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This page shows you the most recent publications within this specialty of the MedWorm directory. This is page number 33.

Liar, liar, pants on fire
There’s a weird piece of Deceived Wisdom that emerged from so-called Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) that suggested that one could somehow tell whether a person was lying by looking at their eye movements. Turns out, unsurprisingly, that it’s nonsense. All that guff about looking up to their right when you’re fabricating a tale and down to the left when they’re recalling a truth? It’s nonsense. Research published by Richard Wiseman of the University of Hertfordshire and colleagues in the journal PLoS ONE today lays the deceived wisdom bare. “The results of the first study revealed no ...
Source: Sciencebase Science Blog - July 12, 2012 Category: Medical Scientists Authors: David Bradley Tags: Science fire liar pants Source Type: blogs

Olympus Licenses Digital Pathology Patents to Zeiss
CENTER VALLEY, Pa., July 12, 2012 - Olympus America Inc. and Carl Zeiss Microscopy GmbH, Jena, Germany, have signed a nonexclusive worldwide licensing agreement allowing Zeiss to access an extensive portfolio of patents held by Olympus in the field of digital pathology and virtual microscopy. The patents included in the licensing deal cover methods and equipment for creating, storing and delivering virtual microscopy slides. The technology enables individuals to view and share high-resolution virtual microscopy images over the Internet. "Global adoption of digital slide scanning continues to expand into new medical and ...
Source: Digital Pathology Blog - July 12, 2012 Category: Pathologists Authors: Kaps Source Type: blogs

New Organ 100 Announced by the Methuselah Foundation
The Methuselah Foundation formally launched the New Organ initiative earlier this year: a research and technology prize aimed at speeding up tissue engineering of replacement organs. Today the Foundation announced the New Organ 100: Today, 3,000 people will die from organ failure, many due to the lack of replacement organs. In the U.S. alone, over 100,000 are stuck on a waiting list, and many more can't even get on a list. We need a revolution in medicine, and we need it as soon as possible. Regenerative medicine is coming of aging. Significant breakthroughs are beginning to happen, but the funding to move the science...
Source: Fight Aging! - July 12, 2012 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Reason Tags: Activism, Advocacy and Education Source Type: blogs

Quantitative histopathology services in neurodegenerative disease and neurotoxicity
Stereological and classical image analysis approaches help to more accurately quantify neuropathology and model treatment efficacy. Westminster, CO — July 9, 2012 — Flagship Biosciences, a leading provider of tissue analysis for pharmaceutical and medical device development, has expanded services with dedicated staff and novel techniques in neuroscience pathology services. The central nervous system is a fundamental part of the human body’s response system. As life expectancy lengthens, a wide range of disorders (including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Huntington’s, MS, dementia and depression), are becoming incr...
Source: Digital Pathology Blog - July 12, 2012 Category: Pathologists Authors: Kaps Source Type: blogs

Is this man a "bad scientist"?
Here's his cv: http://www.healthstats.org/members/rgibbons.html Seems ok, right? But wait: http://www.madinamerica.com/2012/07/the-triumph-of-bad-science/ What do you think?
Source: PharmaGossip - July 12, 2012 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs

Do I have a shot or am I building myself up to fail?
by rangoon (Posted Wed Jul 11, 2012 5:11 pm)Hi All,I am 28 years old and reside in Chicago. I have a Bachelors in Film and Video from Columbia College, and I did relatively well at that school (final GPA 3.59). I transferred in from another visual school in MIchigan, where I had a 3.63. I also did some community college classes during the a summer and got a 4.0.I have recently come to the realization that I want to practice medicine. I am LOVING the science classes I am taking right now at a community college and I am doing well in my courses. I am also currently trying to get volunteer work at a local hospital. My previou...
Source: Med Student Guide - July 11, 2012 Category: Medical Students Source Type: blogs

