terrasig
Posts by this author
January 17, 2007
While I wait for my copy of Dan Hurley's book, "Natural Causes: Death, Lies and Politics in America's Vitamin and Herbal Supplement Industry," it is interesting to read the media reports on his interviews and the responses from the dietary supplement industry.
While the Natural Products Association…
January 16, 2007
Dan Hurley's new book, "Natural Causes: Death, Lies and Politics in America's Vitamin and Herbal Supplement Industry," has the industry on the defensive.
Cited by Katie Couric's two-part CBS News series on dietary supplements and excerpted today in the New York Times, Hurley seems to have created…
January 16, 2007
Brazilian researchers have been experimenting with an gel containing an algae-based anti-HIV compound designed for use by women to prevent the spread of the virus.
Derived from the Brazilian brown alga, Dictyota pfaffii, two papers are available the describe the isolation and biological activity of…
January 15, 2007
I couldn't think of much to write today until I saw Mike The Mad Biologist post a speech from Dr King to striking Memphis sanitation workers in 1968.
Economic justice is the general theme, but there is little more moving than the oratory of Dr King.
Mike didn't highlight this quote, but let me do…
January 14, 2007
A thoughtful reader of mine and Kevin MD's just brought to my attention the plight of six members of a California family who apparently ingested Amanita phalloides (deathcap) mushrooms following a New Year's Day outing.
Jondi Gumz of the Santa Cruz Sentinel reported today on the circuitous route…
January 12, 2007
...for supporting ScienceBlogs.
I normally don't pay much attention to the adverts Seed posts around this joint (and I joined Sb just after the "volcano episode"). However, checking the "Last 24 Hours" channel, I was pleased to see that the Colorado Tourism office has bought some ad space.…
January 12, 2007
So, Shelley tagged a few of us with this fun meme. Mark and PZ have followed suit.
I am swamped with real-life work, as my posting frequency has shown as of late. I've neglected my New Year's resolution to stay in better touch with my family, then promptly missed my brother-in-law's birthday.…
January 10, 2007
This blog was established originally to discuss the promise of natural products in human therapeutics, particularly to identify those herbal medicines that might have some potential for utility as medicines. However, a quick review of my posts reveals a majority of reports of negative outcomes of…
January 9, 2007
The BCS Championship Bowl in Glendale, Arizona - the Tostitos Bowl....lovely.
Anyway, I have to admit the the opening kickoff return for a TD by Ohio State had me thinking the same as all the critics: the Gators can never win the big game.
Well, I was wrong...in a big way.
Gainesville, Florida, is…
January 8, 2007
Like some ScienceBloggers, but not all, I have been unable to get a post to go through our MovableType interface for several days. There appears to be some offending code in some of my text but the powers-that-be are still working on it.
Thanks so much for checking in - I hope to have problems…
January 3, 2007
It's been over two years since I saw a notice for a conference entitled, "Developing an Adverse Event Reporting (AER) System for the Dietary Supplement Industry," in St. Paul, MN, sponsored by the Center for Dietary Supplement Safety at the University of Minnesota and the Utah Natural Products…
December 28, 2006
President Ford and his family have a special place in the heart of Coloradans, in part for helping to popularize the Vail Valley ski resorts - the "Western White House," as it was then known.
Little-appreciated outside Colorado is that the Fords continued to contribute to the Vail and Beaver…
December 27, 2006
A week after my colleague Orac posts on the conundrum of bringing religion into medicine, Michael Conlon reports on a nurse's book about how religious and cultural influences can compromise medical care:
Any nurse can walk into a bad situation. The one Luanne Linnard-Palmer can't forget came as she…
December 25, 2006
To all of our readers, near and far, please accept our warmest best wishes for peace and happiness today and in the upcoming new year.
If the other end of this internet connection finds you in a warm home and/or in the company of loved ones, consider yourself fortunate.
Looking forward to returning…
December 23, 2006
In the US? Nope.
In England? No, sir.
In Australia? No, mate.
In Canada? No, eh?
Where??? In the United Arab Emirates.
