terrasig | January 12, 2008The word on the e-streets is that DrugMonkey co-blogger, PhysioProf, has hung out a new shingle at. . .PhysioProf, the blog. (So as not to confuse the issues, DrugMonkey is the lead blogger at DrugMonkey the blog. . .does that make sense?).
But we get the best of both worlds: PhysioProf will still be continuing his more academic gig at DrugMonkey.
PhysioProf has been a thoughtful commenter 'round these parts and has been a strength over at DM, especially with regard to academic research, funding, career development, and general issues such as how not to screw up one's own faculty interview…
terrasig | January 10, 2008This question, posed by Michigan Tech professor Dr Seth W Donahue while hiking in the Sierra Nevada, has led to the discovery of an extremely potent form of parathyroid hormone produced by black bears (Ursus americanus). In an unusual take on my usual topic of natural product therapeutics, Donahue's hope is that the ursine form of the hormone might serve as the basis for novel drugs to treat osteoporosis in humans, hibernating (on the couch) or otherwise.
Dr. Donahue's research on bears has advanced far enough toward a treatment for humans to capture commercial interest. Apjohn Group, a…
terrasig | January 8, 2008NIH has just announced the acceptance of applications for their 7th annual conference, Medicine in the Media: The Challenge of Reporting on Medical Research, 5-7 May, 2008.
The National Institutes of Health's Office of Medical Applications of Research (OMAR) presents a free annual training opportunity to help develop journalists' ability to evaluate and report on medical research. Now in its seventh year, the course curriculum builds on the best of prior years' offerings to create an intensive learning experience with hands-on application. This year's course will be held on the campus of…
terrasig | January 7, 2008We've discussed in July and November 2007 about cosmetics companies taking advantage of the observation of an interesting side effect of certain anti-glaucoma eyedrops - they increase eyelash number and thickness. In the cosmetics industry, this is a big deal such that consumers are willing to pay US$149-160 per unit of Revitalash or Age Intervention Eyelash Conditioner.
Here's the pharmacological backstory as I wrote back in July:
The background on this "breakthrough" relates to the side effect profile of prostamides, drugs that treat glaucoma by reducing intraocular pressure. These…
terrasig | January 6, 2008The first 2008 issue of New England Journal of Medicine came yesterday in the snailmail box and I read the following story with such great interest that I nearly walked into a tree. Bear with me but the news lately has taken me on a neuroscience streak without my having specific professional expertise in the area.
The famed Johns Hopkins neuroscientist, Solomon H. Snyder, MD, DSc, has a commentary entitled, "Seeking God in the Brain - Efforts to Localize Higher Brain Function" (currently available as free full text). The commentary was very loosely directed at a study elsewhere in the issue…
terrasig | January 5, 2008The e-ink wasn't even dry last night on my Friday Fermentable post about the Flying Dog Open Source Beer project before I received a comment from Josh Mishell, Creative Manager for the brewery:
Thanks for writing about our Open Source Beer! $12.79 is a great deal, considering we sell it out of our tasting room for $18, as well.
By a strange stroke of luck, your blog entry is very timely. Today is the first Friday of the month, and every first Friday, beer bloggers everywhere write on a common theme (we call it "The Session"). I think it's a unique thing in the blogger world, and love being a…
terrasig | January 4, 2008I can't believe I missed this earlier in the year: Colorado's Flying Dog Brewery created a beer based upon a basic recipe together with reader suggestions in what was called The Open Source Beer Project:
You are holding what we believe is the first Open Source Beer to hit the market in the United States. We started with a basic Doppelbock recipe and solicited suggestions from homebrewers on our blog. We took your comments and crafted this Doppelbock, aptly named Collaborator. The blog, the recipe, and the label are online at opensourcebeerproject.com, if you'd like to brew some yourself.…
terrasig | January 4, 2008I'm very excited to announce to Terra Sig readers the kickoff of a new group blog called Science Based Medicine. Yes, it may sound odd that one would need to preface "Medicine" with the qualifier, "Science-Based," but therein lies the goal of this new resource from its mission statement:
Safe and effective health care is critical to to everyone's quality of life; so much so that it is generally considered a basic human right. The best method for determining which interventions and health products are safe and effective is, without question, good science. Therefore it is in everyone's best…
terrasig | January 3, 2008I don't often venture into the fray whereby the misinformed continue to insist that thimerosal-containing vaccines cause autistic spectrum disorders when all evidence to date has led the scientific community to reject this hypothesis. However, recent stories on celebrities, namely Jenny McCarthy and Donald Trump, spouting forth about vaccines and autism led me to read with great interest a superb piece of science journalism by Ashley Pettus in the Jan-Feb 2008 issue of Harvard Magazine entitled, "A Spectrum of Disorders: The urgent search to understand the biological basis of autism."
In…
terrasig | January 1, 2008...there is a very colorful discussion thread of hangover remedies over at the WSJ Health Blog.
Yesterday, Health Blog's Jacob Goldstein briefly discussed a 2000 Annals of Internal Medicine paper on alcohol hangovers and remedies/prophylactic approaches. Despite all of the discussion, Goldstein also cites a 2005 systematic review in BMJ by Max Pittler and Edzard Enrst at Exeter that concluded,
No compelling evidence exists to suggest that any conventional or complementary intervention is effective for preventing or treating alcohol hangover. The most effective way to avoid the symptoms of…
terrasig | December 30, 2007In rats, though. But still very interesting.