Novel Blood Treatment Lures Athletes in Pain to Germany - NYTimes.com
DÜSSELDORF, Germany — The medical treatment for Lindsey Berg's arthritic left knee has not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration, and neither her professional volleyball team in Italy nor the United States Olympic team would help with the cost. But for Berg, a gold medal hopeful, the chance to dull the chronic pain was worth the money, and the risk.So between the end of her professional season and the start of Olympic practices in California, Berg stopped at the office of Dr. Peter Wehling on the bank of the Rhine River. "I've been struggling with knee pain for the last four years and just continuing to play...
Source: Psychology of Pain - July 11, 2012 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Source Type: blogs

Nature Extra: Libel reform
Nature Publishing Group last week won a libel case brought against it by physicist and engineer Mohamed El Naschie. In this Podcast Extra, we discuss the implications of the victory and the need for profound reform of England’s archaic libel laws.
Source: Nature Podcast - July 11, 2012 Category: Science Authors: Nature Publishing Group Source Type: blogs

Nature: 12 July 2012
This week, smart buildings that regulate their own temperature, insights from wide-scale genome sampling, and why it’s possible to run over custard. Plus, the best of the rest from this week’s Nature.
Source: Nature Podcast - July 11, 2012 Category: Science Authors: Nature Publishing Group Source Type: blogs

Centrum vitamins called out for over-the-top claims
Under threat of a lawsuit from the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest, healthcare giant Pfizer has agreed to remove claims related to breast and colon health from some of its Centrum brand multivitamins, and to tone down certain other claims that the CSPI alleged are misleading. Labels for Centrum Ultra Women's and Centrum Silver Women's multivitamin supplements currently say that those products support "breast health," while Centrum Ultra Men's and Centrum Silver Ultra Men's labels say they support "colon health." According to the CSPI, Pfizer based the claims in part on the inclusion of vitamin D in tho...
Source: Consumer Reports Health Blog - July 11, 2012 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Consumer Reports News Tags: Advertising Labeling Vitamins & supplements Health Health After 60 ' s Health Natural Health Women Source Type: blogs

Vocal cords and asthma
A diagnosis of exercise-induced bronchospasm – asthma – is commonly given to patients who present with cough, breathlessness and wheeziness after exertion despite being otherwise physically fit. An alternative explanation to bronchial (airways) constriction was discussed on BBC Radio 4′s Inside Health this week on which they suggested that vocal cord dysfunction might be to blame as the vocal folds close over the airway in susceptible individuals Thus physiotherapy and breathing exercises rather than asthma medication might be a better intervention for many sufferers (unless they also have underlying asth...
Source: Sciencebase Science Blog - July 11, 2012 Category: Medical Scientists Authors: David Bradley Tags: Science asthma cords vocal Source Type: blogs

Chinese medicine & numerology – quick thoughts on the numbers 5 & 6
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Source: Deepest Health: Exploring Classical Chinese Medicine - July 11, 2012 Category: Alternative Medicine Practitioners Authors: Brandon Brown Tags: Foundational Science Source Type: blogs

The World of Aging Science Must Up-End, Change, Renew Itself
It is unfortunate that popular culture, that ongoing conversation of countless threads that lies at the center of our diverse society, is so focused on drugs and pills as the sum of all medicine - anything that is consumed, and so especially when it comes to influencing the pace of aging. It is a terribly wrong, horribly damaging viewpoint, but one that is relentless propagated by the loudest voices, coincidentally also those who gain the most in the short term by creating a culture of customers for their products. When the world thinks of medicine for aging in terms of pills and potions, it shuts the door on support for r...
Source: Fight Aging! - July 11, 2012 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Reason Tags: Activism, Advocacy and Education Source Type: blogs

New Grants for Innovative Alzheimer's Research Announced by AHAF
Alzheimer's scientists look at repurposing existing drugs, examine Alzheimer's link to diabetes, and testing latest discoveries. Alzheimer's Reading Room Steven E. Arnold The American Health Assistance Foundation (AHAF, at www.ahaf.org), a nonprofit organization that funds ground-breaking, early-stage research on Alzheimer's disease, today announced it has awarded 22 new research grants, totaling more than $3.6 million, to scientists on the cutting edge of discoveries about the devastating disease. Alzheimer's disease is a degenerative disorder that destroys brain function and eventually leads to death. Currently, ...
Source: Alzheimer's Reading Room, The - July 11, 2012 Category: Dementia Authors: Bob DeMarco Source Type: blogs

Abbott Introduces OneLab, a Novel Integrated Web-Based Software Platform to Manage the Vast Amounts of Information Flowing Through the Lab
New laboratory informatics solution goes beyond simple systems integration to improve laboratory operations, productivity and quality of care. ABBOTT PARK, Ill., July 11, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- As health care systems around the world face challenges such as labor shortages, increased regulation and budget constraints, they rely on technology to help manage the impact. To assist in addressing these challenges, today Abbott ABT +0.09% announced OneLab, a new, Web-based, integrated laboratory informatics solution. OneLab is a highly-configurable platform that allows labs of any size to standardize p...
Source: Digital Pathology Blog - July 11, 2012 Category: Pathologists Authors: Kaps Source Type: blogs

'Master switch' drug kills cancers | UK news | The Guardian
The enzyme-blocking drug, called a kinase inhibitor, targets a number of pathways that control the growth and death of cancer cells. It acts like several different drugs working at the same time. Scientists believe switching off cell signals at multiple points should make cancer treatment more successful and delay drug resistance. Laboratory tests showed that the new drug, given the codename AT13148, can kill a variety of cancer types including sarcoma, breast and prostate. The findings are published in the journal Clinical Cancer Research. Dr Michelle Garrett, from Cancer Research UK's Cancer Therapeutics Unit at the ...
Source: PharmaGossip - July 11, 2012 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs

Science GPA
by 2bdoc (Posted Tue Jul 10, 2012 7:02 pm)How large of a factor does your science GPA have over your admission versus the overall GPA? Also, do private medical schools give preference to in-state applicants? Another concern I have is shadowing. I know there isn't an exact number that we are supposed to reach but how many hours (very approximately) should I aim for in relation to research as well as extracurricular activities such as volunteering?Thanks
Source: Med Student Guide - July 10, 2012 Category: Medical Students Source Type: blogs

Chinese Medicine Essentials course is accepting registration
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Source: Deepest Health: Exploring Classical Chinese Medicine - July 10, 2012 Category: Alternative Medicine Practitioners Authors: Eric Grey Tags: Foundational Science Source Type: blogs

Run without thinking
Over on Facebook, a friend is currently bemoaning her iPhone and more specifically the NikePlus app that allows you to track your walking and running. I used to run, dodgy leg precludes that now, can barely run for a bus these days…I also used to swim (not great for electronic gadgets) and I did used to keep track of lengths I swam and the time it took me and the pace I set myself and all that stuff… But, then I read an article in my wife’s yoga teachers’ journal about the benefits of being a bit more zen, as it were, about swimming. Swimming can, after all give you the chance to switch off from the...
Source: Sciencebase Science Blog - July 10, 2012 Category: Medical Scientists Authors: David Bradley Tags: Science run thinking Source Type: blogs

Look Who’s Attending ePharma Summit West next week!
With the ePharma Summit West just around the corner, we wanted to give you one last chance to register online – with a 10% discount as a reader of this blog- prior to the event next week. With new engagement channels appearing almost every day, not only do you need to know what to do now, you also need to know how to evaluate new channels as they become available. We invite you to join us at the ePharma Summit West, taking place on July 17 – 19 in San Francisco. Don’t let your company fall behind. Join top executives from the following companies as you learn how to better engage your audiences online. More people a...
Source: ePharma Summit - July 10, 2012 Category: Medical Marketing and PR Tags: Companies attending ePharma Companies attending ePharma Summit West Source Type: blogs

