Spatial Distribution of the Seven Deadly Sins Within Nevada” is groundbreaking: Never before has a state’s fall from grace been so precisely graphed and plotted.
Eden? Maybe. But Where’s the Apple Tree?
Locations for the Garden of Eden have been offered many times before, but seldom in the somewhat inhospitable borderland where Angola and Namibia meet.
A new genetic survey of people in Africa, the largest of its kind, suggests, however, that the region in southwest Africa seems, on the present evidence, to be the origin of modern humans. The authors have also identified some 14 ancestral populations.
A new genetic survey of people in Africa, the largest of its kind, suggests, however, that the region in southwest Africa seems, on the present evidence, to be the origin of modern humans. The authors have also identified some 14 ancestral populations.
Ultrasound Exams by Phone
When we talk about game-changing phone accessories, it usually means something like silicon cases are now available in lime green. But a pair of engineers at Washington University in St. Louis have a new phone accessory that could affect health care worldwide.
William D. Richard and David M. Zar have adapted an ultrasound probe that works on a half-watt of power from a cellphone.
Friday, May 01, 2009
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