Health
Category archives for Health
Why do some vaccines not work well in certain contexts?
Posted by Greg Laden on March 15, 2016 
Rotavirus vaccine is very effective in preventing this diarrhea inducing stomach illness in children in developed countries. But it appears that in certain poorer regions, i.e. Bangladesh, the same vaccine has a reduced effect, inducing sufficient immunity in fewer than half of the children who receive it. In the early days of the polio vaccine,…
WHO tells us about red meat and processed meat cancer risk?
Posted by Greg Laden on October 27, 2015 
See what I did there? As you know, the UN WHO International Agency for Research on Cancer has listed Red Meat as Group 2A (probably carcinogenic to humans) and processed meat at Group 1 (causes cancer). And everyone is upset. The most common reaction to these listings is to criticize WHO. The least common reaction…
Crowd Sourced Award Winning Wines Support Prostate Cancer Research
Posted by Greg Laden on August 4, 2015 
A guest post by Robet Hollander, Winemaker 2redWinery, makers of the award-winning Ziniphany© Zinfandel and #2red is 38% towards goal on Indiegogo with all proceeds supporting prostate cancer research through the Robert and Susan Hollander Foundation, an IRS approved 501c3 organization. Campaign supporters, in exchange for their tax-deductible support, can secure wine from the 2015…
Does Cell Phone Use Cause Cancer? No.
Posted by Greg Laden on May 13, 2015 
Josh Harkinson at Mother Jones recently posted an item called “Scores of Scientists Raise Alarm About the Long-Term Health Effects of Cellphones.” I like Josh’s work, but there are some problems with this article I want to point out, some of which parallel problems in the more general discussion of cell phone safety. Before looking…
Ebola and “the French Disease”
Posted by Greg Laden on October 27, 2014 
Jim Moore and I were both students in the PhD Program in Anthropology at Harvard a few years ago. He graduated about the time I entered the program. To give a rough historical touchstone, I remember the day he needed to get his thesis off to the Registrar, and there was a delay because it…
Ebola in the US Update
Posted by Greg Laden on October 25, 2014 
Of the seven Americans who have contracted Ebola, five overseas and two in Texas, all seven have survived. Comments from President Obama, focusing on how we have to be guided by the science: “Here’s the bottom line. Patients can beat this disease. And we can beat this disease. But we have to stay vigilant. We…
President Obama on Ebola
Posted by Greg Laden on October 18, 2014 
Obama made Ebola the subject of his weekly address. He emphasizes some unique concepts: Science and facts.
Research Suggests Healthcare Workers Could Balk At Treating Ebola Patients
Posted by Greg Laden on October 16, 2014 
Given the current and developing situation in Dallas, where two health workers have become infected with Ebola while caring for a patient, it is reasonable to ask if health workers might decide to call in sick for a few months until this whole highly infectious often fatal disease thing blows over. Daniel Barnett, of the…
Good Morning, America. There is another Ebola case. UPDATED
Posted by Greg Laden on October 15, 2014 UPDATE: The first health worker to have been affected with Ebola in Texas may not be moved to Maryland. From NBC: Nina Pham, one of the two nurses who contracted Ebola in Dallas, is expected to be moved to a National Institutes of Health isolation unit in Bethesda, Maryland, a federal official with direct knowledge…
Was the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Prepared for Ebola? Probably not.
Posted by Greg Laden on October 14, 2014 
This is breaking news as of Tuesday PM. According to the nurses at the hospital, no, not initially. Anonymous nurses have claimed via their union: -Patient Zero was left for several hours in a place with up to seven other patients, not in isolation. When a senior nurse attempted to insist he be moved to…