Is the Web killing the Impact Factor?
This article highlights findings from this recent paper:Lozano, G. A., Larivière, V. and Gingras, Y. (in press) The weakening relationship between the Impact Factor and citation rates in the digital age. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology [free fulltext pdf]This is the abstract:Historically, papers have been physically bound to the journal in which they were published but in the electronic age papers are available individually, no longer tied to their respective journals. Hence, papers now can be read and cited based on their own merits, independently of the journal’s physical ava...
Source: Life in the Fast Lane - July 10, 2012 Category: Emergency Medicine Doctors Authors: Chris Nickson Tags: Evidence Based Medicine Journal citations dissemination impact factor information web Source Type: blogs

Dedicated but Balanced
Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Brad Pilon, author of Eat Stop Eat. Here is an experiment I’d like you to try: Log in to your banking account. Check how much money you have. Now log out. Now log back in, check how much money you have. Now Log out. Repeat this two to three more times. I’m willing to bet my money that your money did not change as a result of how many times you checked on it. The point of this experiment is obsessing about things isn’t actually action. It rarely, if ever changes the circumstance you are obsessing about. There are dozens of examples of this in life, but none that hit as cl...
Source: Zen Habits - July 10, 2012 Category: Life Coaches Authors: guest Tags: Health & Fitness Source Type: blogs

Rolls-Royce Lego jet engine
Rolls-Royce today unveiled the world’s first jet engine to be made entirely of Lego at the opening of Farnborough International Airshow. The engine, which is one of the most complex Lego structures ever built, is a half size replica of the Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 which powers the Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft. via Rolls-Royce reveals world's only Lego jet engine – Rolls-Royce. Rolls-Royce Lego jet engine is a post from: Sciencebase Science Blog
Source: Sciencebase Science Blog - July 10, 2012 Category: Medical Scientists Authors: David Bradley Tags: Science engine jet lego rollsroyce Source Type: blogs

Origin of the H5N1 storm
This article presented a one-sided view because only Fouchier or NSABB members were quoted. I don’t understand why Fouchier made some of the statements that he did; perhaps he was quoted out of context. The NSABB members were on the way to restricting publication of the paper, so their views were clear. What Enserink did not do – what he should have done – was to speak with other virologists. This he could not do because the manuscript describing the work had not been made public. He violated a main tenet of journalism, to present both sides of the story. With the publication of the Fouchier and Kawaoka p...
Source: virology blog - July 10, 2012 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: Commentary airborne transmission bioterrorism bird flu ferret fouchier H5N1 influenza kawaoka nsabb pandemic viral virology virus Source Type: blogs

New Health Affairs: Assessing The President’s Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief
Articles published yesterday in the July 2012 issue of July 2012 issue of Health Affairs focus on the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the US program to address global HIV and AIDS, and the largest investment to date of any country to fight a single disease. The thematic issue examines the origins of [...]
Source: Health Affairs Blog - July 10, 2012 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Chris Fleming Tags: AIDS All Categories Chronic Care Global Health Pharma Policy Public Health Science and Health Source Type: blogs

New Health Affairs: Assesing The President’s Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief
Articles published yesterday in the July 2012 issue of July 2012 issue of Health Affairs focus on the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the US program to address global HIV and AIDS, and the largest investment to date of any country to fight a single disease. The thematic issue examines the origins of [...]
Source: Health Affairs Blog - July 10, 2012 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Chris Fleming Tags: AIDS All Categories Chronic Care Global Health Pharma Policy Public Health Science and Health Source Type: blogs

Stop Urinary Tract Infections (UTI) with Cranberries
In conclusion, the results of the present meta-analysis support that consumption of cranberry-containing products may protect against UTIs in certain populations. However, because of the substantial heterogeneity across trials, this conclusion should be interpreted with great caution," the authors conclude. ______________________________ Why Do the Deeply Forgetful Say No So Often Are Alzheimer's Caregivers the Forgotten? Alzheimer's Disease and the Five Stages of Grief Urinary Tract Infection, You Can Learn From My Experience Frightened, Bewildered, Apprehensive, Anxious, Angry Original content Bob DeMarco, the Alzheimer's Reading Room
Source: Alzheimer's Reading Room, The - July 10, 2012 Category: Dementia Authors: Bob DeMarco Source Type: blogs

