Daily Nonsense

Man, you gotta’ figure that when the Chief Medical Correspondent for CNN won’t hold a cell phone to his head there might just be something to that old rumor about tumors.  I wonder if Teddy Kennedy was a habitual cell phone abuser?  His particular type of tumor, a glioma, is featured in this scary story from a medical site!

Again, all I can say is YIKES!  (I wonder if that blue tooth headset is helping or contributing to the issue??)

Why Brain Surgeons Are Avoiding Cell Phones

Last week, three prominent neurosurgeons told CNN interviewer Larry King that they did not hold cell phones next to their ears. Dr. Keith Black, Dr. Vini Khurana, and CNN’s chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta all maintained that the practice could be unsafe.

Along with Senator Edward M. Kennedy’s recent diagnosis of a glioma, a type of tumor that critics have long associated with cell phone use, the doctors’ remarks have helped reignite the debate about cell phones and cancer.

According to the Food and Drug Administration, three large epidemiology studies since 2000 have shown no harmful effects. However, that the average period of phone use in those studies was about three years, which provides no information about the long-term exposures that could lead to cancer.

“What we’re seeing is suggestions in epidemiological studies that have looked at people using phones for 10 or more years,” says Louis Slesin, editor of Microwave News, an industry publication that tracks the research.

Sources:

New York Times June 3, 2008

[Thanks, Mercola.com]

New studies indicate that exercise may not be the end all answer for what ails us.  I’m 50 years old and ever since the Presidential Physical Fitness Awards back in grade school (the 60’s for those of you who are counting) I’ve been told that exercise leads to a full, healthier life.  And that’s true, but only to an extent!

Does Exercise Really Keep Us Healthy?

By GINA KOLATA

Exercise has long been touted as the panacea for everything that ails you. For better health, simply walk for 20 or 30 minutes a day, boosters say — and you don’t even have to do it all at once. Count a few minutes here and a few there, and just add them up. Or wear a pedometer and keep track of your steps. However you manage it, you will lose weight, get your blood pressure under control and reduce your risk of osteoporosis.

If only it were so simple. While exercise has undeniable benefits, many, if not most, of its powers have been oversold. Sure, it can be fun. It can make you feel energized. And it may lift your mood. But before you turn to a fitness program as the solution to your particular health or weight concern, consider what science has found.

[Thanks, NY Times]

A grant of 2.1 million pounds ($4.17 million) has been awarded to a team at the Imperial College London for the development of a new surgical tool dubbed the ‘i-Snake’.  Essentially the i-Snake is a highly flexible, robotic tool which would allow for more complicated procedures to be done with what are essentially laparoscopic surgical techniques.  The minimally invasive methods used in laparoscopic surgery allow for a number of benefits over traditional surgical techniques.

i-Snake ‘will transform surgery’

Experts are developing a flexible surgical robot, known as the i-Snake, which they say could revolutionise keyhole surgery.

It could enable surgeons to do complex procedures previously possible only  through more invasive techniques.

A team at Imperial College London has been granted £2.1 million for the work.

They envisage using the i-Snake – a long tube housing special motors, sensors and imaging tools – for heart bypass surgery.

But it could also be used to diagnose problems in the gut and bowel by acting as the surgeon’s hands and eyes in hard to reach places inside the body.

The Imperial College team, which includes health minister and surgeon Lord Ara Darzi, will test the device initially in the laboratory before it is used on patients.

Minimally invasive surgery has obvious advantages – it can mean smaller scars, reduced hospital stays and shorter recovery times.

Surgeons are also looking at ways to avoid skin incisions altogether.

One approach is Natural Orifice Translumenal Endoscopic Surgery or Notes. This means operating in the peritoneal space through natural orifices or cavities, such as the bowel.

Lord Darzi said: "The unrivalled imaging and sensing capabilities coupled with the accessibility and sensitivity of i-Snake will enable more complex diagnostic and therapeutic procedures than are currently possible.

"The cost benefits that i-Snake will introduce include earlier, cheaper and less invasive treatment, faster recovery and procedure times and intangible benefits through an increase in patient care and quality of life."

Dr Ted Bianco, director of technology transfer at the Wellcome Trust, said: "Gone are the days when the surgeon’s knife ruled in the operating theatre. The future of surgery is in smart devices like i-Snake."

[Thanks, BBC News]