Friday, May 16. 2008
How DNA works (a big h/t to Flares for finding this). You can tell me all day long that existence is simply mechanical and not a miracle, but I won't buy it. At the end of this bit, at the bottom of the YouTube screen, click on the other DNA and protein-construction videos. It's Biochem 101, without the details. Amazing visualizations, I think.
Sunday, May 11. 2008
We said this a month ago. Will you believe it if it comes from Instapundit? MORE VITAMIN D NEWS: "New research shows that people who regularly use sunscreen and avoiding sunlight may be sacrificing important vitamin D, which is made by the skin when it's exposed to sunlight. Now, the recommendation is to get 15 minutes of sun at the peak of the day three times a week to help avoid a vitamin D deficiency. . . . For years, Americans have been taught that as summer approaches, they should reach for sunscreen to protect themselves from a scorching burn - and the skin cancer it might trigger. But new research shows that by covering up, they may be sacrificing important vitamin D, which is made by the skin when it's exposed to sunlight. . . . Vitamin D deficiency is associated with reduced bone strength and risk of fracture; a twofold increased risk of some cancers such as colon, breast and prostate; an increased risk of both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes; worse control of diabetes for those who have it; decreased immune function; and possibly also heart disease."
Which do you believe? Last year's expertise, or this year's? I am inclined to trust this year's, or God would have put sunscreen on our skin.
Monday, May 5. 2008
I know that it is trite to tout exercise, but it is worth mentioning that we keep learning more about its health benefits. I recently attended a talk on breast cancer in which daily exercise compared favorably with several widely-used chemotherapy protocols. Humans were not designed to sit on their butts all day watching TV or reading ephemeral stuff on the Internets. You name it, and exercise helps it, in the NYT by Jane Brody.
Friday, April 4. 2008
John Masterson Burke (1812-1909) led a long and successful life with many prominent friends and business associates, including Russell Sage and the Vanderbilts. He never married, had no close relatives, and lived in a spartan manner in Manhattan. He left his $4.5 million estate in the name of his mother "for the establishment of the Winifred Masterson Burke Foundation, which is to be a rest home for convalescents..." The inspiration for his idea is unknown. Today, The Burke Rehabilitation Center in the NYC suburb of White Plains, NY is the premier rehabilitation and rehabilitation research center in the world. A dear and close relation of mine is there right now, post hip-replacement and, if you have any doubts about American medicine, you will not after you see how this amazing place works. It's interesting to read Burke's 1909 New York Times obit. Annoyed distant relatives came out of the woodwork after he wrote his final will. Also wonderful to read the Victorian language (eg "will says he gave money to restore health, not for enjoyment") in this New York Times report on his bequest.
Tuesday, April 1. 2008
 The extent to which the habit of gum-chewing contributes to the growth of tooth lice is underappreciated in America, where so many have replaced their sophisticated smoking habit with the child-like habit of Nicorette gum-chewing, according to dental researchers.
Medical experts have termed the tooth louse explosion a crisis in dental hygiene, and have been urging more government attention to it. Only a very few people have oral habitats which are entirely free of these primitive parasites. The medical fact is that chewing gum causes chronic damage to the periodontium integumentium, which is the area in which tooth lice dine on stuck particles of your lunch. The damage causes the lice to grow and reproduce more quickly because they obtain necessary iron from the blood which oozes from the damaged gum tissues. Diligent tooth-brushing causes similar damage to the integumentium, which is why progressive naturopaths and chiropractic dentists advise against regular tooth-brushing. Researchers are exploring a possible connection of the surge in tooth lice to globalistical warmening, and public health academics have reached a censensus that only national, single payer medical insurance could adequately deal with the problem. The tiny creatures are difficult to see without a magnifying glass, and are difficult to dislodge with a toothbrush. Being nocturnal, their habit is to scurry to the back side of their home tooth when exposed to light, so they are not usually observed when tooth-brushing or speaking. Listerene seems to stimulate their reproductive activity, according to preliminary studies. Either nighttime use of Oral Louse Traps or gargling with insecticides seems effective at controlling an infestation, and both are readily available at CVS or your local hardware store. However, do nothing yourself before discussing with your dentist. Tooth Lice come in two varieties, White Lice and Brown Lice. Neither are dangerous or connected with any known diseases, but their excretions can contribute to mouth odor. And nobody wants their teeth full of Brown Lice, especially at a romantic moment in a nice, candle-lit Asian-fusion restaurant. Ask your dentist today what you can do about your tooth louse infestation. Enlarged image of a White Tooth Louse. Note the prominent anus, which turns your pie-hole into a filthy and revolting louse toilet.
