The big Himalayan lacecap hydrangeas are loving the British weather this summer. They are never happier than when regularly drenched in some damp shady spot, in which conditions they become […]
Richard Lehman’s weekly review of medical journals
JAMA 25 Jul 2007 Vol 298
Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy sometimes first presents as sudden death in apparently healthy young people, especially during sport. Over recent years, people (mean age 42) with an antemortem diagnosis of HCM have […]
NEJM 26 Jul 2007 Vol 357
Thanks to this little piece in this week’s New England Journal, Oscar is currently the world’s most famous cat, for his unerring ability to sense the impending death of residents […]
BMJ 28 Jul 2007 Vol 335
At home we’re watching old episodes of Cardiac Arrest, a series written 13 years ago by an ex-junior-doctor which depicts hospital medicine through a fog of anger and sleep deprivation. […]
Lancet 28 Jul 2007 Vol 370
Cannabis is very widely used, particularly by people who later show signs of psychosis; […]
Arch Intern Med 23 Jul 2007 Vol 167
Various groups of higher beings keep watch over the lives of us humble mortals, including the American Council on Science and Public Health, which here pronounces on reducing sodium intake […]
Plant of the Week: Buddleia x “Lochinch”
All over England, buddleias have been in flower for weeks already, often sprawling over railway embankments and waste ground, or lodged in the mortar of high walls and chimneys to […]
JAMA 18 Jul 2007 Vol 298
This trial prejudged its outcome by calling itself the Women’s Healthy Eating and Living (WHEL) study; it was based on the supposition that a diet very high in vegetables, fruit, […]
NEJM 19 Jul 2007 Vol 35
A big international trial gives a nice clear answer to an important clinical question: might patients with peripheral vascular disease do better taking warfarin as well as an antiplatelet agent? […]
BMJ 21 Jul 2007 Vol 335
This study of self-monitoring in type 2 diabetes calls into question a widely-used and expensive intervention and has drawn a stream of responses ever since it was first posted on […]