Former Chinese FDA director sentenced to death
Category: Drug safety
A harsh response to bribes, food and drug safety lapses.
Posted by Abel Pharmboy at 7:41 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Terra Sigillata
musings on medicines from the Earth
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Profile
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 wine appreciation for the monetarily-challenged.
You can learn quickly the distinction between the fields of Pharmacology, Pharmacognosy, Pharmacy, the Pharmaceutical Sciences by clicking on the hyperlinks. You can learn more about the author here.
"Why Terra Sigillata?" will tell you about the origin of the blog name.
Please feel free to contact me off-blog by e-mail to abelpharmboy (at) gmail (dot) com.
Please read the DISCLAIMER for details on the blog's intended audience, advertising and comment policy, and how not to use the information presented herein.
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Recent Posts
- What Mothers' Day truly means
- Scientists running for political office
- Soft money research faculty on the chopping block
- When medical experimental therapeutics gets co-opted as complementary and alternative medicine (CAM)
- An Open Letter of Thanks and Best Wishes to Jim Neal
- Debunking "bunkum"
- Tar Heel Tavern - NC Primary Edition
- Behaviorial pharmacology, behind the scenes
- Something to make Bora smile
- What's wrong with Rev. Wright?
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Science and Such
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Other Stuff I Care About
May 29, 2007
Black cohosh and liver damage: how relevant?
Category: Botanical/Herbal Medicines
We've discussed previously the use of herbal extracts from black cohosh (Actea racemosa) for relief from hot flashes and other vasomotor symptoms of menopause and perimenopause. A clinical trial in Annals of Internal Medicine last December, showed that one black...
Posted by Abel Pharmboy at 2:02 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
May 28, 2007
Remembrance
Category: Personal
It doesn't take a hero to order men into battle. It takes a hero to be one of those men [and women] who goes into battle. - Norman Schwarzkopf Superb Memorial Day posts today from Orac at Respectful Insolence and...
Posted by Abel Pharmboy at 5:51 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
May 27, 2007
Safer source of glycerin
Category: Drug safety
Biodiesel production also provides a home-grown source of glycerin/glycerol.
Posted by Abel Pharmboy at 8:53 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
May 26, 2007
Remembering my blog namesake
Category: Pharmacology
Seventy-nine years ago today marked the passing of Dr John Jacob Abel, known as the American father of Pharmacology. Beyond his work on epinephrine, insulin, and devising a dialysis machine, Abel founded the departments of pharmacology at the University of...
Posted by Abel Pharmboy at 11:54 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
May 24, 2007
Diethylene glycol in Panamanian toothpaste
Category: Drug safety
I seem to have missed this NYT article over last weekend. Following from the continuing appearance of diethylene glycol in glycerin imported from China, yet another consumer product is found to be adulterated, again in Panama: Diethylene glycol, a poisonous...
Posted by Abel Pharmboy at 8:40 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
May 23, 2007
Arsenic: from drug to poison to drug again
Category: Cancer
The 2 May issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute has an interesting news article on the advancing use of arsenic trioxide against a variety of human malignanices, mostly cancers of the blood. The medical uses of arsenic...
Posted by Abel Pharmboy at 7:02 AM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
May 19, 2007
ASCO abstracts trigger trading
Category: Cancer
Despite disclaimers on the use of abstract contents, the release of ASCO's upcoming proceedings for their 1-5 June meeting has already caused interesting movement among investors.
Posted by Abel Pharmboy at 4:12 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
May 18, 2007
Sharks don't get cancer but do they get Salmonella poisoning???
Category: Non-herbal supplements
Actually, sharks do get cancer but a 15-year-old book by William Lane led people to think otherwise, launching investigation of shark cartilage as a source of antiangiogenic, anticancer compounds. While there is one promising shark cartilage extract (Neovastat) in clinical...
Posted by Abel Pharmboy at 9:41 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
May 16, 2007
Quick picks
Category: Drug safety
Assessing drug safety risks from Joseph and a survey of young docs' knowledge of dietary supplement regulation and adverse event reporting.
