Author: Chad Haney

March 16, 2013 ScienceEveryday (medical imaging is separate) Post a Comment

Wow, just #awesomesauce .

Wow, just #awesomesauce .

I’m posting this Richard Feynman video because my brain is overwhelmed with the kindness from my friends and people I don’t even know on G+ and I couldn’t think of something clever. So thank you all who participated in #HappyBirthdayMrMRI . Thank you for the good wishes.

There were so many clever and cute posts. I’ll respond more later. I have to walk my dog and get some work done. So I leave you with the scientific method from Richard Feynman. h/t Jennifer Ouellette 

In general, we look for a new law by the following process: First we guess it; then we compute the consequences of the guess to see what would be implied if this law that we guessed is right; then we compare the result of the computation to nature, with experiment or experience, compare it directly with observation, to see if it works. If it disagrees with experiment, it is wrong. In that simple statement is the key to science. It does not make any difference how beautiful your guess is, it does not make any difference how smart you are, who made the guess, or what his name is — if it disagrees with experiment, it is wrong.

from (Brain Pickings and Maria Popova) http://goo.gl/3Oa1l 

QualiaSoup has a great video on the burden of proof and other great videos on logic.

The burden of proof

#HappyBirthdayMrMRI

#ScienceEveryday  when it isn’t #ScienceSunday  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYPapE-3FRw

March 4, 2013 ScienceEveryday (medical imaging is separate) Post a Comment

Beer goggles? Hold on; let me pour another pint

Beer goggles? Hold on; let me pour another pint

Dr. Amanda Ellison at Durham University wrote a book, Getting your Head around the Brain.

Disclaimer, I don’t have access to the book so I’m quoting the Telegraph (eeks!).

…fluke of nature sees alcohol closing down the section of the mind that stops us acting on impulse long before it deadens the ‘reptilian’ part responsible for our sexual urges.

The area of the brain that makes us want to mate is the oldest part – and located so far down that it keeps functioning however much we drink – until we are ready to pass out.

http://goo.gl/QNYwv

More from Dr. Ellison here: 

Speech localiser – Amanda Ellison: Getting Your Head Around the Brain

h/t mary Zeman and Darryl Mouzone 

Image source: I don’t know, I’ve had this since 1862.

#ScienceSunday  

February 9, 2013 ScienceEveryday (medical imaging is separate) Post a Comment

Chemophobia: irrational plague?

Chemophobia: irrational plague?

An article from Slate, Don’t Take Medical Advice From the New York Times Magazine http://goo.gl/EYaFh is being re-shared and discussed quite a bit on G+. So h/t to Gaythia Weis Jennifer Ouellette Mary Mangan and Google Plus Science Lab 

It’s a great article about chemophobia and discusses a story about a mother who would rather give her child some Chinese medicine rather than what the “Western doctor” prescribed. It points out that supplements are not heavily regulated and so the dose and composition of the supplements can vary wildly. So you actually don’t know what you are getting.

When I come across people who display signs of chemophobia or who try to promote only “natural” products, I try my best to politely remind them that snake bites are natural too. Arsenic, cyanide, carbon monoxide can be deadly and are very much natural. You can get any of those three chemicals, naturally from the environment. In fact you probably have traces of arsenic in your blood.

Here’s an old post about rhubarb, natural and delicious.

Rhubarb poisoning not from a rube

http://goo.gl/Y5546

I was going to use a belladonna plant for the main picture as belladonna can be poisonous. Atropa belladonna http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belladonna_(plant)

Note that atropine is derived from belladonna and it can be used medicinally (Western medicine) for bradycardia (low heart rate) and ironically to counteract organophosphate poisoning (it’s not an antidote, it blocks the action of acetylcholine). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atropine

Which brings me to another one of my favorite comments when it comes to chemophobia.

Alle Ding’ sind Gift, und nichts ohn’ Gift; allein die Dosis macht, daß ein Ding kein Gift ist.

“All things are poison, and nothing is without poison; only the dose permits something not to be poisonous.” Paracelsus

The only real difference between medicine and poison is the dose….and intent. Oscar G. Hernandez, MD

Here’s another good article about chemophobia.

The best antidote for this irrational plague of fear is the same as it usually is: good science, clearly understood, and openly available to all. Seymour Garte, Ph.D.

Our Chemophobia Conundrum

http://goo.gl/ZUc15

The picture is from a NY Times article that was discussed here.

Who can resist?: #Chemophobia in the NYT

http://goo.gl/c5Bj0

Ultimately, this is a problem of psychology. In the age of high-investment parenting, threats to our children can overrun any rational defense a parent might be able to construct…  As a chemist, I find chemophobia pretty ridiculous. As a parent, I’m in sympathy — we all fear unknown threats to our kids. I merely ask that parents step back from genuine fear-mongering that we get from Environmental Working Group and the like and try to gain a rational, risk-based perspective on chemicals in the home.

