Campylobacteriosis in Iceland
A recent posting in ProMED belies the fact that Iceland reports the lowest rates of campylobacteriosis in that region of Europe. [1-2] See graph [3] Note that an earlier outbreak (436 cases) was reported in 1999.
References:
1. Berger SA. Infectious Diseases of Iceland, 2014 371 pages, 75 graphs, 1,455 references. Gideon e-books, http://www.gideononline.com/ebooks/country/infectious-diseases-of-iceland/
2. Berger SA. Campylobacteriosis: Global Status, 2014 104 pages, 96 graphs, 1,073 references. Gideon e-books, http://www.gideononline.com/ebooks/disease/campylobacteriosis-global-status/
3. Gideon graph tool at http://www...
Source: GIDEON blog - August 7, 2014 Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Dr. Stephen Berger Tags: Ebooks Epidemiology General Graphs Outbreaks Campylobacter Iceland Source Type: blogs
It Helps To Know What Watchful Waiting Really Means In Prostate Cancer Treatment
News reports covering a prostate cancer study this week in the New England Journal of Medicine have all pretty much come out with the same message: men diagnosed with prostate cancer who had radical surgery did much better than men who were assigned to "watchful waiting" after they were diagnosed.
But guess what? There's a critical fact that seemed to be missing in much of the coverage I saw. And that fact is this: the men who were given the "watchful waiting" as described in the study never received any curative treatment. Let me repeat: No curative treatment. That is a much different approach to watchful waiting than we ...
Source: Dr. Len's Cancer Blog - March 6, 2014 Category: Cancer Authors: Dr. Len Tags: Cancer Care Early detection Medications Prostate Cancer Radiation Therapy Research Screening Survivors Treatment Source Type: blogs
If an artist is eccentric we find their work more enjoyable and assume it's more valuable
Pop star Lady Gaga appears at theMTV Awards 2010 in a dressmade from raw meat. Van Gogh sliced off his own ear. Truman Capote insisted he could only think in a prostrate position while sipping coffee and puffing on a cigarette. Michael Jackson hung out with a chimp, and posed for photographers while sleeping in a hyperbaric chamber. Lady Gaga attended an awards ceremony wearing a dress made from meat. There's a stereotype that creative people are eccentric and it's easy to find examples like these to support the point.A new study shows that because of this widely held stereotype, people infer that work made by an ecce...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - February 27, 2014 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: Christian Jarrett Source Type: blogs
Some Details about the Global Healthcare Spending Slowdown
We are in the midst of a global healthcare slowdown and many of the experts are flummoxed as to its exact cause (see: Everything You Need to Know About the Healthcare Slowdown). Does it lie with the financial crisis? Is it the the result of the co-pays incorporated into most health insurance policies these days? Below is an excerpt from an article on this topic:
Healthcare spending is growing slower than the economy for the first time since 1997. And nobody knows why. It might just be the shadow of the Great Recession. Or a move towards more high-deductible plans. Or maybe, just maybe, Obamacare's cost controls. ...
Source: Lab Soft News - February 4, 2014 Category: Pathologists Authors: Bruce Friedman Tags: Healthcare Business Healthcare Delivery Source Type: blogs
Sif Head Towel — Made in Iceland
(Source: bookofjoe)
Source: bookofjoe - December 21, 2013 Category: Anesthetists Authors: bookofjoe Source Type: blogs
Alzheimer's Amyloid Tangle Theory Will Be Tested with Merck Drug Trial
Various theories about the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease have been beset with controversy. To be more specific, it's not clear whether the amyloid tangles that are seen in the brain are the cause of the disease and thus relevant for its treatment (see: In-Vitro Biomarkers vs. In-Situ Biomarkers; Diagnosing Alzheimer's Disease with Imaging and Biomarkers; Early Detection of Alzheimer's Disease: Mutations of Three Genes Studied; Brain Plaque Diagnostic Imaging Procedure Approved by FDA). The theory of amyloid tangles is now being put to a test in a drug trial (see: Alzheimer’s...
Source: Lab Soft News - December 20, 2013 Category: Pathologists Authors: Bruce Friedman Tags: Healthcare Business Hospitals and Healthcare Delivery Medical Research Pharmaceutical Industry Source Type: blogs
Baxter completes patient enrollment in phase III trial of BAX 855, extended half-life rFVIII to treat haemophilia A
Baxter International Inc. has completed enrollment in its phase III clinical trial of BAX 855, an investigational extended half-life, recombinant factor VIII (rFVIII) treatment for haemophilia A. The ongoing trial is aimed at assessing the efficacy of the compound in reducing annualized bleed rates (ABR) in both prophylaxis and on-demand treatment schedules, and will also evaluate its safety and pharmacokinetic profile.BAX 855 was designed based on the full-length ADVATE [Antihemophilic Factor (Recombinant) Plasma/Albumin-Free Method] molecule, a product with 10 years of real-world experience. The BAX 855 molecule was modi...
