terrasig
Posts by this author
March 7, 2007
While spending so much time last week on the issue of conscientious objection by pharmacists, I overlooked the 26 February publication in Archives of Internal Medicine of a very well-designed clinical trial to test the hypothesis that garlic/garlic supplements lower LDL-cholesterol. The trial,…
March 6, 2007
As a graduate student, I had the good fortune of meeting Dr Don Coffey, a professor of Urology, Oncology, Pharmacology, and Molecular Sciences at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, one of the most creative and humble scientists I have known.
I recall him telling a lunchtime gathering of us…
March 5, 2007
I've never used the blog for this purpose, but why not?
The benchtop pH meter I purchased when starting the Pharmboy laboratory a number of years ago is beginning to have electronics problems (it's an old Fisher AccuMet of some sort with a digital display that reads in Roman numerals).
Hence, I…
March 2, 2007
For those who have been asking over the last couple of days, here are the oath of a pharmacist as recited at US colleges of pharmacy and a code of ethics adopted in 1994 by the then-American Pharmaceutical Association (now the American Pharmacists Association; still APhA). There seems to be a…
March 1, 2007
Yesterday's discussion of a pharmacist's right to refuse filling prescriptions based on moral or legal grounds generated some great discussion. I appreciate the thoughtful discussion of the commenters as well as two posts on the topic by Prof Janet Stemwedel. The first draws from her older post…
February 28, 2007
So reads the title of an excellent essay Medscape has reprinted from a recent issue of the American Journal of Health-Systems Pharmacists by Emily Evans (free reg req'd). Evans is a Pharm.D. faculty member at the College of Pharmacy of the University of Louisiana at Monroe. She writes:
In Texas…
February 27, 2007
As if everyone doesn't have enough deadlines right now, 1 March is the deadline for submission of medical education manuscripts to the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). The call for papers was issued in December and accepted manuscripts will appear in the 5 September 2007 issue:…
February 25, 2007
You can see all the stars as you walk down Hollywood Boulevard,
Some that you recognise, some that you've hardly even heard of,
People who worked and suffered and struggled for fame,
Some who succeeded and some who suffered in vain.Celluloid Heroes, The Kinks, 1972
Hat tip: Pharmagossip
February 24, 2007
A Colorado high school has banned a newly-released energy drink after six students reported "symptoms including shortness of breath, heart palpitations and nausea." Interestingly, convenience stores near the high school have also stopped selling the energy drink, Spike Shooter.
Tim Patterson,…
February 23, 2007
Do you have some ancient bottle of wine someone gave as a gift and you are waiting for that "special night" to open it? Well, tomorrow night is "that" night.
We all seem to accumulate bottles of wine as souvenirs or gifts from overseas trips, weddings, birthdays, etc. and always think we need some…
February 23, 2007
A new daily alternative medicine show is about to be launched on the Healthy Living Channel.
The Healthy Living Channel announced today it is adding to its line-up the widely popular "Nutritional Living with Dr. Ward Bond," a half-hour daily television series dedicated to nutrition, herbal medicine…
February 20, 2007
Jake Young at Pure Pedantry has put together the "Oscars edition" of Grand Rounds for this week.
The best of this week's medical blogging makes for great reading, but I got a kick out of Jake's explanation of the Oscars that precedes the proceedings.
Thanks, Jake, for including our post on patients…
February 18, 2007
Lack of health insurance, or selective lack of drug coverage by some insurance companies, has created a large, Internet-based market for cheaper prescription drugs. There have been many warnings about the risks of buying one's drugs on-line from such sources from the FDA and the pharmaceutical…
February 17, 2007
If I live to 93 and someone holds a mirror up to my life, I wonder how proud or embarrassed I would be.
In my weekend reading, I realized that I never commented on the passing last month of former Florida Democratic Senator, George A. Smathers. He was 93 and left this world largely revered by…
February 16, 2007
The Friday Fermentable has been the unfortunate victim of my aim to lose some weight by cutting alcohol out of my diet. Since mid-November, I have lost 14 pounds but am now permitting myself two glasses of wine on each weekend evening. Hence, I am choosing carefully.
