Monthly Archives: April 2010

Martina Navratilova Fighting Breast Cancer – ABC Video

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In February 2010, the tennis legend was diagnosed with an aggressive form of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), considered the earliest form of breast cancer. Navratilova had a lumpectomy in February, during which her doctors determined that the cancer had not spread to her lymph nodes. She says there is only a "very small chance of it coming back."

Navratilova's cancer was diagnosed during a routine mammogram, after not having one for four years, and she hopes that speaking out will inspire other women to get mammograms.

"The reason I wanted to speak about this is to encourage these woman to have mammograms," she said. "I just want to encourage women to have that yearly check-up."

References:
Martina Navratilova Fighting Breast Cancer

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Eradication of nasal colonization with S. aureus associated with a decrease in postoperative surgical-site infections

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Nasal carriers of Staphylococcus aureus are at increased risk for health care–associated infections with this organism.
Eradication of colonization with S. aureus by screening at admission and subsequent decolonization (with intranasal mupirocin and chlorhexidine skin washes) were associated with a decrease in postoperative surgical-site infections.
In a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, S. aureus nasal carriers were treated with mupirocin nasal ointment and chlorhexidine soap.
A total of 6771 patients were screened on admission, 1270 nasal swabs from 1251 patients were positive for S. aureus. All the S. aureus strains identified on PCR assay were susceptible to methicillin and mupirocin.
The rate of S. aureus infection was 3.4% in the mupirocin–chlorhexidine group, as compared with 7.7% in the placebo group (relative risk of infection, 0.42). The effect of mupirocin–chlorhexidine treatment was most pronounced for deep surgical-site infections (relative risk, 0.21).
References:

Preventing Surgical-Site Infections in Nasal Carriers of Staphylococcus aureus. NEJM, 1/2009.
GIANTmicrobes in Toys & Games section of Amazon.com http://goo.gl/gMrf

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Scaring physicians aways from using social media

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Is there a doctor who wants to spend 3 hours per day on social media while running the risk of being sued?

This useful critical review by a freelance journalist at the NEJMJobs site has a focus on some of the litigation risks inherent to the use of social media in healthcare:

http://www.nejmjobs.org/career-resources/social-media-and-physicians.aspx

"Dr. Pho, who spends up to three hours a day in social media activities, is surely in a minority of physicians who devote considerable time to blogging, Twittering, or engaging in Facebook updates.

Social Media Activity Risks Difficult to Predict

Despite the potential professional benefits of social networking participation, some physicians are approaching the social media realm with trepidation, for fear that personal and professional presences will overlap in a manner that increases liability exposure.

That’s a valid concern, because the medico-legal aspect of social media activities has been little explored and is not well understood. In addition, the obvious risks of incurring HIPAA violations should patients’ health information be unwittingly exposed are a deterrent. “The laws haven’t caught up with social media and networking, so to be safe I don’t blog about my patients,” Dr. Pho said. “Even though I think that interesting or challenging cases can be used as a learning tool, too much of my professional livelihood is at stake.”

None of the physicians interviewed for this article have accepted patients’ requests to become Facebook friends, and all cited concerns that doing so would “cross the boundary” between a personal and professional relationship.

"I think that very few doctors are interacting with patients directly on Facebook because we’re so terrified of being accused of practicing medicine and getting sued. Whatever you type is eternal and a perfect record of whatever you said,” she said. “That makes it all even more scary.”

“We’re concerned about this because there have been instances in which physicians have used Facebook in an inappropriate manner,” said David Troxel, MD, The Doctors Company’s medical director. “Social media networks are not HIPAA compliant and are just not appropriate for any physician-patient communication, so it’s a real liability threat because it’s so easy to lapse into a casual conversation.”

The NEJMJobs article linked in the paragraph above does not discuss the use of social media for medical education of students, residents and patients.

Another area that was not highlighted enough was the widespread use of Facebook "fan pages" by hospitals and physicians to attract patients and create relationships. Does this mean that the patients can be "your fans" but not "your friends"?

Overall, this article is a good review of some of the risks involved with the social media adoption in healthcare.

However, for a more nuanced approach to social media use by physicians, please review this detailed primer by the cardiologist Dr. Wes:

http://drwes.blogspot.com/2010/03/for-cardiologists-twitter-primer.html

Related:
Facebook Friend Request - A young doctor gets a message from a dying patient - NYTimes, 2010.

Image source: OpenClipArt.org, public domain.

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Scientists Embrace Openness Article in Science Careers

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Chelsea Wald just published an article in Science Careers: Scientists Embrace Openness (April 9, 2010). She interviewed several people in the Open Science movement including Jonathan Eisen, Steve Koch, Anthony Salvagno, Carl Boettiger and myself.

