jjablkowski's blog

I turned on my computer this morning and clicked on the Google webpage to do a search on aphasia, and, in particular, on Pierre Paul Broca, the celebrated neuroanatomist of the 1850s. To my irritation the Google logo was a cartoonish puzzle that I did not understand. There was a burning piece of toast, something that looked like a piece of a face, something that looked like a brain, and then a drawing of a man’s face. A bit annoyed for not being able to understand the logo’s message, I was about to continue with my intended search, when it suddenly dawned on me—the toast!

My interest in the origins of publicly funded medical care in BC, and Doctors of BC’s role in it, was renewed when the BC government announced a 50% reduction in Medical Service Plan premiums as of 1 January 2018. 

The 2017 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was jointly awarded to Jeffrey C. Hall, Michael Rosbash, and Michael W. Young for their discoveries of the molecular mechanisms controlling circadian rhythms. The existence of a biological clock that regulates various daily rhythmic functions in all living organisms has been known of for years. These Nobel Laureates were able to look inside this biological clock and elucidate its inner workings.

A former colleague and ardent reader of the London Times brought my attention to an article in the 2 December 2017 issue: “Gay twin may offer an answer to mystery of our sexuality.” The mystery is how we become and act as boys and girls and men and women. More specifically, Is it the work of nature, nurture, or both in some combination that shapes and moulds us? 

Health information is among the most sensitive forms of personal information, and protecting it is foundational to the doctor-patient relationship. Physicians now have increasingly more convenient ways to consult with colleagues, patients, and other health care providers through the use of smart phones, tablets, email, websites, and video conferencing, but this has resulted in changes to how that personal health information is collected, used, and disclosed.