terrasig
Posts by this author
July 3, 2008
Well, you readers here really know how to draw attention to an issue. We're not a high-traffic blog but those of you who read regularly are quite thoughtful, insightful, and, now, influential.
Our little post the other day on the application of the ideal gas law in discussing the NPR/StoryCorps…
June 29, 2008
If you didn't catch NPR's StoryCorps feature this week, you missed a charming doozy:
As a young woman, Betty Jenkins received a gift from her mother that was meant to attract the attention of young men. But as Jenkins, who is now 94, tells her niece, the attention she got wasn't the kind she was…
June 28, 2008
The childlike wonder, creativity, observations and questioning are all qualities that we scientists try to bring to our research and teaching. The observations of a child may seem insignificant to some but I am amazed when PharmKid comes up with questions or associations that I cannot explain. I…
June 25, 2008
When I first heard that 24-year-old British singer-songwriter Amy Winehouse was hospitalized with early stage emphysema I said "what?" DrugMonkey, a drug-abuse research colleague, has a terrific post up now on the link between Winehouse's crack cocaine use, possible genetic predisposition, and the…
June 23, 2008
John Lynch let us know last evening about Carlin's passing on Sunday. I think you'll find many people sharing their favorite George Carlin moments today. I found him to be remarkably observant on how language is used to deal with social and political issues ("shell shock" became "battle fatigue"…
June 18, 2008
This link is just to quickly follow up on yesterday's post, "FDA Warns Individuals and Firms to Stop Selling Fake Cancer 'Cures'." The US FDA has specifically listed those companies and individuals as well as their specific products that were cited in yesterday's action:
125 Fake Cancer "Cures"…
June 17, 2008
Perhaps the #1 reason I started this blog was to distinguish therapeutic natural products (i.e., single chemical entities derived from plants, microorganisms, etc.) from questionably-marketed herbal and non-herbal dietary supplements. After doing research and teaching in this area for at least 13…
June 16, 2008
My blog posts seem to run in themes - sort of like when after you buy a car, you see other people driving that model all over the place.
Yesterday we posted about homicide charges being leveled against an unlicensed California chiropractor operating a clinic out of his garage.
That post garnered a…
June 15, 2008
This is not at all funny but I guess ironic might be a better word.
The science blogosphere has been alight this past week with the recognition of naturopathy by the state of Minnesota as well as other aspects of alternative medicine.
As if the risks of going to an alternative practitioner are not…
June 14, 2008
As promised awhile back, my blogging frequency has dropped off a bit as I tend to some more time-consuming details in my meatspace existence.
I've also missed some fabulous posts around the blogosphere. I wanted to direct Terra Sig readers to a moving yet data-driven essay by Professor PZ Myers…
June 12, 2008
I'm even later to the game on this story than my blogging colleague, Orac: ERV, Pharyngula, and denialism blog have each given their takes on the Minnesota's plan to authorize NDs, doctors of naturopathy, to use the title of "Doctor."
For two views on what naturopathy is, here is one from the…
June 10, 2008
Naw. This is more likely a case of an older person flushing some old prescription drugs down the toilet:
In a February interview with The Associated Press, Mayor Robert Cluck said trace concentrations of one pharmaceutical had been found in treated drinking water, but he declined to name it. He…
June 8, 2008
Apologies for being such a homer with the last few posts (and a couple upcoming) but there have been interesting local happenings of broad interest, especially while I was away earlier this week.
Turns out that the good Senator Edward Kennedy took a foray to the Town-That-Tobacco-Built to have his…
June 7, 2008
Oy vey, am I embarrassed for missing this piece of good news. Last month, Erin Zuiker graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law.
Folks in the local and international science blogging community may recognize that Erin is the better half of Anton Zuiker, science…
June 6, 2008
Here's one of those Friday afternoon press releases, hoping no one will notice. I'm having a little trouble parsing out whether this effort promotes CAM or is truly meant to inform physicians in a manner so as to protect their patients from unscupulous providers:
National Center for Complementary…
June 6, 2008
This one's for the molecular and cell biology and pharmaceutical chemistry crowd: what's on your current wishlist?
