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Things to read (12/10/2011)

Saturday, December 10, 2011 at 9:51AM

The benefits of medical research: Hollywood weighs in

Brian Appleby

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Presentation: Dealing with a Loved One with CJD
Presented at 4th Annual CJD Conference in Melbourne, Australia

Presentation: Caring for a Patient with CJD
Presented at 4th Annual CJD Conference in Melbourne, Australia

Presentation: CJD Symptoms and Presentation
Presented at 4th Annual CJD Conference in Melbourne, Australia

There is a very interesting commentary in this week’s New England Journal of Medicine regarding movement disorders observed on YouTube.

Movement disorder clinicians searched for various movement disorders on YouTube and rated them based on probable psychogenic etiology (attributed to psychological factors) or probable organic etiology.  Not surprisingly, most were psychogenic.  However, what is more interesting is that psychogenic movement disorders were more than twice as likely to receive treatment recommendations (some dangerous) through the commenting system compared to organic movement disorders.  Not only are movement disorders misrepresented, but potentially harmful and untested treatments are suggested for a disorder that has a completely different and validated treatment available (usually psychotherapy and/or psychiatric treatment). 

What are you thoughts on this?

Movement Disorders on YouTube-Caveat Spectator

Whenever I hear talk about human enhancement, specifically transhumanism, I always get a twinge of nostalgia.  I remember reading Evelyn Fox Keller, Donna Harraway, and Alfred Tauber in college.  They were saying the same exact thing that people are talking about now, over a decade later.  We are already more than human.  Life itself is a mixture of entities, with nearly nothing unique unto itself.  So if this is so old news, why is it receiving so much attention lately?  What’s different? 

An article in Slate has a reasonable explanation of how this isn’t necessarily new, but how attention to it may be seem different nowadays.  I encourage you to check it out.  What do you think?

Debating Extreme Human Enhancement

“An analogy: Passing a significance test is like winning a prize. You can only do it if you’re much better than the average. But that doesn’t mean you’re much better than everyone who didn’t win the prize, because some of them will have almost been good enough.”

Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Blood Test on the Horizon?

1. Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is not the “main acquired prion disease in the United States.”  There have been no documentation of CWD transmission to humans.  CWD is, however; the most prevalent animal prion disease in the United States.
2. All forms of prion disease have been seen in the United States (sporadic, genetic, and acquired).