And Then We Moved In

"How then shall we live?".

This address did not originate in my neocortex, but in a deeper region of my brain, the one responsible for signaling a sense of warning. The sense I have is that a subtle, distinct change is occurring around me that is not quite right. This sense eventually grew into the perception that society, in general, and medicine, in particular, are devaluing the ideals of service and sacrifice. I did n...

Oxidative stress and cancer: have we moved forward?

'Reactive species' (RS) of various types are formed in vivo and many are powerful oxidizing agents, capable of damaging DNA and other biomolecules. Increased formation of RS can promote the development of malignancy, and the 'normal' rates of RS generation may account for the increased risk of cancer development in the aged. Indeed, knockout of various antioxidant defence enzymes raises oxidati...

Landfill sites and congenital anomalies--have we moved forward?

Elliott et al (see page 81) report the findings of a spatial analysis examining the risk of congenital anomalies in relation to the density of landfill sites within 2 km of birth locations across 565 km grid squares in England. They observe significantly raised risks for some anomalies (cardiovascular defects, hypospadias) in areas classified with a higher density of sites destined to receive s...

What we know now that we didn't know then.

There’s education, and then there’s education in medicine

Introduction: For some time now the field of medical educationhas been criticized by many of its stakeholders. Countless debateshave been presented in the literature regarding the quality ofmedical education research, adequacy of methodological rigor,and other concerns.Methods: At present, the views expressed have largely come fromphysicians and individuals with less familiarity with educations...