KIMS plans a meeting for interns

In light of changing the new regulations describing the pathway of specialty training in Kuwait, the Kuwaiti Institute of Medical Specialties (KIMS) arranged a meeting for the interns in order to address concerns regarding their future career plans (see pictures).

I thank Ali Mohsen for forwarding the above pictured documents from the facebook page of one of the junior doctors working in Kuwait.

Qatar=Cornell, UAE=Harvard, Saudi=Hopkins, Bahrain=RCSI, Kuwait=Nothing

As I was browsing through medical news today, the headline 'Leading Ophthalmological Centres In The United States and Saudi Arabia Announce Affiliation' caught my eye. Apparently, the Wilmer Eye Institue of John Hopkins (which has held the top spot in USNews' annual hospital ranking since 1990) will be collaborating with King Khaled Specialist Eye Hospital in Riyadh in the following areas: patient care, education and research. Click here to read article

How come every country in the Gulf, except Kuwait, is setting up international medical collaborations? Qatar has an Ivy League medical school, Dubai has Harvard Research Foundation, plus Tawam Hospital has a John Hopkins affiliation and even Bahrain has the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. We got zip!

The opportunities such collaborations would open up for patients and doctors are invaluable. Does anyone know why we are so behind?

You can have open heart surgery whilst wide awake

This is a real image. Click here to read more about it

Apparently, this open heart surgery procedure, which only uses an epidural as an anesthetic was developed in India and you can buy a DVD to learn how to do it.

Talk on your mobile phone longer to prevent dementia!

Research led by University of South Florida at the Florida Alzheimer's Disease Research Centre (ADRC) has shown that radiation from mobile phones protected and reversed Alzheimer's disease in mice (published in this issue of the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease). Phone radiation exposure reduced the amount of beta amyloid, which is thought to be the cause of the brain insult in Alzheimer's disease. Amazingly, the radiation not only preserved the memories of the mice but also improved it . Click here to read more

So apparently talking a lot on your mobile phone and smoking are good ways to prevent Alzheimer's disease. Kuwait should have the lowest rates of dementia in the world!

However take all this with a pinch of salt. The ADRC study is very preliminary and only done in a small number of mice that are genetically modified. Human brains are different and the mutant mice might have disease biology that is different to the naturally occurring disease. Also, there's a study that shows that smoking doubles your chances of getting Alzheimer's. Older studies, that demonstrated that smokers are less likely to have Alzheimer's disease were retrospective studies that were aided by the fact that smokers die younger than non-smokers and hence die before they reach old age, which would put them at a higher risk of developing the disease.

Mending bones using trees??

Using small pieces of wood to regenerate broken bones is one of 10 health innovations in CNN's 'Top 10 Health Innovations of 2009'. Time magazine also lists its top '10 Medical Breakthroughs for 2009', including the first mice created from adult cells. Interestingly, the only discovery both lists mention is the swine flu vaccine. Here are both lists; click on the heading to view full article:

CNN's Top 10 Health Innovations in 2009:

1. Swine Flu Vaccine

2. Electric Eye

3. Lyric Hearing Aid

4. Wooden Bones

5. Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) Therapy

6. Anti-viral biomask

7. Antimicrobial paint

8. Electronic Stethoscope

9. JaipurKnee

10. Warm Organ Perfusion Device

Time's Top 10 Medical Breakthroughs in 2009:

1. New Mammography Guidlines

2. AIDS vaccine

3. Funding Ban Lifted on Stem-Cell-Research

4. H1N1 Vaccine

5. Stem-Cell-Created Mice

6. Prostate-Cancer Screening

7. New Research on Autism

8. New Drug for Osteoporosis

9. New Alzheimer's Genes

10. Brown Fat in Adults