j7uy5 | November 1, 2006Last week, President Bush stated "
href="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=9005">absolutely,
we're winning," referring to the situation in Iraq.
Now, he assures us that
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/01/AR2006110102555.html">Rumsfeld
is doing a "fantastic" job, and is to stay in his post.
But the same day, the US Central Command
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/01/world/middleeast/01military.html">shares
with us the following (click to see full image):
href="http://scienceblogs.com/corpuscallosum/images/Iraq_chaos.jpg">…
j7uy5 | November 1, 2006Jonah Lehrer, at
href="http://scienceblogs.com/cortex/2006/10/depression_induces_bone_loss_1.php">The
Frontal Cortex,
points out a recent PNAS article (published online ahead of print) that
indicates an unexpected finding. Using a mouse model or
depression, they find that the risk of osteoporosis is increased.
Furthermore, they find that treatment with an antidepressant
reduces the risk.
href="http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/abstract/0604234103v1">Depression
induces bone loss through stimulation of the sympathetic nervous system
Raz Yirmiya, Inbal Goshen, Alon Bajayo, Tirzah…
j7uy5 | October 31, 2006The
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/29/AR2006102900628.html"
rel="tag">Washington Post reports that
there may be changes in Washington lobbying practices, if the Democrats
take control of Congress.
...If Democrats gain the 15 seats they need to win
control of the House --
and most analysts think they will -- one of the first things the new
House will do is restrict or end outright a slew of lobbying practices.
In a little-publicized statement, Rep. Nancy Pelosi
(D-Calif.), the
House Democratic leader, has promised to change the chamber's rules to…
j7uy5 | October 30, 2006The Neurocritic has the latest edition of
href="http://neurocritic.blogspot.com/2006/10/synapse-spooky-issue-10.html">The
Synapse. It's nicely done. Info
of the next one, and instruction for submission, are at Jake's place,
href="http://scienceblogs.com/purepedantry/2006/10/the_synapse_is_up.php">here.
j7uy5 | October 30, 2006The latest issue of
href="http://www.fastcompany.com/subscr/110/index.html">Fast
Company has an article about
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Bell" rel="tag">Gordon
Bell, who is running a project to digitize and record all of
the information he generates and encounters in the course of his life.
He calls the project
href="http://research.microsoft.com/barc/MediaPresence/MyLifeBits.aspx">MyLifeBits.
(The article is not openly accessible, but there are others
out there on the same topic, and at least one
href="http://participationage.wordpress.com/2006/03/22/…
j7uy5 | October 30, 2006
This is a mother Tapir and her offspring, as photographed in the
Hagenbeck Zoo, in Hamburg, Germany. Ailton was four weeks old
at the time. The photo is from
href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/10/photogalleries/pow-week1/photo5.html">National
Geographic.
j7uy5 | October 29, 2006Art Z over at
href="http://cheerfulcurmudgeon.com/2006/10/22/bacteria-use-radioactive-uranium-instead-of-energy-from-the-sun/">Cheerful
Curmudgeon links to an interesting story about subterranean
href="http://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/4229.html">bacteria
that derive energy from radioactive uranium.
"What really gets my juices flowing is the possibility of
life
below
the surface of Mars," said Tullis Onstott, a Princeton University
geoscientist and leader of the research team. "These bacteria have been
cut off from the surface of the Earth for many millions of years, but…
j7uy5 | October 28, 2006A while back, I wrote about the new treatment for
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ADHD" rel="tag">ADHD
that is under
development,
href="http://www.nrpharma.com/products/NRP104.htm" rel="tag">NRP104.
The original post is
href="http://trots.blogspot.com/2005_02_27_trots_archive.html">here.
In that post, I reviewed the pharmacology of NRP104.
The basic idea is that the company took an old molecule,
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dextroamphetamine" rel="tag">dextroamphetamine,
and tacked a molecule of
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lysine">lysine
onto it. …
j7uy5 | October 28, 2006I knew the economic news was bad, but I did not know how bad, until I
saw
href="http://www.economist.com/business/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8079134">this
article in The Economist, thanks to a
href="http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2006/10/the_economist_g.html">link
from Brad DeLong.
EVERYONE knows that America's economy is slowing.
Thanks to
the bursting of the housing bubble, overall GDP growth has fallen back
sharply. The biggest short-term uncertainty for the world economy is
whether American consumers stop spending and drag the country into
recession. But beyond the business…
j7uy5 | October 27, 2006Just for kicks, in case anyone cares, and is not already familiar with
these sites, here are a few that I use:
class="inset" alt=""
src="http://a248.e.akamai.net/7/248/430/20060421021059/www.merckmedicus.com/ppdocs/us/hcp/images/redesign/img_mm_logo.jpg"
align="left" border="0" height="39" width="140">
href="http://www.merckmedicus.com/pp/us/hcp/hcp_home.jsp">Merck
Medicus is a great site. I had to provide
some medical license information, so I don't think it is available to
everyone. That is annoying, but I understand why they do
that. The site provides free access to…
j7uy5 | October 27, 2006It is never easy to make decisions about the use of medication by women
who are pregnant. For the vast majority of drugs, the
manufacturer's statement says something to like this: 'Product X should
only be used if the benefit outweighs the risk.' But there is
never any specific guidance about how to weight the risks and benefits.
