- November 19, 2009
- 09:00 AM
- 805 views
An epigenetic mechanism for peripheral insulin resistance
by Colby in nutsci.org
PGC-1alpha is my favorite gene/protein to study, as it is essential for mitochondrial regulation, influential on many diseases and ageing. I also am fascinated by the relatively new field of epigenetics and its relation to nutrition and health. So you can understand my geeky giddiness when I found that a study by Barrès et al. (1) shows [...]... Read more »
Barrès R, Osler ME, Yan J, Rune A, Fritz T, Caidahl K, Krook A, & Zierath JR. (2009) Non-CpG methylation of the PGC-1alpha promoter through DNMT3B controls mitochondrial density. Cell metabolism, 10(3), 189-98. PMID: 19723495
- November 19, 2009
- 08:11 AM
- 1,289 views
East is East?
I’m not planning to blog a lot on the Astronomical Orientation of Ancient Greek Temples as is openly accessible. Your comments are going to carry a lot more weight there than here. But I’ll try and keep track of what other people are saying elsewhere. I’m expecting this to be the first paper of a [...]... Read more »
Salt, A. (2009) The Astronomical Orientation of Ancient Greek Temples. PLoS ONE, 4(11). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0007903
- November 19, 2009
- 08:00 AM
- 1,076 views
Conserving whales by collecting blow samples in the wild
by Rob Goldstein in Conservation Maven
New research on pathogens in whales and dolphins illustrates the incredible ingenuity that some scientists display in gathering data on species at risk...... Read more »
Acevedo-Whitehouse, K., Rocha-Gosselin, A., & Gendron, D. (2009) A novel non-invasive tool for disease surveillance of free-ranging whales and its relevance to conservation programs. Animal Conservation. DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-1795.2009.00326.x
- November 19, 2009
- 08:00 AM
- 642 views
Homeopathy really doesn’t work
by sciencebase in Sciencebase Science Blog
A couple of years ago, I re-posted an old article of mine about homeopathy discussing its ludicrous claims, its feeble attempts to provide a scientific explanation for those claims, and basically pointing out that no solid evidence has ever been found that infinitely diluted solutions of spurious ingredients have any more beneficial effect on a [...]Homeopathy really doesn’t work is a post from: Sciencebase Science Blog
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Jonas WB, Kaptchuk TJ, & Linde K. (2003) A critical overview of homeopathy. Annals of internal medicine, 138(5), 393-9. PMID: 12614092
Baum, M., & Ernst, E. (2009) Should We Maintain an Open Mind about Homeopathy?. The American Journal of Medicine, 122(11), 973-974. DOI: 10.1016/j.amjmed.2009.03.038
- November 19, 2009
- 07:10 AM
- 694 views
What tuna are you eating?
by Kent in Uncommon Ground
The latest meeting of the international commission created to manage harvests of tunas and other wide-ranging fish species in the Atlantic Ocean ended by setting 2010 quotas for bluefin tuna that conservation groups and United States fisheries officials said were...... Read more »
López Herráez, D., Bauchet, M., Tang, K., Theunert, C., Pugach, I., Li, J., Nandineni, M., Gross, A., Scholz, M., & Stoneking, M. (2009) Genetic Variation and Recent Positive Selection in Worldwide Human Populations: Evidence from Nearly 1 Million SNPs. PLoS ONE, 4(11). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0007888
- November 19, 2009
- 04:27 AM
- 557 views
Want to predict a footie result? Don't even think about it
by Christian Jarrett in BPS Research Digest
Imagine you've just paid an expert good money for their verdict and they say to you: "Can you hang on a couple of minutes whilst I don't think about this". You'd be forgiven for thinking they've gone silly. They may have. But another possibility is that you've chosen a shrewd expert who's totally up-to-speed with the latest decision-making research: Ap Dijksterhuis and his colleagues have just shown that people with expertise in football are better at predicting match outcomes when they spend time not consciously thinking about their predictions.In an initial experiment, 352 Dutch undergrads were divided into football experts and non-experts, based on their self-ratings, and they were all asked to make predictions (home or away win, or draw) about four forthcoming football matches in the top Dutch league - the