Thursday, September 27, 2007
Good For You
Exercise is good for you (we all know that) and it makes sense that what kind you do makes a difference. It turns out that for diabetes control, a combination of aerobic and strength-training routines is more effective than either alone, and, more amusingly, it turns out that playing soccer is better exercise than jogging. I'd much rather play soccer than jog, so I'm cool with this. Now I just need a new ACL...
But exercise isn't always good: too much working out during pregnancy appears to be a miscarriage risk. This isn't really a surprise, if you think about it, but it is good to keep in mind.
Lastly, the American Dental Association has granted its 'seal of approval' to a few chewing gum makers to market their products as "good for your teeth." The thing is, the studies used to evaluate the positive effects were mostly funded by the gum manufacturers, and so I find it hard to really trust them.
Still, one more excuse to chew gum in class!
But exercise isn't always good: too much working out during pregnancy appears to be a miscarriage risk. This isn't really a surprise, if you think about it, but it is good to keep in mind.
Lastly, the American Dental Association has granted its 'seal of approval' to a few chewing gum makers to market their products as "good for your teeth." The thing is, the studies used to evaluate the positive effects were mostly funded by the gum manufacturers, and so I find it hard to really trust them.
Still, one more excuse to chew gum in class!
Labels: ADA, chewing gum, diabetes, exercise, health, miscarriage, pregnancy, science, soccer, teeth
Saturday, March 03, 2007
Grammar Police, Idiot Brigade
So I'm a bit OCD about grammar. I was reading an article written by a fellow student, on a topic near and dear to my heart, but had to stop midway through when I encountered the following: "...as an American who's parents have no insurance..." But nothing makes me crazier than when I know I'm fucking up, but don't know why.
So this is a question for anyone out there who knows better than me: am I doing that/which correctly? I think of it this way: THAT specifies, WHICH defines - "That chair, which is red," etc. Or am I still recovering from my DCPS days?
Speaking of public schools, Virginia governor Tim Kaine is going halfway towards doing the right thing with regards to Gardasil and students in his state: he will sign a bill requiring that girls get the vaccine, but not if their parents object. Why, you ask, might parents object to their daughters being protected from a deadly disease (cervical cancer)? Well, because having the vaccine might encourage them to be sluttier, of course! There's no evidence that this will be the case - most American adults don't know what HPV is, let alone pre-teen kids. But who cares? This is America. we don't need evidence!
Sorta similarly, the death of a Maryland 12-year-old, due to a tooth infection which spread to his brain, has put the focus on poor people's lack of dental care. This is a major issue, but generally gets forgotten in discussions of health care coverage. I'm not really *that* poor, but I haven't been to a dentist in about six years, because I have no insurance, and couldn't pay for it. Another reason we need national coverage!
So this is a question for anyone out there who knows better than me: am I doing that/which correctly? I think of it this way: THAT specifies, WHICH defines - "That chair, which is red," etc. Or am I still recovering from my DCPS days?
Speaking of public schools, Virginia governor Tim Kaine is going halfway towards doing the right thing with regards to Gardasil and students in his state: he will sign a bill requiring that girls get the vaccine, but not if their parents object. Why, you ask, might parents object to their daughters being protected from a deadly disease (cervical cancer)? Well, because having the vaccine might encourage them to be sluttier, of course! There's no evidence that this will be the case - most American adults don't know what HPV is, let alone pre-teen kids. But who cares? This is America. we don't need evidence!
Sorta similarly, the death of a Maryland 12-year-old, due to a tooth infection which spread to his brain, has put the focus on poor people's lack of dental care. This is a major issue, but generally gets forgotten in discussions of health care coverage. I'm not really *that* poor, but I haven't been to a dentist in about six years, because I have no insurance, and couldn't pay for it. Another reason we need national coverage!
Labels: dentistry, Gardasil, grammar, HPV, idiocy, insurance, OCD, poverty., school, teeth, Virginia
Monday, February 19, 2007
A Good Way to Start the Week
I was awakened this morning by a loud knock at my door. This being something that doesn't happen - none of my neighbors are the cup-of-sugar-borrowing type and it was way too early for friends to be stopping by - I nearly leaped out of bed to see what was up. It was the FedEx guy. I would have been more annoyed, except that he was delivering a very precious package: my college statistics notebooks.
My current crop of biostats classes are so based in the underlying mathematics that I feel I'm losing sight of what it's all used for...my college courses didn't suffer this problem, as they were almost all applied classes. Hopefully now the semester will get easier!
After that, there's of course good science news. An international coalition of researchers has identified a possible Autism gene: neuregulin 1, on chromosome 11p appears to be altered in autistics. Neuregulin plays a key role in interneural communication, so its involvement in autism is not a great shock. The discovery raises hopes for future targeted treatments for the condition, but almost certainly doesn't represent a complete etiologic profile. There must be more genes and environmental factors out there that play a role.
Lost a tooth? Nasty cavities? Well, a Japanese team may have a solution for you: they successfully grew mesenchymal and epithelial cells, first in culture and then in situ, into replacement teeth for mice. The procedure's nowhere near ready for testing in humans, but will hopefully lead to effective tooth regrowth technology in the future.
My current crop of biostats classes are so based in the underlying mathematics that I feel I'm losing sight of what it's all used for...my college courses didn't suffer this problem, as they were almost all applied classes. Hopefully now the semester will get easier!
After that, there's of course good science news. An international coalition of researchers has identified a possible Autism gene: neuregulin 1, on chromosome 11p appears to be altered in autistics. Neuregulin plays a key role in interneural communication, so its involvement in autism is not a great shock. The discovery raises hopes for future targeted treatments for the condition, but almost certainly doesn't represent a complete etiologic profile. There must be more genes and environmental factors out there that play a role.
Lost a tooth? Nasty cavities? Well, a Japanese team may have a solution for you: they successfully grew mesenchymal and epithelial cells, first in culture and then in situ, into replacement teeth for mice. The procedure's nowhere near ready for testing in humans, but will hopefully lead to effective tooth regrowth technology in the future.
Labels: autism, genetics, math, mice, school, statistics, stem cells, teeth
