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How to Pick a Winner: A Psychological Trick to Improve the Odds
Does thinking too specifically about a bet make you more likely to lose? I'm not, as they say, a betting man; but if I were I'd put down the form book and spend my time studying a new paper by Yoon et al. (2013) published in Psychological Science. The Korean researchers are fascinated by the question of whether thinking more carefully about a bet can actually make you less likely to win. In their first test of the idea they looked at 1.9 billion bets placed on baseball and soccer through a Korean company called "Sports ToTo". They wanted to see how people did when betting just on who won compared with when they tried to pr...
Source: PsyBlog | Psychology Blog - May 20, 2013 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: Jeremy Dean Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs

When it comes to beauty science don’t fall for faulty logic
We recently received a comment on our post about the world’s top 5 skin moisturizing oils which reminded us how faulty logic can spread misinformation. Here’s the comment: “Mineral oil? Aww HELLLL NO. This is absolutely the worst thing you can put on your face, it is used in motor oil! MOTOR OIL!” This statement is reminiscent of the warning we used to see about using sodium lauryl sulfate which went something like this: “Sodium lauryl sulfate is bad for your face and skin because it’s used in garage floor cleaners.” Or here’s another one we just made up: “You drink w...
Source: thebeautybrains.com - May 20, 2013 Category: Physicians With Health Advice Authors: thebeautybrains Tags: Questions Source Type: blogs

NIMH’s Thomas Insel on a New Understanding of the Brain
Director of the National Institute for Mental Health Thomas Insel gives a TED Talk on the new domain criteria research direction, and how an important first step is to reframe mental illness as brain disorders. By doing so, diverse fields like psychology, cognitive science, molecular neuroscience, genetics, psychiatry, and more can work together toward a new understanding of the mind. (Source: Channel N)
Source: Channel N - May 19, 2013 Category: Neurologists Authors: sandra at psychcentral.com (Sandra Kiume) Tags: All Lecture brain mental health mental illness neuroscience psychiatry psychology research video Source Type: blogs

Does diamond light reflecting powder really make skin look younger?
Rozy’s request…There is this product called Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder in Dim Light that claims to… “capture, diffuse, and soften the way light reflects on your skin”,”illuminating particles are one of the first ever to exhibit both photoluminescence and color-correcting capabilities”, “photoluminescent technology” etc. I don’t see how its different than other shimmery powder products. The Beauty Brains response: We’ve previously discussed this product in our Forum but we’ve recently dug up some additional information on this ingredient that w...
Source: thebeautybrains.com - May 18, 2013 Category: Physicians With Health Advice Authors: thebeautybrains Tags: Questions Source Type: blogs

Organizing principles: Classifying pain for healthcare, research | Pain Research Forum
Where does it hurt? How bad does it hurt? Why does it hurt? The many inconsistent and inadequate ways of sorting chronic pain by anatomy, severity, and associated medical conditions are impeding the health and well-being of patients, optimal medical care, and treatment advances, say pain experts who are calling for a change. This spring, two major efforts are taking shape to fill a widely perceived need for standardized worldwide diagnostic criteria to classify all chronic pain conditions (Finnerup et al., 2013; IOM, 2011; Rief et al., 2012; Rief et al., 2010; von Hehn et al., 2012)....
Source: Psychology of Pain - May 17, 2013 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Source Type: blogs

Further defense of the Chinese H1N1 – H5N1 study
Robert Herriman of The Global Dispatch interviewed me this week on the H1N1 – H5N1 reassortant study that has been in the headlines: There was much written concerning the research published earlier this month in Science, where researchers from China’s Harbin Veterinary Research Institute reported creating an avian H5N1 (highly pathogenic) and pandemic 2009 H1N1 (easily transmissible) hybrid, that according to them, achieved airborne spread between guinea pigs. Read the rest of the article at The Global Dispatch. (Source: virology blog)
Source: virology blog - May 17, 2013 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: Basic virology Information aerosol transmission avian influenza H5N1 ferret guinea pig H1N1 reassortant viral virus Source Type: blogs

