j7uy5 | April 30, 2009One of the strangest things I've ever seen. The
photographer's identification is tentative: Vespula
pensylvanica. Personally, I'd never try to identify
an unfamiliar insect.
One summer, I took classes at the UM Biological Station near Pellston, MI.
My cabinmate was an entomologist. Watching him it
the field, I got the impression that the identification of these little
creatures is a black art. Anyway, here's the photo:
alt="Vespula pensylvanica?" title="Vespula pensylvanica?"
src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3333/3487769182_05b7e78c4d.jpg?v=0"
border="0" height="500" width="…
j7uy5 | April 29, 2009Just to let everyone know, if they don't already: freebooks4doctors has a downloadable text, Influenza Report 2006. It is a 225-page, 2.7 MB PDF. Being from 2006, it does not specifically cover the current situation. Rather, it focuses a bit on avian influenza. Still, it is a reasonably good source of information. If you want, you can buy a hard copy for 25 Euros, but anyone can download the free copy.
Influenza Report
ISBN 3-924774-51-X
Influenza Report is a medical textbook that provides a comprehensive overview of epidemic and pandemic influenza. Influenza Report has also been…
j7uy5 | April 29, 2009Well, maybe not Malthus, but Garrett Hardin and Paul Ehrlich -- the
1960's-era neomalthusian academicians -- have been right on the
money. There are hard limits to growth, and those limits are
upon
us. This is the contention of Charles A. S. Hall and John W.
Day,
Jr., two systems ecologists who have published a paper in American
Scientist.
The paper is still behind a pay wall at the publication site, but a PDF
copy can be obtained
href="http://www.esf.edu/efb/hall/2009-05Hall0327.pdf">from
Professor
Hall's web site. (HT:
href="http://www.theoildrum.com/node/5330#more">EROI Guy…
j7uy5 | April 26, 2009Just a few quick interesting links:
href="http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=106484775090296685271.0004681a37b713f6b5950&ll=47.100045,9.316406&spn=34.792294,79.101563&t=h&z=4">
Google Map of H1N1 Swine Flu Cases
(HT:
href="http://casesblog.blogspot.com/2009/04/map-of-h1n1-swine-flu-of-2009.html">Clinical
Cases and Images - Blog)
Google Flu Trends
We've found that certain search terms are good indicators
of flu activity. Google Flu Trends uses aggregated Google search data
to estimate flu activity in your state up to two weeks faster…
j7uy5 | April 26, 2009I had to look this up, so to save others the trouble of finding it,
here is the WHO
href="http://www.who.int/csr/disease/avian_influenza/phase/en/index.html">explanation
of pandemic alert levels:
In
nature, influenza viruses circulate continuously among
animals, especially birds. Even though such viruses might theoretically
develop into pandemic viruses, in Phase
1 no viruses circulating among animals have been reported to
cause infections in humans.
In Phase 2 an animal influenza
virus circulating among domesticated or wild animals is known to have
caused infection in humans, and is…
j7uy5 | April 25, 2009The NASA Earth Observatory site is holding a photo contest to celebrate
and popularize their 10th anniversary. It is a contest in which
users vote for their favorite images-of-the-day. Here's my
favorite:
style="display: inline;">
This is an image from the
href="http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/main/index.html">Cassini
mission; it's a view of the earth, with the rings of Saturn in the
foreground.
This beautiful image of Saturn and its rings looks more
like an artist's creation than a real image, but in fact, the image is
a composite (layered image) made from 165…
j7uy5 | April 20, 2009
style="display: inline;">
Amy Goodman,
the lead journalist for Democracy
Now!, has been traveling around the country, giving talks, and
promoting her book
href="http://www.democracynow.org/store/product/5/BKSUTMHC">Standing
Up to the Madness: Ordinary Heroes in Extraordinary Times.
This (standing up to the madness) is inherently difficult.
The photo shows her discussing a video of
href="http://scienceblogs.com/corpuscallosum/2008/09/protests_in_minneapolis.php">her
arrest in St. Paul, while covering the Republican convention in
2008.
Ms.
Goodman happens to be one of our…
j7uy5 | April 14, 2009Michelle Obama's White House garden has
href="http://www.lavidalocavore.org/diary/1309/">attracted some
attention, as noted on La Vida Locavore:
Did you hear the news? The White House is planning to
have an "organic" garden on the grounds to provide fresh fruits and
vegetables for the Obama's and their guests. While a garden
is a great idea, the thought of it being organic made Janet Braun,
CropLife Ambassador Coordinator and I shudder. As a result,
we sent a letter encouraging them to consider using crop protection
products and to recognize the importance of agriculture to the entire…
j7uy5 | April 13, 2009his is a photo of a mask from an ancient Peruvian tomb. The mask
is about 1,500 years of., made of copper and seashells, among other
items.
style="display: inline;">
href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/04/photogalleries/king-bling-moche-tomb-pictures/index.html">
It is one of the front-page (web page, that is) photos at National
Geographic. The caption follows:
April 10, 2009--Found in a treasure-filled tomb of the
Moche culture in Peru, this 1,500-year-old gilded-copper-and-seashell
funerary mask was one of two that shielded the face of the so-called
Lord of Ucupe…
j7uy5 | April 9, 2009This obviously is the second part of the part I put up a couple of days
ago:
href="http://scienceblogs.com/corpuscallosum/2009/04/reset_button_for_dsm_diagnosis.php">Reset
Button for DSM Diagnosis? (Part 1). It may not make much
sense unless you read the first part.