Finally, here is another article that made the rounds on G+.

America’s Real Criminal Element: Lead

http://goo.gl/7RTdZ

#ScienceEveryday  when it isn’t #ScienceSunday  

I leave you with.

Culture Club – Church Of The Poison Mind

February 8, 2013 ScienceEveryday (medical imaging is separate) Post a Comment

Foxo TRAIL

Foxo TRAIL

Dr. Wafik S. El-Deiry and colleagues at Penn State University developed a new drug, TRAIL-inducing compound 10 (TIC10). What is TRAIL and what’s the big deal?

TRAIL is tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand. It’s a protein in our immune system that induces apoptosis (programmed cell death) in tumors. The problem with recombinant versions, i.e., man-made versions intended to be given as an anti-tumor drug, is that TRAIL has a short half-life in serum and it has poor biodistribution (it doesn’t readily cross the blood-brain barrier). So TIC10 induces TRAIL and because TIC10 can cross the blood-brain barrier, it appears to be more efficacious than trying to administer TRAIL directly. Since TRAIL is part of the immune system, boosting it with TIC10 is thought to be less toxic than traditional chemotherapy. It remains to be seen what side effects there are from TIC10 itself.

What is FOXO and what does it have to do with this story? The TRAIL gene is transcriptionally regulated by Foxo3a. The FOXO3, also called, Forkhead box 03, is characterized by a distinct fork head DNA-binding domain and is likely a trigger for apoptosis.

Before you get too excited, the paper notes that the TIC10 group only had a 6% increase in survival compared to a more traditional anti-vascular drug, in a mouse model.

News blurb from Nature.com

Small-molecule drug drives cancer cells to suicide

http://goo.gl/rcQW8

Full article in Science Translational Medicine behind paywall.

http://goo.gl/heE1Y

Fox image from Dan Dinu: http://goo.gl/adqSb

#ScienceEveryday  when it isn’t #ScienceSunday  

February 1, 2013 ScienceEveryday (medical imaging is separate) Post a Comment

Made for Each Other

Made for Each Other

NY Times review by Walter Vatter, http://goo.gl/MDw41, of 

What’s a Dog For?: The Surprising History, Science, Philosophy, and Politics of Man’s Best Friend by John Homans

(Amazon link: http://goo.gl/cOl94)

I haven’t read the book but I’m curious about the science claims. For example, that dogs understand gestures better than non-human primates.

#FidoFriday currated by mel peifer , Lisa Lisa, Suhaib Ayaz , and Wes Lum 

#ScienceEveryday  

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

Ground up myth

Ground up myth

I ♥ science and debunking myths. OK, I’m not doing the actual debunking but I really enjoyed this article.

In a conversation on Linda Hedrick’s post (http://goo.gl/GLpKF) Kirk Teetzel had the right answer as to why the McDonalds burger doesn’t rot, i.e., why it is a myth. I had the same gut feeling so here is the link. http://goo.gl/9qyUj

From the article:

Now don’t get me wrong—I don’t have a dog in this fight either way. I really couldn’t care less whether or not the McDonald’s burger rotted or didn’t. I don’t often eat their burgers, and will continue to not often eat their burgers. My problem is not with McDonald’s. My problem is with bad science.

For all of you McDonald’s haters out there: Don’t worry. There are still plenty of reasons to dislike the company! But for now, I hope you’ll have it my way and put aside your beef with their beef.

Image source: http://goo.gl/mbstf

#ScienceEveryday  when it isn’t #ScienceSunday  

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

Amateur and a pro

Amateur and a pro

Don’t take this the wrong way because I’m a scientist that does cancer research. I was driving home today and I was captivated by this story on NPR  So crazy it might work http://goo.gl/cAGXf

Dr. John Brody (http://goo.gl/Djbb5), an expert in pancreatic cancer, goes home to give a speech at his alma mater about thinking outside the box. After his talk, his old music teacher, Anthony Holland, approaches him about an idea. Anthony had been working in his garage on an idea from Royal Rife to use electromagnetic waves to make cells burst like a wine glass when the resonant frequency is used. What really captivated me is when Dr. Brody tried to explain to his friend that his results were meaningless without proper controls. He also tried to explain that when Mr. Holland got support from other scientists, it was also tainted because he had not explained that the control experiments had failed so far.

There are videos about the documentary on this website (I’m linking the synopsis). http://www.thecuredocumentary.com/synopsis

#ScienceEveryday  when it isn’t #ScienceSunday  

October 25, 2012 ScienceEveryday (medical imaging is separate) Post a Comment

Fuel Injection Death

Fuel Injection Death

mary Zeman via Melissa Bryan posted about an accident where a student nurse in training (3rd day on the job) administered a feeding bag of coffee and milk instead of a unit of blood. http://goo.gl/otI4e  For starters, I don’t think coffee mixed with milk looks like a unit of blood. Nevertheless, in Mary’s post I explained what I think likely happened, e.g., COD.

