Recent stem cell advancements have been been exploding across the headlines. If you somehow missed these headlines, the bulk of it is “researchers have figured out how to reprogram adult cell into a state that is nearly indistinguishable from embryonic, pluripotent stem cells.”

Unlike some science stories in the news this isn’t pure hype; it is truly important and has been tested by multiple labs. However, like normal, the media reports are mostly lacking in details and full of loud pronouncements about how this tolls the end of the culture wars and how using embryonic stem cells is now “old-fashioned.”

Like always the truth is more complex. And of course the fabulous ScienceBlogs lays it all out where the media falls flat. PZ Myers, of Pharyngula offers an excellent explanation of the research and it’s implications entitled Stem Cell Breakthrough. Also, the Denialism Blog has a great post about it entitled, Reprogramming adult cells into pluripotent stem cells – what do these new results mean. The blog Framing Science wrote two posts detailing how this is going to effect the future of the stem cell debate: The Next Stage in the Stem Cell Debate Begins! and THE DISCOVERY: What It Means for Framing & News Coverage.

I highly recommend you read these excellent articles, but for those of you who are too busy I offer a few important bullet points:

• “Americans did not make this discovery; Japanese researchers did. It required understanding of gene expression in embryonic stem cells, an understanding that was hampered in our country. ” (PZ Myers)
• This discovery is truly important and has been tested by multiple labs.
• “What the investigators have accomplished is to discover the reset button for the cell, but the way they currently press it is by hitting it hard with a ball peen hammer.” (PZ Myers)
• This new method is still somewhat crude and this means that the cells cannot be used for theraputic purposes as these cells have a higher chance of becoming cancerous than embryonic stem cells.
• This does not spell the end of embryonic stem cells as in order to find a more eloquent way of switching the “reset button” more research using embryonic stem cells will be needed.

Sadly, I think science has already lost the (religiously polarized, scientifically illiterate) American public on this issue. The media has already spin this as a win for the Christian Right and is ignoring that fact that it is really a win for embryonic stem cell researchers — and more importantly that more embryonic stem cell research is needed.

The Society of Homeopaths is holding a symposium on the treatment of AIDS in December. Their flier states that “Harry van der Zee will introduce us to a completely different and controversial treatment for AIDS in Africa using a new set of healing remedies created by Peter Chappell.”

And what is this “completely different and controversial treatment” you ask? He offers “healing downloads”:

“Downloads are based upon resonance which is an ancient principle for healing and resonance is a natural law that has always existed. Modern quantum physics is confirming resonance works on all levels of existence.”

And how do you get these “healing downloads”? Well he sells them on iTunes of course “engrafted” onto jazz music!

“The music is simply the carrier and alerts you to listen. The download is engrafted on the music by a special process. That is the new technology.”

Hell maybe we can just preload his quantum engrafted ancient healing resonance music on all those XO Laptops! That’ll solve the African AIDS crisis in no time!

ugh

It’s this sorta shit that pisses me off about hemopathology and all the other new ager placebo crap. I’m not gonna even bother disproving hemopathology for you here as others have done it better than me.

I ran into someone tangentially in my social circle the other day who exclaimed the benefits of using magnets to balance the body. I admit that my initial response was mildly snarky, and in turn their response was basically an outright distrust of “western medicine” because that’s “how [they] were raised.” For them it had become a religion.

Reiki, acupuncture, hemeopathology, prayer, MMR vaccine hysteria, witch doctors, raping virgins to get rid of AIDS — it’s all part of the same circle of faith-based medicine. At best it’s hucksterism sucking money out of wallets of dupes; and at worst it’s spreading disinformation and killing patients who forgo vaccines and real treatment. Obviously, it’s mostly the latter that pisses me off about the former.

When faced with this sorta new ager stuff (fairly common here in San Francisco), I think it’s important to challenge these ideas. However, it can be hard not to come off sounding disdainful (because frankly that’s basically how I feel).

Any other skeptics out there have ways of approaching these conversations?

Interesting completely different approach that this internet mobile based doctor, Jay Parkinson MD, is taking to online healthcare.

Nice site too though a bit too trendy web2.0 looking for my tastes ‚Äì it would look professional for a techno DJ, but for a doctor it just feels fake. Interestingly, this doctor designed and built the site himself. It’s a fine example of someone with a spot of web design talent and no branding or identity knowhow.

He’s acting as a sole practitioner “country doctor” that doesn’t take insurance. However, he is available 24/7 by email, IM, or phone and makes housecalls but conducts most consults as eVisits. Also, he acts as a middle man of sorts to find the best healthcare specialist deals.

His whole practice is based on the fact that there is a whole swath of uninsured people out there looking for inexpensive healthcare. His practice and his offer to find good health deals brings up a several interesting points about the state of health care in America:

• There are so many uninsured patients that they now constitute a market in themselves.
• This market of uninsured patients is not having it’s needs met, as most health care targets insured patients. (Note they do not target medicare/medicaid since doctors don’t get enough money from those programs to justify the extensive paperwork that comes with treating patients on medicare/medicaid).
• The actual cost of health care is hidden because of the insurance industry and the ubiquitous $15 co-pay
• Competition for services between doctors is stifled because of the fact that costs are hidden and because patients are locked into choosing a preferred provider in a select doctor network
• Jay Parkinson’s entire business strategy would be out the window if universal health care became a reality

It’s funny how much the republicans cry and whine about the horrors of socialized medicine when our own health care industry stifles their beloved “capitalist competition.” If there was truly a open market for health care the needs of the uninsured would be getting met better. I’m not arguing that this is a good idea mind you since a truly open health care market may also lead to hospitals becoming more like car mechanic shops — where 9 out of 10 are trying to rip you off.

