| July 2003 | ||||||
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||
| 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 |
| 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 |
| 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | ||
| Jun Aug | ||||||
15 July 2003Wolves in the Walls.
Neil Gamain's new book, Wolves in the Walls is out on August 5th in the UK. I first came across his work in 1990, through reading Good Omens, written together with Terry Pratchett.
I am re-reading it for the umpteenth time and here's a sample from last night:
"The duck in St. James's Park are so used to being fed bread by secret agents meeting clandestinely that they have developed their own Pavlovian reaction. Put a St. James's Park duck in a laborotory cage and show it a picture of two men- one usually wearing a coat with a fur collar, the other something sombre with a scarf - and it'll look up expectantly. The Russian cultural attaché's black bread is particularly sought after by the more discerning duck, while the head of M19's soggy Hovis with Marmite is relished by the connoisseurs. ..."
11:04:59 PM
(and eletters)
Variations on a crowd of doctors... (by speciality)
- a pride of surgeons
- flutter / fibrillation / murmur / palpitation of cardiologists
- a perfusion of cardiologists, (and if they gather again, a reperfusion); a graft of cardiac surgeons
- a gaggle of gynaecologists, a smear of gynaecologists
- a culture of microbiologists
- an absence of professors
- an injection of rhematoloigsts, a thrombus or clot of haematologists
- a rouleau of haematologists
- a morula of embryologists
- a mass of oncologists
- a flake / itch / rash of dermatologists;
- a commiseration of coroners;
- a crack of osteopaths;
- a meridian of acupuncturists;
- an illumination of ophthalmologists
- a synapse of neurologists
- a howl of paediatricians
- a consolidation of respiratory care physicians (preferred to wheeze of pulmonologists)
- a stream of urologists
- a Gray of anatomists
- a flap of plastic surgeons
- a joint of orthopaedic surgeons
- a g(l)ut of gastroenterologists, a run of gastroenterologists
- a brace of orthodontists
- a pack of ENT surgeons (or is it a he[a]rd?)
- a collection of surgeons
- an apron of nurses
- an orbit of ophthalmologists.
- a pile of proctologists
- a stream of urologists
- a sample of statisticians
- a cohort of epidemiologists
- a population of public health doctors
- an outbreak of public health docs
- a reorganisation of public health docs (also known in the UK as a Shifted Balance of ....)
2:57:33 PM
Morality and the transplant system
Julian Sanchez (26/06/2003)
"David Undis thought he had found a simple solution to a grave problem. In order to encourage people to become organ donors, he founded LifeSharers, a group whose members agree to have their organs made available for transplant upon death, on the condition that other members of the group get preferential access to those organs. In its first year of existence, LifeSharers has attracted 820 members, a distinguished board of advisors, and a flurry of press coverage. There's only one problem: The medical establishment is almost uniformly against it. ..."
2:11:28 PM
"Great news for hypochondriacs. You really are sick.
Once a reliable butt of jokes, people who worry excessively over their health almost certainly have a psychiatric disorder, researchers say. The condition is difficult to diagnose and treat, and can affect most parts of a person's life, especially relationships.
The new study, which examined the personalities of hypochondriacs in order to better diagnose the disorder, suggests hypochondria is more prevalent than doctors realize. Up to 9% of patients in a typical family practice may suffer from hypochondriasis, says Russell Noyes, professor emeritus of psychiatry at the University of Iowa.
By telling others of their fears and physical symptoms, these patients hope to get care and attention, Dr. Noyes says.
In a study published recently in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine, the Iowa researchers found such patients tend to form weak social bonds with others.
"People are securely attached or not so securely attached to people who are important in their lives," Dr. Noyes says. "What we showed was that hypochondriacal people are insecurely attached."
Patients with weak bonds to parents, friends and others also tend to feel insecure in their relationship with a doctor. If doctors do not confirm their medical concerns, hypochondriacs may take it as a form of rejection and go searching for another physician who will reassure them.
"Doctors don't do a very good job of recognizing hypochondriasis and they rarely diagnose it, but it is a real psychiatric disorder and source of distress," Dr. Noyes says.
"One of the reasons they fail to recognize hypochondriasis is that it comes in a disguised form -- the patient presents physical symptoms and the doctor examines and finds no physical explanation, then dismisses the patient.
"Another problem is that, until recently, there haven't been good treatments for hypochondriasis, and we tend to diagnose things we have treatments for."
Serena Roy, a 43-year-old Ottawa social worker, spent two years "doctor shopping" for someone who could diagnose her headaches and fatigue.
"Nobody would listen to me," she says.
"They would say, your thyroid is fine, your red [blood] cells are normal, you don't have a tumour, there's nothing wrong with you, get lost. But I knew there was something wrong." ..."
2:06:55 PM
[Macro error: Can't evaluate the expression because the name "comment" hasn't been defined.]
This Page was last update: 11/11/2003; 17:15:32
Copyright 2003 Annelise Ribeiro
Theme Design by Bryan Bell
