QDIS Blog

The take home lesson from this article is that bird flu in humans concentrates more in the throat whereas the normal flu concentrates in the nose.

Study Adds Details on Bird Flu, Humans - New York Times:

This finding may allow doctors to more quickly to diagnose bird flu in humans. There doesn’t appear to be any other new information here.
Technorati Tags: avian flu, bird flu, H5N1

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I posted some time ago about medical errors and the recent report about them from the Institute of Medicine. In getting caught up on old podcasts, I came across an episode of the NPR show Science Friday from July 28 that had a show regarding medical errors. Give it a listen as it covers the topic quite well.

Technorati Tags: podcast, prescribing errors, medical errors

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Seems there is more to the story I reported recently concerning Advanced Cell Technology techniques to produce stem cells without destroying the embryos.

Stem cell experiment killed embryos, researchers say - baltimoresun.com

Although it may be possible to extract stem cells without destroying embryos, in this case, they actually extracted cells several times and did indeed destroy the embryos in this case. The report was accurate but there seems to be a misunderstanding. Here is an excerpt from this article:

M. William Lensch, a stem cell researcher at Harvard, said using the method to create stem cell lines might be more difficult than the study implies because it’s not clear why only a small percentage of the extracted cells formed new lines.

“I think the study was written in a clever way so that it’s technically correct, but what they claimed beyond the paper, and on the Nature Web site and in the popular press, isn’t right,” he said.

In an interview yesterday, Dr. Robert Lanza, the senior author, noted that he and his team never claimed the embryos survived the experiments. When the study was published, Lanza and other experts had noted in interviews that embryos routinely survive when single cells are extracted in genetic tests at fertility clinics.

It seems more work needs to be done but I feel it is a step in the right direction and the work should continue with the hope in the near future of actually accomplishing what was reported in the popular press.

Technorati Tags: Advanced Cell Technolgy, stem cell, stem cells

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In what I consider very good news, the Drug Enforcement agency (DEA) has announced they are easing rules on prescribing of powerful narcotic drugs such as Oxycontin.

Feds may ease limit on painkillers - Yahoo! News:

There has long been concern about abuse particularly with Oxycontin among younger people. Oxycontin is a schedule II controlled substance meaning it has a high potential for abuse and has stringent controls in place to limit access to the drugs.

Currently people suffering from pain must visit their doctors every 30 days in order to get a new prescription. The new rules would allow for a 90 day supply which is reason in my opinion. This will help those who get their drugs via mail order since many operate by giving a 90 day supply of the drug.

If you know of anyone suffering from chronic pain who has had to go through all this in order to continue functioning this will come as great news.

Technorati Tags: Drug Enforcement Agency, narcotics, pain killers

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