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Nuclear
tests closed for repairs
CHALK RIVER, ON
— The temporary closure for repairs of the
Ottawa-area nuclear reactor responsible for producing
two-thirds of the radioisotopes used worldwide has left
patients without much-needed diagnostic tests and threatens
to disrupt radiological therapeutics. The Canadian Society
of Nuclear Medicine reports it's "frustrated in that
there does not appear to have been a contingency plan
in place to sufficiently address this catastrophic situation."
The society estimates 50,000 Canadians will have their
treatments delayed for every month the plant remains
closed.
Women
get less ICU care
TORONTO —
Women get less ICU care than men and they suffer 20%
higher mortality rates in ICUs, says a December 4 CMAJ
study by University of Toronto researchers. Lead author
Dr Robert Fowler thinks the culprit is outmoded staff
prejudices — staffers will often describe older
female patients as "frail," while describing older male
patients as "fighters."
Bizarre
stocking stuffer says "Have a healthy holiday"
PITTSBURGH —
Here's one stocking stuffer you're unlikely to
find over Canadian hearths this Christmas: the Healthcare
Gift Card. Devised by American insurance company Highmark,
the $4.95 card can be loaded with cash that can only
be used for health-related purchases: a doctor's visit
co-pay, a BP cuff or a gym membership, for instance.
"It's a great thing for students because they can get
their medical care, but they can't buy beer with it,"
a hospital admin told American Medical News.
A
really bad hair day
CHICAGO —
Last year, physicians surgically removed a 4.5kg trichobezoar
— a hairball — from the stomach of an 18-year-old
woman, they announced in NEJM on November 22.
She was admitted with a five-month history of pain,
abdominal distention and severe weight loss; after tests
showed a large occlusion in her stomach, she admitted
to trichophagia, the compulsive consumption of one's
hair. The 37.5cm mass was removed in an open procedure.
A year later, the woman is doing fine and no longer
eating her hair.
Decision
not to treat boy in Toronto "boggles the mind"
BOSTON —
After surgeons at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children
declined to remove the large growth on the face of 10-year-old
Vietnamese orphan Hoang Son Pham, Boston's Children
hospital stepped in. Toronto physicians spent four months
doing tests, finally deciding in early November that
the hemangioma would be better off untreated. The Boston
docs have proposed sclerotherapy followed by surgery.
"I don't know what their thinking was," Boston plastic
surgeon John Milliken told CP. "It kind of boggles the
mind."
A
pack a day causes baldness
TAIPEI —
Taiwanese doctors have found yet another reason people
should quit smoking: it accelerates androgenic alopecia
(AGA), also called male pattern baldness. A new study,
in November's Archives of Dermatology, found
that smoking 20 or more cigarettes a day more than doubled
the likelihood of early-onset AGA. The authors urge
physicians to warn their patients not to smoke themselves
bald.
Don't
try Lust, Caution sex positions at home, warn
MDs
HONG KONG —
Wild sex scenes in Lust, Caution, the new film
by Hong Kong director Ang Lee, have prompted dire health
warnings from Chinese physicians. "Most of the sexual
maneuvers in Lust, Caution are in abnormal body
positions," Dr Yu Zao told government news service Xinhua.
"Only women with comparatively flexible bodies that
have gymnastics or yoga experience are able to perform
them. For average people to blindly copy them could
lead to unnecessary physical harm."
ALS
drug hurts, not helps
NEW YORK CITY
— Minocycline, an antibiotic thought to
slow down the progress of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
(ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease) with its anti-inflammatory
effect, actually makes it worse, says a study in December's
Lancet Neurology. Researchers at Columbia University
were conducting a Phase III trial with 412 ALS sufferers
when they discovered that the incurable neurological
disease advanced 25% faster in patients who took the
drug than in the placebo group.
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