medicine
oracknows | March 1, 2006A while back, I wrote about Airborne, the "herbal" concoction designed by a schoolteacher that is touted as preventing colds and the flu if taken preemptively or lessening their severity if taken early on in the course of a cold. I concluded that there was no evidence that it did what Victoria Knight-McDowell, a schoolteacher and the creator of Airborne, claims. Now the company itself seems to be admitting as much. It turns out that the company commissioned a study to "prove" Airborne's efficacy, and its results did seem to show a mild positive effect on colds. Unfortunately, the study was…
oracknows | February 27, 2006Nonmedical people always seem to have a conception of surgery as being a particularly glamorous profession. So did I to some extent before I entered medical school, although my surgical rotations quickly disabused me of that impression. Somehow, working from 5 AM to 11 PM every day and several hours each day on the weekends, combined with the grunt work that had to be done, just didn't seem as all those medical shows. All one has to do is to spend a night in the emergency room draining perirectal abscesses to know how unglamorous surgery can be. Not that it mattered. Something about surgery…
oracknows | February 26, 2006Time really flies, doesn't it?
In fact, the next meeting of the Skeptics' Circle will soon be upon us this Thursday. I'm anticipating that it will be...huge, as it's being hosted by none other than The Huge Entity.
The Huge One has placed his contact information and submission guidelines here. More general submission guidelines, plus a handy list of past and present Circles, can be found here.
Finally, once again, I'd like to post a request for more hosts of the Skeptics' Circle. I've had to do some minor rejiggering of the schedule recently due to the withdrawal of one of our planned hosts…
oracknows | February 25, 2006Here's a guy who really could use some anger management training, clearly the roomate from hell.
oracknows | February 24, 2006One of the greatest challenges in medicine can sometimes be to convince a patient that the results of scientific and medical research apply to them, or, at the very least, to explain how such results apply. A couple of days ago, in an article the New York Times, Dr. Abigail Zuker, proposed one reason why this might be, beginning with a discussion with her mother in which she tries to convince her of the benefit of exercise, even in the elderly, a concept that her mother would have none of:
"Studies," she says, dripping scorn. "Don't give me studies. Look at Tee. Look at all the exercise she…
oracknows | February 22, 2006What is it about the Avian flu that seems to inspire all sorts of wild craziness? Yes, the avian flu has the potential to be a big problem in humans (but is not one yet--so far its main lethal affect has been in birds). Yes, if it ever acquired the ability to be transmitted from person to person, rather than only from bird to human, it could cause a pandemic as nasty as the 1918 influenza pandemic, but, as far as can be determined, it has not acquired such an ability yet. Nonetheless, the avian flu inspires a lot more kookiness than more likely threats, such as the return or emergence of a…
oracknows | February 21, 2006Now that my technical problems have resolved, it's time to do what I do every week and plug the latest edition of Grand Rounds. It's a blog carnival that's like Grand Rounds for medical blogging (hence the name), and it collects the best of the medical blogosphere from the last week. I'm a regular contributor and have even hosted in the past.
This week, Grand Rounds, vol. 2, no. 22 is hosted by Dr. Andy, and a fine collection of medblogging he's gathered (including my first submission since moving to ScienceBlogs).
Next week the carnival is being hosted by a fellow surgeon at at the aptly…
oracknows | February 18, 2006And here's the last (and one of my favorite) categories of my blast from the past, some times over the last 14 months when Orac decided to take the "respectful" out of Respectful Insolence:
A response to the "Herbinator"
"Intelligent design" apologia: Pot. Kettle. Black.
I tried not to discuss "intelligent design" again, but...
Invitation accepted
A brief Cablevision rant
It looks like Orac attracted another one
A little criticism directed Orac's way
I'm glad I didn't order the pulled pork
Shortsighted, not curious, and proud of it!
Cybersquatter: J. B. Handley
Cybersquatting for Jesus
Orac…
oracknows | February 18, 2006Continuing my series of posts designed to categorize and archive essential insolence from the old blog, I now continue with some miscellaneous tidbits:
The EneMan files (Dedicated to the very strange character who is this weblog's de facto mascot)
Orac's encounter with Derek Jeter
I never realized
"Zero tolerance"="Zero common sense"
Kentucky Zombie update
Inauguration Day musings
First impressions of Mac OS X v10.4 ("Tiger")
Fourth of July thoughts
Dispatches from the road
September 11
Scary (Followup: It looks like I found Chris some friends)
Unclear on the concept
A death in the family
oracknows | February 16, 2006The Twenty-eight Meeting of the Skeptics' Circle has come to order at Unused and Probably Unusable, and Eh Nonymous has done a great job at gathering the best examples of skeptical blogging from the last two weeks into, of all things, a courtroom scene:
WHEREFORE the 28th Meeting of the Skeptics' Circle was convened on February 16, 2006, with the customary formalities...
ALL RISE!
Hear ye, hear ye! This court is now in session, the Reasonable Judge Eh Nonymous presiding. All ye who have business before this Skeptical court, draw near.
Good day to you, counselors. Let me remind everyone that…
oracknows | February 15, 2006In a continuing series of posts, for the benefit of new readers (and a trip down memory lane for old readers), I now present:
Wearing two hats (and part 2)
What is a surgical oncologist?
The deadly power of denial: Personal observations Also see Part 2: It's not always denial; Part 3: Fear; and Part 4: Denial isn't just for patients
A tragic story (Also see Part 2: Update; and Part 3: A sad end to a sad tale)
When not to treat
A pet peeve
Dealing with conflict
Needlestick
An odd place for a telephone booth
If you think it's just about mercury when it comes to vaccines, you're wrong
You want…
oracknows | February 14, 2006Grand Rounds, vol. 2, no. 21 has been posted at Intueri. The last time Maria hosted Grand Rounds, she envisioned it as a menu in a restaurant, which, while creative, was mildly disgusting. This time, she wants to help you make your Valentine's Day love connection.
oracknows | February 14, 2006*With apologies to Sparks.
You'd think that a meeting of surgeons in such a beautiful and sunny city as San Diego would be one big party. Well, it was to some extent outside of the meeting, but the meeting itself was a bit of a drag. Academic surgeons are not a happy lot these days, and gathering a few hundred of them in one place at the combined meeting of the American Association of Surgery and the Society of University Surgeons provided an outlet for that unhappiness.
To give you an idea of the mood among academic surgeons these days, you have only to look at the presidential addresses of…