sb admin
Posts by this author
October 16, 2008
On call one night as a medical student, I was presenting a case to my intern. As I recounted the patient's ER course, the intern stopped me and said, "Pal --- trust no one."
That sounded a little harsh to me, but the intern was nice enough to explain further.
"Look, you're going to be taking calls…
October 16, 2008
Itâs open season at many workplaces, the time when employers who offer health benefits let employees choose among different health coverage options for the coming year. The Wall Street Journalâs Anna Wilde Matthews reports that companies are reluctant to raise workersâ share of premiums, given that…
October 16, 2008
NB: images in this post are thought to be in the public domain, but were not well labeled, so if you feel they have been posted without proper attribution, please email me or leave a comment. Thanks. Also, this is a revision of a post from yesterday which I've pulled secondary to ethical concerns…
October 15, 2008
Ok, I pulled my post while considering ethical issues, viz this conversation:
Dianne, PAL:
I'm out of my depth here, so could you address what the ethical boundaries are for describing a case (even without personal identification) on an open board?
I've always dealt with that one by Just Don't --…
October 15, 2008
The United Steelworkers (USW) and the United Mine Workers (UMWA) have sent letters to Asst. Secretary of Labor Richard Stickler asking for additional hearings and a longer public comment period for its proposed rule on mandatory drug and alcohol testing for workers in the mining industry. In one…
October 15, 2008
Last month, the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) proposed a rule that would require all U.S. mine operators to adopt the Dept of Transportation's 100-page regulation on drug- and alcohol-testing. Setting aside the fact that MSHA's proposal is a poorly designed, substantiated and…
October 14, 2008
(This one is cross-posted over at Science-Based Medicine. FYI. --PalMD)
If you've been a regular reader of SBM or denialism blog, you know that plausibility plays an important part in science-based medicine. If plausibility is discounted, clinical studies of improbable medical claims can show…
October 14, 2008
The Labor Department's 30-day public comment period on its risk assessment proposed rule closed 14 days ago. There are 117 items appearing in the on-line docket at Regulations.gov, including my own 9-page letter of opposition. What I didn't expect to see was notice saying that one of my…
October 13, 2008
Yeah, we know things aren't working right. Comments are timing out, but that's the least of it. Our techies aren't sure yet what's going on, but they are putting extra hamsters on the treadmill working extra hard trying to get things moving smoothly again.
Meanwhile, if you comment and it times…
October 13, 2008
Mr. Bill Oxley was working at the Bayer CropScience plant in Institute, WV on August 28. At about 10:25 pm, a massive fireball erupted at the facility, killing his co-worker, Barry Withrow, 45. The dramatic facts surrounding this explosion included that plant officials told the dispatchers…
October 12, 2008
A letter from a reader (thank you, Mr. "Smith") got me thinking---could the fight against improbable medical claims be aided by a better knowledge of science? In another attempt to bring complicated science to the masses, today we will learn a bit about how we breathe. The first thing we need to…
October 12, 2008
I hate having to repost this but there's a reason. If you watch the GOP rally's lately, they are becoming filled with hate, with near-violence, with hyperbole calling Obama as terrorist. McCain isn't my candidate, but that's it---I may not agree with him, but I know he's no terrorist; I know he's…
October 10, 2008
The Mayor of Houston, Texas Bill White wants the Lyondell Chemical Refinery to justify and defend its practice of emitting tons of benzene annually into the air. (In 2007, the refinery reported emissions of 39 tons, which they proudly noted was below their 58 ton annual cap.) The Houston…
October 10, 2008
by revere, cross-posted at Effect Measure
Every parent's or grandparent's nightmare is to have their darling little one suddenly carried off by illness. Flu isn't on the radar screen of most parents but in recent years the public health community is taking notice. The first alarm occurred in the…
October 9, 2008
As a physician, I have a lot of politically conservative colleagues. Much of this stems from our experience with the government. The influence of Medicare helps set prices, which we are not at liberty to change, and affects how we practice. On the other hand, Medicare is usually pretty good at…
October 9, 2008
"American Coal Co. repeatedly demonstrated its failure to comply with basic safety laws over a number of months, and for that it must be held accountable."Â (Asst. Secretary of Labor for MSHA Richard Stickler)
Yesterday, MSHA issued a news release announcing that the operator of the Galatia Mine …
October 8, 2008
Nevada's OSHA has found that the death of a carpenter was caused by the contractor's pressuring employees to put construction speed before safety. Lyndal Bates, 49, was working at the construction site of a new casino in the Las Vegas strip last June when he mistakenly attached his safety harness…
October 8, 2008
On the Googles, Common Knowledge gets more than 25,000,000 hits. It's a market research company, a scholarship foundation, a non profit fundraising firm, and in its inverse as Uncommon Knowledge part of a conservative group site, and an interview series at the Hoover Institution.
