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Indian Pediatrics 1999;36: 1289-1290 |
Global Update |
| News in Brief Futuristics Medicine@millennium changeover: We stand poised at a moment in history which comes but rarely in a person's lifetime. The change to a new millennium. This time the 13th November issue of the British Medical Journal has broken away from the orthodoxy to presnt the journal of the future. The printed version is merely an inviting window display. For those who want to plumb the depths of a particulat subject, information is not just discrete lumps in articles but part of an intricate web of links in the electronic version. The medical profession is the last to awaken to the revolution happening around us but the BMJ has made a commendable attempt to assess the problems and possibilities of emerging technologies in the coming millennium. How the future journal will be like, will computer based decision analysis overtake the doctor's role, how to gear future doctors to a lifetime of continual learning, the vexing question of eugenics and the fallout of human genetic manipulation have all been addressed with great imagination and courage (BMJ 13 November '99). Disaster India sleeps as Orissa drowns: There was a storm in Orissa on 29th October. A supercyclone. It came at a speed of 300 Km/hour and the tidal waves were over 10 m in height. It was known atleast 48 hours beforehand. Yet at least 5000 people died and 1.5 crore people were affected. Entire villages, towns, ports and roads were devastated. Now rotting bodies have contaminated the water and officials are bracing themselves for epidemics of diarrhea, cholera, malaria and Japanese encephalitis. The east coast of USA is regularly affected by major cyclones with minimal if any casualties. What are the lessons to be learnt? From cyclone resistant houses and disaster insurance schemes for cyclone prone areas to a change in the vegetation pattern to blunt wind speeds and an effective disaster management policy_there are miles to go before we sleep (The Times of India 4 November '99). Beyond Medicine Prayer Power: In the middle ages, science was considered anti-religion and the pioneers of modern science were subjected to much social ostracism. Today the tables have turned and religion is automatically considered anti-science. In an attempt to breach the smug battlements of science using her own tools, a study of the effects of prayer was conducted on patients in a coronary care unit and published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. Significantly, better outcomes were recorded for the 466 patients who received prayer therapy from various Christian groups as against 524 others who didn't. But the fight between the skeptics and the believers is far from over (New Scientist 13 November '99). Vaccine Watch BCG: In medicine our Gods and faiths are based on such flimsy grounds that it amazes us about how we know about them. The results of a 15 year follow up of the landmark Chingleput trial on the efficacy of BCG is no different from the earlier results. It has no efficacy in preventing adult tuberculosis though it is 27% efficacious in children. The community based trial on 280,000 people of all ages immunized with the Danish 1331 and French 1173P2 strains of BCG tested in 2 doses against a placebo has not addressed the question of whether miliary and meningeal tuberculosis in children is prevented. So should we use BCG or not_some questions never die (Indian J Med Res 1999; 110: 56). Disease Watch Onchocercariasis is out: The WHO is very upbeat that it has almost eliminated oncho-cercariasis or river blindness from most of West Africa. The project began 25 years ago. Many have been treated and the disease has been prevented in several million children. A notable point in the program was that several million hectares of land previously abandoned because of the vector the black fly which inhabited the area are now again under cultivation. Invest-ments into health pay unexpected dividends (BMJ 23 October'99). Ethics Drug Money: If money corrupts, then big money means big corruption. The richest cash cows in medicine may well be drug companies. And what a tangled web they weave when subtly they teach us to deceive. The Los Angles Times has recently published an analysis of the links between pharma companies and authors of drug review articles in the New England Journal of Medicine. Of the 36 "Drug Therapy" review articles published in the journal since 1997, in 8 the researchers had undisclosed financial links with drug companies whose treatments were under review. A scarlet faced NEJM is properly penitent and has decided to be more strict in future (The Lancet 30 October '99). Gouri Rao Passi, Indian Pediatrics 1999;36:1290-1291 Growth Caluclator - www.chip.org/chip/projects/growthcalc/. This site from the Division of Endocrinology and Children's Hospital Informatics Program, Children's Hospital, Boston in Pennsylvania contains a growth calculator which on input of weight and height at various ages gives the growth velocity, the percentiles and the projected adult readings. Online Journal of Cardiology - www.mmip. mcgill.ca/heart/index.html. This online journal from McGill University in Canada contains peer Review Articles and Case Reports, Abstract Searches, ECG puzzles and encyclopedia and nuclear and X-ray images, interesting Links to other sites and medical software. Postgraduate Medicine - www.postgradmedj. com. The full text of this monthly journal from the BMJ publishing group is available free till April 2000. The full text of all issues in 1999 are available online, while abstracts from previous years are available from this site. The journal contains mainly review articles, brief reports and clinical assessment questions in medicine with aim of providing continuing medical education. The Internet and Your Family - www.aap. org/family/interfamily.htm. This is another new addition to the AAP website. This site aims to educate parents on the role of Internet in child's development. It contains guidelines on safe use of Internet by children and links to other sites on this topic. Provisional Section on Telephone Care (AAP) - www.aap.org/sections/telecare/wel come.htm. This is a new addition to the American Academy of Pediatrics and deals with the increasingly used telephone care in pediatric practice telephone care. This site aims to educate Pediatricians on the latest tools and strategies to delivery pediatric care via the telephone. Newsletters and selected articles from AAP News on telephone management in Pediatric practice are available online here. The Global Impact of Drug Resistant Tuberculosis - www.soros.org/tb/. This report on the alarming increase in drug resistant tuberculosis was prepared by the Harvard Medical School and released on 28 October 99. The report recommends the immediate implementation of the WHO's standard DOTS program and highlights the need for new drugs. The complete report can be downloaded for free in pdf format from this site. Handbook of Pediatrics - www.nch.edu.au/prof/handbook/. This handbook of pediatrics contains extensive material on various topics of clinical importance including systemic diseases, infections, antibiotic therapy, emergency Pediat-rics, neonatology, growth charts and imaging. CNN Child Health News - www.cnn.com/HEALTH/children/. The CNN, a popular news channel has this site on child health in its health channel. It contains the latest news on Pediatrics. This site is updated daily and has an archive of previous issues with a search facility. Pediatric Uroradiology Rounds - www.duj. com/PAC.html. This is a part of the Digital Urology Journal from the Children's Hospital Harvard Medical School. Illustrated clinical cases on Pediatric Urology with accompanying radiological images can be viewed here. Note: These websites have been verified on 20 Nov 99. In case of any change in the URL's, readers are requested to check the Internet edition of the Journal. C Vidyashankar, |
