Medical Blogs

I just found a whole stash of Blogs by MD's, some of which seem to have a similar flavor as the CC. Here are a few for example: Over My Med Body,Kevin MD,Medical Madhouse. I will add them to the list of links.

bluecrowned mot mot

file:///c:/Documents%20and%20Settings/JOE/Desktop/bluecrowned_motmot_page.htm
saw on of these in Honduras.

Were you trying to post one of These?

Proceedings of the CC for January

This week we made a sushi run. A quorum was present, but just barely because Joe was tired, and frankly too old to pull it together after a few days out of the country marveling at the lack of otitis media in underserved countries. On our first stop for beer, Steve asked the cashier where the O'Douls was (for me since I was DD). She stated that she didn't know what that was, so they must not carry it. On the way out Steve was kicking himself for not asking if she knew what chlamydia was, because he was sure she carried that. In fact we were all upset by this, so Brad made sure to take a thorough sexual history from the cashier during the bathroom stop 30 minutes later. The sushi was good, the conversation was as well, but we were never quite able to get it out of the gutter. I blame the unusually high ratio of surgeons. Brad unexpectedly took an offer of 33 bucks to eat a wad of wasabi in one swallow. He did not seem to be quite as affected as the last time, which leads me to believe that maybe he was just putting on the last time he ate a wasabi ball, just so he could get paid again. The next time, I won't settle for anything less than direct application of the wasabi to both eyes.

Medicinal Maggots, Leeches and Whipworms

I was just thinking of the time during medical school I had the pleasure of taking care of a man from a nursing home who was brought in after someone noticed the bandages around his foot wriggling. He was diabetic, immobile, and had a large ulcer on his heel. They removed the bandages and found some fat and happy maggots. The great thing though, was that the wound looked great. So I did some looking into the latest news about medical critters, and here is what I found:

Leeches (Hirudo medicinalis)-not that new really, but they have just recently gained FDA approval for use as medical devices. They are mostly used in skin grafts and reattachment surgery. Additionally the anticoagulant produced by the leech to aid their bloodsucking is used in a recombinant form,lepirudin, for heparin induced thrombocytopenia. Sources: Biopharm Leeches, MSNBC, FDA

Maggots-Their use was approved last year by the FDA for treatment of wounds and ulcers as I had noted above. For more info: MSNBC,CNN,

Whipworms- The pig whipworm (Trichuris suis) is being used in medical trials for the treatment of Inflamatory bowel disease such as ulcerative colitis and Chron's disease. The theory behind their proposed effectiveness is that the human immune system has evolved to handle these infections, without them the bowels become overactive. Throughout the world the prevalence of IBD appears to be inversely proprotional to the prevalence of these intestinal parasites. Source:Medical Observer

Related books

Alexander Hamilton

I am finished with the Alexander Hamilton CD if anyone wants it. I thought it was pretty good, but not as interesting as Ben Franklin.
Here is a link to reviews from Amazon. I have loaned out the Franklin CD but if anyone wants I will try to get it to you.

Unforgivable Blackness

The story of the Rise and fall of Jack Johnson. This a a great documentary that aired on PBS the last two nights about his becoming the first black heavyweight boxing champion and the search for the "great white hope" that followed. I never really new much about this whole episode in American history but it is really interesting. There is great old footage, interviews, and Johnson's voice is played by Samuel L Jackson.

Halo 2, Xbox

After looking at Shane's Blog and watching the traffic through these sites, I've been considering that there may be some pretty serious techsters out there who are continuously searching for anything related to electronic gaming or particular games. I may be wrong, but I'm just putting it out there, call it an experiment.

Shorned scrotum -- a case study

A scrotum can be a delicate thing. While on call, I was paged and upon answering the distress call, I learned that a patient's scrotum was bleeding substantially. I pondered the potential causes of scrotal bleeding in an ICU patient, as the nurse frantically expressed her concerns for the copious bleeding. An ice pack was initially tried without success, she said. The patient could not tolerate such a painful endeavor. I asked her just how could a shorned scrotum could come about in this patient. She expressed to me it must have been a bedpan malfunction. As I pondered the mechanics of such an injury, my champion PGYI colleague arrived on the scene. After carefull examination, he determined that the injury was not going to stop bleeding on pressure alone. At which point, I entertained the notion of scrotal chemical cauterization. Silver nitrate on a scrotum?, he said. Why not?, I said, unless you want to use your hand to manually tamponade his testicles the rest of the evening. He opted for plan A. When the deed was done, my champion PGYI collegue said that the patient tollerated the procedure well, until the silver nitrate hit the "money spot." At which time, he said he ellicited the most beautiful cremasteric reflex you had ever seen. Hemostasis was effectively achieved post procedure.

Conclusion: It was concluded that not only does silver nitrate provide excellent hemostasis for shorned scrotums, but a silver nitrate stick is excellent in elliciting cremasteric reflexes even without stroking the inner thigh.

Disclaimer: This case report may contain some embellishments, as I have not had much sleep over this weekend call.

Pretty Dirty Things

movie on dvd now, interesting, somewhat predictable, good acting from the BBC.
must listen carefully British accent you know.

vermiculite

Vermiculite when roasted "pops" like popcorn, unfortunately it may be full of asbestos and has lead to many cases of mesothelioma. Information gleaned from a pt.

My computer here may be on its last legs, in case my voice is silenced.

Charrette you say

Do we need to involve the NCI?
(http://www.charretteinstitute.org/charrette.html).

re-joe's comment in the welcome post.

bifrontal cerebral hemorrhage

Joe-Here is a link to a case that sounds similar to the one you were telling me about, In case emedicine fails you.

http://stroke.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/full/33/3/876

initial

here's to many GREAT ideas!
don't forget the New York Historial Society's Alexander Hamilton Forum--we really should try to make it to NYC to view it in person(maybe Bibb can find us real cheap tickets).
also The Umbraellas of Cherbourg not for everyone but interesting.
Joe

Welcome

Welcome members and guests. Since this is my first experience with blogging, and there is no content to discuss yet, I will welcome any comments regarding the web layout, blog name, or format.