Effect Measure
Archives for October, 2006
No news doesn’t mean good news
Posted by revere on October 20, 2006 We’ve said it here often, but it’s nice to see it in the commercial print media. Less than a year ago, Americans could barely turn on the television, surf the Internet or pick up a newspaper without finding a doomsday story about deadly avian flu. By last November, President Bush had asked Congress for $7.1…
Hiding science
Posted by revere on October 19, 2006 You may have heard of sequestered juries in the courtroom but probably you haven’t heard of sequestered science. Sequestered science is the name given by the project on Scientific Knowledge and Public Policy (SKAPP) to scientific knowledge concealed from the public. [Full disclosure; I am personally acquainted with the SKAPPers]. Last year they held a…
Another vaccine story
Posted by revere on October 19, 2006 There’s a report on the wires that scientists at the Vaccine Research Center (VRC) at U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases have developed a DNA vaccine that protects mice against the reconstructed 1918 virus. The paper just appeared online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS, also known as “penis”…
Gulf coast flu, 1918
Posted by revere on October 18, 2006 There’s a lot of good regional reporting around that most of us don’t get to see. Consider the Sun Herald in gulfport, Mississippi. We think of Gulfport as Katrina country these days, but like the rest of the world in 1918 it was pandemic flu territory. Local reporter Kat Bergeron looked back nine decades to…
Tamiflu down the drain
Posted by revere on October 18, 2006 A paper has just been published that is a real wake up call. I am stunned more of us didn’t think about this sooner.
Dear Leader signs torture bill, habeas corpus screams in pain
Posted by revere on October 17, 2006 Lindsay at Majikthise notes that Dear Leader has signed the torture bill, with these words: “It is a rare occasion when a president can sign a bill that he knows will save American lives,” Bush said. “I have that privilege this morning.” Bush signed the bill in the White House East Room, at a table…
H5N1 and encephalitis in Indonesia
Posted by revere on October 17, 2006 Bird flu has claimed 55 people in Indonesia, with the death of a 67 year old woman. The world’s fourth most populous nation (after China, India and the U.S.), Indonesia has had 72 cases since June 2005 and the most deaths (WHO). Only Vietnam has registered more cases (93 cases), but fewer deaths (42) (WHO).
The Onion Radio News on sharing
Posted by revere on October 16, 2006 The Onion Radio News (audio clip) carries a story about sharing research results, a matter that has received quite a lot of attention on this site. We think their version is just about right.
Another “breakthrough” story on preventing flu
Posted by revere on October 16, 2006 This story (“Scientists close to neutralizing all flu types“) continues to circulate and frankly, I don’t understand why.
CDC recognizes the blogosphere
Posted by revere on October 15, 2006 Our Flu Wiki partner, DemFromCT, has an important post up at DailyKos today. In June of 2005, Dem (The Next Hurrah), Melanie Mattson (Just a Bump in the Beltway) and The Reveres joined forces in an experiment in community public health planning we called The Flu Wiki. We were joined by our tech guru, the…