terrasig | March 19, 2007My blog buddy Orac at Respectful Insolence has a superb post today following up on his continuous coverage of dichloroacetate and two posts I had recently on local coverage in the Edmonton Journal of this unapproved, experimental compound. As an oncologic surgeon, he provides an authoritative rebuttal to the argument that there's no harm in buying DCA for self-medication by cancer patients whom medicine can no longer help.
As hard as it may be to believe, even if you have a terminal illness with only months to live, things can get worse. One thing worse than dying of cancer is hastening your…
terrasig | March 17, 2007From the same reporter at the Edmonton Journal who brought us yesterday's DCA article comes news of a highly-experienced Canadian pharmacist who has been providing patients with physician-prescribed dichloroacetate. Jodie Sinnema reports that a local pharmacist has been selling DCA to patients but their supplier has stopped providing the pharmacy with the compound after intervention by Health Canada, the Canadian equivalent of the US FDA.
Ron Marcinkoski, a pharmacist at Market Drugs Medical at 97th Street and 102nd Avenue, said he was doing what he could to help cancer patients when…
terrasig | March 16, 2007I hope Orac won't mind but with him in a surgical conference in DC right now, he may not have seen Matt the Heathen post in the comment thread at Respectful Insolence about a superb article that appeared in today's Edmonton Journal, "Possibly fatal at $2 a pop," by Jodie Sinnema.
Jodie's interview with the University of Alberta investigator and author of the original DCA anticancer paper illustrates the level of interest in this public-domain chemical:
Dr. Evangelos Michelakis, the cardiologist and researcher whose academic paper sparked the worldwide fervour surrounding DCA, said people…
terrasig | March 16, 2007This week has seen the launch of a new health blog by the Wall Street Journal. While I don't hold the highly conservative views of the WSJ editorial pages, I have found the paper one of the best international sources of information on health trends in both conventional and alternative medicine. The only problem about the blog is that while it links to the day's health news, the original articles are still firewalled behind the subscription.
But I do wish to note Jacob Goldstein's post on an article by Geeta Anand about Dr Steven Harr. Harr is a Hopkins-trained doc-turned-stock analyst who…
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 | March 13, 2007As cited by news services and the original source yesterday,
In a survey of 97 new patients being seen at an infertility clinic, reported in the Australia & New Zealand Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology [April 2007 issue], Stankiewicz and colleagues discovered that two-thirds reported using complementary medicine.
Nearly half of them said they had consulted with a complementary therapy provider, such as a chiropractor, acupuncturist, or naturopath.
Over three-quarters of the patients reported taking over-the-counter multivitamins, and about a quarter to one-third used herbal remedies…
terrasig | March 12, 2007As I may not be able to get an original post up today, I wish to direct readers to an interesting post by Dave Munger at Cognitive Daily. Dave does a very nice job of explaining how the purported energy savings of the DST change may not actually help, or worse, cost us energy in the end.
terrasig | March 9, 2007Since many homers read Terra Sig instead of my local interest blog, here's news on today's inaugural activities at our new community space, Bull City Headquarters (BCHQ).
terrasig | March 9, 2007On this day in 1957,
A magnitude 9.1 earthquake shook the Andreanof Islands in Alaska, the second strongest quake in U.S. history (although Alaska would not become the 49th state until more than a year later), generating a tsunami that hit the Hawaiian island of Oahu.
Harry Belafonte's Banana Boat (Day-O) was number 6 on the Cashbox Top 50 music charts.
Faith Daniels, former news anchor (CBS-TV), and Jon Engen Oslo Norway, US biathlete (Olympics-1994) were born.
And, sharing the birthdate with them is our own PZ Myers of Pharyngula and the University of Minnesota at Morris.
Happy 50th…
terrasig | March 8, 2007We've spoken here before about the premature extrapolation of in vitro data on curcumin to the misleading human use of the spice-derivative for a whole host of cancers. Unfortunately, curcumin is not absorbed into the bloodstream at concentrations necessary for anticancer effects, even when combined with a black pepper-derived compound called piperine (sold under the brand name, Bioperine). In fact, piperine/Bioperene may present a risk of drug interactions and potentially increase the side effects of some types of chemotherapy if taken unwittingly along with certain drugs.