The article covers Open Notebook Science, Open Data and associated themes. I think it presents a view of the most commonly discussed advantages and disadvantages very well.

One section was particularly relevant to an issue I recently posted about - (and discussed on FriendFeed):

Open Notebook Science advocates claim that being open may protect a scientist's ideas rather than exposing them to theft. Newton's decision to conceal his findings within an anagram made it harder for him to prove priority over rival Gottfried Leibniz. Open Notebook scientists say all they need to do is point to their open notebooks to show that they had an idea or found a result first.

Diabetes Ads

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Don’t treat Diabetes to your kidneys.
About 10 to 40 percent of patients with Type 2 Diabetes will eventually suffer from kidney failure. So, visit your doctor regularly and ensure healthy kidneys.

Here’s a public announcement effort by Greenroom Advertising Mumbai, India in educating those with Type 2 Diabetes to keep up their doctor visits to ensure healthy organs.  I wish the execution was more realistic…

[via adsoftheworld]

"The Secret Museum" Exhibition Opening, Observatory, TONIGHT! April 10, 7-10 PM

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Hi all! Just a reminder that tonight is the opening party for my new exhibition at Observatory "The Secret Museum," an exploration of the poetics of hidden, untouched and curious collections from around the world in photographs and artifacts." This show is produced in conjunction with the Congress for Curious People, which encompasses a slew of exciting events and begins this Monday!

Full details follow. Hope to see you there!

Exhibition: "The Secret Museum"
Opening party: Saturday April 10th, 7-10 PM
On view from April 10th-May 16th
Admission: Free

An exhibition exploring the poetics of hidden, untouched and curious collections from around the world in photographs and artifacts, by Joanna Ebenstein, co-founder of Observatory and creator of Morbid Anatomy.

Photographer and blogger Joanna Ebenstein has traveled the Western world seeking and documenting untouched, hidden, and curious collections, from museum store-rooms to private collections, cabinets of curiosity to dusty natural history museums, obscure medical museums to hidden archives. The exhibition “The Secret Museum” will showcase a collection of photographs from Ebenstein’s explorations–including sites in The Netherlands, Italy, France, Austria, England and the United States–which document these spaces while at the same time investigating the psychology of collecting, the visual language of taxonomies, notions of “The Specimen” and the ordered archive, and the secret life of objects and collections, with an eye towards capturing the poetry, mystery and wonder of these liminal spaces. In tandem with this exhibition, Ebenstein has organized a 2 week “Collector’s Cabinet” at the The Coney Island Museum, which will showcase astounding objects held in private collections, including artifacts featured in her Private Cabinet photo series of 2009.

To download press release, which includes sample images, please click here.

ASSOCIATED LECTURES AND EVENTS
Congress for Curious People at the Coney Island Museum
2-day symposium exploring the idea of collecting curiosities in the 21st century as well as the politics, history, and changing methodology of collecting and collections. Also on view will be “The Collector’s Cabinet,” an installation of astounding artifacts held in private collections. A week of themed lectures at the Coney Island Museum will precede the symposium:

The Saddest Object in the World
An Illustrated Meditation by Evan Michelson, Obscura Antiques and Oddities, Morbid Anatomy Library Scholar in residence
Date: Monday, April 12th
Time: 7:00 PM
LOCATION: * Coney Island Museum, Brooklyn

Taxidermy in the Fine ArtsRobert Marbury of the Minnesota Association of Rogue Taxidermists
Date: Tuesday, April 13th
Time: 7:00 PM
LOCATION: * Coney Island Museum, Brooklyn

A Brief History of Automate
An Illustrated Lecture and Demonstration by Mike Zohn, Obscura Antiques and Oddities
Date: Wednesday, April 14th
Time: 7:00 PM
LOCATION: * Coney Island Museum, Brooklyn

A History of Taxidermy: Art, Science and Bad Taste
An Illustrated Presentation By Dr. Pat Morris, Royal Holloway, University of London
Date: Thursday, April 15th
Time: 7:00 PM
LOCATION: * Coney Island Museum, Brooklyn

Charles Wilson Peale and the Birth of the American Museum
An Illustrated Presentation by Samuel Strong Dunlap, PhD, Descendant of Charles Wilson Peale
Date: Friday, April 16th
Time: 7:00 PM
LOCATION: * Coney Island Museum, Brooklyn

Museums, Monsters and the Moral Imagination
An Illustrated lecture with Professor Stephen Asma, author of Stuffed Animals and Pickled Heads and On Monsters.
Date: Thursday, April 22
Time: 8:00 PM
LOCATION: * Observatory, Brooklyn

Experimenting with Death: An Introduction to Terror Management Theory
An Illustrated Lecture by Michael Johns, Former Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of Wyoming
Time: 8:00 PM
Date: Friday, May 7
LOCATION: * Observatory, Brooklyn

You can find out more by clicking here. You can get directions to Observatory by clicking here. You can find out more about the "Congress for Curious People" by clicking here. You can get on our mailing list by clicking here can join Observatory on Facebook by clicking here.

