medicine
oracknows | February 16, 2007It figures, it really does, that this would have to be one of the first clinical uses of stem cells that they'd come up with.
The really weird thing about this article is its schizophrenic nature. It starts out with a sensationalistic description of the new use of stem cells, and then it describes the discovery of a mutated allele of a gene that gives around a 10% decreased risk of breast cancer. It's like two entirely different articles pasted together in a haphazard fashion.
oracknows | February 16, 2007Like most people, I like making money. True, it's not the main goal of my life (otherwise I definitely wouldn't be in academics), but, all in all, it's better to be comfortably off than to be poor. And, as I've said before, although I could make more in private practice, I don't do too badly as an academic surgeon. I can afford a decent house, a nice car, computers, and gadgets, and still save for retirement. Of course, key to that is not spending beyond my means, as some at my income level somehow still manage to do, but wouldn't it be nice if you could access forces and powers that would--…
grrlscientist | February 16, 2007Normally I do not review books that have been out for longer than a year or so, but while I was in the hospital, I decided to celebrate Columbus Day by reading a book that was sent to me by my blog pal, Tara. This book, Pox: Genius, Madness, and the Mysteries of Syphilis by Deborah Hayden (New York: Basic Books, 2004, 2005), turned out to be an interesting biography of a bacterial infection that has baffled doctors for hundreds of years.
In the first part of the book, the author observes that there are two main problems associated with an case history of syphilis: first, syphilis is "the…
grrlscientist | February 15, 2007Awhile ago, I linked to an article about acetaldehyde (pictured), which is the toxic ethanol metabolite that gives people a hangover when they drink too much. This week, I read an article in the New Scientist about acetaldehyde. It turns out that acetaldehyde is found in more substances than you probably ever thought possible. Not only is it a metabolite of ethanol breakdown by the liver, but it is also found in tobacco, vehicle exhaust fumes, coffee, and ripe fruits; it is often used to create a fruity flavor in yogurt; and it is produced by certain mouth bacteria.
For many years,…
omnibrain | February 15, 2007In the ongoing battle between the DEA, farmers, patients, and scientists there has been nothing but contradictory information. It looks like with a couple new pieces of news that the pro-marijuana (the medical kind) people might be coming out ahead.
For researchers studying marijuana, it's been a very good week. In one of the most careful studies to date, marijuana was found to relieve pain. And a judge ruled in favor of an agronomist who has has been trying for six years to overcome one of the problems of marijuana research: the lack of an adequate supply of the drug for experiments.
The…
oracknows | February 15, 2007I've written quite a bit about the role of the theory of evolution in medicine, including how it can be used to better understand disease processes such as cancer and sleeping sickness. I've also lamented the woeful state of knowledge about evolution that is possessed by all too many medical students and physicians, most recently taking to task an orthopedic surgeon named David Cook for some astoundingly ignorant statements about evolution and Dr. Geoffrey Simmons. (At least it's somewhat comforting to know that I'm not the only one who's embarrassed for his profession in this matter.)…
oracknows | February 14, 2007[Note: There is a followup to this post here.]
I've been writing a lot about dichloroacetate (DCA) lately, perhaps even to the point of becoming repetitive and risking boring my readers. Fortunately, this post is not primarily about DCA. Unfortunately, it's about a question that is related to the recent hype over DCA in that it pits the desperation of dying cancer patients who want to try out the latest drugs, even if they haven't been demonstrated to be safe or efficacious, versus the what remaining ability the FDA has to regulate drug safety and, some might argue, the scientific method…
oracknows | February 13, 2007Every so often, just for laughs or my own personal edification, periodically I check my referral logs to see who's linking to me and what posts are being linked to. Most of the time, there's not much there worth commenting on. Sometimes, it's bloggers who agree with me; other times, it's bloggers who were simply amused enough by something I've posted to link to it; and occasionally, it's bloggers who really, really don't like me, for reasons that most of you would find obvious. Sometimes, however, there's a link that catches my attention. In this case, the link came from here.
At first glance…
ddobbs | February 12, 2007
Kuroda Seiki, "A Nap," 1894. from Kuroda Memorial Hall online
I love midday naps, and before I had kids and all time evaporated, I used to take 2 or 3 a week: Kick back the recliner, shut 'em for 20-30 minutes, and wake up a new man. Worked for Churchill during the war, so why not for me? Like a run or a good night's sleep, it was an investment of time that made me both happier and more productive. Yet, stupidly, few of us take them these days.
Why not? We can't afford the time. Or so we think. The study below suggests that perhaps you may well get the time back, in spades, by living…
oracknows | February 12, 2007Yes, I know that my blog buddy Abel wrote a post with almost exactly the same title as this. No, I'm not mindlessly aping him. I'm doing it because of what Abel revealed in his post: That most of his referrals lately have been Google searches looking for information on where to buy dichloroacetate, a.k.a. DCA.