If you had a US$250,000 equipment budget, what would you buy to outfit the lab?
Assume that your department has all the big ticket items like real-time PCR, confocal microscopy, flow…
June 5, 2008
This just in from David B. Brushwood, RPh, JD, Professor of Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy at the University of Florida College of Pharmacy. David said, "we could use your help promoting the programs to anyone you know who might be interested."
So, I know you and since you read this blog, you…
June 4, 2008
This whole "cosmeceutical" thing probably shouldn't be in "Medicine & Health" but we did call your attention to today's news item back on 27 July 2007: Drug maker Allergan announced at a stock analyst's meeting this afternoon that it is filing a New Drug Application (NDA) for a cosmetic form…
May 31, 2008
Our quick post yesterday cited Jonathan Alter's Newsweek essay this week on the sad state of cancer research funding in the context of Hamilton Jordan's recent death and Ted Kennedy's recent glioblastoma diagnosis. Like many areas of US federal research funding, cancer research support has been…
May 30, 2008
While I tend to off-blog responsibilities, you may be interested to read this lovely essay by Jonathan Alter in the current (2 June) issue of Newsweek entitled, "How We Really Help Ted."
There was a time when mentioning Kennedy and Jimmy Carter (or Carter's right hand) in the same breath would have…
May 26, 2008
Let me say from the outset that I am too close to this issue, in many ways, to be fully objective. However, this issue is likely to be of interest to those in the academic community and especially anyone who followed the now-discredited 2006 Duke lacrosse case.
On 15 May Duke graduating senior and…
May 25, 2008
I missed this FDA warning in my e-mail box this week. But given the use of such products by breast-feeding women we know, I think this warning is worth publicizing here - chlorphenesin is a centrally-active skeletal muscle relaxant that is for some reason used in cosmetics but is not intended for…
May 25, 2008
So here's a bizarre convergence of the controversies surrounding cognitive performance-enhancing strategies and the end-of-grade (EOG) testing stress on teachers and students.
Esther Robards-Forbes reports in yesterday's Charlotte (NC) Observer that a third-grade teacher was arrested for…
May 23, 2008
Another Wine Experience - Syrahs from Europe and the US
By Erleichda
We've been having so many of our wine dinners the past two years that the group has had to return to its favorite haunts. Such was the case one Friday evening as we set about to taste Syrahs from the US and Europe. I have…
May 22, 2008
Well, things have changed in my life that have begun to impact my posting frequency so I really appreciate the support of readers when I last spoke of this change of life (no, not menopause).
I've even gotten so distracted that I have neglected to read the daily fishwrapper - that is until today's…
May 20, 2008
On 8 May after a six-month search by a 21-member search committee, 43-year-old chemistry professor H. Holden Thorp was named Chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The search committee was unable to find anyone else nationally or internationally that could match Thorp's…
May 19, 2008
One last political post for a little while at least.
We posted almost two weeks ago a note of thanks to the NC Democratic senate candidate, Jim Neal. The progressive candidate and friend of the blogging community (and blogger himself) lost to Kay Hagan, who will now face Senator Elizabeth Dole (R-…
May 16, 2008
Terrible news out of Duke University Medical Center this week with the death of 63-year-old master steamfitter, Rayford Cofer, in a steampipe explosion under one of the university's largest research buildings. Not just any man, but one of the best at what his did:
Cofer, a Franklinton resident who…
May 13, 2008
I'm not sure whether this story qualifies as alternative medicine or religion, or neither. I throw it out to you because I and other sci/med bloggers widely criticize the infiltration of so-called alternative medicine in our academic medical centers.
But here in today's Health Journal section of…
May 11, 2008
I had a lovely chat with PharmMom today and I am truly grateful for her example and all of the opportunities she gave me. Mom, I love you - but I urge you and all of my readers to saunter over to Thesis - With Children written by acmegirl, one of the stars-to-be of the science blogging community.…