Abel Pharmboy is the nom de plume of an academic researcher and educator who holds a PhD in Pharmacology. He writes on natural product drugs and dietary supplements, academic career development, medical journalism and, occasionally, making and listening to music and, with the help of his colleague, Erleichda, wine appreciation.
Terra Sigillata is the name of the first authenticated, trademarked drug.
"Why Terra Sigillata?" will tell you more about the origin of the blog name.
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Wine Authorities, my local wine merchants and community gods, have been spreading the gospel of rosé wines as a summer alternative to the red wines we enjoy most of the rest of the year. But contrary to the sweet white zinfandels and such that might turn off those who enjoy good wine, there is now a plethora of foreign and domestic wine offerings (and values) that show off red grapes in a lightly-crushed version. (Briefly, by minimizing the amount of time the red grapeskins are incubated with the must, some color and flavor compounds in the skins are extracted without the heavier tannins of a fully-extracted red.)
At Wine Authorities we practice Roséism - the drinking of dry pink wine. Our mission is to convert the unconverted. We want to teach wine lovers that pink wine is not necessarily sweet. Drink the pink. We donate a percentage of every rosé bottle sold to the Triangle, NC Susan G. Komen Foundation.
There are too many highlights to list but as a former Polish National Catholic altar boy, I particularly appreciate the incensing technique of the Jewish co-owner, Seth Gross, using a bottle of rosé. The nod to Jimi Hendrix at the end was also a nice touch of reverence.
Please excuse me while I find my asthma meds and change my pee-soaked underwear.
We wanted to make this note public today because a great many of our blog friends know of your dedication as a physician, wife, and a mother.
Yesterday you finished an association with an academic medical institution where you have been for half your life. From young women with breast cancer to old men in the V.A. Hospital, literally thousands have been touched by your gifts of intelligence, remarkable clinical judgment, and, perhaps most importantly, compassion. The recognition from your patients was abundant and we were privy to the personal notes of just how much you have made a difference to families faced with one of the most feared of diagnoses. Dozens of students, interns, and residents have been the beneficiaries of your tutelage and example as they pursued their own sacred paths in medicine.
But while closing this chapter for now, today you embark on a new journey and a new application of your medical training and dedication to relieving human suffering. We understand the magnitude of fortitude and soul-searching you invested to get to this day. It takes great courage to change direction in an academic medical career but we all know this is the right choice for you. In this venue, you will no doubt help thousands, if not millions, with your new knowledge and training.
You are a tremendous inspiration to your daughter of just what a woman can do with enough determination and hard work. And you are a role model for your husband to dig down deep and be the best person and soul mate that he can.
We are thrilled to be taking this exciting journey with you.
Judging from the press inquiries I've had since 5 am EDT today, expect today's focus in the Michael Jackson case to be on the anesthetic drug, propofol (Diprivan®).
Last evening, California nutritionist and registered nurse Ms Cherilyn Lee gave an interview to Campbell Brown on CNN (and this AP exclusive report) describing Michael Jackson's repeated requests of her for the intravenous sedative drug for his insomnia. She wisely rejected his requests, instead providing him with a vitamin and mineral "energy" injection called Myers' cocktail.
However, four days before Jackson's death she reported a frantic phone call from a Jackson staffer to her that led her to believe he had somehow procured the drug or something like it:
While in Florida on June 21, Lee was contacted by a member of Jackson's staff.
"He called and was very frantic and said, `Michael needs to see you right away.' I said, 'What's wrong?' And I could hear Michael in the background ..., 'One side of my body is hot, it's hot, and one side of my body is cold. It's very cold,'" Lee said.
"I said, `Tell him he needs to go the hospital. I don't know what's going on, but he needs to go to the hospital ... right away."
"At that point, I knew that somebody had given him something that hit the central nervous system," she said, adding, "He was in trouble Sunday and he was crying out."
[. . .]
"I don't know what happened there. The only thing I can say is he was adamant about this drug [Diprivan]," Lee said.
In the photo of Ms Lee that accompanies the AP report and the video interview now at ABC News, she looks terrifically distraught and was obviously very concerned about Mr Jackson. My thoughts go out to her as I suspect she is second-guessing what she might have done differently to help him.
What is Diprivan (propofol) and how is it normally used safely?
I was probably in one of her earliest actionmycin-D trial groups for Wilms tumor in 1957. Now at age 55, 52 years later, still going strong!
Most of you scientific youngsters today probably only know of actinomycin D as a laboratory tool for inhibiting RNA synthesis. But here in the following repost, learn about the bacteria-to-bench-to-bedside application of actinomycin D:
Actinomycin D was the first antitumor antibiotic isolated from Streptomyces parvallus cultures by the lab of 1952 Nobel laureate, Dr Selman Waksman, at Rutgers University. However, it took a young Chinese physician and the confidence in her by a future US Surgeon General for this natural product drug to positively impact the lives of children with cancer.
