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John Ross

@johnrossmd.bsky.social

13K followers 2.3K following 310 posts

Canadian in Boston. Hospitalist. FIDSA. #M4A #RaisetheWage #BLM #IDSky #GoHabsGo http://bit.ly/4mtlvaN

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John Ross @johnrossmd.bsky.social · Aug 1

Original research, climate change and infectious diseases: in a cohort of 1130 cases over 31 years, we saw a marked expansion of the Babesia season over time. The mean number of months/yr in which patients developed symptomatic babesiosis rose from 2.2 before 2000 to 9.2 after 2015 🧵 #IDSky

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John Ross @johnrossmd.bsky.social · 21h

Fawns playing on your lawn, sportive raccoons cavorting in your trash

John Ross @johnrossmd.bsky.social · 1d

Clofazimine is @paulsaxmd.bsky.social's choice for weirdest antibiotic, based on its dubious efficacy, unclear mechanism of action, and alarming side effects, such as ruddy skin discoloration

My Vote for the Weirdest Antibiotic on the Planet

If you’re an ID doctor, there’s an excellent chance you’ve treated patients who have non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) with clofazimine. In fact, based on a poll done with the utmost scientific rigor...

blogs.jwatch.org

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John Ross @johnrossmd.bsky.social · 1d

Penicillin, ivermectin, clofazimine #IDSky

Andy Reid in a bland suit, Travis Kelce in ugly

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Reposted by John Ross

Thomas [redacted] DO @tom.medsky.social · 1d

There is literally no basis for this. We have decades of data to show it makes no difference.

www.reuters.com/business/hea...

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John Ross @johnrossmd.bsky.social · 4d

From an essay by an American surgeon about his work in Gaza (disturbing content) www.nejm.org/doi/full/10....

One night we had 60 dead and 200 injured — or what Palestinians call “just another Tuesday.” People died on the floor waiting for care. One 5-year-old child lay on the ground. His intestines spilled out of his belly. His older brother begged me to help. I grabbed his hand and joined it with the child’s. I wanted to say, “I’m sorry. He’s gonna die. Just hold his hand until he does.” Instead, I just stared at him — and then left him there to pound the floor in grief as I took an undignified leap over a father grieving over his daughter’s mangled body to help triage the scores of wounded people still lying on the blood-smeared floor.

One child showed up barely holding on. An explosive blast had shattered her head open. A chunk of shrapnel stuck out of her skull. Fragments of gelatinous brain trickled out and stained her flowered shirt. She was somehow still alive, gasping for breath, blood foaming and bubbling through her mouth and nostrils — one of many cases deemed “hopeless.” We could not waste resources trying to save her, but we didn’t want her to die alone. So we took turns holding her hand until she died.

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John Ross @johnrossmd.bsky.social · 8d

Yikes. I knew Rife machines were a thing in the “Lyme-literate” world but this is bad

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John Ross @johnrossmd.bsky.social · 8d

In The Simpsons universe, antibiotic courses are either 4 or 8 days long

Homer Simpson, with 4 digits on each hand

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John Ross @johnrossmd.bsky.social · 9d

Seems inevitable now that the US will lose measles eradication status this year.

Measles outbreak growing in parts of Arizona and Utah, health officials say

Measles vaccination rates have plummeted in the neighboring communities over the last 10 years.

www.nbcnews.com

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Reposted by John Ross

J. Offir, PhD @joffirphd.bsky.social · 11d

Women's heart attacks often don't look like men's, & they're often caused by very different things. In women, myocardial infarction often isn't due to high cholesterol & plaque at all. (My arteries were clear!)

🔹️But "When the root cause of a heart attack is...

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share.google/jFwSthNZuZYD...

Half of Heart Attacks in Younger Women Aren't From Clogged Arteries

Traditionally, most heart attacks have been blamed on clogged arteries causing atherothrombosis – where blood clots block flow to the heart.

share.google

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John Ross @johnrossmd.bsky.social · 9d

Fun fact: the flayed skin is thought to be a Michelangelo self-portrait

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John Ross @johnrossmd.bsky.social · 9d

Faster commute during lockdown

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John Ross @johnrossmd.bsky.social · 9d

Boston, which is a haphazard maze of bits of swamp covered with landfill, is at high risk of such earthquake damage; in particular, the old unreinforced masonry buildings in the Back Bay could all tumble down

Yes, Boston Faces a Very Real Earthquake Risk

A repeat of the 1755 Cape Ann quake could devastate one of the nation’s oldest cities. But the costs of strengthening vulnerable buildings and infrastructure may not be worth it.

www.route-fifty.com

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John Ross @johnrossmd.bsky.social · 9d

In AD 1349, an earthquake destroyed the southern half of the exterior wall of the Roman Colosseum. The southern side was built on a dried-up tributary of the Tiber River, whose unstable alluvial soils liquified during the shaking www.nuquake.eu/Publications...