Eredivisie. The students were shown the four pairs of competing teams for twenty seconds, and then one third of them were asked to make immediate predictions; one third were asked to consciously think for two minutes before making their predictions; and a final third engaged in a distracting, numerical memory task for two minutes before making their predictions.For the non-experts, it didn't make any difference to their success whether or not they were able to spend time considering their predictions - they were correct between forty and fifty per cent of the time regardless. By contrast, the experts' predictions were significantly more accurate when they were distracted for two minutes, compared with when they made an instant or a considered prediction (approx 60 vs. 50 per cent accuracy). In other words, the experts were most accurate when they spent time not consciously thinking about the problem at hand.This may seem bizarre but it's entirely consistent with Dijksterhuis's Unconscious Thought Theory and with the folk wisdom that says it's a good idea to sleep on a problem. According to Dijksterhuis's theory, the subconscious is sometimes less prone to the biases that afflict the conscious mind, thus ensuring that an expert gives due weight to the most important factors. This was borne out in a second experiment, much like the first, in which students predicted the outcomes of World Cup football matches. Again, distracted experts made the most accurate predictions. This time, however, the researchers also asked participants to estimate the teams' world rankings - apparently this is the most reliable predictor for the outcomes of World Cup matches. For experts who spent time consciously considering their match predictions, there was no correlation between their knowledge of team rankings and their prediction accuracy. By contrast, for the experts who spent time not thinking about their predictions, there was a correlation between their ranking knowledge and predictive accuracy. Not consciously thinking about the problem at hand seemed to ensure that experts paid due attention to the most important factor affecting match outcomes.The researchers warned that subconscious thought is not always superior to conscious thought. But they concluded: "Our results mean that unconscious thought may well be helpful in more situations than some people currently think."_________________________________Dijksterhuis A, Bos MW, van der Leij A, & van Baaren RB (2009). Predicting Soccer Matches After Unconscious and Conscious Thought as a Function of Expertise. Psychological science : a journal of the American Psychological Society / APS PMID: 19818044
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Dijksterhuis A, Bos MW, van der Leij A, & van Baaren RB. (2009) Predicting Soccer Matches After Unconscious and Conscious Thought as a Function of Expertise. Psychological science : a journal of the American Psychological Society / APS. PMID: 19818044
- November 19, 2009
- 03:58 AM
- 1,298 views
A model of executive functioning and stress regulation
by Adiemusfree in Healthskills: Skills for Healthy Living
I’m a visual kind of girl, I need to see a diagram to help me conceptualise how the things I’ve been writing about recently all fit together. I’ve been looking at the various aspects of self regulation, emotions and executive functions and how this affects and is affected by stressors, of which chronic pain [...]... Read more »
Williams, P., Suchy, Y., & Rau, H. (2009) Individual Differences in Executive Functioning: Implications for Stress Regulation. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 37(2), 126-140. DOI: 10.1007/s12160-009-9100-0
- November 19, 2009
- 02:22 AM
- 2,524 views
Lying on Adolescents’ Blogs
by Dr Shock in Dr Shock MD PhD
Adolescents are the most truthful about school and their life on blogs, whereas they are the least truthful about intimate topics such as family life and partnership. Adolescents present their personal information on blogs very truthfully. A girls of fourteen is really a girl of fourteen.
During adolescence forming an identity is a key developmental task [...]
Related posts:Shrink Blogs When starting this blog I searched for other psychiatrists...101 Fascinating Brain Blogs Dr Shock has been included in this list. It...Why Blog? 2 Surveys indicate a growth of nearly 9 million Americans...
