The Diagnosis

China Holds Back Important Bird Flu Samples

2005-12-23T18:40:00.000-08:00

China is just going to have to learn to share.

Shigeru Omi, WHO regional director for the Western Pacific, said no viruses had been made available from China's 31 reported outbreaks in poultry this year, despite requests to the Ministry of Agriculture.

Thirty-one samples? Do they realize that we're all in this together? I understand that transparency is not in the nature of Beijing, but this is the sort of move akin to shooting yourself in the foot.

Food Shortages and the Bird Flu

2005-12-22T18:40:00.000-08:00

In a strange way its nice to know that someone out there is at least as paranoid as I am. Obviously there are many, many different things that can be obsessed over about a possible pandemic. One thing that I think is getting the short end of media attention are the anticipated problems with food.

Anyone whose gotten through the third grade (honors or not) know that food doesn’t magically appear on the shelves of the local grocery. If deliveries end because no one wants to go out and drive the trucks or even stock the shelves, think about the chaos. Its definitely time to stock up on canned goods. And don't forget a good manual opener.

Counterfeit Tamiflu

2005-12-22T18:36:00.000-08:00

I wonder how much more of this we're going to see as people get more and more worried.

Gonorrhea By Mail

2005-12-20T04:14:00.000-08:00

This is just one of those services the web was made for.

Another Bird Flu Death

2005-12-13T19:58:00.000-08:00

In Indonesia.

The Web As Second Opinion

2005-12-13T19:29:00.000-08:00

When I get the sniffles, or some of my bones creak more then usual, I jump right onto the web. Apparently I'm not the only one. Some of it has to do with just plain speed and convenience. Not every creak justifies suffering through the whole waiting room experience. (New magazines! Would it kill you!) I also can appreciate that after the appointment, I'm going to want to do a little research on my own. It certainly won’t take the place of a second opinion, but I will be more informed.

Another Vioxx Trial Over

2005-12-13T19:27:00.000-08:00

I don't doubt that many more of the upcoming Vioxx trials will end like this. I'd imagine the lawyers for all these plaintiffs are going to be running into the same problem. Their clients aren’t exactly the youngest and healthiest population, which was in fact why they were taking the drug in the first place. If the plaintiffs were obviously healthier people with no real medical problems, who took the drug only briefly, it would be a windfall for the lawyers. They wouldn't even have to pretend to work for their fee.

Smog

2005-12-12T19:10:00.000-08:00

And you thought the smog in L.A. was bad.

Euthanasia

2005-12-12T19:03:00.000-08:00

Euthanasia is the ultimate hot button issue. It can easily bring out the zealot in all of us. For some its all about personal rights, and for others, religion is the guiding factor. Its a issue that its almost impossible to be wishy-washy about. As we saw with the Terry Schaivo case it all gets very caustic quickly as both sides throw lawyers and experts at each other, and describe the other group as abusive. Its nice to see one country is at least trying to work out an answer.

More on it here.

H5N1 Gets Another

2005-12-09T18:12:00.000-08:00

This is the 70th victim in Asia.

Television Ads Create Bad Eaters

2005-12-09T18:01:00.000-08:00

This is probably not too much of a shock. Especially to anyone who has kids. The commercials that air during most children's programming is either for toys or some horrible invention that's supposed to be food (or candy). As always, it's about the money.

The institute found that children and other young people spend $200 billion a year. In 2004, children ages 2 to 15 influenced about $500 billion worth of purchases a year, compared with $295 billion in 1993. Of the things that children buy -- or have their parents buy for them -- food and beverages, especially candy, carbonated soft drinks and salty snacks, are the top categories.
The number of new food products aimed at children is growing at a far faster rate than new food products in general, and for the most part, new children's products were high in total calories, sugar or fat, the report found.

I grew up with junk food. I think most of the children in this country probably did. Probably the worst part of it is that if I had to make a choice between a beautiful apple and a bag of potato chips, I'd reach for the bag of chips. This is one heal of a evil circle.

