The Poison Review

NPR had a story yesterday on Pine Mouth, a bitter-metallic taste that lingers days or weeks after ingesting pine nuts.  The reporter speculates that this might be cause by poorly-stored nuts gone rancid, or inedible species that have found their way into the American market.…

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I had forgotten just how good The Sonics were until reminded of this song by Chris Nickson (of Life in the Fast Lane).

The Sonics, from Tacoma WA, got together in the early sixties and developed a cult following in the Pacific northwest.  They are often called the first punk/grunge band. Jack White has cited The Sonics as an …

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Colchicine poisoning: the dark side of an ancient drug. Finkelstein Y et al. Clin Toxicol 2010;48:407-414.

Abstract

I’ve always thought that colchicine was an awful drug, and that the recommendations for its use in the emergency department didn’t make sense.

Let me explain.  Colchicine is a feared poison — it impairs the function of cellular microtubules, interfering with essential processes …

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httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXoYmnx0K5I

The Polonium-210 Public Health Assessment: The Need for Medical Toxicology Expertise in Radiation Terrorism Events. Nemhauser JB J Med Toxicol [published online 25 May 2010]

No abstract available

Although July has just begun, this paper has a good chance of ending up the most disappointing of the month.

Since the 2006 poisoning of Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko in London with polonium-210 — an event that exposed other individuals and several public places to that radioactive isotope — health authorities have been interested in . . .

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In a must-read recent post on slate.com, Jack Shafer detects a serious omission in Alan Brinkley’s big new biography of Henry R. Luce, The Publisher: Henry Luce and His American Century. This omission does not involve politics, nor does it involves Luce’s rumored affairs with Lady Jeanne Campbell, Mary Bancroft, and producer Jean Dalrymple.  Rather, Shafer claims, Brinkley’s …

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Severe calcium channel blocker (CCB) overdose is among the most daunting and difficult toxicology cases seen in the emergency department.  With these patients, the clinician is confronted with what has been called a “perfusion salad” — impaired cardiac contractility combined with vasodilatation. The resulting hypotension and shock is frequently resistant to standard measures — fluid infusion, calcium, glucagon, and pressors.  …

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