Pandemic Flu for Survivalists

by Brian M. Carty, MD, MSPH
4-25-08

Thanks to a strict naval quarantine, the island of American Samoa was virtually untouched by the devastating 1918 influenza pandemic which killed at least 50 million people worldwide. Would this strategy enable you to survive ..>>More  

Should Antibiotics Be Prescribed for Acute Infectious Diarrhea?

click image to enlarge
art by Nacho Garcia 

by Brian M. Carty, MD, MSPH
4-01-08

Although antibiotics decrease the severity and duration of acute infectious diarrhea, you didn't get a prescription for antibiotics. Why not?"  ....>>More  

Wrinkles Treated More Quickly Than Skin Cancer by Brian M. Carty, MD, MSPH 3-11-08 A study in the December 2007 Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology showed that the average waiting time to see a dermatologist was 38 days for a changing mole (a lesion which is suspicious for skin cancer), but only 16 days for  ....>>More   Historic Video: Lobotomy, 1942 Watch Video Lobotomy Revisited by Brian M. Carty, MD, MSPH 11-14-07 Do you remember Rosemary Kennedy, John F. Kennedy's sister? Maybe not, since she spent most of her life hidden away in an institution in the Midwest. She had a lobotomy, a brain operation for mental illness,....>>More

Are You Getting Proper Medical Treatment? Rand Corporation research shows that Americans get only about 50% of recommended medical treatments. Below are some important treatment guidelines for a variety of medical problems. Allergy to insect stings.   Stings by bees, wasps, hornets, and other insects can cause life threatening allergic reactions. ....>>More Aspirin and NSAIDS.   Apirin taken to prevent heart attack or stroke ....>>More Colon cancer screening.  Colonoscopy is recommended for colon cancer screening for most ....>>More Diabetes.  Blood pressure in diabetics should be less than 130/80. Hemoglobin A1C ....>>More Foreign travel.  Recommendations for vaccines, preventive drugs, and so on can be obtained from ....>>More Heart attack patients.  Hopefully, you will never be wheeled into an emergency room with chest pain ....>>More Heart attack medications.  Patients who have had a heart attack should usually receive ....>>More Hypertension (high blood pressure) medications.   Don’t stop prescription drugs without consulting your doctor. Stopping  ....>>More Infections: correct amoxicillin dose for upper respiratory infections.  If amoxicillin is prescribed for sinus infections, middle ear infections, or pneumonia, the dose  ....>>More Infections of skin and soft tissue.  “The death of Keflex (cephalexin),” to quote the late Merle  ....>>More Intensive care medicine.  If you are reading this you are probably not a patient in an intensive care unit ....>>More Lung Disease: asthma and beta blockers.  Beta blockers such as atenolol, propranolol, metoprolol, and others  ....>>More Lung Disease: unexplained worsening of COPD. Patients with COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and/or emphysema) with unexplained worsening of COPD have a roughly 30% chance  ....>>More Osteoarthritis of the knee.  This common disease is often treated with pain medications, steroid ....>>More Pain medications.  NSAIDs (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) are often prescribed for the pain of arthritis and ....>>More Steroid use, chronic.  Steroids (glucocorticoids such as prednisone, methylprednisolone, dexamethasone) have many  ....>>More

Unusual Psychiatric Syndromes:
An Occasional Series

Capgras Syndrome

by Brian M. Carty, MD, MSPH
5-01-08

The Capgras Syndrome is a delusion, or false belief, that significant others, usually a spouse or family members, have been  ....>More  

Jascha Heifetz (1901-1987), the greatest violinist of the 20th century, did not need beta-blockers to perform. -Photo Jascha Heifetz Society. www.jaschaheifetzsociety.org

     click for the correct answer

Anal Cancer Rates on the Rise

by Brian M. Carty, MD, MSPH
3-07-08

Anal cancer is a very serious disease.  In the past 30 years incidence rates have roughly doubled in males and increased by about 50% in women.  Changes in sexual practices have almost certainly caused most of the increase.  ....>>More  

Why is it that you can never read a doctor's prescription, but you can always read his bill?
 

Avian influenza virus (H5N1) is widespread in many wild and domestic bird populations

Bird Flu Update
Pandemic Influenza Still a Threat

by Brian M. Carty, MD, MSPH
2-22-08

A city is swept by an epidemic. Thousands are dead, the streets are silent, and all stores, schools, churches, and public places are closed. There are no pedestrians, no cars, no buses, and no trains. The supply of coffins  ....>>More  

Can Surgery Cure Diabetes?

by Brian M. Carty, MD, MSPH
2-14-08

"A chance to cut is a chance to cure" is the surgeon's motto. That bariatric (obesity) surgery for severe obesity often cures diabetes is not new information. What is new is  ....>>More  

An Unusual (Very!) Case
of Vaginal Tumor

by R. R. Willcox
December, 1961
Posted 2-02-08

A young unmarried woman aged 24 years, suffering from cancerophobia, came into the clinic in an acute anxiety state, convinced that she had a .... >>More

UK Health Care System
In Need of Repair

by Brian M. Carty, MD, MSPH
1-26-08

An investigation of outbreaks of intestinal infections in several British hospitals has exposed the failings of the UK's rickety government-run health care system, ....>>More

