english blog

image credit: Syromaniac The annual Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival was originated from local Harbiner traditional ice lantern show garden party in winter since 1963. It had been interrupted for a number of years during the Cultural Revolution but had been resumed and announced as an annual event at Zhaolin Park on January 5 in 1985. (thanks Cora)

In the city of Kumasi in Ghana lies Suame Magazine, a neighbourhood car market. Originating in the 1920s when blacksmiths started to shift their attention from carriages to cars, the Suame Magazine now employes an estimated 200,000 artisans in 12,000 enterprises, mainly related to auto repair. The district can be seen like an open air car factory. It might look chaotic to western eyes but it is remarkably efficient and never the less produces cars. YouTube link (thanks Cora)

The chitranjan ranawat award: should prophylactic antibiotics be withheld before revision surgery to obtain appropriate cultures? The authors point out that on one hand, preoperative antibiotics are known to be critical for decreasing the risk of periprosthetic joint infection and on the other hand preoperative antibiotics may affect the surgeons ability to obtain meaningful intraoperative cultures. The authors studied 65 patients with known preprosthetic joint infections after 37 TKAs and 28 THAs as documented by a culture-positive aspiration. Patients were randomized to receive prophylactic antibiotics either before the skin incision or after a minimum of three sets of intraoperative cultures were obtained. There was no significant difference: intraoperative cultures yielded the same organisms as preoperative cultures in 28 of 34 patients (82%) randomized to receive antibiotics before the skin incision compared to 25 of 31 patients (81%) randomized to receive antibiotics after obtain...