It is hard to do when the risks are not known.
In the case of treating maternal depression in pregnant women, the
situation is complicated by the possibility that leaving the depression
untreated could have a negative impact on both the mother and the
fetus…
j7uy5 | October 27, 2006Shelled edamame
(soy beans) can be found in all natural food stores,
Asian grocery stores and the natural food sections of most
supermarkets.
rel="tag">Tahini is sesame paste and can be found
in the same
places. The crushed ice keeps the mixture cool while processing and
allows less oil to be used.
2 cups frozen shelled edamame
1 pound (13 oz. can) chick peas, drained and rinsed
4 cloves peeled garlic
2 T. fresh, grated ginger root
1/2 c. sesame tahini
3 tsp. lemon juice
3/4 c. extra virgin olive oil
1/4 c. sesame oil
1/2 c. crushed ice
1 T. hot sauce
1/3 c. chopped fresh cilantro…
j7uy5 | October 26, 2006A bunch of others beat me to it (
href="http://scienceblogs.com/grrlscientist/2006/10/lush_rumball_an_ignoramus.php">1
href="http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2006/10/despicable_rhetoric_from_rush_limbaugh_1.php">2
href="http://scienceblogs.com/bushwells/2006/10/rush_limbaugh_radio_pundit_or.php">3),
so I did not blog about Limbaugh's offensive diatribe against Michael
J. Fox's advertisement. But Limbaugh's latests statements are
sufficiently offensive that I want to take a moment to respond.
As described in the
href="http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,20651099-…
j7uy5 | October 25, 2006I want a robot vacuum cleaner that goes around the room by itself, saying "Warning! Warning! Alien Approaching!"
j7uy5 | October 25, 2006Now, there is another element in the controversy. What
happens if a corporation essentially buys an undue degree of influence
in the formulation of treatment guidelines?
Treatment guidelines have always promoted controversy in medical
practice. Most physicians like the idea of a concise
guideline that is based upon empirical data and expert consensus.
But some resist the idea, thinking that a cookbook approach
is counterintuitive or contrary to their notions of the need to place
an emphasis on the quality of the physician-patient relationship.
Undue corporate influence is the subject of…
j7uy5 | October 24, 2006Nature News reports on a preliminary study
href="http://www.chestnet.org/about/press/chest2006/briefing.php">presented
at the annual
meeting of the American College of Chest Physicians.
The study indicates that the cholesterol-lowering drugs in
the statin family may protect against lung damage caused by cigarette
smoking.
The study, presented by Walid G. Younis, MD, consisted of data analysis
of results from a survey done on 485 smokers and ex-smokers.
They found that those who took statins had much
less lung damage.
They compared medical tests of the patients' lung
health with those…
j7uy5 | October 24, 2006That's the title of
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/24/health/24cons.html?ex=1319342400&en=e370af46c3a1c13b&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss">an
article in the New York times. It is about clusters
of illness that are discovered by people posting on the Internet.
The concern is that some of these might by "psychosomatic,"
more properly known as
href="http://psyweb.com/Mdisord/jsp/somatd.jsp">somatoform
disorders. In the article, they describe a group of
persons who believe they have
rel="tag">Morgellons Disease.
Personally, I would be skeptical of…
j7uy5 | October 24, 2006The British are famous for the clever turn of the phrase, and the
headline writers at the BBC are among the best.
href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6062688.stm">
Search for least-worst option in Iraq
By Paul Reynolds
World affairs correspondent, BBC News
website
A "helluva mess" is how the former US Secretary of State James Baker is
said to have described the state of Iraq - and the search is on for the
least-worst option for US policy makers.
"The least-worst option." Can anyone come up with a more
descriptive phrase?
j7uy5 | October 23, 2006I just love this cover. I haven't actually read the magazine
in over 30 years, but this cover is a gem.
j7uy5 | October 23, 2006More headline comparisons:
href="http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/living/health/15823690.htm"
id="r-1_0">College kids add on pounds past 1st year
San
Jose Mercury News, USA - 15
hours ago
AP.
BOSTON - The "Freshman 15" is more like 5 to 7, but it is followed by
the "Sophomore 2 or 3," say researchers who led two of ...
id="r-5_0">Freshman 15: Weighty Issues
Earthtimes.org -
1 hour ago
Although
the proverbial 'freshman 15' may be a slight exaggeration, researchers
have warned that this could be followed by a 'sophomore 2 or 3'
signaling a ...…