Many family doctors find out about new drugs on the market through sales calls with representatives from drug companies, but they aren’t always informed about possible harmful effects, reported CBC News April 16….”Physicians were rarely informed about serious adverse events, raising questions about whether current approaches to regulation of sales representatives adequately protect patient health,” concluded York University Professor Joel Lexchin and his co-authors in their Journal of General Internal Medicine study in which 255 Canadian, American and French physicians reported on 1,692 drug-specific promotions. Read full story.
New braintrust to guide York Lions offence
When York University’s football team hits the gridiron for their season opener at home on Aug. 25, they will have a new braintrust guiding the offence, following the signing of two more coaches this month – Bob Rainford and Brent Weir, reported the North York Mirror April 16. Read full story.
The Cookers serve up hard boppin’ jazz
Get out of the kitchen and down to the Vernon Jazz Club when The Cookers serve up an evening of straight-ahead hard-bop this Saturday, reported the Vernon Morning Star April 17. Formed in March 2010, the quintet is an exciting ensemble of some of Canada’s finest jazz musicians, including York University jazz piano Professor Richard Whiteman, one of Canada’s top-shelf pianists with an encyclopedic knowledge of the jazz repertoire. Read full story.
Clairmont: Crown aims for fourth Badgerow murder trial
After filing up to 5,000 pages of transcripts and a nine-volume appeal book with the Court of Appeal of Ontario, the Crown is one step closer in its bid to take suspected killer Robert Badgerow to trial for a fourth time. If the Crown is successful, Badgerow, 54, may be the first person in Canada to be tried four times for first-degree murder, reported the Hamilton Spectator April 17. Legal experts including Leo Adler and Boris Bytensky, who defended Badgerow at each trial, along with top criminal lawyer John Rosen and Alan Young, professor of law at York University’s Osgoode Hall Law School, know of no first-degree murder case that has gone to four trials. Read full story.