Now on ScienceBlogs: The Lights Stay On Inside a Black Hole!
Jake Young is a MD/PhD student at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in NYC getting a PhD in Behavioral Neuroscience. He holds a BS and MS in Biological Sciences from Stanford University. If a volcano were to erupt Pompei-style in Central Park, his body would be preserved in a scoliotic posture over his lab desk. Archeaologists would later conclude that he spent most of his day training rats to perform tricks, until he went blind building electrical equipment by hand using a dissecting microscope. But, still, he died happy...because science is cool.
Pure Pedantry is a blog about science -- social sciences and otherwise -- as well as academic and scientific culture. No one can live on science alone, so I also like to dwell on pop culture, periodically explore the humanities, and indulge in other types of geeky goodness.
DISCLAIMERS: 1) Jake Young is not a licensed physician (yet). He is merely a medical student. The information published on this site is not intended for use in medical decision-making. Please seek advice from a licensed, medical professional before making any health decisions. 2) The opinions expressed are my own. They do not represent the views of SEED magazine or the educational establishments I currently attend or attended in the past.
Category: Ethics
Nature Clinical Practice Neurology has a salient article on ethics and medicine. The article asks the question: is it ethical to confront an individual with whom you do not have an official doctor-patient relationship, if you think they have a...
Posted by NotoriousLTP at 3:23 PM • 9 Comments •
Category: Medicine
This is just unbelievable. At a day care center in Arkansas, 10 kids were accidentally given windshield wiper fluid instead of Kool-Aid: Child welfare investigators plan to talk to the owner of an Arkansas daycare center where 10 children were...
Posted by NotoriousLTP at 1:12 PM • 14 Comments •
Category: Medicine
Here is a lesson in why defensive medicine should be avoided: it costs a lot, it doesn't help patients, and it has the potential to hurt them. Chou et al. published a study in the Lancet showing that in patients...
Posted by NotoriousLTP at 5:50 PM • 1 Comments •
Category: Medicine
There is a very good article in the NYTimes about whether doctors should inform patients about disparities in care between hospitals:An article published online in October in the journal PLoS Medicine really hit home with me. Noting that the quality...
Posted by NotoriousLTP at 10:55 AM • 3 Comments •
Category: Ethics
PhRMA -- the association of pharmaceutical companies -- has agreed to a voluntary moratorium on drug paraphernalia given to doctors: Starting Jan. 1, the pharmaceutical industry has agreed to a voluntary moratorium on the kind of branded goodies -- Viagra...
Posted by NotoriousLTP at 1:21 PM • 4 Comments •
Category: Medicine
I was sorry to read over at Megan McArdle's blog over at the Atlantic yesterday that she has Hashimoto's thyroiditis and as a consequence has to give up being a vegan. (Her diet was high in soy for protein, and...
Posted by NotoriousLTP at 7:32 PM • 24 Comments •
Category: Medicine
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I was reading the Web this morning, and this story reminded me of a Thanksgiving a couple years ago....
Posted by NotoriousLTP at 11:14 AM • 2 Comments •
Category: Ethics
A survey of American internists and rheumatologists has revealed that over 50% of them regularly prescribe placebos. Tilburt et al. surveyed internists and rheumatologists to see whether they were prescribing placebos, and if so how and what kind they were...
Posted by NotoriousLTP at 10:51 AM • 16 Comments •
Category: Healthcare
Whenever you are having a debate -- particularly a policy debate -- it is always important to check your premises. That is why I found this article in the Journal of the American Medical Association refreshing. Emergency Department utilization is...
Posted by NotoriousLTP at 12:28 PM • 3 Comments •
Category: Medicine
USA Today prints a (sort of) joke job description for the next generation of doctors: Idealistic Generation X/Y overachievers with low- to mid-six-figure student loans to work in imploding health care system currently subject to runaway entitlement spending. Future salary...
Posted by NotoriousLTP at 6:42 PM • 3 Comments •
