mementomori | August 21, 2006Here are the latest medical headlines that without question are crucial to the survival of the human race. As a continuing service to his readers, the moderator offers up these breathtaking revelations from the realm of health, or the lack of it:
"Yoghurt chewing gum aims to tackle tooth decay"
The new gum contains a strain of the bacteria Lactobacillus found in live yoghurt, which attach to the decay-causing bacteria, preventing them from adhering to teeth.
"Wake up, parents: Your kids are fat"
Pollsters may have discovered another symptom of the childhood obesity epidemic: widespread…
mementomori | August 20, 2006I recently gave an interview to Jo Cavallo, a journalist who is writing a story for a national medical magazine about the dilemma of paying for new targeted therapies against cancer. She asked that I post the following request for interview:
Interview Request
I'm writing a magazine story about the high cost of targeted cancer drugs and I'm looking for cancer patients to interview who have either refused treatment because they can't afford their insurance co-payment
or don't have health insurance at all and can't get the drugs. If you're interested in being interviewed, please e-mail me at…
mementomori | August 17, 2006Teen can opt out of chemotherapy.
The 16-year-old Virginia boy may undergo radiation and alternative treatments.
This story has been reported before by Orac and others, but I just wanted to add a couple of highly biased comments to the latest development in the case of a teenager who took chemotherapy for Hodgkin lymphoma, had awful side effects, then suffered a relapse and refused the advice of his medical oncologists, which was to undergo high-dose chemotherapy followed by a stem-cell transplant, which of course is one of the standards of care for relapsed Hodgkin lymphoma in a young…
mementomori | August 15, 2006For all those secretaries, nurses, medical assistants and other staff members who spend their days working in a doctor's office - this comment, made by one of my patients today, is for you. Please do not ever think that your efforts to help the sick are unappreciated. You are more valuable to the patient (and the doctor) than you think.
"Mr. X, congratulations. You are now five years out from your diagnosis. I know you've been reluctant to have your portacath removed, but now after five years I think it is time to get it out. Then you won't have to come to the office every month to have…
mementomori | August 11, 2006"In the future days which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human
freedoms.
The first is freedom of speech and expression --everywhere in the world.
The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way-- everywhere in the world.
The third is freedom from want, which, translated into world terms, means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants --everywhere in the world.
The fourth is freedom from fear, which, translated into world terms, means a world-wide reduction of…
mementomori | August 8, 2006"Common food wrappers contain hidden rubber proteins that could trigger allergic reactions in up to 3.5million Britons some of them fatal, a study has shown."
I was just returning to consciousness after spending a peculiar night floating through Dreamland on a mission to eat as many chocolates, candy bars and ice cream treats as possible when the morning news came on, sending volleys of horrifying language through the air like sabers headed for my pillow. As the clipped, rather patronizing voice garbled on the reality of what he was saying pulled the last vestiges of sleep from my eyes. I…
mementomori | August 7, 2006What movie do you think does something admirable (though not necessarily accurate) regarding science? Bonus points for answering whether the chosen movie is any good generally....
Ahem...being on holiday for the past two weeks I just now saw this AskaSciBlogger question and therefore have earned the rather embarrassing title of "Last to Respond." This does give me the advantage of reading my fellow ScienceBloggers' repsonses, which consist mainly of films that I have never seen (and never will, for that matter). Non omnia possumus omnes.
When it comes to revealing a succession of mind-…
mementomori | August 4, 2006[Editor's note: Finally The C.O. is packing up to return to the grueling routine that all those must face who are not retired and relaxing by their lake cabin. It's about time!]
After two weeks of getting sand in the suit by day and stars in the eyes by night, my idyll by the blue water of the north has ended, and it is time to wander zombie-like through airports and parking garages on my way back to my real life, filled with real people - some of them in desperate need. Before closing the door on this annual chapter of summer I must ask:
Is it possible to shift one's attention from a…
mementomori | August 2, 2006"Processed Meats Tied To Stomach Cancer"
Another study of dietary habits has been published that is nothing less than a ham-handed slap in the face to loyal consumers of bacon, sausage, hot dogs, salami and smoked meats. According to a report by Swedish scientists of 15 studies on stomach cancer published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute "higher intake of processed meats was associated with a greater risk of stomach cancer. 'Findings were most consistent for bacon consumption,' the researchers write." Not my beloved bacon - say it isn't so!
A review of 15 studies showed the…
mementomori | August 1, 2006How embarrassing it is to reveal that I am probably the last bibliophile to read Jon Krakauer's classic narrative of the disastrous May 1996 expedition to Mount Everest. I knew it was wonderfully reviewed but have resisted the temptation to vicariously ascend the deadly peak, perhaps out of fear and loathing of the tragedy that occurred.
