I've been seeing a lot of comments mocking the current outbreak of H1N1, and
a lot of people (and journalists) who don't understand what "big deal" is
about the "snoutbreak" of swine influenza, or don't get what the raising of
the World Health Organization's pandemic alert phase up to 5 means. I noted
here what the alert level meant, but wanted to discuss it a bit more in a
full post; after the jump.
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tags: Experimental Heart, cancer research thriller, Jennifer L. Rohn, book
review
Reading fictional books about scientific research inevitably inspire me to
claw my eyes out from sheer frustration with the many shocking inaccuracies
before I reach page 100 -- Michael Crichton's truly stupid books scream
immediately to mind. So I was skeptical about reading and possibly reviewing
another such book. But this book pleasantly surprised me: I truly enjoyed
Jennifer Rohn's engaging page-turner, Experimental Heart (Cold Spring Harbor
Press: Cold Spring Harbor, NY; 2009).
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Pew has a detailed run down on the surge in motivation for information about
swine flu. The brief analysis goes on to discuss strategies CDC had put in
place to be ready to "pull" audiences in when an infectious disease outbreak
occurred:
The prominent position of the CDC on these lists may be owing in substantial
part to the government's earlier recognition of the usefulness of Google
search tools in tracking the actual spread of diseases. Google's Flu Trends
tracks certain search terms to estimate possible flu activity at a state
level - and it does this far more quickly than t... (more)
Via Marginal Revolution, Has Overweight Become the New Normal? Evidence of a
Generational Shift in Body Weight Norms:
We test for differences across the two most recent NHANES survey periods
(1988-1994 and 1999-2004) in self-perception of weight status. We find that
the probability of self-classifying as overweight is significantly lower on
average in the more recent survey, for both men and women, controlling for
objective weight status and other factors. Among women, the decline in the
tendency to self-classify as overweight is concentrated in the 17-35 age
range, and, within t... (more)
A recent article in Nature Reviews: Neuroscience by J. Mogil overviews animal
models used in different kinds of pain research. (If you don't have access
let juniorprof bring you up to speed on pain research.) The NRN review is
motivated by what the author describes as a perception of frustration with
the progress made to date in translating seemingly promising research to the
human clinical treatment of pain. I don't know that I'd venture an opinion as
to whether success has been good, bad or indifferent in this area- certainly
there are many unsolved areas of pain management. Un... (more)
Swine influenza virus (referred to as SIV) refers to influenza cases that are caused by Orthomyxoviruses that are endemic to pig populations. SIV strains isolated to date have been classified either as Influenzavirus C or one of the various subtypes of the genus Influenzavirus A. The 2009 swine flu outbreak is the spread of a new strain of H1N1 influenza virus that was first detected by public health agencies in March 2009. Local outbreaks of influenza-like illness were detected in three areas in Mexico, but the presence of this new strain was not discovered for a full month. 
David Lucas
Cathy Lopez
Shaul Efraim
Terence Martin Breslin
Cory Marchand
David Hughes
James Carlini
John Iffert
Dan Stolts
Joe Zeto
