WeirdMedical™

Weird library connections?

Clofazimine, a drug used more than a 100 years ago to treat leprosy, is now showing effectiveness against autoimmune disorders such as multiple sclerosis and psoriasis to toenail fungus. Clofazimine apparently also fights tumors.

Just one case how The Johns Hopkins University Drug Library with more than 3,000 of the approximately 10,000 known drugs is giving life to old remedies .

More weird connections may be found but with this find archived drug resurrection may be the booster shot the pharma industry needs…read more…

Imagine Artyom Sidorkin surgeon’s surprise when the cancerous tumor he thought he was pulling was actually a five-centimeter baby fir tree. At 28 years old Mr Sidorkin was none the wiser that he housed a biological rebreather in his body. If you find this weird story unbelievable, you may be right. Not yet confirmed by outside sources this symbiote story seems to have a number of issue standing before its validity, photosynthesis being chief among them. Regardless, we’ll give Russia the credit for this unique medical mystery.

Fir Tree inside Lung: Xray (Source: Daily Mail, "Shocked Russian surgeons open up man who thought he had a tumour... to find a FIR TREE inside his lung")

It’s that time of year again…no, not pretty daffodils and tulips blooming…no, not the end to the (seemingly) never-ending and unpredictable snowfalls thanks to global warming…no, not bikini laden spring break…but…

Tax time – April 15th!

Nothing more predictable than the need to pay taxes and die…most often in that order. Unless, you are an appointed federal official. Despite what our fearless leaders chose to do with their capital gains, stock dividends and comfortable salaries, let’s do our fiscal and civic duty. Let’s file that income tax return today and pay our taxes…or get our refund…so we can bail ourselves out of the federal debt!

Here’s to us – the not-so-common, hard-working healthcare industry professionals!

Scratching actually settles down “itchy” nerve cells? How does that work?

Researchers at the University of Montana answered that question reporting their findings on the cellular mechanics of scratching an itch. While itching and scratching has been commonplace for as long as recorded history, how and why it occurs have yet to be explained, until now. Researchers  found specialized cells in the spinal cord that sense both pain and itching. These cells interpret scratching an itch as a relief, in other words they settle down the active (itching) cells. The behavior is weird because scratching is an activity that generally causes pain or increases the activity in a cell; however when scratching the itch or the area around it these spinal cells interpret the activity as a calming effect and stop the firing of electrical impulses (the feeling of the “itch”).  The cells, which are spread throughout the spinal cord, are also strongly affected by the brain as additional research has shown itching to be contagious, leading to a neurological explanation in addition to the recent cellular findings.

Source: James Steinberg, The New York Times

Although no treatment has been recommended, besides scratching yourself, this is the first step in the process that may one day yield benefits to many who suffer both weird and chronic itching. Read more…“Scratching Relieves Itch by Quieting Nerve Cell” ; The New York Times, B. Carey.

HAPPY APRIL FOOL’S DAY…to US All!

Aren’t there just those days when you wondered what you were thinking when you did something?

…you may have been traveling  and just picked-up a bit of the flu, making you a little mentally fuzzy,

…or came down with one of your worst migraine headaches in months and ran out of your most effective migraine prescription med, making thinking clearly through moguls of pain the next new Olympic winter sport,

…or just had a long 14 hours in the office and needed to go home for the day but couldn’t quite get there.

In any case, you were lacking a bit of good judgment just for a few moments.

Well, sometimes we do something that seems harmless, and may even seem like a pretty good solution to a problem at the time to later find out in the light of day (when our thinking is finally a bit clearer) that it may not have been the brightest thing we’ve ever done.

But what’s worse is when we get caught…Others may view what we have done much more harshly (in the much brighter light of day – most likely using a 500 watt spotlight making the Spanish Inquisition look like duffers), and thinking of more crisply succinct adjectives than “brilliant” about  us and our solution du jour.

This is the case for this foolish gent…according to the New York Post a dentist from Long Island was arrested by police for abusing laughing gas after the he had been found by a patient. The dentist stated that he had a migraine. There are far better treatments than illegal use of nitrous oxide…BUT let’s give this fellow the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps his personal supply of Maxalt, Zomig or Imatrex had just run out and he had too much pain to pick up the phone and speak with his pharmacist.

Reportedly his dental license was suspended multiples times before this incident, leading us to believe that he suffers migraines often and, therefore, lacks judgment often. (Is this guy truly human, or what?)

So here’s the deal…let’s cut this guy a break.

Let’s put ourselves in this guy’s blue scrubs and walk around in them for a while…Thus we be judged someday to be fools ourselves!

Dr. Norman Rubin (Source: NY Post DENTIST GASSED OUT AND PASSED OUT: COPS)