In order to understand the idea behind the use of the FFM, instead of
the current diagnostic criteria, it helps to look at an
illustration. Although the original journal article is viewable
by registration only, it appears that the pop-up illustration can be
viewed by anyone who has the URL. I think
href="http://ajp.…
j7uy5 | April 9, 2009Someone reached my site by searching for "callosal boobs." He
probably was disappointed. The Corpus Callosum does not have
boobs.
style="display: inline;">
However, nearby, there is a pair of structures known as the
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammillary_bodies">mammillary bodies.
Maybe that will bring some joy. (image credit:
href="http://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/jun1/harper/harper3.html">The
Medical Journal of Australia; HT: Mike's High Yield Blog)
j7uy5 | April 7, 2009The American Psychiatric Association is considering whether to
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/05/magazine/05wwln-safire-t.html">reboot
their diagnosis machine. In 1952, the Diagnostic and Statistical
Manual (DSM) was published. In 1980, the third edition was
published. The third edition was important, because for the first
time, it required the use of specific criteria for establishing a
diagnosis. (See
href="http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/01/03/050103fa_fact">this
New Yorker article for a description of the history of DSM and the
development of the descriptive…
j7uy5 | April 3, 2009From time to time, we hear of faux psychotherapy interventions that are
intended to convert persons from homosexuality to
heterosexuality. Mostly, the publicity has centered on
pseudomoralistic interventions that clearly have a religious agenda as
opposed to a health-enhancing agenda. As such these interventions
cannot be classified as therapy.
However, a recent survey has shown that there still is a small minority
of therapists who will, in some circumstances, attempt to have their
clients convert from homosexuality to heterosexuality. The
results were published in the open-access…
j7uy5 | March 30, 2009The New England Journal of Medicine has four open-access articles of
the topic of electronic medical records (EMR). One article
reports on a survey of the characteristics of EMR in use, and the
extent to which they have been adopted within US hospitals. The
second discussed the barriers to the more widespread adoption of
EMR. The third compares and contrasts the two models of EMR:
stand-alone personal systems, and integrated systems. The fourth
addresses the question of how to make the best use of the money
devoted, in Obama's economic stimulus plan, to the promotion of EMR.
Use of…
j7uy5 | March 25, 2009I saw this article in a couple of places before it dawned on me what
the implication is:
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/21/health/research/21alcohol.html">Drinkers'
Red Face May Signal Cancer Risk
By NICHOLAS BAKALAR
Published: March 20, 2009
People whose faces turn red when they drink alcohol may be facing more
than embarrassment. The
href="http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/symptoms/skin-blushingflushing/overview.html?inline=nyt-classifier"
title="In-depth reference and news articles about Skin blushing/flushing.">flushing
may indicate an increased risk for a deadly…
j7uy5 | March 23, 2009The New York Times has an editorial written by Evo Morales Ayma, the
President of Bolivia. It has nothing to do with globalization, or
the ravages of capitalism, or the environmental destruction wrought by
multinational corporations, which is what one might expect.
Rather, it is about coca leaves. He makes an excellent point.
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/14/opinion/14morales.html?ref=opinion">Let
Me Chew My Coca Leaves
By EVO MORALES AYMA
Published: March 13, 2009
THIS week in Vienna, a meeting of the United Nations
Commission on Narcotic Drugs took place that will help…
j7uy5 | March 20, 2009When I was at work today, I saw a headline that irritated me. I decided
I would blog about it when I got home. But now the headline has
been changed. I will still blog about it, though.
The original headline was: Report: Alternative energy quest endangering
birds. Now, it is worded differently:
href="http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/ENERGY_BIRDS?SITE=TXWIC&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT">Report:
Birds endangered by energy development
By DINA CAPPIELLO - 4 hours ago
WASHINGTON (AP) -- As the Obama administration pursues more homegrown
energy sources, a new government…
j7uy5 | March 18, 2009Today's edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association
contains a study that employed PET scans to determine the effect of
modafinil upon dopamine concentration and reuptake in the human central
nervous system. They conclude with a caution that clinicians
should be mindful of the potential for abuse and dependence in persons
taking modafinil.
The problem with the study is that it adds very little, if anything, to
clinical practice.
href="http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/short/301/11/1148">Effects
of Modafinil on Dopamine and Dopamine Transporters in the Male Human…
j7uy5 | March 17, 2009Dr. Richard
Friedman, professor of psychiatry at Weill Medical College of
Cornell University, has an article in the New York Times. In it,
he claims that reforms in medical residency training may be leaving
young doctors "a little more hesitant and uncertain than you might
like."
At first I was hesitant to write about it, because I was uncertain as
to what point he is trying to make. But then I decided to go
ahead.
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/17/health/17mind.html?pagewanted=print">Accepting
the Risks in Creating Confident Doctors
By RICHARD A. FRIEDMAN, M.D.
Published:…
j7uy5 | March 15, 2009An opinion article (
href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123689292159011723.html">There's
No Pill for This Kind of Depression) in the Wall Street Journal
contained the following unsupported claim:
The sale of antidepressants and antianxiety drugs is
widespread. In New York their use became common after 9/11. It
continued through and, I hypothesize, may have contributed to, the
high-flying, wildly imprudent Wall Street of the '00s. We look for
reasons for the crash and there are many, but I wonder if Xanax, Zoloft
and Klonopin, when taken by investment bankers, lessened what might
have…