Objective

To test the hypothesis that the incidence of animal bites increases at the time of a full moon.

Design

Retrospective observational analysis.

Setting

Accident and emergency department at a general hospital in an English city.

Subjects

1621 consecutive patients, irrespective of age and sex.

Main outcome measures

Number of patients who attended an accident and emergency department during 1997 to 1999 after being bitten by an animal. The number of bites in each day was compared with the lunar phase in each month.

Results

The incidence of animal bites rose significantly at the time of a full moon. With the period of the full moon as the reference period, the incidence rate ratio of the bites for all other periods of the lunar cycle was significantly lower (P <0.001).

Conclusions

The full moon is associated with a significant increase in animal bites to humans.

Objective

To investigate whether an important football match increases stress to such an extent that it triggers acute myocardial infarction and stroke.

Design

Longitudinal study of mortality around 22 June 1996 (the day the Dutch football team was eliminated from the European football championship). Mortality on 22 June was compared with the five days before and after the match and in the same period in 1995 and 1997.

Setting

Netherlands.

Subjects

Dutch population aged 45 years or over in June 1996.

Main outcome measures

All cause mortality and mortality due to coronary heart disease and stroke.

Results

Mortality from coronary heart disease and stroke was increased in men on the day of the match (relative risk 1.51, 95% confidence interval 1.08 to 2.09). No clear rise in mortality was observed for women (1.11, 0.80 to 1.56). Among men, about 14 excess cardiovascular deaths occurred on the day of the match.

Conclusion

Important sporting events may provoke a sufficient level of stress to trigger symptomatic cardiovascular disease. The difference between men and women requires further investigation.

Objective

To describe how pharmaceutical companies cater to the material needs of doctors.

Design

Case report of memoirs.

Setting

Facilities that have nothing to do with medicine, somewhere in the Arabian peninsula.

Patient population

Random sample of doctors.

Interventions

Promotion by the pharmaceutical industry.

Main outcome measures

Short term outcomes were travel, pleasure, amusement, and gifts, and long term outcomes were the market share of specific companies.

Results

Short term outcomes were heterogeneous, underlying the diversity of the means employed by the pharmaceutical industry to subvert, divert, and influence medical practice. Overall, 200 doctors were dressed in white gowns, a doctor in preventive medicine quoted Hippocrates in favour of smoking, a senior doctor became a poet, a doctor trying to understand the Methods section of a poster paper wondered whether he should have been sunbathing at the beach instead, and two women doctors were kidnapped by Bedouin warriors. Long term outcomes on the sales of the company drugs are pending but are likely to be most favourable.

Conclusions

Eat, drink, be merry, and boost prescriptions.

Objective

To assess whether dog bites requiring hospital admission occur more at the full moon.

Design

Review of dates of admission for dog bites to accident and emergency departments, June 1997 to June 1998, compared with dates of the full moon.

Setting

All public hospitals in Australia.

Main outcome measures

Admissions for dog bites.

Results

12 peak clusters of admissions were unrelated to the time of the full moon.

Conclusion

Dog bites are no more frequent on full moons than at any other time of the month. Sceptics rejoice.

Objective

To assess the usefulness of heparin, alteplase, and streptokinase in removing blood stains.

Design

Randomised controlled trial.

Setting

Hospital laundry.

Interventions

Blood stains were allocated to treatment with alteplase, streptokinase, heparin, a commercial enzymatic stain remover, or no treatment at all after three or seven hours and then washed in hot or cold water two hours later.

Results

Both hot water and early treatment were strongly associated with improved stain removal. All four treatments were associated with a worse outcome than no treatment at all, although for streptokinase this trend did not reach significance. The commercial stain remover gave the worst results of all treatments tested.

Conclusions

Contrary to popular wisdom, hot water is much more effective than cold in removing blood stains. Methodologically rigorous research and evidence based principles are needed within the laundry industry, and the role of thrombolytic drugs should be assessed further.