A daily miasma of frivolity by two wanna-be cultural critics. Or: just, like, some good links, dude.

Tag Archives: health

Dec 18 2012
Mark Twain, probably

The Embedded Dangers of Untested Stem Cell Cosmetics

The Embedded Dangers of Untested Stem Cell Cosmetics

Ferris Jabr, Scientific American:

When cosmetic surgeon Allan Wu first heard the woman’s complaint, he wondered if she was imagining things or making it up. A resident of Los Angeles in her late sixties, she explained that she could not open her right eye without considerable pain and that every time she forced it open, she heard a strange click—a sharp sound, like a tiny castanet snapping shut. After examining her in person at The Morrow Institute in Rancho Mirage, Calif., Wu could see that something was wrong: Her eyelid drooped stubbornly, and the area around her eye was somewhat swollen. Six and a half hours of surgery later, he and his colleagues had dug out small chunks of bone from the woman’s eyelid and tissue surrounding her eye, which was scratched but largely intact. The clicks she heard were the bone fragments grinding against one another.

Turns out she had an unapproved stem cell treatment. This is some serious William Gibson shit — sounds like something that would happen in the darkened alleyways of Chiba City.

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Nov 17 2012
Mark Twain, probably

60 percent of America’s biggest cities are now smoke-free

60 percent of America’s biggest cities are now smoke-free

CDC press release:

Thirty of America’s 50 largest cities are now covered by laws that prohibit smoking in all indoor areas of private workplaces, restaurants, and bars, according to a study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. By late 2000, only one of the 50 largest U.S. cities—San Jose, Calif.—was covered by such a law. As of Oct. 5, 2012, 16 of the 50 largest cities were covered by local comprehensive smoke-free laws, and 14 more were covered by state comprehensive smoke-free laws.

The CDC’s report, “Comprehensive Smoke-Free Laws — 50 Largest U.S. Cities, 2000 and 2012,” contains a table with a summary of the laws in the fifty cities. In addition to the thirty cities with “comprehensive” bans (workplaces, restaurants, and bars) on the city or state level, an additional fourteen have a smoking ban in one or two of those subcategories. The six largest cities not covered by any sort of law are Los Angeles, CA (#2), Oklahoma City, OK (#31), Fresno, CA (#34), Virginia Beach, VA (#39), Atlanta, GA (#40), and Tulsa, OK (#46).

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Dec 03 2011
Mark Twain, probably

As efforts to find AIDS vaccine continue, mouse study shows protection; human studies expected

As efforts to find AIDS vaccine continue, mouse study shows protection; human studies expected

The AP:

As scientists struggle to find a vaccine to prevent infection with the AIDS virus, a study in mice suggests hope for a new approach — one that doctors now want to test in people.

The treated mice in the study appeared to have 100 percent protection against HIV. That doesn’t mean the strategy will work in people. But several experts were impressed.

…

Researchers reported the new results in mice online Wednesday in the journal Nature. They hope to test the approach in people in a couple of years. Another research team reported similar success in monkeys in 2009 and hopes to start human tests even sooner.

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Sep 30 2011
Mark Twain, probably

Economists say adult circumcision not best anti-HIV tactic

Economists say adult circumcision not best anti-HIV tactic

Oren Dorell, USA Today:

A group of top world economists said Wednesday that adult male circumcision, a global priority for preventing HIV infection, is not nearly as cost-effective as other methods of prevention.

A successful adult male circumcision effort would require “a large public campaign to get people into the clinic,” said Bjorn Lomborg, director of the Copenhagen Consensus Center, a Danish think tank…

Wait, lemme stop quoting that for a second. Why are we listening to economists about this?

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Aug 27 2011
Mark Twain, probably

Vaccines largely safe, U.S. expert panel finds

Vaccines largely safe, U.S. expert panel finds

Julie Steenhuysen for Reuters:

The panel looked at eight common vaccines: the combination measles-mumps-rubella (MMR), the diphtheria-tetanus-acellular pertussis (DTaP), varicella for chickenpox, influenza, hepatitis B, meningococcal, tetanus-containing vaccines, and the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine.

…

Once again, the [Institute of Medicine] found that the MMR vaccine does not cause autism, nor does it cause type 1 diabetes, [committee chair Ellen Wright] Clayton said.

“The DTaP vaccine, which is the pertussis vaccine, does not cause type 1 diabetes, and the killed flu vaccine does not cause Bell’s palsy (temporary facial paralysis) and it doesn’t make your asthma get worse,” Clayton said.

