terrasig | October 3, 2006Subtitle: Why Petri dish studies don't always translate into benefit for patients
While I am an enthusiastic supporter of naturally-derived compounds as the source of drugs, I am extremely disappointed and dismayed at how non-prescription natural products are promoted indirectly for disease treatment. Patients with cancer or HIV/AIDS are those most often preyed upon by manufacturers of the "next great cure" - hence, the convergence of cancer and natural products leads me to today's post, the first in a multi-part series of general comments on the marketing of herbal or dietary supplements.…
terrasig | October 2, 2006Best as I can tell, our resident MD/PhD student, Jake Young at Pure Pedantry, was first to post on this morning's announcement.
The Nobel Prize website has a very nice press release on why the discovery of RNA interference is so central to our understanding of biology and is likely to result in therapeutic drugs in the very near future:
This year's Nobel Laureates have discovered a fundamental mechanism for controlling the flow of genetic information. Our genome operates by sending instructions for the manufacture of proteins from DNA in the nucleus of the cell to the protein synthesizing…
terrasig | September 29, 2006Just clearing out the MSM that finds its way into Chez Pharmboy and was totally taken by a brief gadget alert on wine stuff written by Rebecca Hall in the Enterprise section of the 2 October issue of Newsweek:
Toying With Wine
by Rebecca Hall
If you can't sate your inner oenophile with stylish wine-glasses, there are plenty of cool new accessories on the market.
The Wine Sceptre (who wouldn't want to own a sceptre?) is a metal wand you freeze to keep a prechilled wine bottle at optimal temperature. It's inserted like a stirrer and hollowed out for pouring, and comes with a stopper--in gold,…
terrasig | September 29, 2006In late August, our colleague and correspondent Erleichda conducted a winetasting of some offerings from Virginia, picked up on a tour with his beloved Sweetpea. The tasting fell on PharmPreKer's birthday, so we were unable to make it, but here is Erleichda's missive.
Two things strike me: first, is a whole new education he is giving us about cheeses, an area of my supreme ignorance. Second, is something many of you have known for years: that lovely wines are being made all over the US outside of California and the Northwest. All I can say is that I have to start plotting out our own tour…
terrasig | September 28, 2006While not being much of a political blogger, I thought nevertheless that readers might be interested in these six, well-written letters to the editor of the New York Times (registration req'd) regarding our president's response to the latest National Intelligence Estimate.
terrasig | September 26, 2006Dr Bruce Alberts, recently departed president of the US National Academy of Sciences and Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics at UCSF, just spoke this morning at a symposium celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Duke University School of Medicine. The overall program is incredible, with four Nobel laureates in three days, plus a number of Lasker Award winners including one of this year's (Linda Grieder).
I'm compelled to put up this quick post on Dr Alberts' talk because of his ambitious plan for improving scientific literacy of the US and the scientific prospects for grad students and…
terrasig | September 24, 2006I completely missed it: a rather momentous occasion in the life of this blog.
The ScienceBlogs.com version of Terra Sigillata just passed the traffic volume of the old site on Wednesday, 20 Sept at 9:14 pm EDT with a visitor from Arlington, MA, USA.
Visitor 13,986 must be a regular reader because they came directly here, not even through the ScienceBlogs frontpage from which I derive almost 20% of my traffic.
So, while it took just over nine months to reach almost 14,000 visitors at the old blog (although I haven't had a new post there since June), we got to 14,000 here in the new digs in…
terrasig | September 22, 2006The other day, Coturnix alluded to Simon Owens of Bloggasm and his survey of blogosphere diversity. I neglected to note that I was one of the respondents. Simon's questions were:
1. What niche does your blog fall into (Examples: Political, gadget, movie, etc...If more than one, please list)?
2. What are the genders of all the bloggers who write for your site?
3. What are the races for all the bloggers who write for your site (if there are any that you're not sure about, just indicate that you don't know)?
4. What do you think of the diversity of the blogosphere, both in your niche and as a…
terrasig | September 21, 2006This post should actually be called, "Driving Mister Tim," in recognition of the delightful day I just spent here with Pandora Internet Radio founder and chief strategic officer, Tim Westergren.
Tim was in the area for a couple of town hall meetings and chats with groups in the Raleigh-Durham community, Duke University, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
What is Pandora Internet Radio?
Before I talk more about Tim, let me tell you about Pandora if you have not yet experienced it. Their thumbnail give you a good idea but here is my view as a user: Pandora is a streaming…
terrasig | September 20, 2006Very serious stuff today, folks.
Five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian physician remain imprisoned in Libya, where they have been since 1999 based on trumped-up charges that they infected with HIV some 400 patients. Misinterpretation and translation mistakes of a key scientific report appear to lie at the center of their cases.
Despite the reestablishment of diplomatic relations with Muammar Gaddafi's government by the US and the EU, a full pardon and release of the "Tripoli Six" (sometime called the "Benghazi Six") was not part of the deal.
Lawyers Without Borders has been working on…
terrasig | September 20, 2006Curcumin has been much in the news as of late as considerable cell culture data has been suggestive of the compound's utility in cancer prevention and cancer treatment. The impetus for me speaking on this has been the recent report by my ScienceBlogs.com colleague, Razib, at Gene Expression.
Unfortunately, the story of curcumin has been clouded by overly aggressive attempts by marketers to manipulate in vitro, or Petri dish, cell culture studies with human consumption. Some very outstanding scientists have been working on the anticancer effects of this herb, but it seems that their efforts…
terrasig | September 20, 2006A very exciting day here in the Southland as Tim Westergren, Pandora co-founder, comes to the area for town hall meetings with Pandora listeners at UNC and in Durham.
Have you used Pandora and its Music Genome Project algorithm for listening to music and learning about bands like those you already like? I've got four stations setup, one each for Wilco, Dire Straits, the Avett Brothers, and Modern Skirts. The system then allows you to "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" each song so that the algorithm refines your musical tastes for future selections.
Well, the Music Genome Project is on the road…
terrasig | September 17, 2006This year's recipients of the Lasker Awards were announced yesterday. These awards from The Lasker Foundation are often referred to as the "American Nobels."
The award for Basic Medical Research went to three scientists for "the prediction and discovery of telomerase, a remarkable RNA-containing enzyme that synthesizes the ends of chromosomes, protecting them and maintaining the integrity of the genome."
Elizabeth H. Blackburn (UC-San Francisco)Carol W. Greider (Johns Hopkins)Jack W. Szostak (Harvard)
Most cancer researchers, biochemists, and cell biologists know all three of these…
terrasig | September 17, 2006A back alley conversation among several ScienceBloggers is the impetus for this week's post.
A couple of weeks ago, Dave Munger over at Cognitive Daily asked all of us about our favorite cheap wine deals. So, with the permission of my SciBlings, I thought I'd let the readership in on the discussion and suggestions:
From the Mungers:
1. Jaja de Jau (nice Cotes de Roussillon, with great bite)
2. Goats do Roam (Grenache/Syrah from South Africa)
3. Antica Corte Valpolicella
A couple that used to be good but have fallen off in recent years. If you're still drinking these, you can find better:
1…
terrasig | September 13, 2006I applauded Keith Olbermann in this space two weeks ago.
I finally got around tonight to reading his commentary presented Monday night at Ground Zero.
Apologies to my readers who may be overwhelmed by all of the 9/11 attention this week but, as Olbermann said, "I belabor this to emphasize that, for me this was, and is, and always shall be, personal."
Some choice excerpts if you haven't the time to read it all or watch the eight-minute oratory:
History teaches us that nearly unanimous support of a government cannot be taken away from that government by its critics. It can only be squandered…
terrasig | September 12, 2006I have to admit to feeling a bit unnerved by smelling fire all day yesterday, the anniversary of the US terrorist attacks.
Little did I know that we've got a little case of overzealous municipal composting gone awry:
A massive pile of leaves and wood at a city of Durham composting facility ignited over the weekend...Durham officials said in a media release issued Monday that the giant pile of rotting organic matter is thought to have spontaneously caught fire.
I was just reminded over the weekend that alligators make compost piles to generate the heat necessary to incubate their eggs.…
terrasig | September 12, 2006Writing under this masthead for the past three months has been a great privilege, interacting with some really outstanding thinkers and writers in science, medicine, and society. We've got real journalists, scientists, physicians, students here, each of whom bring a unique and thoughtful eye to the issues of the day.
The 9/11 posts were no exception and everyone had something outstanding to contribute. (btw, I'm not fond of the term "9/11," mostly because I find it somewhat disrespectful to those in the 80 or so other countries who consider that they lost family members in the 11/9…
terrasig | September 11, 2006Let 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 today.
We lost touch almost twenty years before, but his kindness and friendship formed not only one of the cornerstones of the scientific life I have today, but in the person…
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 | September 9, 2006Another reason I reposted yesterday on my Stetson Kennedy visit in January was to also note some bad news that came my way this week. Steve Blackwell, Florida folk guitarist and magnificent songwriter, lost his battle with malignant melanoma last Sunday. He was only 58. His memorial service will be this afternoon in Punta Gorda, Florida.
As I wrote in May of the first time I heard Mr Blackwell at the Stetson Kennedy Foundation inaugural event:
My admiration for Arlo Guthrie notwithstanding, the musical highlight of the night was the Steve Blackwell/Dan Leach duet of "Beluthahatchee on my…