It’s amazing how long it has taken us to recognise the basic mechanisms of stroke. Peter Rothwell’s short editorial points out that in people with carotid plaque, processes similar to […]
Richard Lehman’s weekly review of medical journals
Lancet 24 Feb 2007
This week’s Lancet is dominated by the subject of male circumcision to reduce HIV infection, on the basis of two interventional trials from Kenya and Uganda, which show a 50% […]
Ann Intern Med 20 Feb 2007
This study puts paid to the idea that tight glycaemic control during on-pump cardiac surgery improves outcomes. In this trial it did the exact opposite. […]
More about Circumcision
Harvey Marcovich was sharing a platform with a fellow paediatrician when they were asked about the potential health benefits of preserving the male foreskin. […]
JAMA 14 Feb 2007
In less than ten years, the treatment of myocardial infarction has progressed from just giving aspirin and ensuring the quick delivery of thrombolysis, to complex strategies to maximise early invasive […]
NEJM 15 Feb 2007
Kawasaki disease is a disease with many characteristics you don’t want a disease to have. It’s so rare that you will not see it more than once in a GP […]
BMJ 17 Feb 2007
This smashing little piece explores those situations where a new treatment is so good that a randomised trial is unnecessary. The mother’s kiss technique for removing foreign bodies from pre-school […]
Lancet 17 Feb 2007
559 For several years now, there has been a stream of trials comparing aromatase inhibitors with tamoxifen at various stages of breast cancer, and the aromatase inhibitors always win. […]
Arch Intern Med 12 Feb 2007
Is pot smoking good for the lungs? Why no, it isn’t, not least because in order to smoke cannabis you also inhale the smoke of burning tobacco and Rizla paper. […]
Plant of the Week: Abeliophyllum distichum
Since few people frequent nurseries and garden centres in February, this plant remains rare despite being tough and easy to propagate. Seen and above all smelt at this time of […]