Blips of the Heart

Happy New Year to all. For our end of year post:



Everybody wonders what anaesthetists do while the patient is asleep
Everybody wonders what we do for three hours while that machine goes beep

Everybody reckons we drink coffee and we gossip and we're generally subversive
Everybody reckons we do crosswords and sudoku and we chat up all the nurses

Do you really think that's all we do?
Well, let me tell you now it isn't true
Cause we sometimes check the screen
And every now and then we write stuff
And if we have to intervene
We inject a bit of white stuff

And we offer to alter the lights
Or the height of the bed
Or fiddle with the radio, change the CD
We even check the patient occasionally

And if they move, we turn up the vapour
And then we go back to reading the paper

When the patient is asleep
We just sit and listen to the beep
We just sit and listen to the ...

Once upon a time I took pride in my job
Now I think its time to depart
Cause I just sit here every day and listen to blips of the heart

BMJ on Medical Myths

In celebration (?) of the holidays the British Medical Journal has published a paper by Rachel C. Vreeman and Aaron E. Carroll on common medical myths. The paper is brief and entirely online so we direct the reader directly to it [here].

Also be sure to read the responses where readers dispute the falsehood of some of the so-called myths while other readers add additional myths of their own.

Canadian Diabetes Association Gets Serious!

The Canadian Diabetes Association has developed an amusing interactive video using the medium of speed dating to get across to the viewer what the symptoms of diabetes are. Note that unlike YouTube videos this one is interactive which means you must click at the appropriate spots when asked in order to view the entire video.

Click here: Get Serious!!!

Gorilla Drummer

Haven't had a time out post in a while:

We Are the World

We Are the World, M. Jackson and L. Richie (USA for Africa)

Lionel Richie:
There comes a time when we heed a certain call

Lionel Richie & Stevie Wonder:
When the world must come together as one

Stevie Wonder:
There are people dying

Paul Simon:
Oh, and it’s time to lend a hand to life

Paul Simon & Kenny Rogers:
The greatest gift of all

Kenny Rogers:
We can’t go on pretending day by day

James Ingram:
That the world somewhere will soon make a change

Tina Turner:
We are all a part of God’s great big family

Billy Joel:
And the truth,

Tina Turner/Billy Joel:
you know, love is all we need

Michael Jackson:
We are the world, we are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day
So let’s start giving

Diana Ross:
There’s a choice we’re making
We’re saving our own lives

Michael Jackson & Diana Ross:
It’s true we’ll make a better day
Just you and me

Dionne Warwick:
Oh, Send them your heart
So they’ll know that someone cares

Dionne Warwick & Willie Nelson:
And their lives will be stronger and free

Willie Nelson:
As God has shown us by turning stones to bread

Al Jarreau:
And so we all must lend a helping hand

Bruce Springsteen:
We are the world, we are the children

Kenny Loggins:
We are the ones who make a brighter day
So let’s start giving

Steve Perry:
Oh, there’s a choice we’re making
We’re saving our own lives

Daryl Hall:
It’s true we’ll make a better day
Just you and me

Michael Jackson:
When you’re down and out, there seems no hope at all

Huey Lewis:
But if you just believe there’s no way we can fall

Cyndi Lauper:
Well, well, well, well let us realise that a change can only come

Kim Carnes:
When we

Kim Carnes/Cyndi Lauper/Huey Lewis:
stand together as one

Chorus:
We are the world, we are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day
So let’s start giving
There’s a choice we’re making
We’re saving our own lives
It’s true we’ll make a better day
Just you and me
We are the world, we are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day
So let’s start giving

Bob Dylan:
There’s a choice we’re making
We’re saving our own lives
It’s true we’ll make a better day
Just you and me

Chorus:
We are the world, we are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day
So let’s start giving
There’s a choice we’re making
We’re saving our own lives

Bob Dylan:
It’s true we’ll make a better day
Just you and me

Chorus:
We are the world, we are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day
So let’s start giving

Ray Charles:
There’s a choice we’re making
We’re saving our own lives
It’s true we’ll make a better day
Just you and me

Stevie Wonder/Bruce Springsteen:
We are the world, we are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day
So let’s start giving

Stevie Wonder:
There’s a choice we’re making
We’re saving our own lives
It’s true we’ll make a better day
Just you and me

Stevie Wonder/Bruce Springsteen:
We are the world, we are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day
So let’s start giving

Bruce Springsteen:
There’s a choice we’re making
We’re saving our own lives
It’s true we’ll make a better day
Just you and me

Chorus:
We are the world, we are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day
So let’s start giving
There’s a choice we’re making
We’re saving our own lives
It’s true we’ll make a better day
Just you and me

James Ingram:
We are the world, we are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day
So let’s start giving

Ray Charles:
There’s a choice we’re making
We’re saving our own lives
It’s true we’ll make a better day
Just you and me

Chorus:
We are the world, we are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day
So let’s start giving
There’s a choice we’re making
We’re saving our own lives
It’s true we’ll make a better day
Just you and me

Where is Matt?

