Science and Health Commentary
Alicia PhD
- Location
- New Hampshire, United States
- Birthday
- September 08
- Bio
- Alicia has a PhD in Experimental Pathology and, after having worked in a genetics lab for her dissertation, now edits scientific manuscripts full-time from the comfort of the White Mountains. Alicia is also a writer, contributing health commentary and articles on disease and anatomy to many online publishers. She upkeeps a number of blogs devoted to her interests in public health and science.
MY RECENT COMMENTS
- “I think everything that
went through my mind has been
touched
upon by the
previo…”
February 04, 2010 07:19PM - “Kathy, yes I am up to
date on my shots (except
tetanus, which
I need to get
in th…”
February 03, 2010 01:57PM - “salvador, that is only
one reason the paper was
retracted.
However, ethics
violat…”
February 03, 2010 03:22AM - “Sorry for the spam that
sat there today, I think I got
it (I
usually don't
wander…”
February 02, 2010 10:37PM - “incandescent, I couldn't
do it either.”
February 01, 2010 03:30AM
Alicia PhD's Links
- Alicia's Writing
- On Helium
- On Suite101
- Maeflowers - Health Science Liaison
- Links of Interest
- Public Citizen - Health Research Division
- Alliance for Human Research Protection
The Evolution Narrative (Fictional Evolution III)
Continuing our narrative following anaerobic populations, we last left our friends at the following point:
- Vent 1 with anae1 (including anae1#101 genetic offspring) and anae 5 (anae1#564 but it has a mutation in a gene that determines the color of the outer membrane layer of the organism. It is now … Read full post »
Fictional Evolution - A Digression
The first two parts of the Fictional Evolution series are here and here.
While contemplating the next steps for our little anaerobic friends, I feel the need to explain that there are some very important limitations to this experiment in narrative.
First, we are only able to look at what… Read full post »
The Lancet has officially retracted the 1998 study by Wakefield that linked the MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine with autism.
The retraction comes amidst pressure from another British medical journal in efforts to curb misunderstandings of the findings by the general public as well as upholding… Read full post »
Fictional Evolution Part 2
When we last left our population of anaerobic friends, we had the beginning population (Anae1) and two offspring of the same individual (Anae1#101). Anae2#1 had an additional mutation that deactivated one enzyme, but was not phenotypically different from the parent population, and Anae3#1 had an addi… Read full post »
The Climate Change Brouhaha

I've been attempting to moderate a battle between climate change enthusiasts (if they can be called enthusiastic about the decline of civilization by weather) and global warming deniers (I switch the terms to indicate that they don't disagree… Read full post »
Fictional Evolution
When I think about evolution in my own mind to understand its effects on a particular topic (annual influenza, antibiotic resistant bacteria, alligator survival, human longevity) I play out a scenario of a fictional creature in a fictional population in a fictional environment, yet real enough to cor… Read full post »
What caring really means
This is a slight deviation from my health-oriented perspective for this blog, but hey, I'm a person, and I have feelings, too. Feelings that sometimes need to be addressed for my own sanity.
The news about Haiti is so depressing...70,000 unnamed buried in mass graves, medical supply shortage, roving… Read full post »
Selfish or Socialist?
I was reading through an online conversation about science the other day that had become a Britain vs. U.S. argument about US-centricity and British socialism. Basically, the Brit felt the Americans in the conversation were badly representing their countrymen by being close-minded about scientific ev… Read full post »
Photosynthesis - in an animal?
Half plant - half animal? Yep...a green sea slug (Elysia chorotica) that steals the chloroplasts from the algae it eats, and then uses them for photosynthesis. But it doesn't stop there. It isn't merely the chloroplasts that are stolen, but the genes for photosynthesis. The sea slugs' offsprin… Read full post »
National Library of Medicine Shares the History
I'm squealing with delight at the moment. Not too long on the heels of the Royal Society releasing some of the most famous scientific articles to the public, the National Library of Medicine has released scans of some of the most beautifully illustrated science books! You can literally "turn the page… Read full post »
Keep the pathogen party to yourself

