Category Archives: For Doctors

COVID19 – low German death rates, can we learn from 1918?

Bismillah, alhamdulillah: The Washington Post headline notes that the German Case Fatality Rate (CFR) is a lot lower than Italy. Here are the figures I have sourced from Worldometers, with a ten day difference. The figures are filtered for countries with more than 5000 cases and arranged by high-to-low case fatality ratio (deaths/number of cases).Continue reading “COVID19 – low German death rates, can we learn from 1918?”

2019 new Corona Virus (2019-nCoV) – ‘made’ in China

Bismillah, alhamdulillah: with information flying rapidly around from ‘drink water often to prevent the spread of the new corona virus’ to ‘don’t order anything from China as the virus will be spread through the ordered items’, it was time to get some facts from the virus experts at This Week in Virology (TWiV) who interviewedContinue reading “2019 new Corona Virus (2019-nCoV) – ‘made’ in China”

The power of English in a graph and a new area of research that may link doctors and engineers – MELF & EELF

Bismillah, alhamdulillah: I came across this graph (see below) that shows the rise of the English language in the medical field around 10 years after the second world war and the decline of its competitors [1]. It is leading to a new area of research called Medical English as a Lingua Franca (MELF) which isContinue reading “The power of English in a graph and a new area of research that may link doctors and engineers – MELF & EELF”

T2DM +ACR high, already on ACE – what else can we do?

Bismillah, alhamdulillah: it seems that Canagliflozin can help, at least that is what one trial of over 4000+ Diabetics with impaired eGFR suggests as per Uptodate. It reduces ESRD and hospitalization for heart failure when compared to placebo. The trial funding source was not clear and the medication is contraindicated if the eGFR is underContinue reading “T2DM +ACR high, already on ACE – what else can we do?”

Hope for Traumatic Spinal Injury with stem cell therapy – Dr Mohamad Bydon

Bismillah, alhamdulillah: this was brought to my attention when I was sent a Whatsapp video clip of a man who had a traumatic spinal injury, was unable to walk, had stem cell therapy and now could walk. Is it true, doctor? The clip came from Good Morning America and shows an interview with a patientContinue reading “Hope for Traumatic Spinal Injury with stem cell therapy – Dr Mohamad Bydon”

A useful tool for septic v reactive arthritis in kids (Kocher Criteria)

Bismillah, alhamdulillah: A medical student drew my attention to the Kocher Criteria for Septic Arthritis. Great idea: in short if 2 out of 4 are positive the child needs a referral to secondary care to rule-out septic arthritis with a likely joint aspiration. 4 key things to look for: Non-weight bearing Temp >38.5 Celsius ESRContinue reading “A useful tool for septic v reactive arthritis in kids (Kocher Criteria)”

From health to illness

Bismillah, alhamdulillah, great quotation: A healthy man is, above all, a man of this earth, and he must, therefore, only live the life of this earth for the sake of order and completeness. But as soon as he falls ill, as soon as the normal earthly order of his organism is disturbed, the possibility ofContinue reading “From health to illness”