Nova Scotia Scott

Dr Andrew Wakefield sparked a major international scare with his 1998 article purporting to find a link between autism and the triple vaccine against measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR). An in-depth investigation by The Sunday Times of London has discovered that his results were based on falsified data. The research was published in February 1998 [...]

The Japanese government maintains that, because it pays for citizens’ health care, it must monitor everyone’s diet and lifestyle and correct those who may impose “excessive” costs on the system. Imagine a country where the government regularly checks the waistlines of citizens over age 40. Anyone deemed too fat would be required to undergo diet [...]

This is welcome news: An imam in central Afghanistan is giving full support to a government initiative to reduce maternal mortality by discouraging constant pregnancies and child marriage. Mohammad Tawasoli, an imam at a mosque in Wardak Province, central Afghanistan, tells the local community to maintain a two-year gap between pregnancies and avoid child marriage [...]

Since last June, two internationally renowned doctors have been held in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison on charges of communicating with an “enemy government”. At trial yesterday, the prosecutor levied additional charges that he refused to specify, making a cogent defence impossible. The Iranian government’s December 31 trial of Dr. Arash Alaei and Dr. Kamiar Alaei [...]

Saudis have several cultural prejudices against women who enter the field of medicine, according to a Saudi blogger. The women will end up married to their careers Women will work in mixed environments (medical facilities are not segregated like the rest of the work world in KSA) The women will end up getting married late [...]

Two newly published studies suggest that male circumcision reduces the risk of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection and cervical cancer. Dr Carrie Nielson of the Oregon Health & Science University, lead researcher on one of the studies, says this demonstrates that male circumcision could provide substantial health benefits for women. Combined with earlier evidence that circumcision [...]

A private consultant commissioned by the Government of Alberta to suggest policies aimed at alleviating the shortage of nurses has offered a novel “solution”—pressure nurses already working to put in more hours. Right! That will absolutely make nursing a more attractive profession. For some strange reason, however, Alberta nurses don’t see it that way. Alberta [...]

For many years, India and other countries in Asia have been seeing an unnaturally large preponderance of boys over girls. Such unbalanced sex ratios are attributable to sex-selection abortions motivated by cultural and financial preferences for male children. A study led by Dr S.V. Subramanian of the Harvard School of Public Health has found that, [...]

Heavy wooden and ornamental toilet seats have recently become trendy, but doctors have noticed that such seats can fall down and injure penises of male toddlers. Ouch! Writing in the December issue of BJU International, Dr Joe Philip and his colleagues at Leighton Hospital, Crewe, report on four boys under the age of four, who [...]

That would be “House” as in Gregory House M.D. (at right), the cynical, obnoxious, and arrogant lead character of the mega-hit TV show. Apparently, there are too many real doctors like him out there. Hospital staff surveys indicate that low morale and staff turnover are sometimes attributable to abusive behaviour by doctors. Recent studies suggest [...]

Thirty million children in northern Nigeria are to be immunised against polio and measles, even though “radical Muslim clerics and some medical doctors” claim the vaccines are part of an American plot to sterilise girls and depopulate the world. For five days 200,000 health workers will be stationed at 33,000 schools throughout northern Nigeria to [...]

Isn’t the purpose of a regional health authority to provide health services?  Nova Scotia’s Capital Health District seems to have trouble with that concept. Capital district health authority administrators said Tuesday they’re planning to cope with a projected $7-million budget deficit by authorizing, among other things, lighter schedules for operating rooms, less discretionary spending, reductions [...]

Men With Facial Scars Are More Attractive To Women Seeking Short-term Relationships — Science Daily, 19 November Sleep helps people learn complex tasks — Booster Shots (L.A. Times Health Blog), 18 November

A new study from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found that babies conceived by assisted reproductive technology, including in vitro fertilisation, are two to four times more likely than naturally conceived babies to develop heart abnormalities and other birth defects. The findings applied to single births only, not to twins or [...]

Not just religious people in general but, specifically, Calvinists. New Scientist reports an intriguing study on religion and perception of physical reality. Bernhard Hommel, Head of the Cognitive Psychology Unit, University of Leiden, has found evidence that Calvinists have better visual perception skills than do atheists.  The visual acuity of 40 Calvinists and 40 atheists [...]