An instant classic

A Cambridge team have captured the zeitgeist, with a charming paper that leads with a strong pun. Their classifications of videoconferencing-related illnesses are of course, Zoomnotic diseases. This is a rich and well-written paper that AFB urges you to discover for yourself, before a colleague quotes it to you. As a flavour, they describe and define ‘Zychosis’ ‘believing you actually are in the spot shown in your virtual background’ and Munchauzoom syndrome ‘seeking attention by setting up lots of video conferences’. And as we move back to face to face meetings again, I may find myself wondering if a reluctant colleague really does have Stockzoom syndrome ‘An inappropriate sense of gratitude and affection for the technical provision of videoconferencing’ and whether I should offer an intervention.

QJM. 2021; 1143: 159–162.

There but for the grace of God, go I

With the opioid crisis, still a major threat in the USA and elsewhere it is pertinent to ask—why do some people end up in such a pickle with morphine? A well-conducted randomised and double blinded study looked to estimate the impact that prior childhood trauma may have on the level of how the rewarding effects of morphine are felt. Fifty-two people were enrolled to physiologically active dose of morphine (0.15 mg/kg) or a very low-dose control (0.01 mg/kg). Simply put the trauma group liked the drug effects significantly more in the morphine session. As well as morphine being terribly moreish, some people have acquired lifestyle factors that may sensitise them to the drug’s effects.

Addict Biol. 2021: e13047.

A massive stroke

The lockdowns have provided some people with the ideal opportunity to finish that article that they may have been toiling over for quite some time. Fulfilling Carphology’s pledge to bring the best of neurological papers, from outside the core neurological journals, finally AFB’s subscription to the French language journal ‘Progrès en Urologie’ has paid off. Titled ‘Neurological complications of coitus’ (in English of course, but probably the original French includes a poorly translatable Gallic euphemism). Beginning with a dry definition of the act of entente cordiale the paper accrues a credible 46 articles for review. Twenty-six per cent of injuries were strokes, 22% subarachnoid haemorrhage, 20% reversible cerebral vasoconstriction syndrome, 7% each for intraparenchymal, haematoma, and epilepsy, and autonomic hyper-reflexia. Some form of specialist protection seems to be in order for this most dangerous of indulgences.

Prog Urol. 2021; 31(7): 392–405.

The very best paper titles of all time

John Cleese on being asked for asked for his three laws of comedy said—no puns, no puns and no puns. Thankfully these rules do not apply to the one of best titles in the published literature—‘Fantastic Yeasts, and where to find them’. There are other quirks to ensure attention or notoriety such as the treatise on writer’s block (figure 1).

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Figure 1

Medicine has a long and rich history of self-experimentation. Figure permission obtained from Wiley,

If you have any other favourites—why not let A Fo Ben know @Carphology_PN

Curr Opin Microbiol. 2019; 52: 55–63.

J Appl Behav Anal. 1974; 7(3):497