Aerial photo of the Roman Colosseum. The northern part of the exterior wall is preserved, while the southern half is gone

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John Ross @johnrossmd.bsky.social · 10d

MedBed but it’s a regular hospital bed with a parking meter attached that you have to keep paid up or it shuts off your life support

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John Ross @johnrossmd.bsky.social · 10d

Sean Penn’s walk in this is a marvel of physical acting, suggesting both testosterone poisoning and terminal constipation

Coolidge Corner Theatre @thecoolidge.bsky.social · 21d

ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER is now opening at the Coolidge in VistaVision! We've been selected as one of just 4 venues worldwide to screen Paul Thomas Anderson’s new film in one of the rarest formats ever. Opening Wed. 9/24. Get tickets now 🎞️ coolidge.org/vistavision 🎞️

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John Ross @johnrossmd.bsky.social · 11d

Wild times

[partial text of a complaint against David Geier for practicing without a medical license in Maryland]
The Board [The Maryland State Board of Physicians] bases its charges on the following facts that the Board has cause to believe are true:
1. The Respondent is not and never has been licensed to practice medicine or any other health occupation in the State of Maryland or any other State. The Respondent has a Bachelors of Art degree in biology from a Maryland State university. The Respondent has taken several graduate courses, but has not earned a graduate degree in
any specialty or discipline.
2. As detailed below, on October 8, 2008, the Board received a complaint from the mother ("Parent A") of a former patient of Dr. Mark R. Geier ("Patient A", below).4 Parent A complained inter alia that the Respondent examined and diagnosed her son at an office visit on May 19, 2008.

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John Ross @johnrossmd.bsky.social · 11d

Gee, I hope this doesn't undergo a medical reversal

What is leucovorin, the drug the FDA approved to treat autism?

This week the FDA approved the generic drug as a treatment for autism – a move that shocked health experts

www.theguardian.com

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John Ross @johnrossmd.bsky.social · 11d

Report this week of a possible case of locally-acquired Chikungunya from Hempstead, New York (on Long Island). Could be airport-associated, although the distance from JFK is a bit far. Locally-acquired Chikungunya was reported in Texas and Florida in 2014-15; New York would be an escalation

John Ross @johnrossmd.bsky.social · Jul 19

Chikungunya cases are increasing worldwide, with a major ongoing outbreak in south China. The Aedes vectors are present in most of the southern US; local transmission was seen in Florida and Texas in 2014-15. The illness is unpleasant, with joint pain as a cardinal symptom, but rarely fatal #IDSky

The US range of Aedes aegypti, the major vector of chikungunya fever, includes most of the south, with some extension into the midwest and coastal regions

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John Ross @johnrossmd.bsky.social · 11d

The hourly rate is not odd, but the number of hours is

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John Ross @johnrossmd.bsky.social · 12d

The classic "dig toxic" rhythm is atrial tachycardia with varying degrees of AV block, as below. Non-specific findings, such as "scooped out" ST segments and PVCs are also common. Rarely, bidirectional ventricular tachycardia (not good) may be seen

Atrial tachycardia with high-degree AV block due to digoxin. Digoxin may lead to a huge variety of ECG findings; the chapter on digoxin toxicity in Marriott's Practical Electrocardiography (8th ed.) was about 60 pages long

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John Ross @johnrossmd.bsky.social · 12d

Withering described all the classic toxicities of of high doses of digoxin/digitoxin: "sickness, vomiting, purging, giddiness, confused vision, objects appearing green or yellow...slow pulse, even as slow as 35 in a minute, cold sweats, convulsions, syncope, death"

William Withering, a serious man in periwig and frockcoat

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John Ross @johnrossmd.bsky.social · 12d

Digoxin (excreted renally) and digitoxin (metabolized by liver) are both derived from foxglove. William Withering described its use in "dropsy" in 1785. While it relieved dyspnea and edema, he noted that it had a narrow therapeutic index: the effective dose was close to that which causes toxicity

Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea): tall spikes of tubular, bell-shaped flowers, usually in shades of purple and pink, with spots on the inside

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John Ross @johnrossmd.bsky.social · 12d

Old man post: when I was an intern, digoxin was a go-to med for heart failure, but it is all but forgotten today. A new study in @nejm.org found that digitoxin reduced the combined end-point of death or CHF hospitalization in patients maxed out on guideline-directed medical therapy

Digitoxin in Patients with Heart Failure and Reduced Ejection Fraction | NEJM

www.nejm.org

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Reposted by John Ross

Laura @lauropea.bsky.social · 12d

manuscripts reading room: do not bring anything in, including yourself. place your internal organs in a clear plastic bag and keep it on the table at all times

office at rare books seller: hold manuscript at least 20cm away from your face if eating a hotdog. ashtrays must be kept on the windowsill

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Reposted by John Ross

🇨🇦Joe Vipond🇨🇦 @jvipondmd.bsky.social · 12d

I need to say a few words about Darren.
He was, in many ways, the doctor all doctors needed to be. Compassionate, caring, an advocate and a poet. We were all privliged to have him in our world.
And we are poorer for his departure from it.
Wherever you are, I hope there are paddles and pedals.

Darren Markland Obituary | Edmonton Journal Remembering

View Darren Markland's complete obituary, share memories, and explore 17 tribute posts from the community.

edmontonjournal.remembering.ca

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