Month: June 2012

June 26, 2012 ScienceEveryday (medical imaging is separate) Post a Comment

FDA and medical smartphone apps

FDA and medical smartphone apps

From the article:

…federal regulators lurched into action a year ago, offering their thinking on how to police this vast new frontier. Just as they were putting the finishing touches on a plan, lawmakers intervened. The Senate moved to put the plan on hold after tech firms convinced lawmakers that more government oversight would stifle innovation and cost jobs.

“There are two completely different mindsets,” said Merrill Matthews, a resident scholar at the Institute for Policy Innovation. “The app people think: Where is there a need and how do I fill it? And the FDA thinks: Where is there a problem and how can I control it?”

There’s a fine balance between a regulation free, wild wild west scenario and the stupidity which is our patent, trademark, and copyright system. It’s true that the mobile tech space moves way too fast for an agency like the FDA. However, I guarantee, the first person that gets hurt from a medical app is going to sue everyone under the sun and blame the government for not protecting the average Joe/Jane.

#ScienceEveryday  

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-0626-health-apps-20120626,0,4426493.story

June 24, 2012 ScienceEveryday (medical imaging is separate) Post a Comment

Blue for you or Pretty in Pink?

Blue for you or Pretty in Pink?

About  week ago I posted some pictures of my Hydrangeas that were just starting to bloom. http://goo.gl/Gn47h  I noticed that on the same plant, some of the flowers were blue and others were pink. I knew that pH played a role but I found out that it is actually the aluminum in the soil that make the blue pigment possible. So for ScienceSunday curated by Allison Sekuler Rajini Rao Robby Bowles and me, I had to dig up more info to post along with pictures from today.

When the pH is acidic, aluminum in the soil, mostly from clay, allows a metal complex of aluminum and a anthocyanin, named delphinidin 3-monoglucoside, to form. After the pictures, the first figure is of the aluminum complex. The next figure shows various blue flowers with sections cut revealing the pigment cells and protoplasts.

Although the next two figures are about Morning glories, they were too interesting to pass up. A certain ScienceSunday co-curator always has her eyes on certain channels. Similar to the previous figure, there is a cross section-cut revealing the pigmented cells. However, the paper and figure go on to discuss how the Morning glory does not have metal complexation. The petal color changes during flower opening due to pH changes which were measured in the second part of the figure. The final figure show the purported ion channel mechanism.

Plants can be beautiful. When you throw in a dash of science, they can be beautiful and intriguing.

Edit I forgot to add that a lot of insects leave hydrangeas alone. Why? Aluminum toxicity – win – win for us gardeners.

Sources: 

Kumi Yoshida ,  Mihoko Mori and Tadao Kondo

Nat. Prod. Rep., 2009,26, 884-915

DOI: 10.1039/B800165K http://goo.gl/VGlZH

http://goo.gl/CcFg6

So is it Men At Work – Blue For You (1983) or The Psychedelic Furs – Pretty In Pink ?

#ScienceSunday #ScienceEveryday

June 17, 2012 ScienceEveryday (medical imaging is separate) Post a Comment

Hey scientist, smile!

Hey scientist, smile!

Note to self: smile more often. This reminds me of one day my sister called and said my 9 yr old nephew had a question. He wanted to know if scientists read and how much do they have to read. I told him that I read everyday and that it is very important for my job. He said he wants to grow up to be a scientist and so he will work on reading at school. He said it so begrudgingly, though. Altogether now, awwwww. I also recall the Fermi Lab experiment they describe in the post.

#ScienceSunday  and #ScienceEveryday  

Originally shared by Joanne Manaster

Why the Scientist Stereotype is Bad for Everyone, Especially Kids, http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/06/opinion-scientist-stereotype/ #sciencesunday  +ScienceEveryday 

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/

June 16, 2012 ScienceEveryday (medical imaging is separate) Post a Comment

Make up your mind

Make up your mind

Most gardeners know that pH affects whether your Hydrangea will flower blue or pink. Did you know that the pH is affecting the availability of aluminum, in particular? Aluminum in the soil is made available for the blue pigment when the soil is acidic. From the USDA:

Flower color in H. macrophylla is dependent on cultivar and aluminum availability. Aluminum is necessary to produce the blue pigment for which bigleaf hydrangea is noted. Most garden soils have adequate aluminum, but the aluminum will not be available to the plant if the soil pH is high. For most bigleaf hydrangea cultivars, blue flowers will be produced in acidic soil (pH 5.5 and lower), whereas neutral to alkaline soils (pH 6.5 and higher) will usually produce pink flowers. Between pH 5.5 and pH 6.5, the flowers will be purple (see image at left) or a mixture of blue and pink flowers will be found on the same plant.

http://goo.gl/yvKtS

Enjoy the rest of my flowers/plants and Tame Impala.

Tame Impala – Why Won’t You Make Up Your Mind? (Erol Alkan Rework)

#ScienceEveryday

June 14, 2012 ScienceEveryday (medical imaging is separate) Post a Comment

What’s buggin’ you?

What’s buggin’ you?

On NPR they discussed the first catalog of bacteria, viruses, and other microorganisms that are in and on our bodies. I read somewhere that the microbes on are body along with our diet help make our smell unique, at least that’s what helps dogs identify us by. I need to find a link for that. This part blew me away:

Scientists have already discovered some intriguing clues. For example, the microbes in a pregnant woman’s birth canal start to change just before she gives birth. Scientists think that’s so their babies are born with just the right microbiome they’ll need to live long, healthy lives.

#ScienceEveryday

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2012/06/13/154913334/finally-a-map-of-all-the-microbes-on-your-body

June 10, 2012 ScienceEveryday (medical imaging is separate) Post a Comment

Kinect technology with surgeons

Kinect technology with surgeons

I’ve said elsewhere (http://goo.gl/W57jX), don’t count M$ out, just because the Windows phone isn’t taking off. Keep in mind their hands have been tied for some time due to the DoJ consent decree. The Kinect technology is just scratching the surface of what is possible. In the linked article, surgeons can use Kinect to manipulate images while maintaining sterility and not worry about miscommunication with techs (who previously would have manipulated the images). Remember Minority Report?

#ScienceSunday  curated by Allison Sekuler Rajini Rao and Robby Bowles 

http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-57445827-76/surgeons-use-kinect-tech-during-aneurysm-procedures/

June 2, 2012 ScienceEveryday (medical imaging is separate) Post a Comment

Science vs. Faith

Science vs. Faith

To follow up on Betsy McCall post on the new Gallup poll on American’s Belief in evolution (http://goo.gl/fkxfd). Whenever science vs. faith comes up, I remind people that science only cares about what we know and not what you believe. They are two very different things. If you don’t like the flowchart, you can move to #Amercia  for a better Amercia. This is mainly because I’m pro-science not atheist. I do support my atheist friends.

#Anti_anti_intellectualism 

I downloaded this a long time ago and don’t know the source. Gnotic Pasta found a larger version http://goo.gl/INtVP Thanks.