October

"A good editor’s job is to be a fly in the readers’ nose and make them sneeze.”

I heard this quote at a recent conference of scientific editors I attended. The speaker was talking about editors having the courage to publish controversial viewpoints and less mainstream scientific papers to stimulate and provoke the readership. I am going to keep this in mind during my tenure as editor, and I did have the thought that if everyone gets rhinovirus my reign may be short.

I feel very fortunate and privileged to count myself among the 50% of married people who married well. Now in our twentieth year of marriage, my husband has proven to be the most amazing partner, father, provider, and companion that any woman, let alone a woman surgeon, could ask for. But he is not the only partner that I value. Any doctor who runs a busy clinical practice will understand the importance of having a competent medical office assistant or secretary. I have, yet again, somehow managed to be lucky enough to work with the grand champion of MOAs.

We continue to face the growing obesity epidemic and its fallout (increasing rates of diabetes, heart disease, osteoarthritis, and related depression and anxiety). We hear about the dieting industry and its reported successes, yet know all too well that many of our patients (not to mention ourselves) usually fail to maintain any weight loss they may have achieved.

References

Canada is a favored destination for immigrants from many parts of the world. In 2006 the World Health Organization reported that 83% of all tuberculosis cases occurred in three geographical regions—Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Western Pacific—sources of significant immigration to the major urban centres of Canada. TB in Canada had been steadily decreasing since the 1950s, but immigration halted the decline.

References

My career has been one of caring for, operating upon, and looking after young children, the smaller citizens of our society.

Several people, upon hearing this, have said, “Oh dear, how awful. It must have been so sad, so depressing. The poor little ones!”

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