‘A parasite common in Asian bees has spread to Europe and the Americas and is behind the mass disappearance of honeybees in many countries, says a Spanish scientist who has been studying the phenomenon for years.
The culprit is a microscopic parasite called nosema ceranae said Mariano Higes, who leads a team of researchers at a government-funded apiculture centre in Guadalajara, the province east of Madrid that is the heartland of Spain’s honey industry.
He and his colleagues have analyzed thousands of samples from stricken hives in many countries.’
Followup to Mystery of the dying bees.
‘Vice President Dick Cheney will serve as acting president briefly Saturday while President Bush is anesthetized for a routine colonoscopy, White House spokesman Tony Snow said Friday.
Bush is scheduled to have the medical procedure, expected to take about 2 1/2 hours, at the presidential retreat at Camp David, Maryland, Snow said.
Bush’s last colonoscopy was in June 2002, and no abnormalities were found, Snow said.’
I just like the headline. 🙂
‘Jock Doubleday, director of the California non-profit corporation Natural Woman, Natural Man, Inc., has offered $75,000 to the first medical doctor or pharmaceutical company CEO who publicly drinks a mixture of standard vaccine additives.
The additives would be the same as those contained in the vaccines recommended for a 6-year-old according to U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines, and the dose would be body-weight calibrated. It would include, but not be limited to:
* Thimerosal (a mercury derivative)
* Ethylene glycol (antifreeze)
* Phenol (a disinfectant dye)
* Aluminum
* Benzethonium chloride (a disinfectant)
* Formaldehyde (a preservative and disinfectant)
On August 1, 2007, if no one has taken the challenge, the offer will be increased to $90,000 and will increase at a rate of $5,000 per month until someone accepts.’
This is a bit of a followup to Random Acts Of Reality from the other day.
I’ve been reading blogs by emergency medical people all day, and they’re very interesting. Some of the stuff they do [and shit they put up with] is amazing.
Another story that I liked on a different site is called T’was the night before the night before Christmas.
‘Doctors thought the strange, bleeding bumps on Aaron Dallas’ head might be from gnat bites or shingles. Then the bumps started moving.
A doctor found five active bot fly larvae living beneath the skin atop Dallas’ head.
“I’d put my hand back there and feel them moving. I thought it was blood coursing through my head,” Dallas told the (Glenwood Springs) Post Independent.
“I could hear them. I actually thought I was going crazy.” [..]
Dallas’ wife, Midge Dallas, teased him about it.
“I told him, ‘I will love you through your maggots,'” she told the newspaper.
But Dallas saw little to laugh about.
“It’s much funnier to everyone else,” he said. “It makes my stomach turn over. It was cruel.”‘
‘Emergency workers labored through the night to rescue an ailing 500-pound man who was stranded on a stretch of the St. Croix River so shallow that rescue vehicles – including a hovercraft – were unable to approach. [..]
Rike and three friends were floating down the river Monday afternoon when Rike’s tube hit a rock and deflated, said Chief Deputy Steve Ovick of the Pine County Sheriff’s Office in Minnesota. [..]
Rike’s group called 911 shortly after 8 p.m. to report that he was ill. A paramedic who arrived by helicopter stabilized Rike, but the pilot couldn’t take him to a hospital.
“The aircraft that found him said they could not lift that amount of weight,” Ovick said.
As many as 50 rescuers on the ground eventually responded, with the first reaching Rike about 9 p.m.’
‘A mother who planned to eat her placenta will have it returned to her by a hospital following a court order.
Sunrise Hospital and Medical Centre had refused to give Ms Swanson her placenta following the caesarian birth of her daughter because it was classified as contaminated biohazardous waste, Associated Press reported.
Ms Swanson initially wanted to have her placenta dried, ground into a power and packed into capsules she believes the theory that placental hormones can help control postnatal depression.
Instead of eating it, she now plans to store and eventually bury it.
“I hope this brings about a better awareness about the benefits of placenta,” Ms Swanon said. ‘
‘Drug users in the desert town of Alice Springs have started injecting illegal adrenaline, prompting police to warn “the new speed” could have fatal consequences.
The drug, normally used by medics to treat people suffering extreme asthma attacks or allergic reactions, is being sold on the streets in glass containers with blue stoppers. [..]
