Tag: Health

Mind-bending music?

I was fascinated to read of an operation performed on bluegrass musician Eddie Adcock last week. In the most extraordinary performance of his life, the 70-year-old bluegrass maestro was asked to play his banjo while brain surgeons poked and prodded inside his head. The doctors – who kept the musician conscious under a local anaesthetic… Continue reading Mind-bending music?

Doofus Of The Day #86

Yesterday’s Doofus Of The Day award went collectively to a British motor vehicle licensing department. Today’s goes – again collectively – to another British institution: the Fire Service in London. As Richard Littlejohn points out, their bureaucratic obsession with health and safety regulations has made them into a laughing-stock. Fire prevention is one of the… Continue reading Doofus Of The Day #86

Don’t order shrimp unless you know where it comes from . . .

. . . because foreign shrimp might just be hazardous to your health! An article in the Daily Mail reports on the prawns imported from the Far East to Britain, but it applies also to shrimp imported from there to the USA (shrimp and prawn are very similar, and produced by the same suppliers). Prawn… Continue reading Don’t order shrimp unless you know where it comes from . . .

Health warning: Talcum powder linked to ovarian cancer?

A very interesting article from Australia describes a newly-discovered link between the use of talcum powder on/in the groin, and ovarian cancer in women. Women have been warned to immediately stop using talcum powder around their genitals in the wake of research which suggests particles may travel to the ovaries and trigger a process of… Continue reading Health warning: Talcum powder linked to ovarian cancer?

Alternatives to the unkindest cut of all?

I’m hugely amused to read an Australian report of various alternatives to vasectomy. It’s great to find a reporter with a sense of humor. While men taking on responsibility for contraception is admirable, vasectomies are not always easy to reverse, and young men’s scrotums being punctured left, right and centre like party balloons is not… Continue reading Alternatives to the unkindest cut of all?

When a table-tennis ball becomes a life-saving device

Kudos to Dr. Albert Shun of Westmead Children’s Hospital in Sydney, Australia. A surgeon has used a ping pong ball to keep a little girl alive after a world first liver transplant operation. The £1 plastic ball prevents Mackenzie Argaet’s new liver from pressing against vital arteries, which could kill the two-year-old. Dr Albert Shun… Continue reading When a table-tennis ball becomes a life-saving device

World Alzheimer’s Day

Tomorrow, Sunday 21st September, is World Alzheimer’s Day. In a press release, the Alzheimer’s Association says: The Alzheimer’s Association is encouraging everyone to GO PURPLE on World Alzheimer’s Day – Sunday, September 21, 2008. Every charitable organization has a color associated with it and purple symbolizes the fight against Alzheimer’s, a degenerative disease of the… Continue reading World Alzheimer’s Day

Fruit juice bad for medication?

I learned something new today. It seems that some fruit juices can seriously disrupt the actions of many common medications, so much so as to render them ineffective. Drinking fruit juice dramatically reduces the effectiveness of drugs used to treat cancer, heart conditions and high blood pressure, scientists say. Research has shown that orange, apple… Continue reading Fruit juice bad for medication?