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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Toxic chemicals found in common scented laundry products, air fresheners
Contact: Hannah Hickey hickeyh@u.washington.edu 206-543-2580 University of Washington A University of Washington study of top-selling laundry products and air fresheners found the products emitted dozens of different chemicals. All six products tested gave off at least one chemical regulated as… Read More ›
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Vitamin C injections slow tumor growth in mice
Repost 2008 Contact: Joan Chamberlain niddkmedia@mail.nih.gov 301-496-3583 NIH/National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases High-dose injections of vitamin C, also known as ascorbate or ascorbic acid, reduced tumor weight and growth rate by about 50 percent in mouse… Read More ›
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Chronic exposure to estrogen impairs some cognitive functions
Contact: Diana Yates diya@illinois.edu 217-333-5802 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign IMAGE:Veterinary biosciences professor Susan Schantz and graduate student Victor Wang found that rats exposed to estradiol were significantly impaired on tasks involving working memory and response inhibition. Click here for… Read More ›
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Flu Vaccine offers no Protection in seniors
Respost 2008 Contact: Rebecca Hughes hughes.r@ghc.org 206-287-2055 Group Health Research Institute Flu vaccine may not protect seniors well Group Health study in Lancet finds no less risk of pneumonia with vaccine SEATTLE—A Group Health study in the August 2 issue… Read More ›
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Toxic drugs, toxic system: Sociologist predicts drug disasters “Drug disasters are literally built into the current system of drug testing and approvals in the United States,”
Repost 2008 Contact: Jackie Cooper jcooper@asanet.org 202-247-9871 American Sociological Association Study says harm from prescription drugs growing, cites fatal flaws in drug testing, approval and marketing BOSTON — Americans are likely to be exposed to unacceptable side effects of FDA-approved… Read More ›
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36th Health Research Report 05 AUG 2008 – Reconstruction
Editors Top Five: 1. Toxic drugs, toxic system: Sociologist predicts drug disasters 2. Study Suggests 86 Percent of Americans Could be Overweight or Obese by 2030 3. Flu vaccine may not protect seniors well 4. Chronic exposure to… Read More ›
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Can we finally break the speed of light? Nasa breakthrough suggests Star Trek’s ‘warp drives’ may not only be possible – but practical
NASA suggests new model which could reduce energy requirements for warp-speed travel from planet-sized to car-sized ‘Humble experiments’ in laboratory could lead to faster-than-light travel By Eddie Wrenn PUBLISHED:04:13 EST, 18 September 2012| UPDATED:07:27 EST, 18 September 2012 As we… Read More ›
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Microsoft warns of new zero-day flaw targeting Internet Explorer
By Charles Arthur, The Guardian Tuesday, September 18, 2012 8:10 EDT Topics: internet explorer ♦ Microsoft Hackers have already targeted flaw that affects IE versions 7, 8 and 9, and could be exploited on XP, Vista and Windows 7 Microsoft… Read More ›
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Higher levels of BPA in children and teens associated with obesity
Contact: Jessica Guenzel Jessica.Guenzel@nyumc.org 212-404-3591 JAMA and Archives Journals NEW YORK – In a nationally representative sample of nearly 3,000 children and adolescents, those who had higher concentrations of urinary bisphenol A (BPA), a manufactured chemical found in consumer products,… Read More ›
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Flame cyber virus linked to more malware: report
By Agence France-Presse Monday, September 17, 2012 16:29 EDT Topics: iran ♦ Kaspersky Lab WASHINGTON — The Flame virus believed to be part of a cyberwarfare effort against Iran was developed as early as 2006 and is linked to at… Read More ›
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Former Justice Souter: ‘Pervasive civic ignorance’ in U.S. could bring dictatorship
By Eric W. Dolan Monday, September 17, 2012 18:20 EDT Topics: Justice Souter ♦ Souter ♦ U.S. Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter ♦ University of New Hampshire School of Law Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter thinks… Read More ›
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Is your scent making you ill? Today’s obsession with perfuming everything from candles to bin liners could be to blame
By Victoria Lambert PUBLISHED:16:34 EST, 17 September 2012| UPDATED:16:45 EST, 17 September 2012 Nearly a third of people may suffer adverse health effects from being exposed to scents The smell of fresh air is becoming something of a distant memory,… Read More ›
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Brief History of The Islands in Dispute between China and Japan: Islands Just sold for 26 Million
October Surprise: 2012 Sino-Japanese War Edition A chain of islands with a land area just a little more than 10% that of Manhattan is causing big trouble in East Asia. The Senkaku Islands are a persistent thorn in Sino-Japanese relations,… Read More ›
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Insight: In India, gift-giving drives drug makers’ marketing: shower Indian doctors with gifts, posh junkets abroad, and cash payments disguised as consultancy or other types of fees
By Frederik JoelvingPosted 2012/09/17 at 7:20 am EDT MUMBAI, Sep. 17, 2012 (Reuters) — Sales representatives for Abbott Laboratories Inc’s Indian subsidiaries know what it takes to get a doctor to prescribe the drugs they market: a coffee maker, perhaps,… Read More ›
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U.S. military suspends joint patrols with Afghans ” our allies — have turned their guns on NATO forces 36 times this year, killing 51, most of them Americans”
(CBS News) The strategy for getting U.S. forces out of Afghanistan depends on training Afghan soldiers and police to protect the country themselves, but on Monday the U.S. military suspended most joint field operations with Afghan forces because so many… Read More ›
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Prenatal Damage from Dioxin Shown to Involve microRNAs
ScienceDaily (Sep. 17, 2012) — Research carried out at the University of South Carolina has identified novel mechanisms through which dioxin, a well-known environmental contaminant, can alter physiological functions, according to a study published online in the journal PLOS ONE…. Read More ›
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Can we engineer love and morality?
