Corpus Callosum is written by a psychiatrist at a small community hospital somewhere in midwestern USA. Email to cc.scienceblogger at gmail dot com.
January 31, 2007
Category: Personal
We've lost one of the great journalists of our time: Molly Ivins. She died after her third round of treatment for breast cancer. The photo above is from The Nation, one of our premier progressive publications. I Remember Molly...
Posted by Joseph j7uy5 at 10:09 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 30, 2007
Category: Bioethics
And what an unflattering light it is. It occurs to me that often, when I write about the pharmaceutical industry, I have something negative to say. Really, my thoughts are not all negative. It's just that it is easier to...
Posted by Joseph j7uy5 at 8:07 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 27, 2007
Category: Politics
...the USA has not gotten all of its highly-enriched uranium back. As reported in a special report in the Chicago Tribune, the USA had a program in the '50's and 60's called "Atoms for Peace." Initially, we supplied low-grade uranium...
Posted by Joseph j7uy5 at 8:48 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 26, 2007
Category: Medicine
In response to a question, where can I sign up for a clinical trial on...? The answer is: go to www.clinicaltrials.gov, to find out. For example, if you search on "Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation", you get 16 results. However, no...
Posted by Joseph j7uy5 at 11:03 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Social Commentary
I tend to be skeptical of causes or organizations that include the word "truth," as in Swiftboat Veterans for Truth. But I suppose that if one side does it, the other can, too; so, here goes: "Truth"....
Posted by Joseph j7uy5 at 1:22 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Medicine
Fibromyalgia is a disorder of chronic generalized muscle pain and joint stiffness with the presence on physical exam of at least 11/18 designated tender points. (The formal definition is a bit more involved.) Interestingly, the term was not accepted by...
Posted by Joseph j7uy5 at 12:15 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 25, 2007
Category: Energy
Remember geothermal energy? It was a popular topic back in the 1960's, particularly among those who were stridently opposed to the massive investments in nuclear power. Somehow, though, it was never pursued very aggressively. Now, there is a massive report...
Posted by Joseph j7uy5 at 9:24 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 24, 2007
Category: Armchair Musings
Two different news organizations chose two different photos to illustrate the same event: Jimmy Carter speaking at Brandeis University, in response to criticism of his boook: Palestine Peace Not Apartheid. The top photo is from the New York Times, At...
Posted by Joseph j7uy5 at 7:30 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Social Commentary
Great idea: create a "volunteer civilian corps" that would give Americans the opportunity to contribute their valuable skills, to take the stress off the regular military. Translation: let's hire mercenaries, who'll think they're getting a good deal, making $100,000 a...
Posted by Joseph j7uy5 at 1:19 AM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 20, 2007
Category: Politics
Under-the-Radar Politics I sure hope this doesn't sound too alarmist, gevalt, over-the-top, whatever, but I noticed a post on Integrity of Science that woke me up a little bit - before my coffee was finished brewing. (The coffee, by the...
Posted by Joseph j7uy5 at 6:43 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 17, 2007
Category: Social Issues
The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists site is back to normal, only now they have a new, secondary theme. They are considering both climate change AND the risk of nuclear catastrophe. Based upon their deliberations, they have moved the clock two...
Posted by Joseph j7uy5 at 8:52 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Social Commentary
"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" is one of those trite sayings that we've all heard "a million times." Certainly, is is commonplace for persons to have differing opinions on matters such as the attractiveness of others. Sometimes,...
Posted by Joseph j7uy5 at 10:02 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Medicine
The January 12, 2007 issue of MMWR reports on cases of infant deaths due to (presumably) unintentional overdoses on cough and cold preparations. With this being the season that such products are most likely to be used, I thought I'd...
Posted by Joseph j7uy5 at 7:23 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 16, 2007
Category: Social Commentary
This thing has fascinated me since I was a teenager, when my father had a subscription to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. I read it every time. They are the ones who keep the famous Doomsday Clock. Now, we...
Posted by Joseph j7uy5 at 7:26 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 15, 2007
Category: Bioethics
Everyone knows that HIV is American prisons is a huge problem, but we don't hear much about it. There are several reasons for that. For one, prisons are unpleasant places, and for the most part, we don't want to...
