When Is It the Better Part of Valor to Keep Your Mouth Shut?
Opinions abound on topics ranging from politics to religion, from relationships to climate change. Conversations no longer just happen around the water cooler at work. With the advent of social media, sharing those beliefs is as easy as tapping fingers on keyboard and pressing “post.”
There was a time when the “taboo subjects” of sex, religion, and death were simply not discussed in polite company. These days, the gloves are off and we go at it with gusto, daring to strike back at anyone who disagrees with our finely-honed perception of how life should be.
Trolls are part of the mucky mix of missiv...
Source: World of Psychology - January 11, 2019 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Edie Weinstein, MSW, LSW Tags: Relationships Self-Esteem Self-Help Technology internet trolls offense opinion Resentment social media Source Type: blogs
The Mysteries Surrounding Rhodes Pharmaceuticals, the Sackler Family's Second Opioid Company
Mysteries still abound in the not so wonderful world of health care dysfunction, so, quick, the game ' s afoot...Today ' s mysteries involve beneficial ownership. Beneficial ownership questions are important to anti-corruption campaigners. Beneficial ownership simply refers to " anyone who enjoys the benefits of ownership of a security or property, without being on the record as being the owner. " (per Wikipedia). Concealing who really owns a company enables concealing sources of funds (as in money laundering), market power (when the owner also owns competitors), and sources of political influence, and en...
Source: Health Care Renewal - January 8, 2019 Category: Health Management Tags: anechoic effect concentration of power conflicts of interest dark money deception Donald Trump health care corruption marketing narcotics Purdue Pharma Source Type: blogs
Sunday Sermonette: Strange Interlude
We have seen that Genesis is a conglomeration of stories and fragments from various sources. Most of it likely existed in some form as pre-literate oral tradition before being written down. These have been stitched together into the semblance of a historical narrative, but it ' s filled with continuity errors, contradictions, impossibilities and absurdities, multiple versions of the same story, omissions and elisions, gratuitous factoids. The story of Joseph, as we noted, seems more coherent and better crafted than most of what has gone before. It was likely the thoughtful creation of a relatively skilled author, rather th...
Source: Stayin' Alive - December 30, 2018 Category: American Health Source Type: blogs
The neverending story – unintended consequences
This article points out the unintended consequence of this regulations – LOWER READMISSIONS LINKED TO HIGHER RISK OF DEATH
Regulators and insurance companies are impacting patient care through their well-intended rules. They do not seem think deeply about their rules. If they would use premortem examinations, perhaps we would have less of these problems. I wrote about this 2 years ago – Incentives without forethought
The continued problem of unintended consequences is one that many medical societies have addressed. I am most familiar with ACP. Their current Patients before Paperwork initiative makes many ...
Source: DB's Medical Rants - December 26, 2018 Category: Internal Medicine Authors: rcentor Tags: Medical Rants Source Type: blogs
Mind your language!
“Words are pale shadows of forgotten names. As names have power, words have power. Words can light fires in the minds of men. Words can wring tears from the hardest hearts.” ― Patrick Rothfuss, The Name of the Wind
So much has been written about language, and I am not a linguist. I am, however, often accused of being pedantic because I like to use words with precision.
In the world of pain rehabilitation/management/treatment/care (see what I did there?!) certain words seem to spark a huge debate. Words like “pain”, “nociception”, “suffering”, “harm”, ̶...
Source: HealthSkills Weblog - December 16, 2018 Category: Anesthesiology Authors: BronnieLennoxThompson Tags: Off topic Pain conditions Professional topics Education ego gurusim meanings Source Type: blogs
Ad Hominem
There are manylogical fallacies that have been formally identified and you may profit from following the link and seeing a big long list.A particularly common fallacy is called ad hominem. The linked Wikipedia article defines it as " attacking the arguer instead of the argument. " There are sub-types, for example "Circumstantial ad hominem - stating that the arguers personal situation or perceived benefit from advancing a conclusion means that their conclusion is wrong, " and "Traitorous critic fallacy (ergo decedo, ' thus leave ' ) – a critic ' s perceived affiliation is portrayed as the underlying reason for the critic...
Source: Stayin' Alive - December 14, 2018 Category: American Health Source Type: blogs
Extreme Healing, Weird Genomics, and Bloodsucking Invaders
Quick quiz: Which organism . . .
Can regrow a severed spinal cord?
Is a culinary delicacy overseas but an invasive pest in the U.S.?
Reveals insights about tissue regeneration, evolution, and cancer biology?
Give up? It’s the sea lamprey.
A direct descendant of one of the first organisms to develop a backbone, these remarkable creatures are considered “living fossils.” Best of all, they can regrow a severed spinal cord—a feat we humans can only dream about. Credit: Jeramiah Smith, University of Kentucky.
This leechlike creature has several unusual—and enviable—characteristics that make it an ideal resea...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - December 12, 2018 Category: Research Authors: Alisa Zapp Machalek Tags: Genetics Cellular Processes Chromosomes Cool Creatures Research Organisms Wound Healing Source Type: blogs
Are the Per-Country Limits Necessary to Promote “Diversity”?
