terrasig | October 26, 2006If you've been working in this field for any period of time, cocktail party discussions or talks with students invariably turn to nature's greatest trove of biologically-active compounds, those that act on the central nervous system (CNS) as stimulants, euphorics, and hallucinogens.
So, over the last couple of days, I've been enjoying the posts by my relatively new compatriot here at ScienceBlogs, SciBling for short, The Molecule of the Day. I have no clue as to who he/she is or where they are other than it is written, "by a chemist who enjoys rambling about the relationship between…
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 | October 22, 2006After putting together last evening's carnival posts, I walked outside this morning to find the Q Opinion section of our local Sunday paper devoted to issues of blogging.
Specifically, writer Eric Ferreri poses the question of whether bloggers should have a code of ethics, just like journalists. Martin Kuhn, a former UNC doctoral fellow in media law, presented his own code of ethics here, with an eye toward concerns that libel suits are a real and growing possibility regarding comments made on blogs and message boards.
"There will be a case where a blogger gets socked with a major judgment…
terrasig | October 21, 2006Welcome to this week's edition of Tar Heel Tavern, a roundup of all that is good about blogging from the state of North Carolina. If I missed your submission or if it's Sunday morning and you think, "Dang, I forget to submit anything," just fire me an e-mail and I'll quickly add your work. So, let's cut to the chase:
Of all the posts, nothing captured Fall in North Carolina like the beautiful pictures Laura sent in from Moomin Light from her annual two-week trip to the mountains.
Down in the state capital, there's one more day left: Mr. R reflects at evolving education on this year's visit…
terrasig | October 19, 2006This is kind of a homer version of The Friday Fermentable, but I think that it has enough international interest that I am putting it here and on the oft-neglected local blog, Bull City Bully Pulpit.
Many themes will come together here that involve science blogging and this will be our first discussion of beer since this feature began. To be honest, when I began making my own wine some 15 years ago, I realized it took so long to enjoy the wine I had made (at least a year or more) that I began brewing beer, a fermentable that can and generally should be enjoyed within three to four weeks.…
terrasig | October 19, 2006Are you a North Carolina blogger of any sort? Have you ever lived in North Carolina? C'mon, I know many, many science folks who at one time did their training in the Old North State.
Well, after hosting Tar Heel Tavern at my old blog in the Spring, I thought it would be a good idea to help out Erin and Bora and host THT #87 right here in my relatively new digs.
I have no theme - the only requirement is that you write from or about North Carolina. As I said above, expats are welcome (Derek Lowe, I'm talking to you!)
THT is a loosely launched weekend thing, so it would help me if you would…
terrasig | October 19, 2006The real news in this story is how the lead researcher responsibly tempers the interpretation of his 15 October report in Clinical Cancer Research.
From United Press International:
Grape seeds may help attack colon tumors
DENVER, Oct. 18 (UPI) -- Chemicals found in grape seeds have been found to inhibit growth of colorectal tumors in both cell cultures and in mice, say Colorado researchers.
"With these results, we are not suggesting that people run out and buy and use grape seed extract. That could be dangerous since so little is known about doses and side effects," said Rajesh Agarwal of the…
terrasig | October 18, 2006SAHA, or suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid, was recently granted orphan drug approval by the US FDA for skin lesions resulting from cutaneous T-cell lymphoma.
SAHA (vorinostat, Zolinza) will be marketed by Merck as they acquired in 2004 Aton Pharma, who had been developing the compound. (This free Nature Biotechnology article, while dated, gives background on the acquisition and the then-development of other similar compounds.) Merck's press release is farily detailed and available in PDF format.
I'm somewhat surprised that more has not been made of this approval since histone deacetylase…
terrasig | October 16, 2006Please alert your diabetic friends, family, colleagues, and students as to this alert from the US FDA:
LifeScan and FDA notified healthcare professionals and the public of counterfeit blood glucose test strips being sold in the United States for use with various models of the One Touch Brand Blood Glucose Monitors used by people with diabetes to measure their blood glucose. The counterfeit test strips potentially could give incorrect blood glucose values--either too high or too low--which might result in a patient taking either too much or too little insulin and lead to serious injury or…
terrasig | October 13, 2006Modern Skirts, the musical darlings of the Athens, GA, music scene, will be making their New York City live debut this evening at the legendary Mercury Cafe. They'll be playing with tremendous Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter, Jennifer O'Connor, and indie stalwarts, Portostatic.
Modern Skirts are an intelligent piano- and guitar-based band with impeccable focus on interesting and intoxicatingly infectious song structures centered around tremendous vocal abilities, most often from the fresh tenor of Jay Gulley, but all of the guys can sing...I mean, really sing! They list as their primary…
terrasig | October 11, 2006Medscape Pharmacists has a great article up by Jacqueline Kostwick on modern options for a careers in pharmacy (free reg required). The article is directed toward already-practicing pharmacists who are looking to move within the profession, but it is also a great primer for the prospective student.
For those of you who think that pharmacy practice in the US simply involves, "count, lick, and stick," like you see at your local community pharmacy, you would be wrong.
