Jolt

by Brian M. Carty, MD, MSPH
8-22-08

A lady who works at the local Starbuck's says that one of her customers, a woman, always orders an 8-shot mocha. That's a lot of caffeine, the equivalent of eight regular cups of coffee, or roughly 1200 mg of caffeine. .....>More  

White Coats, Red Necks, Blue Ribbon Beer

The Proletarianization of American Medicine

by Brian M. Carty, MD, MSPH
8-14-08

Most patients prefer that their doctors wear white coats.  It's traditional, it makes it easier to tell who the physicians are, and the white coat signifies purity, cleanliness, and other virtues.  Many doctors still wear them. .....>More  

Hot Medical News Update

by Brian M. Carty, MD, MSPH
8-08-08

Just some tidbits which might be of interest to you, including a report of  13 people allegedly using voodoo to shrink or steal other men's penises .....>More  

Ted Kennedy's Brain Tumor

by Brian M. Carty, MD, MSPH
8-05-08

Doctors announced May 20 that Ted Kennedy has a malignant brain tumor.  The tumor is a glioblastoma which has a very poor prognosis.  Survival for patients with a glioblastoma averages 12 to 15 months.  Treatment usually includes surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. ....>More  

Wanted: Faster-Acting Antidepressants

by Brian M. Carty, MD, MSPH
7-18-08

When I was a resident - a physician-in-training, I was once called to help with a resuscitation from a cardiac arrest.  A patient from the psychiatry unit had ....>More  

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  

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  

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 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.

As the Worm Turns -
Worm Therapy

by Brian M. Carty, MD, MSPH
8-19-08

Worm therapy.  Intentional infection with worms to treat another disease.  Now that's appealing, isn't it?  But worm therapy has some real benefits in inflammatory bowel disease and maybe in some.....>More 

The Language Police Strike Again

 Commercial Sex Workers Aren't Hookers Anymore

by Brian M. Carty, MD, MSPH
8-05-08

Several years ago the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) changed some of the terminology used to report AIDS statistics.  "Men who have sex with men" (MSM) replaced "male homosexuals" and "gay males."  "Injection drug users" replaced "intravenous drug abusers."  "Commercial sex workers" replaced "prostitutes."  CDC officials justified the changes by claiming that the old terms unfairly labeled and demeaned people who ....>More  

Voodoo Death

by Brian M. Carty, MD, MSPH
7-24-08

Can a person die as a result of a voodoo curse? Yes, absolutely.   Reliable observers have reported many such cases.  The suddenness of these deaths in previously healthy persons....>More  

Weekend Update:

Best place to have a cardiac arrest
Which state has the lowest cancer death rates?

by Brian M. Carty, MD, MSPH
7-22-08

Here are a couple of medical factoids you might find interesting  ....>More  

Laser Weapons

by Brian M. Carty, MD, MSPH
7-09-08

click image to enlarge

A  rifle-sized laser weapon system. Photo:  US Air Force.

The energy of the laser light is confined to a very narrow beam.  There are many types of lasers which differ in wavelength, energy, and other characteristics.  Lasers have many uses on the modern battlefield.  The most important use of low energy laser weapons is against the human eye ....>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  

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  

Why is it that you can never read a doctor's prescription, but you can always read his bill?
 

An Unusual (Very!) Case
of Vaginal Tumor

IT'S NOT A TOOMAH!

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

Damaged Care

by Brian M. Carty, MD, MSPH
8-12-08

The biggest organized criminal enterprise in America is the health insurance industry. They take your cash, then occasionally dribble a little of it back to you, enough to keep themselves in the money, out of court, and out of trouble with the government which has set up the whole scam. .....>More  

Cauliflower Ears in Mixed Martial Artists – A Badge of Honor?

These Martial Artists Want Deformity – At Least That's What  The New York Times Says

by Brian M. Carty, MD, MSPH
8-02-08

An article in the 7/31/08 New York Times describes a group of mixed martial arts enthusiasts who seem to be bucking our culture's obsession with health and appearance.  Some of these athletes intentionally leave their ear injuries untreated in order to develop cauliflower ears.  ....>More  

"Cane Fu" Fighting at the Senior Center

The Elderly Get Some Exercise and Learn Self-Defense Skills

by Brian M. Carty, MD, MSPH
7-15-08

Are you a mugger looking for an easy mark? If an old person with a cane is what you have in mind, Centerville, Ohio might not be the best place to look.   ....>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.

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