Nature PastCast: May 1985
The discovery of a hole in the ozone layer was a shock. In this podcast, scientists recall the events in the mid-1980s and discuss how the 'ozone hole' became the poster child for environmentalism. (Source: Nature Podcast)
Source: Nature Podcast - May 17, 2013 Category: Science Authors: Nature Publishing Group Source Type: blogs

Is Dr. Oz right about Sea Buckthorn for skin?
StarChild says…Is Dr. Oz right? Is Sibu Beauty’s Sea Buckthorn really a miracle skin product? The Beauty Brains respond: Is Sibu Beauty’s product a “miracle?” When it comes to Sea Buckthorn, Dr. Oz may be a Hot Chocolate fan (bonus points to any reader who can identify that reference!) but we’re a bit more skeptical. What is Sea Buckthorn? You can read all about Sibu Beauty’s Sea Buckthorn Nourishing Facial Cream here. Sea Buckthorn (technically known as Hippophaë rhamnoides) is a berry grown in the Himalayas and the website points out that it’s known for being rich in a num...
Source: thebeautybrains.com - May 17, 2013 Category: Physicians With Health Advice Authors: thebeautybrains Tags: Questions Source Type: blogs

Link feast
In case you missed them - 10 of the best psychology links from the last week: 1. How too much empathy can actually lead us to do the wrong thing - thought-provoking essay by Paul Bloom. (related research covered on the Digest). 2. Thanks to books like Daniel Kahneman's Thinking Fast and Slow and, most recently, Rolf Dobelli's The Art of Thinking Clearly, hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people are discovering the manifold biases that muddle human judgment. So how come there hasn't been a revolution in good sense and shrewd decision making? Samuel McNerney may have the answer. 3. T...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - May 17, 2013 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: Christian Jarrett Source Type: blogs

Article: Brain Science Upstages DSM-V, So-Called Mental Health 'Bible'
Brain Science Upstages DSM-V, So-Called Mental Health 'Bible'http://abcnews.go.com/Health/brain-science-upstages-dsm-mental-health-bible/story?id=19170123Sent via Flipboard (Source: Intelligent Insights on Intelligence Theories and Tests (aka IQ's Corner))
Source: Intelligent Insights on Intelligence Theories and Tests (aka IQ's Corner) - May 16, 2013 Category: Neurologists Source Type: blogs

Funding Opportunities Roundup pt. 2
Part C Capacity Development Program Health Resources and Services Administration – Funding to assist eligible entities to strengthen their organizational infrastructure and to increase their capacity to develop, enhance, or expand access to high quality HIV primary health care services for people in underserved or rural communities. Deadline: May 30, 2013 For more information: http://goo.gl/xk2Sl Nurse Education, Practice, Quality, and Retention Veterans to BSN Coordinating Center Bureau of Health Professions – Offers funding to operate a coordinating center to support the Nurse Education, Practice,...
Source: BHIC - May 16, 2013 Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Monica Rogers Tags: Scholarships and Grants Source Type: blogs

Truth in Medicine: Vast Majority of Assisted Reproductive Technologies Fail
This article was originally published at RH Reality Check, and is reprinted with permission. (Source: Our Bodies Our Blog)
Source: Our Bodies Our Blog - May 16, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Guest Blogger Tags: Pregnancy & Childbirth Reproductive Technology & Genetic Engineering Research & Studies Source Type: blogs

Science and Evidence
This may not be the most entertaining post ever, but it's necessary in order to get on with our story. Clumsy exposition, if you will.Many people make a distinction between science based medicine, and evidence based medicine. They're closely related, to be sure, but not quite the same.Science depends on evidence, and respects evidence. But it does consist only of evidence. It includes deductions from evidence; hypotheses -- conjectures to be tested; and theories, which are explanations about the causal relationships among phenomena and the unobserved structures that underlie observations.I'm sure most readers already know ...
Source: Stayin' Alive - May 16, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Source Type: blogs

