Author Archives
In short, I review clinical research on an almost daily basis. What I post tends to be articles that are relevant to the readers in addition to some curiosities that have intriguing potential.
As a hobby, I truly enjoy the puzzle-solving play that statistics and programming as in the python language bring to the table. I just do not enjoy problem-solving, I love problem-solving and the childlike inspiration and exploration of that innocent exhilaration of discovering something new.
Enjoy ;-)
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Grieving mother ordered to pay $14,000 in taxes on the student loans that were written off after son’s suicide: Loans Forgiven by the Government are Considered Taxable Income by the IRS
Russell Friend, 22, committed suicide shortly before graduating from college His mother Regina had accumulated $55,400 in loans and interest to help him pay for school Those loans were forgiven by the government but IRS considers that ‘gift’ taxable income… Read More ›
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Life expectancy for poor white Americans drops sharply… but increases for blacks and Latinos: •White female high school drop-outs lived to 78.5 years in 1990, 73.5 years in 2008
White female high school drop-outs lived to 78.5 years in 1990, 73.5 years in 2008 Females who finished college lived for 83.9 years, males for 80.4 White males who didn’t finish high school reached 70.5 years in 1990 and 67.5 … Read More ›
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MEK decision: multimillion-dollar campaign led to removal from terror list
Revealed: the steady flow of funds to members of Congress, lobbying firms and former officials in support of Iranian group • Exiles, lobbyists and the campaign to delist the MEK • Q&A: what is the MEK? Chris McGreal in Washington… Read More ›
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Regular consumption of sugary beverages linked to increased genetic risk of obesity
Contact: Todd Datz tdatz@hsph.harvard.edu 617-432-8413 Harvard School of Public Health Researchers from Harvard School of Public Health have found that greater consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) is linked with a greater genetic susceptibility to high body mass index (BMI)… Read More ›
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Project Gives Computers a More Powerful Way to Detect Threats: “Space Travel”
Project Gives Computers a More Powerful Way to Detect Threats Technique Nicknamed ‘Space Travel’ Allows a Machine to Travel Virtually to Another System Sep. 19, 2012 UT Dallas computer scientists have developed a technique to automatically allow one computer in… Read More ›
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Researchers Map Molecular Details That Encourage H1N1 Transmission To Humans
The 2009 H1N1 pandemic influenza virus appears to have required certain mutations in order to be transmitted to humans, according to a paper in the September Journal of Virology. The research could prove extremely valuable for efforts to predict human… Read More ›
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Probiotics to Decontaminate Your Gut?
Heavy metals and other toxins frequently contaminate food and water. The culprits read like a litany of bad actors—lead, cadmium, mercury, arsenic, chromium—but their numbers run into the thousands. Microbes have long been enlisted for bioremediation, but they also… Read More ›
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TAU Researcher Says Plants Can See, Smell, Feel, and Taste
Re-posted for Filing Monday, July 30, 2012 Unlocking the secrets of plant genetics could lead to breakthroughs in cancer research and food security Increasingly, scientists are uncovering surprising biological connections between humans and other forms of life. Now a Tel… Read More ›
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Dyslexia cause may be different than previously thought
Contact: Jyoti Madhusoodanan jmadhusoodanan@plos.org 415-568-4545 x187 Public Library of Science Dyslexia may result from impairment of a different linguistic system than previously thought, according to research published Sep. 19 in the open access journal PLOS ONE. Speech perception engages at… Read More ›
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Statins are unlikely to prevent blood clots
Press release from PLOS Medicine Despite previous studies suggesting the contrary, statins (cholesterol-lowering drugs) may not prevent blood clots (venous thrombo-embolism) in adults, according to a large analysis by international researchers published in this week’s PLOS Medicine. In 2009, an… Read More ›
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China’s Changbaishan volcano showing signs of increased activity
Roughly 1,100 years ago, the Changbaishan volcano that lies along the border between northeastern China and North Korea erupted, sending pyroclastic flows dozens of kilometers and blasting a 5-kilometer (3-mile) wide chunk off of the tip of the stratovolcano. The… Read More ›
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Study links breast cancer risk to early-life diet and metabolic syndrome: ” totally independent of the body’s production of the hormone estrogen”
Contact: Patricia Bailey pjbailey@ucdavis.edu 530-752-9843 University of California – Davis Striking new evidence suggesting that diet and related factors early in life can boost the risk for breast cancer — totally independent of the body’s production of the hormone estrogen… Read More ›
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Troika report on Greece could be delayed until US election: The Obama administration doesn’t want anything on a macroeconomic scale that is going to rock the global economy before November 6,”
An EU-IMF report on Greece’s debt could be delayed until after November 6, EU officials and diplomats say. The EU politicians want to avoid any shock to the global economy before the US presidential election, Reuters said. The report by… Read More ›
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Addictive properties of drug abuse may hold key to an HIV cure, Florida State University biologist believes
September 21, 2012 FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2012 Addictive properties of certain drugs may hold key to an HIV cure Tom Butler 09/12/2012 2:02 pm A Florida State University researcher is on a mission to explore the gene-controlling effects of addictive… Read More ›
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Japanese scientists win spoof Ig Nobel award for ‘SpeechJammer’
Engineering Evil: If anyone gets a video of the speech Jammer at work…Please link in comments…Seems like a little ADD get the best of the AP. Two Japanese researchers won the spoof Ig Nobel acoustic prize for developing the… Read More ›
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Google falls flat in China, Baidu remains Dominant: Google to end music search and download service in China
Google to end music search and download service in China By Agence France-Presse Friday, September 21, 2012 12:12 EDT Topics: china ♦ google ♦ Google China US Internet giant Google said Friday that it would stop providing music search and… Read More ›
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Mosquito virus could lead to new vaccines and drugs: Eilat
Contact: Jim Kelly jpkelly@utmb.edu 409-772-8791 University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston Although closely related to deadly pathogens, newly discovered Eilat virus is harmless and potentially valuable A mosquito sample collected three decades ago in Israel’s Negev Desert has yielded… Read More ›
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Retraction record rocks community: One of the biggest purges of the scientific literature in history is finally getting under way
Anaesthesiology tries to move on after fraud investigations. David Cyranoski 19 September 2012 One of the biggest purges of the scientific literature in history is finally getting under way. After more than a decade of suspicion about the work of anaesthesiologist… Read More ›
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U.S. Government wreckless use of TrapWire May have Compromised highly sensitive private information on Millions of Citizens
*Engineering Evil: Article Needs 2nd Source Confirmation Secretive TrapWire company’s affiliations revealed Published: 20 September, 2012, 02:27 Edited: 20 September, 2012, 06:34 Just discovered documentation concerning the TrapWire secret surveillance system suggests that the San Diego-based Cubic Corporation did… Read More ›
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University researchers being funded to find out how many students are charging for sex
University researchers have been given £500,000 of lottery funds to find out how many students are selling sex to pay for their education. A survey published in 2010 found more than a quarter of 315 undergraduates at a London university… Read More ›
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50% of students lack basic math / National test results show 6th-graders struggle with decimals, ratios (Japan)
The Yomiuri Shimbun Nearly half of all sixth-grade primary school students do not understand multiplication and division with decimals, which is taught in the fifth grade or earlier, according to a study by the National Institute for Educational Policy Research… Read More ›
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Revolutionary life saving Palantir software denied to the 3rd Infantry Division because of Red tape. Even though the company offered its technology on a cost-free basis
Army Investigating 3rd Infantry Division’s Acquisition of Controversial Intel Software Sep. 20, 2012 – 06:16AM | By PAUL MCLEARY An Aug. 16 email from the Army’s acting assistant secretary for acquisition, Heidi Shyu, demanded “immediate corrective action” after she discovered… Read More ›
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Europe Scraps Airports Scanners… cause cancer
Monday, 17 September 2012 Controversial airport ‘strip-search’ scanners are to be scrapped after they failed to get approval from European bosses. Experts feared the ‘naked’ body scanners, which use X-ray technology to show up hidden explosives or weapons, could emit… Read More ›
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Distortion in Tax Code Makes Debt More Attractive to Banks
By JESSE EISINGER, ProPublica Luke Sharrett for The New York TimesPresident Obama’s tax proposals note the tax code’s favoring of debt over equity, but do not offer specific fixes. Thanks to a leaked video, we know that Mitt Romney divides… Read More ›
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China government’s hand seen in anti-Japan protests : U.S. Ambassador to China footage
The last week’s anti-Japan demonstrations in China have been a spectacular display of just how easily the ruling Communist Party can harness the power of protest. In the aftermath of nationwide protests, in which mobs trashed Japanese-owned businesses and set… Read More ›
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Neural implants could spark better decisions
18:00 19 September 2012 by Douglas Heaven Magazine issue 2883. Ever wish you could make better choices? That could one day be possible thanks to an electronic brain implant that can enhance short-term memory and decision-making in primates. The implant can… Read More ›
