• KevinMD and now the usually sensible Shadowfax continue to be wrong on teaching the business of medicine. (Don’t get my wrong, I completely agree these things should be taught, but it makes absolutely no sense to have the primary teaching be in med school.) Teaching it to pre-clinical students certainly makes no sense, they’re busy learning everything for Step 1. Teaching it to clinical students isn’t all that practical, as most are preparing for residency applications and wrapping up med school. (And my main point here: if you don’t use knowledge, you lose it. When will anyone but a senior resident be doing any sort of billing or admin stuff? You think an intern is going to retain knowledge of CPT codes? Perhaps if they’re in a continuity clinic or something–but then that’s something they should be learning on the job, in the clinic. Again, every single EM residency program I’ve seen so far has 2 weeks set aside for “Administration” in the final year, but honestly, if you all think it’s so important, residency programs could certainly find time for it. You could have it coupled with two weeks of X to make a 4 week block; you could have a morning lecture series for all the residents, or dedicate one noon conference every month or something to the topic. Med students are so far removed (remember, we’re not even DOCTORS yet)–what’s the point of filling our head with information that will just be quickly forgotten when it’s much more important for us to remember the possible side effects of ACE inhibitors we’re about to be pimped on?
• Beautiful irises (irides?) from this artist. Of note, no Kayser-Fleischer rings appreciated (see photo).
  
• Insurance does matter for cancer prevention , as Matthew runs through a recent study: “For all cancer sites combined, patients who were uninsured were 1.6 times as likely to die in five years as those with private insurance.” This is sadly one of those “duh” studies that has to be done anyway, because of well-insured, financially-secure naysayers who somehow believe their situations are no different from people without insurance.
• Ignore those calorie burning meters at the gym. There’s almost nothing more inaccurate in the fitness/weight-loss/exercise world. I’d previously heard the eliptical machines overestimate by 20%, but this article claims they’re just plain wrong. Break a sweat (after approval from your doctor, Mr. Quintuple Bypass with Chest Pain at Rest), and exert more than you take in. 1 pound = 3500 Calories. 500 less Calories a day = 1 pound of weight loss a week. Slow and steady wins the race.
• And finally… Google Talk introduces instant translation in IM conversations . This would be pretty awesome in medicine, if we ever chatted with patients. (Damn you, HIPAA!) The translation is actually pretty good, at least for Spanish. Your pretty typical conversation in the Emergency Department:
  

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