Low Climate Sensitivity Making its Way into the Mainstream Press
Paul C. "Chip" Knappenberger and Patrick J. Michaels When it comes to the press, the New York Times pretty much defines “mainstream.” And Justin Gillis is the Times’ mainstream reporter on the global warming beat. So it is somewhat telling, that his article on Tuesday, “A Change in Temperature,” was largely dedicated (although begrudgingly) to facing up to the possibility that mainstream estimates (i.e., those produced by the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) of climate sensitivity are too large. Readers of this blog are probably well aware of the reasons why. Despite our illusions of...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - May 16, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Paul C. "Chip" Knappenberger, Patrick J. Michaels Source Type: blogs

Salt Report From IOM Sparks Much Heat, Only A Little Light
An Institute of Medicine report on salt earlier this week sparked a lot of controversy. The report concludes that there’s no evidence to support current efforts to lower salt consumption to less than 2,300 mg/day. Unfortunately, the press coverage offered little insight into the science behind the issue. On the Knight Science Journalism Tracker blog, Faye Flam deftly uncovers the almost universal shallow coverage in the media. The one exception, the one story worth reading that “dug into the science,” according to Flam, is Gina Kolata’s story in the New York Times: … Click here More… (Source: CardioBrief)
Source: CardioBrief - May 16, 2013 Category: Cardiology Authors: Larry Husten Tags: People, Places & Events Policy & Ethics Prevention, Epidemiology & Outcomes american heart association Gina Kolata Institute of Medicine New York Times salt Source Type: blogs

Microbes After Hours: West Nile virus
This discussion of West Nile virus was recorded at the headquarters of the American Society for Microbiology during a “Microbes After Hours” event on May 6, 2013. The speakers are Dr. Lyle Petersen Lyle R. Petersen, M.D., M.P.H., director of the Division of Vector-Borne Diseases at CDC, and Dr. Roberta DeBiasi, MD, FIDSA, Associate Professor of Pediatrics at George Washington University School of Medicine, Acting Chief and Attending Physician in the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Children’s National Medical Center, and investigator at Children’s Research Institute in the Center for...
Source: virology blog - May 16, 2013 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: Basic virology Information encephalitis flavivirus mosquito paralysis vector viral West Nile virus Source Type: blogs

New Study Purports to Estimate Efficacy of Electronic Cigarettes By Studying Quit Rates for Select Group of Smokers who Failed to Quit Using E-Cigarettes
This study ... describes differences among state quitline callers who used e-cigarettes for 1 month or more, used e-cigarettes for less than 1 month, or never tried e-cigarettes. ... Both e-cigarette user groups were significantly less likely to be tobacco abstinent at the 7-month survey compared with participants who had never tried e-cigarettes (30-day point prevalence quit rates: 21.7% and 16.6% vs. 31.3%, p < .001)."The authors conclude that: "This study indicates that e-cigarette users were less likely than those who had never used to have quit tobacco at the time of th...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - May 16, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Source Type: blogs

Omics in Soil Science
Paolo Nannipieri, Giacomo Pietramellara and Giancarlo Renella present a new book on Omics in Soil Science This volume presents the state-of-the-art of omic applications in soil science, a field that is advancing rapidly on many fronts. Distinguished authors describe the application of metagenomics, metatranscriptomics and proteomics to soil science. In particular the book covers the current and emerging omics techniques and the contribution of these approaches to a better assessment of soil functionality. The authors also explore the specific problems encountered in the application of various omics technologies to soil sci...
Source: Microbiology Blog: The weblog for microbiologists. - May 16, 2013 Category: Microbiology Tags: Microbiology publications Bacteriology publications Molecular Biology publications Genomics publications Environmental Microbiology publications Source Type: blogs

Are the Most Influential Futurists Those Who Put in the Work to Make Their Visions Real?
We'll take a short excursion into ranking futurists for today, prompted by a recent article that offers a (transhumanism-slanted) opinion on the identity of the most important futurists of the past few decades. The Most Significant Futurists of the Past 50 Years Our visions of the future tend to be forged in the pages of science fiction. But for the past half-century, a number of prominent thinkers, activists, and scientists have made significant contributions to our understanding of what the future could look like. Here are 10 recent futurists you absolutely need to know about. Needless to say, there were dozens upon do...
Source: Fight Aging! - May 16, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Reason Tags: Of Interest Source Type: blogs

UK Prime Minister David Cameron to Use G8 to Target Global Effort on Dementia
The UK will use its Presidency of the G8 to identify and agree on a new international approach to fight dementia the growing threat of Dementia. +Alzheimer's Reading Room UK Prime Minister David Cameron Prime Minister David Cameron said: "Dementia is a devastating disease - not just for sufferers but for their families and friends too. And as more people live longer, it is fast becoming one of the biggest social and healthcare challenges　we face. TFamilies, communities, health systems and their budgets will increasingly be strained as the number affected increases and so we need to do all we can to improve how we res...
Source: Alzheimer's Reading Room, The - May 16, 2013 Category: Dementia Authors: Bob DeMarco Source Type: blogs

The Gendered Situation at Harvard Law School – Part III
The Harvard Crimson‘s Dev Patel has an outstanding series of articles last week on gender inequality at Harvard Law School. Here are some excerpts from the third article, titled “Female HLS Graduates Enter a Job Market Dominated by Men” in the series. The law firm Brune & Richard is an anomaly. In a world where female lawyers represent fewer than 20 percent of partners in private practices, women make up 12 of the 18 lawyers at Brune & Richard. And for founder Hillary Richard, who graduated from Harvard Law School in 1988, that number makes a difference. “What it presents for female lawyers, par...
Source: The Situationist - May 15, 2013 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: The Situationist Staff Tags: Distribution Education History Law Source Type: blogs

R&R in the FASTLANE 031
Our currently highly irregular series of eminence-based evidence is finally back again – with the 31st edition: A free resource that harnesses the power of social media to allow some of the best and brightest emergency medicine and critical care clinicians from all over the world tell us what they think is worth reading from the published literature. This edition contains 11 recommended reads. Find out more about the R&R in the FASTLANE project here and check out the team of contributors from all around the world. This edition’s R&R Hall of Famer Young NS, Ioannidis JP, Al-Ubaydli O. Why current publicat...
Source: Life in the Fast Lane - May 15, 2013 Category: Emergency Medicine Doctors Authors: Chris Nickson Tags: Emergency Medicine Featured Health Intensive Care R&R in the FASTLANE critical care literature recommendations research and reviews Source Type: blogs

Dark Matter
“Dark matter” sounds like something George Lucas would tell us is at the heart of the empire. In reality, it’s the parts of the human genome that science has yet to identify -- which still sounds like it belongs in a sci-fi movie, but the discovery could...(read more) (Source: ADVANCE Discourse: Lab)
Source: ADVANCE Discourse: Lab - May 15, 2013 Category: Pathologists Authors: Michael Jones Tags: Current Events Molecular Diagnostics Pathology Research Source Type: blogs

A curious letter from David Tredinnick MP, the government’s resident medical loon
It’s hard to know what to make of David Tredinnick MP (Cons, Bosworth). He is certainly an extreme example of the scientific ignorance of our parliamentary representatives, but he isn’t alone in that. Our present minister of Education, Michael Gove, memorably referred to Newton’s Laws of Thermodynamics, blissfully unaware that thermodynamics was a 19th century development. And our present Minister of Health seems to think that magic water cures diseases. But Mr Treddinick breaks every record for anti-scientific nonsense. That, no doubt, is why he was upset by the recent revision of come NHS Choices ...
Source: DC's goodscience - May 15, 2013 Category: Professors and Educators Authors: David Colquhoun Tags: Andrew Lansely Anti-science antiscience badscience Bait and switch Department of Health Health Professions Council herbal medicine herbalism homeopathy NCCAM NHS Pittilo Prince Charles Prince of Wales Prince's Foundation TC Source Type: blogs

How To Find A Good Psychotherapist
It's a difficult, yet brave and courageous moment when someone makes the decision to pursue mental health therapy. More difficult than the decision to go to therapy is the decision of who to choose as a therapist.So, how does someone find a good psychotherapist?Types of TherapistsFirst, it is important to think about the type of therapist you think is best for your presenting symptoms and issues. There are many kinds of mental health therapists, but sometimes understanding "who does what" can be confusing. Here is a list to help identify the specialties and degrees therapists can hold.PsychologistsIn the United States, Doc...
Source: Dr. Deborah Serani - May 15, 2013 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Source Type: blogs

