health
gregladen | May 5, 2008I woke up to an icky world this morning. After painfully clearing my lungs and scarfing down some medication, I scanned the TV channels for news. and the blogosphere for inspiration. The TV was giving me mainly god, while the blogosphere was giving me measles, pandemics, murdered sea lions, and this poor eagle with its beak snapped off.
TV land was still in it's pre-day stage (which runs an hour later here in the Midwest). Therefore, fully half or more of the stations were busy peddling Christianity. I learned that it was easier to accept faith and know that God has a plan than to…
gregladen | May 2, 2008I almost literally grew up in the shadow of the Albany Medical Center. Many of my family members were at one time or another employed there, perhaps cleaning the floor while in high school or in a clerical position as a part time job, etc. I have been in and out of the emergency room there countless times (though hardly ever as the patient). Some of my favorite stories begin or end at AMC.
Well, I never realized it before, but the Albany Medical College (part of the center) has a thing called the Albany Medical Center Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research which is, according to many,…
gregladen | May 2, 2008Vaccine denialism and related issues is something that I took a great interest in many years ago with the publication of Laruie Garret's "The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World Out of Balance," a book which presaged a great deal of later popular and more technical literature on diseases. My interested was piqued in connection with an interest in so called "emerging diseases" that came from my work at that time in emerging disease land (the northeastern Congo forest). (Yes, these are all linked in various ways. But my interest in writing about these issues has been dampened…
gregladen | April 27, 2008Inequality in mortality is the most poignant reminder of persistent, often multi-generational differences in socioeconomic status (SES). Poor people are more likely to get sick and die than rich people. As a society develops over time, one would hope that this disparity would be reduced, but in fact, it often increases. Recent research published in PLoS Medicine heralds this bad news.
This study is fairly unique in that it examines life expectancy across counties, which are the smallest demographic unit for which the appropriate kind of data are collected. The study examines death rates…
omnibrain | April 16, 2008A great new piece of technology turns you into old mister Pickard, your pissy, old, get off my damn lawn, next door neighbor.
Carmaker Nissan Motor is using a specialized driver's suit and goggles to simulate the bad balance, stiff joints, weaker eyesight and extra five kilograms (11lbs) that may accompany senior citizenry.
Associate chief designer Etsuhiro Watanabe says the suit's weight and constriction help in determining functionality and accessibility within cars by putting young designers not only in the minds of the mobility-challenged, but also in their bodies.
"Difficulty in…
gregladen | April 14, 2008This is a press release pertaining to an article coming out next month in the American Journal of Public Health:
The widespread assumption that pandemic influenza is an exceptionally deadly form of seasonal, or nonpandemic, flu is hard to support, according to a new study in the May issue of the American Journal of Public Health.
The study challenges common beliefs about the flu--in particular the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) claim that "the hallmark of pandemic influenza is excess mortality."
Peter Doshi, a graduate student in the History, Anthropology, and Science,…
gregladen | April 11, 2008Le Petit Singly, a French company, now produces cheese made from human breast milk. And it is not really new.
Apparently they've been doing this for some time now.
"Small Singly is the only cheese made from a woman's breast milk, and has remained for a long time in the shadows of the more ordinary cheeses made of sheep, goat, or cow's milk. ... made with the expertise of master cheese maker Patrice Cosma ... With a tint of hazel nut and a subtle caramelized colore, its softness and texture will undoubtedly allure you. This cheese was discovered in the 19th century, and follows grandmother'…
omnibrain | April 7, 2008A number of people have noticed that after getting transplants their personality changes - and not only that- their personality changes to reflect the donors personality.
...though she was born and raised in Tucson, she never liked Mexican food. She craved Italian and was a pasta junkie. But three years ago, all that changed for Jaime Sherman, 28, when she underwent a heart transplant at University Medical Center, after battling a heart defect since birth. "Now I love football, baseball, basketball. You name it, I follow it," said Sherman, a psychology student at Arizona State University…
aardvarchaeology | April 5, 2008The Austrian city of Salzburg has been hit by a measles outbreak among private-school children. Measles are no laughing matter, and thankfully outbreaks like these are rare in the West these days thanks to vaccination. So it comes as no surprise that the school in question is the Rudolf-Steiner-Schule in Mayrwies, a Waldorf school run by anthroposophists. Anthroposophy is an old New Age movement based upon the supernatural visions of Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925). Its current altie medical practices include a strong antivaccination ideology.
Said Steiner in the fifth lecture of his 1910 series…
gregladen | April 3, 2008
... well, OK, maybe that is a slight exaggeration.
You know about giardia. Giardia intestinalis. It causes a nasty gut infection, and you get it by drinking water pretty much anywhere in the US (potentially). It is very hard to get rid of.
