When you need to breathe, not just any pen will do

Ball point pens are not all equivalent, suggests this emergency-medical study: “Airflow efficacy of ballpoint pen tubes: a consideration for use in bystander cricothyrotomy,” David Owens, Ben Greenwood, Alistair Galley, Alun Tomkinson, Sarah Woolley, Emergency Medicine Journal, 2010;27:317-320. (Thanks to investigator @MsCelsius for bringing this to our attention.) The authors, at Princess of Wales Hospital, […]

An alarming cherry — further food-derived medical terms

We have looked at the strawberry as a food-derived medical term. Today: the cherry. First, savor this article with an alarming title: Diaz K, Malave A. “Cherry Red Emergency”: Acute Epiglottitis Requiring Surgical Airway, Chest, 2012; 142 (4_MeetingAbstracts), 12A-12A. Here is more information elaborating on the cherry red epiglottis (a flap of tissue at the tongue’s back […]

Terry Jones takes on technology

Terry Jones, of Monty Python and other fame, interviewed by The Observer on the subject of technology. (The unrelated photo below shows Mr. Jones assisting Dr. Elena Bodnar, inventor of the brassiere that in an emergency can be quickly converted into a pair of protective face masks. That demonstration happened on the 2010 Ig Nobel […]