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 ;-)
-
Anonymous claims Parliament Wi-Fi hack during London protest
Cyber assaults ‘slow traffic’ as miscreants slurp email logins By Jasper Hamill Posted in Security, 12th November 2013 16:03 GMT Anonymous hacktivists have claimed they used laptops to launch cyber attacks against the British government whilst attending a protest in… Read More ›
-
India’s top police official Ranjit Sinha apologises after ‘if you can’t prevent rape, you enjoy it’ remark
Head of India’s equivalent of the FBI comes under fire Majid Mohamed Wednesday, 13 November 2013 India’s top police official has apologised after a remark he made during a press conference outraged women across the country. The director of India’s… Read More ›
-
Beijing to set up powerful national security body in face of mounting threats
Powerful agency expected to co-ordinate efforts of various government departments covering intelligence, the military and foreign affairs PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 13 November, 2013, 3:51am UPDATED : Wednesday, 13 November, 2013, 10:46am Teddy Ng and Keith Zhai Growing social and economic… Read More ›
-
Police set to rule out foul play in ‘spy in a bag’ mystery
Scotland Yard expected to conclude MI6 spy Gareth Williams likely to have climbed in to hold all himself MI6 spy Gareth Williams’s body was found in a similar North Face bag By Tom Whitehead, Security Editor 10:00PM GMT 12 Nov… Read More ›
-
Scientists Baffled By Lack Of Sunspots
Monday, 11 November 2013 Something is up with the sun. Scientists say that solar activity is stranger than in a century or more, with the sun producing barely half the number of sunspots as expected and its magnetic poles oddly… Read More ›
-
Pope Francis corruption fury: Tie them to a rock and throw them in the sea
Impassioned sermon condemned corruption from those who donated to the church but stole from the state Heather Saul Tuesday, 12 November 2013 Pope Francis delivered an impassioned sermon yesterday, during which he quoted a passage from the bible that said… Read More ›
-
Sweden closes four prisons as number of inmates plummets
Decline partly put down to strong focus on rehabilitation and more lenient sentences for some offences Richard Orange in Malmö theguardian.com, Monday 11 November 2013 11.33 EST Prison numbers in Sweden, which have been falling by around 1% a… Read More ›
-
Hollande booed at war dead commemorations in Paris “Red Bonnet Revolt”
11 Nov 2013 Paris (AFP) A solemn event presided over by French President Francois Hollande to remember those who died in World War I turned into a shouting match Monday after protesters booed the unpopular leader. To the anger of others who… Read More ›
-
Security researcher Cédric ‘Sid’ Blancher dead at 37
Skydiving accident claims Wifitap author By Richard Chirgwin Posted in Security, 12th November 2013 00:59 GMT Security researcher Cédric “Sid” Blancher has reportedly been killed in a skydiving accident in France. At the time of writing, details of the accident remain sketchy…. Read More ›
-
Rogue US-Israeli cyberwar weapon ‘infected Russian nuclear plant’
Even the space station has been infected by malware, claims Kaspersky By John Leyden, 11th November 2013 Stuxnet – the famous worm widely credited with crippling the Iranian nuclear weapons programme for several years – also infected the internal network of… Read More ›
-
GCHQ spoofed LinkedIn site to target global mobile traffic exchange and OPEC – report
Published time: November 11, 2013 00:23 Edited time: November 11, 2013 01:05 Satellite dishes are seen at GCHQ’s outpost at Bude, close to where trans-Atlantic fibre-optic cables come ashore in Cornwall, southwest England (Reuters/Kieran Doherty) The UK’s electronic spying… Read More ›
-
“Every single sphere of British influence” in society is dominated by men and women who went to private school or who are from the “affluent middle class”
‘Truly shocking’ that the private-school educated and affluent middle class still run Britain, says Sir John Major The dominance of a private-school educated elite and well-heeled middle class in the “upper echelons” of public life in Britain is “truly shocking”,… Read More ›
-
Chinese nuclear forces, 2013 Chart
Chinese nuclear forces, 2013 Hans M. Kristensen Robert S. Norris Abstract The number of weapons in China’s nuclear arsenal is slowly growing, and the capability of those weapons is also increasing. The authors estimate that China has approximately 250 warheads… Read More ›
-
Paranoia Has Undermined US Democracy
By Dirk Kurbjuweit While far from a dictatorship, the United States has employed a number of paranoid tactics that delegitimize its democracy. This phenomenon is on display in the fictional TV series “Homeland,” which depicts hysterical CIA agents in a… Read More ›
-
Top US navy intelligence officers suspended as bribery scandal widens / Vice-Admiral, and Rear Admiral now cut off from access to classified material
Vice-Admiral Ted Branch and Rear Admiral Bruce Loveless have also been cut off from access to classified material Reuters in Washington theguardian.com, Friday 8 November 2013 23.33 EST Michael Misiewicz, the first officer charged. Photograph: Heng Sinith/AP Two of the… Read More ›
-
Allergies and high blood pressure medications can create lethal cocktail
Contact: Christine Westendorf ChristineWestendorf@acaai.org 847-427-1200 American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology Oral allergy syndrome and high blood pressure medications can create lethal cocktail Some allergy suffers with hypertension may be at increased risk for severe reaction BALTIMORE, MD. (November… Read More ›
-
Allergic to Gummy Bears? Be Cautious Getting the Flu Shot
Those with gelatin allergy can have reaction from flu vaccinations BALTIMORE, MD. (November 8, 2013) – Do marshmallows make your tongue swell? Gummy bears make you itchy? If you’ve answered yes and are allergic to gelatin, you will want to… Read More ›
-
Vitamin C could ease muscle fatigue in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients
Contact: Donna Krupa dkrupa@the-aps.org American Physiological Society Bethesda, Md. (Nov. 7, 2013)—Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease—a health problem in which the lungs lose their inherent springiness, making it progressively harder to breathe—can have a dramatic effect on the ability to exercise… Read More ›
-
Higher chocolate consumption associated with lower levels of total fat—fat deposits all over the body—and central—abdominal—fat, independently of whether or not subjects are physically active, and of their diet
Scientists at the University of Granada have disproved the old idea that chocolate is fattening, in a study reported this week in Nutrition The study—possibly the most comprehensive to date—included 1458 European adolescents aged between 12 and 17 years… Read More ›
-
U.S. Media Consumption to Rise to 15.5 Hours a Day – Per Person – by 2015
New study issued by SDSC researcher with USC Marshall School of Business A new study by a researcher at the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at the University of California, San Diego, says that by 2015, the sum of media… Read More ›
-
New research shows clear association between ACE inhibitors and acute kidney injury
Contact: Genevieve Maul gm349@admin.cam.ac.uk 44-012-237-65542 University of Cambridge These and similar drugs are the second most prescribed on the NHS Cambridge scientists have found an association between ACE inhibitors (and similar drugs) and acute kidney injury – a sudden deterioration… Read More ›
-
Study links intestinal bacteria to rheumatoid arthritis
Contact: Craig Andrews craig.andrews@nyumc.org 212-404-3511 NYU Langone Medical Center / New York University School of Medicine Findings suggest bacterial disturbances in the gut may play a role in autoimmune attacks on the joints, point the way to novel treatments and… Read More ›
-
The most commonly prescribed treatment for Colds and Sore Throats offers no benefit and may actually make the illness worse
Contact: Becky Attwood r.attwood@soton.ac.uk 44-075-454-22512 University of Southampton Ibuprofen no good in treating colds or sore throats Questions have been raised about the advice given to patients with a cold and sore throat, in research published in the British Medical… Read More ›
-
Quantum ‘sealed envelope’ system enables ‘perfectly secure’ information storage
Contact: Adrian Kent apak@damtp.cam.ac.uk 44-122-376-0379 University of Cambridge A breakthrough in quantum cryptography demonstrates that information can be encrypted and then decrypted with complete security using the combined power of quantum theory and relativity – allowing the sender to dictate… Read More ›
-
BPA in dialysis machine components may be toxic to patients’ cells
Contact: Kurtis Pivert kpivert@asn-online.org 202-699-0238 American Society of Nephrology Atlanta, GA (November 7, 2013)—Levels of bisphenol A (BPA) in components of dialysis machines may be toxic to the immune cells circulating in kidney failure patients’ blood, according to a study… Read More ›
-
US school basketball coach fired over posting Facebook photo of fiancé holding her breast – but he is allowed to keep job at same school
Laraine Cook was dismissed as Pocatello girls’ basketball coach shortly after this photo of her and boyfriend Tom Harrison was posted on Facebook Laraine Cook coach was sacked from an Idaho high school on grounds that image was ‘immoral’ Tomas… Read More ›
-
Japan stations missiles on Pacific gateway island
National Nov. 08, 2013 – 06:50AM JST ( 22 ) This file photo, taken on August 20, 2013, shows Japanese Ground Self-Defense Forces helicopters flying over armourd vehicles during an annual live fire exercise at the Higashi-Fuji firing range in… Read More ›
-
Millions in farm subsidies doled out to billionaires between 1995-2012
Millions of American taxpayer dollars were allocated to businesses owned by 50 billionaires between 1995 and 2012, according to a study from the Environmental Working Group. The left-leaning organization points out that the subsidies made their way to the billionaires,… Read More ›
-
Father sues child shrink after she labels him an unfit parent for not taking his son to McDonald’s
New York attorney David Schorr, 43, says his son Max demanded to go to McDonald’s recently and ‘threw a tantrum’ when he said no He says he refused because the boy had been eating ‘too much junk food’ The boy… Read More ›
-
Terrorists and Criminals may now exploit all the vunerabilities the NSA and GCHQ had built into our systems
Berners-Lee: ‘Appalling and foolish’ NSA spying HELPS CRIMINALS Crooks rush in where spies boldly tread, says internet godhead By Jasper Hamill Posted in Security, 7th November 2013 14:58 GMT Sir Tim Berners-Lee, granddaddy of the internet, has attacked the NSA and… Read More ›
-
Next DEVASTATING Chelyabinsk METEOR STRIKE ‘7x as likely’ as thought / NASA’s checked its space rock maths and it’s not good news
By Iain Thomson 6th November 2013 23:03 GMT NASA has revealed new research on the Chelyabinsk meteorite that exploded over Russia in February, and the findings aren’t good: not only does it look like the astronomic models about the… Read More ›
-
One-tonne satellite will fall back to Earth in an unknown location
1 / 1 GOCE in orbit. ESA /AOES Medialab The spacecraft has been mapping the Earth’s gravity but ran out of fuel a month ago and has been losing altitude ever since Thursday 07 November 2013 A one-tonne satellite… Read More ›
-
AT&T gets paid $10 million/ year by the CIA to give up user data and customers phone logs
Published time: November 07, 2013 16:57 AFP Photo/Etienne Franchi The second-largest telecom country in the United States has been on the Central Intelligence Agency’s payroll to the tune of $10 million a year in exchange for voluntarily handing over… Read More ›
-
Record 1 in 6 Americans living in poverty: New census says the number of poor people in the U.S. is 3 million higher than the official count
Last government census recorded the number of poor people across the country as 46.5 million New figures say the real number is a record-breaking 49.7 million Results come as Congress continues to negotiate further cuts of up to $4 billion… Read More ›
-
French court orders Google to block Max Mosley orgy pictures
Ian Burrell Wednesday, 6 November 2013 Former F1 president Max Mosley has won a ruling in a French court that Google must prevent its search engine from providing links to nine images showing his involvement in a sadomasochist orgy…. Read More ›
-
Customers Claim Anthem Blue Cross ‘Twisted’ Them Out of Health Insurance
By ELIZABETH WARMERDAM LOS ANGELES (CN) – Anthem Blue Cross deceptively lured tens of thousands of policyholders out of their protected, grandfathered health plans “to eliminate as many of its grandfathered plans from the marketplace” as possible as… Read More ›
-
Depression: ‘Now the Second biggest cause of disability’ in world
By Helen Briggs BBC News Depression is common across the world Depression is the second most common cause of disability worldwide after back pain, according to a review of research. The disease must be treated as a global public… Read More ›
-
MP tells drinks party guest: We are all corrupt
Brian Binley MP: ‘We have to be careful, politicians scrounge all the time’ MPs enjoy lavish hospitality at the expense of the British taxpayer and a Maltese bank Brian Binley Photo: Raymond Attard By Holly Watt, Claire Newell and Ben… Read More ›
-
De Blasio ‘Needs To Explain Himself’ Over Cuba Honeymoon, Sandinista Support / Which he is proud of
The story of a Cambridge-raised Sandinista supporter who married a former lesbian and rose through the political ranks to become mayor of America’s largest city Bill De Blasio is a political insider who worked on campaigns of Bill and Hillary… Read More ›
-
Illegal tapping in the Netherlands: lawyers and journalists sue Dutch minister for NSA links
Dutch Interior Minister Ronald Plasterk is being taken to court by a group of individuals and organizations in connection with his handling of the NSA phone and internet taps. The group, which includes the Dutch journalists association, privacy… Read More ›
-
BP and Shell ‘rigged Brent oil price for a decade’, traders claim
Oil giants BP and Royal Dutch Shell are accused by traders of manipulating the Brent crude oil price for more than a decade. European investigators have said the alleged price-rigging could have had a ‘huge impact’ on the cost of… Read More ›
-
New wonder cure for killer flu originates from the humble turnip ( H1N1 & H7N9 )
A DRINK derived from a vegetable has been hailed as a breakthrough in the search for a cure for flu. By: Jo Willey Published: Wed, November 6, 2013 Flu could soon be banished by a landmark scientific discovery [GETTY:… Read More ›
Engineering Evil 