L'Amore Sei Tu

Se io restassi qui
Non sarei come tu mi vuoi.
Me ne andrò
ma già lo so
Sempre tu sarai in me.
Ormai l’amore sei tu,
L’amore sei tu,
E sempre tu.
Sempre avrò nostalgia
Delle notti e giorni con te
La vita mia porto via,
Sai che è meglio così.
Ormai l’amore sei tu
E sempre sei tu.

Spero che tu troverai
Quello che hai sognato per te.
La felicità tua
sarà la mia
E lontano da me ancora amerai.
Ma ormai l’amore sei tu,
E sempre sei tu
Ormai l’amore sei tu
L’amore sei tu
L’amore sei tu
E sempre tu
sei tu, tu
L’amore sei tu.

BananaSlug.com

Want to google for prostate cancer but always keep coming up with the same links? I recently came across a new search site:

http://www.bananaslug.com

Its actually a front end to google but with a twist. When you enter your search it appends a random word to your search query. That will give your search a random nudge. You can alternately choose from a list of categories from which to choose the random word. Fun to play with. Maybe even useful.

Leona

Rusalka

Mesiku na nebi hlubokem
Svetlo tvé daleko vidi,
Po svete bloudis sirokém,
Divas se v pribytky lidi.

Mesicku, postuj chvili
Reckni mi, kde je muj mily
Rekni mu, stribmy mesicku,
Me ze jej objima rame,
Aby si alespon chvilicku
Vzpomenul ve sneni na mne
Zasvet mu do daleka
Rekni mu, rekni m kdo tu nan ceka!
mneli duse lidska sni

At'se tou vzpominkou vzbudi!
Mesicku, nezhasni, nezhasni! 

Oscar Quiz

With Oscars coming up on Sunday night (8pm EST), which two time Academy Award winning actor is a prostate cancer survivor?

Answer later this week.

Longevity

[Updated Februrary 26, 2008]

This link shows a Venn diagram composed of three circles that depict the unique and common lifestyle elements of the 3 cities on earth with the greatest human longevity (lifespan):

http://www.bluezones.com/live-longer-better/longevity-secrets/

and the next link from the same site has a quiz you can answer to assess your life expectancy and get recommendations on how to increase it based on the same factors:

http://www.bluezones.com/compass

(This last link requires registration but its free.)

Nothing specific to prostate cancer at these sites but they do seem interesting nonetheless.

In a January 2008 paper, UK researchers found that a combination of 4 behaviors increased longevity by 14 years on average:

• not smoking
• being physically active
• moderate alcohol intake (my note: the WCRF/AICR Diet and Cancer Report concluded that alcohol, even small amounts, does increase one's risk for cancer)
• 5 servings a day of fruit and vegetables

. [PMID: 18184033] [Full Text]. In particular:

Between 1993 and 1997, about 20,000 men and women aged 45–79 living in Norfolk UK, none of whom had cancer or cardiovascular disease (heart or circulation problems), completed a health and lifestyle questionnaire, had a health examination, and had their blood vitamin C level measured as part of the EPIC-Norfolk study. A health behavior score of between 0 and 4 was calculated for each participant by giving one point for each of the following healthy behaviors: current non-smoking, not physically inactive (physical inactivity was defined as having a sedentary job and doing no recreational exercise), moderate alcohol intake (1–14 units a week; a unit of alcohol is half a pint of beer, a glass of wine, or a shot of spirit), and a blood vitamin C level consistent with a fruit and vegetable intake of at least five servings a day. Deaths among the participants were then recorded until 2006. After allowing for other factors that might have affected their likelihood of dying (for example, age), people with a health behavior score of 0 were four times as likely to have died (in particular, from cardiovascular disease) than those with a score of 4. People with a score of 2 were twice as likely to have died.

The NIH has a page on healthy living here.

Welsh Soprano

O Mio Babbino Caro

O mio babbino caro,
mi piace è bello, bello;
vo'andare in Porta Rossa
a comperar l'anello!
Sì, sì, ci voglio andare!
e se l'amassi indarno,
andrei sul Ponte Vecchio,
ma per buttarmi in Arno!
Mi struggo e mi tormento!
O Dio, vorrei morir!

Babbo, pietà, pietà!
Babbo, pietà, pietà!