terrasig | October 31, 2007Welcome, Reader: This post was updated on Halloween 2009 to remedy linkrot and add an interesting tidbit on the famous Macbeth passage. As it is likely you ended up here via a search engine, click here to go to the updated post.
Have you ever wondered, perhaps on 31 October, why witches are depicted as riding brooms?
The answer is alluded to by Karmen Franklin at Chaotic Utopia in her post as to why witches need to know their plant biology.
The excerpts I'm about to give you come from a superb and accessible pharmacology text entitled, "Murder, Magic, and Medicine," by John Mann, host of…
terrasig | October 30, 2007I chose not to plague you with incessant reminders to contribute to our drive to raise funds for projects at DonorsChoose.org - where public school teachers propose class projects and you decide which ones to fund. Just one post at kickoff and another halfway through. We just completed the drive for our local NPR station so I know that badgering can grow on you no matter how worthy the cause.
But you readers have been incredibly responsive and generous in donating to the Terra Sig "Save the Science" projects. With a total of $2,806.47 donated thus far, we are 70% of the way towards our goal…
terrasig | October 29, 2007Perhaps you've stumbled on this post late at night while tending to a child suffering from a cold.
Well, I've been reading a fair bit lately about the 18-19 October meeting of the FDA's joint meeting of their Nonprescription Drug and Pediatric Advisory Committees, trying to make sense about calls to restrict or prohibit the use of cough and cold medicines in children under age 6. There is so much material on the subject that I have hesitated to post on the issue until I received the following e-mail from an old friend, fellow scientist and parent, North of 49:
Okay, so I'm writing to you to…
terrasig | October 29, 2007The Scientiae blog carnival has been soliciting posts for their November edition on "talking to yourself." Zuska brought this theme to the attention of some of us guy bloggers and carnival host Yami at Green Gabbro elaborated as follows:
...the past few Scientiae carnivals have been composed entirely of women's voices. While I think it's appropriate that women's voices should dominate the conversation about women's experiences, the job of thinking about gender in science belongs to everyone! I'd like to invite all you equality-minded men scientists to join the fun this time around - how do…
terrasig | October 29, 2007The always-insightful blog commenter, PhysioProf, had a terrific post yesterday on DrugMonkey about managing the various types of trainees in a research laboratory.
Some are focused on just doing interesting science. Some are working towards the goal of eventually achieving scientific independence and becoming independent PIs themselves. Some don't know why they are doing what they are doing, and may not even have ever asked themselves. Some are preparing themselves for working as scientists in industry. Some may be preparing themselves for non-scientific careers in which they make use of…
terrasig | October 27, 2007This message has now appeared on the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting site:
UPDATE: Southern California Fires & Annual Meeting
As Neuroscience 2007 approaches, SfN is monitoring the fires in the greater San Diego County area very closely and we continue to be in regular contact with area officials. While the situation is a tragedy for the affected outlying communities, we have been assured that the convention center, downtown areas, and airport remain open and are not at risk, and that Neuroscience 2007 is not expected to be significantly affected when it kicks off on November 3.…
terrasig | October 26, 2007Over at the WSJ Health Blog, Ron Winslow breaks the news that Jerry Bishop has passed away from lung cancer at age 76.
Winslow is an outstanding sci/med journalist in his own right and provides us with a detailed retrospective of Bishop's career and his role as a science writing mentor. In his 42 years with the Journal, Bishop broke many critical stories with what Winslow describes as "uncommon clarity and insight":
A page-one story published in 1966 included a spot-on prediction of what became the Internet--some three decades before the Web transformed communications...
...Another scoop was…
terrasig | October 24, 2007We wrote a few days ago on the disappointing discontinuation of Pfizer's Exubera, the first inhaled insulin product.
The always-insightful Dr Derek Lowe at In the Pipeline has an excellent commentary on this case, including his own take on the futility of putting lipstick on a pig:
1. Marketing isn't everything. The next time someone tells you about how drug companies can sell junk that people don't need through their powerful, money-laden sales force, spare a thought for Pfizer. The biggest drug company in the world, with the biggest sales force and the biggest cash reserves, couldn't move…
terrasig | October 24, 2007Update 27 October:
For those of you landing on this post via search engines, this message has now appeared on the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting site:
UPDATE: Southern California Fires & Annual Meeting
As Neuroscience 2007 approaches, SfN is monitoring the fires in the greater San Diego County area very closely and we continue to be in regular contact with area officials. While the situation is a tragedy for the affected outlying communities, we have been assured that the convention center, downtown areas, and airport remain open and are not at risk, and that Neuroscience 2007 is…
terrasig | October 22, 2007Sci/Med blogging is an interesting pastime. You can spend a tremendous amount of time writing a post and get two comments and 30 total viewers, or you can write a brief post about your daughter asking where helium comes from and get many more commenters and nearly a thousand viewers.
Clearly, the five-year-old is a better source for blog content. Q.E.D.
