The Large Hadron Collider

The Large Hadron Collider is being built 300 feet underground Crozet, France. It's purpose is to discover the "God Particle" (Higgs Boson) in other words...what makes up the universe.

National Geographic has an article about the LHC in this months issue. There is even a cool photo tour of the collider.

There is the slightest worry that the LHC might be capable of creating a mini-black hole. But the bigger concern is that nothing new at all will be discovered. The collider is very expensive - somewhere between 5 and 10 billion dollars. About what the USA spends in Iraq every 2-4 weeks. The center of particle physics technology has moved from the USA to France with the building of the LHC.

Homeopathic Influenza Treatment

If you google "homeopathy remedy influenza" you get 15,000 hits. You quickly learn that one prefered homeopathic influenza remedy is Oscillococcinum. Oscillococcinum is prepared from duck heart and liver. But no need to worry, the "drug" is diluted so much that there isn't a molecule of duck heart or liver present in the preparation. Even so, this stuff isn't cheap, more so because you are paying for nothing but a bit of sucrose and lactose.

But how can I be confident that this treatment is ineffective. Well, #1 it can't be, because there is no active ingredient in the pill (just sucrose and lactose). But if you want to check on what research has been done on this "drug" go to PubMed, which is a government funded database at the National Library of Medicine and search for "Oscillococcinum". Wow! You only get 7 hits and three of them are basically the same. But click on anyone of them and you will find that Oscillococcinum (rotten duck liver) is not effective in treating or preventing influenza.

For example, click on article #1 and read the abstract. First, you will find they did not actually do a clinical trial but rather looked at other sources of data, probably unpublished or published in non-refereed journals.

In conclusion, the effectiveness of any complementary and alternative therapy for treating or preventing seasonal influenza is not established beyond reasonable doubt.

That's a fancy way of saying it has no effect, other than a possible placebo effect. Also notice that the authors of this paper are from a Department of Complementary Medicine, a department that probably uses homeopathic treatments among others. How can I say this? Simple, go back to Google and search "Peninsula Medical School homeopathy".

So for the flu, it's best to get vaccinated so you are less likely to become infected. Believe me, you do not want an influenza infection. Don't want to get vaccinated? Save your money and drink water, because that's basically all you will be getting if you take Oscillococcinum.

Now, do we need to talk about about "HeadOn"?

Unfortunately, homeopathic remedies do not need FDA approval and they do not need to be proven effective, although they do need to be shown to be safe. Of course they are safe because they do not contain any active ingredients. And, for the same reason they are not effective.

Parasitic Worms - Trematode Infections

Trematodes, or flukes are often refered to as flatworms. Most trematode infections of humans are acquired via the digestive tract.

Trematodes can range in size from 0.16 mm to 5.7 cm in length. They are usually oval in shape, bilaterally symetrical and flattened dorsal-ventrally. They typically possess an oral sucker leading to a digestive tract and sometimes a ventral sucker which is used for attachment to the host. These suckers are sometimes decorated with spines and small crater like depressions called papillae. Trematodes have a rudimentary gut, but usually no anus and a simple nervous system. Most trematodes are hermaphroditic and are often capable of self-fertilization.



Trematode eggs typically possess a lid or operculum that can easily be seen in this Paragonimus egg (Lung worm). The egg measures about 80-110 x 50-60 microns.
The life cycle of typical trematode worms is illustrated by that of Paragonimus westermani commonly known as the oriental lung worm. This infection is found primarily in isolated areas of the far East, occasionally in West Africa and Central and South America.


Adult worms are found in pairs located in a cystic cavity in the lungs. Eggs are coughed up and usually swallowed, passing out in the feces. The eggs require water to hatch. A form of the worm called a miracidium hatches from the egg and proceeds to penetrate the body of a freshwater snail. In the snail the miracidium develops into a sporocyst, then rediae which finally give rise to many cercaria. The short-lived cercaria must infect a freshwater crab by penetrating and encysting in the crabs gills or muscles. This stage of the parasite is called a metacercaria and the crab is called an intermediate host.


If the crab is eaten raw, the metacercaria hatch in the intestine and the worm burrows from the intestines through the diaphram and into the lungs. Eggs are laid 5-6 weeks later and the cycle continues. Although these worms are hermaphroditic, two worms are necessary for fertilization to take place.