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.... Read more »
Blinka, L., & Smahel, D. (2009) Fourteen Is Fourteen and a Girl Is a Girl: Validating the Identity of Adolescent Bloggers. CyberPsychology , 2147483647. DOI: 10.1089/cpb.2009.0044
- November 18, 2009
- 09:16 PM
- 680 views
The Benefits of Increased PGC-1alpha Expression
by Reason in Fight Aging!
A short introduction to the gene PGC-1alpha: this is one of a number of genes of interest involved in the biochemical changes, resistance to age-related disease, and extended healthy life span brought about by calorie restriction (CR). It favorably changes the operation of mitochondria, and based on the effects of other genes and proteins involved in these mechanisms, I would expect enhanced expression of PCG-1alpha to have at least some modest beneficial effect on life span. That said, I'm not aware of any life span studies involving PCG-1alpha manipulation, but there is a fair amount of published research out there on its more immediate effects. For a longer introduction, including some explanation as to why mitochondria are so important to aging and longevity, you might look back in the archives. Every gene and protein in the regulatory networks surrounding mitochondrial operation potentially determines some portion of the rate at which an individual ages: Our understanding of the complexity of signalling pathways to and from the mitochondria is increasing, describing a network through which mitochondria may communicate functional status to the nucleus to impact cellular function. Metabolic reprogramming by CR may be central to the mechanism of lifespan extension, where changes...... Read more »
Wenz T, Rossi SG, Rotundo RL, Spiegelman BM, & Moraes CT. (2009) Increased muscle PGC-1{alpha} expression protects from sarcopenia and metabolic disease during aging. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. PMID: 19918075
- November 18, 2009
- 06:35 PM
- 473 views
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome a Real Pain in the Neck??
by Dr. Wayne Button in Sport Injuries and Wellness
New research to show carpal tunnel syndrome may be linked to Neck Pain.... Read more »
OLEARY, S., FALLA, D., HODGES, P., JULL, G., & VICENZINO, B. (2007) Specific Therapeutic Exercise of the Neck Induces Immediate Local Hypoalgesia. The Journal of Pain, 8(11), 832-839. DOI: 10.1016/j.jpain.2007.05.014
Boyd, K. (2003) Low Back Disorders: Evidence-Based Prevention and Rehabilitation. Physiotherapy Canada, 55(02), 124. DOI: 10.2310/6640.2003.37832
- November 18, 2009
- 05:26 PM
- 1,147 views
Tobacco harm reduction - no smoke without fire
by Martin Robbins in The Lay Scientist
Smoking kills millions of people every year and yet the medical community seems pathologically opposed to any measure to tackle the issue other than through the promotion of total abstinence. Carl Phillips suggests in his paper in the Harm Reduction Journal this month that smoking for just one month is more dangerous than switching to a smokeless nicotine product for a lifetime.
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Take a moment to take a deep drag on a few breathtaking statistics.
Across the world approximately 1.3 billion people use tobacco products and by 2030 it is estimated that 10 million people will die annually from smoking-related diseases and 70% of these deaths will be in developing countries. We’ve known about the harmful effects of smoking for over 50 years and yet over that same period 6 million Britons have died of tobacco-related disease.
It’s no secret that it’s hard to stop smoking. Bandolier published an interesting little analysis of trials which included smokers and heroin addicts. They asked: which is the most addictive? In a rather elegant twist they looked at the cessation rates in the placebo arms of all the relevant trials. Cessation rates for smokers were around 8-9% yet for opiates users were around 43%. No surprises there - smoking is extraordinarily difficult to stop. Even in those that are highly motivated 12 month cessation rates are often no better than 10%. Opposing a harm reduction approach might be doing a grave disservice to those that just find it too tough to stop.
I am intrigued by the concept of tobacco harm reduction - not least because it requires a considerable effort of will to put aside a pathological distrust of Big Tobacco. Some of this post is taken from one I posted over at doc2doc a few months ago. The very first comment on the blogpost at doc2doc sums up the gut reaction of many doctors:
I think we should dismiss this out of hand! This argument is like low tar cigarettes are healthier..so you can smoke more of them. There is no such things as a safe(r) cigarette. The safer cigarette makes no sense given my understanding of how nicotine receptors work, not to say addiction. Do not trust Big Tobacco who have a vested interest in not losing their customers.