And, wow, what we have learned from our readers in response: one frequent Australian commenter, Chris Noble, confirmed the abundance of helium in Amarillo by noting their next shipment was indeed coming from Texas. Casey pointed us to an…
terrasig | October 19, 2007In a post the other day, we noted that the semi-synthetic natural product, ixabepilone, approved for advanced breast cancer was derived from a soil bacterium. Colleague PharmCanuck reminded us that the soil is not a new source for drugs: the anthracyclines, daunorubicin and doxorubicin, are derived from a strain of Streptomyces found growing on a 13th century castle along the Adriatic Sea (hence the brand name for doxorubicin, Adriamycin). Amazingly, Adriamycin remains a foundation of many breast cancer chemo regimens more than 30 years after its approval.
While we speak here quite often…
terrasig | October 18, 2007From the University of Alberta, here comes this shocking finding:
In a study published in The Journal of Sport Behavior, researchers at the University of Alberta in Edmonton examined the relationships among perceived athletic competence, peer acceptance and loneliness in elementary school children. Their findings will likely confirm the experience of anyone who was picked last for the team in gym class: children seen as athletic by their classmates are also better liked and less likely to feel lonely, while unathletic children experience the opposite.
Oh really? Thanks for the reminder of…
terrasig | October 18, 2007Scott Hensley at the WSJ.com Health Blog had a banner day today with the sad withdrawal by Pfizer of their inhaled insulin product, Exubera. When I was a pharmacy professor in the mid-1990s, we shared Pharma's optimism that an inhaled insulin product would be a godsend for diabetes patients who had to inject themselves with this essential hormone. The Terra Sig blog also has a historical soft spot for insulin since it was first crystallized by our nom-sake, Prof John Jacob Abel (PNAS 1926; 12:132-6 - PDF here).
Well, Abel must be quite disappointed somewhere out there in the Great Beyond:…
terrasig | October 17, 2007So, PharmK'er and I were at the originator of the chicken sandwich and she wanted a balloon. She then asked why said balloon was floating. Dad was safe in explaining how helium is lighter than the nitrogen-oxygen-carbon dioxide mixture we breathe.
Then came the killer:
"Daddy, where does the helium come from to fill the balloons?"
"A compressed gas cylinder" was not the answer she was looking for.
Thankfully, PharmMom, MD, consulted "the great big book of everything."
Commercial helium is fractionated from natural gas, where it comprises about 7-8% of its volume, particularly in deposits…
terrasig | October 16, 2007As we discussed here yesterday, ixabepilone, a semi-synthetic anticancer drug derived from a soil bacterium was up for review by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Just over a half hour ago the manufacturer, Bristol-Myers Squibb, announced that the drug has indeed been approved for the treatment of advanced breast cancer. The drug will be sold under the trade name, Ixempra.
"Previously, patients with aggressive metastatic or locally advanced breast cancer no longer responding to currently available chemotherapies had limited treatment options," said Linda Vahdat, M.D., Associate…
terrasig | October 16, 2007These aren't the 1920s. If you want to get your remedy approved as a drug, you've got to abide by the rules everyone else plays by. From the FDA press release:
At FDA's request, U.S. marshals have seized about $71,000 worth of products from Florida-based FulLife Natural Options Inc. after the agency determined that FulLife violated food and drug law by promoting certain products for use in treating serious conditions such as diabetes and high blood pressure. Because of the claims, FDA considers the products -- Charantea Ampalaya Capsules and Charantea Ampalaya Tea -- to be unapproved drugs.…
terrasig | October 15, 2007Perhaps not a cure but certainly another critical tool in the anticancer armamentarium.
If you've ever read our introduction to the left in my profile as to why this blog is called Terra Sigillata, you'd know that the first trademarked drug was dirt itself (or soil to be exact). Terra Sigillata was a special fatty clay harvested from the Greek isle of Lemnos and then punched into planchets with a special seal. Because it contained kaolin, a component of Kaopectate, it was useful for treating gastrointestinal disorders, and its high mineral content was useful for treating deficiencies that…
terrasig | October 14, 2007Yesterday we spoke a bit on the progress of our DonorsChoose blogger challenge to raise funds that will support teacher projects in underserved areas to "Save the Science." Before joining this effort a year-and-a-half ago, I had not heard of DonorsChoose but I knew it was a great idea as soon as I learned of the model.
Well, I also now just learned a little more about the guy who got it all started, Charles Best. Best was just recognized a "Cool Old Person" by DoSomething.org ("the site for old people who want to help young people do something"). By my account, Best does not qualify as an…
terrasig | October 13, 2007Well, I've really got to hand it to Terra Sig readers, some of the most thoughtful and generous folks I've come across. Our "Save the Science" blogger challenge at DonorsChoose now stands at $1,881, 47% of the way toward our $4,000 goal.
For those reading for the first time, DonorsChoose.org is a fundraising organization for K-12 public schools, those mostly in underfunded districts. Teachers propose projects, then donors like you and I get to pick which project we want to fund, wholly or partially.
The Terra Sig "Save the Science" project list is here, with instructions on how to give.…
terrasig | October 12, 2007Vote for Shelley!
Welcome readers, I am Dr John Jacob Abel, namesake of the proprietor of this blog and The Father of American Pharmacology. Among my many scientific and educational accomplishments was my establishment of the first American Department of Pharmacology at the University of Michigan in 1891.
It has come to my attention through something called a "blog" that a fellow Wolverine and neuroscience trainee, Dr-to-be Shelley Batts of Retrospectacle!, is competing for a student blogging scholarship worth $10,000 offered by CollegeScholarships.org (vote here). Shelley was very kind to…