Warning: Not for the squemish. Catherine takes us on a tour of the history of surgery in all it’s pre-painkiller, pre-antiseptic glory and then head to the present and future with demos of some of the newest tools for surgery, nimble robot hands able to work through the smallest of surgical incisions.

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Used for years as a  resource for medical students, this museum at the University of New South Wales has more than 2,000 cadaver parts on display.

It’s not for the weak of stomach. There’s a blackened smoker’s lung on one side and a  nectrotic ulcer the size of a cricket ball n the other. The two disembodied white thumbs, macabrely sit in a ’thumbs up’ gesture against a dark background (possibly a little med school humor). There’s a gangrenous foot, a nodular goitre, and an egg-shaped breast cancer.

It might sound pretty grisly but sights like this can be a powerful educational tool, giving people a first hand look at how lifestyle choices can affect the body.

The museum is located on the ground floor of the Samuels Building in the Upper Sydney Campus area

(source)

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Would you go as far as Stubbins Ffirth, a 19th century doctor who smeared himself with vomit and other bodily fluids from yellow-fever suffers to prove it wasn’t a contagious disease?

Or tape a sample of radium salts to your arm for 10 hours as Pierre Cuire did in his desire to find out how radiation might help in the treatment of cancer?

Probably not.

Read more about these and other extraordinary scientists who put their lives on the line for the sake of knowledge at New Scientist’s fascinating (and somewhat gross) article Eight scientists who became their own guinea pigs.

(image by Gaetan Lee)

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For example, 105 year old Clare says ‘No Sex is secret to longevity’. That might have worked for her, but most people would be thinking ‘what’s the fun in that’. Long life, no sex – no thanks.

Meanwhile, a 113 Japanese man suggests that the ‘the key to long life is abstaining from alcohol’.

But for those of us who aren’t so keen on these ways of ensuring a long, long life, meet Li Ching-Yun. Not only did he believe in sex (he had 23 wives) but also lived on rice and wine. All this, and he lived, according to various reports, to the ripe old age of 256! Now that’s what I call longevity.

Li Ching-Yun’s secret to longevity…

“Keep a quiet heart, sit like a tortoise, walk sprightly like a pigeon and sleep like a dog.”

In other words, maintaining inward calm and peace of mind. Sounds like great advice.

Of course, he lived in an entirely different time (18-20th century) when life was slower and less complicated – a wireless society where finding peace and quiet was much easier.

Still, maintaining inward calm and peace of mind wouldn’t be such a bad thing to aim for this holiday season.

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Pay patients to go to the doctor? – in England, Health Service Managers are looking at ways to get people in unhealthy people in the lower social economic rankings to visit the doctor. The thinking is that if you can get people to the doctor earlier, before chronic illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease set in, the government health system would save money. It makes sort of makes sense. But the idea is getting flack from politicans and medical experts alike who say that the government shouldn’t be bribing people to stay healthy.

‘World’s Fattest Man’ to Marry After Massive Diet – after two years of dieting, Manuel Uribe, the world’s heaviest man and his girlfriend are set to wed this month. Originally weighing in a couple of years ago at 1,235 pounds, the 43 year old Manual has shed around 700 pounds.

Something of a celebrity, Manual has been giving telephone advice to Jose Luis Garza, another determined dieter who weighs in at around 990 pounds.

Discover the surgical tools of Ancient Rome at the Historical Collections & Services of the Health Sciences Library, University of Virginia. Excavated from the House of the Surgeon at Pompeii, looking at this collection of instruments makes you realize how far medical science has come (and how lucky we are that it has advanced so far).

As for the bizarre, how about this cookbook by a Russian chef called ‘Cooking with Balls’. Featuring testicle pizza, battered testicles and barbecued testicles with giblets recipes made from the sex organs of ostriches, bulls, pigs, turkeys and stallions, this e-book is definitely ‘one of a kind’ and not for the faint hearted.

And that’s it for this week’s Monday Sidebar…

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But sometimes it’s hard to remember it all, and sometimes we just don’t know all there is to know about Gram and Gramps, right?

Well now there may be a viable solution: MyFamilyHealth.com.