December 22, 2006
The Wall Street Journal's Science Journal correspondent today "bestows holiday gifts" (sub req'd) on researchers, drugs, and other approaches that have advanced health and medicine, or set it back.
Given yesterday's discussion of the failed efficacy trial for black cohosh, I chuckled at this one:…
December 21, 2006
As we discussed briefly on Tuesday, trial results published in the Annals of Internal Medicine revealed that alternative botanical supplements containing black cohosh were without benefit relative to placebo in treating the vasomotor symptoms (e.g., hot flashes, night sweats) of peri- and…
December 20, 2006
Hearty congratulations go out to fellow ScienceBloggers Orac (Respectful Insolence) and PZ Myers (Pharyngula, like I needed to tell you) for their respective wins in the categories of Best Medical/Health Issues Blog and Best Science Blog, respectively, of The 2006 Weblog Awards. Also nominated in…
December 19, 2006
Here is the NIH press release of a study published in today's Annals of Internal Medicine.
I'll have to take a closer look at the specific formulations of the supplements tested (two of which contained black cohosh extracts) and study design before commenting more extensively. The trial was…
December 19, 2006
Terrible news this morning, but not entirely unexpected given the complete ignorance of science in the case of medical personnel charged with intentionally infecting children with HIV in a Libyan hospital. The defendants have again been sentenced to death.
Luc Montagnier -- the French doctor who…
December 18, 2006
Wasn't able to get off an original post today so I'll direct Terra Sig readers to an excellent interview written by Carl Zimmer. As Carl writes,
Discover chose Jay Keasling as their scientist of the year and asked me to interview him. Keasling, who directs the Berkeley Center for Synthetic Biology…
December 16, 2006
This is too late for The Friday Fermentable, but the NYT has a great travel article yoga and wine retreats to be offered at DeLoach Vineyards in California's Sonoma Valley (one of my favorite zinfandel producers).
Of course, this Americanization of an Eastern practice is not without its detractors…
December 15, 2006
I specifically launched Terra Sigillata on my sister's birthday last year so that my aging brain wouldn't have to remember (or forget) yet another important date.
The original post and ad hoc mission statement holds up pretty well after a year. I've also moved my second post, "Why Terra Sigillata…
December 15, 2006
A number of years ago today, with the number ending in a zero, my parents blessed me with a little sister. I was not the nicest little brother, we fought and I was frustrated that she couldn't read immediately upon coming home.
However, she grew to be one of my very best friends and remains the…
December 14, 2006
Following from my previous post about the JCO paper on the medical ethics of managing pediatric cancer cases where parents refuse standard-of-care therapies, I wanted to discuss an accompanying review on complementary and alternative therapies for cancer-related pain. Unlike the previous article,…
December 14, 2006
Tara at Aetiology just posted a few minutes ago that today's New England Journal of Medicine has published a free-access, Perspective article on the case of the Tripoli Six, who awaiting their 19 December sentencing.
December 13, 2006
Many ScienceBloggers are quite fond of manatees; I still keep my 'Save the Manatee' fundraising license plate from my days in the Sunshine State.
But this made me laugh.
From the New York Times, a Conan O'Brien skit on the absurdity of college mascots led NBC to cover its butt:
At the end of the…
December 12, 2006
I finally just got around to reading the 1 Dec issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology and was struck by two, back-to-back articles that address two interesting aspects of alternative medicine in cancer treatment. Mind you, I'm a basic scientist but I find the struggles that oncologists face to…
December 11, 2006
Among the many duties charged to the US FDA is the safety of veterinary feed. Therefore, equestrian enthusiasts should take note of the following warning from the FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine on natural contamination of certain corn products with a toxin produced by an endophytic fungus of…
December 8, 2006
In an amazing show of solidarity, the Honolulu Marathon will be run twice this Sunday: once in Hawaii and once in...Iraq. Fellow ScienceBlogger, Mike Dunford, tells us that a number of soldiers serving in Iraq (including his wife) will run the Honolulu Marathon at a base near Tikrit:
Yes, you read…