revere | January 18, 2010Martin Luther King's birthday is an official holiday in the US, but King's example of non-violent resistance is not a US idea. So once again we have decided this non-traditional version of We Shall Overcome is appropriate. I've heard and sung this in churches, union halls, in the streets and in concerts for four decades and it inspires wherever and whenever it is sung. This 1996 version features Diana Ross in full concert hall regalia, backed by a symphony orchestra. The venue is Budapest, Hungary and more than one member of the orchestra and the audience were undoubtedly thinking of their…
revere | January 18, 2010Many years ago we had a terrific carpenter build stairs in our old house using a technique called housed stringer construction. This guy was fairly young but a skilled wood worker. He was also missing several fingers on his right hand. Table saw.
I used to have a table saw, too, but its spinning blade always made me nervous. So I gave it to my brother-in-law who is a cop and tends to be very careful. He still has all his fingers. But a lot of hobbyist and home do-it-yourselfers don't, courtesy table saws, the woodworking tool associated with more injuries than any other. A new study by the…
revere | January 17, 2010There is an old vaudeville joke where a man goes to the doctor complaining about pain in his arm:
Doctor: Have you ever had it before?
Man: Yes, once before.
Doctor: Well, you have it again.
CDC reported on their weekly FluView website on Friday that the Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH) reported to CDC that in September a boy (age not stated) had a flu like illness from which he fully recovered and for which he hadn't required hospitalization. In November IDPH determined it was swine flu, but not the pandemic H1N1 but a swine-origin H3N2. According to CDC there was "no clear exposure"…
revere | January 16, 2010[Previous installments: here, here, here, here, here]
After a detour through the meaning of causation and the need to find a substitute for what can't, in principle, be observed (the counterfactual), we are now ready to consider what many of you might have thought would be the starting point, randomization. It's a surprisingly difficult topic and this post will probably be more challenging for non statisticians, but I feel confident you don't need to be an expert to understand it.
First a quick recap. If you want to know if mammography screening will prolong the life of a woman under the age…
revere | January 15, 2010Yet another cell phone and disease story, and while this one is on the "good news" side, it doesn't reassure me:
The millions of people who spend hours every day on a cell phone, may have a new excuse for yakking. A surprising new study in mice provides the first evidence that long-term exposure to electromagnetic waves associated with cell phone use may actually protect against, and even reverse, Alzheimer’s disease. The study, led by University of South Florida researchers at the Florida Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (ADRC), was published today in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.
“…
revere | January 14, 2010It's been over a year since we discussed the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) article on bisphenol-A (BPA), a high volume chemical used in plastic components of food and drinks packaging and found in 90% of all Americans screened for the chemical. It is also a chemical that disrupts the endocrine system, a complex chemical signaling system that coordinates the actions and responses of various tissues and organs. The JAMA article examined self report in adults of cardiovascular disease and diabetes ("has a doctor ever told you that you had . . . ") and measured liver enzyme…
revere | January 13, 2010The finger pointing and the told-you-so-ers are out in force these days and WHO seems to be one of their targets. In the face of wealthy European countries cutting their swine flu vaccine orders because of limited demand, critics are claiming that WHO exaggerated the threat in league with or under the influence of Big Pharma vaccine makers out to make a killing. This is really two issues. One, did WHO appropriately appraise the risk; and two, were they unduly influenced by greedy drug makers. I think the answer to these questions are "Yes" and "No."
In our view WHO was caught between a rock…
revere | January 12, 2010[Previous installments: here, here, here, here]
We'd like to continue this series on randomized versus observational studies by discussing randomization, but upon reviewing comments and our previous post we decided to come at it from a slightly different direction. So we want to circle back and discuss counterfactuals a little more, clarifying and adapting some of what we said for the coming randomization discussion.
Let me change the example to a more recent controversy, screening mammography for breast cancer. Should women under 40 get routine screening given that there is said (on the…
revere | January 11, 2010Illinois is not a state I know well, despite having spent five terrifying days and nights in 1968 being chased around its major city by its (then) rabid constabulary and almost losing my life in the process. It was decades before I could bring myself to return there, but when I did I found a vibrant, electric city with some of the greatest food anywhere. Some things hadn't changed that much, though, and Chicago and Illinois politics have remained, well, "different." Think Rod Blagojevich.