End of. Decision made. One suspects that the notion of smokeless nicotine products is simply not endorsable by the scientific orthodoxy in any shape or form. Phillips addresses all the arguments and using a back of a fag packet (though he prefers an envelope) calculation suggests that:
Whatever the explanation for it, the present analysis shows that anti-THR [tobacco harm reduction] activism is deadly. Hiding THR from smokers, waiting for them to decide to quite entirely or waiting for a new anti-smoking magic bullet, causes the deaths of more smokers every month than a lifetime using low-risk nicotine products ever could.
If you are inclined to read the paper then flick to the back first and read the competing interests statement. Not for our Carl a bland 'nothing to declare' and instead it reads like a heartfelt plea that we pause, ignore the gut reaction and consider the evidence. It also speaks volumes for the ignominious role of mavericks in the scientific world; they may occasionally be lauded as heroes but more often they will be squeezed out of funding, shunned at the peer-review review stage and ostracised by their own community.
Within the wider medical community tobacco harm reduction remains an exercise in thinking the unthinkable. Doctors recommending it may be vilified and it opens up a researcher to accusations of acting as an industry patsy; labelled as a dull-eyed lackey in the pay of malignant giants. Yet it could save millions of lives and it certainly merits wider debate.
Phillips, C. (2009). Debunking the claim that abstinence is usually healthier for smokers than switching to a low-risk alternative, and other observations about anti-tobacco-harm-reduction arguments Harm Reduction Journal, 6 (1) DOI: 10.1186/1477-7517-6-29
... Read more »
Phillips, C. (2009) Debunking the claim that abstinence is usually healthier for smokers than switching to a low-risk alternative, and other observations about anti-tobacco-harm-reduction arguments. Harm Reduction Journal, 6(1), 29. DOI: 10.1186/1477-7517-6-29
- November 18, 2009
- 05:18 PM
- 1,075 views
Tobacco harm reduction – no smoke without fire
by Euan in Dr Euan Lawson| Doctor Writer
Smoking kills millions of people every year and yet the medical community seems pathologically opposed to any measure to tackle the issue other than through the promotion of total abstinence. Carl Phillips suggests in his paper in the Harm Reduction Journal this month that smoking for just one month is more dangerous than switching to a smokeless nicotine [...]... Read more »
Phillips, C. (2009) Debunking the claim that abstinence is usually healthier for smokers than switching to a low-risk alternative, and other observations about anti-tobacco-harm-reduction arguments. Harm Reduction Journal, 6(1), 29. DOI: 10.1186/1477-7517-6-29
- November 18, 2009
- 04:41 PM
- 576 views
Carbon Guzzler
by Journal Watch Online in Journal Watch Online
Ocean absorbs billions of tons of man-made carbon each year
... Read more »
Khatiwala, S., Primeau, F., & Hall, T. (2009) Reconstruction of the history of anthropogenic CO2 concentrations in the ocean. Nature, 462(7271), 346-349. DOI: 10.1038/nature08526
- November 18, 2009
- 03:40 PM
- 439 views
Media Attention May Indirectly Fuel Drug Abuse
by Michael Long in Phased
John Brownstein (Harvard Medical School and Children's Hospital Boston) and coworkers have documented that deaths by opioid abuse in the United States peak between two and six months after peaks in media reports on opioid abuse. This news feature was written on November 18, 2009.... Read more »
Dasgupta, N., Mandl, K. D., & Brownstein, J. S. (2009) Breaking the News or Fueling the Epidemic? Temporal Association between News Media Report Volume and Opioid-Related Mortality. PLoS ONE, 4(11). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0007758
- November 18, 2009
- 03:25 PM
- 662 views
Oh no! Ideophones are not response cries!
