Since marijuana is fast becoming legal again in America, it seems strange to be calling cigarettes a 'gateway' to it, but anti-smoking campaigns are almost as large a business as tobacco and so a paper at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting in Washington, D.C., today supports the notion that cigarettes are a gateway to marijuana. 

And, like everyone who picks a position and then wants data to support it, they used surveys of students. They found that students who smoked marijuana smoked more cigarettes than those who just smoked cigarettes. Cigarettes are so demonized a successful public relations campaign against drugs might be that it leads to more smoking. That will likely work far better than a fried egg in a television commercial.

The Whale, The Torpedo And Cruelty To Animals,

a brief history of the use of electricity in medicine and the development of the pacemaker.

Part 2: The Age Of The Electricians

Part 1, was about early uses of electricity in medicine.  The 'torpedo' of the title was once recommended as a cure for headaches.

Is a David and Goliath battle brewing in commercial squid fishery, with larger purse seiners robbing "scoop" fishermen of their livelihoods, sometimes illegally?

That is what Virginia Hennessey wrote in the Monterey Herald. Hearing claims of three squid brail (smaller boat) fishermen, one might think that the larger seine vessel squid fishermen are illegally catching all of the allowable quota.

But that’s just not the case. In fact, not only is there an abundance of squid in California’s waters – more than enough to go around – most of the brail-boat fishing fleet have no problem with the current management structure.

Readers of this blog know very well by now that, despite (or is it because of?) being both a scientist and a philosopher, I have often defended the idea that science and philosophy are distinct disciplines, and I am critical in particular of those who I think display a scientistic (i.e., intellectually imperialistic) attitude in wanting to expand the scope of science to pretty much everything that is worth knowing, usually at the expense of humanistic disciplines, philosophy in particular.

In the UK, health care is nationalized but a trial lawyer for maternity cases says that has made money a bigger concern in deciding who gets quality medical care. 

A report by The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) said there was enormous disparity in the quality of care patients received across the country. It looked at the performance of maternity units in England during 2011/12 and found that rates of inductions, emergency cesareans and assisted deliveries were twice as high in some hospitals as others.

The Groningen Protocol, introduced in Holland in 2005, was devised to create a standard for doctors who had families that wanted to end the suffering of sick newborns for humanitarian reasons. It outlined parameters to help identify situations in which euthanasia is warranted and wouldn't land anyone in jail. 

We all know time is relative, just like we know that the plates are moving around underneath us, but both time and that the earth is not moving still 'ground' us on a daily basis.

A map of avian influenza (H7N9) risk is now available. The map is comprised of bird migration patterns, and adding in estimations of poultry production and consumption, which are used to infer future risk and to advise on ways to prevent infection.

As of today, there have been 127 confirmed cases of H7N9 in mainland China with 27 deaths. A lack of information about the virus and its mode of transmission has led to public concerns that H7N9 could be a pandemic waiting to happen.

Prenoxad Injection is a pre-filled syringe containing 1mg/ml naloxone hydrochloride solution for injection. Martindale Pharma announced the world's first licensed emergency treatment for acute opioid related overdose for use at home or other non-medical settings. 

There are more than 1,000 fatal opioid related overdoses just in the UK each year, with a significant proportion of these being witnessed by other people who use drugs, family members and loved ones.

The Whale, The Torpedo And Cruelty To Animals,

A brief history of the use of electricity in medicine and the development of the pacemaker.