“This new recreational drug has the potential to cause death in some people,” Detective Murphy said.
“Adrenaline is usually only used in cases of extreme emergency for such things as severe allergic reactions or during acute asthma attacks for breathing difficulties.’
‘Welcome to Random Acts Of Reality, a Blog based in London, England, written by an E.M.T working for the London Ambulance Service. Also, number one search result for “Womble porn”. All names have be changed to protect the guilty. This Blog was previously known as “Why I Hate Humanity” but the antipsychotic medication seems to have kicked in.’
There’s also a book out, under Creative Commons license, that you can download for free. It’s called Blood, Sweat and Tea.
‘Many of you have seen or heard about Wendy the whippet – a dog with a rare genetic mutation that has led to her being called the Arnold Schwarzenegger of dogs.
The genetic mutation is a deficiency in myostatin, which is a growth factor that limits muscle tissue growth.
But that rare genetic defect does not occur only in the whippet breed. In fact, it can and has occurred in other animals… even in humans themselves!
Behold! The ultimate collection of myostatin deficient monstrosities!’
‘Francisco Rodriguez owes more than $10,000 in back child support payments in a paternity case involving a 15-year-old girl who, according to DNA results and the girl’s mother, is not his daughter. [..]
He now has DNA results that show the 15-year-old girl wasn’t fathered by him. He even has an affidavit from the girl’s mother — a former girlfriend from 1990 — saying he’s “not the father” and asking that Rodriguez no longer be required to pay child support.
Yet the state of Florida is continuing to push him to pay $305 a month to support the girl, as well as the more than $10,000 already owed. He spent a night in jail because of his delinquent payments. [..]
Rodriguez and his family continue to wait for answers.
“It’s hard when your daughter needs sneakers and you have to pay $305 or your husband goes to jail,” said Rodriguez’s wife, Michele. “It’s just unfair.”‘
‘Scientists say they have seen one of the fastest evolutionary changes ever observed in a species of butterfly.
The tropical Blue Moon butterfly has developed a way of fighting back against parasitic bacteria.
Six years ago, males accounted for just 1% of the Blue Moon population on two islands in the South Pacific.
But by last year, the butterflies had developed a gene to keep the bacteria in check and male numbers were up to about 40% of the population.’
‘A landmark discovery by researchers at McMaster University could radically alter the way scientists can use embryonic stem cells to grow replacement tissues and treat cancer.
In a surprise revelation, a McMaster study found that human embryonic stem cells – “the great grandmothers” of all the other cells in our bodies – build themselves a nurturing cocoon that feeds them and directs their ability to transform into other types of tissues.
And by manipulating the products of this tiny, cellular placenta, it may be possible for scientists to prompt the stem cells to grow into desired tissues and organs, or to switch off tumour growth in cancers, says Mickie Bhatia, the lead study author.
The study will appear in an upcoming issue of the leading scientific journal Nature.’
‘A sports car enthusiast who suffered a mini stroke while restoring a Lotus Esprit was amazed when online friends finished the work for him in secret.
Simon Pritchard, 36, from Abergavenny, had been in the process of rebuilding the 25-year-old car when he fell ill.
When members of the Lotus Esprit online forum website heard, they donated money and time to fix it. [..]
“I was so overwhelmed, I cried like a baby and then passed out. [..]’
‘The first U.S. surgeon general appointed by President George W. Bush accused the administration on Tuesday of political interference and muzzling him on key issues like embryonic stem cell research.
“Anything that doesn’t fit into the political appointees’ ideological, theological or political agenda is ignored, marginalized or simply buried,” Dr. Richard Carmona, who served as the nation’s top doctor from 2002 until 2006, told a House of Representatives committee. [..]
Carmona said Bush administration political appointees censored his speeches and kept him from talking out publicly about certain issues, including the science on embryonic stem cell research, contraceptives and his misgivings about the administration’s embrace of “abstinence-only” sex education.’
‘Studies into clinical depression have yielded similar findings, leading to the development of an intriguing, but still controversial, concept known as depressive realism. This theory puts forward the notion that depressed individuals actually have more realistic perceptions of their own image, importance, and abilities than the average person. While it’s still generally accepted that depressed people can be negatively biased in their interpretation of events and information, depressive realism suggests that they are often merely responding rationally to realities that the average person cheerfully denies.’
