A leader needs to be able to communicate a vision- and inspire followers to help accomplish the goals, support the mission, and make the vision a reality. Doing that requires all kinds of measures.
Continue reading Whose Team IS this?
When we take pharmaceuticals or homeopathic remedies to alleviate symptoms, it is hard to determine if the drug is the active agent or our brain is. For example, I discussed vitamin supplements in May 2011. Now, there’s new data that suggest echinacea may fall in the category of placebo, as well.
Continue reading Which wins- the mental attitude or the placebo effect?
Researchers at Boston University have reported (Nature) a new adjuvancy effect – the use of sugars to enhance the behavior of (aminoglycoside) antibiotics. Dr James Collins, along with co-researchers Drs. Allison and Brynildsen, all also affiliated with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, as well, went about trying to determine how to kill persistent microbes survive in biofilms. Thinking the bacterial cells were dormant, they considered adding various sugars to the antibiotic mixes. It was hoped the presence of the sugars would “activate” the dormant cells, and, as they were now active, they would be killed off by the antibiotics.
Continue reading Sugar and antibiotics- not so nice…
Remember what happened in the late 80’s and early 90’s? When every day, we heard about a new fiasco with managed care treatment of its insured (customers, patients)? Well, it’s coming back, with a vengeance, I fear.
Continue reading PacMan is alive and well
Continue reading Drug or Placebo??
For 57 years, patients have been receiving Coumadin to reduce the risk of blood clots. What most of them don’t know is that their “drug” really rat poison- warfarin. That is not really the problem (other than the “yech” factor)- it’s that the effective dosage is difficult to ascertain and maintain. Too low a dose- and the potential for bleeding out exists; too much warfarin- and the patient’s blood congeals, precluding blood flow. Certain foods (broccoli, spinach, among other Vitamin K laden vegetables) interact with the drug, and each patient has a different response to warfarin; women with menstrual cycles, obviously, have a more difficult time maintaining the optimal dosage. Basically, the only way to determine the effective dosage is to monitor the blood clotting time (which is not performed daily or weekly)- it’s “hit or miss”.
Continue reading Big changes afoot (pun intended) for blood clot control…
What’s the difference between remission and a cure? A remission means we can’t find OBVIOUS signs of cancer in the patient’s body. A cure means there are no cancer cells in the body- the body’s immune system has destroyed the cancerous cells. We use similar terms for HIV-AIDS, too.
Continue reading New cancer treatment- one specific for the patient!
Ch-ch-changes. That’s the one certainty upon which we can rely.
I have always relied upon state-of-the-art (SOTA) tools. For my simulation and development efforts some 4 decades ago, my office mate was a PDP-8. Right next to it was my tape punch and Hollerith card punchers. I also had an IBM MT-ST. (This was a very fancy IBM typewriter that employed metalized cards (like Holleriths) to record and play back pages of documents.) We could edit and save documents with ease (or so I thought, compared to the rest of the world). These devices also required my office to be on the order of 400 square feet.
Continue reading Here it comes- Ready or Not!
4th of July! If you are an American, it’s a very special day. We are all supposed to demonstrate patriotic behavior; the dictionary defines this as feeling, expressing, or inspired by love for one’s country. That sounds wonderful doesn’t it?
Continue reading Happy Birthday- Many, Many, MANY More!