Posted by Abel Pharmboy at 8:25 AM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
May 13, 2007
Mother's Day reflections
Category: Personal
My Mom did all the great 'Mom' things and was also instrumental in my career choice. After I started grade school, she started feeling out a career in nursing by working as a secretary in the emergency room department of...
Posted by Abel Pharmboy at 11:31 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
May 12, 2007
CBC's 'The Current' on dichloroacetate (DCA)
Category: Alternative medicine
A Canadian radio program devotes 20 minutes this week to the conundrum surrounding the use and promotion of dichloroacetate (DCA) for the self-medication of cancer.
Posted by Abel Pharmboy at 7:39 PM • 15 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
May 11, 2007
Mannatech missteps in WSJ
Category: Alternative medicine
The practices of Mannatech distributors were the focus of a detailed article in this morning's Wall Street Journal by Suzanne Sataline. The Issue: Some consumers are using Mannatech nutritional supplements to seek relief from serious medical problems. The Background: The...
Posted by Abel Pharmboy at 5:02 PM • 25 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
May 9, 2007
Melamine and cyanuric acid chemistry lesson
Category: Diet and Health
Great science journalism from WaPo's David Brown.
Posted by Abel Pharmboy at 8:11 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
More on unsafe food additives
Category: Diet and Health
I'll have the stir-fried tofu with vegetables - hold the formaldehyde, please.
Posted by Abel Pharmboy at 7:49 AM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
May 8, 2007
Deadly cough syrup: simple, at-site detection of diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol
Category: Drug safety
FDA posts a paper describing a simple TLC method for saving lives from diethylene glycol adulteration.
Posted by Abel Pharmboy at 2:02 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
May 7, 2007
Who is most Abel?
Category: Pharmacology
To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the major pharmacology society, Nature reports that scientists are tracing their degrees of separation from my blog namesake and father of American pharmacology, John Jacob Abel.
Posted by Abel Pharmboy at 8:02 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
May 6, 2007
Deadly cough syrup: the real costs of cheap drug excipients
Category: Drug safety
New York Times reporters track a misrepresented pharmaceutical excipient from China, through Spain, to Panama where over 100 were killed last year from diethylene glycol poisoning. The article details the real costs of sourcing "cheap" food and drug ingredients from poorly regulated markets.
Posted by Abel Pharmboy at 10:15 AM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
May 4, 2007
The Friday Fermentable: Do you know how much you pour?
Category: The Friday Fermentable
As wine and beer glasses grow ever larger, are our habits of having one or two drinks a day for health benefits actually bordering on binge drinking?
Posted by Abel Pharmboy at 10:02 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
May 3, 2007
Another decimal point pet peeve
Category: Drug safety
Am I being too demanding or unreasonable in requesting a leading zero? To my aging eyes ".5 mg/mL" could be read as either 0.5 mg/mL or 5 mg/mL. Could this fact have been responsible for the ten-fold colchicine dosing error found responsible for three patient deaths in Oregon?
Posted by Abel Pharmboy at 6:54 PM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Great professional development for K-12 science teachers
Category: K-12 education
BSCS in Colorado Springs offers two intensive summer institutes for science teachers: "Evolution Across the Sciences" and "Scientific Inquiry: Research & Practice"
Posted by Abel Pharmboy at 11:02 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
May 2, 2007
Weight loss drug mix-up - more risks using internet pharmacies
Category: Drug safety
If Ron Evans' PPAR-delta-activating drug makes it to market, one still has to be sure that pharmacies are filling the prescriptions with the correct pills.
Posted by Abel Pharmboy at 11:02 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
May 1, 2007
NCI features another natural product in clinical trials
Category: Clinical trials
What is it about T-cell lymphoma that attracts the development of HDAC inhibitors???
Posted by Abel Pharmboy at 7:27 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
FDA seeks comments on regulating "CAM products"
Category: Alternative medicine
Should the FDA exercise powers it already has instead of instigating a new class of "CAM products" that is certain to get caught up in a legal morass?
Posted by Abel Pharmboy at 10:02 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