The most popularpiece of legislation in the House of Representatives —with 329 cosponsors—would phase out and eliminatethe per-country limits for employment-based green cards, while doubling the limits for family-based immigrants. These per-country limits discriminate against nationals of countries with high demand for green cards. For employment-based immigrants, immigrants from India receiving green cards in 2018waited a decade, Chinese immigrants waited 3 years, while everyone else waited less than a year.It is fundamentally unfair to make equally qualified employees of U.S. businesses wait ten times as long based o...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - December 5, 2018 Category: American Health Authors: David Bier Source Type: blogs
An interview with Rosi Sexton: polymath
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On Sunday 23 September, we recorded an interview with Rosi Sexton. Ever since I got to know her, I’ve been impressed by her polymathy. She’s a musician, a mathematician and a champion athlete, and now an osteopath: certainly an unusual combination. You can read about her on her Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosi_Sexton.
The video is long and wide-ranging, so I’ll give some bookmarks, in case you don’t want to watch it all. (And please excuse my garish London marathon track suit.)
Rosi recently started to take piano lessons again, after a 20 year break. She plays Chopin in the int...
Source: DC's goodscience - November 22, 2018 Category: Science Authors: David Colquhoun Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
An interview with Rosi Sexton: polymath
Jump to follow-up
On Sunday 23 September, we recorded an interview with Rosi Sexton. Ever since I got to know her, I’ve been impressed by her polymathy. She’s a musician, a mathematician and a champion athlete, and now an osteopath: certainly an unusual combination. You can read about her on her Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosi_Sexton.
The video is long and wide-ranging, so I’ll give some bookmarks, in case you don’t want to watch it all. (And please excuse my garish London marathon track suit.)
Rosi recently started to take piano lessons again, after a 20 year break. She plays Chopin in the int...
Source: DC's goodscience - November 22, 2018 Category: Science Authors: David Colquhoun Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
Manifestations of Fear in Cross-Cultural Interpretations of Sleep Paralysis
Frontispiece from:Blicke in die Traum- und Geisterwelt (A look into the dream and spirit world), byFriedrich Voigt (1854).What are you most afraid of? Not finding a permanent job? Getting a divorce and losing your family? Losing your funding? Not making this month ' s rent? Not having a roof over your head? Natural disasters? Nuclear war? Cancer? Having a loved one die of cancer?FAILURE?There are many types ofspecific phobias (snakes, spiders, heights, enclosed spaces,clowns,mirrors, etc.), but that ' s not what I ' m talking about here.What are youreally afraid of? Death? Pain? A painful death?Devils, demons, ghosts, witc...
Source: The Neurocritic - November 21, 2018 Category: Neuroscience Authors: The Neurocritic Source Type: blogs
How the President ’s Communication Style Is Like That of an Abusive Parent
Abuse is defined as, “the improper usage or treatment of an entity, often to unfairly or improperly gain benefit. Abuse can come in many forms, such as: physical or verbal maltreatment, injury, assault, violation, rape, unjust practices, crimes, or other types of aggression.”1
The more I hear the president speak, the more he presents as an abusive parent, with name-calling, threats and bullying hurled at those who disagree with his policies and public persona. The intention is to control through intimidation in order to maintain his version of reality. This is a common theme among those I have served as a career...
Source: World of Psychology - November 17, 2018 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Edie Weinstein, MSW, LSW Tags: Anger Bullying Communication Minding the Media Narcissism Personal Trauma Abusive Parent Abusive Treatment Authoritarian Parenting Child Abuse President Trump Source Type: blogs
Another social psychology classic bites the dust – meta-analysis finds little evidence for the Macbeth effect
Figure from Siev et al, 2018. The effect of unethical primes on cleansing preference – positive effect sizes denote greater cleansing preference for the unethical condition than the ethical condition.
By guest blogger Jesse Singal
Perhaps no concept has been more important to social psychology in recent years — for good and ill — than “social priming”, or the idea, as the science writer Neuroskeptic once put it, that “subtle cues can exert large, unconscious influences on human behaviour.” This subgenre of research has produced a steady drumbeat of interesting findings, but unfortunately, an increasing numbe...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - November 16, 2018 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: BPS Research Digest Tags: guest blogger Morality Replications Social Source Type: blogs
Bernard L. Ginsborg (1925 – 2018). A tribute.
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If you are not a pharmacologist or physiologist, you may never have heard of Bernard Ginsborg. I first met him in 1960. He was a huge influence on me and a great friend. I’m publishing this here because the Physiological Society has published only a brief obituary.
Bernard with his wife, Andy (Andrina).
You can download the following documents.
Biography written by one of his daughters, Jane Ginsborg.
Bernard’s scientific work, written by Donald H. Jenkinson (who knew him from his time in Bernard Katz’s Department of Biophysics).
A tribute by Randall House, who collaborated with Berna...
Source: DC's goodscience - November 2, 2018 Category: Science Authors: David Colquhoun Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