Human Embryos Created by Cloning in Oregon
Once induced pluripotent stem cells hit the scene, human cloning slowly faded away. Why clone embryos with human eggs (exploiting women in the process) to get "patient-specific" embryonic stem cells when you can just take an adult cell and reprogram it back to an embryonic-like state? No eggs, no cloning, no creating and destroying embryos.But I knew cloning was just hiding in the shadows waiting to resurface. Scientists are still trying to achieve this "holy grail" of human biology: the creation of human clones. Ones that will generate embryonic stem cells.A team of scientists, including a fertility sp...
Source: Mary Meets Dolly - May 15, 2013 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Tags: Cloning Source Type: blogs

Nature Podcast: 16 May 2013
This week, the oldest water ever found, a super-long study of superorganisms, and were Neanderthals capable of creating art? (Source: Nature Podcast)
Source: Nature Podcast - May 15, 2013 Category: Science Authors: Nature Publishing Group Source Type: blogs

Government... IS... PEOPLE!
Andrew J. Coulson The Christian Science Monitor suggests this lesson be drawn from the Obama administration’s recent scandalpalooza: Congress should use this IRS scandal to beef up civics education for federal workers as well as for public school students. Lesson No. 1: Government cannot restrict or discriminate against political causes that it disagrees with. I think the scandals teach a different lesson: Government will misbehave because it, like Soylent Green, is made from people. Fallible, foible-ridden people. Therefore, government’s unique powers must be strictly limited to avoid miscarriages o...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - May 15, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Andrew J. Coulson Source Type: blogs

Post #38 The Common Cold
It's been around for centuries, and there is no cure. Millions of people every year are miserable because of it, but there is no vaccine. It is the common cold.Back in the 16th century, folks dubbed it a "cold" because symptoms seemed to pop up in conjunction with exposure to cold weather.Today, science has identified more than 200 different types of cold viruses that are specific to humans.Most children will catch six to 12 colds per year, typically in rapid succession and usually in the wintertime – and this is actually quite normal.Kids with colds can be quite miserable, leaving parents desperate for relief and pediat...
Source: A Pediatrician's Blog - May 15, 2013 Category: Pediatricians Source Type: blogs

The Incredible Dating Power of a Guitar Case
Would you give this man your telephone number? (Don't let the guitar case influence you.) In France there's a psychologist, Professor Nicolas Gueguen, who roams the North-West, asking young women for their telephone numbers—or at least his research assistants and experimental confederates do. This isn't just to boost the national stereotype, but all in the name of science. The results they've reported over the years confirm some things we think we already know and a few new insights. His experiments often involve approaching random strangers (usually women) in the street and asking them for something (usually their phone...
Source: PsyBlog | Psychology Blog - May 15, 2013 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: Jeremy Dean Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs

How do the AUC Define Antianginal Medications?
This post was authored by Morton J. Kern, MD, FACC, professor of medicine and associate chief of cardiology at the University California Irvine. In the current digital age, groups of interested individuals are now able to communicate in unique ways that weren’t previously available except at large in-person meetings. Recently a listserv comprised of cardiac cath lab experts generated several interesting conversations regarding simple questions which evolved into complex, controversial and highly informative exchanges of opinion, facts, conventional and unconventional wisdom. We have published several of ...
Source: ACC in Touch Blog - May 15, 2013 Category: Cardiology Authors: Administrator Tags: Clinical Topics Special Topics Source Type: blogs

What’s Ahead After TEDMED 2013
Last week, a number of TEDMED attendees and myself participated in a Google+ Hangout sponsored by Xerox to take a look back at our unique experiences at TEDMED 2013. The discussion included the following people: Markus Fromherz, chief innovation officer of Xerox Healthcare Benjamin Miller, assistant professor at the University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine Nick Dawson, chief experience officer at Frontier Health Consulting John Lynn, editor and founder of the Healthcare Scene blog network We made it a really focused 15 minute discussion of the key takeaways from TEDMED. Some of the topics we discussed included: h...
Source: EMR and HIPAA - May 15, 2013 Category: Technology Consultants Authors: John Lynn Tags: Healthcare Healthcare Business Intelligence Healthcare Interoperability HealthCare IT Citizen Science Healthcare Big Data Multidisciplinary Collaboration Patient Centered Care TedMed TEDMED 2013 Source Type: blogs

