All Scrubbed Up

We received this mail a while ago from Dan Jeffers... While reviewing blogs and Web sites that discuss blood disorders, I noticed that yours seems to be well-read and well-informed. Your readers may be interested in the recent clinical practice guidelines for von Willebrand Disease (VWD) offered by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health. These are the first clinical guidelines in the United States for the diagnosis and management of von Willebrand Disease (VWD), the most common inherited bleeding disorder. The guidelines include recommendations on screening, diagnosis, disease management, and directions for future research. An extensive article on the guidelines is published online Feb. 29 in the journal Haemophilia. “These are the first guidelines on von Willebrand Disease published in the United States and we are pleased to offer clinicians science-based recommendations in the evaluation and treatment of patients,” said NHLBI Dire...

Here's a great story - a friend of ours is a cardiomyopathy patient. This is basically a illness of the muscular walls of the heart - you can't overstress yourself at all or your heart can give out! This chap, bless his brave soul, wants to run a half marathon in a years time or so. Some people would say WOMBAT. Others... brave lad. Some advice from SA Doc... 1. Take it easy. Small steps, slow training and build up over months, not weeks. 2. Frequent checks with your cardiologist to make sure your medication is optimal and the heart muscle training is coming along well. Your Echo needs to be "A" OK! 3. Don't run with scissors. Please go visit his site and drop the guy a comment or two as motivation. It's a great mission to have - and if patients from around the world can stumble upon this kind of positivity? Well, it just can't hurt. Visit Mark's site here ...

A comment appearing on Champagne Heathen deserves a quick post. Ties quite nicely into the aritcles we've been writing about HIV ignorance - some malicious, some not. At least, with this reader, she's bothering to ask, and not just assume. Cough. I really do start off every year having an HIV test as well as a full STI test. I don't know why, it's just a thing I do. I have to tell you it really peeved me off this year that I couldnt just walk into the lab, ask for the test, have it, go home and wait for the results. I had to get a consultation, so that the doctor could write up the bloodwork request. He of course wanted to know when this happened - that was his actual question to me. Firstly "it" didnt ever happen and secondly if "it" did why would "it" be any of his business? What "it" was we can only assume... a rape incident I dunno... The point is it shouldn't be such a hassle for something like this, especially in this ...

Domkop, an oddly titled techy-looking reviewer of South Africa's Blogs has done us the justice of a fair review. Love it. Read the review here .

In case you haven't seen it yet... Christmas Grand Rounds are a great selection of med-on-the-web. Check it out here . Excerpt from Medical News and Commentary Bloggers are renowned for their abilities to comment on the news (often, in pajamas) but on a few memorable occasions, bloggers can report news, too. Such is the case with Dr. Steven Palter of Doc in the Machine , who announced his award-winning endometrial diagnosis technology on his blog. It's part of a series Dr. Palter has written, on the radical transformation of surgery. Mighty GruntDoc , probably the most consistent contributor to Grand Rounds and current favorite to reach Four-Time Host status first, submits this analysis of a case where law and medicine collided in the ED. The blogger On The Wards digs deeper into an intriguing new finding on obesity -- are certain bacteria responsible for making you fat? A new blogger on the scene, Sandy Szwarc, whose blog Junk Food Science argues from the perpective of en...

Great fan of the NHS Blog Doctor - such a spoofy, yet real insight into a health system where you have to get a consent form before giving an injection! Here's to hoping that Dr John Crippen Esquire - take's a look at some of the fantastic medical blogs coming out of South Africa! Read more here... NHS Blog Doctor: The BritMeds Or take a turn by some of SA's finest... All Scrubbed Up (you're on it, wombat) Just up the Dose (angsty, studenty, funny) Try not to Kill yourself this Year (pity it's closing) I actually thought there were a couple more when starting this post. Hmm. Any others out there? I'm sure I'm missing a bunch...