“Cat-upuncture”? What did those poor cats ever do to deserve this?
Acupuncture is quackery. As with naturopathy (a medical pseudo-“specialty” that embraces acupuncture and other so-called traditional Chinese medicine), when I write about acupuncture I like to start out with a provocative statement, a statement of—dare I say it?—judgment in order to shock new readers and let them know exactly where I’m coming from. Why I… (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - March 4, 2016 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Complementary and alternative medicine Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking acupuncture cats traditional Chinese medicine veterinary medicine Source Type: blogs
Post-Doc with Tecumseh Fitch in Vienna Department of Cognitive Biology
A post-doctoral research position is available in the Department of Cognitive Biology at the School of Life Sciences, University of Vienna, in the laboratory of Prof W Tecumseh Fitch. (duration up to five years). The main topic(s) of the position are flexible and will depend upon the skills and interests of the chosen applicant. In general, comparative research in bioacoustics, biomusicology and animal cognition will be favored. For example, ongoing research in the Fitch lab concerns the biology and evolution of language and music and the cognitive capacities underlying pattern perception in speech, music and complex visua...
Source: Talking Brains - February 16, 2016 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Greg Hickok Source Type: blogs
An Interview with Gary Hudson of Oisin Biotechnologies, Senescent Cell Clearance Startup
As an approach to treating aging, senescent cell clearance has come of age. Rapid progress in a number of strategies has taken place in the past couple of years, UNITY Biotechnology made their big splash announcement of intent a few weeks ago, and life extension has been robustly demonstrated in mice through the removal of senescent cells. It is a great time for SENS, the Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence, as this one important strand of rejuvenation research - supported and advocated for more than a decade - is now energetically moving into clinical development. This pulls in previously unavailable funding f...
Source: Fight Aging! - February 15, 2016 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Healthy Life Extension Community Source Type: blogs
European Medicines Agency: Framework for Interaction with Industry
The European Medicines Agency's (EMA) Management Board has adopted a new framework to govern interaction between the Agency and industry stakeholders. The framework covers interactions involving human and veterinary medicine, however there are still unanswered questions about specific products and procedures that will be resolved by internal EMA departments. The adopted framework seeks to facilitate and streamline communication, structure interactions, increase accountability and transparency, and includes a plan to monitor and report on interactions.
According to the EMA's minutes, comments by the European Commission on...
Source: Policy and Medicine - February 2, 2016 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan - Policy & Medicine Writing Staff Source Type: blogs
MALDI-TOF Mass Spectrometry in Microbiology
Markus Kostrzewa and Sören Schubert present a new book on MALDI-TOF Mass Spectrometry in Microbiology In this timely and up-to-date book, experts in the field provide an overview of the application of MALDI-TOF MS in key areas of microbiology and discuss the impact this modern technology is having on laboratory practice and patient outcome. Several chapters cover applications in clinical and veterinary diagnostic laboratories, food microbiology, environmental microbiology and strain collections. Further chapters discuss the utilization of MALDI-TOF MS for the analysis of challenging microbial groups such as yeast and ...
Source: Microbiology Blog: The weblog for microbiologists. - January 13, 2016 Category: Microbiology Source Type: blogs
On the twelfth day of Christmas my journals gave to me…
This study published in BMC Evolutionary Biology in particular focused on piranhas and aimed to determine the evolutionary lineage of such a characteristic.
Eleven: Cpipe pipelines
Overview of Cpipe workflow, click to enlargeSadedin et al., 2015
A software article from Genome Medicine reports the implementation of Cpipe. This is an exome analysis pipeline designed specifically for clinical genetic disease diagnostics. Its aim is to provide fast, effective and reproducible analysis, while also being highly flexible and customizable to meet the individual needs of diverse clinical settings.
This is vital, as clinical implem...
Source: BioMed Central Blog - December 22, 2015 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Sophie Marchant Tags: Biology Health Medicine Source Type: blogs
The Bacteriocins
Robert L. Dorit, Sandra M. Roy and Margaret A. Riley present a new book on The Bacteriocins: Current Knowledge and Future Prospects In this volume, a range of experts explore our current understanding of the biology of these important compounds, and identify the prospects for their use in medical and veterinary applications. In so doing, this volume introduces the vast diversity of bacteriocin molecules and mechanisms and brings readers to the cutting edge of a new XXIst century approach to antibiotic discovery and design. Topics covered include: the natural history of bacteriocins; killing strategies and applications of m...
Source: Microbiology Blog: The weblog for microbiologists. - December 11, 2015 Category: Microbiology Source Type: blogs
Outbreak at Konkut University: MERS-CoV infection ?