By RICHARD WEIKART The Modesto Bee Published: Sunday, Sep. 16, 2012 – 1:00 am Recently Oxford philosophy professor Julian Savulescu moved his campaign for “moral enhancement” out of the ivory tower and into the mainstream. This month Reader’s Digest… Read More ›
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US wades into China-Japan island dispute with missile defense deal
Published: 17 September, 2012, 13:32 Edited: 17 September, 2012, 16:44 A territorial dispute between China and Japan could spark a “violent conflict,” US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said. The US also inked a missile defense deal with Tokyo likely to… Read More ›
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Transsexual wife killer who was granted tax-payer funded sex change will also have his legal fees paid, judge rules
Robert Kosilek was convicted of murdering his wife Cheryl in 1990 In prison, he changed his name to Michelle, sued for the state to pay for a sex change and attempting to castrate herself in custody Massachusetts judge ruled that… Read More ›
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Japan firms close Chinese plants after protests
By Agence France-Presse Monday, September 17, 2012 7:05 EDT Topics: china ♦ japan ♦ plants Japanese firms including Panasonic suspended operations at plants in China, companies and reports said Monday, after mass anti-Tokyo protests at the weekend over disputed islands… Read More ›
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Cleveland Clinic study shows vitamin E may decrease cancer risk in Cowden syndrome patients
Contact: Stephanie Jansky janskys@ccf.org 216-636-5869 Cleveland Clinic Saturday, September 15, 2012, Cleveland: Cleveland Clinic researchers have discovered that vitamin E may prevent cancer in patients with an under-recognized genetic disorder. Several genetic mutations are known to be present in Cowden… Read More ›
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The epigenetics of increasing weight through the generations ” resulting in amplification of obesity across generations “
Re-Post from 2008 Contact: Dipali Pathak pathak@bcm.edu 713-798-4710 Baylor College of Medicine Overweight mothers give birth to offspring who become even heavier, resulting in amplification of obesity across generations, said Baylor College of Medicine researchers in Houston who found that… Read More ›
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Possible link found between X-rays and prostate cancer
Re-Post 2008 Contact: Professor Kenneth Muir kenneth.muir@nottingham.ac.uk 44-011-582-30469 University of Nottingham Researchers at The University of Nottingham have shown an association between certain past diagnostic radiation procedures and an increased risk of young-onset prostate cancer — a rare form of… Read More ›
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Environmental pollutant has sex-skewing effect
Re-Post 2008 Contact: Graeme Baldwin graeme.baldwin@biomedcentral.com 44-020-707-94804 BioMed Central Women exposed to high levels of PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls – a group of banned environmental pollutants) are less likely to give birth to male children. A study published today in BioMed… Read More ›
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Stomach bug appears to protect kids from asthma, says NYU study: H. pylori may strengthen the immune system
Contact: Lorinda Klein Lorindaann.Klein@nyumc.org NYU Langone Medical Center / New York University School of Medicine H. pylori may strengthen the immune system NEW YORK, July 15, 2008 – A long-time microbial inhabitant of the human stomach may protect children from… Read More ›
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89 percent of children’s food products provide poor nutritional quality
Re-Post 2008 Contact: Annette Whibley wizard.media@virgin.net Wiley-Blackwell But 62 percent of them still make health claims on the packaging Nine out of ten regular food items aimed specifically at children have a poor nutritional content – because of high levels… Read More ›
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Androgen deprivation therapy for localized prostate cancer not associated with improved survival
Re-Post 2008 Contact: Michele Fisher 732-235-9872 JAMA and Archives Journals A therapy that involves depriving the prostate gland the male hormone androgen is not associated with improved survival for elderly men with localized prostate cancer, compared to conservative management of… Read More ›
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35th Health Research Report 22 JUL 2008 – Reconstruction
