Just a few links that may be of Interest…
We thought we’d send you into the Thanksgiving Day weekend (here in Canada) with some light but interesting reading and perhaps a movie or two…
In this article from the New York Times, How to Charge $546 for Six Liters of Saltwater answers a question or two about why the cost of healthcare is so high in the United States.
With a Name Like Xalkori … from Slate.com explains that there are actually very good reasons for all those alien-sounding names for new prescription drugs.
Sadly, I don’t think that Salon’s piece, Scientists’ depressing new discovery about the brain will surprise many people. (Spoiler alert: politics makes you stupid.)
And finally, if you’d rather watch than read, Medical Movies on the Web is a site launched this year by the U.S. National Library of Medicine, and includes such offerings as Gene Kelly in a WWII piece about combat fatigue, and “The Reward of Courage” – a 1921 silent film produced by the American Society for the Control of Cancer. To date, there’s only a handful of selections from the Library’s 30,000 films on the main page, but more are also available through a YouTube collection that the Library maintains here.
Looks Like Stuart Has Been Binging On Fast Food After Work…
Very Important: Pocket Medicine Correction
If you’ve bought a copy of Sabatine’s Pocket Medicine in the last few weeks with the ISBN (the number just above the barcode on the back cover) 9781451182378, the publishers have discovered an error on page 1-36. The corrected page should read as follows;
.
Oral anticoagulation (Chest 2012;141:e531S; EHJ 2012;33:2719; Circ 2013;127:1916)
· All valvular AF as stroke risk very high
· Nonvalv. AF: stroke risk ~4.5%/y; anticoag ® 68% ¯ stroke; use a risk score to guide Rx:
CHADS2: CHF (1 point), HTN (1), Age ?75 y (1), DM (1), prior Stroke/TIA (2)
CHA2DS2-VASc: adds 65–74 y (1) ?75 y (2), vasc dis. [MI, Ao plaque, or PAD (1)]; ? (1)
score ³2 ® anticoag; score 1 ® consider anticoag or ASA (? latter reasonable if risk factor age 65-74 y, vasc dis. or ?); antithrombotic Rx even if rhythm control [SCORE CORRECTED]
· Rx options: factor Xa or direct thrombin inhib (non-valv only; no monitoring required) or
warfarin (INR 2-3; w/ UFH bridge if high risk of stroke); if Pt refuses anticoag, consider
ASA + clopi or, even less effective, ASA alone (NEJM 2009;360:2066)
.
Please make note of this correction in your copy Pocket Medicine, or to be certain you have the ‘correct’ correction, you can download a PDF of page 1-36 directly from www.lww.com/PocketMedicine.
If your copy has the ISBN 9781451193787, it will be correct.
Spread the word.
The Best Way to be Anatomically Correct
Stuart kicks back and contemplates life with muscles…
The good folk at Thieme Publishing (pronounced “team-ah” in case you were wondering) are repeating last year’s promotion in which a copy of the Gilroy’s Atlas of Anatomy or Anatomy An Essential Textbook bought through our on-campus bookstore also comes with a year of free access to WinkingSkull.com Pro edition – with illustrations, self-tests, and other online extras (details here).
In addition, the first five customers to buy any qualifying Thieme Anatomical title can walk out with a free t-shirt (modeled above by Stuart), and one of our ever-popular Bone Pens (seen here in his left hand (who knew? – Stuart’s a lefty)). After we give the first five lucky customers the shirt off Stuart’s back, we’ll still have about 20 pens to stretch the bonus-fest a little further.
“While supplies last,” as they say.
Time for the New CMDT
With the end of Summer and the return of students to the college campus also comes the release of the, “…#1 annual guide to internal medicine and clinical practice…” Current Medical Diagnosis and Treatment, 2014 edition.
This reference standard for internal medicine and clinical practice, written by clinicians renowned in their respective fields, offers insight into symptoms, signs, epidemiology, diagnosis, and treatment for more than 1,000 diseases and disorders.
