Stanford Report, April 5, 2006

Media monitor

"Even if your eyelids are taped open, at the moment of sleep, you become blind." —William Dement, MD, PhD, the Lowell W. and Josephine Q. Berry Professor, on the definition of sleep. "Sleep: A Dr. Sanjay Gupta special," CNN, March 26.

"The fundamental thing is that work is very social." —Stanford Rossiter, MD, professor of radiology, emeritus, explaining how he manages to be the oldest doctor working full duty at Stanford. At 91, he works 36 hours a week. Bradenton Herald, March 16. http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/living/health/14098118.htm

"Optimal use of direct-to-consumer advertising may require stricter guidelines or more aggressive enforcement of current guidelines so that patients do not form unreasonable expectations."—Randall Stafford, MD, PhD, associate professor of medicine with the Stanford Prevention Research Center, on New Zealand's proposal to restrict such ads, potentially making the United States the only industrialized country to allow them. United Press International, March 27. http://www.upi.com/HealthBusiness/view.php?StoryID=20060327-044106-9839r

"I can tell you anecdotally that some of my patients felt very triggered by these point challenges. That level of competition is just very hard to resist."—Rebecka Peebles, a pediatrician who specializes in the treatment of adolescent eating disorders at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, discussing Web sites that encourage visitors to pursue extreme weight loss. New York Times, April 2. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/02/fashion/sundaystyles/02BREAK.html?ei=5087&;en=1c65097aa9adf9ca&ex=1144209600&pagewanted=print (registration required)