In July 2008, seven friends assembled from across North Carolina to tour 27 microbreweries and brewpubs from the mountains to the coast in a seatless cargo van. Beer Y'all follows their nine days of hanging out with brewers, partying at rock shows, and drinking many, many beers as they celebrate friendship, music, and a Southern microbrewing explosion.
Beer Y'all shows in screenings across North Carolina, Summer 2009. Available on DVD.
As is half the world, I was reflecting today on the realities of Michael Jackson's contribution not just to music but to society as well.
What is true, and is not at all melodrama, is that Michael Jackson was one of the greatest talents in popular music - 750 million albums sold worldwide is beyond my comprehension. Moreover, and perhaps more importantly, he was an incredible contributor to racial crossovers in musical styles. Just as Elvis Presley introduced gospel and blues to white folks, Jackson will be cited (and already has been) for cultivating R&B among white listeners and performers. I'd go so far as to say that we wouldn't have suburban white kids posing as rappers and hip-hop stars if not for the musical diplomacy of Michael Jackson.
Long after we forget Michael Jackson's degeneration and demise, we should remember how he helped heal America. Jackson used his celebrity to blur the lines between black and white, as well as between gay and straight.
[. . .]
Jackson was an amazing dancer and an even better businessman. He choreographed the release of his 1982 album Thriller to undermine what the Washington Post called "the cultural apartheid of MTV and pop radio." Rock and roll had become resegregated since the 1950s. MTV was overwhelmingly white. On radio, "rock and roll" was usually white; "R and B," rhythm and blues, usually black.
Defying pigeonholing, Jackson's enticing rhythms had great crossover appeal. Still, to ford the gap when marketing Thriller, Jackson first released This Girl is Mine, a playful duet with the Beatle great Paul McCartney. This pairing created "a Trojan horse to force white radio's hand," Steve Greenberg, the president of S-Curve Records, later explained.
AOL's celebrity gossip page TMZ.com was first yesterday to report Michael Jackson's death, in part due to their direct line to one or more Jackson family members.
They appear to have had another scoop today in referencing a family member who reported that Mr Jackson had received an injection of the opioid analgesic, Demerol (meperidine), at 11:30 am yesterday. It is not clear whether this shot was administered by Dr Conrad Murray, the physician who was present when the 911 call was made to L.A. dispatchers. (Non-US readers may also refer to meperidine as pethidine or the trade name, Pethadol.)
I don't know if Kim Severson of the New York Times knew this when writing her thought-provoking article earlier this week, but it coincided with the annual meetings of the Research Society on Alcoholism (RSA) and the College of Problems on Drug Dependence (CPDD). (btw, this timing is annoying for researchers who work in the general area of substance abuse who would normally like to go to both meetings. DrugMonkey has pointed out that the pending merger of NIH's NIDA and NIAAA, a logical step, has not been met with enthusiasm by RSA, further reflective of the rift in the substance abuse research community).
But I digress.
My point of bringing up Severson's article is a question that interests me given the context of The Friday Fermentable; namely, what happens if you have a career in the alcoholic beverage industry but become an alcoholic or alcohol abuser?
This week's case is in the form of a book announcement press release from a Denver-based "practitioner" who specializes in cosmetic acupuncture. Yes, the needle without the Botox®.
Martha Lucas, Ph.D., L.Ac., Denver-based acupuncturist and practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), has authored "Vanity Calamity: Your Guide to Cosmetic Acupuncture for Anti-aging." The announcement is made by Dr. Lucas who says "Vanity Calamity tells the history of vanity and what women have been willing to do to look younger or more beautiful. Now there's a healthy, safe option - Cosmetic Acupuncture.
Note that the qualifiers are "healthy, safe" and not "effective."
And if procedures and books aren't enough for you, you can blow $375 on a workshop:
An internationally known instructor, Dr. Lucas leads seminars for TCM practitioners about both Cosmetic Acupuncture and Pulse Diagnosis theory. For more information visit: http://www.cosmeticacupunctureseminars.com or http://www.pulseseminars.com
Seems to me that the only wrinkles you'll fix are the ones on your buttocks where your wallet used to sit.
Actinomycin D was the first antitumor antibiotic isolated from Streptomyces parvallus cultures by the lab of 1952 Nobel laureate, Dr Selman Waksman, at Rutgers University. However, it took a young Chinese physician and the confidence in her by a future US Surgeon General for this natural product drug to positively impact the lives of children with cancer.