Thursday, March 27. 2008
Thought I might share the data from a meeting tonight about vitamins, health, and cancer. The short version: - Do not take folate-containing supplements unless you are bearing babies. (Unfortunately, the government in its infinite wisdom mandated its addtion to bread and other foods for the benefit of child-bearing women who eat terrible diets.)
- Adults should not bother with vitamin supplements, except...
- it's probably a good idea for most people to take 2000 iu of Vit D3 daily (which is actually a hormone, not a vitamin) even if you spend time outdoors, and...
- 20 minutes of daily exercise is a good thing. That's just one researcher's opinion, of course.
Friday, March 21. 2008
Neurophilosophy reports: The Visible Body is a small application created by the Massachusetts-based company Argosy Publishing. The software can be downloaded for free, and includes computer graphic models of more than 1,700 anatomical structures, which can be rotated in a three-dimensional 360 degree view: The Visible Body consists of highly detailed, anatomically accurate, 3D models of all human body systems. The models were developed by an extensively trained team with decades of experience in medical illustration and biomedical visualization. All anatomical content has been reviewed for accuracy by our panel of experts, including physicians and anatomists. The beta release includes content covered in an undergraduate-level Anatomy and Physiology course. Years of modeling and enhancement make it the most sophisticated and complete 3D model of the human body available.
An amazing resource. I know our readers can locate Ethiopia on a map, but it's one o'clock - do you know where your own Pineal Gland is at?
Wednesday, February 27. 2008
The best treatment approaches are unknown.
Tuesday, February 19. 2008
 Megan McArle explains simply why cutting the profits of drug companies will damage R&D. A quote:
I don't think of R&D as a budgeting problem; I think of it as an investment problem. After all, even if the pharmaceutical industry has no profits right now, they can borrow the money in the financial markets at fairly attractive rates. The main obstacle to R&D, then, is not the current state of pharmaceutical industry profits; it is the potential return on the investment in R&D. After all, Merck doesn't have to make drugs; it could generate a nice, safe return of 5% a year in government bonds. Or it could get into some other business, such as making soap. If you drive down the profits on new drugs too far, it stops making sense to invest in new drugs, even if there is a small profit to be made on current production.
Exactly right. In fact, I feel that it was wrong to institute time limits on drug patents. (h/t, Big Pharma vs. Big Gov at NE Repub.)
Monday, February 4. 2008
 Up to 2 billion people on the planet are infected with tuberculosis - one third of the earth's population. That doesn't mean that they have contagious pulmonary TB, just that they contain the bug which has the capacity to attack them viciously at any time, especially if something weakens them, such as HIV, other illness, or malnutrition.
Most of the cases are in Africa and Asia - the so-called TB Belt which, in Africa, overlaps with the HIV Belt. (The combination of HIV and TB is termed "the perfect storm" of infectious disease.) However, over a million Americans are infected with TB. I learned during my Yale Continuing Medical Education series this weekend that most HIV in the Northeast is transmitted by sharing needles, not via homosexual activity. I also learned that man-to-woman HIV is on the rise in the US. Woman-to-man transmission remains essentially impossible, apparently. I have been told that the rare reported cases were probably guys lying about their IV drug use or their homosexual activities. In our New England cities, drug addiction, mental illness, HIV and TB is a common mix and a huge challenge to the dedicated docs who try to take care of these people, not only because of the medical difficulties but because these people are not reliable patients. Throw in a pregnancy too and you have a case that could take up half your time taking care of just one of these poor souls, who usually have few-to-no social supports in their lives but who also avoid, or will not cooperate with, government help. Often, these folks break appointments as often as they make them because their lives are out of control, and nobody has the power to fix that. You send a visiting nurse, and they have moved out. "Lost to follow-up," until they reappear feeling desperately ill again. During one of the talks, a famous clinical researcher on infectious disease just could not resist gratuitously throwing in a snarky Power Point slide mocking George Bush's intelligence (implicitly comparing it to his own, and "ours"). It always bothers me when these Ivy types (of which I happen to be one, along with Bush with his Yale BA and Harvard MBA) just assume that everyone in their audience has the same view of things...because we are, of course, the elite bien pensant folks, aren't we, all thinking alike? Speaking of Moonbats, that reminds me of an email from a medical friend attending a medical conference and giving a talk in San Fran last week. He said that a young and lovely California doc approached him after his talk and said "I just needed to tell you that you have a special, beautiful aura." I emailed back and asked "Was she hitting on you?" He replied "I don't think so. I think it's just that California is a different planet." I said "Guess so, because I think your aura is rather ordinary." Photo: Robert Koch, the great man of infectious disease and historic benefactor of mankind, who discovered the TB, Anthrax and Cholera bugs, and created "Koch's Postulates" which made possible the conquest of most of the diseases that ravaged man through history.