We can take the…
October 8, 2008
By Nathan Fetty
Every so often, my wife and I take our daughter, whoâs now two-and-a-half, on one of our favorite walks in the country here in central West Virginia. To get there, unfortunately, we have to pass by torrents of orange acid mine drainage (photo examples here and here) and through a…
October 7, 2008
I've written quite a bit about diabetes here and at my old blog, and I've explained to you how controlling blood pressure and cholesterol in diabetics prevents macrovascular disease, such as heart attack and stroke. I've also explained how controlling blood sugar prevents microvascular disease…
October 7, 2008
Still coughing and tired, so here's another one I'm migrating from the old blog. --PalMD
There has been much talk in the media over the last few years about the "obesity epidemic" in the U.S. This has led to a bit of a backlash among a small but vocal group of critics who don't believe the…
October 7, 2008
Today, October 7, is World Day for Decent Work, an initiative led by the International Trade Union Confederation, the Global Progressive Forum, Social Alert and Solidar.  What is "Decent Work"?
"Decent Work is a strategy to achieve sustainable development that is centered on people. Decent…
October 6, 2008
Yes, I'm still migrating posts from the old blog, but don't worry, I'll run out eventually. --PalMD
So maybe homeopathy (the use of water to treat disease) isn't strong enough for you. Maybe isn't doesn't have that certain...je ne sais qois...um...that sizzle. I have the solution for you! Just…
October 6, 2008
A report released last week by staff of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee on EPA's handling of the massive asbestos contamination in the mining town of Libby, Montana is laden with words including "failure," "misled," "interference," and "delay." Refering to "EPA's…
October 6, 2008
Yesterday, we looked at how real science works; today, in a repost from my old blog, we look at some really bad science. --PalMD
I've been meaning to touch on "Morgellons disease" (a form of delusional parasitosis) for a while, but haven't figured out how to approach it. Thankfully, others have…
October 4, 2008
In my earlier post about HIV therapy (a post I strongly recommend), I wrote, "After entering a cell (never mind how for now), HIV needs to find a way to makes copies of itself, which requires DNA." Because of some recently released data, it's time to look at how HIV enters the cell, and to expand…
October 3, 2008
As I continue to fight the good fight against my first respiratory infection of the season, I will serve you a few portions of learnin' from the old blog. --PalMD
Cupping goes back millennia. In the U.S., the marks of cupping are often seen in immigrant communities, particularly those from…
October 3, 2008
As I continue to fight the good fight against my first respiratory infection of the season, I will serve you a few portions of learnin' from the old blog. --PalMD
We've spoken a bit lately of the micro- and macrovascular complications of diabetes. Let's see what that means in real life. One of…
October 3, 2008
The recent economic downturn has left more people worried about losing their jobs, and for the 54% of our population relying on employer-sponsored insurance (ESI), losing a job also means losing health insurance.
Some of those who lose ESI will be able to pay their full premiums, including the…
October 3, 2008
Bloggers worry about how a Wall Street bailout and economic turmoil might affect environmental issues, and they advocate for green avenues to help the economy.
David Roberts at Gristmill compiles warnings from opinion leaders about not letting a bailout interfere with green investments, and…