Nutritional specialist Dr. Armando Carreir told the network that Ribeiro’s death “would have been as if [she] was suffocating.” from HuffPuff: http://goo.gl/euhoM

So how can the patient be suffocating? It was likely due to pulmonary edema (fluid in the lungs). So how did the patient get fluid in the lungs? Not knowing the exact mixture of coffee and milk, I’m guessing that the mixture was hypertonic. Let me back up and talk briefly about intravenous (IV) pharmaceuticals.

When you adminster a large volume of fluids IV, it has to be at physiologic pH (7.4), isotonic, and iso-oncotic. There are cases where you can give a fluid that is not one of these three properties to correct for the patients condition.

Tonicity

From the Wiki:

Tonicity is a measure of the osmotic pressure gradient (as defined by the water potential of the two solutions) of two solutions separated by a semipermeable membrane. It is commonly used when describing the response of cells immersed in an external solution. Like osmotic pressure, tonicity is influenced only by solutes that cannot cross the membrane, as only these exert an osmotic pressure. Solutes able to freely cross the membrane do not affect tonicity because they will always be in equal concentrations on both sides of the membrane.

There are three classifications of tonicity that one solution can have relative to another. The three are hypertonic, hypotonic, and isotonic. There’s a good figure in the Wiki that shows what happens to the blood cells in the three types of tonicity. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isotonicity#Isotonicity

Colloid osmotic pressure (COP) or Oncotic pressure

COP  is an osmotic pressure caused by protiens in the vasculature which opposes the hydrostatic pressure. The normal COP of plasma is between 20-25 tor.  An increase in COP above normal levels will lead to water leaving the interstitium and entering the vascular space.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oncotic_pressure

Here’s a great guide on IV fluids for nurses: http://goo.gl/bilmc

Image Source: http://goo.gl/jrwtK

#ScienceEveryday when it isn’t #ScienceSunday

October 23, 2012 ScienceEveryday (medical imaging is separate) Post a Comment

Illuminating Science

Illuminating Science

Thanks Richard Smith for this timely reminder about science and science communication. In addition to the events you mentioned, the recent legal action in Italy involving scientist and the earthquake also warrants some edification.

Part of the mission of  ScienceSunday is to reach out to the general population on G+ and explain what is real science. Of course we have fun with jokes, puns, and memes. However, we want people to have a place where they can ask questions and learn about real science. We want a place where we can explain why something might be pseudoscience. Finally, we want to share our passion for science and hope to encourage others to join our passion for science.

Here are a few of my posts that are related to either correcting pseudoscience or bad science related journalism.

Bad science → bad headlines

http://goo.gl/epcnr 

Overselling preclinical results – Orac

http://goo.gl/oe4mg

Analysis of Meta-analysis

http://goo.gl/xaG99  

Alarming science discovery…

http://goo.gl/sLjT5

the idea of the contradiction comes from what I see as the deepest misunderstanding about science, which is the idea that science is about certainty.

http://goo.gl/0e7p7

If you are interested in science, circle ScienceSunday  and watch for   #ScienceEveryday  when it isn’t   #ScienceSunday

#Anti_anti_intellectualism

Originally shared by Richard Smith-Unna

Science as a candle in the dark; our responsibility as scientists

Today for ScienceSunday I want to take a moment to talk about something serious.

Anti-science and irrationality have a strong hold in the modern world. Political, religious and cultural values often conflict with what science tells us, and lead to situations which are not just intellectually frustrating, but in the worst cases lead to people’s lives being put at risk.

As an example, the NHS in the UK currently funds four homeopathic hospitals (http://goo.gl/8qSzX, to learn why homeopathy is a problem: http://1023.org.uk).  It’s not just sad, it tears at the fabric of my intellectual being to see my country treating people with such distain.

At the same time, we see the scientific method being abused to oppose GM agriculture; a group of technologies which have the potential to avert future food crises and eventually provide food security for the whole world (http://goo.gl/Q0J4o).

And even within the scientific community, we have recently seen that chauvinism and discrimination are serious problems (http://goo.gl/OdHFW).

In each case, we as members of the science-supporting public or the scientific community can do something to address the problem. More than that – it’s our responsibility to do so.

We can make our voices heard, invest our time and effort in expelling mysticism and ignorance. When we see abuses, we can expose them. We can collectively discuss and hone our methods of communication and argumentation. We can join forces to have a greater impact, and to support each other when the incessant battle gets demoralising. I don’t have the solution, but we do.

The problem is that it’s difficult and demoralising to talk to someone who is anti-science. How do you deal with irrationality? How do you debate with someone whose world view rejects evidence for dogma? Please discuss.

This was inspired by Buddhini Samarasinghe’s post: http://goo.gl/o9bC5. ScienceSunday is curated by Rajini Rao, Chad Haney, Robby Bowles, and Allison Sekuler.

#sciencesunday   #scienceeveryday

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3OZz-vgAjY