Medical Students Practice Procedures on Robots

The robot is breathing and reacts when you perform procedures. There is a blood-like liquid when you attempt a venipuncture. You can see the results of your heroic CPR actions in real time. No, this is not science fiction but a regular practice session at the Autonomus University's school of medicine in Mexico City, which is the largest in Latin America.

There are 24 robotic patients and a computer program that simulates illnesses ranging from diabetes to a heart attack.

One of the medical students admits every new student's fear: "I would feel nervous if this was a real patient. With this I can practice many times."

The story was reported by AP, Reuters and ABC but I like the Medgadget coverage the best. The guys who keep that blog running are doing a good job - today I was searching for a new type of wound treatment, called EpiFLO, and Medgadget was the number two hit on Google.

Medgadget links to the Mexico City's UNAM University web page (translated to English with Google). We use the same translation tool on this blog.

The Case School of Medicine is working on a Medical Simulation Lab (pdf). The team has a blog on blog.case.edu.

References:
Northeast Ohio medical students get to practice on lifelike simulators. The PlainDealer, 04/2007.

Ning -- The Stealth Startup Has Launched

Ning is another example of a Web 2.0 service. It is a social sharing site that integrates features of del.icio.us, Flickr and many others into one. Check it out to see why Flickr is just the beginning.

Anyhow you know that the race is not over until the new giant enters it - we are talking about Google of course. Only time will show if Ning is the Thing... :-)

Marc Andreessen, the co-founder of Netscape is among the people who started 24 Hour Laundry and Ning.com. Sign-up is free. Zoho Creator is a similar application.

Writeboard is another Web 2.0 application recently launched by 37signals, it looks like a simplified wiki.

References:
24 Hour Laundry: Yeah, They Are Nice People - Russell Beattie
Ning! - Russell Beattie
Writeboard Released by 37signals - Download Squad
Ning - a meta social app platform - ZDNet
Build your own web app with Zoho Creator. LifeHacker.com
Image source: Ning.com

Related:
Start Your Own Social Networking Site in Minutes with Ning. Digital Inspiration, 05/2008.

Updated: 05/09/2008

pH or Hp - Dicoverers of the Link Between Helicobacter pylori and PUD Awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine

Australians Barry J. Marshall and Robin Warren have won the 2005 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine "for their discovery of the bacterium Helicobacter pylori and its role in gastritis and peptic ulcer disease".

- See the original Dr. Marshal's web page (the Hp image used with permission)
- Listen to an interview with Barry J. Marshall
- Listen to an interview with J. Robin Warren

The widely accepted truth for a long time was that the main cause of peptic ulcer disease (PUD) was the increased acidity - pH.

Then two Australians discovered the bacterium which causes the ulcers and gave it the name Helicobacter pylori (Hp).

The Lancet was courageous enough to pubslish the landmark article in 1984.

The debate began - what is the cause of PUD - is it pH or Hp? It took 10 years for the medical community to accept the truth. Although the increased acidity plays a role in duodenal ulcers, adding treatment for the Hp infection dramatically improves cure rates.

Nobody believed the discoverers initially, one of them even swallowed an Hp isolate, became sick and was treated with antibiotics - all this in attempt to prove the causative relationship between Hp and PUD.

Now the Billroth surgical operation for PUD is almost forgotten because very few ulcers require surgery. Almost all of them are treated medically with the OAC combination or other alternatives. OAC stands for Omeprazole, Amoxicillin, and Clarithromycin.

Who could have believed in 1984 that the PUD was an infection? Only the two doctors who received the Nobel Prize for Medicine yesterday...

Diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori infection: 13C urea breath test or the stool antigen test as “test and treat strategy”. BMJ, 2012.

References:

Nobel for Medicine Goes to Australian Scientists - NPR. Listen to the story
Scientists Win Nobel for Bacterium-Ulcer Link - NPR. Listen to the story
Nobel prize is awarded to doctors who discovered H pylori - BMJ 10/05
Barry Marshall's web sites - 1 and 2
Australians win Nobel in medicine - CNN
H. pylori image courtesy of www.hpylori.com.au

Start a Blog on WordPress.com - Free

I just got my invitation to open a new blog hosted on WordPress.com. This is different from uploading the WordPress software on your own server. WordPress.com hosts you blog for free in the same as Blogger.com does. It would be interesting to compare the two services and I am sure that Robert Scoble will do it soon.

The WordPress blog looks pretty good although I am already used to posting on Blogger/Blogspot and therefore a bit biased. I do not see an easy way to edit the template though and this is one of the things I like most about Blogger.com.