The clinical features of this infection resemble chronic bronchitis with a morning cough producing redish-brown mucous. The infection can be diagnosed by finding the trematode eggs in the feces. The infection can be prevented by simply cooking crabs prior to eating them (no sushi please). The infection can be treated with a drug called praziquantel (Biltricide).

Next time we will discuss Schistosomiasis, the most important trematode infection of humans.

Sciencedebate 2008

Do you think it's important that the President of the USA be scientifically literate? There is now a formal call for a presidential debate that would focus on science and technology policy. This call is being made by such noted scientists as David Baltimore, Ken Miller, Bill Nye and Harold Varmus. It also includes David Kennedy, editor-in-chief of Science; Shirley Tilghman, president of Princeton Univ., Niles Eldredge, curator at The American Museum of Natural History as well as several congressmen and congresswomen.

We believe current scientific and technological challenges can bring out the best in the entrepreneurial American spirit. America can be a leader in finding cures for our worst diseases, invent the best alternative energy sources, and graduating the most scientifically literate children in the world - or we can concede these economic and humanitarian benefits to other countries.

We believe a debate on the policy side of these issues would be the ideal opportunity for America and the candidates to explore our national priorities on the issues, and it is hard to imagine any candidate not wishing to be involved in such an occasion.

How many candidates do you think would agree to such a debate? Do you think such a debate would just end up being a display of scientific illiteracy on the part of the candidates?

Obviously we would need to have someone other than the slick haired talking head pundits ask the questions. Some people that actually know something about science and science policy. Questions concerning energy independence, ethics of stem cell research, view on evolution theory, whether the US must maintain its technological and scientific lead over the world.

Bush, the CDC and Climate Change

What specifically did G.W. Bush want CDC Director Dr. Julie Gerberding to hide from Congress in her testimony about climate change? Here is some of it:

Scientific evidence supports the view that the earth’s climate is changing. A broad array of organizations (federal, state, local, multilateral, faith-based, private and nongovernmental) is working to address climate change. Despite this extensive activity, the public health effects of climate change remain largely unaddressed. CDC considers climate change a serious public health concern.

Some of the impacts on health that we will see might include: direct effects of heat, air-polution related effects, increased allergies, water and food-born diseases, vector and zoonotic diseases, food and water scarcity, mental health problems and impacts on chronic diseases. Dr. Gerberding was ready to provide Congress with specifics on each of those problems but Pres. Bush said no.

Bush also didn't want you to know that "sophisticated models to predict climate and heat exist". You can read the entire testimony, complete with redacted portions, here.

Eating Donuts Creates Donut Hole in BMI?

So now overweight is not so bad as long as you are not obese.

The most surprising finding was that being overweight but not obese was associated only with excess mortality from diabetes and kidney disease -- not from cancer or heart disease. Moreover, the researchers found an apparent protective effect against all other causes of death, such as tuberculosis, emphysema, pneumonia, Alzheimer's disease and injuries. An association between excess weight and nearly 16,000 deaths from diabetes and kidney disease was overshadowed by a reduction of as many as 133,000 deaths from all other deaths unrelated to cancer or heart disease. Even moderately obese people appeared less likely to die of those causes.

Overweight is defined as those with a body mass index of between 25 and 30. Over BMI 30 and you are obese and that is not good.

But if your BMI is between 25 - 30 that might not be so bad. According to a recent study you are more likely to suffer from diabetes and kidney disease but you are less likely to suffer from a number of other diseases.

UPDATE: I just heard a news report on these results. As usual news reporters cannot take the time to go the extra step of trying to understand what is reported in the literature. The news reported that if you are up to 25 lbs overweight you may suffer from fewer diseases as you get older but not if you more than 30 lbs overweight.

Obviously confusing the BMI ratios of 25-30 and >30 which are relationships between height and weight. The actual formula is as follows:

BMI = (weight in pounds X 703)
————————————
height in inches²

Here is the weight status table:

BMI Weight Status
Below 18.5 Underweight
18.5 - 24.9 Normal
25 - 29.9 Overweight
>30 Obese

Parasitic Twin

There is a condition called ischiopagus where a person can be born with multiple arms and legs. It happens when rather than fully developed conjoined twins being formed, one of the twins does not develop. Thus the multiple legs and arms on a single torso.