Personally, I’m in favor of some form of universal health care for several reasons; however I think Jay Parkinson is doing a good service that is needed right now. Until a universal health care system is created, we need more solutions for uninsured patients rather then just having them go the emergency room for treatment. And if the market can figure out a way to service these people where our government has floundered, that’s great.

Fabulous Article On Why Repetition Makes Things Seem Truthful
Fabulous Article On Why Repetition Makes Things Seem Truthful
Fabulous Article On Why Repetition Makes Things Seem Truthful
Fabulous Article On Why Repetition Makes Things Seem Truthful
Fabulous Article On Why Repetition Makes Things Seem Truthful
Fabulous Article On Why Repetition Makes Things Seem Truthful
Fabulous Article On Why Repetition Makes Things Seem Truthful
Fabulous Article On Why Repetition Makes Things Seem Truthful

The Washington Post recently had an interesting article entitled, His Heart Whirs Anew, about a Peter Houghton, the first lifetime recipient of a Jarvik 2000 ventricular assist device (ie an artificial heart).

After being placed on the device, Peter Houghton has struggled with a deadening of his emotions. After reading this, my first reaction was: of course, now that his heart is just a whirring machine he no longer gets the quickening of the pulse of emotional arousal; thus, the sensory feedback is missing and he interprets this as a deadening of his emotions.

Strangely, the article never mentioned this rather obvious probable cause. Peter Houghton is a psychologist himself, so you’d think he’d be familiar with the James-Lange theory, which says that we experience physical arousal, and interpret this arousal as emotion. Alas, he’s a Jungian psychologist and a devout Catholic, which is potentially distorting his view of things.

Why blame the cart, when the horse has been replaced with a horse-droid?

As a Jungian psychologist and devout catholic, Houghton seems to view his artificial heart as symbolic entity effecting his soul rather than a physical one effecting is limbic system. In his search for a cause, he rambles on about becoming an “invented person trying to cope with it, trying to deal with the emotional context of it.” He also says that he now feels a certain emotional distance from those close to him and says he’s more cautious about his own emotions and tries not to invoke them.

Granted, this all could be simple post-operative depression and his obtuse search for meaning might actually further drive him into depression. He did go though a period of clinical depression with some suicidal thoughts. However, it’s also likely that this depression was precipitated by the mechanically steady heart shutting down of the sensory feedback so important to emotions.

Much like Capgras Delusion, where people are seen as impostors due to the lack of emotional recognition, his feelings of emotional distance are probably caused by a loss in empathy. While a smile from his grandchild may trigger his mirror neurons to create a shared emotional state, his heart remains steady as ever putting a halt on the emotional arousal. Thus, he rationalizes that his grandchildren should make him happy, but it’s not so he rationalizes that those close to him “can do without you.”

True it’s hard to tease this symptoms apart from general depression. Also this hypothesis is slightly weakened, as Johan Carlin points out by the fact that changes in pulse rate are more strongly effected by fear than happiness. The WP article does not discuss any other symptoms, so we really don’t know if he’s experienced this reduction in the sense of fear. It would be interesting to test his fear arousal state — but potentially useless without having test results from before the surgery.

Still I believe that his mechanical heart had some physical effect which flattened his emotional state. If we were all coldblooded and callous, we could of course test this by implanting some people with a mechanical heart and have a control group implanted a fake mechanical heart. However I somehow doubt that experiment would get past the IRB.

After writing this, I discovered that The Pineas Gage Fan Club wrote an excellent post discussing Houghton’s artificial heart and the James-Lange theory, entitled ‚ÄúFeel the heat‚Ķ skips a beat‚Äù or the other way around? It’s a good writeup — better in some ways than mine — and I highly encourage that you read it.

The subject line quotes a recent twitter made by a friend of mine and I couldn’t agree more. Neil deGrasse Tyson, is the exuberant astrophysicist who is the host for NOVA Science Now and the director of the Hayden Planetarium. He explodes with a passion for the mysteries of the universe in a way only an atheist could. His cheerful enthusiasm for science is contagious and in that way many have compared him to the late Carl Sagan; however, Tyson is really a unique figure.

One of my favorite blogs One Good Move recently posted a great video clip from Neil deGrasse Tyson’s recent interview on the Daily Show. He was also previously interviewed on the Daily Show in January of this year for his book Death by Black Hole: And Other Cosmic Quandaries.

Neil deGrasse Tyson was also a speaker at the Beyond Belief 2006 conference. I know I’ve mentioned this conference before, but I feel the need to mention it again. I seldom watch many things more than once, but I find myself going back and listening to Neil deGrasse Tyson the most. His rebuke to Dawkins (short and poignant), his connection between art and the love of science (16min speech that is absolutely amazing and energizing), and much more on YouTube are all worth watching.

In my book, he’s right up there with Buckaroo Banzai.