My son is home from law school, which is terrific. He brought his laptop, which apparently has a good, or a series of good, malware programs.

The combo has it so his IE won’t go to windows update, other addresses get hijacked in the browser, and it seems to prevent Spybot Search and Destroy from launching. Likewise Adaware.

I tried running Spybot from a copy on USB, no luck. The antivirus cannot find it, let alone fix it.

Ideas?

From the Telegraph.co.uk:

Doctors have reported the first ever case of someone using the internet while asleep, after a sleeping woman sent emails to people asking them over for drinks and caviar.

The 44-year-old woman, whose case is reported by researchers from the University of Toledo in the latest edition of medical journal Sleep Medicine, had gone to bed at around 10pm, but got up two hours later and walked to the next room.

She then turned on the computer, connected to the internet, and logged on by typing her username and password to her email account. She then composed and sent three emails.

Really, how do these cases wind up in doctors’ offices?  I have experience with med-induced sleep driving, but that’s a different tale…

Dr. Glauser at EMNews vents his spleen a bit about a general feeling that Primary Care needs more funding:

Say what? Fund physicians to promote primary care? Why throw good money after bad? If ever there was a group that has failed in providing care, it is our primary care system. To fund such a venture for groups that are singularly inept at performing anything of value to society is pure folly and a waste of precious health care dollars.

This did not pass unnoticed by an excellent primary care blogger, Dr. Rob at Musings of a Distractible Mind:

This guy is not arguing, he is ranting.  Why?  My suspicion is that he sees the fact that increased reimbursement for primary care physicians means potentially decreased reimbursement for emergency physicians.  That does not mean you shouldn’t trust his arguments – he could use the same against me.

Read them both, and join the argument.  I’m for paying primary care better, because they need some more flexibility (though I have my concerns, too).

Hmm, I’ve not seen this at work in the ED (though I have injured myself at home with similar problems, so I won’t say it doesn’t happen. 

HEALTH & SCIENCE

Ho ho woes: Wrap rage results in lacerations and bad tempers

Emergency department doctors report that thousands get medical attention annually for wounds related to packaging.

By Victoria Stagg Elliott, AMNews staff. Dec. 22, 2008.

---

Images of colorfully wrapped presents under a Christmas tree are not supposed to trigger feelings of frustration and risks of possible injury. But trends in the packaging of many popular gifts have been diagnosed as the cause of this scenario — what sometimes is called "wrap rage."

The real culprit, of course, is the "clamshell" or "oyster" packaging that encases many toys, electronics and other products. These hard plastic containers have emerged as a favorite of manufacturers and retailers because they protect items during shipping and prevent theft from store shelves, while still allowing shoppers to see what they are buying. The problem for consumers, though, is that these coverings are intensely difficult to remove — often requiring tools, muscle and swearing. Sometimes the experience results in a trip to the hospital.

Get a package opener (I have one, and it works terribly well).

Dr. Wes: Paracetamoxyfrusebendroneomycin

Sounds like the Conchords, singing about the next big drug.  Worth the three minutes.

Cleaning today, I came across the information for my first desktop computer, a 1997 Gateway.

We’re come a long way from the Pentium 166 with 32 MB RAM and a 2.5GB HDD.

Aah, memories.

My favorite safety gear, bar none:

Another head saved.

Continuing his takeover of Medical Blogging:

Q&A

Primary Care’s Primary Advocate

David Whelan, 12.12.08, 12:31 PM EST

Forbes talks with Dr. Kevin Pho of KevinMD.com about health policy matters as President Obama takes office.

Kevin Pho, an internal medicine doctor in Nashua, N.H., has a busy medical practice. But he’s also become an influential voice as the country embarks on another round of health reform under President Obama and “health czar” Thomas Daschle. Pho runs KevinMD.com, the most popular doctor blog.

It’s a good interview.  I see a future HHS Chairman…

Bewerewolves: Fullest Moon in 15 Years Tonight | Wired Science from Wired.com
Prepare yourself for a sight tonight — not to mention some wild behavior, if the legends are true. The biggest full moon in 15 years is set to grace the northern hemisphere tonight.

Because the moon orbits along an egg-shaped ellipse, not a circle, its distance from us changes. Today, the moon is approaching its nearest point to Earth, so it should look about 14 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter than this year’s other full moons, according to NASA.

This should be interesting.  I’ll see it and dread the result on the way in.  Yippee!

Zimbabwe introduces $500 million note – CNN.com

That must sound really good.

The Aerospace Genius (which I called him even before this) has yet another birthday today.

Many happy returns, from all of us.

As the inaugural winner (like you could forget) I’m duty bound and pleased to pass this along:

Welcome to the 2008 Medical Weblog Awards!

This is the fifth year of the competition. These awards are designed to showcase the best blogs from the medical blogosphere, and to highlight the exciting and useful role medical blogs play in medicine and in society.

The categories for this year’s awards are:

– Best Medical Weblog

– Best New Medical Weblog (established in 2008)

– Best Literary Medical Weblog

– Best Clinical Sciences Weblog

– Best Health Policies/Ethics Weblog

– Best Medical Technologies/Informatics Weblog

– Best Patient’s Blog

This is MedGadget’s award, so put your nominations in the comments there.  Thanks again to MedGadget for having this competition, and to Epocrates for sponsoring this award.

Primary school teacher who told children: ‘Santa does not exist’ is fired | Mail Online
A primary school teacher who left a class of 25 pupils in tears after she told told them Santa Claus did not exist has been fired..

When excited youngsters became rowdy as they talked about Santa, the supply teacher blurted out: ‘It’s your parents who leave out presents on Christmas Day.’

The class of seven-year-olds at Blackshaw Lane Primary School, Royton, near Oldham, Greater Manchester burst into tears and told their parents when they arrived home.

The grinch here was a substitute teacher, whose career there just ended.

Somebody’s getting coal in their stocking…

Umm, this seems like it’s going to suffer from split-focus when they go recruiting, but maybe someone out there knows of an instance where this has been tried before?

The University of North Texas Health Science Center is considering a plan to offer M.D. degrees, in addition to the osteopathic program that it historically has provided to physicians-in-training.

University President Scott Ransom this week notified students and faculty that the Fort Worth medical school will do a "complete evaluation of various proposals" to create the MD program.

The science center’s Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine now offers a D.O. degree, with most graduates going on to practice primary care such as general internal medicine and pediatrics.
…
In his message to students, Ransom said the university is contemplating the addition of the MD degree in order to expand training opportunities and recruit a total class of 250 medical students.

I don’t get it.  Be a proud DO school, be a new allopathic school, but make a choice.  (I think this is a start on a change from DO to MD school, but that’s just a guess and based on nothing whatsoever).

The National Report Card on the State of Emergency Medicine came out a couple of days ago, and I finally got around to looking at mine today.

Hmm, a C.  I guess I’ll have to get someone to sign mine before I take it back…

Despite receiving solid marks for its Quality and Patient Safety Environment and having one of the best Medical Liability Environments in the country, Texas continues to face significant problems, particularly in the area of Access to Emergency Care.

Strengths. Texas has the third lowest average malpractice award payment in the nation ($148,495), reflecting the multitude of medical liability reforms that have been enacted…

Challenges. Access to Emergency Care in Texas is in crisis. The state has the highest rates of uninsured children and adults (21.2 and 25.8 percent, respectively), and ranks among the lowest states regarding access to all types of providers…

Frankly, if they don’t grade on a curve nobody’s going to do well on this test.

See your state’s results here.

Update: symtym has pictures for the whole US.  They’re not pretty.