MEDICAL MATTERS:YES, IT'S that time of year again. The annual Ig Nobel awards ceremony, a celebration of quirky scientific research took place at Harvard University last week, writes MUIRIS HOUSTON
Hosted by the journal Annals of Improbable Research, the Igs are an annual exercise in irreverence that celebrate studies which "cannot, or should not, be repeated". The awards honour science that "first makes you laugh and then makes you think".
Now in its 19th year, at least one of the awards captures the public imagination annually. So far, my favourite has been the Ig Nobel prize for medicine that went to Dr Francis Fesmire of the University of Tennessee College of Medicine for his paper describing a unique way to terminate intractable hiccups.
When a patient of his did not respond to standard therapies for the symptom, Dr Fesmire came up with an unusual solution. Aiming to stimulate the vagus nerve, which plays a role in hiccups, he stuck his (gloved) finger up the patient’s rectum.
To the doctor's delight the hiccups stopped, leading to the publication of a paper "termination of intractable hiccups with digital rectal massage" in the Annals of Emergency Medicineand an Ig Nobel award.
This year’s crop live up to expectations. The award most likely to grab public attention is the public health prize awarded to Elena Bodnar of Hinsdale, Illinois, for patenting a bra that, in an emergency, can be converted into a pair of gas masks, one for the owner and one for a needy bystander.
“It was inspired by the Chernobyl nuclear accident,’’ said Bodnar, who is originally from Ukraine. “This way, the mask is always readily available.”
It sounds like the ideal fashion accessory for budding bioterrorists.
The veterinary medicine prize went to Catherine Douglas and Peter Rowlinson of Newcastle University’s school of agriculture. They share the award for the groundbreaking discovery that giving cows names such as Rosie increases their milk yield.
“It’s the highlight of my career,” said a clearly excited Douglas. “The work amused the public, but it addressed a serious issue about the welfare of animals and points to an easy way to improve yields by reducing stress in cattle.”
I wonder might giving human workers pet names work as a stress buster and productivity booster?
This year’s medical Ig was awarded to Dr Donald Unger, a doctor from California, who cracked the knuckles of his left hand, but never those on his right, every day for 60 years to investigate whether it caused arthritis.
The 83-year-old Unger said there was no sign of swelling in the joints of his left hand. And he has had his research published in the medical journal Arthritis and Rheumatism. So much for the old wives' tale, warning youngsters of the risks of cracking their knuckles. Another medical myth bites the dust.
On a more serious note but staying with arthritis, one of the great medical success stories of recent years has been the development of a class of drugs called “biologicals” for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.
An autoimmune disease that affects up to one in 100 people in developed countries, patients with rheumatoid arthritis experience chronic pain and inflammation as a result of the body’s own immune system attacking the joints.
In recent years, biologic disease- modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) have been developed to help modify this irregular immune response and improve symptoms of the disease.
Biological therapies are derived from living material and have a complex chemical structure. Unlike the more familiar “small molecule” drugs, the “biologicals” are longer acting, bring about immune system changes and must be given in hospital.
Although highly effective they are significantly more expensive than older treatments.
Newer biological therapies are among the most expensive available, and with a regular stream of new products in the pipeline, trying to meet patient demand is going to be a problem.
It’s something we are likely to experience close to home when the next health budget is published. With a deficit of
€1.2 billion to make up, drug costs are bound to be a target for the Department of Finance.
Cost effectiveness must replace price control as the means by which drugs are approved for inclusion in national budgets. It’s the only way expensive biological therapies will continue to be available in the public health system.