Factitious phaeochromocytoma: a case for Sherlock Holmes.

The dangers of plastic "champagne" corks With the rising cost of cork there are now many types of sparkling wines, such as hock and Moselle, which have a ribbed plastic cork which is securely fastened by a metal band and twisted wire in the conventional way. When these corks are released, however, they are often projected with an extremely high velocity in spite of caution and care on the part of the person opening the bottle. Problems at parties On New Year's Eve last year I had the unfortunate experience of one of these corks shooting from the bottle at high speed and hitting a glass lamp bowl, which completely shattered. The falling glass caused a laceration on my left lower lid. Fortunately no one else in the room was injured by this shower of glass. A similar sparkling Moselle was the favoured drink at our Christmas Eve practice party, and although I insisted on opening all the bottles myself in view of my previous experience, two of the corks shot out of the bottle with the same high speed. Fortunately the bottles were pointing to a part of the ceiling where they could do no damage. Comment I am sure that many people buying these wines are not fully aware of the potential danger of these new plastic corks, and I hope that organisations like the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents and the appropriate association of wine and spirit merchants may be induced to produce a warning notice about the dangers of such plastic corks. Breast disease associated with tassel dancing Striptease dancing is an art form that has been practised for hundreds of years. A refinement of it, tassel dancing, in which various tassel adornments are suspended from the breasts, has been popular in the Middle East also for a considerable time. Recently, in order to keep the tassel in place some dancers have had their nipples pierced, much in the same way that ears are pierced, to accommodate a ring from which can be suspended appropriate adornments. This practice, however, may result in pathological changes in the breast, such as described here. A 33-year-old professional striptease dancer presented with a lump in the right breast. She had had one baby when aged 14, whom she had not breast-fed, and had recently been taking norethisterone to improve her libido. Nine months before she had had her …