Face Transplant Case and Ethics

2005-12-05T20:14:00.000-08:00

I understand many of this Doctor's objections. Despite the notoriety and questions that have arisen surrounding the face transplant case, the identity of the woman involved should not be made public. And while its important for practioners to share information with other practioners, her picture shouldn't be made public without her permission. It is his quote at the end that should raise more then a few eyebrows. Or all of them really.

"The transplant is normal. She even finds her face better than before -- sweeping away ethical controversies," he said

Is he saying that just because the procedure has been deemed a success no one should question the ethics of it? Hubris is too delicate a word.

Cervical Cancer Vaccine

2005-12-03T18:59:00.000-08:00

Anyone with half a brain and a drop or two of empathy is going to wonder why this is at all controversial. Its a good thing. Right? Apparently even a possible protection against cancer has a down side. The fear is that it will be seen as condoning marriage before sex.

I respect a parents right to royally screw up their kids. In fact, I think it should be added to the Bill of Rights. If your fundamentalist nature believes that your daughter won’t fornicate before marriage because of a fear of cancer, you're crazy. Most teenagers fear nothing except not being popular. If you stop your daughter from receiving the vaccine fine. I certainly hope, for her sake, you never regret the decision. Do not, under any circumstance work to deny it to my daughter.

It is simply unethical and irresponsible to try and restrict the use of a drug that might save lives.

More here.
And here.

Gift Guide

2005-12-03T18:51:00.000-08:00

MSNBC has a good guide tto healthy gifts. It is the season of course. I especially like the Brooklyn Stickball set. Who needs video games when we can give our kids bats and send them into the streets?

Time To Cut Back On the Fun

2005-12-03T18:48:00.000-08:00

Well I guess that jug of cheap red I gluttonously consume nightly is off the menu. I suppose I could still enjoy binge drinking. It'll keep my arteries nice and flowing but there are just too many downsides.

Surgeons Must Go To the Movies A Lot

2005-12-01T20:58:00.000-08:00

Remember that absolute action classic Face/Off? That Travolta and Cage pure adrenaline rush? I actually saw it in the theater, but I never thought it would come true.

So who is going to be lining up for one of these? Without a doubt they'll be a steady stream of former mob henchmen, husbands running from their wives, and very young American princesses who want to look like Brittany or Christina or whoever.

Seriously, this will probably be a real improvement in the quality of life for people who have endured burns and other accidents.

This is the kind of procedure that practically screams out for regulation. Despite how painful it must be, what is probably a huge price tag, and the anti-rejection drugs, somewhere there will be someone who is going to want to trade-up using the face of a corpse. Human nature can really be that twisted.

Addiction

2005-11-30T19:02:00.000-08:00

There are some things that rank high on the stupid scale. Spitting into the wind, picking a fight with a Hell's Angel, and wearing white after Labor day are all on the list. But starting to smoke ranks as number one. I suppose we should factor in that when most people begin they're teenagers and therefore extremely stupid to begin with.

What I just can't fathom, is why after a diagnosis of cancer some people still insist on lighting up.

"This is like putting a gun in your mouth," says David Johnson, deputy director of Nashville's Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, who was not involved in the research. "That just illustrates the powerful hold that nicotine has on people."

I've never been that fond of guns.

The Famous Just Aren't Like the Rest of Us.

2005-11-30T19:00:00.000-08:00

Nothing says excess like buying your own sonogram.

A Stockpile For a Pandemic

2005-11-30T18:58:00.000-08:00

Eight million doses? A nice start I suppose, but not close to a number that is going to make me smile. I want to hear about the Feds actually running out of storage space for all the stockpiled doses. I'm an optimistic of course. I actually think the Mets have a chance at the start of every season.

Merck Layoffs

2005-11-29T18:56:00.000-08:00

Merck is in some real pain.

Bird Flu in Aceh

2005-11-29T18:42:00.000-08:00

Bird flu probably couldn't have hit in a worse place. These poor people are trying to reconstruct their lives after the tsunami and now this.