New Appetite Suppressant Drug Combination Not Yet Ready for Prime Time

In the August 2007 Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, researchers reported the results of a study of a new appetite suppressant drug combination: bupropion, an antidepressant, taken along with zonisamide, ....>>More

Bad Blood in Canada

 
click image to enlarge
art by Nacho Garcia

Four doctors and a drug company acquitted after contaminated blood screw-up infects thousands. Fearful of offending the gay community, the Canadian Red Cross refused to exclude male homosexuals, many HIV positive, from blood donation in the 1980s ....>>More

"Manopause"
Testosterone Deficiency in Older Males

A 66 year old man saw his doctor for trouble with erections and low sexual desire. His doctor found nothing abnormal on examination, but the blood concentration of testosterone, a male hormone, was low....>>More

Anti-Sicko: The Dark Side of Government Health Care

Web addresses for some short videos on socialized health care.

http://www.onthefencefilms.com/video/deadmeat/

http://www.freemarketcure.com/

Medical Image of the Month May 2008

click image to enlarge Women painting watch dials with luminous paint containing radioactive radium (c. 1920). By pointing their brushes with their lips, they inadvertently ingested radium. The radium later caused degeneration of the bone of the jaw, bone cancer, and other health problems.

click image to enlarge
art by Nacho Garcia 

Unusual Psychiatric Syndromes:
An Occasional Series

The Adult Baby Syndrome

by Brian M. Carty, MD, MSPH
4-14-08

Mr. A, a 35-year- old single Caucasian man, consulted a psychiatrist with a complaint that "I am supposed to be a 35-year-old, but I want to be a baby ...>More  

Medical Image of the Month April 2008

click image to enlarge A US postal stamp commemorating George Papanicolaou (1883-1962), a physician who invented the Pap smear, a test used to screen for cancer of the cervix.

-With permission of  Steve Michalik.  Mr. Michalik, a former Mr. America and Mr. Universe, once used steroids and suffered as a result. He is now an energetic and outspoken opponent of steroid abuse.

Are Ya Juicin' It?
Anabolic-Androgenic Steroid Abuse

by Brian M. Carty, MD, MSPH
3-15-08

Irritable, angry, aggressive, but feeling strong and invincible, Mr. A, 32, a bodybuilder and prison guard, stopped at a convenience store to call his boss. Car trouble on the way to work.  He would be late. ....>>More  

Medical Image of the Month March 2008

click image for complete text and photos Transfer of a toe to the hand. -Photo courtesy of New England Journal of Medicine.

Medical Image of the Month February 2008

click image to enlarge Policemen in Seattle wear masks during the 1918 influenza pandemic. -Photo from the National Archives.

Medical Image of the Month January 2008

click image to enlarge Harvey Cushing, MD Harvey Cushing (1869-1939) was an American neurosurgeon who developed many of the basic surgical techniques for operating on the brain. -Courtesy of Yale University, Harvey Cushing/ John Hay Whitney Medical Library

NYT > Health Updated : Mon, 12 May 2008 01:17:07 GMT That Must Be Bob. I Hear His New Hip Squeaking. Some patients? noisy artificial hips are interrupting daily life and raising questions about more serious problems. Publ.Date : Sun, 11 May 2008 13:27:14 GMT Really?: The Claim: Running Outdoors Burns More Calories Most runners have a strong preference for either pavement or treadmills, but how do the two differ in producing results? Publ.Date : Tue, 06 May 2008 23:15:07 GMT Hard Sell to Medicare Insurance Buyers Would Get Softer Under New Rules The Bush administration proposed on Thursday to crack down on the aggressive marketing of private Medicare insurance plans. Publ.Date : Fri, 09 May 2008 05:39:06 GMT Even the Insured Feel Strain of Health Costs For millions of people with employer health insurance, premiums and co-payments have increased quickly while coverage has become less extensive. Publ.Date : Sun, 04 May 2008 18:03:35 GMT For Physician Assistant, Empathy Goes Two Ways John C. Welton, 60, who atrophied from the chest down after contracting polio as a boy, sees to dying patients at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx. Publ.Date : Mon, 05 May 2008 09:02:35 GMT Essay: At Bedside, Stay Stoic or Display Emotions? Health professionals may debate among themselves the propriety of emotional displays, but what probably matters most is what patients think. Publ.Date : Tue, 22 Apr 2008 23:30:44 GMT Vital Statistics: E.R.?s Are Busy, but Fewer Patients Are Uninsured A new study suggests that while the number of uninsured people nationwide rose, the proportion of uninsured people using E.R.?s declined. Publ.Date : Tue, 06 May 2008 03:34:18 GMT ?Mad Pride? Fights a Stigma Just as gay-rights activists reclaimed the word queer as a badge of honor rather than a slur, mental illness advocates are proudly calling themselves mad. Publ.Date : Sun, 11 May 2008 10:06:50 GMT Redefining Disease, Genes and All A growing band of researchers is trying to redefine how diseases are classified ? by looking at their genetic underpinnings. Publ.Date : Fri, 09 May 2008 03:51:10 GMT Diagnosis: Gut-Wrenching An elusive pain comes on unexpectedly, then disappears before anyone can figure out what it is. Publ.Date : Fri, 09 May 2008 22:16:21 GMT