A new toy for airway maintanance: the i-Gel

We had a strange new toy in the anaesthetic room today, the i-gel airway device from Intersurgical.

It did the job well.

It looks and feels robust, fell into place, it stayed there without and fuss, caused no trauma and came out easily (in my case series of 2). The LMA evolves.

(Another) Pipeline carves up Welsh countryside.

If it were the Cotswolds or Cumbria we'd all know about it. But the Welsh National parks are once again being dug up, and no one bats an eyelid.

Approved on the quiet by Whitehall, its a small band of 'alternatives' that raise the alarm, as usual.

Pictures from 'the principality'.

Toxic, but different.

Why British dairy farming is in crisis

Back on the butter box.

The Guardian today, out of the blue, has a comprehensive piece on British milk production. The scandal that is penny pinching supermarkets reaping thick profit margins whilst producers are driven to bankrupcy, if not suicide, is not new. However, Tesco have moved, slightly, and the story has become newsworthy. Their move will benefit a minority, and none in Wales.

This comes despite the fact that other retailers have been doing what Tesco has suggested doing, for quite some time.

I do shop at tesco, but I fully realise I'm being manipulated.

Rising prices, failing farms.

Fairtrade with UK producers.

I have stopped smoking the easyway.

I have smoked for half my life and thought I enjoyed it. I was aware of the risks but I puffed away regardless, and always felt deprived when I stopped using the willpower method.

This time, I used Allen Carr's 'Easyway to stop smoking' and I have no intention to ever smoke again.

Anyone struggling with cravings for cigarettes and feelings of deprivation should read it, immediately.

My hearts pumping for dear life when im dancing to this: Infernal.

Is Spring the new Summer.

I know I'm a dirty sun worshiper, but here in the UK summer appears to have arrives, about a month early.

Interesting to see that some people still know their Hawthorns from their Blackthorns. The problem is, theyr all in flower.

City Guide Cardiff.

This is becoming one of my favourite places: Canolfan y Milleniwm, Caerdydd.

Contemporary Welsh architecture constructed from Welsh materials can be seen at its best at the Millenium Centre, Cardiff Bay. Next door stands Y Senedd, the small but perfectly formed wooden and glass chamber of Y Cynulliad Cenedlaethol.

Also happens to be where I had dinner last night.

Its Brains you want.

The age old problems we choose to ignore.

The world is getting smaller, as is the breadth of our perception.

Its easy to get carried away with the high tech issues we chose to remember.

This easter I'm trying to remember some old issues which never went away.

New heart valves from stem cells:

British medics grow a heart valve from stem cells.

"Post-op valve" patients are bread and butter work in the ICU, and prosthetic valves have given years of life to many. Along with the pros go the cons, the lifelong warfarinisation, the constant risk of thromboembolism , and an instantaneous end if your valve 'sticks open'. Porcine tissue valves, although less high maintanance, just don't last the distance.

There's interesting stuff going on down the lab at the Imperial, growing heart valves from Stem cells.

Maybe the day when I admit 'post-op autologous heart' isn't that far away?

Am I too dirty? Am I too flirty?

Hopefully a bit of both!

Sometimes drag queens look better in the dark anyway!

Lights off in Sydney, but only for an hour, to raise awareness of global warming.

Sun kissed Australia, birthplace of the green movement, the worlds largest island continent, produces most of her electricity by burning brown coal (in British owned power stations). Brown coal is one of the filthiest fuels going. John Howard sees nuclear as the way forward. Clearly he's never felt that sunshine on his skin, or had a surf in those amazing waves I was born to swim in!

You can find more information here and here.