medicine & health the science of healing, from lab to clinic
October 11, 2008
Terra Sigillata
"No Detectable Sperm" . . .is not the name of my new punk rock band.
Respectful Insolence
Autism's False Prophets: Finally, science pushes back against antivaccine lunacy Finally, a vaccine scientist pushes back against antivaccinationists.
Not Exactly Rocket Science
The heavy cost of having children While philosophers and poets muse on the meaning of life, natural selection casts a dispassionate eye on the whole affair. From the viewpoint of evolution, there is only one thing that matters - that we survive long enough to...
October 10, 2008
Discovering Biology in a Digital World
ISB symposium: update 2 The second speaker was Eric Davidson who talked about gene regulatory networks. He works on sea urchins and showed us this amazing diagram that looked like a computer chip. The diagram describes the inputs and outputs of 50 genes during the first 30 hours of development. And, it convinced me that systems biologists are developing their own language....
Discovering Biology in a Digital World
ISB symposium: update 1 The first talk was by Irving Weissman, one of the pioneers in immunology and stem cell research. He talked about the stem cells that form blood, also known as HSCs or hematopoietic stem cells....
Respectful Insolence
If you think measles is always a "minor" disease... ...Dr. John Kiely, a.k.a. EpiWonk, will school you otherwise.
Effect Measure
Does BPA interfere with breast cancer treatment? Common contaminant and chemotherapy resistance
The ScienceBlogs Book Club
Scientists 'coming out' of the closet Dr. Offit has never been shy about coming out with his opinions about vaccines and their lack of association to autism. Good. I genuinely thank him for doing so. He has been willing to put himself in the line of fire for what he believes is the right thing to do. In the course of doing this he - and his children - have been subjected to threats and abuse.
Gene Expression
More fat is less food? How Fatty Foods Curb Hunger: Fatty foods may not be the healthiest diet choice, but those rich in unsaturated fats - such as avocados, nuts and olive oil - have been found to play a pivotal role in sending this...
October 9, 2008
The ScienceBlogs Book Club
We know what the false prophets think; now what? Will the vaccine-autism issue be one day seen as yet another theory about autism for the history books; will we look back and wonder about how misguided we were?
The Scientific Activist
Obama and McCain Highlight Health Care Plans in NEJM Obama and McCain lay out their plans in a more formal setting.
denialism blog
Disaster---McCain's health care plan will ruin us all As a physician, I have a lot of politically conservative colleagues. Much of this stems from our experience with the government. The influence of Medicare helps set prices, which we are not at liberty to change, and affects how we...
DrugMonkey
NIH Bans the A2 revised application The NIH will limit applicants to a single amendment (-01A1) of grants submitted for the first time after January 25, 2009.
Not Exactly Rocket Science
Worms track us down with a chemical trail Throughout the day, our skins are constantly sending out messages that we are completely oblivious to. The message is written in chemical form and it says, "Here I am. Come and get me". We neither see nor hear these...
Respectful Insolence
The Vitamin C Empire Strikes Back Well that didn't take long, did it? Attacks on the prophet of vitamin C are apostasy!
Effect Measure
Flu as child killer MRSA and flu. Deadly combination for children.
Thoughts from Kansas
Fluorescent jellyfish genes earn Nobel Prize for Chemistry Green fluorescent protein is a standard tool in molecular biology. Researchers insert the gene into an animal's genome, and then watch for a characteristic green glow when a particular region is activated. By finding cells where the gene inserts near another protein of interest, it is possible to use that glow as a marker for the point in development or in a biochemical pathway when a particular gene is active, thus allowing scientists to trace the pattern of gene activation within an organism. The scientists winning the Prize for developing these techniques: Osamu Shimomura, 80, an emeritus professor at the...
October 8, 2008
The Scientific Activist
Barack Obama: Health Care Is a Right Obama nails the issue in the latest presidential debate.
A Blog Around The Clock
Adventures in Ethics and Science
A drug company, a psychiatrist, and an inexplicable failure to disclose conflicts of interest. Consulting fees or credibility?
Respectful Insolence
Yawn. Another worthless acupunct--I mean acupressure--study Here we go again. How do they get these studies through the IRB?
The ScienceBlogs Book Club
AFP author--Day 8 I want to thank all of those who have commented on this blog for their thoughtfulness and reason. In answer to some of your questions: Regarding the scope of the book: One commenter asked if I had considered including material...
October 7, 2008
denialism blog
A big problem for diabetics I've written quite a bit about diabetes here and at my old blog, and I've explained to you how controlling blood pressure and cholesterol in diabetics prevents macrovascular disease, such as heart attack and stroke. I've also explained how controlling...
A Blog Around The Clock
New and Exciting in PLoS ONE There are 9 new articles in PLoS ONE today (as well as another 3 articles published last night). As always, you should rate the articles, post notes and comments and send trackbacks when you blog about the papers. Here are...
The ScienceBlogs Book Club
Myth, Religion, and Jenny McCarthy, False Prophet of Autism In Autism's False Prophets, Dr. Offit points to a religious fervor behind the language of many antivaccinationists and to the zeal they devote to their cause, in the face of science and reason. An egregious example of this devotion is Generation Rescue, whose very name has religious overtones.
“This is absolutely terrifying. When did The Hippocratic Oath become the ten commandments?“ Daniel Sprockett on I don't want to be healed by Jesus, I want real medicine