It's that time of year - the sniffling, sneezing, and all out painful head in the clouds season. Though the flu has been a hot topic and the common cold is often blamed for these ailments, there are literally hundreds of infections that could be behind what any… Read full post »
A new human prion variant or wishful thinking?
I've had an interest in prion diseases since college, around the same time they were initially described. So I naturally gravitated towards this summation of an article on a potential new prion in humans that may be associated with silent vCJD (variant Creutzfeld-Jacob Disease: the human variant of m… Read full post »
Mistletoe...usually it invokes thoughts of stolen smooches, or if you're a pet owner you may think of it as a no-no because it's toxic to most pets. But there are some who think of it as a therapeutic.
Last year around this time I researched the literature on mistletoe as an… Read full post »
350 years of science
To celebrate 350 years, the Royal Society of London has published 60 of its most trailblazing papers online. They include the 1667 descriptions of blood transfusion and artifical respiration, the original paper on smallpox inoculation, the discovery of aspirin (originally dried willow bark from which… Read full post »
Oh Turkey, My Turkey

It's at this time of year that diets are busted and families gather around tables to eat and pass out, lazily sleeping off the turkey.
But is turkey really bad for you? and does it really make you sleepy?
These are two questions I've addressed on Thanksgivings past and… Read full post »
Reflections on Mammography

There's been a lot of buzz and dropped jaws this week due to new recommendations from a goverment panel regarding breast cancer screening (published in the Annals of Internal Medicine Nov 17) Previous recommendations were that women should have a mammogram every year starting at… Read full post »

Last night, the House of Representatives of the U.S. Congress passed their health care bill. 220 representatives, including 1 Republican (Cao of Louisiana), decided that the bill they had before them was what they wanted to contribute to health care reform in this country. The v… Read full post »
How to find what your Representative voted on Health Care
The House vote on health care reform, along with an amendment regarding federal subsidies to abortions and a Republican alternative, is happening right now. But you can see any time after now how your Reps voted by visiting the House of Representatives roll call. (Stupak was the abortion funding amen… Read full post »
FDA embraces consumer advocacy
DrugWonks, the blog for the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest, was the first to report that Dr. Peter Lurie, a painful thorn in the side of the FDA for many years and most recently the Deputy Director of Public Citizen's health research group, has been hired by the FDA.… Read full post »
The Blight of Journals - Ghostwriting

The Public Library of Science (PLoS), an open scientific journal, has been part of an information gathering campaign to bring to light the extent of ghostwriting in journal publications. What they've uncovered shows a systematic abuse of the system to promote pharmaceuticals by… Read full post »
JAMA on Gardasil - More work needs done
I wrote previously about Gardasil, the so-called cervical cancer vaccine. Stemming from that was a conversation with someone who actually works at Merck and worked with the vaccine. I truly believe and accept that the researchers are trying to help medicine and patients. I truly believe and accept th… Read full post »
I got my flu shot
I got my seasonal flu shot this morning. We went to our local pharmacy in a hurry because when I called yesterday to inquire about hours they said they only had 20 doses left. Normally I don't get the flu vaccine - I'm a relatively young and healthy… Read full post »
Open Access Bill Stalled in Congress

Work funded by the NIH is required to be available in an open access database within 6-12 months of publication. A bill that would require all research funded by 11 federal agencies to do the same is stalled in Congress....again.
VapoRub and On Cue Tears
A hollywood secret (or not so secret) to produce tears on cue is to use tear replacement drops or some sort of lubricant to get the water works effect, but to really produce the eye response of tearing up an irritant is needed. Like that used by Fox News' Glenn Beck.… Read full post »
Nurses and Forced Vaccinations

There are a number of videos on YouTube of news reports about health care workers refusing H1N1 or flu vaccinations this year. These are really big with the anti-vaccine, H1N1 was manmade, and "the gubment wants to kill me" crowds. I understand why. Here are the very people… Read full post »
Alicia PhD's Favorites
Updates
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After the Foreclosures: Lender Revenge?
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Accept No Substitutes
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Not buzzing over Google Buzz
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Mountain peaks for weight loss and cannabis for slow sperm
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A Week in the Life of My Teen Niece on Facebook
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How did journalists get the antidepressant study so wrong?
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VIDEO: Racial Discrimination - The Reality Show
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Movie Club: Dirty Harry (spoiler: Harry is not a dog)

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