Stem cells in the ovary
Beginning about 8 years ago, scientists began providing evidence that apparently overturns the dogma that adult ovaries do not contain stem cells capable of producing oocytes. Jonathon Tilly found such cells first in mice, then later in middle-aged women. Other labs have replicated such findings.However, a study by members of Kui Liu's lab published today disputes that the stem cells actually produce oocytes. Needless to say, this is stirring up quite a bit of controversy. Tilly believes Liu was looking at oocytes, not stem cells. Liu doesn't agree.What does this mean for the undergraduate A&P c...
Source: The A and P Professor - July 10, 2012 Category: Professors and Educators Authors: Kevin Patton Source Type: blogs

Spirulina - A Powerhouse Health Food
Have you tried spirulina cereal, pasta or shake? How about spirulina cream, coffee or chips? if you can give some importance to your health, and you know you need to take nutritious food, you should consider spirulina. Spirulina is blue - green algae which is in the form of a spiral under the microscope, what is the name of spirulina. It is gaining more and more popularity worldwide as a very healthy and nutritious hranu.Svjetska Health Organization (WHO) considers spirulina as a food for a healthy future. Here are the top three reasons why you should consider taking spirulina supplement. 1 As a natural multivitamin and mi...
Source: Pocono Paramedic - July 9, 2012 Category: Ambulance Crew Tags: spirulina powerhouse health food Source Type: blogs

7 Shameful Examples of Big Pharma Fraud
Pharmaceutical companies have a history of shameful behavior. Over the last few months many drugs companies have hit the headlines for allegedly committing fraud, the most recent being Merck. This document reveals 7 companies who have been reported for committing fraud since January 2012. Pharma Fraud Number 1: Merck Recently Merck has been in the firing line for allegedly fraudulently representing the mumps component of its MMR vaccine. It has been alleged that Merck have been fraudulently informing the public that the MMR II, used to replace the MMR vaccine Pluserix, is an effective vaccine when this is not true because ...
Source: vactruth.com - July 9, 2012 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Christina England Tags: Christina England Top Stories Abbott Laboratories GlaxoSmithKIine Medical Imports Ltd Merck pfizer Roche Takeda Pharmaceuticals Source Type: blogs

Scientist Shortage? The Media Starts to Catch On.
If you haven't seen it, there's an excellent article in the Washington Post by Brian Vastag on why the whole "America Faces Critical Shortage of Scientists!" thing is ridiculous. I hope it does some good - this idea gets repeated too often by people who have no idea of what they're talking about. Vastag hits a lot of important themes - layoffs in once-thriving sci/tech fields, the perverse incentives to churn out more PhDs and post-docs, and so on. Chemjobber has good commentary on the article here, as does David Kroll. It's good to see a major media outlet pick up on what people in the field have been saying for some tim...
Source: In the Pipeline - July 9, 2012 Category: Chemists Tags: Business and Markets Source Type: blogs

This Month’s Cato Unbound: Liberty, Commerce, and Literature
By Jason KuznickiThis month’s Cato Unbound is on the theme of Liberty, Commerce, and Literature. We all know that the western canon is often extraordinarily critical of the free market, sometimes without its authors appearing to understand very much about economics at all. But why should this be? Literature as we know it owes much to commercial society. Before the early modern era, one could almost never make a living as a writer. People read many fewer books — if they could read at all — and serious literature frequently belonged to the upper classes alone. It would be odd if literature were so unaware o...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - July 9, 2012 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Jason Kuznicki Tags: Cato Publications General Political Philosophy Source Type: blogs

