HMO-phobic workers
SEATTLE — A strike is on at Group Health Cooperative, one of the oldest health maintenance organizations (HMO) in the US. About 1,700 nurses and other workers are off the job, enraged by the rising cost of their own health benefits. The strike is scheduled to last five days. For two Canadian docs' experiences with American HMOs see "Canada's comeback kids vs America's new sweethearts"

Oral cleft tobacco link
ABERDEEN, UK — According to a study in the Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Journal, women who smoke during the first trimester of pregnancy are slightly more likely to give birth to babies with oral cleft. The study looked at 190 British babies born with oral cleft between September 1, 1997 and January 31, 2000. They were matched with 248 controls. Researchers found an odds ratio of 1.9 (95% confidence interval) for cleft lip with or without cleft palate and an odds ratio of 2.3 (95% confidence interval) for cleft palate among the babies whose mums smoked.

French MD 1066 re-enactment nixed
PARIS — At the eleventh hour, some 2,000 French private surgeons called off plans to visit Britain for a weeklong self-imposed exile. They were angry over their lot in France — it's been 15 years since they last saw a procedure fee increase. Meanwhile insurance costs have shot up 1,000%. Landing in Britain would have shielded them from tough French medical back-to-work legislation. In the end, negotiations with the Health Minister, Philippe Douste-Blazy, were successful. Monsieur Douste-Blazy offered a revamped fee structure and a promise to spruce up French ORs.

Stapled to death
BOSTON — Stomach stapling and pregnancy don't mix. That's the harsh lesson learned after the death of a woman and her eight-month-old fetus in August. An error in her gastric bypass surgery led to the woman's small intestine slipping through a hernia. Massive infection eventually set in, killing mother and fetus. Women are advised not to conceive for two years after undergoing the surgery. The case is outlined in the August 12 issue of NEJM.

Weed-whacking brain tumour growth
MADRID — Glioblastoma multiforme, a brain cancer that evades common treatments, and its sinister work could go up in smoke. Spanish researchers administered cancerous mice with cannabinoids and found that the reefer-mad rodent brains appeared to have an increased ceramide production, which depresses vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). VEGF plays a critical role in tumour angiogenesis. Next, the researchers put cannabinoids to the test on humans — with the same promising results. The research appears in the August 15 issue of Cancer Research.

Statins do double-duty
MADRID — Statins not only lower cholesterol but may be used to treat AIDS. Research published August 16 in the Journal of Experimental Medicine found that not only did human blood cells resist HIV infection when mixed with lovastatin, but that cells from volunteers who took prevastatin also got infected at a lower rate. This is because the HIV virus needs the cholesterol in cell membranes to invade cells. The study also documents how six HIV-positive patients treated with only lovastatin for one month wound up with a lower viral load.

How is a doctor like a lightbulb?
LONDON — According to a paper in the August 18 edition of BMC Medicine, it's possible to predict which doctors will burn out as early as while they're still in med school. A questionnaire on personality and work satisfaction was completed by 1,668 British physicians. Participants had been previously surveyed during their final year of medical school as well as five to 12 years before the study. The docs' approaches to work could be predicted by their earlier study styles, with neuroticism, surface-disorganization, and introversion making stress levels sky-rocket.

AIDS blockbuster hits India's silver screens
MUMBAI — Bollywood, India's glitzy answer to Hollywood, will be releasing its first mainstream film about AIDS. Like Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington before them, two huge celebrities, Shilpa Shetty and Abhishek Bachchan tackle the prickly topic, playing patient and lawyer in a battle to defend the human rights of those who suffer from AIDS. The film, Phir Milenge (We'll Meet Again) has already earned rave reviews from the United Nations. The UN is sponsoring efforts to get the film translated into other Indian languages. Over five million Indians have AIDS.

The blueberry pie? It's for my heart
PHILADELPHIA — It's blueberry season and researchers at the US Department of Agriculture have discovered some more reasons to gobble up nature's little blue ambrosia. Speaking at the American Chemical Society's annual meeting, researchers presented findings that blueberries may "be a potent weapon in the battle against obesity and heart disease" by clearing up clogged arteries. The berries contain a chemical, pterostilbene, similar to that in cholesterol-reducer ciprofibrate, but the drug can cause muscle pain and nausea.

Dial 'D' for depression
WASHINGTON — Burning up the phonelines with your depressed patients could help pull them out of the doldrums. A study in the August 25 JAMA looked at 600 patients just starting antidepressant therapy. The patients were split into three groups: the first received standard care, the second got standard care plus three outreach calls from case managers, and the third group received phone psychotherapy on top of the two other treatments. After eight sessions, the phone therapy option won out, with 80% of patients reporting improved moods.

1

2