Image credits: Images 1-3: Tim Knox and Todd Longstaffe-Gowan Collection, London. Image 4: Archives 2009-015, Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia. Image 5: Natural History Museum Store-room; Image 6: Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle de Rouen, Store-room; Image 7: "Femme à barbe," Musée Orfila. Courtesy of Paris Descartes University.

Animal Body Worlds at the Neunkirchen Zoo, Saarland, Germany

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The controversial Body Worlds creator Gunther von Hagens opens his latest anatomical exhibition at the Neunkirchen Zoo in the state of Saarland, Germany. The 'anatomical safari' contains over 100 animals in various degrees of dissection showing von Hagen's famed plastination process. Presented as a holistic and sculptural anatomical menagerie, the display features the most revered species in the animal kingdom: among them a long-lashed, freckled tall blonde—a giraffe; and two regal, husky, graceful, behemoth elephants.The animal revue posed immense technical challenges for Dr. von Hagens and his plastination team. "Samba" with her size of 6 meters long and 3.5 meters tall is the largest creature that Dr. von Hagens has ever plastinated – the specimen is as heavy as three passenger cars. The preservation required 64,000 working hours, four tons of silicone and 40,000 liters of acetone. By comparison, a human plastinate is completed in 3,000 hours. The exhibition allows a peek under the thick yet light-sensitive skin of an elephant. Its trunk with its network of 40,000 muscles is a feat of design excellence, as well as virtuosity. Visitors will see a plastinated giraffe and learn how its unique cardiovascular system prevents it from being in permanent cardiac arrest and allows it to overcome the challenges of its extreme physique....

From Moolf.com; click here to see full story with more images.

Job Opportunities at the Medical Museion, University of Copenhagen

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My friend Thomas of the wonderful Biomedicine on Display blog and Medical Museion in Copenhagen just passed along a job description for two new positions at the Museion; From the intelligent and provocative discussions that regularly occur on his blog I get the distinct sense that this the Museion would be a most progressive and absorbing work place. Full details follow; please contact Thomas at the email below with any questions!

Medical Museion, University of Copenhagen, is looking for applicants for two new positions as asst./assoc. professor in medical science communication and medical heritage production, respectively.

Medical Museion is an integrated research and museum unit for promoting medical science communication based on the material and visual medical heritage. The research profile is centered around the contemporary history of the biomedical sciences, medical science communication studies, and studies of the production of the material and visual medical scientific heritage. The museum has a world-class collection of historical medical artefacts and images, an active program for the acquisitioning and preservation of the contemporary biomedical and biotechnological heritage, a permanent medical-historical public gallery, and an innovative temporary exhibition program.

The museum is looking for two new members of faculty to contribute to our integrated research, teaching, heritage and outreach programme focussing on late 20th century and contemporary medical and health sciences in a cultural, aesthetic and historical perspective. The aim of the programme is to develop new modes of research-based collecting, exhibition making and web-based outreach by combining scientific content, cultural interpretation and aesthetic expression in innovative ways.

On the outreach side, we are developing research-based science communication practices for a variety of audiences – spanning from health professionals to the general public – in the form of exhibitions and web products, and with special attention to the aesthetics of science communication.

On the acquisition side, we are in the process of developing research-based curatorial practices (heritage production) in close cooperation with research institutions, hospitals, pharma, biotech and medical device companies, and patient organisations in the region (‘museum 2.0’) .

The appointees are required to do research at an international level and research-based teaching; however most of the teaching obligations are substituted with museum work.

This is a summary only. The full announcement can be read here: http://tinyurl.com/ye8wtep, or here: http://www.corporeality.net/museion/2010/03/09/1-2-associate-assistant-professors-in-medical-science-communication-andor-medical-science-heritage-production. Application deadline is 25 May 2010.

Further info from professor Thomas Soderqvist, Medical Museion, University of Copenhagen, +45 2875 3801; thss@sund.ku.dk; http://www.corporeality.net/museion.

Image: Thomas Soderqvist, standing in front of a medical device installation in the former temporary exhbition 'Split & Splæice: Fragments From the Age of Biomedicine'.

