Tag Archives: Health

New model may help scientists better predict and prevent influenza outbreaks

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Athens, Ga. – Each year, the influenza virus evolves. And each year, public health officials try to predict what the new strain will be and how it will affect the population in order to best combat it.

A new study by an international team of researchers, led by assistant professor Andrew W. Park, who holds a joint appointment in the University of Georgia Odum School of Ecology and in the College of Veterinary Medicine, may make their task a little easier. The study breaks ground by working across scales and linking sub-molecular changes in the influenza virus to the likelihood of influenza outbreaks. The paper, published in the Oct. 30 edition of the journal Science, shows the relationship between the evolution of the virus and immunization rates needed to prevent an outbreak in the population.

Park explained that these findings can help inform efforts to prevent future outbreaks. “Public health officials will be able to assess the usefulness of a vaccine based upon its relationship to the current influenza strain and the population’s immunity level,” he said.

Continue reading New model may help scientists better predict and prevent influenza outbreaks →

Hispanic Children Rarely Get Top-Notch Care For Brain Tumors

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Hispanic children diagnosed with brain tumors get high-quality treatment at hospitals that specialize in neurosurgery far less often than other children with the same condition, potentially compromising their immediate prognosis and long-term survival, according to research from Johns Hopkins published in October’s Pediatrics.

More than a decade after the Institute of Medicine’s landmark report Crossing the Quality Chasm, the Hopkins investigators say their findings detect persistent gaps in access to specialized care among certain patients, raising questions about how far across the chasm we have actually come.

Details here.

How effective is the flu shot?

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There are several answers to this question. One was overheard the other day among a bunch of well educated people oriented towards science who were taking a break from their job.

Person 1: “So, how effective is the seasonal flu shot?”

Person 2: “I heard about 1%. If you get the flu shot, you’ll have a 1% difference in if you get the flu.”

Person 3: “That’s crazy. I don’t know where you are getting your data from. It can’t be 1%, but I admit I don’t know what the actual answer is, but it can’t be that.”

Persons 4 through 6: “Well, if YOU don’t know, and HE says 1%, I’m going with the 1%. Too much trouble to get a flu shot anyway.”

Person 3: “Wait, wait! That’s crazy! That makes no sense!” as persons 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6 are filing out of the break room to go back to work. “You can’t leave thinking that 1% is correct! It can’t be correct!!!”

Person 5: [Over her shoulder on the way out the door.] “Hey, why don’t you go ask your husband. He’s a Scienceblogger, right?”
Continue reading How effective is the flu shot? →

Jennifer Lopez Vaccinated her Baby

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i-a26e5786ae623ddc25a277a6acf447cd-JloPertussis150.jpgMost of the time that you hear a Sbling mention the ads on scienceblogs.com we’re whinging about one thing or another. Russian brides here, woo and snake oil there. You know the routine. So, I thought I’d note that we currently seem to be running an ad staring Jennifer Lopez encouraging you to vaccinate your baby for pertussis. Which has been recently talked about here.

So next time you see an obnoxious offensive ad on scienceblogs, complain to us about it as loudly as ever. This pertussis ad does not get us any advanced brownie points. But at least, you’ll know that sometimes marketing, advertising dollars, the Seed/Scienceblogs.com vision and our ultimate quest for world domination come together.

Medical Ghostwriting Unethically Pushed Hormone Replacement Therapy

Gender, Reproductive Biology, Sex,

Ghostwriting, in the scientific medical literature, is the production of marketing literature which is then disguised as scientific literature. Part of this disguise is the appending of “authors” who are actual scientists who would normally write their own papers.

Newly unveiled court documents show that ghostwriters paid by a pharmaceutical company played a major role in producing 26 scientific papers backing the use of hormone replacement therapy in women, suggesting that the level of hidden industry influence on medical literature is broader than previously known.

NYT – caution, page contains obnoxious advertising

PLoS Medicine, an Open Access scientific journal, sued for the release of documents related to ghostwriting and on July 24th of htis year, US. District Judge william Wilson, Jr. granted a motion for discovery [PDF: Case 4:03-cv-01507-WRW Document 2120].

Now, PLoS Medicine has created a web page that allows access to this archive of Ghostwriting related information.

It is apropos that this happens at this time. Ghostwriting is the more genteel and less shouty, but in many ways more insidious, side of a kind f large scale “astroturfing” by the medical industry. We see bough-off “Libertarians,” LaRouchites, Republicans, and other conservatives being bussed around to scream at Democratic congressmen at Town Hall meetings in the US, and with Ghostwriting we see products promoted through what is supposed to be an independent and trustworthy channel: the scientific peer reviewed literature. Both are dishonest practices designed to line the pockets of investors, CEO’s and everyone in between in the medical industry. In the first instance, this is done by ensuring that real competition (facilitated by a public option for health care) does not happen, and in the latter, by competing in the marketplace of lies.

Enjoy. Or, be disgusted. As it were. Everything can be accessed here.

Thank you PLoS for doing this cool thing.

Do people have an intrinsic right to health care?

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Many promoters of health-care reform believe that people have an intrinsic ethical right to health care–to equal access to doctors, medicines and hospitals. While all of us empathize with those who are sick, how can we say that all people have more of an intrinsic right to health care than they have to food or shelter?

Continue reading Do people have an intrinsic right to health care? →

Who gets the first flu shots?

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It is decided. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices has met, ruminated, voted, and now decrees that pregnant women, health care workers, and children over six months old will be vaccinated first. The reason we even need to worry about this is that there will not be nearly enough flu vaccine to go around in the event of a real surge in the novel swine flu.

Continue reading Who gets the first flu shots? →

On Generic Drugs and Health Care Savings

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When Ella was three years old, she began exhibiting strange behaviors and for several days we had no clue as to their meaning. She was having difficulty with her toilet training, and we guessed that the stress was manifesting itself in what we shortly learned were partial-complex seizures. The expressions varied in the first few days, so when we attempted to describe them to the primary care physician, he was prone to agree with our assessment but asked us to come back in if the behaviors continued….

A new post by Mike at Quiche Moraine.