Heart defects run in my family. I lost two infant sisters to hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a congenital defect in which the left side of …
Month: August 2009
Know your enemy!
Year: 2003 Setting: AsiaMedic clinic in Singapore Position: Private general practitioner SARS has struck Singapore and I am at the vortex of the epidemic frenzy. …
A beautiful blood clot
Check out this gorgeous image - a colorized scanning electron micrograph - of a blood clot. Red blood cells are shown in red; leukocytes are …
Ovarian cancer overview in Wall Street Journal
I recently wrote about biochemist Pat Brown's study of the natural history of serous ovarian cancer. He showed new, much more sensitive diagnostic tests are …
Stephen Quake has decoded his own genome
Stanford bioengineering professor Stephen Quake has decoded his own genome for only $50,000. By comparison, the most recently sequenced human genome cost $250,000 to decode. …
Americans increasingly browsing before breakfast
According to an article in the New York Times yesterday, many Americans now make the Internet their first stop of the morning: After six to …
Hope for Lyme disease legislation
I'm going to Maryland to visit my parents next week, so I'm sure to be spending many pleasant hours in their backyard, which is a …
WolframAlpha improves its medical capabilities
WolframAlpha has improved its abilities to handle medical queries. Wolfram explains the changes in an entry on the WolframAlpha blog: Wolfram|Alpha allows you to query …
Oxford medical and surgical handbooks on Google Books
A number of Oxford handbooks on medical and surgical subjects are now available on Google Books. Take a look: Via Clinical Cases and Images Blog
"BPA-free" baby bottles aren't really?
I'm the proud auntie of an adorable baby boy. Last spring, when my little nephew hadn't quite hatched yet, I spent a Saturday afternoon with …
Death recalls struggle over intern work hours
I don't usually read obituaries but a recent one in the New York Times caught my eye. It was for Sidney Zion, a prosecutor, lawyer …
What is the weakest link?
Year: 1981 Setting: Club Med in Haiti Position: Tropical disease specialist at the Pitie-Salpetriere hospital in Paris Club Med is experiencing an outbreak of acute …
List of biomedical journals on Twittter
A medical librarian in the Netherlands, @laikas, has started a comprehensive list of biomedical journals on Twitter. Readers are also invited to make updates to …
The trouble with trials
Yesterday, as part of its "Forty Years' War" series on the fight against cancer, the New York Times tackled the problem of clinical trials. Nobody's …