Here's to you, Arvid
Magne Nylenna
CMAJ 1999;161:1506
This year marked the Ninth First Annual Ig Nobel Prizes, awarded by the Annals of Improbable Research for research achievements that "cannot or should not be reproduced." The scientific community's annual laugh at itself was held at Harvard University on Sept. 30. Winners, who must possess a sense of humour, were given their prizes by "genuinely bemused genuine Nobel Laureates." This year the ceremony was also Webcast to an Internet audience. Although CMAJ reporters could not convince management to send them on a frivolous junket to the ceremony, they were able to glean some intelligence (?) on biomedical Ig Nobel Prize-winning research.
To find this year's winner of the Ig Nobel Prize in Medicine, we had to travel to picturesque Norway, where a physician's exhaustive study of the containers his patients chose when submitting urine samples was published in the Journal of the Norwegian Medical Association (Vatle A. Unyttig om urinprover. Tidsskr Nor Laegeforen 1999;119:1178-9). Editor Magne Nylenna offered us this take on Norway's medical literature:
"This paper is not scientific and it has no merit, but it has been a pleasure to publish it," writes Arvid Vatle, a family physician in a rural area in the western part of Norway. "For one reason or another, I have always been interested in useless matters."
During a 1-year period, Vatle recorded the "packaging" of 164 urine samples brought in by his patients. He registered 110 different containers, including deodorant cans, peanut butter jars and a bottle for eye drops.
Whether the urine was delivered in an empty Coke bottle or salad-dressing bottle did not affect the urinalysis because all containers had been cleaned properly. But, as the author writes, "it makes a special impression when a retired managing director twice brings his urine samples in empty bottles of Bell's Old Scotch Whisky and Koskenkorva vodka."
The most popular container for urine samples was Stavlands tomato purée bottles, which accounted for 17 of the 164 sample containers. "This does not mean that consumption of Stavlands tomato purée necessarily increases the need for urinalysis," writes Vatle. "It only reflects that this product is much used in this part of the country."
As could be expected, Vatle's conclusion is that more research is needed to describe and analyse geographic differences in the use of urine sample containers. — Magne Nylenna, Oslo
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