Mad Cow Update

by Brian M. Carty, MD, MSPH
7-03-08

You can acquire the disease kuru by eating your dead relatives.  Kuru was discovered in the Fore people of Papua New Guinea and was transmitted by ritual cannibalism when the brains and other tissues of deceased tribe members were eaten at funeral feasts.  Kuru, mad cow disease (bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE) and variant Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease (vCJD) of humans, are all caused by  ....>More  

What Happened to Rimonabant?

 An Effective Appetite Suppressant Was Not Approved in the US

by Brian M. Carty, MD, MSPH
6-07-08

It must have occurred to someone long ago that if marijuana makes people hungry, maybe there is an "antimarijuana," a substance that opposes the appetite-stimulating effects of marijuana, causes weight loss and thus effectively treats obesity.  Hence, the drug rimonabant, a cannabinoid receptor blocker.  The cannabinoid receptor ....>More  

-With permission of British Medical Journal

Smokers’ Faces: Take This Quiz. Can You Pick Out the Smokers?

by Brian M. Carty, MD, MSPH
5-11-08

Hint:  the smokers have more wrinkles. There are 9 photos followed by a short article.  Guess whether the person in the photo above is a smoker or not, then click here for the answer. Click here  to skip the quiz and go directly to the article.

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  

Pedophilia Diagnosis
Goes High-Tech

by Brian M. Carty, MD, MSPH
6-20-08

Pedophiles, almost always males, are individuals who are sexually attracted primarily to prepubertal children.  A child molester is an individual who has committed a sexual offense against a child. Pedophiles are not always child molesters, and child molesters are not always pedophiles.  For example, Lewis Carroll, the author of Alice in Wonderland, was a pedophile but apparently never  ....>More  

Excuse Me,
Would You Mind Advertising Colostomy Bags for Us?

by Brian M. Carty, MD, MSPH
6-12-08

Will the "Hollister" t-shirt, which you see everywhere, surpass the backwards baseball cap as the cardinal emblem of the surly teenager, the "slacker?"  A company named Hollister makes the t-shirts, but  ....>>More  
 

Jack Kevorkian, Assisted Suicide Proponent, Runs for Congress

by Brian M. Carty, MD, MSPH
5-30-08

Dr. Jack Kevorkian, the assisted suicide proponent, announced in March that he will run for Congress in Michigan's 9th Congressional District as an independent.  Kevorkian was convicted of ....>More  

Unusual Psychiatric Syndromes:
An Occasional Series

Capgras Syndrone

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

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

Medical Image of the Month July 2008 click image to enlarge

This rabid dog has saliva dripping from its mouth, a cardinal sign of rabies. Photo:  Centers for Disease Control, 1955.

Medical Image of the Month June 2008

click image to enlarge On a woman's posterior right upper arm, the "bulls-eye" rash of early Lyme disease at the site of a tick bite. Photo:  Centers for Disease Control.

Antidepressants for All Stroke Patients? "That's Great if You're a Rat"

by Brian M. Carty, MD, MSPH 5-16-08 Antidepressants after a stroke can enhance recovery and decrease death rates, even if the patient is not depressed. ....>More

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.