terrasig | September 20, 2007You read correctly. If the US Senate does not pass an FDA funding bill today, 2,000 employees, nearly one-quarter of the FDA staff, will be relieved of their duties. (There were 8,157 FDA employees in 2006 - source). The House has already passed the bill but there are concerns:
Senate staffers were poring over the bill's 400-page text, and leaders were hoping to be able to pass it by voice vote. But some Senate Republicans raised concerns. "We're getting a bill that has been mashed together at the last minute," said a GOP aide involved in negotiations with the House. "It's very worrisome…
terrasig | September 19, 2007A few days ago, I posted about a 1 September Cancer Research paper showing that a muscadine grape skin extract (MSKE) lacking resveratrol had activity in killing prostate cancer cells. I've finally had a chance to look at the paper. The study was very well-done by Dr Jeffrey Green's group at the US National Cancer Institute with colleagues at Georgia, Texas, USDA, and George Washington University. The studies showed that the grape skin extract (at 10-20 μg/mL) had cytotoxic activity against progressively tumorigenic prostate cell lines but had no effect on normal prostatic epithelial cells…
terrasig | September 19, 2007This e-mail just came in overnight - a great move by the New York Times:
Dear TimesSelect Subscriber,
We are ending TimesSelect, effective today.
The Times's Op-Ed and news columns are now available to everyone free of charge, along with Times File and News Tracker. In addition, The New York Times online Archive is now free back to 1987 for all of our readers.
Why the change?
Since we launched TimesSelect, the Web has evolved into an increasingly open environment. Readers find more news in a greater number of places and interact with it in more meaningful ways. This decision enhances the free…
terrasig | September 18, 2007Folks from The Scientist recently asked a group of science bloggers to recommend their three, must-read blogs to provide a guide to those who might not have been following the scientific blogosphere. Somehow I got selected to post my votes, a very challenging task to whittle down to three. However, it gave me a chance to recognize three bloggers who served among my inspiration for getting started myself and who continue to provide excellent, unique, and timely content.
The article went up today and readers are encouraged to add to the comments their favorite sciblogs. I was disappointed…
terrasig | September 17, 2007Brian C. Martinson has written an excellent commentary that appears in the 13 September issue of Nature. The topic of "Universities and The Money Fix" is the discordance between the goals of NIH and research universities in conducting biomedical research and, as a result, generating research trainees at a rate whose absorption by the system is unsustainable.
Since the early 1980s new investigators have been entering NIH funding at a more rapid rate than experienced investigators have been exiting, leading to a population increase...
...We need to look at both the supply and the demand sides…
terrasig | September 16, 2007Leukemia Drug Adulteration
Chinese generic versions of the anticancer drugs, methotrexate and cytarabine hydrochloride, have been reported to be contaminated with an undisclosed substance according to several wire reports this morning.
Several children in a Shanghai hospital were reported to suffer leg pain and difficulty walking after being injected with methotrexate. A common drug used in many chemotherapy regimens for leukemia, methotrexate is not normally associated with these side effects.
The Xinhua news agency reported that the drugs had been traced to one manufacturer, Shanghai…
terrasig | September 15, 2007[This post appeared originally at my Blogspot site on 20 December 2005 to describe my rationale for the name of this blog. With today's traffic from the Daily Kos, I thought it would be useful to new readers to know our story here. FYFI, here is why I chose the pseudonym Abel Pharmboy. - APB]
If you Google, "Terra Sigillata," you'll get a number of hits for various clay pottery recipes. Very complicated stuff, requiring the use of a deflocculant to separate out large clay particles from the small ones. Terra sig, as it is known among pottery hipsters, is then used to coat finished pieces…
terrasig | September 14, 2007[Welcome Daily Kos readers and many thanks to DarkSyde for the link - btw, if you're wondering what Terra Sigillata is, click here.]
The other day I fired off a quick post on the absurdity of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is proposing to cut reimbursements for two radioimmunotherapy drugs for lymphoma to less than their cost. The two immunotherapy drugs in question are Bexxar (I-131 tositumomab) and Zevalin (Y-90 ibritumomab) - both drugs target the CD20 protein on the surface of normal and malignant B-lymphocytes, killing the cells by the radioactive emissions of…
terrasig | September 12, 2007Just a quick post about observations I had at a recent prostate cancer meeting conducted by the US Department of Defense's (DOD) Congressionally-Directed Medical Research Program (CDMRP). In the US, DOD is second only to NIH in the amount of funding provided for breast and prostate cancer research.
The meeting was held in Atlanta and spread over three days - a nice small meeting with few overlapping sessions and great opportunities for interaction with speakers and fellow scientists.
Most impressive, however, was the heavy presence of the cancer patient community in the proceedings. The…
terrasig | September 11, 2007[The New York Times and many bloggers are writing this year about "9/11 fatigue." Here is why I will always remember. This was posted here originally on 11 September 2006. ]
Let me tell you about John Michael Griffin, Jr.
Griff, as he was known in high school, was a friend of mine.
