Life's tough for a blogger these days..with all the crap thats going down everywhere.
When you throw into the mix the sardonic demands of a hectic residency program,it's almost a fatal concoction.I'm in a pretty good mood today though,as my very beloved kid brother celebrates another great year.Happy birthday,Bade!
This had been a long memorial weekend and several things were listed in the "to do list"...but as usual, only a fraction ended up being done.Quite apart from all the blown-up body parts that both CNN and MSNBC were intent on showing us at close quarters beamed direct from Iraq,there was little else to fibrillate a feeble heart.Some events clashed,so painful cancellations had to be made...like that cook-out my wife's classmate had invited us to.
A lot of moans accompany the current gas prices that seemed destined to compete with that NASSA shuttle to Mars....only noone claps when it breaks the $4.00 ceiling in there neighbourhood....in stark contrast to the delirious clap offering resonating around that small NASSA shuttle control room as the mission touched down on the martian surface.Couldn't you just tell which of those nerds in your 10th grade class would eventually end up working for NASSA?!
Americans meanwhile have been forced to change old habits.Bigger is no longer better,even in Texas!There are far fewer hummers on the streets of Cleveland this spring compared to the last.Car dealerships would offer any incentives ranging from a year's worth of free gas to "buy- one-get-one-free"(KIA spectra)...times are hard...America is bleeding.
Hillary Clinton has decided she would be a true clintonian gladiator and refuse to pack it in...so the soap opera continues.Barack,though seems intent on making her flagging campaign little more than a postscript of a very boring Harry-Potter book.Jim Web is sponsoring any Iraq related bill he can pen to increase his veep chances which he struggles to deny at every radio/TV interview he can get a slot at.Politicians must think we are all a bunch of morons!
My heart goes out to Ted Kennedy though...with that terrrible gliomatosis.I only hope its not Glioblastoma multiforme...that monster diagnosis all 4th year med students like to rattle....but none would wish on even their enemies!
Permit me to end this post with a word for a true Nigerian gospel music legend Evang. Sunny Okosun who yesterday passed on.May his soul rest in peace.
May the souls of the 60,000 victims of the Chinese earthquake in Sinchuan province also rest in peace.
Monday, May 26, 2008
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Syndrome of the Week
The obesity hypoventilation syndrome, also known as Pickwickian syndrome, is the combination of obesity (body mass index above 30 kg/m2), falling oxygen levels in blood (hypoxia) during sleep and increasing carbon dioxide levels (hypercapnia); this is the result of hypoventilation (excessively slow or shallow breathing) during sleep. Obstructive sleep apnea is often but not necessarily present.
It may cause dyspnea (difficulty breathing), poor sleep with daytime tiredness, leg swelling and various other symptoms. The main treatments are weight loss and nocturnal ventilation (with CPAP or related methods). The exact cause is unknown.
The condition was first described in 1956 in a patient who, after gaining weight, became somnolent and fatigued and prone to fall asleep during the day, as well as developing edema of the legs suggesting heart failure.
The authors coined the newly described condition "Pickwickian syndrome" after the character Joe from Dickens' The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club (1837), who was markedly obese and tended to fall asleep uncontrollably during the day.
It may cause dyspnea (difficulty breathing), poor sleep with daytime tiredness, leg swelling and various other symptoms. The main treatments are weight loss and nocturnal ventilation (with CPAP or related methods). The exact cause is unknown.
The condition was first described in 1956 in a patient who, after gaining weight, became somnolent and fatigued and prone to fall asleep during the day, as well as developing edema of the legs suggesting heart failure.
The authors coined the newly described condition "Pickwickian syndrome" after the character Joe from Dickens' The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club (1837), who was markedly obese and tended to fall asleep uncontrollably during the day.
Friday, May 16, 2008
Giggle
A Chinese walks into a bar in America late one night and he saw Steven Spielberg.
As he was a great fan of his movies, he rushes over to him, and asks for his autograph.
Instead, Spielberg gives him a slap and says, "You Chinese people bombed our Pearl Habour, get outta here."
The astonished Chinese man replied, "It was not the Chinese who bombed your PearlHarbour, it was the Japanese".
"Chinese, Japanese, Taiwanese, you're all the same," replied Spielberg.
In return, the Chinese gives Spielberg a slap and says, "You sank the Titanic, my forefathers were on that ship."
