Interesting

Research shows gamers are better virtual surgeons than residents

The study used machines that replicate surgical procedures — suturing, passing off needles and other tasks. The participants' competency was based on such things as how much tension was placed on the instruments and hand eye coordination.
In addition to the gamer group doing better, there was an interesting finding among their subset. This group had been composed of high school students who played two hours a day and college students who played four. It turns out the high school students did the best.

Tweet of the Day

“Deranged people eating other people's faces, now Twinkies will disappear. Start working on your cardio because Zombieland is happening now.” - @DaveLozo

ht Examiner.com

Crazy Ideas

Denise sent me this link.   It has lots of interesting stuff in it.

The Insanity Virus

Schizophrenia has long been blamed on bad genes or even bad parents. Wrong, says a growing group of psychiatrists. The real culprit, they claim, is a virus that lives entwined in every person's DNA. 

I'm not sure of that, but I do approve of the infection/autoimmune theory in general...

If you get to the end of the article, they conclude this:

One might expect that the disease would be associated with genes controlling our synapses or neurotransmitters. Three major studies published last year in the journal Nature tell a different story. They instead implicate immune genes called human leukocyte antigens (HLAs), which are central to our body’s ability to detect invading pathogens. “That makes a lot of sense,” Yolken says. “The response to an infectious agent may be why person A gets schizophrenia and person B doesn’t.”

Unintended Consequences

Antibiotic resistance 'big threat to health'

Resistance to antibiotics is one of the greatest threats to modern health, experts say.
The warning from England's chief medical officer and the Health Protection Agency comes amid reports of growing problems with resistant strains of bugs such as E. coli and gonorrhoea. They said many antibiotics were being used unnecessarily for mild infections, helping to create resistance.

The antibiotic resistant strains are only part of the story.  As I have said before- doctors have created subclinical strains of these pathogens by their indiscriminate use of these drugs.  Strains they do not detect with their tests.   Strains that still make us sick. 
Their solution for acute illness has created chronic illness instead.

The Bright Side of Brain Damage

Rappers' Brains: Relaxed 'Executive Function' May Enable Freestyle Raps

The results parallel previous imaging studies in which Braun and Charles Limb, a doctor and musician at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, looked at fMRI scans from jazz musicians. Both sets of artists showed lower activity in part of their frontal lobes called the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex during improvisation, and increased activity in another area, called the medial prefrontal cortex. The areas that were found to be ‘deactivated’ are associated with regulating other brain functions.

Suppressed frontal cortex.  
Enhanced medial cortex.    

Very easily induced by-
Orexin deficiency.
Dopamine mimicry.
 
For the record, I do not feel like I "wrote" either one of my websites.   They were completely done in my head before I even started typing.   I just transcribed what was there.

Definition of the Day

Intellectual Zombies — beliefs and concepts that have been killed by evidence but that keep shambling forward nonetheless, trying to eat our brains.   -Paul Krugman

Things that make me Dance

Dopamine Agonists.
Antibodies to surface dopamine-2 receptor in autoimmune movement and psychiatric disorders. 
Various antibodies to dopamine receptors have been found and specific types are associated with specific disorders.  Booyah.

Here's a very good review article on the current strep autoimmune hypotheses.

Lies of Omission

Funny, the American Heart Association didn't announce this at their conference.

Beta blockers are busted 

The 20 or so beta blockers now on the market are very widely used - almost 200 million prescriptions were written for them in the US in 2010. They are standard issue for most people with heart disease or high blood pressure. This may now change.

A large study published last month in The Journal of the American Medical Association found that beta blockers did not prolong the lives of patients - a revelation that must have left many cardiologists shaking their heads (JAMA, vol 308, p 1340).

The researchers followed almost 45,000 heart patients over three-and-a-half years and found that beta blockers did not reduce the risk of heart attacks, deaths from heart attacks, or stroke.

While this is not definitive, it's pretty damning, especially when another study - published just days earlier - found pretty much the same thing (Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, vol 60, p 1854).

A View of the Vortex

When it is good it is very very good.

Have a Good Weekend!

Hundreds of pot cases dismissed

King and Pierce County prosecutors are dismissing more than 220 misdemeanor marijuana cases in response to Tuesday’s vote to decriminalize small amounts of pot.
In King County, 175 cases are being dismissed involving people 21 and older and possession of one ounce or less. I-502 makes one ounce of marijuana legal on Dec. 6, but King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg decided to apply I-502 retroactively.
“Although the effective date of I-502 is not until December 6, there is no point in continuing to seek criminal penalties for conduct that will be legal next month.”

What a week that was.

Mary Todd Lincoln suffered from Narcolepsy

It's all there.
Sleep problems- nightmares and vivid dreams, hallucinations
Mood problems-  major depression, obsession, tantrums
Endocrine problems- short, obese.
Obvious dental symptoms.
Surely one of us.

The Circle of Insanity

Whiner of the Year.  

Anders Behring Breivik's prison conditions 'inhumane'

Anders Behring Breivik complained in a letter to the prison service that his coffee is served cold, he does not have enough butter for his bread, and he is not allowed moisturiser.
Breivik is serving a minimum 21-year sentence for the bombings and shootings in Oslo and Utoeya island last July.
The Norwegian authorities have not commented on the letter.
However his lawyer has confirmed that the details of the 27-page document leaked to Norway's VG newspaper are authentic.

Behold the power of dopamine.

Gluten Free Giving

Doughnuts Pay for Man's Prosthetic Legs

His web page is here.

Correlation Games

Earlobe creases linked to heart attacks, and other questionable study findings
I have seen that article everywhere, and she does a good job of debunking it.