“The evidence was really quite strong that vaccines don’t cause these side effects,” she said.

Vaccine denial makes me upset.

If it were just about the person, then my position would be far more moderate. The government forcing someone to get juiced up is not particularly appealing to me; if that guy is a moron who wants to get diphtheria or some other horrifying disease we solved a hundred years ago, then let him for all I care.

The thing with vaccines is that they’re not just about the person getting them, but also everyone that person will ever come in contact with. One less person who can catch a disease is one less person who can spread it around. Herd immunity is mathematically a real thing, and it’s the reason that parents with three functioning brain cells who believe everything they read on the internet can decide “oh measles isn’t a problem any more, my kid doesn’t need this shot” (which in turn is why Indiana had a measles outbreak in 2005).

Vaccinations protect everyone, and anyone who thinks we shouldn’t be doing them is a selfish cockmagnet who doesn’t understand science.

And, as shown above, the whole autism thing is just a complete crock of shit. Andrew Wakefield in particular is a fraud who had conflicts of interest (including patenting his own vaccine), manipulated data, and performed unnecessary and invasive tests on children. Wakefield’s “landmark” paper was published by The Lancet in 1998, and ten of his twelve co-authors retracted its interpretation in 2004. In 2010, The Lancet fully retracted the whole paper. And yet somehow there are people who still believe that anything this man says is worth listening to.

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Aug 07 2011
Mark Twain, probably

Colon cleansing: Not so healthy, analysis says

Colon cleansing: Not so healthy, analysis says

Dr. Ranit Mishori of the Georgetown University School of Medicine and a few others examined studies on colon cleansing and published a report in the The Journal of Family Practice. If you have any capacity whatsoever for critical thinking, their findings will not shock you in the slightest. Val Willingham summarized for CNN’s The Chart blog:

Although colon cleansing has been around for centuries as a way to rid the body of unwanted toxins, the American Medical Association determined in the early 1900s that the procedure was invalid; there was no evidence to show the methods worked. And even though there still remains no solid evidence these products do what they claim, colon cleansing has been making a comeback, mainly because manufacturers claim it also helps people lose weight.

“If this method were the key to weight loss, it would be amazing. But there is no evidence that this helps people lose weight,” says Mishori. “Manufacturers don’t describe how it works. The statements are a little empty. They say it will enhance your immune system, up your metabolism, give you energy. It’s all pretty vague. Some people swear by it, but it could be a placebo effect. And companies can make these claims, because the federal government doesn’t regulate their products.”

…

Investigators noted while these reports showed little evidence of colon cleansing benefits, there were a number of side effects reported following the use of these cleansing methods. Those effects included cramping, bloating, nausea, vomiting, electrolyte imbalance and renal failure. And in some cases, ingredients in these remedies were toxic.

“Some herbal preparations have also been associated with aplastic anemia and liver toxicity,” Mishori said.

MY HEAD IS REELING

WHICH WAY IS UP I DON’T KNOW ANY MORE

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Jun 07 2011
Mark Twain, probably

Coco, the Colossal Colon

Coco, the Colossal Colon

Colin’s out networking at WWDC, where by “networking” I mean “badgering Apple engineers and getting drunk,” so I guess it’s just you and me this week. And I can’t think of any better way to get started than with Coco, the Colossal Colon.

“Coco,” as the Colossal Colon® is affectionately known, is a 40-foot long, 4-foot tall oversized model of the human colon that is designed to educate about colorectal cancer and other diseases of the colon.  Visitors who crawl through the Colossal Colon will see Crohn’s disease, diverticulosis, ulcerative colitis, hemorrhoids, cancerous and non-cancerous polyps, and various stages of colon cancer. 

Are there pictures? Oh, you’d better believe there are pictures. More pictures than you’d ever want in this or any other lifetime.

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Apr 30 2011
Mark Twain, probably

DNA tests link Southern leprosy cases to armadillo

DNA tests link Southern leprosy cases to armadillo

With some genetic sleuthing, scientists have fingered a likely culprit in the spread of leprosy in the southern United States: the nine-banded armadillo.

DNA tests show a match in the leprosy strain between some patients and these prehistoric-looking critters — a connection scientists had suspected but until now couldn’t pin down.

…

Armadillos are one of the very few mammals that harbor the bacteria that cause the sometimes disfiguring disease, which first shows up as an unusual lumpy skin lesion.

DESTROY ALL ARMADILLOS

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