‘Fat from the tummy or bottom could be used to grow new breasts in a treatment which could be carried out in an hour – or a lunch break.
Scientists say they can create a fat mixture with concentrated stem cells, which, when injected into the breast, apparently encourages tissue to grow. [..]
Using fat from the patient’s own body to rebuild other areas is not a novel idea, but such reconstructions often fail as the fat is simply reabsorbed.
However using fat-derived stem cells appears to overcome this problem, according to the company behind the procedure, Cytori Therapeutics.’
‘Science can finally prove what Buddhists have sworn by for centuries – meditation really does sharpen and clear the brain.
Tests by Adelaide researchers have revealed that as people go further into a deep meditative state, their brain rhythms shift into a pattern of focus.
This supports long-standing beliefs that the practice can improve concentration levels and alertness in daily activities.
Alpha brainwaves, which are associated with focus and attention, initially increased and delta brainwaves, linked to drowsiness, decreased.
As participants went further into mediation the alpha brainwaves, too, started to decrease, as the brain no longer needed to make an effort to be alert.’
‘A Sydney woman charged with murdering her father and sister and seriously injuring her mother was apparently denied psychiatric treatment because of her parents’ alleged Scientology beliefs, a court has been told.
The 25-year-old woman, who cannot be named, appeared briefly in Bankstown Local Court today charged over the stabbing attacks at her family home in Revesby in Sydney’s south-west last Thursday.
She made no application for bail because she was unfit to be interviewed, her legal aid lawyer Wade Bloomfield told the court.
In a report tendered to the court, Dr Mark Cross, consultant psychiatrist and clinical director of Liverpool and Fairfield Mental Health Services said the woman was diagnosed with a psychotic illness at Bankstown Hospital in late 2006.
But her parents had refused her appropriate follow-up treatment.’
‘Although crime did fall dramatically in New York during Giuliani’s tenure, a broad range of scientific research has emerged in recent years to show that the mayor deserves only a fraction of the credit that he claims. The most compelling information has come from an economist in Fairfax who has argued in a series of little-noticed papers that the “New York miracle” was caused by local and federal efforts decades earlier to reduce lead poisoning.
The theory offered by the economist, Rick Nevin, is that lead poisoning accounts for much of the variation in violent crime in the United States. It offers a unifying new neurochemical theory for fluctuations in the crime rate, and it is based on studies linking children’s exposure to lead with violent behavior later in their lives.
What makes Nevin’s work persuasive is that he has shown an identical, decades-long association between lead poisoning and crime rates in nine countries.
“It is stunning how strong the association is,” Nevin said in an interview. “Sixty-five to ninety percent or more of the substantial variation in violent crime in all these countries was explained by lead.”‘
‘The infection incident occurred on 9 February 2006. Several A&M researchers, including Principal Investigator Thomas Ficht, were in a BSL-3 lab training in the use of the Madison Aerosol Chamber. Supervising was David McMurray, an A&M professor and self-described inventor of the chamber, who has characterized it as “foolproof”.
Following a “hot” run that blew aerosolized brucella into the chamber to expose mice, researchers began clean up procedures. Using what Texas A&M now admits were inappropriate protocols, a researcher “cleaned the unit by climbing partially into the chamber to disinfect it.” A&M officials later concluded that the brucella bacteria likely entered her body via her eyes as a result of this improper procedure. (This is the third instance of lab-acquired infections related to the Madison chamber that the Sunshine Project has uncovered. The others were in Seattle and New York City.)
By April 2006, the researcher had “been home sick for several weeks.” Nobody apparently suspected brucellosis, despite the occupational exposure and, presumably, familiarity with its symptoms. [..]’
‘A dentist who punctured a patient’s nose with a needle has been struck off by the General Dental Council in order to protect the public.
Her legal team had launched an attempt to get a ban on her working lifted.
However, the GDC committee ruled that she represented a “real risk to patients” and that the only appropriate sanction was to strike her off. [..]
Chairman Robin Heron said the panel took the view that her work had “fallen substantially below the standards expected of a registered medical practitioner”.