But I would like to point out that all of these things are symptoms of infections known to cause heart disease.   The AHA knows that heart disease is caused by periodontal infection and is doing everything in their power to obfuscate and divert attention away from that simple information their Pharma Industry Donors don't want you to know.

This is a dubious study and yet there is a reason they are publicizing it at their conference.
It is sufficiently vague to get a lot of people in to see a doctor and get some "testing".

Brain Eating Zombie of the Day

Leonard Martin

Gargling Sugar Water Boosts Self-Control, Study Finds

According to a study co-authored by University of Georgia professor of psychology Leonard Martin ... a mouth rinse with glucose improves self-control.
...Half of the students rinsed their mouths with lemonade sweetened with sugar while performing the Stroop test, the other half with Splenda-sweetened lemonade. Students who rinsed with sugar, rather than artificial sweetener, were significantly faster at responding to the color rather than the word.
..."Researchers used to think you had to drink the glucose and get it into your body to give you the energy to (have) self control," Martin said. "After this trial, it seems that glucose stimulates the simple carbohydrate sensors on the tongue. This, in turn, signals the motivational centers of the brain where our self-related goals are represented. These signals tell your body to pay attention."

Holy Crap.
This nonsense is going to be picked up on every news outlet on the planet.
There is nothing sugar addicts would rather hear.

Sugar sweetened lemonade.   The perfect bacterial trigger.
This experiment is measuring strep induced immune response, not glucose sensing.

And I especially like they way he warps "attention" into ''self-control".   They are not the same thing.
Trust me, I have no self control when my attention (read: obsession) gets too high.    

If he did his experiment using kids from Georgia-  he needs to do it again.
And remove all the students with gum disease.
I wonder if there will be enough left to test...

But of Course

Health-Care Law Spurs a Shift to Part-Time Workers 

Several restaurants, hotels and retailers have started or are preparing to limit schedules of hourly workers to below 30 hours a week. That is the threshold at which large employers in 2014 would have to offer workers a minimum level of insurance or pay a penalty starting at $2,000 for each worker. 

Old Song of the Day

It's a good day for the forces of sanity.

Quote of the Day

“I thought I was doing the right thing. I thought I was doing the right thing.”
-Staff Sgt. Robert Bales

Bad Habits

Unholy Obsession.
Gambling-addicted NY nun stole $128,000

A nun with a gambling addiction was accused of stealing $128,000 from two rural parishes where she worked.
Sister Mary Anne Rapp was treated for a gambling addiction and is in recovery, her order said Monday, but she still faces a criminal charge of grand larceny following the thefts from the St. Mary and St. Mark congregations. She was expected to plead not guilty at an initial appearance in Kendall Town Court on Monday evening.
...Wyss said the order does not condone the conduct but continues to pray for Sister Mary Anne as she deals with her addiction.

As I said before, impulse control problems permeate every segment of society.

Go Figure

GAO: Doctors' 'self-referrals' cost Medicare more than $100M

In 2010, doctors who self-referred made 400,000 more referrals than they would have if they didn't have a financial interest in ordering more tests, GAO said. The added referrals cost Medicare roughly $109 million. GAO examined doctors' referrals for MRIs and CT scans over a six-year period. The number of self-referrals for MRIs grew by 80 percent in that time, while non-self referrals grew by only 12 percent, GAO found.
Unnecessary referrals for some tests can be harmful to patients, not just the Medicare program. Tests that use radiation — including CT scans — can increase the risk of cancer.

Sorry State of the Union

Increase Seen in U.S. Suicide Rate Since Recession

The rate of suicide in the United States rose sharply during the first few years since the start of the recession, a new analysis has found.

In the report, which appeared Sunday on the Web site of The Lancet, a medical journal, researchers found that the rate between 2008 and 2010 increased four times faster than it did in the eight years before the recession.

They correlate it to unemployment.
Which I link to less protein and less dental care.

Money for Nothing

MS drug 'rebranded' – at up to 20 times the price

A pharmaceutical company stands accused of putting profit before patients after withdrawing a drug used in the treatment of a chronic debilitating disease – ahead of relaunching it at a price predicted to be up to 20 times higher.

That's some pretty expensive lipstick on that old pig.

Reminds me of why I hate pharmas-  The CFO of my company came and gave a budget talk.   He said we were dumping millions of dollars every year into finding a treatment for Septicemia-  a deadly infection you usually get in a hospital-  because if we did find one-   "We will be able to charge anything we want for it".   He actually said that out loud in front of a lot of people.  He suggested TWENTY THOUSAND dollars per dose.   To survive an infection the doctor gave you...

Your money or your life.   That's their business model.

(for the record, I ran to the bathroom and cried and vomited.  And promptly went on a three week sabbatical.  And then I gave my notice.)

Crimes of Passion

Wasn't me, I swear.

Woman pleads guilty to breaking in, cleaning home

A woman accused of breaking into a home west of Cleveland, cleaning it and leaving a bill for $75 has pleaded guilty to attempted burglary.

Microbial Whak-a-Mole

How and Why Herpes Viruses Reactivate to Cause Disease

In the report, scientists show how the immune system may lose its control over the virus when facing new microbial threats, such as when it must fend off other viral invaders or bacteria.
...To make this discovery, researchers studied mice with latent herpes family cytomegalovirus (CMV) during severe bacterial infections. They found that T-cells responsible for CMV control were reduced significantly during a new infection with bacteria. This, in effect, reduced the "brakes" which kept the virus under control, allowing the virus to reactivate and cause disease. When the immune system eventually sensed the reactivation, the memory T-cell levels returned to normal, effectively restoring the body's control over the virus.

Story of my life.

Totally off-topic

But I love this article.

UW students' 3-D printer to turn trash into better lives in Third World

A team of University of Washington students has developed a machine that can "print" large plastic objects out of garbage.

Making a better world, one obsession at a time...