medicine, politics, soccer

Diving in soccer, McChrystal firing, ARBs and cancer risk

  • Despite some high-profile mistakes, e.g. disallowing the American Maurice Edu’s goal against Slovenia, the refereeing at this World Cup has been pretty good, I think. And good referees help reduce negative plays. I have not seen so many dives at this World Cup. Still, dives exist, and one wonder why a player would dive in front of a few billion people watching around the world. What would such a shameful act do to his reputation? The economist Rajiv Sethi has a great post on this issue here. Highly recommend it.
  • President Obama expectedly fired General McChrystal today. I cannot fathom a solution without the firing as it seems the President’s hands were tied. However, it is a sad day for the country witnessing the downfall of a dedicated general. However, as Gary Wills blogs in the New York Review of Books, McChrystal or not, the war in Afghanistan is not winnable.
  • Are ARBs associated with higher cancer risk? The 2003 CHARM study surprisingly revealed that candesartan was associated with a higher cancer death rate than placebo. Now a meta-analysis (Lancet 2010 Jun 14) examining five trials shows that the relative risk of dying from cancer associated with ARBs is 1.01-1.14 (95% confidence interval.) Is this for real? How about ACE inhibitors? What is clear is that we need more studies to look into this issue. Would you rather die from heart failure or from cancer? Pick your poison.
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