Editors Top Five: 1. Environmental pollutant has sex-skewing effect 2. Stomach bug appears to protect kids from asthma, says NYU study 3. Cranberry juice creates energy barrier that keeps bacteria away from cells, study shows 4. 89 percent of… Read More ›
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From vitro to vivo: Fully automated design of synthetic RNA circuits in living cells
From vitro to vivo: Fully automated design of synthetic RNA circuits in living cells September 14, 2012 by Stuart Mason Dambrot Schemes of methodology and designs. (A) Thermodynamic scheme of RNA interaction, showing the different free energies at play and… Read More ›
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Mutation causes defective Natural Killer cells
Natural Killer (NK) cells defend the body against infectious diseases and cancer by recognizing and killing stressed or infected cells and patients with NK deficiencies are susceptible to severe viral infections. In this issue of the Journal of Clinical… Read More ›
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Insight: China builds its own military-industrial complex: “China’s military spending is now second only to the United States”
By David Lague and Charlie ZhuPosted 2012/09/16 at 5:14 pm EDT HONG KONG, Sep. 16, 2012 (Reuters) — When China turned to Russia for supplies of advanced weapons through the 1990s, it kick-started Beijing’s military build-up with an immediate boost… Read More ›
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Scores at risk as new breed of mosquito foils malaria prevention methods: There is NO KNOWN DNA match
Published: 16 September, 2012, 21:14 Annual deaths could jump by the hundreds of thousands because of a new species of mosquito, which bites people in the early evening rather than at night, making bed nets useless in the battle against… Read More ›
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Woman picked to lead Air Force training base after sex scandal involving at least SIX male instructors
Col. Deborah Liddick is to command the 737th Training Group The Lackland Air Force Base in Texas is where every new American airman reports One in five recruits are women with most instructors men She takes over for Col. Glenn… Read More ›
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Japanese invention could end tooth decay
By Agence France-Presse Sunday, September 16, 2012 18:29 EDT Topics: Shigeki Hontsu ♦ tooth decay ♦ tooth enamel Scientists in Japan have created a microscopically thin film that can coat individual teeth to prevent decay or to make them appear… Read More ›
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Japan’s ambassador-designate to China dies in Tokyo: ministry
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s ambassador-designate to China, Shinichi Nishimiya, died on Sunday in a Tokyo hospital, the Foreign Ministry said, three days after he was found unconscious on a Tokyo street. Doctors were looking into the cause of death,… Read More ›
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13 things that do not make sense
Re-Posted from 2005 19 March 2005 by Michael Brooks 1 The placebo effect Don’t try this at home. Several times a day, for several days, you induce pain in someone. You control the pain with morphine until the final… Read More ›
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Police could create image of suspect’s face from DNA
11:40 14 September 2012 by Andy Coghlan For similar stories, visit the Genetics Topic Guide Police may one day be able to reconstruct the shape of a suspect’s face from their DNA. The possibility is drawing closer thanks to identification… Read More ›
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How artificial intelligence is changing our lives
By The Christian Science Monitor Sunday, September 16, 2012 13:38 EDT In Silicon Valley, Nikolas Janin rises for his 40-minute commute to work just like everyone else. The shop manager and fleet technician at Google gets dressed and heads out… Read More ›
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Declassified documents from 1980 show how US planned to fight a nuclear war: Directive 59
By Daily Mail Reporter PUBLISHED:12:45 EST, 16 September 2012| UPDATED:12:53 EST, 16 September 2012 Declassified documents have revealed for the first time how the Carter administration planned to fight a nuclear war. Presidential Decision Directive 59, signed by President Jimmy… Read More ›
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Moving plane exchanges quantum keys with Earth
16 September 2012 by Jacob Aron For similar stories, visit the Quantum World Topic Guide AN AEROPLANE has beamed quantum encryption keys to a station on the ground, paving the way for an ultra-secure global communications network. Quantum key… Read More ›
Engineering Evil 