As a physician I found the most astounding aspect of this sorrowful trek was the climbers' ability to withstand punishing exhaustion and pain. The strength hidden within our bodies and our minds is almost unfathomable. It is the reason why prisoners of war…
mementomori | July 31, 2006[Editor's Note: How much vacation does this guy have, anyway? He's been lollygagging around the sandy beaches of the lake for a week now and shows no remorse about abandoning his patients to the care of his partners. Since it looks like this week is just a repeat of last week's exercise in intellectual apostasy, here is another post about his summer holiday.]
There are certain pauses that occur during a vacation up north when it seems that time suddenly holds its breath, then exhales with such a violent burst of chaos and laughter that those of us who worked so hard to earn a trip up here…
mementomori | July 29, 2006Treating cancer sometimes involves walking a fine line between helping and hurting patients. We oncologists find ourselves moderating internal debates between the little angel on our right shoulder and the little devil on our left as whether to expose someone to the toxicity of chemotherapy in an attempt to blast the invader slithering through lymph nodes, or the liver, or some other helpless part of the body.
Experience alone cannot give physicians good judgment, although it is essential in their maturation. There is another gift, the sine qua non of the pinnacle of medicine, that gives…
mementomori | July 26, 2006[Editor's Note: Our narrator is currently relaxing by the lake Up North. Those of you who know what the term "Up North" means do not require any further explanation. Those who don't know can find out more by visiting the fair state of Minnesota. Below is a reprint of a post first written last year while on vacation here.]
Five generations of my family have summered up here in the northern aspen and pine forests. Strolling around the sandy, loamy grass fields of this peninsula, sitting under the giant whispering trees lining the beach with dark green shade, I find myself daydreaming about…
mementomori | July 23, 2006In the previous episode of "My Peculiar Summer" I might have mentioned that the fair city where your narrator resides was recently battered by a couple of storms. As I write this thousands of citizens still wail in the dark wilderness for the gift of electricity, like Frankenstein's monster on some distant hilltop, screeching at the black clouds to unleash their fiery whips of light at him.
The difference is that the city isn't asking for electrical power via the heavens, but through the orderly maze of poles and lines that silently enmesh the countless blocks here. Silent they are, and…
mementomori | July 21, 2006"Having a high sugar drink to boost energy can actually make people more sleepy, a study suggests."
This is a big surprise? I suppose there are some situations where ingesting a half-cup of sugar might give one a boost, such as before starting off on a leisurely jog down the streets of Pamplona during the encierro, but what about the average worker slumped over a cluttered desk on a Tuesday afternoon? Is the response to the proverbial "energy" drink the same?
Ten adults were studied to see what effect different drinks had on their wakefulness. They had all volunteered to restrict their…
mementomori | July 20, 2006The fair city of St. Louis was hit by a brutal thunderstorm last night, knocking out the power to at least half of the metro area. Trees are down everywhere and it takes 15 minutes to go through a major intersection, using the esoteric You-Stop-I-Go-Repeat-Ad-Absurdum technique seen only when the traffic lights are out.
Since I am one of the thousands of sweltering citizens without power I am rather reluctant to go home and start performing Katrina-like tasks such as throwing out the rapidly deteriorating contents of my refrigerator. I'd rather sit here at the office and blog inside the (…
mementomori | July 19, 2006If you could have practiced science in any time and any place throughout history, which would it be, and why?
Without hesitation I would choose to be sitting on the front steps of a certain hospital in Baltimore that had just opened for business in 1889, waiting for a certain transplanted Canadian to come ambling up toward the front doors. As he approached I would rise and doff my hat to him, saying "Excuse me, Sir? I am a graduate of the University of Iowa medical school and have traveled here to offer myself up for study and hard work, so that I may become the type of physician that you…
mementomori | July 18, 2006For health reasons I have given up eating beef in any and all disguises, at least to the best of my ability. My family thinks I'm somewhat of an oddball for this, and of course they're no help, passing around plates heaving with juicy steaks or ribs slathered in barbecue sauce while the dog and I stare at the table like two bumpkins at a burlesque show.
Am I crazy to avoid this food item? What do the experts say about it?
"Red meat associated with pancreatic cancer"
The Karolinska Institute in Stockholm and colleagues conducted a study of more than 61,000 women. The investigators were…
mementomori | July 16, 2006While visiting one of my patients in the hospital we reflected together on how he has been able to fight off his metastatic cancer for over two years, much longer than anyone would have ever predicted given how sick he was at the time of relapse.
I told him how tough he was to put up with both cancer and chemotherapy for such a long time. He focused his gaze on me and said, "It was your doing, Doc. You kept me going now for two years."
I thought on this for a brief moment, remembering all the suffering he has been tormented with for such a long, weary time. A sense of shame came over me,…
mementomori | July 15, 2006[Editor's note: this essay is adapted from a post first written on December 16, 2004)
The most influential mentor I ever had, who taught me how to chase and capture excellence in all aspects of patient care, and why giving one's best is the only goal worth pursuing in medicine, once told me that he had discovered a way to measure the merit of a doctor. He said, "Good doctors leave good tracks," by which he meant that one can always identify exceptional physicians by the "trail" of evidence they leave behind after their work is done - a ship's wake, if you will, that represents the effect…