There is currently such a case in India. A potentially conjoined twin stopped developing in the womb leaving a little girl with multiple arms and legs.



From the x-ray you can see where the undeveloped twin is joined at the pelvis. The little girl is named after the Hindu goddess Lakshmi who had four arms. Lakshmi is going to undergo a 40 hour surgury in attempt to remove the extra limbs. The operation will utilize 30 surgeons undergoing 8 hr. shifts and is estimated to cost about 100,000 pounds. The very high risk surgury is explained here.

The cute little girl looks very happy in the pictures of her and her family. I wish them all the best.

Haircuts, Laughs and Prostate Cancer Survival Rates

Remember the John Edwards' $400 haircut? Google it and you get 658,000 hits. How about Hillary Clinton's laugh? Google that topic and you get 1,740,000 hits. Now Google Rudy Giuliani's lie about prostate cancer survival rates in England and the USA. You get 64,800 hits.

Paul Krugman, in todays NYT's has a few comments about this.

But here’s what I don’t understand: Why isn’t Mr. Giuliani’s behavior here considered not just a case of bad policy analysis but a character issue?

For better or (mostly) for worse, political reporting is dominated by the search for the supposedly revealing incident, in which the candidate says or does something that reveals his true character. And this incident surely seems to fit the bill.

Leave aside the fact that Mr. Giuliani is simply lying about what the Democrats are proposing; after all, Mitt Romney is doing the same thing.

But health care is the pre-eminent domestic issue for the 2008 election. Surely the American people deserve candidates who do their homework on the subject.

Yes, $400 is alot to pay for a haircut and it says something about John Edwards. He's rich. And, Hillary has a hearty laugh. I'm not sure what that says about her. Both those topics have been extensively reported, discussed, debated, and blogged. But Rudy Giuliani's lie about prostate cancer survival rates....not so much discussed at all. Why isn't his lie a major political scandel. It says alot about his character.

Prostate Cancer Survival Rates and Liars (Giuliani)

In his new tv political ad being aired in New Hampshire Rudy sez:

"My chance of surviving prostate cancer -- and thank God I was cured of it -- in the United States: 82 percent." "My chances of surviving prostate cancer in England: Only 44 percent, under socialized medicine."

Naturally the 44 percent number came from Rudy-land. Anyone familiar with Google can find the actual statistic.

The relative five-year survival rate for men diagnosed in England in 2000–01 was 71%, compared with only 31% for men diagnosed in 1971–75. And, that rate is rising in the UK just as it is in the USA because more men are being examined and diagnosed earlier. England does this spending far, far less money than does the USA.

Homeopaths and Avogadro's Number

My favorite skeptic, James Randi, talks about homeopathy and Avogadro's number. Randi points out that homeopaths are cheats, liars, frauds, swindlers, fakes and criminal. I agree. If you are into homeopathy do yourself a favor and listen to this video.

Humans to Become Two Species

"Evolutionary theorist" Oliver Curry of the London School of Economics predicts the humans will evolve into 2 species. You see ugly guys will mate with ugly women creating a troll-like race and the beautiful people will mate with other people to create a seven ft. tall, long-lived, super-race. This will take 1000 yrs. to happen.

This nutjob received his PhD in 2005 from the Government Department of the London School of Economics and currently teaches Political Theory at New York University in London. Man, that sure is good training to base your evolutionary theories on.

I always had a lot of respect for the London School of Economics but you can become really disappointed when you see a prestigious university has people like Curry on their staff. Kinda like Anne Coulter having a degree from a great university like Cornell, that is so sad for Cornell.

That being said, the article about Curry's theory is published in the Daily Mail which is the "Weekly World News" of the UK.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus

Infections with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in school children have recently made the news.

Staphylococci are gram positive, round shaped bacteria that appear in clusters, like grapes. These bacteria are commonly found on the skin and in the noses of normal humans. S. aureus normally colonize the nasal passages. This species of Staph forms large yellow colonies when grown on enriched medium. S. aureus should always be considered a pathogen.

