Carter's
MEDICAL
MISCELLANY
Dr. Warwick Carter
MB.BS., FRACGP, FAMA
Miscellany - noun - Separate articles or studies on a subject, or compositions of various kinds, collected into one volume. A literary work or production containing miscellaneous pieces on various subjects. (OED)
These egregiously piquant peccadilloes of allopathic and homeopathic epistemology offer some chthonic edification extra mural to the canonical modes of the medical quidnunc.
They are of inestimable significance to the virtuosity and animus of the therapist. These profoundly sagacious enunciations have been serendipitously gleaned from a wide amplitude of unerringly reliable provenances including my therial janizzaries.
INTRODUCTION
Doctors encounter some extraordinary and unusual facts during their training and careers, some of which are totally useless to the practice of medicine, but never the less interesting. This is a collection of just such information.
This is not a dictionary, guide book, encyclopaedia or vademecum, just a miscellany of fascinating facts gleaned from a more than 30 year career in medicine, and the research necessary to write twenty other books that cover everything from postgraduate pathology texts to simple question and answer collections for lay people.
In no way can the veracity of the facts within be vouched for, but to the best of my limited knowledge, they are true. As a result, no action should be taken on the basis of this information unless a doctor's opinion is sought.
This collection is designed primarily to intrigue, secondly to entertain, and rarely to educate.
Please enjoy..
Warwick Carter
NB: No responsibility is taken for anything at all!
MEDICAL MISCELLANY
EAR WAX
Women who have soft ear wax have a much higher risk of breast cancer than those with hard ear wax..
ID, EGO, SUPEREGO
The Id, Ego and Superego are terms used in Freudian psychoanalytic theory (a method of assessing the personality). The ego describes the conscious sense of the self - the 'I' - which is the part of the personality that deals with the outside world by maintaining a balance between the drives of the id (primitive, unconscious instincts) and the restrains of the superego (the conscience or set of moral values).
PNEUMONOULTRAMICROSCOPICSILICOVOLCANIOSIS
The above word (I can't be bothered typing it again in lower case) is the longest word used in medicine, and for obvious reasons it is used rarely. It is a lung disease caused by breathing in the microscopic particles of ash emitted by a volcano..
STRENGTH
Kilogram for kilogram, men are 37% stronger than women.
AIDS HISTORY
The story of AIDS begins in central Africa, where it is now believed a form of AIDS has existed in apes for thousands of years. These animals come into close contact with humans in this area, and are butchered and eaten by the local population. At some stage in the early part of the 1900s, the virus spread from apes to humans. In apes, due to natural selection over many generations, the virus causes few or no symptoms, and is harmless.
The AIDS virus has been isolated from old stored tissue samples dated in the 1950's, found in Kinshasa hospital, Zaire. From Africa, AIDS spread to Haiti in the Caribbean. Haiti was ruled by a vicious dictator (Papa Doc Duvalier), and many Haitian Negroes fled to Africa to avoid persecution.