I, too, have noticed a lot of referrals to my original post on DCA, in which I tried to explain why it isn't the "cure" for cancer that some have been touting it as, most recently, a rather annoying troll going by the name of Robert Smith who's been infesting my blog lately in my posts…
oracknows | February 12, 2007I've written about the corrosive effect that religion can have on medical care when it is allowed to become too pervasive. One example where the intersection of religion and medicine concerns me is when various religious doctors insist on very dubious evidence that religiosity is good for a patient's health and that physicians should therefore take a "spiritual history" of all of their patients, with one even going so far as to claim that "excluding God from a consultation should be grounds for malpractice." I've also critically discussed studies that purport to show various benefits of…
oracknows | February 11, 2007A couple of weeks ago, I posted about a bizarre complication of a central venous catheter placement. Now, on YouTube, I find a primer on how to place central venous catheters.
The remaining parts can be found here.
oracknows | February 10, 2007...that Kristjan Wager started a blog.
Kristjan, as some may know, is a frequent commenter here, and has even guest-blogged for me about the Danish studies on two occasions.
Head on over and check out Kristjan's blog, Pro-Science. I'll be adding it to my sidebar the next time I get a chance to revamp my blogroll.
oracknows | February 9, 2007Apparently, while I've been at this meeting, Mayo Clinics Proceedings has published this systematic review of the scientific literature on the "efficacy" of homeopathy. Its conclusion:
The evidence from rigorous clinical trials of any type of therapeutic or preventive intervention testing homeopathy for childhood and adolescence ailments is not convincing enough for recommendations in any condition.
Actually, it would have been more accurate to say "not convincing at all." It's inevitably smaller, more poorly designed or non-randomized studies that purport to show treatment effects, which…
oracknows | February 9, 2007It's my last day in sunny Phoenix, and all I've done thus far is to go to conferences, work on a grant, and do a little blogging, usually late at night because I often have trouble falling asleep in hotel rooms, particularly given that the air conditioning always seems to be such that it's either too cold or too warm. I must be like Goldilocks, at least with respect to hotel heating/cooling systems, because it's always ridiculously hard for me to get it "just right."
In any case, I bet you were probably wondering if I'd pull off this week's Your Friday Dose of Woo. Actually, I wondered myself…
oracknows | February 8, 2007Well, here I am in sunny Phoenix, having spent pretty much all of yesterday at the conference, sneaking in alterations to and practicing of my talk in between sessions. All in all not a bad day, although I spent the entire day indoors and didn't get to partake of the bright and cheery warmth, which is sad, because it's particularly welcome given the weather at my present abode. The conference produced one other thing for me as well: A good blogging topic. Not only that, but it's a good blogging topic that fits in with the whole "Just Science" theme of this week. Don't worry, though, no…
oracknows | February 7, 2007I happen to be in Phoenix today, attending the Academic Surgical Congress, where I actually have to present one of my abstracts. That means, between flying to Phoenix last night and preparing for my talk, I didn't have time to serve up a heapin' helping of that Respectful Insolence⢠you know and (hopefully) love. Fortunately, there's still a lot of stuff in the vaults of the old blog begging to be moved over to the new blog; so that's what I'll do today. I'll probably be back tomorrow, given that the conference will likely produce blog fodder. (Conferences usually do.) And, don't worry.…
oracknows | February 7, 2007I happen to be in Phoenix today, attending the Academic Surgical Congress, where I actually have to present one of my abstracts. That means, between flying to Phoenix last night and preparing for my talk, I didn't have time to serve up a heapin' helping of that Respectful Insolence⢠you know and (hopefully) love. Fortunately, there's still a lot of stuff in the vaults of the old blog begging to be moved over to the new blog; so that's what I'll do today. I'll probably be back tomorrow with new material, given that the conference will likely produce blog fodder. (Conferences usually do.) And…
oracknows | February 6, 2007I know, I know. I've been a bad boy. I've been meaning to join in everyone else and produce a couple of "basic concepts" posts. Somehow, I've just been distracted. The problem is, blogging is my hobby. It's what I do for enjoyment. Writing a "basic concepts" post seems too much like work and grant writing (of which I've had way more than my fill lately).
Still, I feel obligated to do at least one or two of these posts in my area of expertise. I wouldn't want to be a ScienceBlogs slacker, after all.
clock | February 6, 2007Matt found a conference paper that shows that the risk of pre-term birth is the lowest in spring, rising through summer and fall and the greatest in winter.
The paper, IMHO erroneously, focuses on the time of conception (because it is an easy marker used to calculate the supposed birth-date). Matt correctly shifts the discussion to the time of birth. After all, pre-term births are much more likely to be caused by something happening around that time than anything at the time of conception.
On the other hand, Matt, though cautiously and almost tongue-in-cheek, makes an attempt at an…