O, To Be In England

2005-11-22T21:09:00.000-08:00

I have never had the pleasure of visiting England. Its certainly on the list of things to do, but to be honest its a pretty long list. But this is the kind of news that pushes it up the list a few notches.

John Clark, curator of the Medieval London gallery, said: "Most people, including children, drank ale made from malted barley without hops.

"The even drank ale for breakfast, and got through up to a gallon, or four-and-a-half litres, a day each.

"At a price of a penny per gallon, only the poorest had to make do with water."

One alehouse for every 50 people? That's worse then the Lower East Side. The fact that binge drinking seems to be almost a universal constant isn't a good thing but there's something reassuring about knowing the more things change the more they say the same.

Australia Takes A Mock Run At the Bird Flu

2005-11-22T20:03:00.000-08:00

They running a drill down under to see how they do if the Bird Flu arrives by migratory birds.

Under a worst-case scenario, people aged under 40 years were the most likely to be affected, with up to 35,000 deaths in the state and up to 15 percent of the state's workforce likely to be absent for up to eight weeks due to illness and school closures.

Absence form work for up to eight weeks almost seems to optimistic to me. But even if that's it, think about how crippling that will be to infrastructure.

Banned Poultry

2005-11-22T19:59:00.000-08:00

How long before import and export of poultry just stops dead? And when that does happen what country will he hit the hardest? Not necessarily in terms of lose of funds for the exporting country, but the lack of protein for the importing one.

U.S. bans poultry from British Columbia

40.3 Million People Living With HIV

2005-11-21T19:29:00.000-08:00

An extremely sad milestone. One that should give pause.

And You Wonder Why Your Premiums Are So High

2005-11-21T19:20:00.000-08:00

Some one actually funded this study. Heart attacks can be caused by the stress of a roller coaster. Shouldn't this qualify as one obvious things anyone with half a brain has already figured out?

Some Bird Flu Answers

2005-11-19T20:47:00.000-08:00

A good question and answer at MSNBC. Needs to be longer though.

Decaf Finally Discredited

2005-11-18T18:06:00.000-08:00

Decaf coffee isn't just useless. It will kill you. Yes, that's a little melodramatic, but there's nothing sadder and more pathetic then someone drinking decaf. Except for maybe non-alcoholic beer I can't think of a product more out of step with society. I love the taste of a good cup of coffee, but if it didn't have that little loving jolt that kept me going I would probably skip it. Especially the way prices for a simple cup have gone through the roof.

Mouth Cancer and Drinking

2005-11-16T20:27:00.000-08:00

So Doc I got this pain in my mouth and some white spots, real gross I know, what the hell is it? Mouth cancer? No way! I always thought it was my liver that was going to go first.

Frat boys beware. Pub crawlers stop crawling. You probably haven't thought too much about mouth cancer, but that's when the big C is most likely to bite you on the ass. So cut back on the libations.

While I'm here Doc, I got this dripping.....

Bird Flu Round up of the Day

2005-11-14T20:24:00.000-08:00

News from China here.
News from Indonesia here.
News from Romania here.

Angioplasty

2005-11-14T18:14:00.000-08:00

Anything that can speed your way out of a hospital and to you're own home is a wonderful thing and this falls into that catergory. Hospitals, by their very purpose are full of people you wouldn't want to be near if you were healthy. See that guy in the next bed coughing up a lung? How about that woman rolling up and down the halls in her wheelchair who doesn't seem to understand that she should cover her face when she sneezes? And she sneezes a lot. Hospitals are germ factories with an amazing production line. The sooner you can get home the better. And so this study on a faster recovery rate from angioplasty is a very good thing.

Bird Flu in Kuwait

2005-11-10T21:23:00.000-08:00

One of the two birds found with bird flu was a peacock. I can't be the only one that thinks that's just odd.

Info here.

Info here.

And here.

Quacks

2005-11-10T18:19:00.000-08:00

This is a great page of 'medical' devices that did nothing but make money for their inventors.

