Picture of the Week: How Genetics Work
(Via Why Evolution is True)
Co-dominance?
*This blog post was originally published at ScienceRoll*
Latest Posts
Pregnancy, Pineapples, And Type 1 Diabetes
Hi there. I’m addicted to pineapple.
This week, I’ll be five months pregnant, and it seems like the vitamin C cravings I had early on in my pregnancy are back with a vengeance. Orange juice (yes, with pulp), kiwi fruit, apples, raisins (even though they’re low in it, I still want them), and pineapple. To the point where Chris and I bought a pineapple at the grocery store last week and I ate half of it in two days time. What’s good is that, for whatever reason, my blood sugars aren’t rebelling against this fruit overload. (Different from cute overload, where hamsters play the trumpet.) Before the BSparl invasion, I had things like oatmeal timed out with precision, so that I could eat something with 30 grams of carbs in it without a spike, but just one apple could cause my numbers to go berserk. Now? Oatmeal is hard to predict, but I can nosh on a whole bowl of fruit salad, estimate the carbs, and coast in the low 100’s for NO REASON.
Pregnancy and type 1 diabetes is a very peculiar combination. /digression Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Six Until Me.*
DC Snowstorm Photos
How deep is the snow? Judging by my balcony, at least a foot and a half. I asked Mr. DrVal to demonstrate for you with a tape measure – of course, our mischevious kitty, Ona (full name is Ona Riss Kitty) wanted to be in the photo as well.
I caught these guys (second photo) digging out a Politico newspaper vending machine. Seemed like a very DC thing to do.
Of course, having grown up in Canada, the snow storm didn’t faze me much. I ventured out to get a salad, some frozen yogurt, and to see the movie Avatar. That was well worth the walk to the theater (saw it in all its 3-D wonder)!
Mr. DrVal summed it up with his usual dry wit, “It’s The Lion King meets An Inconvenient Truth.”
Please go see it though – the effects are really amazing.
All in a winter’s day…
How To Help Your Dog Survive The Snow
If you’ve ever had an Italian greyhound you know they hate the snow. They hate the cold. In general they hate the water but ours are starting to discover how fun water can be. They hate being uncomfortable. Mrs Happy and I have discovered that Marty and Cooper, our precious little babies, have a very tight range of comfort between 72 and 72.5 degrees Fahrenheit. Anything below that and they’re shivering. Cooper, our grey Iggy with the white boots, is slightly more tolerant of having cold feet. But Marty, our little white Iggy with the grey helmet, has no tolerance for snow or cold feet.
Just the other day I heard a whimper coming from outside only to discover little Marty struggling to climb the stairs of our deck. He hobbled into the house limping on three feet and crying, making high pitched shrieking noises and trying to garner all the attention he could get. Why you ask? Because his feet got cold after walking on the snow for less than a minute. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at The Happy Hospitalist Blog*
How To Use Lack Of Research As A Rationing Tool
If President Obama’s healthcare bill is passed there is certain to be an increase in taxes, an increase in the budget deficit and a rationing of healthcare.
The President promised an increase in funding for preventative medicine. The term preventative medicine should mean discovering a disease process before it manifests itself through its complications. After discovering the disease it should be treated in the best possible way available.
The federal government is going to spent billions of dollars expanding a bureaucracy to further evaluate best practices. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality was created to standardize the practice of medicine. The organization encouraged medical specialty organizations to write guidelines for the care of diseases in their specialty. A National Clearing House was created that published these guidelines. These guidelines are to be updated every five years. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Repairing the Healthcare System*
