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The Irish Medical Times Blog: February 2008

New contract good for (UK) GPs, bad for everybody else - UK audit body

The new GP contract in the UK has led to a dip in productivity, with fewer consultations taking place, according to the findings of the UK's National Audit Office. As reported in the Times, GPs who run their own practices... Read more

Chewing gum answers age-old dilemma

"Chewing gum is a simple solution to the recovery of bowel function after gastrointestinal surgery - a problem that has troubled patients and physicians for decades," Medical News Today reports. Research published in Urology has shown that "gum chewing may... Read more

A new era in fertility treatment

UK fertility doctors are performing the world's first trial of in vivo development (IVD) - which allows fertilised eggs to grow in the womb rather than a petri dish. The Guardian reports: "The year-long trial, involving fertility clinics in Nottingham... Read more

Doctors need Coronary ICUs on airplanes

Panda Bear MD, a blog worth getting to know, rails against the media for condemning doctors who "let a patient die" on an airplane. Hats off again to medGadget for spotting him.... Read more

US-Italian cancer collaboration speeds advances

Scientists in Virginia and doctors in Italy have teamed up to further personalised cancer treatment and proteomics – identifying and blocking ways in which the growth of cancer cells can be stopped. The Washington Post story details how former scientists... Read more

Richer countries must not plunder health resources of poor countries: Lancet

A Lancet editorial has urged delegates at the first-ever Global Forum on Human Resources for Health convened by the Global Health Workforce Alliance (GHWA) in Kampala, Uganda, to seek ambitious goals. The issue has taken a close look at health... Read more

And you thought Woody Allen's "Orgasmatron" was a joke

Scientists are working on ways to help train people to reach orgasm by letting them observe their own brain patterns, the Los Angeles Times is reporting. A pair of scientists also think they have discovered why people with severed spinal... Read more

Attractive women want it all

This is according to Evolutionary Psychology. So what else is new?... Read more

Is working good or bad for you?

The UK's Health Secretary is trying to reverse the sick-note culture, according to the Independent (UK). Alan Johnson said: "The evidence shows that far from being bad for health, work is generally good for people's health. In fact staying in... Read more

Lights at night linked to breast cancer

If you live on a street with lots of nighttime illumination, you are more likely to get breast cancer, the Washington Post is reporting. By overlaying satellite images of earth onto cancer registries, researchers discovered that women who "live in... Read more

Obesity, builders and quad bikes

Greed impacts on our health. No. Not over eating or over drinking. Private developers. Look at the myriad of new estates that have sprung up all over Ireland in the last 10 years of so, most of which have pretentious... Read more

Contracts talks in trouble...again

It looks like an agreement on the new consultant contract may be headed for another protracted and excruciating standoff, as the Secretary General of the IHCA and the Chief Executive of the HSE-EA sent some rather nasty letters to each... Read more

Stem cells show success in treating blood disorders

Medical News Today is reporting that a majority of "blood disorder patients treated with stem cells from their own cord blood (autologous transplant) or from the cord blood of a sibling (allogeneic-related transplant)... were cured or achieved remission from their... Read more

All the latest clinical trials, personalised

Doctors who use the IFPMA's Clinical Trials Portal to stay up-to-date with news about ongoing and completed clinical trials have just got an upgrade with the introduction of MyPortal. The new service allows doctors to get alerts and easily repeat... Read more

HSE staff still holding the rope

An internal HSE memo has revealed the extent to which the HSE's new local area employment monitoring groups are restricting recruitment of health service staff, irishhealth.com has reported. The group in that region has agreed to fill only 91 of... Read more

Have you made sure there is no surgical towel inside the patient?

The family of an Ohio woman who lived seven years with a towel inside her body has settled with the Cleveland-based clinic where the towel was left inside her chest. Weird Health News found the update to the story, which... Read more

Kendo vs fencing

The Guardian offers a detailed comparison of the health benefits of kendo vs fencing. This is a dilemma that has haunted me for as long as I can remember.... Read more

The beginning of the end of influenza

Researchers at Canada's McGill University have discovered a way to make cells in mice virtually immune to some viruses, including the flu. If this is ever turned into an effective antiviral therapy for humans, essentially making the flu obsolete... Read more

Think before you buy her perfume

More women are choosing to go fragrance-less, according to the New York Times, and buying perfume for your girlfriend could risk ruining the romance later this evening. So if you've only just now realised that today is Valentine's Day, you... Read more

Make your own warning signs

Think of the money the cash-strapped HSE could save on buying signs and safety notices for hospitals, with this website that allows you to make your own warning sign then download it to your computer. You can choose between different... Read more

Mary Harney's decision making made easier

After reading this excellent post over on Michael Nugent's That's Ireland blog, I realised the chart would work equally well for the Minister for Health. I would make something similar for Mary Harney, but a. I don't have time to... Read more

New hope for spinal injury patients

A new technique that uses the body's nerves to bypass spinal injury could help thousands of patients regain feeling, and possibly even the use of their limbs, new research has suggested. First reported in New Scientist magazine, the research shows... Read more

Nee naw, nee naw!