Infection of the skin with S. aureus results in a ,variety of pus forming lesions. S. aureus can also cause urinary tract infections, phlebitis and pneumonia and other diseases.

A particulary dangerous strain of S. aureus is the methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA). Infection with this pathogen is very difficult to treat in humans because it survives treatment with our most potent antibiotics. S. aureus became resistant by acquiring (evolving) the mec A gene. This gene encodes the low affinity penicillin-binding protein 2a. It is responsible for the resistance to methicillin.

Persons working in hospitals and nursing homes or the patients frequently become infected with drug resistant S. aureus. A person becomes infected with S. aureus by direct contact with another infected person. Treatment is with the antibiotic vancomycin although vancomycin-resistant S. aureus are beginning to appear.

James Watson, Genetics and Intelligence

Want to read what a variety of scientists think about Dr. Watson's remarks on African intelligence? You can't do much better than by going HERE and reading the comments.

Dr. James Watson Suspended

The Cold Spring Harbor Board of Trustees have suspended the administrative duties of Dr. James Watson for comments he made a few days ago concerning the intelligence of Africans. Watson has apologized profusely for the remarks that he made.

"I cannot understand how I could have said what I am quoted as having said," he said. "To all those who have drawn the inference from my words that Africa, as a continent, is somehow genetically inferior, I can only apologize unreservedly. That is not what I meant. More importantly from my point of view, there is no scientific basis for such a belief."

UPDATE: Dr. Watson has apologized for his unfortunate remarks.

Wind Power Not Economical?

There is an opinion piece on the economics of windpower, or lack of it, in the Plattsburgh Press Republican. The author, John Droz Jr. makes some seemingly sensible points about the lack of economic viability of wind power. He published the same letter in the Thousand Island Sun.

But there is no information about John Droz Jr. Who is he? As far as I can tell he is a retired (?) physicist who lives in Brantingham Lake, NY. But he is also a real estate broker who deals exclusively with selling lakefront property. Someone who might not much care for wind turbines obstructing potential property buyers views.

But what about his points about wind power?

1. There is no environmental benefit to wind power generated energy because the energy cannot be stored.

This seems to be a reasonable point. The energy from wind must be used when it is being produced. If it cannot be used instantly it is wasted energy.

But Mr. Droz is being bit disingenuous. Wind energy is not currently being stored but there are ways to store it and here. Surely as a physicist he could even come up with a idea or two about how to store energy. How about using the electricity generated to produce hydrogen gas from water? Remember the "hydrogen economy"? Storing excess electricity should be a concern to all energy producers.

2. It is being promoted because it is an extremely lucrative business opportunity.

Who doesn't like an extremely lucrative business proposal? Oh, but it's subsidized by the taxpayer. Aerospace, transportation, industrial and farms, telecommunications, and electronics industries also receive tax subsidies from the government. Surely other sources of energy production are subsidized by the taxpayer also and here. If we are going to complain about tax subsidies, let's propose to take away all tax subsidies to big corporations.

Sorry, but I've still yet to hear a really valid reasons to be opposed to wind power.

Right Brain/Left Brain

Go here and stare at the dancer. Is she rotating clockwise or counterclockwise? Oddly enought, I see her turning clockwise although the article claims most people see her turning counterclockwise. I think I'm more of a "left brain" type person. Supposedly, if you stare long enough you can see her turning in the opposite direction in which you initially see her turning. When I looked at the dancer first thing this morning she was turning counterclockwise. Then something clicked and she started turning clockwise. What does it all mean?

UPDATE: I learned how to get her to change direction. Turn your head and look at her with your peripheral vision. She will change direction. At least it works for me.

Clockwise
RIGHT BRAIN FUNCTIONS
uses feeling
"big picture" oriented
imagination rules
symbols and images
present and future
philosophy & religion
can "get it" (i.e. meaning)
believes
appreciates
spatial perception
knows object function
fantasy based
presents possibilities
impetuous
risk taking

Counterclockwise
LEFT BRAIN FUNCTIONS
uses logic
detail oriented
facts rule
words and language
present and past
math and science
can comprehend
knowing
acknowledges
order/pattern perception
knows object name
reality based
forms strategies
practical
safe

Epigenetic Effects

Got 10 minutes to learn more about genetics? This PBS NOVA slide show explains how the epigenome can affect the phenotype (appearance) of individuals that have identical DNA. Click on "launch interactive".