GSK's Published Kinase Inhibitor Set
Speaking about open-source drug discovery (such as it is) and sharing of data sets (such as they are), I really should mention a significant example in this area: the GSK Published Kinase Inhibitor Set. (It was mentioned in the comments to this post). The company has made 367 compounds available to any academic investigator working in the kinase field, as long as they make their results publicly available (at ChEMBL, for example). The people at GSK doing this are David Drewry and William Zuercher, for the record - here's a recent paper from them and their co-workers on the compound set and its behavior in reporter-gene ass...
Source: In the Pipeline - May 15, 2013 Category: Chemists Tags: Academia (vs. Industry) Source Type: blogs

The Stolen Post, Without Permission, from 1 Boring Old Man
There's a psychiatrist who writes a blog that's older than Shrink Rap called 1boringoldman. It's a great blog, and Mickey, the blog owner, should have more appropriately named himself 1reallysmartoldman. I go to it sometimes, but it's more political than I like, it's often filled with graphs and numbers (more of a Roy thing), and .....I hesitate to admit this here because obviously that boring old man has better vision than I do....but the font is painfully small and the layout is hard to follow. It's archived by month/year, not subject, and sometimes I'm not sure I've expanded what I wanted to read. ...
Source: Shrink Rap - May 15, 2013 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: Dinah Source Type: blogs

What RDoC Research Might Look Like
The month of May is a violent thingIn the city their hearts start to singWell, some people sing, it sounds like they're screamingI used to doubt it, but now I believe itMonth Of May ------The Arcade FireToday is Mental Health Month Blog Day, sponsored by the American Psychological Association (APA). It's designed to:...educate the public about mental health, decrease stigma about mental illness, and discuss strategies for making lasting lifestyle and behavior changes that promote overall health and wellness.If the public has been following the recent hullabaloo about how to diagnose mental illnesses, they ...
Source: The Neurocritic - May 15, 2013 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: The Neurocritic Source Type: blogs

How Drug Companies Keep Medicine Out of Reach - The Atlantic
http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/05/how-drug-companies-keep-medicine-out-of-reach/275853/?ReutersFor almost a decade, the United States has been standing in the way of an idea that could lead to cures for some of the world's most devastating illnesses. The class of maladies is known as neglected diseases, and they almost exclusively affect those in the developing world. The same idea, if realized, might also be used in more affluent nations to goad the pharmaceutical industry into producing critical innovations that the free market has yet to produce - things like new antibiotics, which are likely to be used ...
Source: PharmaGossip - May 15, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs

Prescribe Insulin? Nah! Too Much Trouble
By Jan Chait Taking insulin is too much of a burden for people with Type 2 diabetes, say 66% of primary care doctors surveyed at one hospital in Pennsylvania. People with Type 2 diabetes believe taking insulin means they've failed to manage their condition, 69% of primary care docs opined. Glycemic control is better with insulin than with oral drugs (88%) and beginning insulin earlier rather than later can prevent diabetic complications (75%). But wait! There are all these different insulin products: It's confusing (53%) to prescribe. The regimen is too complicated (60%) for people with Type 2 to understand. Insulin is too...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - May 14, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: Jan Chait Source Type: blogs

Science is Hard
Yes it is. Or it certainly can be. Back in Flexner's time and right through mid-Century, obviously, even though we didn't have any high quality randomized trials going on, doctors were doing stuff. Some of it was probably helpful much of the time. For example, they knew to amputate severely injured limbs, especially if there were signs of putrescence. If there's an accessible tumor, cutting it out can be helpful. It it isn't malignant, it's curative. Digitalis was used for heart disease since the 18th Century, and it is indeed helpful. There were other so-called empirical remedies back then as well, by which we mean remedi...
Source: Stayin' Alive - May 14, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Source Type: blogs

Angelina Jolie Undergoes Double Mastectomy, Many Restaurant Meals Exceed Daily Caloric Needs and More!
Actress and director Angelina Jolie has had a preventative double mastectomy. She announced the news via an op-ed piece in The New York Times, saying she decided to undergo the surgery after discovering she carries a mutation of the BRCA1 gene, which increases the risk of developing breast and ovarian cancer. [NY Times] Before you dine out, you may wanna check up on the real calorie count of your entrees. A new study reveals that the average restaurant meal contains almost two-thirds of an adult's daily total caloric needs. [Science Daily] (Source: The ND Blog: Notes from the Nutritionista by Monica Reinagel, L.D.N., C.N.S.)
Source: The ND Blog: Notes from the Nutritionista by Monica Reinagel, L.D.N., C.N.S. - May 14, 2013 Category: Nutritionists and Food Scientists Tags: Morning Scoop angelina jolie beauty tips breast cancer calories diet dining out doctor fashion food study Source Type: blogs

Why is Imperial College permitting Westminster public school to sell an internship?
This is very odd indeed. Westminster, one of the most expensive public schools in the UK, is holding a fund-raising auction. In this auction, you can buy an internship at Imperial College’s Institute of Biomedical Engineering, on the promise that this will look great on your CV. auction.westminster.org.uk/lots/one-week-internship-at-the-institute-of-biomedical-engineering-imperial-college-london-for-a-level-students “On offer is a one week internship [...] (Source: badscience)
Source: badscience - May 14, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Ben Goldacre Tags: bad science just a blog Source Type: blogs

CO2: 400ppm and Growing
Paul C. "Chip" Knappenberger and Patrick J. Michaels The atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) has recently reached a “milestone” of 400 parts per million (ppm). In some circles, this announcement has been met with consternation and gnashing of teeth. The proper reaction is celebration. The growth in the atmospheric CO2 concentration over the past several centuries is primarily the result of mankind’s thirst for energy—largely in the form of fossil fuels. According to the World Bank, fossil fuel energy supplies about 80% of the world’s energy production—a value which has been pretty...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - May 14, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Paul C. "Chip" Knappenberger, Patrick J. Michaels Source Type: blogs

Crowdfunding Research
Crowdfunding academic research might be changing, from a near-stunt to an widely used method of filling gaps in a research group's money supply. At least, that's the impression this article at Nature Jobs gives: The practice has exploded in recent years, especially as success rates for research-grant applications have fallen in many places. Although crowd-funding campaigns are no replacement for grants — they usually provide much smaller amounts of money, and basic research tends to be less popular with public donors than applied sciences or arts projects — they can be effective, especially if the appeals are poignant...
Source: In the Pipeline - May 14, 2013 Category: Chemists Tags: Business and Markets Source Type: blogs

Ferreting out the truth on Science Sunday Hangout on Air
I joined Buddhini Samarasinghe, Scott Lewis, Tommy Leung, and William McEwan for a discussion of the avian influenza H5N1 virus transmission experiments done in ferrets. (Source: virology blog)
Source: virology blog - May 14, 2013 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: Basic virology Information aerosol transmission avian influenza H5N1 bioterrorism ferret fouchier kawaoka pandemic viral virus Source Type: blogs

Professor Jane Macnaughton blogging about the workshop It’s Not What You Think (reblog)
Professor of Medical Humanities at Durham University Jane Macnaughton reports her experiences with the workshop It’s Not What You Think at Medical Museion on 8-9 March 2013 (excerpt): “Adam and Louise had attracted a very diverse group of scholars, museum practitioners, artists, philosophers, science communicators – and one clinician (that was me) (…) One of the key themes that come out in our discussions was ‘to label or not to label’? Do artefacts in museums need labels, what should be written on them, and what force do these labels have on the reader?” Jane Macnaughtons blog post Encounters with Medical ...
Source: Biomedicine on Display - May 14, 2013 Category: Medical Scientists Authors: Lasse Frank Tags: artefacts blogging INWYT medical humanities Source Type: blogs

Green Party of BC Leader Jane Sterk Supports Re Opening The BC Adult ADHD Clinic
Post from: Adult ADD Strengths UPDATE: Georgia Straight editor Charlie Smith did an article about the reopening of the BC adult ADHD clinic me and the BC politicians. The leader of the Green Party of BC Jane Sterk Supports Re Opening The BC Adult ADHD Clinic. Great! That makes 3 of the 4 BC political party leaders that support it. As I mentioned in my previous post 6 Years ago in 2007, the BC Liberal government under then health minister George Abbott shut down the only provincial adult ADHD clinic in BC at Children’s Hospital in Vancouver after a 12-14 month long wait list for an entire year. Possibly politically emba...
Source: Adult ADD Strengths - May 14, 2013 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: Pete Quily Tags: ADD / ADHD Advocacy Politics ADHD related Source Type: blogs

Telomere Length: Cause of Aging or Marker of Aging?
Telomeres are repeating sequences of nucleic acids that cap the ends of chromosomes in the cell nucleus and stop actual gene-coding DNA from being chopped off when a cell divides. The mechanisms of DNA replication require extra leg room at the ends of the strand, a trailing sequence that is not copied over to the new strand under assembly - and the primary role of telomeres is to be the part that is dropped on the floor. A little of their length is thus lost with every cell division. This shortening acts as a clock to count cell divisions, and cells with very short telomeres stop replicating - they either enter cellular se...
Source: Fight Aging! - May 14, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Reason Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs

Salk Scientists Develop Drug that Slows Alzheimer's
The Salk Institute team used living neurons grown in laboratory dishes to test whether their new synthetic compounds, which are based upon natural products derived from plants, were effective at protecting brain cells against pathologies associated with brain aging. Bob DeMarco Alzheimer's Reading Room Marguerite Prior holds a vial of J147 Scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies say they may have found a drug that not only stops Alzheimer's disease, but might also reverse the symptoms of the disease. The current research findings were published in the journal Alzheimer’s Research and Therapy. "J147...
Source: Alzheimer's Reading Room, The - May 14, 2013 Category: Dementia Authors: Bob DeMarco Source Type: blogs

Engaging lecturers can breed overconfidence
Do fluent presenters make learning feel too easy? Eloquent and engaging scientific communicators in the mould of physicist Brian Cox make learning seem fun and easy. So much so that a new study says they risk breeding overconfidence. When a presenter is seen to handle complicated information effortlessly, students sense wrongly that they too have acquired a firm grasp of the material. Shana Carpenter and her colleagues showed 42 undergrad students a one-minute video of a science lecture about calico cats. Half of them saw a version in which the female lecturer was confident, eloquent, made eye-contact and gestured with ...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - May 14, 2013 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: Christian Jarrett Source Type: blogs

Six Arguments For the Elimination of Cigarettes
Prohibition and the “tobacco control endgame.” Despite all our efforts in recent years to reduce the percentage of Americans who smoke cigarettes—currently about one in five—the idea of full-blown cigarette prohibition has not gained much traction. That may be changing, as prominent nicotine researchers and public police officials start thinking about what is widely referred to as the “tobacco control endgame.” Considering the new regulatory powers given the FDA under the terms of the Tobacco Control Act of 2009, as a commentary in Tobacco Control framed it, “will the government be a facilitator or barrie...
Source: Addiction Inbox - May 14, 2013 Category: Addiction Authors: Dirk Hanson Source Type: blogs

Dignity and the Day Program
I am in love with Nat’s Day Program provider, ASA (Autism Services Association). I went to their 50 year celebration today, and I was surrounded by ASA clients and staff. I also was sitting next to my old friend Margaret Bauman, who was one of the speakers (along with ASA Founding Parent Barbara Cutler and Martha Zeigler, two other Autism/Intellectual Disability Community Glitterati). When I walked into the chaotic, bright room, my eyes connected with Nat’s immediately. How does that happen? It’s like our bodies know the other is in the room before our minds! I sat down next to his lovely and lively job c...
Source: Susan's Blog - May 13, 2013 Category: Autism Authors: Susan Senator Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs