revere | May 8, 2007Two news items from Indonesia, one about a new case of bird flu, one about the competency and responsibility of the Indonesian authorities. I take that back. The competence and responsibility of the Indonesian authorities are not in doubt. They have neither.
First, the new case:
Bird flu has killed a woman in Indonesia, taking the death toll in the country worst hit by the deadly virus to 75, a health ministry official said on Monday.
Two series of tests confirmed that the 29-year-old woman was infected with the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus, said Suhardaningrum, from the national bird flu…
revere | May 7, 2007We've know for some years now that traumatic brain injury (TBI) is the "signature wound" of the Iraq War (see here, here). We know it's true but we don't know its full extent. Nor has the Department of Defense bothered to find out how bad it is, despite the fact that they designed a screening test for TBI "years ago" according to USA Today:
The Pentagon must use computers to screen troops before and after they go to Iraq or Afghanistan to better determine whether they suffered traumatic brain damage in combat, according to a plan by a congressional brain-injury task force.
The Defense…
revere | May 7, 2007Thursday CDC issued some "Interim Guidance Issued For The Use Of Facemasks And Respirators In Public Settings During An Influenza Pandemic" and of course there were many news stories. It would seem the guidance wasn't exactly clear, at least judging from what headline writers took away from exactly the same story:
CDC recommends masks in pandemic
Masks Might Not Block the Super-Flu
CDC offers tips on using masks against flu
Scientists can't mask their opinion
US Government Issues Facemask Advice For Flu Pandemic
Consider using masks if flu strikes
CDC: Masks Not Much Help In Flu Pandemic…
revere | May 6, 2007To my friends in France:
This is without doubt a dark and bitter day for you.
Les hommes avaient perdu le goût
De vivre, et se foutaient de tout
Leurs mères, leurs frangins, leurs nanas
Pour eux c'était qu'du cinéma
Le ciel redevenait sauvage,
Le béton bouffait l'paysage... alors
The US elections in 2004 were similar and I remember the despair. Sarkozy is another Bush.
Les loups
Les loups ont envahi Paris
Soit par Issy, soit par Ivry
Les loups ont envahi Paris
Cessez de rire, charmante Elvire
Les loups ont envahi Paris.
But the dark clouds of 2004 have given way to patches of blue sky…
revere | May 6, 2007For the past two days I have been in a remote location at a small academic conference not connected with bird flu. I'm multitasking, now, writing this while listening to a founder of the critical legal studies movement in days of yore. It's been extremely interesting and always a pleasure to talk, argue and break bread with people with different perspectives from different backgrounds. One of the things you get at meetings like this are good jokes and cartoons others use in their talks you can steal for your own. Early on a noted philosopher of science put up a Sidney Harris cartoon showing…
revere | May 5, 2007It may seem to have nothing to do flyways for avian influenza virus, but bear with me. In 1962 there was another flyway that revealed Soviet missiles in Cuba:
It was 0737 in the morning of Sunday 14 October 1962 when Major Richard Heyser began the crossing of Cuba in his U-2. He flew almost due north-on a course some 60 miles to the west of Havana and passed over the northerly beaches six minutes later. In that brief timespan be took 928 pictures, which covered a swath 75 miles wide. The resolution of his best shots was a matter of three feet.
Once past the target, he headed for McCoy Air…
revere | May 4, 2007Some stories just force themselves on you. I know I'm not special in this regard, since this story was sent by reader and frequent commenter MRK with the note, "Couldn't resist this one. . . ." Maybe the fact we are both males has something to do with it. Mrs. R. would certainly think so. Anyway, this is The Right Moment (insincere apologies to Cialis's ad agency):
A Brazilian spider delivers more than a painful bite that sends most victims to the hospital.
Its venom stimulates an hours-long erection. Now scientists have figured out the chemical that seems to be responsible for the penis…
revere | May 4, 2007What do you say when you really don't know the answer to the question, "Should I wear a mask to protect me against bird flu if it becomes pandemic?" Here's the CDC answer:
If a super-flu strikes, face masks may not protect you. Even so, the government says people should consider wearing them in certain situations, just in case. The consumer advice issued Thursday reflects the fact that the science behind it is unclear. Whether widespread use of masks will help, or harm, during the next worldwide flu outbreak is a question that researchers are studying furiously. (AP)
I'm not sure exactly how…
revere | May 3, 2007Nothing demonstrates the Bush administration's commitment to Family Values than the number of its officials who have resigned to spend more time with their family. The latest is Julie A. MacDonald, an Interior Department deputy assistant secretary in charge of the Fish and Wildlife Service's endangered species program. The context for her new interest in family matters is the usual one for Bushies: conflict of interest charges, providing internal documents to lobbyists and the arbitrary alteration of the findings of her own scientific professionals in the Interior Department.
MacDonald's…
revere | May 3, 2007Sometimes it can be hard to read the scientific literature without peering through the lens of one's own prejudices. That said, I must agree with this:
Malaysian doctors have declared neckties a health hazard and called on the heath ministry to stop insisting that physicians wear them.