More Bird Flu Info

2005-11-08T22:05:00.000-08:00

News from Vietnam here.

News from Beijing here.

Not good news at all. China closed 168 markets and destroyed six million birds. Let us hope they were just being overprotective.

Putting Chips Into People

2005-11-07T21:17:00.000-08:00

I find RFID technology a very mixed bag. On one hand tracking people who might be kidnapped, like they've done to a limited group in Mexico, is a pretty useful application. If Fido runs away he's easier to retrieve if he's got a chip. But on the other end of the equation, and yes this is where the paranoia sets in, what if a government mandates implantation of its citizens? It seems farfetched, but what a better way to keep track of ex-cons. And then dissidents. And then people who just don't vote like the people in charge want them to. At first, chipping humans will be will be easy. We'll start with child molesters. Whose going to argue with being able to constantly track a guy who gets his jollies with children? If you think I'm over exaggerating... maybe I am. But this is tech we really need to be careful with.
I'm not sure the payoff from this project is worth it. So what happens if the find out one of their patients hasn't made tea two days in a row? Time to send in the cavalry! This just strikes me as one of projects that sounds sufficiently high tech enough to interest people, but will yield data that could probably be interpreted in a million ways.

Built in Heart Monitor

2005-11-06T18:41:00.000-08:00

This sounds like a wonderful device. If I had heart issues, I would pay premium for it. Monitoring the heart as closely as possible for people with cardiac problems is parmount. It might set off a few metal detectors, but I suppose that wouldn't be a huge problem.
But maybe someone ought to explain to them that there are actually more then a few PDA's that might do the job better then a Handsping. They way technology moves forward at such ridiculous speeds they might as well be using a Trash-80.

Trouble In Arizona

2005-11-05T21:02:00.000-08:00

Already the shortage stories are beginning. Even without the avian flu worries it appears we are already having problems.

Pandemics and Goverments

2005-11-02T22:56:00.000-08:00

I listened to the President's speech on the possible upcoming pandemic. As usual I was wasn't impressed with the delivery. I was pleased with the message though. We're going to need to spend money. Lots of it, so I suppose 7 billion plus is a good start. It also sounds like a good portion is actually going to go into science, as opposed to just flushing it down the toilet of bureaucracy. I'm not naive though, I do expect some of the funds to be wasted. Another thing we need to be wary of is our present government's almost obsessive need to hire the wrong people to do a job. If we end up with a 'pandemic czar' whose only prior job was a Texas lawyer who just happened to represent big oil we should just hand out cyanide capsules to the populace. It would be quicker.
There are some things that bother me though. I'm not sure we can just trust that most of the world will be transparent with any problems that arise inside of their borders. In this country, and most of the West it would be next to impossible to cover up an outbreak. Some local reporter would be covering the sudden rash of illnesses one day, and the next day the Washington Post and the New York Times will have a team of reporters on the scene. CNN would send Larry King in an environmental suit. I'Âm not sure we can expect the same level journalistic integrity in China. I would expect them to do their best to cover up any outbreaks. Too much of their economy depends on trade with us. Trade that will almost certainly stop on a dime if they had a problem. Can you imagine any airline or shipping company flying into Beijing? Even if they pledged to, cross their heart and swear to fly, I doubt they will. Pilots and crew will undoubtedly either quit, or use all their sick days to stay healthy. We need to monitor as closely as possible what's happening in other countries. Especially the ones that think freedom of the press means not killing a reporter after he files his first negative report of the government.

Nipple Guards for Runners

2005-11-02T22:15:00.000-08:00

The New York Post had an article yesterday on gadgets that help runners. With the NY marathon coming up its almost an expected use of newsprint. Fancy sneakers and watches aren't much of a surprise, but Nip Guards were. I've never thought about chaffing of that sort but I suppose it can be extremely painful. And at $9 it seems like a bargain, but I have to wonder if two strategically placed Band-Aids couldn't do the same job.