Funtabulously Frivolous Friday Five 191
Just when you thought your brain could unwind on a Friday, you realise that it would rather be challenged with some good old fashioned medical trivia FFFF, introducing the Funtabulously Frivolous Friday Five 191
Question 1
Hydroxycobalamin used as a cyanide antidote can discolour your skin and urine, but for how long?
Reveal the funtabulous answer
- Skin redness can last up to 2 weeks and urine redness up to 5 weeks.
Question 2
Who was Jack Fishman? This guy has probably saved more lives than anyone else apart from Florey & Fleming
Reveal the funtabulous answer
The inventor of naloxone along with Dr. Lewenstein.
He never made any money from his discovery due to the patent lapsing and insufficient funds to get another. One of the great ironies in his life was the death of his stepson from a heroin overdose, as at the time Florida would not allow lay people to have naloxone and Fishman (although not present) also could not access his own invention.
- Yardley W. Jack Fishman Dies at 83; Saved Many From Overdose. New York Times, 2013
- Castillo T. Who Invented Naloxone? 2015
Question 3
What is Cotard syndrome?
Reveal the funtabulous answer
Also known as nihilistic or negation delusion, it is a rare neuropsychiatric disorder in which a person holds a delusional belief that they are dead (either figuratively or literally), do not exist, are putrefying, or have lost their blood or internal organs
- Eponymictionary – Cotard syndrome
- Jules Cotard (1840 – 1889) was a French neurologist and psychiatrist.
Question 4
Eating pig’s blood is a delicacy in Vietnam (Tiet canh) and parts of China but it carries a significant health risk. What clinical syndrome can commonly occur?
Reveal the funtabulous answer
Meningitis in 68% of presentations according to the CDC.
There were approximately 700 cases of Streptococcus suis in 2009 worldwide but mainly in China and Vietnam.
- Huong et al. Epidemiology, Clinical Manifestations, and Outcomes of Streptococcus suis Infection in Humans 2014; 20(7)
Question 5
What is the Texas Sharpshooter phenomenon?
Reveal the funtabulous answer
The term refers to the story of the Texas sharpshooter who shoots holes in the side of a barn and then draws a bull’s-eye around the bullet holes.
It is a logical fallacy of importance in epidemiology and occurs when information that has no relationship is interpreted or manipulated until it appears to have meaning. Examples include the attribution of cancers to various environmental effects
- Gawande A. The cancer-cluster myth. 1999
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Funtabulously Frivolous Friday Five
Dr Neil Long BMBS FACEM FRCEM FRCPC. Emergency Physician at Kelowna hospital, British Columbia. Loves the misery of alpine climbing and working in austere environments (namely tertiary trauma centres). Supporter of FOAMed, lifelong education and trying to find that elusive peak performance.