Source: Medical Hemostat - November 15, 2013 Category: Technology Consultants Authors: hemostatguy at gmail.com (hemostat guy) Source Type: blogs
FDA Approves Kerecis’s Fish Skin Technology to Heal Wounds
Kerecis Limited (Reykjavik, Iceland) has received FDA approval for the fish skin-based MariGen Omega3 tissue-regeneration technology approved for use to treat chronic wounds due to diabetes or other circulatory problems. MariGen Omega3 products are decellularized fish skin sheets that have had cells and antigenic materials extracted. These fish skin sheets are similar to human skin, except that they contain Omega3 polyunsaturated fatty acids that are thought to promote wound healing along with other health benefits.
According to company’s press release, each year close to 6 million people in the US suffer fro...
Source: Medgadget - November 11, 2013 Category: Technology Consultants Authors: Gaurav Krishnamurthy Tags: Plastic Surgery Source Type: blogs
Iceland, Switzerland, and the Golden Rule of Fiscal Policy
Daniel J. Mitchell
Being a glass-half-full kind of guy, I look for kernels of good news when examining economic policy around the world. I once even managed to find something to praise about French tax policy. And I can assure you that’s not a very easy task.
I particularly try to find something positive to highlight when I’m a visitor. While in the Faroe Islands two days ago, for instance, I wrote about that jurisdiction’s new system of personal retirement accounts.
And now that I’m in Iceland, I want to focus on spending restraint.
As you can see from this chart, lawmakers in this island nation h...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - November 5, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Daniel J. Mitchell Source Type: blogs
What America Can Learn from the Faroe Islands about Social Security Reform
Daniel J. Mitchell
I’m currently in the Faroe Islands, a relatively unknown and semi-autonomous part of Denmark located in the North Atlantic. Sort of like Greenland, but too small to appear on most maps.
I’m in this chilly archipelago for a speech to the annual meeting of the Faroese People’s Party. According to Wikipedia, “the party is supportive of the economic liberalism.” But liberal in this context is classical liberal, so they’re my kind of people.
I spoke on the economics of fiscal policy and talked about issues such as my Golden Rule and the Laffer Curve, but today’s post is abou...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - November 4, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Daniel J. Mitchell Source Type: blogs
This Week in Mentalists – Last Chance to Nominate for the #TWIMAwards Edition
Hi all. The nominations for the This Week in Mentalists will close at the end of Thursday. You have until then to leave a comment on this blog post telling us your favourite mental health blogs and vlogs (note: you need to nominate at least two blogs or vlogs to be counted).
The top three in each category will be passed through to the judging panel to pick winners, and the results announced just before Christmas.
Several of the judges are esteemed bloggers in their own right. I think I’ll use this opportunity to take a peek at what some of them have been writing about this week.
Mental Health Cop has some musings in...
Source: Dawn Willis sharing the News and Views of the Mentally Wealthy - October 27, 2013 Category: Mental Illness Authors: Zarathustra Tags: Mental Health, The News & Policies. Source Type: blogs
iPhone Mayhem, Is Skyr the Next Greek Yogurt and More!
This morning, the iPhone 5S and 5C went on sale -- and caused the usual frenzy. But before you buy, make sure you get the model that's right for you. [NBC News; IGM]
Have you guys ever heard of Skyr? This Icelandic yogurt (it's been around since the 9th century!) is a major protein powerhouse and tastes less tart than its Greek counterpart. Yum! [Well+Good NYC] (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. - September 20, 2013 Category: Nutritionists and Food Scientists Tags: Morning Scoop Greek yogurt award show cocktails fitness news sleep study superfood technology Source Type: blogs
Current Wisdom: Greenland’s Disastrous SLR Is SOL
Patrick J. Michaels
The Current Wisdom is a series of monthly articles in which Patrick J. Michaels, director of the Center for the Study of Science, reviews interesting items on global warming in the scientific literature that may not have received the media attention that they deserved, or have been misinterpreted in the popular press.
Could President Obama have picked a worse time to announce his Climate Action Plan?
Global warming has been stuck in neutral for more than a decade and a half, scientists are increasingly suggesting that future climate change projections are overblown, and now, arguably the greatest threa...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - August 20, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Patrick J. Michaels Source Type: blogs
Best Post of January 2013: The Biggest Alzheimer Disease Discovery in 2012
Kári StefánssonThe next in our "Best of the Month" series is from January 4, 2013:Perhaps the biggest discovery in the Alzheimer research world last year was the identification of a mutation in APP that significantly decreases its cleavage by β-secretase, leading to 40% less production of amyloidogenic peptides in vitro. The researchers found the mutation (A673T) in the APP gene protects against Alzheimer’s disease and cognitive decline in the elderly without Alzheimer’s disease.Future drugs that can recreate this Aβ-reducing effect “should perhaps be given not only to people at risk of Alzheimer’s but to a...
Source: neuropathology blog - July 9, 2013 Category: Pathologists Source Type: blogs
Immigration Does Not Decrease Economic Freedom
Alex Nowrasteh
A common criticism of immigration reform (here, here, and here) is that it will decrease economic freedom in the United States, by increasing the voting pool for the Democratic Party. Leaving aside the issue of which party supports economic liberty, if any, it’s important to see what the actual impacts of immigration are on economic freedom in the United States and the world. The political effects of immigrants after they arrive are less certain than the economic benefits. Do immigrants decrease economic freedom in their new countries? The bottom line: fears of immigrants decreasin...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - July 8, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Alex Nowrasteh Source Type: blogs