He said there were significant shortcomings in her work and concerns about her “poor dexterity and operating technique”.’
‘Six more youths have lost their penises as a result of bungled circumcisions in the Eastern Cape.
Provincial health department spokesperson Sizwe Kupelo said 18 would-be initiates were admitted to hospital in Port St Johns last week and four had to have their septic penises amputated. [..]
Kupelo said the death toll in the current winter circumcision season in the province now stood at seven.
Five of the deaths were the direct results of circumcisions; one youth was murdered at a school and another died in a fire at a school in the East London area.’
‘A Canadian mother has frozen her eggs for use by her seven-year-old daughter, who is likely to become infertile.
Should the girl opt to use the eggs and gain regulatory approval, she would effectively have a baby that was her half-brother or sister.
Critics said the work, presented at a fertility conference in Lyon, was deeply concerning.
But the doctors from the McGill Reproductive Center, Montreal, called the donation an act of motherly love.’
‘A botched brazilian waxing turned into a horror story for a young Melbourne woman who almost died after the beauty treatment went wrong.
The 20-year-old suffered a life-threatening infection after some minor bleeding while being groomed by a trainee waxer.
Within a fortnight the diabetes sufferer, who has a lowered immune system, was suffering excruciating pain, a fever and a rash extending to her chest, arms and neck.
Other areas of her body became so badly infected, doctors thought she had a flesh-eating disease until they were finally able to examine her under a general anaesthetic.’
‘Voronoff’s hypothesis was this: hormones, like testosterone produced by the testes, would reverse aging by a process he called “rejuvenation.” One of his first experiments used himself as a test subject. He injected ground up dog and guinea pig testicles under his own skin, but was disappointed when this did not result in any verifiable effect. He reasoned that living grafts of testicular tissue, rather than injections, would have a more dramatic and lasting rejuvenation effect.
This lead to cross-species glandular transplantation surgeries. His early experiments involved transplanting thyroid tissue into humans with a thyroid deficiency. He also began transplanting the testicles of executed criminals into rich old guys (as a treatment for senility and schizophrenia), but had to stop when the demand for the procedure far exceeding the supply of criminal testicles. At this point, Voronoff began using monkey testicles instead, and his first “monkey gland” to human transplant took place in June of 1920.’
‘A state forensics scientist who said she tested DNA in her husband’s underwear to find out whether he was cheating could be disciplined if investigators determine she violated the use of state equipment.
Ann Chamberlain-Gordon of Okemos testified in a March 7 divorce hearing that she ran the test in September on the underwear of Charles Gordon Jr. Asked by his attorney what she found, she answered: “Another female. It wasn’t me.”
She also said during a May 25 hearing in Ingham County Family Court that she ran the test on her own time with chemicals that were set to be thrown away.’
‘Scientists say they’ve created embryonic stem cells by stimulating unfertilized eggs, a significant step toward producing transplant tissue that’s genetically matched to women.
The advance suggests that someday, a woman who wants a transplant to treat a condition like diabetes or a spinal cord injury could provide eggs to a lab, which in turn could create tissue that her body wouldn’t reject.
Ethicists disagreed on whether the strategy would avoid the long-standing ethical objections to creating embryonic stem cells by other means.’
‘A young man was admitted from prison to a psychiatric facility after reports that he had been acting in a bizarre manner. He had been arrested for stealing motor vehicles and assaults with weapons. At interview he was found to be experiencing the delusion that he was a player inside a computer game (adult-certificate game, widely available) in which points are scored for stealing cars, killing assailants and avoiding police vehicles. Psychotic symptoms had emerged slowly over two years. His family had noticed him becoming increasingly withdrawn and isolated from social activities. He developed delusions that strangers were planning to kill him and also experienced auditory hallucinations, constantly hearing an abusive and derogatory voice. Previously a computer enthusiast, he began to play computer games incessantly. He felt that the games were communicating with him via the headphones. In a complex delusional system he came to believe he was inside one of these games and had to steal a car to start scoring points. He broke into a car and drove off at speed, believing he had `invulnerable’ fuel and so could not run out of petrol. To gain points he chose to steal increasingly powerful vehicles, threatening and assaulting the owners with weapons. Later he said he would have had no regrets if he had killed someone, since this would have increased his score.’
