JAMA 15 Dec 2010  Vol 304
2595   New England is a wonderful place: from its little towns a nation was born, full of the idiosyncracies of seventeenth century Britain. The cadences of the 1611 Bible can still be heard in the speeches of President Obama, and even on hoardings advertising health products; miles, pints, and pounds abound; shops sell apparel. Even an expedition to Mars came a cropper when someone confused metres with feet. Small wonder that in dosing directions on American children’s medicines, archaic confusion reigns – drams, ounces, ccs, teaspoons: they’re all there on over-the-counter bottles, helping them to poison or under-dose their feverish, itchy, or hurting children. But the real reason for my citing this study is the commentary piece by Darren DeWalt, “Perfecting the dismount.” The analogy is with a gymnast or horseman: you can do your act perfectly, but if you fumble the dismount, the judges will never give you a good mark. Similarly with drugs: no matter how good they are, they’re no good if you use the wrong size of spoon. A neat metaphor, pointed out to me by friends at Yale. more…

Human brown fat deposits and the effectiveness of nicotine replacement therapy are just two of the subjects touched on this week by Richard Lehman in his journal review, which also includes a parody of a T S  Eliot poem read by Dylan Thomas. more…