Citing studies that show ties are unhygienic and can spread infection, the Malaysian Medical Association says they are not often washed and carry germs that can cause pneumonia and blood infections, the Star newspaper said on Tuesday.
"And when doctors are doing their clinical rounds, they dangle all over the…
revere | May 2, 2007The current war in iraq is the second in the last two decades. Gulf War I, in 1991, was over with quickly but still has had lasting health effects for soldiers in theater. Even after 16 years, the exact nature of Gulf War Illness is a controversial subject. For those of us with some knowledge of the range and intensity of environmental exposures -- from dense oil well fire smoke to anti-nerve agent medication to insect repellents to pesticide use to inadvertent exposure to nerve gases -- the question is less whether some of the soldiers are sick but why aren't they all sick. Numerous studies…
revere | May 2, 2007China has now agreed to send WHO bird flu isolates, but Indonesia, after first agreeing to do so, won't. Or is it the other way around? It's easy to get mixed up because China has made this promise before (posts here, here and here) and so has Indonesia. Whatever.
Indonesia's health minister has accused the World Health Organization of breaking its promise to assure that the country's bird flu samples would not be used commercially, dragging out a dispute about equal access to a future vaccine.
Siti Fadilah Supari said late Monday Indonesia was ready to resume the supply of specimens, but had…
revere | May 1, 2007Last week we talked about "mash-ups," the combination of online resources from disparate sources, and pointed out that Google Maps and Google Earth were favorite substrates for this. Declan Butler, senior correspondent at Nature, is the first we know of to construct a Google Earth mashup for bird flu. Now there is a very sophisticated version from scientists at the University of Colorado and Ohio State University:
The research team has tracked the spread avian flu around the globe over time by specific host groups of birds, mammals and insects. (Credit: CU-Boulder, Ohio State University)
A…
revere | May 1, 2007Lots of us knew melamine as a heat resistant plastic polymer found in kitchen items, like plastic plates. Despite its reputation for heat resistance it would melt in an oven, although it doesn't catch fire. It is used in a lot of other places: floor tiles, white boards, fabrics, filters, even the cleaning product called Magic Eraser. Now we know it is also used by crooked Chinese food manufacturers to make it appear their products have more protein than they really do. This works because melamine is loaded with nitrogen, also a key atom in the building blocks of proteins, amino acids.
Here…
revere | April 30, 2007Once upon a time, working at the Center for Disease Control (aka, CDC, now called the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) was a dream job for a dedicated public health scientist or practitioner. No more. The independent CDC blog, CDC Chatter, is reporting results of a new survey of employee satisfaction in federal services. CDC is near the bottom of 222 agencies, with a score down from its 2005 score. CDC ranked 189th out of the 222 agencies and agency subcomponents.
CDC's ranking fell in the Partnership for Public Service's annual "Best Places to Work in the Federal Government"…
revere | April 30, 2007"China" was one of the founding members of the United Nations. Whatever you mean by "China," anyway. When the UN was formed in 1945 there was only one China. After the Revolution of 1949 the losing side retreated to Taiwan and claimed the title of Republic of China. The US and its allies stupidly continued to recognize them as "China" to keep another communist country from the Security Council, but by 1971 the absurdity of denying mot Chinese a seat in the UN was patently obvious and the People's Republic of China took the place of the ROC. At the time I was strongly in favor of this and I…
revere | April 29, 2007After recent posts related to intellectual property and more than I can count about bird flu, time to become more efficient and combine them:
Chinese police have nabbed a pirate DVD production and sales ring that had concealed their operation in a supposed bird flu research base in east China's Jiangxi Province.
Zheng Deming, head of the provincial anti-pornography and anti-illegal publications office, said police in Jiangxi, Hubei and Guangzhou seized at least 16 alleged members of a fake DVD ring which has produced and sold about 26.4 million DVDs in two years.
Zheng said they received…
revere | April 29, 2007Let's see. If I were making a pile of money by doing something illegal and I got caught, do you think I'd be able to get off just by agreeing not to do it again? I guess if what I was doing was making illegal prescription drugs, I could. I'll make a mental note:
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced the entry of a Consent Decree of Permanent Injunction against PharmaFab Inc., its subsidiary, PFab LP, and two company officials, Mark Tengler, PharmaFab's president, and Russ McMahen, PFab's vice president of scientific affairs, to stop the illegal manufacture and distribution of…
revere | April 29, 2007America is starting to reawaken from one of its periodic religious revivals. They happen with tiresome regularity, every three or four decades, but it's a damped oscillation. Each time the amplitude of the wave is lower and the DC signal between blips more secular. Freethinker books are appearing on the bestseller lists, occupying more prominent space in bookstores (even if some of that space is bought by publishers, it is a reflection of the market, just as the pile of Christian books has been). In the last couple of weeks atheism has appeared in prime slots of cable TV. Joe Scarborough,…
revere | April 28, 2007The problem is now being recognized at the highest levels of the US government.