And yet another installment in the Best of PubMed series. These are all real articles found in the scientific literature. If you want to see the abstracts (often hilarious themselves) or the full articles, enter the PMID number into the SEARCH box at the website PubMed: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/. This week’s highlights: The Wizard of Oz and stem cells, the Tooth Fairy, spontaneous human combustion, etc., etc.
Is talking to an automated teller machine natural and fun?
Chan FY, Khalid HM.
Ergonomics. 2003 Oct 20-Nov 15;46(13-14):1386-407.
PMID: 14612327
The Wizard of Oz…if he only had stem cells!
Kurec AS.
Clin Leadersh Manag Rev. 2005 Jul 26;19(4):E1. No abstract available.
PMID: 16045819
The Easter bunny in October: is it disguised as a duck?
Brugger P, Brugger S.
Percept Mot Skills. 1993 Apr;76(2):577-8.
PMID: 8483671
The tooth fairy is a fictionalized fancy!
Gray B.
CAL. 1975 Aug;39(2):25. No abstract available.
PMID: 1070363
Carroll WD, Lo TM.
Emerg Med J. 2002 Jul;19(4):360.
PMID: 12101162
The tooth fairy, Santa Claus, and the hard core drinking driver.
Chamberlain E, Solomon R.
Inj Prev. 2001 Dec;7(4):272-5.
PMID: 11770650
I don’t believe in the tooth fairy, either.
Dinklage K.
Med Econ. 2005 Jan 21;82(2):34-5. No abstract available.
PMID: 15727337 [PubMed – indexed for MEDLINE]
Cost of tooth fairy on the rise.
Yeung CA.
BMJ. 2013 Jan 15;346:f237. doi: 10.1136/bmj.f237.
PMID: 23321730
Buchanan L, Avtgis T, Gray D, Channel J, Wilson A.
W V Med J. 2013 Jan-Feb;109(1):18-21.
PMID: 23413543
Flatulence on airplanes: just let it go.
Pommergaard HC, Burcharth J, Fischer A, Thomas WE, Rosenberg J.
N Z Med J. 2013 Feb 15;126(1369):68-74.
PMID: 23463112
The colonoscope strikes back: a diverticular Darth Vader.
Brown AF.
Med J Aust. 2007 Dec 3-17;187(11-12):629.
PMID: 18072895
Death by attack from a domestic buffalo.
Bakkannavar SM, Monteiro FN, Bhagavath P, Pradeep Kumar G.
J Forensic Leg Med. 2010 Feb;17(2):102-4.
PMID: 20129432
Investigation of homicides interred in concrete–the Los Angeles experience.
Toms C, Rogers CB, Sathyavagiswaran L.
J Forensic Sci. 2008 Jan;53(1):203-7.
PMID: 18279257
A comparison of buttress drumming by male chimpanzees from two populations.
Clark Arcadi A, Robert D, Mugurusi F.
Primates. 2004 Apr;45(2):135-9.
PMID: 14735390
An Asian elephant imitates human speech.
Stoeger AS, Mietchen D, Oh S, de Silva S, Herbst CT, Kwon S, Fitch WT.
Curr Biol. 2012 Nov 20;22(22):2144-8.
PMID: 23122846
Spontaneous human combustion: a sometimes incomprehensible phenomenon.
Gromb S, Lavigne X, Kerautret G, Grosleron-Gros N, Dabadie P.
J Clin Forensic Med. 2000 Mar;7(1):29-31.
PMID: 16083646
Experiments in the combustibility of the human body.
Christensen AM.
J Forensic Sci. 2002 May;47(3):466-70.
PMID: 12051324
A man with drug-induced psychosis attempts to swallow his cellular phone.
Levy Z, Jesus J, Osborne A, Matthews P.
Intern Emerg Med. 2013 Sep;8(6):541-2.
PMID: 23645510
Take two apps and call me in the morning.
LeFae B.
Posit Aware. 2013 Jan-Feb;25(1):22-6
PMID: 23646406
Carr NG.
Harv Bus Rev. 2002 Jan;80(1):25-8; discussion 30-4, 124.
PMID: 12964466
Jumping on bed, mother hears screaming, patient on floor holding left foot.
Swischuk LE.
Pediatr Emerg Care. 2010 Mar;26(3):220-1.
PMID: 20216287
Who is the real “wizard of oz”?
Diamond EF.
Fertil Steril. 2000 Jan;73(1):177-9.
PMID: 10632439
Good Science Writing 
Definitely gives meaning to the phrase–publish or perish. . . .