While browsing an old textbook on adverse drug reactions I came across a paragraph on George Washington’s demise and the potential affect that medical intevention may have had:
George Washington the first President of the United States, fell ill in the last year of the eighteenth century. He had been riding around his estate on [...]
“No other pain is more severe than this, not iron screws, nor cords, not the wound of a dagger, nor burning fire”
The above quote is how Aretaeus (a Greek physician of the second century) described gout. Colchicine has been a friend of those with gout for many years:
Colchicine, which was first used [...]
This year the Medical Device Agency and the Medicine Control Agency merged to form the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). Soon after, patient reporting of adverse drug reactions via NHS Direct was announced . Now, patients will be able to report faulty medical devices:
Patients are to be encouraged to report problems [...]
Lord Hunt has been appointed to as chairman of the National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA):
Lord Hunt was selected by the National Health Service Appointments Commission to succeed Professor Rory Shaw, who has chaired the agency since its inception in July 2001. Lord Hunt was Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health in the House of Lords [...]
The New England Journal of Medicine reports on an increased risk of myocardial infarction with antiretrovirals:
Over a period of 36,199 person-years, 126 patients had a myocardial infarction. The incidence of myocardial infarction increased with longer exposure to combination antiretroviral therapy (adjusted relative rate per year of exposure, 1.26 [95 percent confidence interval, 1.12 to [...]
I always knew it, love is a drug:
Dr John Marsden says dopamine – the drug released by the brain when it is aroused – has similar effects on the body and mind as cocaine or speed.
“Attraction and lust really is like a drug. It leaves you wanting more,” the National Addiction Centre head said.
The [...]
One of the issues surrounding MMR is that of causality, neatly illustrated and described by the following figure in an article from Prescriber [Registration required] written by Paula McDonald (a former Consultant in Communicable Disease Control in Cheshire & Wirral).
Aristotle’s logic was a great legacy for mankind. One of his ideas was the concept [...]
What were the risks of death from external causes in the US in 2000? Let’s take a topical example:
Deaths in US in year due to drowning and submersion while in or falling into a bath-tub 2000 = 341
The odds of dying from drowning and submersion while in or falling into a bath-tub [...]
All trains are fitted with warning systems which alert drivers about to go through a red light. Even so, train drivers have been know to ignore the alert.
Prescribing has generally left the prescription pad and now uses computers. These systems can have automatic alerts, warning of potential interactions between drugs or conditions the [...]