Well, don't. He's not the Governor any more. After Blago's impeachment, his estranged Lieutenant Governor…
revere | January 10, 2010I discovered a stunning Youtube video via Boingboing, so consider this post just an excuse to show it to you. But as long as its title involves potato salad, I thought I'd reiterate some points we've made in the past about potato salad and food poisoning.
Potato salad is a frequent vehicle for one of the nastier foodborne illnesses, staphylococcal food poisoning, although it can also do the same favor for salmonellosis, Bacillus cereus, E. coli, campylobacter, Norovirus and Shigella (there is a rundown here). Much of what we say here for staph holds true for the others although it is the…
revere | January 10, 2010Via microdot at The Brain Police I learned of the latest intellectual(?) property/trademark claim. Popedom:
The Vatican has awarded itself a "unique copyright" on the Pope's name, image, coat of arms, and any other symbol or logo related to the Holy Father.
"The use of anything referring directly to the person or office of the Supreme Pontiff...and/or the use of the title 'Pontifical,' must receive previous and express authorization from the Holy See," reads a statement released by the Vatican on Saturday morning, the Catholic News Agency (http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/…
revere | January 9, 2010The decades roll on but we still have wonderful friends from long ago who've kept at it, who grew up to be true and courageous and with a joyful heart. One of them celebrates her birthday today. She stays for me, Forever Young.
Bon anniversaire, Muffin, from me and Mrs. R.
revere | January 9, 2010My little ones now have little ones of their own, just barely out of their cradles. When this song was written, the prospect of global nuclear annihilation wasn't far fetched. Each side had massive overkill. There are still nuclear weapons so the threat isn't gone. But it's not a threat of nuclear winter. There are several reasons for this, including a world wide anti-nuclear movement. What would have happened had there been no opposition to nuclear weapons? I'm glad to say we'll never know. Unfortunately even without nuclear weapons the words of this song are still applicable to cradles…
revere | January 9, 2010Continuing our discussion of causation and what it might mean (this is still a controverted question in philosophy and should be in science), let me address an issue brought up by David Rind in his discussion of our challenge. He discussed three cases where a rational person wouldn't wait for an RCT before taking action, even though there remained uncertainty. The first was a single case report of rabies survival after applying an ad hoc protocol. The next was use of parachutes while sky diving. The third was the first reports of antiretroviral therapy for AIDS. Here's what Rind said in his…
revere | January 8, 2010Let me start with an apology. This post is again fairly long (for a blog post). Blog readers don't like long posts (at least I don't). But once I started writing about this I was unable to stop at some intermediary point, although I might have made it more concise and less conversational. I haven't done either. Even worse, I didn't quite finish with the single point I wanted to make, so it will be continued in the next post. Hence the apology. Now to recap a bit and then get down to business.
My "challenge" from 10 days ago has drawn quite a response: over 40 quite substantive comments on the…
revere | January 7, 2010When I was growing up "world music" didn't exist as a genre and didn't exist for me in any form. Now it's just a keystroke away. This is a different world for the younger generation, not just musically. Despite all the wars and the problems in the headlines, I think it's a better one.
Chanda Mama is a folk tune from Chennai, India. Like a lot of music, it's also from Argentina and Lisbon and Toulouse and South Africa and on and on. Here it is from Playing for Change via musicians from four continents:
revere | January 7, 2010We all saw it coming. If you could have a bomb under your balls, why not a bomb in your honey pot?
U.S. officials say a suspicious material found in a passenger's bag that triggered a security scare at a California airport on Tuesday actually turned out to be bottles of honey.
The scare caused a shutdown at the Meadows Field Airport in the city of Bakersfield and a hazardous material crew and bomb squad were called to the scene. (Voice of America News, h/t Boingboing via Backwards beekeepers)
It gets better:
Two Transportation Security Administration officers were also treated and released…
revere | January 6, 2010If you don't share the sentiments, just enjoy the music. But why wouldn't you share the sentiments?
revere | January 6, 2010Rush Limbaugh has done a personal biopsy of the US health care system and found it healthy:
"Based on what happened to me here, I don't think there is one thing wrong with the American healthcare system. It is working just fine," he said.
Limbaugh, a multimillionaire, said he got no special treatment, but the staff made his stay "almost like a hotel." (Reuters via ABC News)
What "happened to him" was that the obese 58 year old media bloviator with enough internal rage to kill a dozen normal sized people was afraid he was having a heart attack and called his girl friend, Kathryn Rogers, to let…