Comment

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on June 3, 2014 at 9:14am

Media Coverage of Medical Journals: Do the Best Articles Make the News?

Newspapers were more likely to cover observational studies and less likely to cover RCTs than high impact journals. Additionally, when the media does cover observational studies, they select articles of inferior quality. Newspapers preferentially cover medical research with weaker methodology.
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Newspapers were more likely to cover observational studies and less likely to cover randomized trials than high impact journals. Additionally, when the media does cover observational studies, they select articles of inferior quality. We present evidence that newspapers preferentially cover medical research with weaker methodology. Our findings add to the understanding of how journalists and medical researchers weight studies. Ultimately such understanding may facilitate communication between researchers and the media and promote coverage that is in the greatest interest of the public health.
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone....

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on June 3, 2014 at 9:05am

Anti-science politics in the US:

Democrats Have a Problem With Science, Too

We shouldn't let them off the hook just because Republicans are worse.

Take anti-GMO sentiment, for example. The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) notes in its statement on the issue that “25 years of research involving more than 500 independent research groups” has found genetically modified foods to be no riskier than foods resulting from conventional breeding. Eating a GM tomato is just as safe as eating a non-GM tomato. The AAAS therefore opposes GMO labeling because it could “mislead and falsely alarm customers.” Though some polling has shown GMO labeling support to be about equal among Republicans, Democrats and Independents, looking at GMO-related legislation tells another story

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/06/democrats-have-a-pro...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on June 3, 2014 at 8:58am

Science sometimes gets things wrong. Scientists often get things wrong. But what makes science so powerful is how it responds to new evidence and how scientists learn from their mistakes.

http://www.opb.org/news/article/npr-science-trust-and-psychology-in...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on June 3, 2014 at 8:56am

A failed replication draws a scathing personal attack from a psychology professor
http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2012/03/10/failed-replicati...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on June 3, 2014 at 8:53am

A Swedish-German research team has successfully tested a new method for the production of ultra-strong cellulose fibers at DESY’s research light source PETRA III. The novel procedure spins extremely tough filaments from tiny cellulose fibrils by aligning them all in parallel during the production process. The new method is reported in the scientific journal Nature Communications.
Hydrodynamic alignment and assembly of nanofibrils resulting in strong cellulose filaments
http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2014/140602/ncomms5018/full/ncomms5018...
Cellulose nanofibrils can be obtained from trees and have considerable potential as a building block for biobased materials. In order to achieve good properties of these materials, the nanostructure must be controlled. Here we present a process combining hydrodynamic alignment with a dispersion–gel transition that produces homogeneous and smooth filaments from a low-concentration dispersion of cellulose nanofibrils in water. The preferential fibril orientation along the filament direction can be controlled by the process parameters. The specific ultimate strength is considerably higher than previously reported filaments made of cellulose nanofibrils. The strength is even in line with the strongest cellulose pulp fibres extracted from wood with the same degree of fibril alignment. Successful nanoscale alignment before gelation demands a proper separation of the timescales involved. Somewhat surprisingly, the device must not be too small if this is to be achieved.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on June 3, 2014 at 8:31am

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on June 3, 2014 at 8:28am

Drug Developers Take a Second Look at Herbal Medicines
Desperate to develop new drugs for malaria and other ailments, researchers are running clinical trials with traditional herbal medicines—and generating promising leads

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on June 3, 2014 at 8:28am

Vision Involves a Bit of Hearing, Too
Researchers could tell what sounds blindfolded volunters were hearing by analyzing activity in their visual cortexes.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/vision-involves-h...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on June 3, 2014 at 8:25am

Risk factors for febrile seizures include developmental delay, discharge from a neonatal unit after 28 days, day care attendance, viral infections, a family history of febrile seizures, certain vaccinations, and possibly iron and zinc deficiencies. Febrile seizures may occur before or soon after the onset of fever, with the likelihood of seizure increasing with the child's temperature and not with the rate of temperature rise.

Vaccinations associated with increased risk include 2010 Southern Hemisphere seasonal influenza trivalent inactivated vaccine (Fluvax Junior and Fluvax); diphtheria and tetanus toxoids and whole-cell pertussis (DTP); and measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR). A Cochrane review and a review of 530,000 children receiving the MMR vaccine showed that the risk of febrile seizures increased only during the first two weeks after vaccination, was small (an additional one or two febrile seizures per 1,000 vaccinations), and was likely related to fever from the vaccine.
http://www.aafp.org/afp/2012/0115/p149.html

A genetic predisposition for febrile seizures has been postulated, although no susceptibility gene has been identified. Genetic abnormalities have been reported in persons with febrile epilepsy syndromes, such as severe myoclonic epilepsy in infancy and generalized epilepsy with febrile seizures plus (GEFS+).14 Most causes of febrile seizures are multifactorial, with two or more genetic and contributing environmental factors.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on June 3, 2014 at 8:18am

Delaying Vaccines Increases Risks—with No Added Benefits
Some parents delay vaccines out of a misinformed belief that it’s safer, but that decision actually increases the risk of a seizure after vaccination and leaves children at risk for disease longer
Concerns about vaccine safety have led up to 40 percent of parents in the U.S. to delay or refuse some vaccines for their children in hopes of avoiding rare reactions. Barriers to health care access can also cause immunization delays. But delaying some vaccines, in addition to leaving children unprotected from disease longer, can actually increase the risk of fever-related seizures, according to a new study.
The new study, published in the May 19 Pediatrics, found that administering the MMR shot or the less frequently used MMRV one (which includes the varicella, or chickenpox, vaccine) later, between 16 and 23 months, doubles the child’s risk of developing a fever-caused, or febrile, seizure as a reaction to the vaccine. The risk of a febrile seizure following the MMR is approximately one case in 3,000 doses for children aged 12 to 15 months but one case in 1,500 doses for children aged 16 to 23 months “This study adds to the evidence that the best way to prevent disease and minimize side effects from vaccines is to vaccinate on the recommended schedule.
It's not clear why the MMR and MMRV vaccines increase febrile seizure risk in the older children, but it may be simply that they receive the vaccines when they are already more susceptible to the seizures. Hambidge says evidence shows the immune system may still be maturing during the second year of life, and febrile seizures caused by viruses naturally peak around 16 to 18 months. Vaccines administered during this interval may increase the risk of fever, and therefore febrile seizures, because the vaccines rev up the immune system to mount a better immune response. These seizures do not cause any long-term health effects. Even though they’re scary for parents, these seizures are temporary events. They don’t recur and don’t cause epilepsy.
No evidence to date reveals any benefits to delaying vaccines. A study in 2010 showed that children who received delayed vaccinations performed no better at ages seven to 10 on behavioral and cognitive assessments than children who received their vaccines on time.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/delaying-vaccines-increas...

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