PHOTO: STEVE GSCHMEISSNER/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY


WHAT ARE WE LOOKING AT? Nasal epithelium, SEM


www.mddus.com OUT THERE


EAT YOUR HEART OUT Fungal toenail cookies, red blood cell cupcakes and polycystic kidney cakes were among the attractions at an exhibition in the Pathology Museum at St Bart’s, London. Curated by freelance artist Emma Thomas, it aimed to raise awareness of disease. Her next project is an edible autopsy.


MEDICINAL CHOCOLATEAn Australian study in the BMJ revealed dark chocolate has antihypertensive, anti- inflammatory, antithrombotic and metabolic effects, thanks to its high polyphenol content. It suggests eating dark chocolate could even be cost-effective in the primary prevention of cardiovascular events.


CLINICAL CLOTHES “Smart clothing” could help patients with life threatening conditions such as diabetes and obesity. Tiny sensors and electronics embedded in fabric monitor temperature or blood sugar levels and could one day administer insulin to the wearer. Source: The Herald


EGGSHELLENT IDEA Slow boiled quails eggs are being used to train juniors in endoscopic nasal surgery. They’re embedded in the orbit or attached to the lateral wall of the maxillary sinus in a model made of synthetic materials. Inaccurate drilling can crack the membrane, with protruding egg white mimicking extrusion of orbital fat from periorbital injury. Source: BMJ


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FY 15i •


Pick: DVD - Call the Midwife (Series 1) WHAT ARE WE LOOKING AT?


Stumped? The answer is at the bottom of the page


Created by Heidi Thomas; Starring Jessica Raine, Miranda Hart, Jenny Agutter; 2012


Call The Midwife Series One is available from BBC DVD


EXPECTING to be posted at a private hospital, newly-qualified midwife Jenny Lee (Raine) is shocked to arrive at convent Nonnatus House and discover she will be caring for families in the slums of east London. Set in the 1950s, this BBC One smash hit drama charts the progress of Jenny and her fellow midwives


Book Review: Bad Pharma – How drug companies mislead doctors and harm patients, by Ben


Goldacre Fourth Estate; £13.99


Review by Jim Killgore, publications editor, MDDUS


BEN Goldacre makes a pointed if rather mischievous observation in the introduction to his most recent book – Bad Pharma. “Today, when an academic or doctor tells you that they are working for the pharmaceutical industry, they often do so with a look of quiet embarrassment.” Just what might engender this embarrassment is the subject of over 400 pages of compelling argument – how a £600 billion industry reaps vast profits by routinely misleading doctors,


during the early days of the NHS as they cope with the births, deaths, romances and intrigues of the local community.


It vividly brings to life the brutal reality of overcrowding, grinding poverty and filthy conditions endured by the city’s post-war poor while also offering some genuinely heart-felt, funny and feel-good moments. The mishaps of posh but well-meaning newbie midwife Chummy Browne (Hart),


patients and regulators over the efficacy of some of the drugs it produces. Goldacre writes:


“Drugs are tested by people who manufacture them, in poorly designed trials, on hopelessly small numbers of weird, unrepresentative patients, and analysed using techniques which are flawed by design, in


such a way to exaggerate the benefits of treatments. Unsurprisingly, these trials tend to produce results that favour the manufacturer.” The book is unashamedly “pop science” but a much more demanding read than his previous bestseller Bad Science. Goldacre sets out in painstaking detail his case against the current system of drug development and evaluation. “Some of this stuff is hard,” he admits. “That’s precisely why these problems have been


as she struggles even to ride a bike, provide some of the best moments of light relief in this well- written and expertly balanced drama based on the memoirs of Jennifer Worth.


Told over six episodes, season one’s mixture of light-hearted nostalgia and moving stories of the real-life challenges faced by London’s working class families has helped make it BBC One’s most successful new drama since 2001.


ignored.” But this is not to say Bad Pharma is a dull read. The book is enlivened by Goldacre’s passion and, at points, raw anger over how doctors making prescribing decisions in good faith and on the available evidence can be cynically misled over the best treatment for their patients. Much of the material is shocking – case after


case of pharma companies knowingly suppressing data from negative clinical trials to ensure drugs are marketable, often with the unwitting connivance of regulators. He describes drug trials rigged to yield desired results, doctors paid to extol the virtues of a particular drug, journals publishing positive reviews on the promise of expensive advertising and reprints, ghost-written articles by industry insiders – the rot is deep and many years in the making. There are solutions such as well-policed


registers to ensure negative clinical trials are not buried – and Goldacre does see encouraging signs. Certainly this is an important book that needed to be written.


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