From the company, here are some of the benefits:

• MyFamilyHealth.com is the most advanced online family health history tracking tool and compliant with the latest recommendations from the US Department of Health and Human Services.
• The site addresses the key problems of how to effectively gather, organize and analyze this information, making it easier than ever before.
• It will cost nothing except your time.
• You can create a rich, evolving and medically useful record with your family, for your family.
• You’ll discover and learn about the health problems that run in your family, including conditions that might not otherwise be considered by your physician.
• You’ll discover if you or your family members could benefit from specific diagnostic, genetic or screening tests.
• You’re able to join an online community and share information with others who have the same health interests as you (coming soon).
• You’ll help your physician to help you: share your family health history with your physician and receive better guidance to delay, improve or even prevent bad health.
• You may import your family tree from genealogy sites like geni.com and ancestry.com.

Sounds interesting, doesn’t it? MyFamilyHealth.com states that they’re constantly looking to improve their website and value all feedback. If you give it a try, do let us know what you think.

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So if you’re on the road this summer and don’t mind a little ’shock and gore’, stop by a medical museum or two. You’ll be amazed (and relieved) by how far the practice of medicine has come.

Here’s four medical museums definitely worth visiting:

The Mutter Museum in Philadelphia was orginally established as a place for trainee doctors to go and learn about anatomy and human anomalies. It’s those anomalies – such as the preserved body of the ‘Soap Lady’ and a cancerous growth removed from President Grover Cleveland – that now draw the public to it’s doors.

The Glore Psychiatric Museum is housed in former ‘State Lunatic Asylum No. 2′ building in St Joseph, Missouri,. From medical artifacts such as a tranquilizing chair and a dousing tank to exhibits featuring the ‘1,446 Objects Swallowed by a Patient’ and the ‘television diary’, this museum will leave you speechlss, spellbound, and mighty relieved that the days of such barbaric medical treatment is well and truly over.

The International Museum of Surgical Science in Chicago offers a diverse collection of surgical memoriabilia and artefacts from the around the world. Spread out over four floors, the exhibits include early 20th century X-Ray machines, trephining (skull drilling) instruments and an iron lung. The museum’s newest exhibit, Beyond Broken Bones, looks at the history (from the ancient Egyptians to modern day) of orthopedics and prothestics.

The National Museum of Health and Medicine in Washington D.C. is a goldmine for American history buffs. Here you can see not only the bullet that killed Abraham Lincoln but also the probe used to locate the bullet and the blood stained shirt cuff of the surgeon who attended Lincoln’s autopsy. Other permanent displayss include ‘Medicine During the Civil War’ and ‘Battlefield Surgery 101.’

Know of any Medical Museums to add to the list ?

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This article on New York Times.com shares the experience of a doc dabbling in the world of patient email. What’s described are instances of near-misses, frustrated patients, and an equally frustrated doctor. Mind you, he is a mental health professional, but I wonder if the same could be true across the board.

His deduction? For simple things like changing appointment times, refilling scripts and the like, email is a magical thing. But if there’s a major medical question or something’s burning on your mind, it’s best to call or maybe even head in.

So what are your thoughts? Does your doc have an email system? Do you get the answers you seek in a timely manner? Or is there nothing that can replace good ‘ol fashioned face-to-face meetings? Leave us a comment and let us know…

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This guy in France has created renewed debate about when is a person really dead. Seems that his heart stopped for an hour and a half, giving doctors cause to believe he was dead. But just before they started the prep to remove his organs for transplants, his breathing and heartbeat resumed and he began regaining consciousness.

Going Bald for Charity Can Cause Loss of Job

A kind hearted waitress recently discovered that doing a good deed doesn’t always pay. Wanting to raise money for a cancer research charity, Stacey Fearnall donated her hair. But her boss isn’t keen on having bald service people, so has told her not to come back to work until her hair grows back (or she wears a wig).

The Real Bionic Woman

A 49 year old woman who suffers from severe rheumatoid arthritis is close to becoming a bionic woman. Over the past twenty years, most her joints have been replaced. In fact, the only ones left that she can truly call her own are the right elbow and left hip. And the left hip is due to go soon…

Pregnant Man Soon to Give Birth

In less than four weeks, medical history will be made with the first pregnant man giving birth and he’s celebrating with an interview and pictures with the British News of the World newspaper.

And finally…

Meet the ‘potty whisperer’

Meet the ‘Potty Whisperer’

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Source: Dr. Bonkers presents
The Nearly Genuine and Truly Marvelous
Psychoneuropharmacological Mental Medicine Show

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