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Medicine Politics

McCain, Obama, and the odds of surviving two terms as President

After all the recent blogging about John McCain’s health and whether his melanoma will recur or his left ptosis is anything other than from benign causes, probably relating to aging, you just know I couldn’t pass this story up: WASHINGTON (AP) — If John McCain is elected and goes on to win a second term, […]

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Autism Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery

PETA: Even more impossible to parody than ever!

Yesterday’s post was a result of the feeling that I had been getting too snarky for too long a time without doing some serious science or medical blogging. Not that there’s anything wrong with being snarky, but a continuous diet of snark eventually gets dull–and not just to readers. However, science blogging is hard. Posts […]

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Medicine Skepticism/critical thinking

Calor. Or: The myth of 98.6° F?

Ever wonder how it was determined that 98.6° F is the “normal” human body temperature? Ever wonder how that number was determined and how accurate it is? The Inveterate Persiflager explains. Not surprisingly, it turns out that “normal” body temperature is more variable and less clear-cut than is commonly thought.

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Cancer Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Surgery

Does genistein interfere with breast cancer therapy?

More than two-thirds of breast cancers make the estrogen receptor. What that means is that these tumors have the protein receptor that binds estrogen, which then activates the receptor and causes all the genes that are turned on or off by estrogen to be turned on and off. That’s how estrogen acts on normal breast […]

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Humor Politics

Sarah Palin: Tina Fey nails it again

At least when it comes to politics, Saturday Night Live has been pretty funny so far this season: The resemblance is uncanny. I have to admit, also, that SNL did a pretty good job parodying the first Presidential debate, too, given that the writers and comics had only a little more than 24 hours after […]