So says yesterday's New York Times Op-Ed by psychiatrist, Paul Steinberg, entitled, "The Hangover That Lasts." This timely piece follows our discussion on Friday about champagne choices for New Year's Eve, the premier event for binge-drinking.
While I'm not a neuropharmacologist, Steinberg's article piqued my interest because it focuses on the work of Dr Fulton T Crews and his former student Dr Jennifer Obernier (now with the National Academy of Sciences) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr Crews is director of the UNC Bowles…
terrasig | December 28, 2007If you're a scientist who still finds yourself employed, you might head out this weekend to pick up a celebratory bottle of your favorite $30 New Year's bubbly only to find it priced at $35 or even $40. The declining value of the US dollar has certainly rendered champagne (French sparkling wine from the Champagne region) even more of a luxury than usual.
Perhaps you're a grad student or postdoc wondering how you might afford something reasonable, maybe a couple of bottles of California sparkling wine - what should you pick without finding your purchase to be insipid swill?
Well, I've been…
terrasig | December 27, 2007After hearing this morning of the assassination of Benazir Bhutto in Pakistan, I had wondered if any science bloggers might weigh in since Bhutto had attended Oxford and earned a BA at Harvard's Radcliffe College.
Fellow ScienceBlogger, Greg Laden, relates a story from when Bhutto returned to Harvard to give the commencement address.
Beyond the chaos among the general population, I cannot imagine trying to conduct scientific research in the current climate of Pakistan. The University of Karachi, in particular, maintains an excellent Department of Pharmacognosy in the School of Pharmacy - we…
terrasig | December 23, 2007Well, what I mean is that I am back from my hiatus in me ol' stompin' grounds and now have a reliable internet connection.
I'm not one for posting pictures on the blog, especially when they have nothing to do with pharmacology. However, these should at least be of interest to fellow bloggers, Shelley and GrrlScientist. Plus, these are at least related to biology and science: I'm excited to note that during my travels, I came upon a nest of a southern bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus leucocephalus) family. The photos don't do it justice but this was the closest I could get without…
terrasig | December 15, 2007On this day in 2005 we first signed on to the blogosphere on the original Terra Sigillata at Blogger. I had spent over six months reading the blogs of other in the areas of medicine and science and wondered if there was any need for yet another blog from another frustrated scientist. But I'm an academician stuck in a position where I don't teach full-time. I really used to enjoy beginning my pharmacology lectures with little vignettes about the latest drug news or some information about an herb or dietary supplement. I've also been fortunate to have a lot of clinical colleagues who would…
terrasig | December 14, 2007I learned via Kevin, MD, of a great new BlogTalkRadio show by Ohio physician, Doctor Anonymous. BlogTalkRadio is pretty neat in that you get video of the host, audio of the interview, and a chat window on which listeners can post a running commentary and discussion of the show. I got to "meet" Sid Schwab and Dr. Val, two frequent commenters as well as those whose blogs I read.
Last night, Dr. A interviewed Mexico Med Student, Enrico, who is currently a 3rd year med student at the Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara (UAG) School of Medicine in Guadalajara, Mexico. (Dr. Val was supposed to be…
terrasig | December 14, 2007A couple of days ago I recommended a short information table that compared conventional small molecule drugs to biologics (antibody therapies and other peptides/proteins). It was quick and I recommended it for the average Terra Sig reader.
However, I was quick in writing the post, and should have been more critical of the information I was recommending. Quick and concise means nothing if the information isn't accurate. To be honest, I haven't gone back to look at the table since - that is, until my colleague Ian Musgrave (I hope he's not ashamed that I called him "my colleague") pointed…
terrasig | December 13, 2007I'm happy to report that physician-journalist, Tom Linden, MD, has begun blogging over at Dr Mike Magee's Health Commentary.
Dr Linden is currently Glaxo Wellcome Distinguished Professor of Medical Journalism and director of the Medical Journalism Program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill J-school. As an example of the visibility of the program, one of Tom's current students, Kelly Rae Chi, just had an article posted at The Scientist on the history of the biotech industry in San Diego.
Tom recognized early the power of the internet for health information and in 1995 co-…
terrasig | December 12, 2007[Retraction 14 December 2007: Following a consideration of comments by Prof Ian Musgrave (below), I must retract my recommendation of this table - upon re-examination, I should have been much more critical of the information provided.)
The Wall Street Journal online has a nice general information table comparing and contrasting small molecules vs. proteins used as drugs. Biotechnology products like insulin or erythropoeitin protein molecules whereas classic drugs like the statins or antiinflammatory drugs are termed "small molecules." In truth, both classes are pharmaceuticals so I would've…
terrasig | December 10, 2007Yes! "A Call for a Presidential Debate on Science & Technology."
Imagine a presidential debate focused solely on issues of science and technology as they relate to medicine, international competitiveness, terrorism, public health, embryonic stem cell research, bioethics of genotyping and other molecular diagnostics, research policy/funding and job creation, or minimization of health disparities, among others.Science Debate 2008 is a grassroots initiative spearheaded by a growing number of scientists and other concerned citizens. The signatories to our "Call for a Presidential Debate on…