Robert Scoble is moving his blog (with tens of thousand of subscribers) to WordPress.com, although he decided to use another blogging platform, DABU.com concurrently. I already tried DABU, it looks nice - a lot of AJAX, and they do not require an invite to open a blog. DABU has just a hundred or so hosted blogs though.

As you probably know, the key with the free website hosts is to choose one that is not going to go bankrupt and disappear in a few years. It looks like Google will soon own our world (a joke... :-), so I guess that a Blogspot-hosted blog will be a safe place for a foreseeable future. Google owns Blogger/Blogspot.

Bloggoing.com also offers free Wordpress 2.0.

References:
Choose a Free Blogging Platform - Check Out Opera Blogs
New URL appears on DABU, WordPress still in the hunt too - Scobleizer
Time to check: Are you using the right blogging tool? - USC Annenberg Online Journalism Review
Image source: WordPress.com

Easy to Remember: 40/20 Rule When Using Statins and More Medical News

40/20 Rule When Using Statins
A 40-point LDL drop leads to 20% reduction in heart attack risk. This effect of statins takes place over a period of 5 years. The study was published in the Lancet. Probably we should start putting statins in drinking water now... (just a joke).

References:
40-Point Cholesterol Drop=20% Lower Heart Risk - WebMD
Early Online Publication: Specific benefits of statin therapy identified - The Lancet (free registration required)

New Treatment for Carotid Stenosis - Stent Instead of Surgery
Read more in Abbott Gets F.D.A. Approval for Neck Stent With a Filter - NYT. The carotid stents and embolic filters, sell for more than $3,000 a kit. Medicare pays about $8,000 for the stenting which is comparable to the reimbursement for carotid endarectomy. Buy carotid stenting has fewer side effects and a shorter recovery time.

French Fries Contain a Suspected Cacinogen. Warning Lebels Demanded
Acrylamide was found in French fries just recently, in 2002. Even the "healthy" black olives contain this supposedly carcinogenic chemical. Read more in California Wants to Serve a Warning With Fries - NYT 9/05

5 Reported Cases of Guillain-Barre Syndrome After Meningitis Vaccine (Menactra ) - WebMD

White Coat, Mood Indigo - Depression in Medical School - NEJM 9/05

Katrina Displaces Nearly 6,000 Doctors - Associated Press

Interesting Links

A Different Way to Treat Pain
Listen to Diminishing Pain by Distraction on NPR.

MRI Can Serve as Lie Detectors
A study found that MRI of the brain can be more than 90% accurate at finding if a person is lying. The accuracy of currently used polygraphs is about 80%.

How does it work? "The MRI images show that more blood flows to parts of the brain associated with anxiety and impulse control when people lie." (USA Today)

First Live Giant Squid Photographed (via National Geographic)
Discovery Channel features Chasing Giants, also check out Meet the Giant - a flash-based educational game. Listen to the NPR story.

Google Blog Advises How to Prevent DVT
There are "some tips for those taking long road, train or bus trips, and frequent flyers." Read more in Attention, frequent flyers, written by the Google staff physician Dr. Taraneh Razavi.

Inhaled Insulin (Exubera) Coming Soon in 2005 -- 2008 Update: Exubera is Taken Off the Market

After a recent FDA decision, it looks like the inhaled insulin (called Exubera) may be on the market soon. Exubera is equivalent to injected insulin in controlling the glucose, but not superior.

Question of Lung Safety

Studies showed a small decline in lung function in patients using Exubera, which did not continue after several months and was not clinically significant.

Despite this, the FDA panel made up of endocrinologists and pulmonologists, recommended the use of inhaled insulin only by people with healthy lungs. Exubera is not for you if you have COPD, for example.

Only 10 percent of the inhaled insulin reaches the bloodstream. Smokers absorb several times as much drug through their lungs and they are also excluded for the potential users of Exubera.

Not Easy To Use

Nektar Therapeutics has developed a special delivery chamber for the inhaled insulin which looks like a spacer device for asthma inhalers.

The estimates are that Exubera sales could easily exceed $1 billion within 2-3 years. Other companies, like Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk, are also developing inhaled insulin.

References:
F.D.A. Panel Endorses Inhaled Form of Insulin - NYT

Related:
Lilly Ends Effort to Develop an Inhaled Insulin Product. NYTimes, 03/2008.
Pfizer Warns of Inhaled Insulin Lung Cancer Risk. NYT, 04/2008.

Updated: 04/10/2008