My Virtual Reading Room

Just in case, y'know, dear readers, that you were feeling overly (or even somewhat) optimistic--

Today's WorldView: The crises that may get worse in 2024

"Человек с убеждениями Путину не нужен--ему нужен человек, которого всегда можно взять за Фаберже, потому что он где-то что-то уворовал."

"Как сказал Лимонов, в Европе за завтраком обсуждают Россию, как новое увлечение консьержки, как новый роман консьержки--ходил к ней матрос, а теперь ходит солдат. Россия для Европы значит многое, а для Азии--абсолютно ничего."

(Дмитрий Быков)

"Симфония государства и церкви--это похоронный марш."

("...надо уже привыкать к духовым...")

"Власть стала демонстративно непросвещённой. Она гордится своей непросвещённостью."

"Некие люди высекли искру, эта искра упала на раскалённое, политое керосином поле, и всё вспыхнуло. И государство оказалось бессильно. Более того, государство постепенно отползает от этой темы--оно сочувствует погромщикам, потому что государство поддерживает Хамас."

(Лев Шлосберг)

"Чтобы учёным можно было работать, нынешним российским властям, конечно, следовало бы в полном составе сесть на самолёт и явиться в город Гаагу."

(Андрей Заякин, основатель "Диссернет")

aka: Actions have consequences!

...sometimes, very immediate consequences...

US Woman Enters MRI Machine With Loaded Gun, Gets Shot In Buttock Area

In an unusual incident, a woman in the United States was shot in her backside after she took a loaded gun into an MRI (magnetic resonance imagining) machine during a doctor's visit back in June. According to the US Food and Drug Administration, the 57-year-old, whose identity hasn't been revealed, had a handgun concealed on her person as she was slid into the MRI machine. However, when the machine's powerful magnets were engaged, the metal trigger of the handgun tripped and the firearm discharged.

Egypt Wiped Out Hepatitis C. Now It Is Trying to Help the Rest of Africa, from the NY Times

Are Edibles Actually Good for Sleep? from Time

Is the New Mpox 'Outbreak' Deadlier? by Jeremy Faust, from MedPage Today

Newly discovered stem cell offers clues to a cancer mystery, from The Washington Post

Respiratory viruses, thrown out of whack by Covid, appear to be falling back into seasonal order/, from STAT News

Urgent Care Must Be Reexamined...Urgently, from MedPage Today

Should anorexia ever be called ‘terminal’? from the Washington Post

‘Aging is a disease’: Inside the drive to postpone death indefinitely, from The Washington Post

FDA Requires Side-Effect Disclosure in Prescription Drug Ad Rule, from the Bloomberg Law

Alabama woman with two uteruses is pregnant with twins, one in each womb: ‘1 in 50 million’ chance

• The details: At least 50 women and children out of an estimated 240 hostages held in the Gaza Strip will be released in exchange for at least a four-day pause in fighting, Israel said today.
• What else to know: Israel will release 150 Palestinian women and children held in its prisons and allow more fuel and humanitarian aid into Gaza.
• The bigger picture: This will be the first major pause in a six-week assault that has devastated Gaza following Hamas’s deadly Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

Israel and Hamas agreed to a hostage release deal.

(Can provide transcript w. English translation--if anyone wants, let me know)

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization's top scientist said dengue fever will become a major threat in southern parts of the U.S. , southern Europe, and new parts of Africa this decade. (Reuters)

How weight-loss drugs like semaglutide (Wegovy) could reshape American eating behavior and the food industry. (Axios)

Patients who take GLP-1 agonists for weight-loss have risk of pancreatitis nine times higher as compared with the older combination drug bupropion-naltrexone and a three to four times greater risk of bowel obstruction and gastroparesis. (JAMA)

(from MedPage Today)

www.sciencealert.com/curious-canine-in-brazil-turns-out-to-be-a-first-of-its-kind-hybrid

dailypositiveinfo.com/patrick-hardison-received-a-new-face-after-third-degree-burns-this-is-him-today/

scoop.upworthy.com/implantable-artificial-kidney-offers-relief-to-dialysis-patients-after-succesful-testing

www.sciencealert.com/this-new-experimental-antibody-could-prevent-organ-rejection

www.sciencealert.com/unique-new-drug-is-more-effective-than-ozempic-for-weight-loss

(This is the northern Russian city called Velikiy Ustyug, a home of Ded Moroz [Russian equivalent of Santa Claus] since 1999.)

...can you tell what they're discussing?...

A 'Shrewd' New Virus; 'The Family Will Kill You'; Hospitals Fear Staff Shortages— Health news and commentary from around the Web gathered by MedPage Today staff

(and apologies for the prolonged silence, all is well enough, just busy)

(the title says, "Russia and Congo have met to discuss how to overcome the West exceeding all bounds of its authority in the economy")

Three articles from the NYT:

People Say, ‘Be Positive’ When You Have Cancer. I Prefer to Complain With Friends.

Cancer Took Away My Ability to Eat, but Not My Love of Food

I Have M.S. This Is What It’s Like to Be Fed by Other People.


Technology and Research:

Doctors Transplant Ear of Human Cells, Made by 3-D Printer, also from the NYT

Liver Preserved for 3 Days With Machine Perfusion Successfully Transplanted
--Patient healthy and leading normal life at 1 year, from MedPage Today

Other tidbits:

My “Private” War against the Tobacco Industry, by Stephen Barrett, M.D.

(or, what can happen over time if enough people cause enough of a ruckus)


Sophie Freud, professor who challenged her grandfather’s doctrine, dies at 97


"...“I’m very skeptical about much of psychoanalysis,” she told the Boston Globe in 2002. “I think it’s such a narcissistic indulgence that I cannot believe in it.”Is Putin Sick – Or Are We Meant to Think He Is?, from the New Lines Magazine

"...Steroids – a common one is prednisone – attack malignant lymphocytes that circulate in the blood, but they are also known for two common side effects.

The first is a high risk of infection owing to how badly they deplete immune cells. “Anyone on heavy doses of steroids will find it much easier to contract COVID-19,” Grossman said, which might account for Putin’s extreme germophobia and recourse to Howard Hughes-like seclusion. Pneumonia, too, can easily kill an immunocompromised steroid user.

And the second side effect?

“Deeply irrational or paranoid behavior.”

The real COVID surge is (much) bigger than it looks. But don't panic, from NPR

Dominant coronavirus mutant contains ghost of pandemic past, from AP News

"The coronavirus mutant that is now dominant in the United States is a member of the omicron family but scientists say it spreads faster than its omicron predecessors, is adept at escaping immunity and might possibly cause more serious disease.

Why? Because it combines properties of both omicron and delta, the nation’s dominant variant in the middle of last year. ..."

(in other words, apparently, this is the Deltacron, which was mentioned as a possibility a while back)

In Massachusetts, Omicron Linked With Higher Excess Mortality Than Delta, from Reuters Health

When Will We Know if COVID Is Seasonal?, from MedPage Today

Viruses that were on hiatus during Covid are back — and behaving in unexpected ways, from STAT News

We Should Say It. Russia Is Fascist.


The Five Conspiracy Theories That Putin Has Weaponized


The Grand Theory Driving Putin to War

New Pandemic Peril? Pretending It's Over as Case Numbers Rise, from Medscape/WebMD

Just because many people seem more than ready to put the COVID-19 pandemic behind us doesn't mean it's really over. In fact, case numbers are rising again – with new infections reported in about 95,000 Americans each day – and hospitalizations are up 20% as well.

It's yet another reminder of the dangers that remain from a virus that has now killed more than 1 million Americans [...]

The U.S. is now in a new wave driven by Omicron variants BA.2 and BA.2.12.2, Topol says.

The 95,000 new daily cases reported by the CDC do not reflect "the real toll of the current wave, since most people with symptoms are testing at home or not testing at all."

Also, there is pretty much no testing among people who don't have symptoms, Topol says.

The actual number of cases is likely at least 500,000 per day, he says, "far greater than any of the U.S. prior waves except Omicron."...


76% of Long COVID Patients Were Not Hospitalized for Their Infection, from MedPage Today

— Women, those ages 36 to 50 most likely to be diagnosed with post-COVID conditions


A Pandemic Risk Reality Check for the Immunocompromised, also from MedPage Today

— Studies indicate the level of risk may not warrant such a broad, catastrophizing narrative


Cardiac Issues After COVID Infection and Vaccination: New Data, from Medscape

New data from two different sources on cardiac complications linked to COVID-19 have shown that such issues are low overall, but are higher after infection than after vaccination....


A Million Pandemic Deaths, and These are Still Uncounted, from The New York Times

My patient didn't die from COVID. He died because of it.


13 Final Texts from Loved Ones Lost to COVID, from the New York Times

13 personal stories...

Pick what you like ;)
~~~

Positivity:

One-year-old's Oval Office birthday photoshoot is as presidential as it gets, from UpWorthy

(and the birthday boy's sister took part as well ;))

Nashville Zoo welcomes a rare spotted fanaloka baby, the first to be born in the United States, also from UpWorthy




Healthcare, health, and wellness:

Nursing Is Not Gardening, but You Still Must Tend to the Weeds, from Medscape Blogs

...When I became a head nurse, the outgoing head nurse sat me down and asked me what I would prefer to be in a garden, "an orchid or a weed." I quickly said an orchid. To which she responded, "Orchids are good for gardens but not on a unit."...

(Interesting article and valid points, but I'd say "wildflowers", not "weeds"... ;))

Pick Your Sunscreen Carefully: 75% Don't Pass Muster, from Medscape WebMD

Just in time for Memorial Day outings, a new report on sunscreens is out.
The news isn't all sunny. About 75% of more than 1,850 sunscreen products evaluated offer inferior sun protection or have worrisome ingredients, according to the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit research and advocacy group that just issued its 16^th annual Guide to Sunscreens....

Selma Blair on living with MS: ‘My doctors urged me not to go public. They worried I wouldn’t get work’, from The Guardian

In an extract from her new memoir, the actor remembers the moment she found out she had multiple sclerosis – and finally understanding why her body had been betraying her for years

War:

In Ukraine’s Bucha, one woman is painting flowers around bullet holes

In an extremely rare moment of candour on Russian state TV on May 16, defence columnist Mikhail Khodaryonok gave a damning assessment of Russia's war in Ukraine and his country's international isolation.--4-minute video with good-quality English subtitles

Khodaryonok warned on Feb. 3rd, 2022 that attacking Ukraine was a terrible idea, and explained why, in this article Predictions of Bloodthirsty Political Scientists, About Excited Hawks and Hasty Cuckoos

(article is in Russian; if anyone wants to, let me know, I'll translate...)

...most unfortunate that no-one listened to him...

How America Reached One Million COVID Deaths, from The New York Times

US Covid death toll reaches one million. Here's just how bad that is, from The Washington Post

A new covid wave? Be less alarmed, more prepared, also from The Washington Post

US Tops 1M COVID Deaths: 'History Should Judge Us Harshly', from Medscape

We Can't Become Numb After 1 Million COVID Deaths
— Here's how to remain compassionate, from MedPage Today

...My final lesson is to always respond with kindness. It sounds like a bumper sticker, right? It is easy to say but hard to do. However, this is fundamental when providing compassionate care.

During those horrible, painful early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, I was frustrated. I refused to believe we couldn't do more. I was disappointed we didn't have strong enough tools in our toolbox to prevent the pain I saw spread across so many patients' and loved ones' faces. But it is in those times of anger that you need to respond with kindness....

The case of RaDonda Vaught highlights a double standard for nurses and physicians, from StatNews

(Indeed, I found both of these cases rather surprising, especially in comparison to each other...)

Canadian doctors are prescribing free passes to national parks to treat patients

She Invented Adulting. Her Life Fell Apart. She Wants You to Know That’s Okay., from VanityFair

Best-selling author Kelly Williams Brown reflects on coining that now dreaded phrase, her 700 worst days, and the millennial mythos of having it all together.

Why is it so hard to control our appetites? A doctor’s struggles with giving up sugar, by Raj Telhan, from The Guardian

We’ve become convinced that if we can eat more healthily, we will be morally better people. But where does this idea come from?

Eating Avocado Linked to Lower Cardiovascular Risk, from Medscape


And to finish off, also from Medscape:

This Week in Cardiology, aka, Dr. M. tells it like it is:


"...Espresso and TC

• Espresso Coffee Associated With Increased Total Cholesterol

The journal Open Heart published a nutritional epidemiology observational study on different types of coffee and their association with total cholesterol. I have several observations.

• We have enough coffee, blueberry, chocolate, raspberry, etc studies. I’ve written about this before.
• This world has a lot of health problems we need solved. These sorts of studies do not move the needle.
• Because of huge amounts of confounding plus recall bias of food questionnaires, studies like this that look at one macronutrient with observational methods is simply not going to advance our knowledge base. It’s not worth the effort...."

Inside Zelensky's World, from TIME

Feeling around for something human, from Meduza

Why do Russians support the war against Ukraine? Shura Burtin investigates.