Indeed, 61% of graduates still end up in community pharmacy, usually at chain drug stores, but the conversion of the entry-level…
What is the responsibility of the health care team with patients who refuse evidence-based medicine?
terrasig | October 10, 2006I'm a day late in recommending this, but I encourage all who are interested in alternative medicine for cancer to spend the time it takes to get through Orac's heartwrenching documentation of the case of a young breast cancer patient who is likely to die in the very near future, through no fault of medicine.
The bottom line: likely curative therapy (i.e., "upwards of 93% long term survival with proper surgery and adjuvant chemotherapy and/or hormonal therapy") was refused by a young woman with a small, treatable, breast mass, only to have her lack of success with alternative therapies bring…
terrasig | October 9, 2006I sometimes get grief from my colleagues about subscribing to the Wall Street Journal, but it is worth every penny. Some of the best stories on health and drug development appear in the WSJ. Beyond its outstanding health reporting, even basic news articles will appear in the WSJ and get picked up, literally, three or four days later by CNN as though they were news. Contrary to other opinions, the WSJ is not a shill for the neoconservative movement - only its editorial page wields a heavy conservative hand which, I find, is fun to read just the same.
I pay the extra $39 a year and have my…
terrasig | October 9, 2006For those of you are are snickering at how this blogger didn't really understand trackback, a basic feature of blogging, just picture for a moment the all-too-common occurrence of four PhDs struggling at the lecture podium to get the A/V program to work for an esteemed guest speaker.
Well, I've got me one of them thar PhDs. However, a PhD is also supposed to give you license for "life-long learning," not that you really need a PhD to do so, of course.
Example: I try to do my best to cite interesting things I see in the blogosphere, especially those posts from my brilliant and witty friends…
terrasig | October 8, 2006Okay, the last bit about Billy Bragg, Woody Guthrie, and Stetson Kennedy before getting back to natural product medicines....
So, the folk musician in me had prepared for Stetson Kennedy at his 90th birthday celebration this weekend a new verse to the Woody Guthrie lyrics set to music by Billy Bragg.
As a US Airways snafu kept me for singing these verses this weekend in Beluthathatchee/Fruit Cove, Florida, I wanted to leave these for posterity until I record them under my musical persona.
These may not mean anything to most readers, but recall that Guthrie's Stetson Kennedy lyrics…
terrasig | October 8, 2006Thanks, all, for sharing in my initial disappointment with missing Stetson Kennedy's 90th b'day party and then the happy accident of being home to take the call from Billy Bragg yesterday afternoon.
My response to the comments began to grow so lengthy that I felt it necessary to create a whole new blog post.
Here is the original post and here is the beginning of the comments - my responses:
Sweetpea: The only think I can think of that would be better than sharing wine with you and Erleichda would be to strum a real Martin - I've only been able to afford a couple of Taylors, myself. We will…
terrasig | October 7, 2006I'm sitting here, miserably pissed off, because a US Airways snafu has kept me from attending the 90th birthday party of Stetson Kennedy, legendary Southern author, rebel, and soldier for human rights and social justice, in Fruit Cove, Florida.
For readers who may recall my admiration of Mr. Kennedy and visit with him earlier this year, Stetson Kennedy was also a good friend and host of Woody Guthrie during the late 1940s and 1950s, during which time Guthrie wrote a lyric sheet called 'Talking Stetson Kennedy', about Stet's 1950 write-in campaign for US Senate between Claude Pepper and George…
terrasig | October 5, 2006This other thing called the day job has interfered with my finishing the last bit of the curcumin series (on the piperine/Bioperine bioavailability enhancer) and a new post for The Friday Fermentable. I've also got some biz travel scheduled today, so I hope that gives me some wine and/or beer fodder for next week.
In the meantime, I urge readers interested in herbal remedies for cancer to revisit this week's posts:
Curcumin for Cancer: Part OneCurcumin for Cancer: Part Two
And, for those inclined toward the fruit of the vine, please be sure to read last week's Friday Fermentable by guest-…
terrasig | October 4, 2006Yesterday, we began discussing why the health care consumer should be wary of dietary supplement promotions based solely on "scientific research" cited from studies done on isolated cells in Petri dishes, pure enzymes, or other systems far removed from whole animals or whole humans.
There are many barriers to absorption of compounds from herbs, supplements, and prescription drugs, and the body's capacity to metabolize xenobiotics (and externally administered compound) is quite robust. For a compound to become a drug, it must sometimes be modified chemically to circumvent the metabolic…
terrasig | October 4, 2006My colleague, Coturnix, just raised the question of whether the awarding of this year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry to Roger D. Kornberg of Stanford University is really an award for biology.
A surprise to some of us "youngsters," Kornberg was recongized as the sole winner for elucidating the basic mechanism of eukaryotic transcription. Not a surprise that the winner was Kornberg, son of the Arthur Kornberg, who shared the 1959 Nobel in Physiology or Medicine with Severo Ochoa for elucidating the process of DNA replication; but, rather, that Kornberg was the sole winner. I'll leave that to…