Late in the first half of our lives, he stood up for me physically and philosophically, for being a science geek. John's endorsement was the first time I was ever deemed cool for wanting to be a scientist.
Griff died an engineer and hero in the collapse of one of the World Trade Center towers five years ago…
terrasig | September 10, 2007Today's New York Times notes this weekend's launch of Elsevier's OncologySTAT website:
But now Reed Elsevier, which publishes more than 400 medical and scientific journals, is trying an experiment that stands this model on its head. Over the weekend it introduced a Web portal, www.OncologySTAT.com, that gives doctors free access to the latest articles from 100 of its own pricey medical journals and that plans to sell advertisements against the content.
The new site asks oncologists to register their personal information. In exchange, it gives them immediate access to the latest cancer-related…
terrasig | September 9, 2007Yes, you have heard this before: another company selling erectile dysfunction dietary supplements has been nailed by the US FDA for adulteration of their product with prescription drugs used for erectile dysfunction.
From the FDA (full press release here):
Bodee LLC, Inc., issued a nationwide recall of Zencore Tabs, a product marketed as a dietary supplement, because it contains undeclared ingredients. FDA laboratory analysis of Zencore Tabs found that the product contains aminotadalafil, an analog of tadalafil, and sildenafil, both of which are active ingredients of FDA-approved drugs used…
terrasig | September 7, 2007This week has seen an outpouring of sentiments in the wake of the death of famed beer and spirits writer, Michael Jackson.
Therefore, we dedicate this edition of The Friday Fermentable to the memory of this remarkable gentleman and writer.
A post at Michael's Beer Hunter website details a series of resources that celebrate Michael's life and mourn his passing.
Among the links are to Michael's last article, written for All About Beer Magazine, and a video of his last interview on 7 August. The muscle rigidity and jerky movements due to his Parkinson's disease are clearly evident but, like…
terrasig | September 5, 2007Just got a nice note from Daniel Kovach of CollegeScholarships.org announcing their blogging scholarship competition.
As is well-known to ScienceBlogs.com readers, our own Shelley Batts of Retrospectacle! won the $1,000 runner-up prize last year.
All the details and eligibility requirements are here, including the nomination form. Unfortunately, the contest is only open to US college bloggers. The deadline for nominations is midnight (PST) on 6 October. You can nominate yourself or a fellow blogger. The top 10 finalists will be announced and public voting will commence on 8 October.…
terrasig | September 4, 2007A press release came in from the US NIH before the weekend noting that NCI's Dr Jeffrey Green has identified potential anticancer activities from a grape skin extract that is not dependent on the presence of the well-known compound, resveratrol. The report is to appear in the 1 September issue of Cancer Research, but the article is not yet online.
Green's group investigated a skin extract from muscadine grapes (Vitis rotundifolia) that was apparently nearly devoid of resveratrol but contained high levels of compunds called anthocyanins (they called it MSKE for "muscadine skin extract"). The…
terrasig | September 3, 2007Today is the Labor Day holiday in the United States. This post originally appeared here on 4 September 2006. I cleaned it up and updated a bit but the discussion of the 1914 Ludlow Massacre seems particularly poignant due to this year's coal mining mishaps around the world.
"Labor Day differs in every essential way from the other holidays of the year in any country," said Samuel Gompers, founder and longtime president of the American Federation of Labor. "All other holidays are in a more or less degree connected with conflicts and battles of man's prowess over man, of strife and discord for…
terrasig | September 2, 2007As I noted last evening, the world of beer and spirits is mourning the loss of British writer and libation enthusiast, Michael Jackson. Jackson was suffering from Parkinson's disease but succumbed to a heart attack earlier this week at age 65.
Jackson's Beer Hunter website/blog notes that a national toast to Jackson will be held on 30 September, with all proceeds to benefit the US National Parkinson Foundation. Stan Hieronymus writes:
If you know a brewpub, bar, tavern, ale house, tap house, multi-tap or similar establishment that might participate urge them to do so. Information will be…
terrasig | September 1, 2007Renowned writer and international advocate for beer, Michael Jackson, died at his home in London on Wednesday night/Thursday morning. He was 65 and had been suffering from Parkinson's disease, but the cause of death is believed to be a heart attack.
Simply put, Mr Jackson did for beer what fellow Englishman Hugh Johnson did for wine - provide a sense of appreciation and respect for the history of the various styles of the beverage and its place in civilized society. Perhaps more of a challenge than for Johnson, Mr Jackson elevated beer, the drink of the common man, to the status of a craft…
terrasig | September 1, 2007Like any regulatory agency standing between industry and the public, the US FDA has its fair share of detractors. So, it's always a pleasure to draw attention to their programs that serve public and professional welfare.
Since February, 2002, FDA's MedWatch Drug Safety Program has produced short videos every month called FDA Patient Safety News (PSN). While these videos are generally prepared for the health professional community (such as, "Importance of Using Aseptic Technique with propofol (Diprivan)"), there are three videos this month that are of particular interest to patients…