Bored? Need a break from the grind of nine to five? Wanna be an ambulance driver? Then click here to be transformed into an heroic paramedic, courtesy of the BBC.... Read more

Nowhere to run to, nowhere to hide!

They may be as boring as hell a lot of the time but Oireachtas committees have two distinct advantages. Firstly, scattered among the debris of waffle, debates and verbal scuffles that break out at these things; there are wee nuggets... Read more

Dr Wakefield responds to Viscera

Dr Andrew Wakefield, whose 1998 research on the effects of MMR and its possible links to autism sparked a massive controversy, has responded to a recent study that claims to dismiss the link. Here's his response, sent by email to... Read more

The science of foetal pain

According to a paediatrician and medical professor at the University of Arkansas, foetuses have the ability to feel pain after 20 weeks gestation, and perhaps earlier. The claim has major impact on the use of anaesthesia during fetal surgery, and,... Read more

Who's afraid of high heels?

Dr Ann Donnelly, writing in the BMJ Blogs, gives doctors (with fluctuating curves) arguments for and against wearing high heels in hospitals.... Read more

You are too fat to eat here

Politicians in Mississippi have proposed a new bill that would make it illegal for restaurants to serve fat customers, MSNBC is reporting. If the bill becomes law, health inspectors will be able to revoke the license of any restaurant that... Read more

Indian doctor gets life for nude vids of patients

An Indian doctor who secretly filmed patients and broadcast videos of them naked on the Internet was sentenced to life in jail yesterday, according to Yahoo! News. The story, which revealed a relatively sprawling internet porn racket, leaves me wondering:... Read more

Irish doctors on BJS podcast

Mr Des Winter of St Vincent’s University Hospital has been interviewed by the British Journal of Surgery, about a study published on Laparoscopic Lavage for Perforated Diverticulitis. You can listen to the podcast here.... Read more

Leading healthcare IT firm arrives. Whither iSoft?

What in the world is Cerner doing in Ireland? Has the HSE lost its faith in iSoft? Also, just discovered this well-written, if irregularly updated, blog, The Health Tech Blog.... Read more

More evidence dismisses link betwen MMR and autism

A study published today has provided further evidence against the claim, made ten years ago in a report by Dr Andrew Wakefield, that MMR jabs cause autism. The study, published in the journal Archives of Disease in Childhood, found no... Read more

Dr Colin Pierce receives Registrar's Prize

Mr. Paddy Broe (left), Beaumount Hospital, awarding Dr. Colin Peirce, UCD with the Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland’s Registrar’s prize, on February 5th 2008 in Dublin.... Read more

New obesity study: it's not your fault, again

Childhood obesity is not a result of lifestyle (ie diet and exercise) so much as genes, according to a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Researchers from University College London, who examined more than 5,000 pairs of... Read more

Pre-chewed food can pass HIV to babies

HIV-positive parents can pass the disease to babies by pre-chewing food, researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the US have found. The New York Times is reporting that the study shows another way in which babies,... Read more

Greek doctor convicted of manslaughter by trolley-wait

A Greek junior doctor has been sentenced to 15 months in prison (suspended for three months) following a conviction of manslaughter by neglect, the BBC and others are reporting. The finding, rightly or wrongly, might unnerve some Irish NCHDs manning... Read more

Do they sell maps on Moore St?

Bad news for Cavan residents hoping the new super-hospital in the northeast will be anywhere near Cavan: Bertie Ahern doesn't even know Cavan's in the Republic. Speaking in the Dail yesterday, the Taoiseach incorrectly identified Co. Cavan as part of... Read more

Email scam for docs: I've lost my passport in my little bag!

There's a pretty harmless email scam that's targeting doctors in, at least, the UK and Ireland - harmless because you'd have to be ten kinds of fool to fall for it. But it's still pretty funny to read. And a... Read more

Breakthrough in IVF science

The BBC is reporting that scientists in Newcastle University have created a human embyo using three separate parents. If this is true, it could "eradicate a whole class of hereditary diseases" in women with diseases of the mitochondria.... Read more

Killing time: best medical blogs of 2007

Here's a list of nominees, identified by medGadget, of the top medical blogs from around the world, 2007. There's only one Irish entry, so far as we know, called, The biopsy report, but the blogger refused to accept the nomination... Read more