Tuesday, January 29. 2008
 From a piece of the above name by Zinser and Hsieh in The Objective Standard:
Politicians from across the political spectrum, including Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and Republican candidate Mitt Romney, have argued that the government should guarantee “universal coverage” to all Americans, making health care a “right.”9 And politicians are not alone; numerous businessmen, union leaders, and insurance executives are united in saying that this will solve our problems.10 It will not. Contrary to claims that government-imposed “universal health care” would solve America’s health care problems, it would in fact destroy American medicine and countless lives along with it. The goal of “universal health care” (a euphemism for socialized medicine) is both immoral and impractical; it violates the rights of businessmen, doctors, and patients to act on their own judgment—which, in turn, throttles their ability to produce, administer, or purchase the goods and services in question. To show this, we will first examine the nature and history of government involvement in health insurance and medicine. Then we will consider attempts in other countries and various U.S. states to solve these problems through further government programs. Finally, we will show that the only viable long-term solution to the problems in question is to convert to a fully free market in health care and health insurance.
Read the whole thing. It's basically a thoughtful argument against socialist "solutions" to things in general.
Sunday, November 18. 2007
Re-posted from November, 2005 
As a native Cape Codder and cranberry fan, it's a delight to report that they may have a powerful anti-atherosclerotic effect. Maybe this news might have a beneficial effect on a specialized family farming that has been bedeviled by low prices. The big producers are Wisconsin, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Washington, Oregon and Michigan. The sentence in Science Daily I don't understand is the following: "The researchers said that the next step is to determine which compounds in cranberries contribute to the benefits and then figure out how to incorporate them into the diet in a form palatable to humans." How about in cranberry juice, cranberry muffins, cranberry pancakes, 25 kinds of cranberry sauce, cranberry cobbler, and dried cranberry "raisins,"....for starters? You can buy unsweetened, undiluted cranberry juice now in most supermarkets. We keep bags of them in the freezer, and they seem to last a year. Cranberry sauce: it's not just for Thanksgiving turkey. It's good for chicken and almost any kind of game meat. Never use the junk from the can, though. Even if you think you like it, you will find you like the home-made far better. More on this native North American wetland plant here.
Friday, November 9. 2007
 Neurologist V.S. Ramachandran does a great job explaining the mysteries of neuroscience to the general public. He's the author of A Brief Tour of Human Consciousness.
It's about mind and brain. If you have a few minutes to be enlightened, watch his video, Journey to the Center of Your Mind. (My only beef with him is that he sets up some very superficial and wrong straw-man Freudian notions to knock down, seemingly forgetting that Freud's career was in Neurology - he was a prominent one: his papers on aphasia are still read, plus he invented the use of cocaine for eye anesthesia. Used it a bit recreationally, too, I am told. He became curious about all of the hysterics he was seeing in the office, dumped on him by the other docs because he was a Jewish doctor and therefore not welcomed in the upper echelons of academic medicine in Vienna. Hence psychoanalytic theory. However, Freud was not a Psychiatrist.) (h/t, Attack Machine)
Wednesday, November 7. 2007
We have often mocked the "crisis of obesity." From the Journal of the American Medical Association via the NYT, more evidence that being overweight has no correlation with mortality.
|
post to del.icio.us