Newsclips
terrasig | September 17, 2009
From today's article by the always-interesting Sarah Avery at the News & Observer:
After several failed attempts to extract the item, Manley was referred to another doctor, who suggested removing the entire left lung. "I said, no, I wouldn't be doing that," Manley says.
That's when he decided to seek a second opinion at Duke University Medical Center.
We've heard of "hot tub lung" and "popcorn lung" but my chest hurts just thinking about "jagged, fast-food implement lung."
If this case does not make it into the New England Journal of Medicine, I will be disappointed.
Photo credit: Duke…
terrasig | March 9, 2009
I'm very proud today to see one of my formative professors, Dr Fulton Crews, quoted extensively in a USAToday article on a new, web-based alcohol awareness initiative, "Rethinking Drinking," from NIH's National Institute for Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) Division of Treatment and Recovery Research.
While many associate heavy drinking with liver problems, it can also increase the risk for heart disease, sleep disorders, depression, stroke and stomach bleeding. Consumed during pregnancy, it can cause fetal brain damage, says Fulton Crews, director of the Bowles Center for Alcohol…
terrasig | June 2, 2007Here are some interesting news items I found during the week but lacked the time to blog about:
Natural alternatives to growth-promoting antibiotics in livestock feed in EU
Related: Herbal therapy for pigs at PigProgress.net
Coke and Cargill partner on herbal sweetener, Stevia (Rebiana)
Singapore herbal remedy adulterated with potent prescription drugs
Famed Karolinska Institutet opens Osher Centre for Integrative Medicine
Herbs misused relative to evidence-based guidelines
Slippery elm bark poaching in Kentucky
Creosote shrub compound extends mouse lifespan
People shouldn't start taking NDGA…
terrasig | April 29, 2007This sad story harkens back to my days as a pharmacy prof when students would argue for points on an incorrect pharmaceutical calculations exam by saying, "well, only the decimal point was off."
A pharmacy erroneously made a drug 10 times more potent than intended, which killed three people who received it at an Oregon clinic, the state medical examiner said Friday.
ApotheCure Inc., a drug compounding pharmacy company in Texas, said an employee made a weighing error in the creation of the drug colchicine.
Drug compounding pharmacies have often attracted controversy. While they fulfill the…
terrasig | March 14, 2007The new issue of Newsweek (19 Mar 2007) carried a surprise for me: former Wall Street Journal health reporter, Sharon Begley, has moved back to the magazine. In fact, Begley wrote this week's excellent discussion and cover story on the massive amount of science in support of evolution.
"The debate over human origins has been one of the most significant and controversial conversations in American society over the last 150 years. Whether they believe in Darwin's theory of evolution as it was proposed in his "Origin of Species", adhere to a literal interpretation of the Bible or inhabit some…
terrasig | October 25, 2006Frequent commenter, anjou, just sent along a link to a MSNBC article by Robert Bazell entitled, "Ignoring the failures of alternative medicine." The article is subtitled, "The U.S. spends millions testing popular supplements. It's a futile effort."
Bazell is chief science and health correspondent for MSNBC. Most striking about Bazell's article is that the mainstream media has generally remained quiet on criticizing the alternative medicine industry. In contrast, the scientific community has long questioned both the legitimacy of NIH's alternative medicine-focused center, NCCAM, and their…
terrasig | September 10, 2006Most of last week's posts were about music, so I thought I'd round out the holy trinity of sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll.
Traveling this weekend gave me an opportunity to indulge in one of my secret guilty pleasures: reading USA TODAY.
First up, as it were, is Kitty Bean Yancey's story on the opportunity for Atlanta-based passengers to join the mile-high club in a private plane for just $299:
Q: Who goes on these flights?
A: Couples from 18 and 19 up to their 60s. I've taken between 75 and 100 in five years. I've had people fly in from New York, New Jersey and Miami just to do the mile-high…
terrasig | June 13, 2006From USA Today, some interesting and sad news:
When a teenager in Jan Sigerson's office mentioned a "pharm party" in February, Sigerson thought the youth was talking about a keg party out on a farm.
"Pharm," it turned out, was short for pharmaceuticals, such as the powerful painkillers Vicodin and OxyContin. Sigerson, program director for Journeys, a teen drug treatment program in Omaha, soon learned that area youths were organizing parties to down fistfuls of prescription drugs.
I am now officially old. I thought I'd never say, "I remember when..."
Well, I remember when drinking PBR as a…
sb admin | June 9, 2006No surprise here: a highly-regarded climatologist declares that the Bush administration is "muzzling government scientists" and covering up the facts about global warming.
Warren Washington, a senior scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, said that Bush appointees are suppressing information about climate change, restricting journalists' access to federal scientists and rewriting agency news releases to stress global warming uncertainties.
"The news media is not getting the full story, especially from government scientists," Washington told about 160 people…
terrasig | June 9, 2006No surprise here: a highly-regarded climatologist declares that the Bush administration is "muzzling government scientists" and covering up the facts about global warming.
Warren Washington, a senior scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, said that Bush appointees are suppressing information about climate change, restricting journalists' access to federal scientists and rewriting agency news releases to stress global warming uncertainties.
"The news media is not getting the full story, especially from government scientists," Washington told about 160 people…