The writer chatted with a Rackspace representative during an afternoon outage and was told a network problem at a peering location outside the company's data centers had been fixed. The chat transcript is reproduced in full.
Section archive
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Health News
Drugs, disease, healthcare, government and lifestyle: health news beyond the plate.
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- And
- Anemia
- Angiogenesis
- Animal Protein
- Animals
- Anorexia
- Anthocyanins
- Anthrax
- Anti-Angiogenesis
- Anti-Obesity
- Antibacterial
- Antibiotic
Miscellaneous
Lung cancer, melanoma genomes decoded
Sequencing a small-cell lung cancer patient's tumor turned up more than 23,000 mutations and a new gene, CHD7, at roughly one mutation per 15 cigarettes smoked. A companion Nature paper found over 33,000 mutations in a melanoma genome, many traceable to ultraviolet light.
Miscellaneous
What is one of the deadliest crimes in the U.S.?
December is National Drunk and Drugged Driving Prevention Month. Accidents tied to drunk and drugged driving kill thousands of Americans a year, and NHTSA's Stop Impaired Driving site gathers resources, alongside state DUI laws and SAMHSA materials.
Healthcare
60 million Americans had no health insurance last year
CDC survey data from 32,694 respondents found 58.4 million people went without health insurance at some point in the year before the survey and 31.9 million lacked it for more than 12 months. About 8.2 percent of children had no coverage.
Healthcare
California changes its free breast cancer screening policy
California suspended new enrollments in its free mammogram program and raised the eligibility age from 40 to 50, citing rising demand and falling tobacco tax revenue. A federal task force had just moved its screening recommendation to age 50.
Drug
Breast cancer may be diagnosed without biopsies
In mice, PET scans using 64Cu-TP3805 detected all eight malignant tumours by targeting the VPAC1 biomarker, while standard 18F-FDG scans found four; two benign tumours went undetected. Mathew Thakur says the approach would still need to hold up in humans.
Healthcare
How Journals Can Twist and Manipulate Vaccine Research
Barbara Loe Fisher of the National Vaccine Information Center discusses swine flu, the H1N1 vaccine and a recent vaccine recall. The post explains the distinction Cochrane reviewers drew between vaccine efficacy, measured by antibody titer, and real-world effectiveness.
Miscellaneous
Sounds During Sleep Can Boost Your Memory
Northwestern researchers taught people to place 50 pictures paired with related sounds, then replayed 25 of those sounds during a nap. Sleepers recalled the locations of the cued pictures more precisely, though none realized the sounds had played.
Miscellaneous
The World's Fattest Countries
WHO surveys compiled between 2000 and 2008 put American Samoa first at 93.5 percent overweight, then Kiribati at 81.5, the U.S. at 66.7, Germany at 66.5 and Egypt at 66. Imported and processed Western foods and sedentary lifestyles take much of the blame.
Disease
Low Cholesterol Transfer Protein Activity Associated with Heart Disease Risk (PR)
Tufts and Boston University researchers tracked 1,978 Framingham participants with no heart disease history for 15 to 18 years, during which 320 had a first cardiac event. Low plasma CETP activity was associated with higher risk, cutting against the idea that blocking CETP to raise HDL helps.
Environment
Pesticides may slow the recovery of wild salmon populations (PR)
NOAA biologists modeled how brief seasonal pesticide exposure affects salmon, and report in Ecological Applications that even sublethal levels of chemicals such as diazinon and malathion may limit population growth and slow recovery of threatened and endangered stocks.
Drug
Heart drugs show promise for fighting colon cancer (PR)
Swedish scientists report in the Journal of Natural Products that cardiac glycosides, plant-derived drugs used for heart failure and abnormal rhythms, show early promise against colon cancer, an effect researchers had barely tested until now.
Drug
Bone Drug/Cancer News Highlights Women's Risky Therapy Choices
Martha Rosenberg traces four decades of menopause drugs whose fixes brought new cancer risks, from Premarin to Prempro to SERMs, and asks why women should trust news that bisphosphonate bone drugs came with 31 percent less invasive breast cancer after seven years.
Miscellaneous
People of Hawaii Pass Resolution Against Forced Vaccination
County of Hawaii directors voted almost unanimously for a resolution urging state and federal legislators to amend vaccine laws to include medical, religious and philosophical exemptions from any vaccine program, including programs health officials declare urgent.
Miscellaneous
When was the Wright Brothers' first successful flight?
Congress designated December 17 as Wright Brothers Day, marking Orville and Wilbur Wright's first successful flight of a heavier-than-air, mechanically propelled airplane near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, and asked the President to proclaim it each year.
Miscellaneous
Tiger Woods' wife, children not only victims
An opinion piece on reports that Tiger Woods and Elin Nordegren may separate, arguing that saturation media coverage is itself part of the damage to the family and that fame and wealth left Woods poorly placed to resist temptation.
Miscellaneous
Teleconference to answer media questions about phthalates (PR)
A press advisory: the American Chemistry Council's Phthalate Esters Panel will hold a teleconference on December 17, 2009 to review recent CDC biomonitoring data and take reporters' questions, ahead of EPA's chemical action plan for phthalates.
Disease
Can an Abnormality in Your Neck Cause MS?
Using Doppler ultrasound, Dr. Paolo Zamboni found nearly all the MS patients he examined had narrowed, twisted or blocked veins draining the brain, a condition he named CCSVI. Surgery on 65 patients showed preliminary drops in attacks and lesions and better quality of life.
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