(I should note, for the…
February 15, 2007
The Department of Anatomy at SIU Medical School was kind enough to link to each of us cited by Nature last July among the top 50 blogs written by scientists.
Here's to hoping that more widespread acceptance of blogs stimulates other scientists to start their own.
February 13, 2007
Such was the tagline of a review of Amy Stewart's new book, "Flower Confidential," as written by George Anders in last weekend's Wall Street Journal.
Ms. Stewart, however, is a danger-seeker. In "Flower Confidential" she tests her love by grabbing her reporter's notebook and her passport and…
February 11, 2007
PharmGirl just called me into the living room to see the reunion of the defining band of my adolescence. Roxanne. Wow! Holy hell, is Stewart Copeland still an amazing drummer? Sting and Andy playing their original guitars.
Why do I feel like they have aged better than I?
February 10, 2007
...has been the number one Google search term leading people to the blog this week - and that worries me.
As I wrote about a week ago, dichloroacetate, or DCA, is the molecule tested recently by a team at University of Alberta for its ability to slow the growth of human lung cancer in…
February 9, 2007
My apologies to those regular readers who may have noticed my recent case of blogger's malaise. A combination of family sicknesses and having to write a fair bit for the day job seems to have interfered with this week's blogging.
So, what to do? Link to other worthy blogs!
This gives me an…
February 3, 2007
I've stood at the periphery of the dichloroacetate (DCA) story mostly because my attention has been needed elsewhere as of late. However, I was very interested in the blogosphere attention given to the Cancer Cell paper from a group led by Dr Evangelos Michelakis at the University of Alberta in…
February 1, 2007
Between the news offices for New England Journal of Medicine and NIH's National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), you have no doubt already heard the report that topical application of lavender and tea tree oil-containing products has been linked with gynecomastia in three boys.…
January 31, 2007
Pharmaceutical chemist, Derek Lowe, at Corante's In the Pipeline notes that yesterday was the end of his employment at the Wonder Drug Factory due to a site closure. I've admired Dr Lowe since I began reading blogs because he puts a human face on the travails of a bench-level pharmaceutical…
January 28, 2007
It was a very cold morning in North Florida (in the teens/low 20s Fahrenheit) as I walked in to class during my second semester of graduate school. I vaguely recall some concerns about the launch of Challenger that morning because of the cold and I believe it was scrapped once before, this highly…
January 25, 2007
In an insult to dietary supplement companies who at least try to play by the rules, a company has agreed with the US FDA to recall its product because it might work too well:
FDA and Ebek, Inc. notified healthcare professionals and consumers of a voluntary nationwide recall of the company's dietary…
January 24, 2007
I don't even know where to begin with this beautifully-crafted but very sad article in today's Wall Street Journal (sub req'd..sorry) by Suzanne Sataline.
This has all the features that are sure to send PZ Myers and Orac convulsing in a corner somewhere. As detailed in FDA allegations from an…
January 24, 2007
If you've been perusing ScienceBlogs.com over the last week or two, you'll note that some bloggers are trying to make their sites even more accessible to the casual reader by introducing a description of basic concepts within their respective fields.
I used to teach a 60-90 min lecture to the…
January 22, 2007
The 2007 NC Science Blogging Conference came off as a great success thanks to the vision, passion, and general butt-busting of Anton Zuiker, Bora, Brian, and Paul and the sharing of wisdom by all the speakers. A fellow health professional-turned-journalist remarked to me that professional meeting…
January 19, 2007
Now this is bloody lovely: supplement consumer watchdog ConsumerLab.com reports that some multivitamin supplements are contaminated with lead, with one at concentrations 10 times above acceptable California exposure limits. Jacqueline Stenson at MSNBC does a good job of putting this all in…
January 18, 2007
This is a recipe for disaster: a demographic prone by need to polypharmacy, also using supplements, etc., without informing their primary care provider.
A joint study by AARP and NIH's National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine reveal that nearly three-quarters of patients over age…