KERRI walks to the center of the living room and sits down on the couch, across from SIAH, who is sitting in the corner, staring aimlessly at the wall.
KERRI
Oh Siah, I just received an email! About a chocolate shake with glucose-reducing powers! And how, if I purchase the family pack of chocolate powder mix, I’ll get a free personal blender and I will also be cured of my diabetes!
SIAH
(blinks) Meow?
KERRI
I know! Diabetes cures apparently are everywhere. Even in my spice rack, because it seems that just a spoonful of cinnamon, added to every meal and smeared on my face like Noxema, will help me achieve good blood sugar control. Man, if only I had known that these diabetes cures were there the whole time!
I finished a post-abdominoplasty check, with drains and sutures removed. I then began to tell the patient how to slowly increase her activities and exercise.
She smiled and said: “I have to tell you. I got back on the Wii just to walk yesterday. It told me I had lost weight too quickly and that I need to slow down.”
They had been married for over 35 years, both successful ophthalmologists who had entered retirement after selling their practice. The kids had grown and their house was just too big for them now, so they decided to downsize to a condominium.
After many days of searching, they toured a lovely place and were excited to make a deposit, but the husband first wanted to inspect the building from the outside before committing. As he rounded the building with his wife beside him, he looked up, struggling to find the unit they were interested from the ground.
“Which one is it dear?” he asked.
“The one on the right, third floor.”
“I don’t see it,” he said.
His wife saw where he was looking.
“No sweetheart, not that one,” she said directing him to the right side of the building, “It’s the one over there, on the patient’s left side.”
-WesMusings of a cardiologist and cardiac electrophysiologist.
*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Wes*
The underwear project, spearheaded by the nanoengineering professor, was funded by the U.S. military and its effectiveness will likely be tested on the battlefield.
“This specific project involves monitoring the injury of soldiers during battlefield surgery,” Wang told Reuters. “The goal is to develop minimally invasive sensors that can locate, in the field, and identify the type of injury.”
Ultimately, the waistband sensors will be able to direct the release of drugs to treat the wounded soldier.
I wonder what other creative uses our men in uniform will find for this? I can hear it now: “It’s not the size of the device, honey, it’s the metronome that’s in it!” (Heh.)
-WesMusings of a cardiologist and cardiac electrophysiologist.
*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Wes*
“Short people have higher heart risk” screams the headline on CNN.com, treating it as a statement of fact. “Shortness Boosts Heart Disease, Death Risk” is the headline in a HealthDay story seen on BusinessWeek.com.
Wrong.
Such a study as the one being described can only establish association — it CANNOT prove causation. So it’s wrong to say short people have higher risk. It is wrong to say shortness boosts risk.
Blogger and cardiac electrophysiologist Dr. Wes Fisher beat me to the punch by blogging about the continued journalistic confusion between association and causation. He wrote:
“About the only thing that can be concluded from this so-called “analysis” is nothing more than maybe we should consider studying if this association actually exists.”
Tell ’em, Dr. Wes. And tell ’em, Randy: “Short people got no reason” to worry — at least not yet — from this study.
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