Your Nagging Fitness Questions Answered With Scientific Evidence
I just finished reading a great little book called, “Which Comes First, Cardio Or Weights? Fitness Myths, Training Truths, And Other Surprising Discoveries From The Science Of Exercise” by Alex Hutchinson, Ph.D. I’m very grateful to Alex for patiently sifting through over 400 research studies in a quest to answer (with evidence, not subjective opinion) some of our most nagging exercise questions. Alex is the perfect guy to do this exercise myth-busting as he is a competitive runner, professional journalist, and has a Ph.D. in physics. His writing is crisp, uncluttered, and bears the understated humor of a...
Source: Better Health - July 9, 2012 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Dr. Val Jones Tags: Book Reviews Health Tips Alex Hutchinson Breathing Caffeine Cardio Or Weights Exercise Fitness Myth-Busters Mythbusters Myths Olympics Running Stretching Which Comes First Source Type: blogs

How Do Words, such as Yes and No, Change Our Brains and Lives?
Discussions…. Larcker & Lakolyukina: Stanford Graduate School of Business Working Paper: July 29, 2010 Affective habituation: subliminal exposure to extreme stimuli decreases their extremity. Dijksterhuis A, Smith PK. Emotion. 2002 Sep;2(3):203–14.
Source: SharpBrains - July 9, 2012 Category: Neurologists Authors: SharpBrains Tags: Cognitive Neuroscience Education & Lifelong Learning Health & Wellness brain brain-training exercise. brain-training communication Consciousness frontal-lobes happiness language mind negativity Positive-Psychology positivity we Source Type: blogs

NASA's cowardly responses to their #arseniclife FAIL
I've now seen two responses from NASA about the new publications that refute the Wolfe-Simon results. The first was sent to Margaret Munro of Postmedia News, by James Schalkwyk of NASA: We asked the director of the NASA Astrobiology Institute, which had provided funding for the GFAJ-1 research, and he said we're deferring to the actual researchers for their statements on their research. You can contact Felisa Wolfe-Simon, (email address redacted) for their official statement (I assume you already know this though). I'm sorry this isn't more helpful but it appears we haven't been involved in the research for some time. ...
Source: RRResearch - July 9, 2012 Category: Medical Scientists Authors: Rosie Redfield Source Type: blogs

improving... still, what are my chances?
by blender (Posted Sun Jul 08, 2012 11:04 pm)I just graduated from college (4 years total) w a biochem degree from a hard science school. Last year my average GPA for both semesters was a 3.84 taking mostly 300-400 level courses, most with graduate students (masters of physiology students). Currently am studying for my MCAT and averaging 10 on VR, 11 on PS, and 11 on BS on the official practice AAMCs. Due to take my exam late august. In the fall I start an MS program in biochem. plan on getting straight As for all 30 credits which will bring my current cGPA of 3.3 and sGPA of 3.4 to a cGPA of 3.4 and sGPA of 3.5. Apply Jun...
Source: Med Student Guide - July 8, 2012 Category: Medical Students Source Type: blogs

Aristotle and Benzos for Back Pain
aka Socrates and Sophistry 004The inspiration for today’s S and S section, comes from (1) LITFL friend, and Twitter’s @RFDSdoc, Minh who mused on an Aristotelian quote:“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”and (2) the inimitable and peerless @precordialthump who suggested the thorny habit of benzodiazepines and back pain/muscular spasm as a topic.Aristotle was the next generation of Greek Philosopher. He was the student of Plato (the chronicler of our man Socrates), and a tutor of Alexander the Great. His philosophical legacy was extensive, and he pondered as much on science ...
Source: Life in the Fast Lane - July 8, 2012 Category: Emergency Medicine Doctors Authors: Michelle Johnston Tags: Education Emergency Medicine Featured Health Socrates and Sophistry aristotle back pain benzodiazepines diazepam habit muscle spasm Source Type: blogs

Presentation on behavioral freedom in Drosophila with panel discussion on YouTube
As promised, find below the video of my talk at the Montreal Summer Institute on Consciousness. The abstract and some discussion can be found on the conference blog. There is also a video of the subsequent panel discussion with all the speakers of that day (except Wolf Singer who could not attend the panel):
Source: bjoern.brembs.net - a neuroscientist's blog : RSS feed of bjoern.brembs.net - July 8, 2012 Category: Neurologists Authors: bjoern Tags: science Source Type: blogs

