Interventions
What Stops Terrorism
40% percent of terrorist groups are defeated by police and intelligence operations. 43% percent end because they give up violence and join the political process. Only 7% end as a result of military force.This according to the research of Seth Jones, as reported in the 2008 Genius edition of Esquire Magazine.…
Incidentalomas
An incidentaloma according to wikipedia is "a tumor (-oma) found by coincidence (incidental) without clinical symptoms or suspicion." The provocative NY Times article below suggests that indolent tumors (i.e. ones that do not need treatment) may come and go as a normal part of life. With better detection tools, we are finding more and more of these. However our protocol for dealing with tumors is based on a time when tumors found were almost always non-incidental, non-indolent and requiring of positive action (like surgery). According to Dr. Donald A. Berry, chairman of the department of biostatistics at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center:
It’s possible that we all have cells that are cancerous and that grow a bit before being dumped by the body. ‘Hell bent for leather’ early detection research will lead to finding some of them. What will be the consequence? Prophylactic removal of organs in the masses? It’s really scary.As we begin to gather empirical evidence that contradicts…
Obama's Must Do List
Everybody has their wishlist and "must do" lists for the new President. Back in March of 2007, the NY Times published this Op Ed piece that I personally believe is critical and outlines what needs to be done above all else. The article goes into much more detail about specifics, but the overall thrust is threefold:
- Restore Habeas Corpus
- Stop Illegal Spying
- Ban Torture, Really
The Conflict Between Complex Systems and Reductionism
The following is a recent paper by Henry Heng published in JAMA. I've linked concepts mentioned in the paper to corresponding explications from this blog.
JAMA. 2008;300(13):1580-1581. The Conflict Between Complex Systems and Reductionism Henry H. Q. Heng, PhD Author Affiliations: Center for Molecular Medicine and Genetics, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, Michigan.
Descartes' reductionist principle has had a profound influence on medicine. Similar to repairing a clock in which each broken part is fixed in order, investigators have attempted to discover causal relationships among key components of an individual and to treat those components accordingly. For example, if most of the morbidity in patients with diabetes is caused by high blood glucose levels, then control of those levels should return the system to normal and the patient's health problems should disappear. However, in one recent study this strategy of more intensive glucose control resulted in increased risk of death (1). Likewise, chemotherapy often initially reduces tumor size but also produces severe adverse…Change.gov
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOMc1coT9oY]
Okay, Kev, here's your chance on affecting climate policy, go crazy!…
From the Heart
I have a bicuspid aortic valve, a congenital condition which exists in up to 2% of the general population:
Here is my actual valve as viewed using a transesophageal echocardiogram (TEE):
Click here to see video of my valve (looking outside in).*
If you watch the video a few times, you will see how two of my three leaflets are fused together, and don't close entirely. This allows blood to flow back into the chamber as the heart is trying to pump it out, a dynamic known as aortic regurgitation, or aortic insufficiency (AI). My AI isn't severe enough warrant a valve replacement now, and the hope is that through management** and vigilance it will never need to.*** If at some point I do need a replacement, it's better to wait until just before I "really need it" (which is a judgment call) because as common as valve replacements are, any heart procedure carries risk of death. Plus the technology and procedures get better…Invisible Etiology
One of the most poignant moments of this year's Pop!Tech for me -- which, BTW had many -- was Gary Slutkin's talk on the idea of violence being a virus. You may have heard about his work in stopping violence in Chicago in a NY Times Magazine cover article earlier this year. The premise is simple: if you throw out what you think you know about violence and just look at the etiology of how it manifests in the world, you find incredible similarities to the etiology of microbial viruses. This includes not only how it spreads from person to person, but also the larger epidemiological patterns, and importantly, how it can be stopped via interventions which logically follow from the hypothesis that violence is a virus. Not that violence is caused by those invisible critters we call viruses, but rather that violence itself is a virus.
The big takeaway from the talk in my view was the term that he used to convey the…
Want to Influence Financial Crisis Policy Debate?
One of the talks at Pop!Tech this year sparked intense emotions regardless of whether people agreed with the premise or not:
Juan Enriquez (2008) Pop!Tech Pop!Cast from PopTech on Vimeo.
To address these intense feelings and the demand for public discussion, a wiki was created, in which you are invited to join the discussion. This forum was designed as "a place for a rich, lively, respectful and facts-based dialog on what’s necessary to address the serious economic challenges confronting America today." Hope to see you there.Click here to go to the policy debate.
…National Popular Vote
Yesterday I blogged about personal vote verification. At the group level, I recommend supporting the National Popular Vote. While most people (70%) favor a popular vote for president, the U.S. Constitution calls for an electoral college system. The National Popular Vote movement is extremely clever in that it doesn't require a constitutional change:
Under the U.S. Constitution, the states have exclusive and plenary (complete) power to allocate their electoral votes, and may change their state laws concerning the awarding of their electoral votes at any time. Under the National Popular Vote bill, all of the state’s electoral votes would be awarded to the presidential candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The bill would take effect only when enacted, in identical form, by states possessing a majority of the electoral votes—that is, enough electoral votes to elect a President (270 of 538).As of this writing, the bill has been enacted by Hawaii, Illinois,…