Giardia adapt to immune system attacks (of their host) in a way that passes that adaptation down to their offspring without genes. It is a Lamarkian process. Giardia have no mitochondria, yet many of the genes known to be in mitochondria in eukaryotes are found in the giardian nucleus. So, ancestral giardia probably had mitochondria, but all those…
omnibrain | April 3, 2008 It's just about weekly that some scientist finds that one of our guilty pleasures is actually good for us. First it was red wine, then it was all alcohol. Followed by Omega-3 Fatty Acids - mmm.... fat.... And Now?! It's coffee. It doesn't just wake you up in the morning so you can avoid those pesky rush hour accidents with half drunk and asleep drivers. Now coffee is purported to protect us against dementias by blocking the damage cholesterol can inflict on our body.
So go ahead eat those extra eggs and an entire package of bacon. You can just drink an entire pot of coffee to protect…
gregladen | April 2, 2008I don't have time to really do this paper justice, but I wanted you to know about it. It's at PLoS, and therefore you don't have to be special to read it free.
Understanding the dynamics of human body weight change has important consequences for conditions such as obesity, starvation, and wasting syndromes. Changes of body weight are known to result from imbalances between the energy derived from food and the energy expended to maintain life and perform physical work. However, quantifying this relationship has proved difficult, in part because the body is composed of multiple components…
gregladen | April 1, 2008Syphilis is first clearly seen in Europe in 1495, when it appeared as a plague (though it was not "the blague" ... Yersinia pestis) among Charles VIII's troops. When these troops went home shortly after the fall of Naples, they brought this disease with them, staring an epidemic. The level of mortality in Europe was truly devastating. Is it the case that syphilis was brought to Europe by Columbus and his men just prior to the plague-like outbreak of 1495?
The origin of syphilis has been debated for years, really since the actual 1495 event itself. Some researchers have asserted that…
omnibrain | March 31, 2008Welcome to the most recent installation of the neuroscience blog carnival, Encephelon, here at Of Two Minds! Steve and I thought we would mix things up a little bit and let a guest blogger summarize the best brain blogging (submitted to us (this week)). That guest is none other that famed socialite Paris Hilton, who wished to take this opportunity to attempt to change her image from fashionista to neuronista. Please welcome Paris!
Hi neurokids, Paris here. While I'm sure that you have already formed an opinion of me due to the massive media coverage of my escapades and foibles, hopefully…
aardvarchaeology | March 26, 2008
A couple of recent Skepticality interviews (with environmental engineer Kelly Comstock and environmental toxicologist Shane Snyder) taught me something that may seem obvious, but which was radical news to me. Tap water is an industrial product. It occurs nowhere in nature. Water suppliers use natural water to make tap water according to current scientific understanding of what's healthy for humans to drink.
To make tap water, you need to remove a lot of stuff, such as micro-organisms, industrial pollutants, organic residues and mineral particles, perhaps also salt and lime. Then you need to…
gregladen | March 26, 2008Welcome to Berry Go Round #3, the blog carnival deicated to all things botanical.
The previous installment, Berry Go Round #2, is located here, at Further Thoughts. If you would like to submit an item to the next Berry Go Round, you may use this handy submission form. The Berry Go Round Home Page is here.
Let us begin right away with the Artichokes. Seeds Aside has a piece on the relationship between the artichoke and the cardoon, both known in ADL (ancient dead language) as Cynara cardunculus. The phyloge relatinship between the two, and the story of domestication for each, is very…
omnibrain | March 24, 2008That's right - No exercise - No Dieting. Just sit you your couch and EAT EAT EAT!
For $29.95 We'll come to your house and introduce this friendly parasite to your digestive system.
Once you've lost all the weight you need to you can just have expensive and painful surgery to remove your cute new pet. You can then keep him in a little jar and show your friends how much he's grown and prove to them what a good mommy you are to your new cute little parasite.
-via neatorama and I met a possum-
sciencetolife | March 18, 2008
Two MIT pharmaceutical industry experts believe that the mounting U.S. drug price crisis can be contained and eventually reversed by separating drug discovery from drug marketing and by establishing a non-profit company to oversee funding for new medicines.
The experts are Stan Finkelstein, M.D., senior research scientist in MIT's Engineering Systems Division, and Peter Temin, Elisha Gray II Professor of Economics and they detail their proposal in their new book, "Reasonable Rx: Solving the Drug Price Crisis" (published by Financial Times Press).
Drawing on recent history, they propose…
gregladen | March 17, 2008A number of staff of a Los Angeles Hospital will likely lose their jobs for reading Britney Spears' medical records.
The Los Angeles Times says workers at the UCLA medical centre looked at Spears' confidential files when she was admitted to the hospital in January.
Jeri Simpson, the hospital's head of human resources, confirmed to the AP news agency that several staff would be disciplined or fired over the incident.
"It's very frustrating and it's very disappointing," she said.
According to the Los Angeles Times, 13 staff - none of them doctors - will lose their jobs.
[source]
It is very…
omnibrain | March 14, 2008 We here at Of Two Minds would like to announce a brand new training program that will help you improve your memory through the method of Long Term Depression. Because we use this fancy brain term you can be assured that the training is working.
Step One: Open list of words to study.
Step Two: Have friend stab you in only one eye (you need the other to study the list!)
Step Three: Better memory for everything!
In fact, recent research supports this wonderful new method of brain training! Check it out:
Scientists have long known that the nervous system receptor known as TRPV1 can affect…