by Mark D. in The Ideophone
In their commentary on Evans & Levinson's recent hotly debated Myth of Language Universals paper, Pinker & Jackendoff briefly mention ideophones — and erroneously shelve them away as 'response cries'. It seems this error is a particularly easy one to make for speakers of SAE languages. In this post I flesh out why this might be so, and explain what's the difference between response cries (also known as interjections) and ideophones.... Read more »
Pinker, S., & Jackendoff, R. (2009) The reality of a universal language faculty. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 32(05), 465. DOI: 10.1017/S0140525X09990720
- November 18, 2009
- 02:29 PM
- 1,215 views
Not just a pretty face: The facial ruff of barn owls and sound localisation
by kubke in Building Blogs of Science
Barn owls are the subject of many studies on auditory neuroscience because of their exquisite ability to localize sound. The auditory system is interesting from a neuronal computation point of view because the inner ear, where sounds are detected, relays no information to the brain as to the location of the sound source in space. [...]... Read more »
Hausmann, L., von Campenhausen, M., Endler, F., Singheiser, M., & Wagner, H. (2009) Improvements of Sound Localization Abilities by the Facial Ruff of the Barn Owl (Tyto alba) as Demonstrated by Virtual Ruff Removal. PLoS ONE, 4(11). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0007721
- November 18, 2009
- 01:30 PM
- 550 views
The challenge of passively restoring farmland to natural fields
by Rob Goldstein in Conservation Maven
Researchers from the University of Sweden demonstrates that the passive restoration of abandoned farms to semi-natural grassland can take a very long time - greater than 50 years. However, the study also finds that sowing a mix of grassland seeds can aid establishment...... Read more »
Öster, M., Ask, K., Cousins, S., & Eriksson, O. (2009) Dispersal and establishment limitation reduces the potential for successful restoration of semi-natural grassland communities on former arable fields. Journal of Applied Ecology. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2664.2009.01721.x
- November 18, 2009
- 01:02 PM
- 1,021 views
Stress: The final frontier (executive functions)
by Adiemusfree in Healthskills: Skills for Healthy Living
It’s visceral. Stress – hits you in the guts. Some of us cope well, some of us don’t – some of our stress lingers, sometimes it’s just the little things, those ‘daily hassles’ that end up tripping the switch. And I don’t think anyone would disagree that chronic pain is an enormous stressor. [...]... Read more »
Williams, P., Suchy, Y., & Rau, H. (2009) Individual Differences in Executive Functioning: Implications for Stress Regulation. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 37(2), 126-140. DOI: 10.1007/s12160-009-9100-0
- November 18, 2009
- 12:19 PM
- 1,055 views
Why do Toucans have large bill
by Arunn in nOnoScience (a.k.a. Unruled Notebook)
What can one do with the nose? If one were Cleopatra of Egypt, she could rule Rome. If one were the unfortunate Sphinx of Egypt, his form minus the nose could become the wonderment of the World. If one were Tycho Brahe, he could remove the nose, for polishing amidst a heated debate or duel, [...]... Read more »
Tattersall, G., Andrade, D., & Abe, A. (2009) Heat Exchange from the Toucan Bill Reveals a Controllable Vascular Thermal Radiator. Science, 325(5939), 468-470. DOI: 10.1126/science.1175553
- November 18, 2009
- 10:40 AM
- 377 views
Unraveling the Bacterial Rope Assembly Mystery
by Michael Long in Phased
Ferran Garcia-Pichel and Martin Wojciechowski (Arizona State University) propose that the capacity to colonize unstable soil is the evolutionary advantage of bacterial assembly into ropes. This news feature was written on November 18, 2009.... Read more »
Garcia-Pichel, F., & Wojciechowski, M. F. (2009) The Evolution of a Capacity to Build Supra-Cellular Ropes Enabled Filamentous Cyanobacteria to Colonize Highly Erodible Substrates. PLoS ONE, 4(11). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0007801
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