New features for the 2014 edition include:
- Update on the evaluation of chest pain
- New algorithms for the treatment of heart failure and NSTEMI
- New sections on pulmonary hypertension; treatment of pleural mesothelioma; diagnosis and treatment of subacute,
postpartum, and silent thyroiditis and amiodarone- and iodine-induced thyrotoxicosis; and treatment of
cryoglobulinemic vasculitis - New tables on preferred initial antiretroviral regimen and fixed dose antiretroviral combinations for HIV infection, and on medications for management of diabetes
- Updated tables on cancer chemotherapeutic and supportive care agents
It’s 1840 pages of the latest diagnostic advances, prevention strategies, and cost-effective treatments, and it’s available now, in store or online for delivery direct to your door.
Learning from Celebrities: The Continuing Story…
A little over a year ago, we shared a video put together by the British Heart Association and actor Vinnie Jones, demonstrating how to use the song “Staying Alive” to time compressions while giving Hands-Only CPR. Well now, the American Heart Association and Community star (and doctor, really) Ken Jeong have made their own version. The accents are different, but the song remains the same.
“I think the worst time to have a heart attack is during a game of charades…” Demetri Martin.
“Purple is the New Green” /or/ New Release: The Massachusetts General Hospital Handbook of Internal Medicine…
…better known as, “Pocket Medicine.”
This little 6-ring binder-full of guidance has become such a go-to standard among our customers that we’ve brought in 50 copies as our first order. (There are very few non-text titles that require that kind of volume.) A few highlights from the publisher…
“Prepared by residents and attending physicians at Massachusetts General Hospital, the 5th edition of Pocket Medicine: The Massachusetts General Hospital Handbook of Internal Medicine provides key clinical information and solutions to common problems faced in the practice of internal medicine.
This 6-ring looseleaf binder tackles the diagnosis and treatment of the most common disorders in cardiology, pulmonary medicine, gastroenterology, nephrology, hematology-oncology, infectious diseases, endocrinology, rheumatology, and neurology.
Bulleted lists combined with tables and algorithms allow busy clinicians to find the information they need rapidly. A 16-page color insert displays classic normal and abnormal radiographs, CT scans, echocardiograms, peripheral blood smears, and urinalyses seen in the practice of internal medicine.
Completely updated, this highly regarded, best-selling reference is ideal for medical students, interns, residents, and candidates reviewing for internal medicine board exams.”
Pocket Medicine is available in store, or you can order online and have the book delivered to your door through our virtual bookstore.
The Blue Sale: 300 Springer Books Reduced by 50%!
From now until September 30th, Springer Publishing has placed more than 300 of its Medical and Resident titles on sale.
With subjects that range from Pediatrics and Sports Cardiology to Geriatrics and “Criminal Poisoning,” there’s no way we can have all the eligible titles on our shelves, but you can browse them all and order direct to your door through our Virtual Bookstore.
It’s not from Apple, but the iKnife is high tech at its best.
Imperial College of London photo
In various news reports, it’s been called a smart scalpel, a magic scalpel, even a scalpel that sniffs, but regardless of the title, The Imperial College of London’s ‘iKnife’ could usher in a significant advance in cancer treatments through surgery.
When cancerous cells are surgically removed, frequently the most difficult aspect of the procedure is deciding where the tumor ends and healthy tissue begins. Taking too much healthy tissue has obvious drawbacks, while checking the borders of a growth during an operation requires keeping the patient under anesthetic while samples are taken to a lab and tested. Such tests aren’t always reliable either, and leaving cancerous cells behind could lead to new growth and the need for a second operation. (The Imperial College estimates that one in five breast cancer patients will need to make a return trip to the operating room.)
The iKnife uses an ‘old’ technology of an electrified knife (traditionally used to cauterize wounds even as an incision is made) along with a mass spectrometer to sample the resulting smoke and detect chemical profiles associated with tumors.This method of instantly analyzing the smoke to differentiate between healthy and cancerous tissue has racked up a 100% success rate during 91 test operations. Clinical trials are next, and the creators see other uses for the technology as well.
A detailed description can be found at the Imperial College London’s website here.