Beachcones Separate Cars & People

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Every once in a while someone leaves a comment on my blog to promote their website, product, or service. Usually I delete those kinds of promotional comment posts. However, “Rich” left a comment on one of my posts this morning with a link promoting his orange beach safety cones. I thought it deserved mention, since [...]

Summer on the way

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Having a gossip - Fulmar's on the cliff tops
Puffins galore

Saturday 10th April comments:

Its been an excellent week as high pressure has dominated over northern England, resulting in warm sunny conditions with very little wind. The breeding seabirds of the Farnes have responded well and with summer on its way, it business as usual.
The Auks - Guillemots, Razorbills and Puffins all seem very settled, whilst Kittiwakes have started nest building. Shags seem content with their early start and Cormorants are on eggs on the main colonies on the East Widesopens and North Wamses. The pleasant week has also encouraged the first prospecting Eiders whilst Ringed Plover display daily over the beaches. Sandwich Terns have now peaked over 100 in the roost whilst the first Arctic Tern is surely only days away.
Interesting a second-summer Mediterranean Gull has settled in the main Black-headed Gull colony on Inner Farne and will it attract a mate? This delightful Gull is gradually colonising the UK with the first confirmed breeding in Northumberland last year - are we about to add it to our long list of breeding birds? The islands are also supporting a first-winter 'Med Gull' as well, so its keeping the resident warden team entertained. Speaking of the team, the new lads are settling in well and already we're in practice for the annual football games - loosing both last season (2-4 and 3-4) still sticks in the throat a bit.
On the migration front, meadow pipits and Skylarks have been moving north whilst the female Sparrowhawk (a scarce bird on the Farnes) remains with us but will soon move off. Raptors in general are scarce on the islands (we have no breeding raptors) although we're watching those skies, as Ospreys are heading north. Its never dull out here, especially at this moment. Role on the summer.

North India Tours Heritage and Wildlife Attractions in Northern India

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North India is an integral part of India tourism. This part of India has many popular tourist circuits and many enticing attractions. Delhi Agra Ranthambhore Sariska Jaipur Corbett Kashmir Shimla Manali Varanasi etc are popular tourist destinations in the northern region of this country. Have a look at some of fascination tourist destinations of northern India. Delhi Delhi is the capit

Kerala Travel Cherish Your Memorable Days in Kerala

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Kerala is one of the best tourist destinations in Asia Blessed with pristine hill stations waterfalls fertile land palm fringed lakes endless beaches lush green forests mountains Ayurveda resorts green hill ranges some of the highest tea estates in the world wildlife sanctuaries and rich cultural heritage with spectacular temple festivals and thrilling snake boat races. Experience the ma

Honeymoon Tours in India Water the Seed of Love

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Marriage metamorphoses itself into a long lasting relationship during the honeymoon period. Therefore it ought to be well planned in terms of choosing the destination. A honeymoon is about how much privacy and free space that a couple has to explore each other. The honeymoon tours in India give a wide collection of options in terms of destinations to choose. One of the best options in the catalog

Hangzhou

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The bus to Hangzhou wasnrsquot nearly as bad as the one to Tunxi in fact it was quite pleasant the driver even got up to tell me when we got there ldquothererdquo wasnrsquot exactly a bus station it was a petrol station where a few of us were abandoned. It didnrsquot take long to find a bus station my only problem was that none of the busses in the station had the designation I need

Tunxi and Mt Huangshan

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We got to the entrance of Mount Huangshan a UNESCO heritage site which is known for its mountain top views of the clouds below it is actually called the Sea Of Clouds and spectacular sunrises. We arrived at the entrance to the mountain by way of bus and taxi before spending around 11 hours climbing the west side steps and savouring the stunning views the peaks are all roughly 1800M above sea l

Nike Sb Character

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Previously standard print New Nike Sb character is adding several mode. Nike soaked left through an undamaged new look in 1998 the community need to change. The battle appearance is the state generation of designs and lowprofile Nike Dunk Security is to expand the performance of the sports ground which makes admired. Earlier nike dunk low is in suede cracked leather and black braids.The o

Use Termite Control Service In Faridabad

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The problem of termites has increased manifold since development has started in various areas of the world they are mainly caused due to the following reasons Formosan subterranean termites called alates swarm here from late April through late June looking to start new colonies. If you see them near your home try to pinpoint where they're coming from and try to seek the services of a termite c

Tunxi

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I sorted accommodation in Tunxi a town with an old shopping street which was only 1 hour from Tangkou the bus station that accesses the mountains. The bus ride to Tunxi was interesting lanes of traffic donrsquot exist here only tiny spaces between vehicles where you edge out at all angles. If there is a gap it will be filled in seconds. The highway code doesnrsquot exist here in any fo