Posted by Joseph j7uy5 at 7:41 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 11, 2007
Category: Photos of Interest
This was one of Reuters top photos for the day, yesterday. It shows a baby albino alligator. Not only is it an unusual subject, but it is a pretty good picture. A baby albino alligator swims at Sao Paulo's Aquarium...
Posted by Joseph j7uy5 at 8:33 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 10, 2007
Category: Medicine
Notice the prominent use of the word "potential." That is potential as in may or may not ever come to anything. As word of these potential treatments gets out, we can expect that unscrupulous persons will try to market things...
Posted by Joseph j7uy5 at 7:32 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 9, 2007
Category: Humor
From Reuters: Horse thinks he's a hound Jan 8 - A foal who was raised with dogs has become so attached he thinks his mother and father are labradors. Rather than cantering about meadows with the other horses, Shetland pony...
Posted by Joseph j7uy5 at 8:26 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 8, 2007
Category: Medicine
You might think that developing a system for EMR would be fairly straightforward. After all, some of the things that computers are really good for, are the storing, retrieval, and display of information. But somehow, developing a system that actually...
Posted by Joseph j7uy5 at 10:12 AM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 7, 2007
Category: Politics
Perhaps it is a mere coincidence, but I could not help but notice this. As soon as Democrats take control of the House and Senate, we see these headlines: Return trip for electric vehicles: automakers unveil plans for electric cars;...
Posted by Joseph j7uy5 at 7:41 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 6, 2007
Category: Science in the Media
(This is a public health announcement for women and men.) News agencies are, appropriately, reporting on the finding that the average levels of folate in American women are falling. (e.g. Folate levels in young American women fall, could lead to...
Posted by Joseph j7uy5 at 4:24 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: CME
The big Pharma news of the day is that Pzifer is marketing (Slentrol®), a drug to help obese dogs lose weight. Dirlotapide, also known as N-{(1S)-2-[benzyl(methyl)amino]- 2-oxo-1-phenylethyl}-1-methyl-5-[4'-(trifluoromethyl)biphenyl- 2-carboxamido]-1H-indol-2-carboxamide, is definitely not recommended for humans: Slentrol (dirlotapide) Goes to the...
Posted by Joseph j7uy5 at 3:47 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Photos of Interest
The Richat Structure is not a structure in the usual sense. It is a natural feature located in the Sahara Desert of Mauritania. It is unusual because it is nearly circular. It was first observed from space, in 1965, by...
Posted by Joseph j7uy5 at 7:46 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 5, 2007
Category: Bioethics
(I know Shelly has already posted about this on Retrospectacle. Hopefully, you'll see there is a different slant to this.) Significant controversy arose over the idea of using pharmaceutical and surgical methods to permanently stunt the growth of children...
Posted by Joseph j7uy5 at 8:16 PM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 4, 2007
Category: Politics
...from a psychological standpoint, that is. This is the topic of an article in the current edition of Foreign Policy. In it, the authors examine the effect of common systematic cognitive errors, or biases, on the process of evaluating the...
Posted by Joseph j7uy5 at 7:16 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 3, 2007
Category: Photos of Interest
From National Geographic "Top Ten Photos of 2006" Photo in the News: Cat Chases Bear Up Tree I thought it was staged, but apparently not. Story here....
Posted by Joseph j7uy5 at 10:09 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Medicine
According to the CDC, there is a risk of pet hamsters harboring some darn serious pathogens. photo credit: Yukari. Hamsters, technically Class: Mammalia; Order: Rodentia; Suborder: Myomorpha; Superfamily: Muroidea; Family: Cricetidae; Subfamily: Cricetinae, are cute little pets that people...
Posted by Joseph j7uy5 at 7:35 PM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 2, 2007
Category: Bioethics
There have been stories and novels about the end of privacy. 1984, by George Orwell, comes to mind. I also remember reading a science fiction short story once, about how technology had made privacy so difficult to maintain, and so...
Posted by Joseph j7uy5 at 8:54 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 1, 2007
Category: Environment
What could be a better advertisement than this?...
Posted by Joseph j7uy5 at 4:17 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