However, a…
terrasig | March 7, 2007While spending so much time last week on the issue of conscientious objection by pharmacists, I overlooked the 26 February publication in Archives of Internal Medicine of a very well-designed clinical trial to test the hypothesis that garlic/garlic supplements lower LDL-cholesterol. The trial, conducted at Stanford University Medical School, was notable in that several of the authors are well-recognized experts in the chemistry and preclinical pharmacology of garlic and paid particular detail to the bioavailability of the sulfur-containing amino acids thought to exert garlic's beneficial…
terrasig | March 6, 2007As a graduate student, I had the good fortune of meeting Dr Don Coffey, a professor of Urology, Oncology, Pharmacology, and Molecular Sciences at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, one of the most creative and humble scientists I have known.
I recall him telling a lunchtime gathering of us wide-eyed trainees that American graduate students don't think about their experiments enough; that is, one should spend some 10-20% of the time it took to do the experiment thinking about the results, especially if the results are not what you expected.
The exercise he challenged us to do for "failed…
terrasig | March 5, 2007I've never used the blog for this purpose, but why not?
The benchtop pH meter I purchased when starting the Pharmboy laboratory a number of years ago is beginning to have electronics problems (it's an old Fisher AccuMet of some sort with a digital display that reads in Roman numerals).
Hence, I am looking for recommendations for a new pH meter.
You would think this query for recommendations on the lowly pH meter is pedestrian and insignificant. But, I can assure you, that many a biochemical experiment has gone awry because the pH of one's solution is off due to inadequate attention to pH…
terrasig | March 2, 2007For those who have been asking over the last couple of days, here are the oath of a pharmacist as recited at US colleges of pharmacy and a code of ethics adopted in 1994 by the then-American Pharmaceutical Association (now the American Pharmacists Association; still APhA). There seems to be a strong focus on the patient in the code of ethics but there's also a bit of wiggle room that can be interpreted as one sees fit.
Oath of a Pharmacist
At this time, I vow to devote my professional life to the service of all humankind through the profession of pharmacy.
I will consider the welfare of…
terrasig | March 1, 2007Yesterday's discussion of a pharmacist's right to refuse filling prescriptions based on moral or legal grounds generated some great discussion. I appreciate the thoughtful discussion of the commenters as well as two posts on the topic by Prof Janet Stemwedel. The first draws from her older post on the topic nearly two years ago, illustrating that we haven't come very far in this debate. As Janet noted then
Obviously, we've got a tug-of-war here between the moral convictions of the health care professionals and the moral convictions of the patients.
I'm also going to quote Janet heavily…
terrasig | February 28, 2007So reads the title of an excellent essay Medscape has reprinted from a recent issue of the American Journal of Health-Systems Pharmacists by Emily Evans (free reg req'd). Evans is a Pharm.D. faculty member at the College of Pharmacy of the University of Louisiana at Monroe. She writes:
In Texas, three pharmacists are fired for refusing to fill a rape victim's prescription for emergency contraception because it "violated [their] morals." A Wisconsin pharmacist refuses to fill, or transfer out, a similar prescription and is put on trial for violating the state's regulation and licensing…
terrasig | February 27, 2007As if everyone doesn't have enough deadlines right now, 1 March is the deadline for submission of medical education manuscripts to the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). The call for papers was issued in December and accepted manuscripts will appear in the 5 September 2007 issue:
Practicing physicians aspire to be good, whether this attribute is defined with respect to intellectual skills, manual skills, or professional standards. In medicine, it may indeed be nobler to teach others to be good (in any of these senses). However, doing so is arguably far more difficult. Those…
terrasig | February 25, 2007
You can see all the stars as you walk down Hollywood Boulevard,
Some that you recognise, some that you've hardly even heard of,
People who worked and suffered and struggled for fame,
Some who succeeded and some who suffered in vain.Celluloid Heroes, The Kinks, 1972
Hat tip: Pharmagossip
terrasig | February 24, 2007A Colorado high school has banned a newly-released energy drink after six students reported "symptoms including shortness of breath, heart palpitations and nausea." Interestingly, convenience stores near the high school have also stopped selling the energy drink, Spike Shooter.
Tim Patterson, chief executive of Colorado Springs-based Biotest Laboratories, which produces Spike Shooter, said the drink isn't meant for anyone under 18. "I don't want these kids consuming the product," Patterson said. "That's not my target market."
Funny. The 7 February press release from the company notes from…
terrasig | February 23, 2007Do you have some ancient bottle of wine someone gave as a gift and you are waiting for that "special night" to open it? Well, tomorrow night is "that" night.
We all seem to accumulate bottles of wine as souvenirs or gifts from overseas trips, weddings, birthdays, etc. and always think we need some special occasion to open them. Unfortunately, too many of these bottles go way past their prime waiting for that special occasion. We rarely give ourselves license to open those bottles.
As a remedy to this situation Wall Street Journal wine writers, Dorothy Gaiter and John Brecher, established…