Articles to tickle your humerus.

January 28, 2009 5:53 AM

The Canadian Medical Association Journal's archive of humorous medical articles.See, for example, why Pooh needs help, why Tintin needs a dose of HGH, and an exhortation to abolish the law of gravity.
posted by kldickson (15 comments total)

LEAVE TINTIN ALONE!
posted by Spatch at 5:56 AM on January 28 [2 favorites has favorites]

Awesome. I am quite invested in Room for dessert: An expanded anatomy of the stomach.
posted by gaspode at 6:10 AM on January 28

Room for dessert

I perfer the conservatory but the small salon will do as well.
posted by The Whelk at 6:49 AM on January 28 [1 favorite has favorites]

I was getting dressed and I fell on it.
posted by StickyCarpet at 6:52 AM on January 28

Between this and the BMJ articles linked a few posts down, I am glad I have an office day today to catch up on the medical literature.
posted by TedW at 6:58 AM on January 28

This looks interesting.
posted by CaptKyle at 7:08 AM on January 28

I don't think it was published in the CMAJ, but here's a classic, at least among ER doctors: Streptokinase versus alteplase and other treatments for acute and delayed thrombolysis of blood stains in clothing.
posted by jedicus at 7:52 AM on January 28

That one about the guy who overdosed because the pharmacist couldn't read the doctor's handwriting is hilarious.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 7:58 AM on January 28 [1 favorite has favorites]

The best part of the Tintin article:

A.C and L.O.C. were actively involved in collecting data. C.C. wrote the article. The 3 authors reviewed the final version together. A.C and L.O.C. did not understand the following words: hypogonadism, panhypopituitarism, Spearman correlation and libido. C.C. explained to them that the words mean "no hair above the wee-wee because of a missing hormone," "a part of the brain that is not working," "a test to see if 2 things are connected" and "wanting to make love," respectively. After a lengthy discussion about hair and "wee-wees" and the meaning of "making love," the 3 authors gave their approval for publication.
posted by Johnny Assay at 8:22 AM on January 28 [1 favorite has favorites]

From Assessing Frontal Lobe Function in Physicians: We recognize, too, that our many betters at the Royal "This Is a Deadline" College will be disappointed that our approach to assessing doctors does not include confrontational testing and ritual humiliation by fully certified physicians.

Ha. As someone who has "human guinea pig" as a sort of hobby, I've definitely been led to believe that all medical testing requires ritual humiliation to have any sort of efficacy.
posted by grapefruitmoon at 8:32 AM on January 28

The British Medical Journal has a tradition of running humourous papers in their Decmeber issue. Some examples -- Sex, aggression and humor: responses to unicycling; Shaken, not stirred: a bioanalytical study of the antioxidant activities of martinis; Is golf bad for your hearing?. But it's always refreshing to be reminded that Canadians can push their humor beyond the limits of Newfie jokes.
posted by grounded at 8:40 AM on January 28

They seem to be missing the article about removal of impacted ear wax with a super soaker.

A novel method for the removal of ear cerumen.

Includes a photo of the procedure.

From the article:

Comments: The clinician operator of the device was impressed by the Super Soaker's ease of use for this procedure. Specifically, the ability to control a narrow, mildly pressurized jet of water was considered excellent. As well, the device only had to be refilled once or twice before the cerumen was removed from each ear. This is in contrast to his experience of requiring up to 10 or more refills of standard ear-syringing equipment. Using the Super Soaker in standard practice could then lead to decreased overall time spent on this procedure, resulting in shorter waiting times for patients through increased physician efficiency.
posted by GuyZero at 8:51 AM on January 28

from the letter on abolishing the law of gravity:

... the stratosphere will eventually become clogged with bodies, which will obliterate the sun. The lack of sunlight will affect the corn and barley crops, driving up the price of good whiskey.

This is why peer-review is essential.
posted by Panjandrum at 11:27 AM on January 28 [1 favorite has favorites]

Oh, God. This post--and my subsequent click-through to the Pooh article--coincided with my work on a paper on early childhood mental health assessment and treatment. My colleagues are getting a late Xmas present from me tomorrow. . .
posted by dlugoczaj at 1:27 PM on January 28

My favorite example of this kind of thing is the sublimely snarky BMJ article Hazardous journey: Parachute use to prevent death and major trauma related to gravitational challenge: systematic review of randomised controlled trials
posted by BrotherCaine at 3:11 PM on January 28 [1 favorite has favorites]