Minerva

A short report in Nature (2005;437: 45-6)explains why olive oil can be soothing. The newly pressed, extra virgin oil contains a compound that mimics the pain relieving activity of ibuprofen. Oleocanthal suppresses the same pain pathway as ibuprofen, although it has a different structure. It's estimated that 50 g of olive oil is equivalent to 10% of the recommended adult dose of ibuprofen. This won't be much good for a headache but might explain some of the benefits said to be conferred by the Mediterranean diet.

With just under two weeks to go, UK Transplant is still hoping to reach its target of adding one million organ donors to its register in 12 months. During the first 11 months of the campaign,which was launched on 6 October last year, 948 711 people signed up to donate organs on their death, leaving just 50 000 more needed to hit the target. To sign up go to http://www.uktransplant.org.uk/.

The Royal College of Physicians in London publicly opposes the government's 24 hour drinking plans, yet has quietly applied for a licence to sell alcohol on its conference premises from 9 am to midnight. Its defence? It is not applying for alcohol to be available all day but to be able to offer it at prearranged conference dinners. So that's alright then (http://society.guardian.co.uk/health/news/0,8363,1560644,00.html).

Apart from the desire to see babies gain weight, there's another lesser known reason to make sure breast feeding is successfully established before new mothers leave hospital. Hypernatraemic dehydration is associated with poorly established breast feeding, and a US study found that almost 2% of term and near term breastfed neonates admitted to hospital had the condition. Most presented with jaundice, and 17% of these babies developed apnoea and bradycardia (Pediatrics 2005;116: e343-7).

The risk of developing a psychotic illness later in life is independently associated with being brought up in rented accommodation, in a one parent family, in a family living on benefits, or by parents who are unemployed. The risk increases with the number of social adversities experienced. In a Swedish study of all people born from 1963 to 1983, those who had experienced four measures of adversity during childhood had a 2.7-fold higher risk of schizophrenia than those with no risk factors (American Journal of Psychiatry 2005;162: 1652-7).

Several studies have found that people who have total hip replacement live longer than controlpopulations, suggesting that the operation somehow protects life. But does it really? An analysisof data from nearly 25 000 patients in the US shows that the improvement in mortality emerges rapidly after surgery but then falls by three months after the operation. The protection seems to berelated to the selection of low risk patients for elective surgery rather than anything else (Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery [Am] 2005;87: 1965-71).

Pneumococcal disease is most common among the youngest and oldest sections of the population. US data collected before the introduction of the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine for infants (PCV7) show that the serotypes most prevalent in elderly people are those usually found in children. Paediatric serotypes were isolated in 51% of people over 85 who were infected. The finding mirrors what's seen in Europe. The authors suggest that vaccination of elderly people with PCV7 may become recommended policy; at present the pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine is offered (Clinical Infectious Diseases 2005;41: 481-7).

Just 18% of nurses who work with HIV patients on a daily basis in Uganda have never sustained a needlestick injury, and 51% had experienced a needlestick injury during the previous year, according to a study in Tropical Medicine and International Health (2005;10: 773-81). The main reason for such a heavy burden of injuries was lack of appropriate training.

Dietary fibre may protect against colorectal cancer, but Lactobacillus casei could be better. A randomised trial of fibre and L casei in almost 400 patients who had had colorectal cancer but were tumour free at the start of the study found a significantly higher number of large tumours in the fibre group after four years. The odds ratios for tumours were 1.31 in the fibre group and 0.76 in the L casei group compared with controls. Fewer patients had tumour atypia in the L caseigroup (International Journal of Cancer 2005;116: 762-7).

Spontaneous blink rates offer a non-invasive window into dopamine function. A study in the Journal of Intellectual Disability Research (2005;49: 647-56) tested the hypothesis that dopamine dysfunction could be implicated in fragile X syndrome and that the blink rates of boys with the syndrome would differ from those of healthy controls. In fact, the blink rates of boys with factor X syndrome were significantly higher than those of the control group during passive activities but were suppressed during active tasks. Within the factor X group, blink rate was correlated with problem behaviours and physiological arousal.

A 58 year old man presented with a blistering disorder of his skin, diagnosed as epidermolysis bullosa.He had had progressive difficulties with swallowing since childhood, and this had worsened appreciably in recent months. A barium swallow examination showed a stricture at C7, which wasconfirmed by gastroscopy. His sister had been treated with oesophageal dilatation for similar symptoms. Epidermolysis bullosa is often associated with benign oesophageal strictures, most of which occur at the cervical oesophagus.

Rajib Chaudhuri (doctrajib{at}yahoo.co.in), senior house officer, Mark Musa, specialist registrar, Debashis Das, consultant, department of gastroenterology, Stepping Hill Hospital, Stockport SK2 7JE

People who manage their asthma with low dose inhaled steroids alone tend to do badly accordingto a survey of European and US patients in the International Journal of Clinical Practice (2005;59: 1017-24). Only 13% reported that they achieved good asthma control, and 22% had needed to access unscheduled healthcare services in the past year. General under-treatment wasthe main problem, particularly given that 57% of the study population had moderate or severe asthma.

A major incident report about the London bombings on 7 July comments several times that communication between the scenes of attack and ambulance control was difficult because all but one mobile phone network failed and radio communications don't work well underground. Network failure was not surprising, say the authors. The Metropolitan Police casualty bureau took 42 000 calls in just one hour (Resuscitation 2005;66: ix-xii).

Guidance at bmj.com/advice