The School of Veterinary Medicine at Konkut University is surprisingly close to Konkut University Hospital, where a number of patients were recently treated for MERS CoV virus infection. In the following campus map, the Veterinary School and Hosital are denoted by numbers 15 and 30, respectively; and number 12 identifies the Animal Science School.
Significantly, a paper published by the school in 2007 suggests that at least some of the veterinary staff have been involved in work with camels. [1]
Have these patients been tested for MERS CoV viral infection?
Reference:
1. Reference:
1. Abd El-Aty AM1, Goudah ...
Source: GIDEON blog - November 3, 2015 Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Dr. Stephen Berger Tags: Diagnosis Epidemiology ProMED Korea MERS-CoV Source Type: blogs
Infant Dies Following 5 Vaccine Doses
Life after losing a loved one to vaccines is very painful. With a heavy heart, we share Sebastian Ryan Morley’s story. He was a healthy boy whose life ended after routine vaccinations. Sebastian’s mother and grandmother have worked many years in both the veterinary and human healthcare fields. What they were taught in school led them to believe vaccines were safe, but now they will never vaccinate again. We thank his family for coming forward and sharing very important information the public isn’t usually made aware of.
Sebastian’s grandmother, Valerie Murfin, shared:
“On December 11, 2002, when my grandson Sebas...
Source: vactruth.com - September 5, 2015 Category: Allergy & Immunology Authors: Augustina Ursino Tags: Top Stories Augustina Ursino Human Hepatitis B vaccine VAERS vaccine injury dtap Vaccine Death adverse reactions truth about vaccines Sebastian Ryan Morley Valerie Murfin Source Type: blogs
Why Do Pets Have Better Web Portals For Medical Records Than Humans?
One of the inescapable realities of having children is that it is very likely you will also have pets. And with pets come responsibilities that you naively thought would fall on someone else, such as walking your dog or taking your cat to the veterinarian. Fortunately, to make my life easier, my vet provides access to a health information web portal for my pets, and has done so for some time now.
However, it was not until the recent release of proposed revisions to Stage 2 Meaningful Use requirements from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) that I realized perhaps web portal designers for human electronic ...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - August 7, 2015 Category: Health Management Authors: José Pagán Tags: Featured Health IT Health Professionals Hospitals Population Health CMS EHRs health technology patients pets Stage 2 Meaningful Use requirements web portals Source Type: blogs
Texas Regulators Bark Up the Wrong Tree
For almost 50 years, Dr. Ronald Hines has been a licensed veterinarian in Texas. After a spinal cord injury prevented him from continuing to provide in-person services, Dr. Hines started a website to provide advice on pet care. He never tried to be an animal’s primary veterinarian—he noted a disclaimer to that effect—and did not prescribe medication.
After a decade of such practice without any complaints or problems, the Texas State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners charged Dr. Hines with violating state law by failing to be physically present at the location of the pets before providing veterinary services....
Source: Cato-at-liberty - July 27, 2015 Category: American Health Authors: Ilya Shapiro Source Type: blogs
Why Does Human Post-Reproductive Longevity Exist?
Human life span is quite unusual in that it includes a prolonged post-reproductive period in females and the existence of menopause. This is observed in some other species in captivity, provided with the benefits of life-long veterinary care, but in the wild very few species indeed share this characteristic with us. Of these, killer whales are the nearest to us in the evolutionary tree of life. None of our closer relatives, such as other primates, experience menopause. They are in addition short-lived in comparison to our length of life. Chimpanzees and gorillas top out at 50-60 years of age in captivity, and a decade or m...
Source: Fight Aging! - May 29, 2015 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs
Update on French Sunshine Law
The Sunshine Act in the United States is but one physician payment disclosure obligation for manufacturers of drugs and devices to keep track of. We recently wrote about Medicines Australia’s transparency code; additionally, the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) Disclosure Code sets out self-regulatory industry transparency standards for pharmaceutical companies operating in 33 European countries. Before Australia and EFPIA, however, the country of France instituted a law—the Bertrand Act—that requires companies to make public (1) any “benefits” given to health professional...
Source: Policy and Medicine - May 12, 2015 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan Source Type: blogs
Flesh-Eating Vasculitis from Cocaine Adulterant
My father was a small-town preacher. I heard the Bible verse that begins with the phrase “For the wages of sin is death” many, many times. Admittedly, it comes to mind at least once every shift I work in the ED. The cyanotic and apneic heroin overdose patient dropped off by “friends,” the drunk driver who just killed someone, or the pack-a-day cigarette smoker receiving news of lung cancer are all examples of self-destructive scenarios that might stimulate this memory.
I had read about levamisole-adulterated cocaine causing a flesh-destructive vasculitis, but had not seen a patient with this condition until re...
Source: M2E Too! Mellick's Multimedia EduBlog - May 1, 2015 Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs
