January 2nd, 2010 by David Kroll, Ph.D. in Better Health Network, Opinion
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Steve Silberman and Rebecca Skloot just pointed out to me an editorial from science writer Chris Mooney that has appeared online and will be in the Sunday, January 3rd edition of The Washington Post.
In the essay, “On issues like global warming and evolution, scientists need to speak up,” Mooney continues his longstanding call to scientists to take ownership in combating scientific misinformation, invoking the very weak response of the scientific community to the aftermath of e-mails and documents hacked from the Climatic Research Institute at the University of East Anglia.
The central lesson of Climategate is not that climate science is corrupt. The leaked e-mails do nothing to disprove the scientific consensus on global warming. Instead, the controversy highlights that in a world of blogs, cable news and talk radio, scientists are poorly equipped to communicate their knowledge and, especially, to respond when science comes under attack. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Terra Sigillata*
December 31st, 2009 by Dr. Val Jones in True Stories
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Sometimes a picture’s worth 1000 words. Poor kid. My sister-in-law snapped this photo today. Not a fun way to enter a new year… I think we’re all feeling a little bit like this, with the economy “messed up” and record unemployment levels. Let’s hope that 2010 brings some relief!
December 31st, 2009 by Dr. Val Jones in Health Policy, Opinion, Quackery Exposed
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As 2009 comes to an end, it seems that everyone is creating year-in-review lists. I thought I’d jump on the list band wagon and offer my purely subjective top 5 threats to rational thought in healthcare and medicine.
Of course, it strikes me as rather ironic that we’re having this discussion – who knew that medicine could be divorced from science in the first place? I thought the two went hand-in-hand, like a nice antigen and its receptor… and yet, here we are, on the verge of tremendous technological breakthroughs (thanks to advances in our understanding of molecular genetics, immunology, and biochemistry, etc.), faced with a growing number of people who prefer to resort to placebo-based remedies (such as heavy-metal laced herbs or vigorously shaken water) and Christian Science Prayer.
And so, without further ado, here’s my list of the top 5 threats to science in medicine for 2009 and beyond: Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Science-Based Medicine*
December 31st, 2009 by Happy Hospitalist in Better Health Network, Humor, True Stories
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Whenever drugs are involved in a patient’s admission, the outcome is either craziness or comedy. Methamphetamines and cocaine seem to be the popular drugs of choice requiring admission. These people are usually angry and agitated. However, it seems like pot humor always adds a little touch of the unexpected to an otherwise boring admission.
Take for example the 27 year old truck driver who was brought in by his roommate for “acting weird’. What happens when you mix a little marijuana and a little alcohol? You get Happy’s pot humor post of the day. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at The Happy Hospitalist Blog*
December 31st, 2009 by RamonaBatesMD in Better Health Network, Health Tips
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I took this photo when my mom was in the hospital earlier this year. My hand looks like I wash dishes for a living. Her hand shows many of the spots that come with age and sun exposure: actinic keratosis, liver spots, etc.
There is a decent article that gives an overview of hand rejuvenation in the Sept/October issue of the Aesthetic Surgery Journal.
The epidermis thins as we age. Lentigines, actinic keratoses and seborrheic keratoses, general dyschromia, and textural roughness appear. Capillary fragility may make bruising common. Fat atrophy may make tendons and bony prominences more noticeable and the veins appear to bulge.
The article goes through the available treatments: chemical peels, vein sclerotherapy, fillers, laser therapy, intense pulsed light (IPL) therapy, fractional skin therapy, and Thermage.
It also reminds us that caution must be exercised as hand skin has relatively few adnexal structures and therefore has less capacity to replace the epidermis.
Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Suture for a Living*