Shocked, Spielberg replies, "It was the iceberg that sank the ship, not me."
The Chinese replies, "Iceberg, Spielberg, Carlsberg, you're all the same."!
*Next week's syndrome-of-the-week is "Pickwickian syndrome".
As he was a great fan of his movies, he rushes over to him, and asks for his autograph.
Instead, Spielberg gives him a slap and says, "You Chinese people bombed our Pearl Habour, get outta here."
The astonished Chinese man replied, "It was not the Chinese who bombed your PearlHarbour, it was the Japanese".
"Chinese, Japanese, Taiwanese, you're all the same," replied Spielberg.
In return, the Chinese gives Spielberg a slap and says, "You sank the Titanic, my forefathers were on that ship."
Shocked, Spielberg replies, "It was the iceberg that sank the ship, not me."
The Chinese replies, "Iceberg, Spielberg, Carlsberg, you're all the same."!
*Next week's syndrome-of-the-week is "Pickwickian syndrome".
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Syndrome of the week
Ellis-van Creveld Syndrome (EvC)
By Sarah Scrafford (guest contributor)
The Ellis-van Creveld syndrome is a genetic disorder that occurs mostly in the Old Order Amish or Mennonite community which lives in Pennsylvania. EvC is a recessive syndrome, and only children who receive the defective gene from both parents are affected. In spite of technological and lifestyle advances and changes, the Amish still follow their own customs and practices and rarely interact with the world outside their closed community. Inter marriages are thus very common among the Amish, and this leads to a high probability of a child being affected.
Children born with EvC syndrome are dwarfish with short arms and legs. Their torsos and heads are normal though some do tend to have a minor hare lip. Their legs grow abnormally and surgery is sometimes required to be able to walk properly. Some children are born with a hole in the heart or with just a single atrium, a condition known medically as an atrial septal defect which can be corrected surgically. Most children born with this condition have breathing difficulties because they have narrow rib cages and smaller than normal lings.
Another common effect of this syndrome in polydactyly – the condition of growing more than five fingers and toes in each hand and foot. The extra digits are of no practical use and may be removed surgically once the child is above a year old. The hands are wider than usual and feet broad instead of elongated. These children’s nails are deep-set and brittle and may not grow at times. Their gums are ridged and teeth brittle and shapeless. Dental hygiene and regular check ups are a must for children with this syndrome.
EvC syndrome does not affect normal development of the brain and children born with this condition are as intelligent as those who are not. Though some die young because of heart and lung complications, others develop resistance as they grow older and are able to live a normal life with the right medical care.
EvC is named after the two physicians who studied and identified the syndrome in the late 1930s – Richard W.B. Ellis of Edinburgh and Simon van Creveld of Amsterdam. It is a completely genetic syndrome and cannot be prevented by any form of pre natal care or treatment. Diagnosis is possible through amniocentesis only for the second child if the first is affected by the syndrome.
NB: Sarah Scrafford is an industry critic, as well as a regular contributor on the subject of RN. She invites your questions, comments and freelancing job inquiries at her email address: sarah.scrafford25@gmail.com.
By Sarah Scrafford (guest contributor)
The Ellis-van Creveld syndrome is a genetic disorder that occurs mostly in the Old Order Amish or Mennonite community which lives in Pennsylvania. EvC is a recessive syndrome, and only children who receive the defective gene from both parents are affected. In spite of technological and lifestyle advances and changes, the Amish still follow their own customs and practices and rarely interact with the world outside their closed community. Inter marriages are thus very common among the Amish, and this leads to a high probability of a child being affected.
Children born with EvC syndrome are dwarfish with short arms and legs. Their torsos and heads are normal though some do tend to have a minor hare lip. Their legs grow abnormally and surgery is sometimes required to be able to walk properly. Some children are born with a hole in the heart or with just a single atrium, a condition known medically as an atrial septal defect which can be corrected surgically. Most children born with this condition have breathing difficulties because they have narrow rib cages and smaller than normal lings.
Another common effect of this syndrome in polydactyly – the condition of growing more than five fingers and toes in each hand and foot. The extra digits are of no practical use and may be removed surgically once the child is above a year old. The hands are wider than usual and feet broad instead of elongated. These children’s nails are deep-set and brittle and may not grow at times. Their gums are ridged and teeth brittle and shapeless. Dental hygiene and regular check ups are a must for children with this syndrome.
EvC syndrome does not affect normal development of the brain and children born with this condition are as intelligent as those who are not. Though some die young because of heart and lung complications, others develop resistance as they grow older and are able to live a normal life with the right medical care.
EvC is named after the two physicians who studied and identified the syndrome in the late 1930s – Richard W.B. Ellis of Edinburgh and Simon van Creveld of Amsterdam. It is a completely genetic syndrome and cannot be prevented by any form of pre natal care or treatment. Diagnosis is possible through amniocentesis only for the second child if the first is affected by the syndrome.
NB: Sarah Scrafford is an industry critic, as well as a regular contributor on the subject of RN. She invites your questions, comments and freelancing job inquiries at her email address: sarah.scrafford25@gmail.com.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Is she a trojan rabbit?
Now Barack Obama faces a true dilemma: how best to punish Hillary Clinton.
After 15 months of fighting her off, as she veered wildly from bully to victim, as she brandished any ice pick at hand, whether racial, sexual, mathematical or marital (in the form of her Vesuvian husband), Obama must decide the most efficacious means of doing to Hillary what she has been trying to do to him: putting her in her place.
Her last resort is to continue to press the “Psssst — he’s a black man” tactic. She insisted to USAToday, after the North Carolina and Indiana slide, that she has a broader base, citing an Associated Press article “that found how Senator Obama’s support among working, hard-working Americans, white Americans, is weakening again, and how whites in both states who had not completed college were supporting me.”
So how does Obama repay Hillary for running a campaign designed both to unman him and brand him as an unelectable black? Is the most ingenious way to turn the screw by not choosing her as his running mate, or by choosing her?
It is, verily, a sticky wicket.
One top Hillary supporter who is black warns that, despite the giddy dreams of some punch-drunk Democrats, a fusion ticket could backfire because “Americans can’t handle too much change at once.”
But should Obama ignore that caution and appease Hillary fans by putting her on the ticket?
As president, he could announce that, because Dick Cheney abused the powers of his office so grievously, taking the title “Vice” literally, he intends to shrink the vice presidency back to its “bucket of warm spit” Constitutional prerogatives — presiding over the Senate and taking over if the president goes under anesthesia.
He might also neglect to give Bill (whose acronym would be SLOTUS, Second Lad of the United States) full White House access.
Aside from the delight Bill would get from living at the Naval Observatory and having a huge telescope to window-peep with, there wouldn’t be much joy in Hillaryland.
The lady-in-waiting would be surrounded by Obama disciples who disdained her for fighting dirty. And she would be miserable holding up the train of the young prince who usurped her dream, derailing the post-nup she had with Bill to trade places.
As de facto veep for Bill, she had enough leverage over him, due to his shenanigans, to co-opt huge chunks of policy and personnel decisions.
But in a return engagement with Obama at the top, could she really wake up every day in the back seat and wish him well, or would she just be plotting? (Fourteen vice presidents have ascended, after all.) Wouldn’t she be, in Monty Python parlance, the Trojan Rabbit behind the gates?
On a positive note, maybe she could bring back all that stuff she pilfered on her way out.
Obama’s other option, laid out by Teddy Kennedy on Friday, is to go with someone who wouldn’t be a big dark cloud over his sunshiny new politics.
Teddy told Bloomberg’s Al Hunt that Obama should choose a partner “in tune with his appeal for the nobler aspirations of the American people.”
That would be smart for another reason: Hillary has a strange, unnerving effect on Obama, and whenever he is around her, he’s unable to do his best. Probably, it’s because she’s furious, always shaking his hand off her arm, ignoring him, giving him the evil eye and emasculating him, and the Golden One is not used to such rough treatment.
In the last few days, as Hillary has deflated and Obama and the Democrats have dashed for daylight, he has been more like his old self, flashing his all-is-right-with-the-world smile on the cover of Time, joshing and charming Democrats and Republicans as he wooed superdelegates on the House floor, taking on James Carville for insulting his manhood.
“James Carville is well known for spouting off his mouth without always knowing what he’s talking about,” he told Terry Moran on “Nightline.”
Obama will never be at his best around Hillary; she drains him of his magical powers. She’s Jane Jinx to him. It’s a similar syndrome to the one Katharine Hepburn’s star athlete and her supercilious fiancé have in “Pat and Mike.”
The fiancé is always belittling Hepburn, so whenever he’s in the stands, her tennis and golf go kerflooey. Finally, her manager, played by Spencer Tracy, asks the fiancé to stay away from big matches, explaining, “You are the wrong jockey for this chick.”
“You know, except when you’re around, we got a very valuable piece of property here,” he says, later adding, “When you’re around, she’s no good, she’s dead, see?”
The best way Obama can punish Hillary is to reward himself. He’s no good around her, see?
*culled from the New York Times.
After 15 months of fighting her off, as she veered wildly from bully to victim, as she brandished any ice pick at hand, whether racial, sexual, mathematical or marital (in the form of her Vesuvian husband), Obama must decide the most efficacious means of doing to Hillary what she has been trying to do to him: putting her in her place.
Her last resort is to continue to press the “Psssst — he’s a black man” tactic. She insisted to USAToday, after the North Carolina and Indiana slide, that she has a broader base, citing an Associated Press article “that found how Senator Obama’s support among working, hard-working Americans, white Americans, is weakening again, and how whites in both states who had not completed college were supporting me.”
So how does Obama repay Hillary for running a campaign designed both to unman him and brand him as an unelectable black? Is the most ingenious way to turn the screw by not choosing her as his running mate, or by choosing her?
It is, verily, a sticky wicket.
One top Hillary supporter who is black warns that, despite the giddy dreams of some punch-drunk Democrats, a fusion ticket could backfire because “Americans can’t handle too much change at once.”
But should Obama ignore that caution and appease Hillary fans by putting her on the ticket?
As president, he could announce that, because Dick Cheney abused the powers of his office so grievously, taking the title “Vice” literally, he intends to shrink the vice presidency back to its “bucket of warm spit” Constitutional prerogatives — presiding over the Senate and taking over if the president goes under anesthesia.
He might also neglect to give Bill (whose acronym would be SLOTUS, Second Lad of the United States) full White House access.
Aside from the delight Bill would get from living at the Naval Observatory and having a huge telescope to window-peep with, there wouldn’t be much joy in Hillaryland.
The lady-in-waiting would be surrounded by Obama disciples who disdained her for fighting dirty. And she would be miserable holding up the train of the young prince who usurped her dream, derailing the post-nup she had with Bill to trade places.
As de facto veep for Bill, she had enough leverage over him, due to his shenanigans, to co-opt huge chunks of policy and personnel decisions.
But in a return engagement with Obama at the top, could she really wake up every day in the back seat and wish him well, or would she just be plotting? (Fourteen vice presidents have ascended, after all.) Wouldn’t she be, in Monty Python parlance, the Trojan Rabbit behind the gates?
On a positive note, maybe she could bring back all that stuff she pilfered on her way out.
Obama’s other option, laid out by Teddy Kennedy on Friday, is to go with someone who wouldn’t be a big dark cloud over his sunshiny new politics.
Teddy told Bloomberg’s Al Hunt that Obama should choose a partner “in tune with his appeal for the nobler aspirations of the American people.”
That would be smart for another reason: Hillary has a strange, unnerving effect on Obama, and whenever he is around her, he’s unable to do his best. Probably, it’s because she’s furious, always shaking his hand off her arm, ignoring him, giving him the evil eye and emasculating him, and the Golden One is not used to such rough treatment.
In the last few days, as Hillary has deflated and Obama and the Democrats have dashed for daylight, he has been more like his old self, flashing his all-is-right-with-the-world smile on the cover of Time, joshing and charming Democrats and Republicans as he wooed superdelegates on the House floor, taking on James Carville for insulting his manhood.
“James Carville is well known for spouting off his mouth without always knowing what he’s talking about,” he told Terry Moran on “Nightline.”
Obama will never be at his best around Hillary; she drains him of his magical powers. She’s Jane Jinx to him. It’s a similar syndrome to the one Katharine Hepburn’s star athlete and her supercilious fiancé have in “Pat and Mike.”
The fiancé is always belittling Hepburn, so whenever he’s in the stands, her tennis and golf go kerflooey. Finally, her manager, played by Spencer Tracy, asks the fiancé to stay away from big matches, explaining, “You are the wrong jockey for this chick.”
“You know, except when you’re around, we got a very valuable piece of property here,” he says, later adding, “When you’re around, she’s no good, she’s dead, see?”
The best way Obama can punish Hillary is to reward himself. He’s no good around her, see?
*culled from the New York Times.
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