Nearly a month ago, I expressed my dismay and displeasure at the infiltration fo quackademic medicine into what is arguably the premier medical journal in the world, The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) in the form of a highly credulous review on the use of acupuncture for low back pain that brought eternal shame [...]

In one of the most prominent news stories written about electronic cigarettes to date, Michael Felberbaum has done a tremendous job of clearing through the smoke created by the FDA press conference of last summer and presenting an accurate picture of the electronic cigarette issue to the public. In an Associated Press article appearing yesterday, [...]

Source: University of NottinghamDate: 31 August 2010
Summary:
Large scale, cost-effective stem cell factories able to keep up with demand for new therapies to treat a range of human illnesses are a step closer to reality, thanks to a scientific breakthrough involving researchers at The University of Nottingham. In a paper published in the September edition [...]

The firing of Dr. James Enstrom after 36 years of continuous employment as a researcher at the UCLA School of Public Health, on the grounds that his research is no longer aligned with the mission of the department in which he works, is highlighted in an article on the Fox News web site.
The article quotes [...]

There’s something that has puzzled me about the recent stem cell decision that led to an injunction that prevents the NIH from spending any funds on research involving human embryonic stem cells. I’ve read the decision (pdf), and it appears to be incredibly broad and damaging to NIH funding in general.
I could understand an [...]

by Elizabeth Grossman
The American Public Health Association’s (APHA) Occupational Health & Safety Section has announced the winners of its 2010 Occupational Health & Safety Awards. In a year that has been marked by what David Michaels, Assistant Secretary for Occupational Safety and Health, has described as “a series of workplace tragedies” – among them the [...]

Twenty California state legislators, under the letterhead of Assemblyman Dan Logue, have written the Chancellor of UCLA, expressing concern that the firing of Professor James Enstrom after 34 years at the University appears to be an effort to silence his dissenting views on the health effects of fine particulate matter.
The letter demands that Dr. Enstrom [...]

Lucency in relation of right ischipubic ramus. This likely represents asymmetrically enlarged ischiopubic synchondrosis is a well-known and frequent finding on radiologic workup of prepubertal children, and is a normal variant which can be misinterpreted.

 Reference – Am J Roentgenol. 2004 Feb;182(2):361-5. Asymmetric closure of ischiopubic synchondrosis in pediatric patients: correlation with foot dominance.
From Sumer’s Radiology [...]

This post is part of a Nature Blog Focus on hallucinogenic drugs in medicine and mental health, inspired by a recent Nature Reviews Neuroscience paper, The neurobiology of psychedelic drugs: implications for the treatment of mood disorders, by Franz Vollenweider & Michael Kometer. This article will be available, open-access, until September 23. For more information [...]

An article published online ahead of print in the journal Tobacco Control accuses the tobacco companies of using YouTube to market cigarettes (see: Elkin L, Thomson G, Wilson N. Connecting world youth with tobacco brands: YouTube and the internet policy vacuum on Web 2.0. Tobacco Control 2010).
According to the article: “The authors conducted a [...]