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Catholics call for Israeli hate-crime crackdown
Published: 20 September, 2012, 20:29 Edited: 20 September, 2012, 20:29 A spate of hate crimes against Christian places of worship in Israel has prompted usually reticent Roman Catholic officials to speak out, hoping that intervention by authorities might bring an… Read More ›
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Pakistani retailer faces blasphemy charges after not joining film protest
Published: 20 September, 2012, 11:12 Edited: 20 September, 2012, 11:12 Pakistani police are probing a local businessman over alleged blasphemy. His refusal to close his shops in solidarity with demonstrators against an Islam-insulting film led to a standoff which could… Read More ›
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Author defends Monsanto GM study as EU orders review; Claims ” people are responsible and guilty of authorizing this GMO after only three months,”
Author defends Monsanto GM study as EU orders review Posted 2012/09/20 at 11:56 am EDT BRUSSELS, Sep. 20, 2012 (Reuters) — The French author of a study linking a type of genetically modified corn to higher health risks in rats… Read More ›
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Creepy UK installs CCTV in School’s bathrooms
Wednesday, 12 September 2012 Over 200 UK state schools have installed cameras in bathrooms and changing rooms to monitor students, a recent surveillance survey reported. British parents will likely be shocked by the study’s findings. The survey is based on… Read More ›
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Sen. Jay Rockefeller pitches cybersecurity bill to top CEOs: Offers them immunity from liability in the event of a cyberattack
By The Christian Science Monitor Thursday, September 20, 2012 7:02 EDT Seeking to overcome opposition from the US Chamber of Commerce and other business groups to a cybersecurity bill, Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D) of West Virginia took the unusual… Read More ›
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Man who cooked and served his genitals is handed over to prosecutors
Engineering Evil Comment: It is not the self Mutilation, It is not the Art, It is not the artist statement. It is that 71 good people paid for the opportunity to consume Human Flesh. . . . . Thursday, Sep. 20, 2012 …. Read More ›
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Territorial row is a ticking time bomb for Asia
Thursday, Sep. 20, 2012 By MICHAEL RICHARDSON SINGAPORE — As the struggle to control disputed islands and valuable offshore resources has intensified in the East and South China Seas over the past few years, the United States has said… Read More ›
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Navy submarine commander faked own death to end affair
By David Ferguson Thursday, September 20, 2012 15:14 EDT Topics: Michael P. Ward II ♦ Pittsburgh On Sept. 5, U.S. Navy Cmdr. Michael P. Ward II was found guilty of conduct unbecoming of an officer and a gentleman, dereliction of… Read More ›
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Fear can be erased from the brain
Contact: Thomas Ågren thomas.agren@psyk.uu.se 46-018-471-2124 Uppsala University Newly formed emotional memories can be erased from the human brain. This is shown by researchers from Uppsala University in a new study now being published by the academic journal Science. The findings… Read More ›
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Nutrient in Eggs and Meat May Influence Gene Expression from Infancy to Adulthood: Choline
Implications for Wide Range of Disorders – Hypertension to Mental Health Problems September 20, 2012 Just as women are advised to get plenty of folic acid around the time of conception and throughout early pregnancy, new… Read More ›
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A mother’s nutrition–before pregnancy–may alter the function of her children’s genes
Contact: cmooneyhan@faseb.org cmooneyhan@faseb.org 301-634-7104 Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology New research in The FASEB Journal shows that diet induces epigenetic changes in female mice before pregnancy that are inherited by her pups Bethesda, MD—Everyone knows that what mom… Read More ›
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How far 20 Euros go in EU member countries? That Wild and Crazy Euro
Tuesday, 18 September 2012 The 17 Eurozone members use the same currency, the “Euro”, however 20 euros goes very far in certain EU members and it will get you nowhere in other EU member countries. For example, with 20… Read More ›
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Chinese General: Prepare for Combat with Japan
Tuesday, 18 September 2012 China’s most powerful military leader, in an unusual public statement, last week ordered military forces to prepare for combat, as Chinese warships deployed to waters near disputed islands and anti-Japan protests throughout the country turned violent…. Read More ›
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Chinese miss Japan Open as diplomatic row rages
By Ossian Shine | Reuters – Tue, Sep 18, 2012 (Reuters) – China has withdrawn its badminton players from this week’s Japan Open and a Japanese cycling team has been kicked out of a race in China amid a worsening… Read More ›
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Nanomaterials Appearing in Water Run-Off from Surface Treatments
Researchers reveal the emission of nanomaterials caused by water runoff on surfaces containing nanomaterials. These surface treatments are employed in numerous consumption and construction products, so evidences of the presence of engineered nanomaterials are beginning to appear in the environment…. Read More ›
Engineering Evil 