Poor Science Writing and the Hygiene Hypothesis

There is an op-ed article in todays NYT by Jessica Snyder Sachs called "Nice Shots". It concerns one of my favorite topics...the hygiene hypothesis (and here and here). The hypothesis, formed by D. P. Strachen in 1989, is that children that are raised in modern "clean" environments develop more allergies in later life than children raised in less clean environments. This makes sense because our immune system evolved under conditions where we were under constant attack from pathogens.

Unfortunately, Ms. Snyder Sachs starts with the premise that children are not being vaccinated because parents are aware of the hygiene hypothesis and thus think that illness is "good" for children.

More parents than ever before — nearly 65 percent — intend to vaccinate their young children this year, according to a poll by the University of Michigan. But that leaves more than a third unenthusiastic about doing so. Their reluctance may reflect not only weariness with the increasing number of childhood immunizations but also the widespread sentiment that colds and flus are a “natural” part of childhood, even vital for toughening up a developing immune system.

I doubt that is the reason. More likely parents have bought into the idea that childhood vaccinations cause autism. Ms. Snyder Sachs goes on:

Dr. Strachan’s original hygiene hypothesis got a lot of press, not only in the news media but in serious medical journals. Less publicized was the decade-long string of follow-up studies that disproved a link between illnesses and protection from inflammatory disorders like allergies and asthma. If anything, studies showed, early illness made matters worse.

For some reason Ms. Snyder Sachs assumes that the hygiene hypothesis states that you must be exposed to disease causing germs to result in later protection from allergy. She also assumes that the hypothesis means that exposure in early life to a "dirty" environment will protect you from other diseases in later life. The hypotheis does not say that.

I don't know how much press Dr. Strachan received concerning his hypothesis but I do know that the average immunologist is only vaguely familiar with the hypothesis. As for recent results disproving the hypothesis, that is a load of bunk. The hypothesis is as valid as ever, although the originally proposed mechanism of action is probably wrong. There are more up to date immune mechanisms that explain the hygiene hypothesis.

Ms. Snyder Sachs somehow has jumped to the conclusion that early exposure to respiratory disease-causing bacteria and viruses are the basis of the hygiene hypothesis.

A second misconception common among vaccine-shunning parents is that there’s something “natural” about the 6 to 10 respiratory infections the typical American child gets every year (or even the two to four we adults experience). Common, yes; natural no, not if “natural” represents the forces that shaped the human immune system during all but the last sliver of our 250,000 years as Homo sapiens. Colds, flus and most other contagious diseases found a central place in our lives only after we and our domestic animals began crowding together in large settlements some 5,000 years ago.

In reality the culprit is more likely intestinal worm infections. Prior to the 1950's a large proportion of individuals, especially children, harbored intestinal worm infections. The most common worm infections, pinworm and whipworm, do not cause serious disease in most individuals. These worms are also easily spread to others by contamination.

Ms. Snyder Sachs writes of the "calming" effect on the immune system caused by infection with organisms that do not result in disease. One of the problems with science writing, especially in op-eds, is that you tend to make overly simplistic statements due space constraints. Most bacteria, "good" or "bad", can induce physiologic changes in the body. The point here is how one defines "disease". As for the "calming" effect on the immune system....that statement is just embarrassing coming from a science writer.

Fridays Nobel Prize Award

The Uk Times says that Al Gore is the favorite to win the Nobel peace prize this coming Friday. I would love it if Al Gore wins a Nobel Prize. Think about all the conservative apoplexy that it will cause.

Oliver Smithies Gets Nobel

Congratulations to Prof. Oliver Smithies for sharing the Nobel Prize in medicine along with another American and a Brit. Dr. Smithies discovered the gene targeting technique that allowed for knocking out genes in mice. These mice are now routinely used in medical research. He was a professor in the Department of Genetics at the Univ. of Wisconsin when I was a grad student there. Over 10,000 different genes have been knocked out in mice.