Successful transplant of patient-derived stem cells into mice with muscular dystrophy
Stem cells from patients with a rare form of muscular dystrophy have been successfully transplanted into mice affected by the same form of dystrophy, according to a new study published June 27 in Science Translational Medicine. For the first time, scientists have turned muscular dystrophy patients’ fibroblast cells (common cells found in connective tissue) into [...]
Source: Biosingularity - July 8, 2012 Category: Medical Scientists Authors: Derya Tags: Biotechnology Source Type: blogs

Molfile and SD File Formats: Broken But Irreplaceable?
Compared to many areas of computer science, cheminforamtics is a backwater. Consider our “standard” file formats Molfile and SD File. These formats, collectively referred to as ”CTfile Formats” were first described in the peer review literature in 1992, and had been in use for years prior to that. CTfile is an 80-character, line-based text file format that bears little resemblance to the standard information interchange formats XML and JSON in wide use everywhere else. But make no mistake. This quaint but broken method of moving data around is just as relevant today as it was in 1992 - likely more so. ...
Source: Depth-First - July 8, 2012 Category: Chemists Authors: Richard Apodaca Source Type: blogs

From consciousness to biogenic amines in insects
After an 11 hour odyssey at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, France, I'm finally back in Berlin. Unfortunately, I missed the first day of the symposium organized by our research unit on biogenic amines in insects due to the breakdown of flight control in Munich which caused my delay in Paris.There is quite some discussion going on about my talk at the Montreal Summer Institute on Consciousness on the conference blog, maintained by organizer Stevan Harnad. The video of my presentation there is also online now, so go and have a look if you want to see what I talked about there. I still need to download it and put it on my...
Source: bjoern.brembs.net - a neuroscientist's blog : RSS feed of bjoern.brembs.net - July 8, 2012 Category: Neurologists Authors: bjoern Tags: science Source Type: blogs

Compassion vital for better outcomes, care delivery
by Thomas Dahlborg I have oft written about the Hippocratic Oath and empathy in healing, and was elated to see the recent article "The Science of Compassion." As I wrote in "Doctors promise holistic care under Hippocratic Oath," whether you call it "woo woo," squishy, or warm and fuzzy, as the Hippocratic Oath illustrates, sympathy, understanding, holism and joy in healing are vital for any optimal healing model. Similarly, the author of "The Science of Compassion" makes the point, "If we say, oh, the practice of compassion is something holy, nobody will listen. If we say, warm-heartedness really reduces your blood pre...
Source: hospital impact - July 8, 2012 Category: Health Managers Authors: Wendy Johnson Source Type: blogs

EMPowered to Kill
In this study, only 49 percent of the participants kept providing the researchers data at 6 months — meaning the majority of them dropped out of the study before the 6 months were up!LOCF is generally frowned upon in good research unless there’s a very good rationale for its use. Why? Because research conducted on the effects of LOCF shows that this method gives a biased estimate of the treatment effect while underestimating the variability of the result. In other words, it stacks the deck to demonstrate a treatment’s effectiveness — even when the treatment might not be effective. It’s a research slight of hand.R...
Source: The Neurocritic - July 8, 2012 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: The Neurocritic Source Type: blogs

Fight Aging! Newsletter, July 9th 2012
This study establishes a link between DR-mediated metabolic activity in muscle, increased movement and the benefits derived from restricting nutrients. ... flies on DR who could not move or had inhibited fat metabolism in their muscle did not exhibit an extended lifespan. ... Our work argues that simply restricting nutrients without physical activity may not be beneficial in humans. ... The research also points to a potential target that could yield a drug that mimics the beneficial effects of DR. ... flies genetically engineered to overexpress the circulating peptide AKH (the fly equivalent of glucagon in mammals) showed ...
Source: Fight Aging! - July 8, 2012 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs