Cave-dwelling bats in North America are fighting an epic battle against the fungal disease known as white-nose syndrome, and now, they may be facing another foe—chemical contaminants. Scientists analyzed the tissues of several dead and dying bats and detected the presence of multiple chemicals including polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), caffeine, ibuprofen, bisphenol-A, and triclosan. The new study was published in the journal Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology on August 6, 2015.
White-nose syndrome is disease in bats that is caused by the fungus Pseudogymnoascus destructans. The fungus invades the tissues of hibernating bats and can appear as white tufts of fungal growth around their muzzle, ears, and wings. Bats infected with the fungus wake up frequently during the winter and often die because this abnormal activity depletes their fat stores. White-nose syndrome has already killed over 5.7 million bats across eastern North America.
A biologist examines a bat for signs of white-nose syndrome (the small, white spot could be indicative of the disease). Image Credit: Gary Peeples, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Scientists collected 48 bat carcasses from the northeastern U.S. and had them analyzed for 76 different types of chemicals. The bats had presumably died of white-nose syndrome, although genetic tests for the fungus were not performed.
The bats they studied included the little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus), the Indiana bat (M. sodalist), the northern long-eared bat (M. septentrionalis), and the big brown bat (Eptesicus fuscus). All of these species hibernate in caves throughout the cold winter months and are vulnerable to white-nose syndrome.
Numerous chemicals were detected in the bat tissues. The PBDE flame retardants were detected in every sample tested. Other chemicals with relatively high detection frequencies included salicyclic acid, thiabendazole, and caffeine. Chemicals that were also detected but at lower frequencies included bisphenol A, DEET, ibuprofen, and triclosan.
Most of the chemicals detected in bats can be found in the effluents of sewage treatment plants and in streams, rivers, and lakes that have been contaminated by both point and non-point sources of pollution. Exposure to these chemicals likely occurs predominately through the food that the bats eat. These bats are insectivores, which means that they feed on insects such as flies, mosquitoes, beetles, and moths. Insects can pick up the chemicals when they breed in contaminated habitats and then pass them on to their predators, in this case, the bats.
At this point in time, it is not known if these chemicals are affecting the health of the bats. It is possible that some of these chemicals are hurting the bats’ immune systems and making them more susceptible to fungal infections, the scientists say. It is also possible that some of the chemicals such as the stimulant caffeine may arouse bats out of hibernation similar to the fungal pathogen—in effect, creating a one-two punch on their fat stores. The scientists of the new study are hoping to look into these issues in the future.
Anne Secord, lead author of the new study, is the Environmental Quality Branch Chief at the New York Field Office of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Co-authors of the study included Kathleen Patnode, Charles Carter, Eric Redman, Daniel Gefell, Andrew Major, and Daniel Sparks. Funding for the research was provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The fungus responsible for white-nose syndrome is thought to have originated in Europe and was first detected in New York during 2006–2007. As of the 2015 hibernating season, white-nose syndrome has been confirmed in bats from 26 U.S. states and five Canadian provinces. The non-native fungus is expected to spread further west in the years ahead. People can help to prevent the spread of the fungus by respecting cave closures and taking care to decontaminate their caving gear between trips to different caves.
Bottom line: Several chemical contaminants were found in the tissues of dead bats that had likely died of white-nose syndrome, a fungal disease. Scientists are hoping to conduct follow up studies to determine if the chemicals can make the bats more susceptible to the disease.
Cave-dwelling bats in North America are fighting an epic battle against the fungal disease known as white-nose syndrome, and now, they may be facing another foe—chemical contaminants. Scientists analyzed the tissues of several dead and dying bats and detected the presence of multiple chemicals including polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), caffeine, ibuprofen, bisphenol-A, and triclosan. The new study was published in the journal Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology on August 6, 2015.
White-nose syndrome is disease in bats that is caused by the fungus Pseudogymnoascus destructans. The fungus invades the tissues of hibernating bats and can appear as white tufts of fungal growth around their muzzle, ears, and wings. Bats infected with the fungus wake up frequently during the winter and often die because this abnormal activity depletes their fat stores. White-nose syndrome has already killed over 5.7 million bats across eastern North America.
A biologist examines a bat for signs of white-nose syndrome (the small, white spot could be indicative of the disease). Image Credit: Gary Peeples, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Scientists collected 48 bat carcasses from the northeastern U.S. and had them analyzed for 76 different types of chemicals. The bats had presumably died of white-nose syndrome, although genetic tests for the fungus were not performed.
The bats they studied included the little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus), the Indiana bat (M. sodalist), the northern long-eared bat (M. septentrionalis), and the big brown bat (Eptesicus fuscus). All of these species hibernate in caves throughout the cold winter months and are vulnerable to white-nose syndrome.
Numerous chemicals were detected in the bat tissues. The PBDE flame retardants were detected in every sample tested. Other chemicals with relatively high detection frequencies included salicyclic acid, thiabendazole, and caffeine. Chemicals that were also detected but at lower frequencies included bisphenol A, DEET, ibuprofen, and triclosan.
Most of the chemicals detected in bats can be found in the effluents of sewage treatment plants and in streams, rivers, and lakes that have been contaminated by both point and non-point sources of pollution. Exposure to these chemicals likely occurs predominately through the food that the bats eat. These bats are insectivores, which means that they feed on insects such as flies, mosquitoes, beetles, and moths. Insects can pick up the chemicals when they breed in contaminated habitats and then pass them on to their predators, in this case, the bats.
At this point in time, it is not known if these chemicals are affecting the health of the bats. It is possible that some of these chemicals are hurting the bats’ immune systems and making them more susceptible to fungal infections, the scientists say. It is also possible that some of the chemicals such as the stimulant caffeine may arouse bats out of hibernation similar to the fungal pathogen—in effect, creating a one-two punch on their fat stores. The scientists of the new study are hoping to look into these issues in the future.
Anne Secord, lead author of the new study, is the Environmental Quality Branch Chief at the New York Field Office of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Co-authors of the study included Kathleen Patnode, Charles Carter, Eric Redman, Daniel Gefell, Andrew Major, and Daniel Sparks. Funding for the research was provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The fungus responsible for white-nose syndrome is thought to have originated in Europe and was first detected in New York during 2006–2007. As of the 2015 hibernating season, white-nose syndrome has been confirmed in bats from 26 U.S. states and five Canadian provinces. The non-native fungus is expected to spread further west in the years ahead. People can help to prevent the spread of the fungus by respecting cave closures and taking care to decontaminate their caving gear between trips to different caves.
Bottom line: Several chemical contaminants were found in the tissues of dead bats that had likely died of white-nose syndrome, a fungal disease. Scientists are hoping to conduct follow up studies to determine if the chemicals can make the bats more susceptible to the disease.
Too many people are diagnosed with late-stage cancer each year.
We need to fix this. In its recent report, the Independent Cancer Taskforce estimated that, if the NHS implemented its recommendations, by 2020 almost 11,000 more people each year would survive their cancer for 10 years or more due to earlier diagnosis.
One way to make this a reality is to make sure people are diagnosed as quickly as possible, so that if they have cancer, they get the treatment they need sooner. To do this, they need the right tests, at the right time.
We want the NHS and the Government to make sure that 95 per cent of people receive the results of their tests – and know whether or not they have cancer – within four weeks.
But the NHS services that investigate possible cancer symptoms are under serious pressure – and as more people are referred for tests, this pressure is only going to increase.
In order to improve things we need investment into diagnostic services – endoscopies, scans, and other tests – to make sure they can meet this growing demand.
The earlier a person’s cancer is diagnosed, the better chance they have of successful treatment, with more options available.
For example, when bowel cancer is diagnosed at the earliest stage, more than nine out of 10 people survive at least five years. But if it’s diagnosed at a late stage, this reduces to less than one in 10 people.
The graphic below shows survival variations between people diagnosed at early and late stage for a range of cancers.
We recently wrote in depth about some of the reasons for diagnosing cancer earlier in this blog post. (and you can read a patient’s perspective here.)
How are patients diagnosed?
To diagnose someone with cancer, that person needs to have one or more ‘cancer tests’. These tests vary dependent on the symptoms or screening someone has. For example, someone with persistent heartburn may need an endoscopy to check if it could oesophageal or stomach cancer.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has recently updated its guidelines to help GPs refer patients with potential cancer symptoms – giving them more freedom to send patients to see specialists.
This is good news, but will leave even more people needing tests. For example, estimates suggest that, by 2020, more than 750,000 extra people will need endoscopies every year – that’s more than the population of Leeds.
To be able to cope with this increased demand, two crucial things need to be in place: enough NHS staff with the right mix of skills, and appropriate equipment.
So what can we do about this?
In November, the Treasury will decide how much money to give to each Government department as part of the Spending Review – and this will include the budget for the NHS. So to make sure there’s sufficient investment, we’re asking our supporters to sign a petition to ask Chancellor George Osborne to significantly increase investment in early diagnosis in England, to boost the workforce and add to and renew the NHS’s equipment.
We need a service that is adequately staffed to make sure the NHS can carry out diagnostic tests. Workforce shortages will take time to address and the NHS needs to ensure they are increasing training numbers, retaining existing staff, and exploring other ways of tackling shortages, such as through international recruitment.
We also need to have enough up-to-date equipment to deal with increased demand. For example, we have fewer MRI and CT scanners for our population than many other countries.
But it’s not just about the immediate financial investment. The Government needs to work with the NHS to develop plans that take into account future demand and capacity, and include any additional investment that’s required, to avoid workforce and equipment shortages in the future.
By improving early diagnosis in England, not only will many more lives be saved, but it could also save the NHS around £44 million a year in treatment costs for breast, bowel, lung and ovarian cancers.
How can you help?
Diagnosing cancer earlier is an important issue for everyone. Here’s how you can help make a difference:
With every person that signs our petition, the pressure builds on the Government to invest in early diagnosis.
Katy Ashford is a campaigning assistant at Cancer Research UK
from Cancer Research UK - Science blog http://ift.tt/1JJty8q
Too many people are diagnosed with late-stage cancer each year.
We need to fix this. In its recent report, the Independent Cancer Taskforce estimated that, if the NHS implemented its recommendations, by 2020 almost 11,000 more people each year would survive their cancer for 10 years or more due to earlier diagnosis.
One way to make this a reality is to make sure people are diagnosed as quickly as possible, so that if they have cancer, they get the treatment they need sooner. To do this, they need the right tests, at the right time.
We want the NHS and the Government to make sure that 95 per cent of people receive the results of their tests – and know whether or not they have cancer – within four weeks.
But the NHS services that investigate possible cancer symptoms are under serious pressure – and as more people are referred for tests, this pressure is only going to increase.
In order to improve things we need investment into diagnostic services – endoscopies, scans, and other tests – to make sure they can meet this growing demand.
The earlier a person’s cancer is diagnosed, the better chance they have of successful treatment, with more options available.
For example, when bowel cancer is diagnosed at the earliest stage, more than nine out of 10 people survive at least five years. But if it’s diagnosed at a late stage, this reduces to less than one in 10 people.
The graphic below shows survival variations between people diagnosed at early and late stage for a range of cancers.
We recently wrote in depth about some of the reasons for diagnosing cancer earlier in this blog post. (and you can read a patient’s perspective here.)
How are patients diagnosed?
To diagnose someone with cancer, that person needs to have one or more ‘cancer tests’. These tests vary dependent on the symptoms or screening someone has. For example, someone with persistent heartburn may need an endoscopy to check if it could oesophageal or stomach cancer.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has recently updated its guidelines to help GPs refer patients with potential cancer symptoms – giving them more freedom to send patients to see specialists.
This is good news, but will leave even more people needing tests. For example, estimates suggest that, by 2020, more than 750,000 extra people will need endoscopies every year – that’s more than the population of Leeds.
To be able to cope with this increased demand, two crucial things need to be in place: enough NHS staff with the right mix of skills, and appropriate equipment.
So what can we do about this?
In November, the Treasury will decide how much money to give to each Government department as part of the Spending Review – and this will include the budget for the NHS. So to make sure there’s sufficient investment, we’re asking our supporters to sign a petition to ask Chancellor George Osborne to significantly increase investment in early diagnosis in England, to boost the workforce and add to and renew the NHS’s equipment.
We need a service that is adequately staffed to make sure the NHS can carry out diagnostic tests. Workforce shortages will take time to address and the NHS needs to ensure they are increasing training numbers, retaining existing staff, and exploring other ways of tackling shortages, such as through international recruitment.
We also need to have enough up-to-date equipment to deal with increased demand. For example, we have fewer MRI and CT scanners for our population than many other countries.
But it’s not just about the immediate financial investment. The Government needs to work with the NHS to develop plans that take into account future demand and capacity, and include any additional investment that’s required, to avoid workforce and equipment shortages in the future.
By improving early diagnosis in England, not only will many more lives be saved, but it could also save the NHS around £44 million a year in treatment costs for breast, bowel, lung and ovarian cancers.
How can you help?
Diagnosing cancer earlier is an important issue for everyone. Here’s how you can help make a difference:
The sapphire, birthstone for September, is a relative of July’s birthstone, ruby. Like ruby, it is a form of the mineral corundum, a normally drab grey mineral. Red corundum is called the ruby, while all other gem quality forms of corundum are called sapphires.
Typically, sapphires appear as blue stones, ranging from very pale blue to deep indigo, due to the presence of small amounts of titanium and iron within the crystal structure. The most valued shade of blue is the medium-deep cornflower blue. Sapphires also occur in other natural colors and tints – colorless, gray, yellow, pale pink, orange, green, violet and brown – called fancy sapphires. These different colors are caused by different kinds of impurities within the crystal. For example, yellow sapphires get their color from ferric iron, and colorless gems have no contaminants.
The Logan Sapphire Brooch, the second largest sapphire known (at 422.99 carats), is on display at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. Image Credit: Andrew Bossi
The biggest source of sapphires world-wide is Australia, especially New South Wales and Queensland. Found in alluvial deposits of weathered basalt, Australian sapphires typically are blue stones with a dark and inky appearance. Kashmir, in India, used to be a well-known source of the cornflower-blue stones. In the United States, a major source is the Yogo Gulch Mine in Montana that mostly yields small stones for industrial use.
The word sapphire has its roots in several ancient languages: the Arabic safir, the Latin sapphirus (meaning blue), and the Greek word sappheiros for the island of Sappherine in the Arabian Sea where sapphires were found in ancient Grecian times. Ancient Persians called sapphire the “Celestial Stone.” It was the gem of Apollo, Greek God of prophesy and was worn by worshipers visiting his shrine in Delphi to seek his help. It was used by ancient Etruscans as far back as the 7th century B.C.
The sapphire was said to represent the purity of the soul. Before and during the Middle Ages, it was worn by priests as protection from impure thoughts and temptations of the flesh. Medieval kings of Europe valued these stones for rings and brooches, believing that it protected them from harm and envy. Warriors presented their young wives with sapphire necklaces so they would remain faithful. It was believed that the stone’s color would darken if worn by an adulterer or adulteress, or by an unworthy person.
Sapphires were once believed to be protection against snakes. It was said that if poisonous reptiles and spiders were placed in a jar containing the stone, the creatures would immediately die. The French of the 13th century believed that sapphire transformed stupidity to wisdom, and irritability to good temper.
One of the most famous sapphires rests on the Imperial State Crown, worn by Queen Victoria in 1838. It resides in the British Crown Jewels in the Tower of London. This gem is called the St. Edward’s Sapphire because it once belonged to Edward the Confessor, who wore the stone on a ring during his coronation in 1042.
The sapphire, birthstone for September, is a relative of July’s birthstone, ruby. Like ruby, it is a form of the mineral corundum, a normally drab grey mineral. Red corundum is called the ruby, while all other gem quality forms of corundum are called sapphires.
Typically, sapphires appear as blue stones, ranging from very pale blue to deep indigo, due to the presence of small amounts of titanium and iron within the crystal structure. The most valued shade of blue is the medium-deep cornflower blue. Sapphires also occur in other natural colors and tints – colorless, gray, yellow, pale pink, orange, green, violet and brown – called fancy sapphires. These different colors are caused by different kinds of impurities within the crystal. For example, yellow sapphires get their color from ferric iron, and colorless gems have no contaminants.
The Logan Sapphire Brooch, the second largest sapphire known (at 422.99 carats), is on display at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. Image Credit: Andrew Bossi
The biggest source of sapphires world-wide is Australia, especially New South Wales and Queensland. Found in alluvial deposits of weathered basalt, Australian sapphires typically are blue stones with a dark and inky appearance. Kashmir, in India, used to be a well-known source of the cornflower-blue stones. In the United States, a major source is the Yogo Gulch Mine in Montana that mostly yields small stones for industrial use.
The word sapphire has its roots in several ancient languages: the Arabic safir, the Latin sapphirus (meaning blue), and the Greek word sappheiros for the island of Sappherine in the Arabian Sea where sapphires were found in ancient Grecian times. Ancient Persians called sapphire the “Celestial Stone.” It was the gem of Apollo, Greek God of prophesy and was worn by worshipers visiting his shrine in Delphi to seek his help. It was used by ancient Etruscans as far back as the 7th century B.C.
The sapphire was said to represent the purity of the soul. Before and during the Middle Ages, it was worn by priests as protection from impure thoughts and temptations of the flesh. Medieval kings of Europe valued these stones for rings and brooches, believing that it protected them from harm and envy. Warriors presented their young wives with sapphire necklaces so they would remain faithful. It was believed that the stone’s color would darken if worn by an adulterer or adulteress, or by an unworthy person.
Sapphires were once believed to be protection against snakes. It was said that if poisonous reptiles and spiders were placed in a jar containing the stone, the creatures would immediately die. The French of the 13th century believed that sapphire transformed stupidity to wisdom, and irritability to good temper.
One of the most famous sapphires rests on the Imperial State Crown, worn by Queen Victoria in 1838. It resides in the British Crown Jewels in the Tower of London. This gem is called the St. Edward’s Sapphire because it once belonged to Edward the Confessor, who wore the stone on a ring during his coronation in 1042.
View larger. | Venus and Mars on August 30, 2015 as captured by Dennis Chabot.
Congratulations to Dennis Chabot, who caught Venus and Mars before sunrise! These two worlds will be coming up sooner before sunrise and easier to see throughout September. Dennis wrote at EarthSky Facebook:
I went into the field next door … didn’t know if Venus was up or not. It was, and it was very bright. I could hardly see Mars, but it showed up well in the photo. Should be a good show for planets in the early mornings this month.
View larger. | Venus and Mars on August 30, 2015 as captured by Dennis Chabot.
Congratulations to Dennis Chabot, who caught Venus and Mars before sunrise! These two worlds will be coming up sooner before sunrise and easier to see throughout September. Dennis wrote at EarthSky Facebook:
I went into the field next door … didn’t know if Venus was up or not. It was, and it was very bright. I could hardly see Mars, but it showed up well in the photo. Should be a good show for planets in the early mornings this month.
The Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) was formed in 1982 by the major space agencies of the world to provide a forum for discussion of common problems in the development and operation of space data systems. It is currently composed of eleven member agencies, twenty-eight observer agencies, and over 140 industrial associates.
Darmstadtium event hall and conference centre, Darmstadt, Germany. Credit: G. Schneider CC BY-NC 2.0 via http://ift.tt/1EuSlkA
Since its establishment, CCSDS has been actively developing Recommendations for data- and information-systems standards to promote interoperability and cross support among cooperating space agencies, to enable multi-agency spaceflight collaboration (both planned and contingency) and new capabilities for future missions. Additionally, CCSDS standardization reduces the cost burden of spaceflight missions by allowing cost sharing between agencies and cost-effective commercialization.
from Rocket Science » Rocket Science http://ift.tt/1ICusTh
v
The Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) was formed in 1982 by the major space agencies of the world to provide a forum for discussion of common problems in the development and operation of space data systems. It is currently composed of eleven member agencies, twenty-eight observer agencies, and over 140 industrial associates.
Darmstadtium event hall and conference centre, Darmstadt, Germany. Credit: G. Schneider CC BY-NC 2.0 via http://ift.tt/1EuSlkA
Since its establishment, CCSDS has been actively developing Recommendations for data- and information-systems standards to promote interoperability and cross support among cooperating space agencies, to enable multi-agency spaceflight collaboration (both planned and contingency) and new capabilities for future missions. Additionally, CCSDS standardization reduces the cost burden of spaceflight missions by allowing cost sharing between agencies and cost-effective commercialization.
from Rocket Science » Rocket Science http://ift.tt/1ICusTh
v
With a little diligence, you should be able use the brilliant planet Venus to find the modestly bright red planet Mars on these upcoming September 2015 mornings. Venus and Mars will be easier to catch from the Northern Hemisphere than the Southern Hemisphere. From everywhere worldwide, though, the view of these two morning worlds will steadily improve throughout the month.
Both Venus and Mars can be found in the east before dawn. At mid-northern latitudes – like those in the United States, Canada and Europe – look for Venus and Mars very low in the east, starting about 90 minutes before sunrise.
By the end of the month, the twosome will climb above the horizon about 3 hours before the sun.
At temperate latitudes in the Southern Hemisphere – such as Australia and South Africa – watch for the planetary duo, starting around one hour before sunrise. By the end of the month, Venus and Mars will be above the horizon about 90 minutes before the sun.
How to use Venus to find Mars. Just go outside before dawn and look for dazzling Venus. It should be easy to spot because it’s the brightest sky object besides the sun and moon. Then look nearby for Mars, which is only modestly bright but visible to the unaided eye in a dark sky. Since Mars will be contending with the dawn in early September, you might need binoculars to spot the red planet in the morning sky. Venus, third-brightest heavenly body after the sun and moon, outshines Mars by a few hundred times.
Be sure to circle September 10, 2015 on your calendar. It’ll be a beautiful few mornings around that date, with the waning crescent moon joining up with Venus and Mars in the eastern sky.
The waning crescent moon will pass in between Venus and Mars on the morning of September 10, 2015.
Bottom line: With a little diligence, you should be able use the brilliant planet Venus to find the modestly bright red planet Mars on September 2015 mornings. That’s because Venus is a few hundred times brighter than Mars!
from EarthSky http://ift.tt/1FbOow7
With a little diligence, you should be able use the brilliant planet Venus to find the modestly bright red planet Mars on these upcoming September 2015 mornings. Venus and Mars will be easier to catch from the Northern Hemisphere than the Southern Hemisphere. From everywhere worldwide, though, the view of these two morning worlds will steadily improve throughout the month.
Both Venus and Mars can be found in the east before dawn. At mid-northern latitudes – like those in the United States, Canada and Europe – look for Venus and Mars very low in the east, starting about 90 minutes before sunrise.
By the end of the month, the twosome will climb above the horizon about 3 hours before the sun.
At temperate latitudes in the Southern Hemisphere – such as Australia and South Africa – watch for the planetary duo, starting around one hour before sunrise. By the end of the month, Venus and Mars will be above the horizon about 90 minutes before the sun.
How to use Venus to find Mars. Just go outside before dawn and look for dazzling Venus. It should be easy to spot because it’s the brightest sky object besides the sun and moon. Then look nearby for Mars, which is only modestly bright but visible to the unaided eye in a dark sky. Since Mars will be contending with the dawn in early September, you might need binoculars to spot the red planet in the morning sky. Venus, third-brightest heavenly body after the sun and moon, outshines Mars by a few hundred times.
Be sure to circle September 10, 2015 on your calendar. It’ll be a beautiful few mornings around that date, with the waning crescent moon joining up with Venus and Mars in the eastern sky.
The waning crescent moon will pass in between Venus and Mars on the morning of September 10, 2015.
Bottom line: With a little diligence, you should be able use the brilliant planet Venus to find the modestly bright red planet Mars on September 2015 mornings. That’s because Venus is a few hundred times brighter than Mars!
I didn’t think I’d be writing about acupuncture again so soon after deconstructing another “bait and switch” acupuncture study less than a week ago. True, the quackery that is acupuncture and the seemingly unending varieties of low quality studies published to make it seem as though there is anything more than nonspecific placebo effects invoked by sticking needles into the skin against an even more unending variety of diseases, conditions, and complaints. Basically, according to its adherents, acupuncture can treat almost anything. Particularly galling to me as a cancer surgeon is the emerging specialty of “integrative” oncology, which gleefully “integrates” many forms of quackery with science-based oncology, so much so that major cancer meetings feature it and there is even a Society of Integrative Oncology, which promulgates allegedly “evidence-based” guidelines for breast cancer “complementary” treatment. It’s not for nothing that I published a critique of this growing “integration” of pseudoscience with science-based medicine.
All of this explains why I was particularly irritated when, while watching local Detroit news, I saw this story:
Yes, it’s a human interest story about a woman named Jennifer Tesler with breast cancer and how she used acupuncture to help with the symptoms associated with chemotherapy. It might as well be a commercial for the “holistic health center” where Ms. Tesler received her acupuncture treatment. There was another odd thing about this story. Normally, when I see commercials for woo masquerading as news reports, they are usually for local quacks. And so this seemed to be at first, as though Ms. Tesler was a Detroit area woman. However, as the story proceeds, we learned that Ms. Tesler must live in the Atlanta area, as she sought out acupuncture at the Atlanta Center for Holistic and Integrative Medicine from a physician named Dr. Taz Bhatia, who is advertised on her website as a “Physician, Best-Selling Author, International Lecturer, Acupuncturist, Certified Nutritionist, Prevention/Wellness Expert, Mom and Wife.” Before we get to “Dr. Taz,” let’s go back to the news report that looked like a local news report but wasn’t. Indeed, if I hadn’t been paying attention, I might very well have missed that Dr. Taz is based in Atlanta, not Detroit.
First, we meet Ms. Tasler relating the story of how sick she felt after her chemotherapy, so much so that there were times when she felt that she couldn’t even get up. I know what she’s talking about. I’ve heard stories from my own patients. Some women seem able to fly through chemotherapy with relatively few side effects, but some women react very badly, suffering severe side effects from breast cancer chemotherapy, including nausea, hair loss, peripheral neuropathy, and more. Although anti-emetics (anti-nausea) medication has improved considerably since my career started, for some women they are not enough. Not surprisingly, acupuncturists claim they can help these symptoms, despite a paucity of evidence that I’ve documented both here and in my Nature Reviews Cancer paper. In any case, after suffering extreme nausea, she believes acupuncture helped her:
TESLER: “I was really sick. My children spent many nights sleeping on the bathroom floor with me the whole night because I just couldn’t get up.”
NARRATOR: She found doing acupuncture before each chemo treatment was the key to relieving the symptoms that made it unbearable.
Enter Dr. Taz:
DR. BHATIA: “We don’t want to throw away all the beauty of conventional medicine. But at the same time, we don’t need to throw away thousands of years of older systems of medicine that had techniques and strategies that helped make people better. So, a marriage of the two is perfect and it really makes for great care.”
NARRATOR: Doctor Taz breaks healing into three phases:
In phase one, acupuncture helps to manage side-effects during chemotherapy, like the nausea. Then it helps balance the nervous system and reduce the pain and issues that arise post-treatment. In phase three, acupuncture minimizes stress and inflammation to keep cancer at bay.
This is, of course, utter nonsense. There is no evidence whatsoever of even mildly reasonable quality that acupuncture can do anything to keep cancer at bay. The reason, of course, is that that’s a hard outcome. Either the cancer has recurred or it hasn’t. Given that acupuncture is a theatrical placebo, It’s not at all surprising that it has no effect on outcomes like cancer recurrence and survival.
I also noted that while Dr. Bhatia was talking the images shown were of her looking at graphs on a computer screen, the implication being that she’s looking at some sort of modern, scientific test and discussing it with a patient. The message, of course, is that Dr. Bhatia is no quack. Oh, no! She’s a doctor using the very best of modern, science-based medicine, but she combines it with “thousands of years of older systems of medicine.” Of course, I cannot help but point out yet again, as I do whenever I see acupuncturists using the fallacy known as the appeal to antiquity that implies that because something is ancient and has been used a long time there must be something to it, that acupuncture as we know it is not ancient. In reality, it evolved from primitive bloodletting, not unlike the bloodletting practiced in the West. Think about it this way. Advocates frequently claim that acupuncture is thousands of years old, but the technology to make such exceedingly thin needles didn’t exist. In fact, the entire history of acupuncture, including its supposedly ancient origins, was retconned by no less a figure than Chairman Mao Zedong himself after World War II. Indeed, arguably Mao was the very first advocate of “integrative medicine,” having proposed the “integration” of traditional Chinese medicine with “Western medicine” decades before our own homegrown doctors enamored of pseudoscience thought of it.
But who is Dr. Taz Bhatia, and how did this minute and a half infomercial for her “holistic” practice in Atlanta come to be? I can’t answer the second question, but I can make educated guesses. A quick Googling of Jennifer Tesler, along with breast cancer and acupuncture, quickly revealed the source of this story: CNN, with Martha Shade reporting. The story appears to have been distributed for use by local news stations that have time to fill. It makes sense in that light that Ms. Tesler apparently lives in the Atlanta area. It makes even more sense in light of this:
With an established agenda of improving women’s and children’s health, Dr. Taz expanded her reach through media in 2003. Since then, she has served as a medical expert for CNN Headline News, a Dr. Oz Sharecare expert, columnist and contributing editor for Prevention Magazine and been featured on numerous media outlets, including TODAY, Access Hollywood, Good Morning America, The Weather Channel, EXTRA!, Live with Kelly and Michael and the Meredith Vieira Show. As an associate professor at Emory University and former spokeswoman for the American Academy of Pediatrics, Dr. Taz MD continues to bring attention to the frequently ignored health issues of women and children.
So she’s a quackademic and a Dr. Oz wannabe every bit as steeped in pseudoscience as the Master who periodically freelances for CNN. I wonder who pitched the story idea to Ms. Shade. Be that as it may, she comes to the job with a “conversion” story that reminds me, more than anything else, of those of The Food Babe and Mike Adams, both of whom related a story of being chronically ill at a young age and both of whom claim to have reversed it by a radical lifestyle change, chock full of woo, of course:
So what services does Dr. Bhatia offer to bring her patients to “whole health”? It’s a veritable cornucopia of quackery. Homeopathy? Check. Acupuncture? Check. (Obviously.) IV vitamin therapy? Check. Oh, and of course Dr. Bhatia offers thermograms. She even offers mobile thermograms. Never mind that thermography remains an unvalidated test for the early detection of breast cancer, much less for all the other conditions for which Dr. Bhatia recommends it, such as arthritis, fibromyalgia, back injuries, digestive disorders, “and more…”
I also think I know what those graphs on the computer screen that Dr. Bhatia was explaining to her patient was in the news story, Biopulsar-Ayurvedic Bioenergetic Screening:
Real time energetic information throughout the body can be measured through the Biopulsar system. The Biopulsar scan is non-invasive, and measures the pulse frequency of your organ systems via reflex zones (similar to acupuncture points).
These measurements help us visually see each organ’s vitality or life force on a screen. Biopulsar measures the vitality of 49 organs and glands, including the complete brain. The technology incorporates the sciences of thermography, EEG, EKG, neuroscience, reflex zone therapy and pulse diagnostics. This is a revolutionary energy diagnostic system that gives us a snapshot of a patient’s present condition combined with his or her history.
The Biopulsar also gives us the ability to look at the organ systems and apply concepts from multiple systems of medicine, including conventional, Ayurvedic, Chinese, and naturopathic medicine. We use this tool to provide you with an Ayurvedic diagnosis. Repeated scans can be used for biofeedback to determine the effectiveness of medications, dietary interventions, or supplements.
Hmmm. This reminds me very much of Bill Nelson‘s EPFX/Quantum Xrroid Consciousness Interface (EPFX/QXCI). It really, really does. If you don’t believe me, go back and read for yourself what this interface involves. True, the computer interface of Dr. Bhatia’s software doesn’t look as eye-meltingly psychedelically painful as that of the EPFX/QXCI. (Maybe new programmers worked on the application.) It’s also under a different name. In any case, whether it’s a competing product or an “evolution” of the EPFX/QXCI, the Biopulsar-Ayurvedic Bioenergetic Screening sure does strongly remind me of the EPFX/QXCI.
The depressing thing about this story goes beyond the sheer credulousness of a CNN reporter and the local news team at WDIV Detroit. What’s depressing is that Dr. Bhatia is not only apparently a respected physician but an advisor to CNN and multiple media outlets. For every Dr. Oz who is nationally syndicated and can reach several million viewers a day, there are all sorts of Dr. Bhatias out there, spreading the same message.
from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/1LQa7Bw
I didn’t think I’d be writing about acupuncture again so soon after deconstructing another “bait and switch” acupuncture study less than a week ago. True, the quackery that is acupuncture and the seemingly unending varieties of low quality studies published to make it seem as though there is anything more than nonspecific placebo effects invoked by sticking needles into the skin against an even more unending variety of diseases, conditions, and complaints. Basically, according to its adherents, acupuncture can treat almost anything. Particularly galling to me as a cancer surgeon is the emerging specialty of “integrative” oncology, which gleefully “integrates” many forms of quackery with science-based oncology, so much so that major cancer meetings feature it and there is even a Society of Integrative Oncology, which promulgates allegedly “evidence-based” guidelines for breast cancer “complementary” treatment. It’s not for nothing that I published a critique of this growing “integration” of pseudoscience with science-based medicine.
All of this explains why I was particularly irritated when, while watching local Detroit news, I saw this story:
Yes, it’s a human interest story about a woman named Jennifer Tesler with breast cancer and how she used acupuncture to help with the symptoms associated with chemotherapy. It might as well be a commercial for the “holistic health center” where Ms. Tesler received her acupuncture treatment. There was another odd thing about this story. Normally, when I see commercials for woo masquerading as news reports, they are usually for local quacks. And so this seemed to be at first, as though Ms. Tesler was a Detroit area woman. However, as the story proceeds, we learned that Ms. Tesler must live in the Atlanta area, as she sought out acupuncture at the Atlanta Center for Holistic and Integrative Medicine from a physician named Dr. Taz Bhatia, who is advertised on her website as a “Physician, Best-Selling Author, International Lecturer, Acupuncturist, Certified Nutritionist, Prevention/Wellness Expert, Mom and Wife.” Before we get to “Dr. Taz,” let’s go back to the news report that looked like a local news report but wasn’t. Indeed, if I hadn’t been paying attention, I might very well have missed that Dr. Taz is based in Atlanta, not Detroit.
First, we meet Ms. Tasler relating the story of how sick she felt after her chemotherapy, so much so that there were times when she felt that she couldn’t even get up. I know what she’s talking about. I’ve heard stories from my own patients. Some women seem able to fly through chemotherapy with relatively few side effects, but some women react very badly, suffering severe side effects from breast cancer chemotherapy, including nausea, hair loss, peripheral neuropathy, and more. Although anti-emetics (anti-nausea) medication has improved considerably since my career started, for some women they are not enough. Not surprisingly, acupuncturists claim they can help these symptoms, despite a paucity of evidence that I’ve documented both here and in my Nature Reviews Cancer paper. In any case, after suffering extreme nausea, she believes acupuncture helped her:
TESLER: “I was really sick. My children spent many nights sleeping on the bathroom floor with me the whole night because I just couldn’t get up.”
NARRATOR: She found doing acupuncture before each chemo treatment was the key to relieving the symptoms that made it unbearable.
Enter Dr. Taz:
DR. BHATIA: “We don’t want to throw away all the beauty of conventional medicine. But at the same time, we don’t need to throw away thousands of years of older systems of medicine that had techniques and strategies that helped make people better. So, a marriage of the two is perfect and it really makes for great care.”
NARRATOR: Doctor Taz breaks healing into three phases:
In phase one, acupuncture helps to manage side-effects during chemotherapy, like the nausea. Then it helps balance the nervous system and reduce the pain and issues that arise post-treatment. In phase three, acupuncture minimizes stress and inflammation to keep cancer at bay.
This is, of course, utter nonsense. There is no evidence whatsoever of even mildly reasonable quality that acupuncture can do anything to keep cancer at bay. The reason, of course, is that that’s a hard outcome. Either the cancer has recurred or it hasn’t. Given that acupuncture is a theatrical placebo, It’s not at all surprising that it has no effect on outcomes like cancer recurrence and survival.
I also noted that while Dr. Bhatia was talking the images shown were of her looking at graphs on a computer screen, the implication being that she’s looking at some sort of modern, scientific test and discussing it with a patient. The message, of course, is that Dr. Bhatia is no quack. Oh, no! She’s a doctor using the very best of modern, science-based medicine, but she combines it with “thousands of years of older systems of medicine.” Of course, I cannot help but point out yet again, as I do whenever I see acupuncturists using the fallacy known as the appeal to antiquity that implies that because something is ancient and has been used a long time there must be something to it, that acupuncture as we know it is not ancient. In reality, it evolved from primitive bloodletting, not unlike the bloodletting practiced in the West. Think about it this way. Advocates frequently claim that acupuncture is thousands of years old, but the technology to make such exceedingly thin needles didn’t exist. In fact, the entire history of acupuncture, including its supposedly ancient origins, was retconned by no less a figure than Chairman Mao Zedong himself after World War II. Indeed, arguably Mao was the very first advocate of “integrative medicine,” having proposed the “integration” of traditional Chinese medicine with “Western medicine” decades before our own homegrown doctors enamored of pseudoscience thought of it.
But who is Dr. Taz Bhatia, and how did this minute and a half infomercial for her “holistic” practice in Atlanta come to be? I can’t answer the second question, but I can make educated guesses. A quick Googling of Jennifer Tesler, along with breast cancer and acupuncture, quickly revealed the source of this story: CNN, with Martha Shade reporting. The story appears to have been distributed for use by local news stations that have time to fill. It makes sense in that light that Ms. Tesler apparently lives in the Atlanta area. It makes even more sense in light of this:
With an established agenda of improving women’s and children’s health, Dr. Taz expanded her reach through media in 2003. Since then, she has served as a medical expert for CNN Headline News, a Dr. Oz Sharecare expert, columnist and contributing editor for Prevention Magazine and been featured on numerous media outlets, including TODAY, Access Hollywood, Good Morning America, The Weather Channel, EXTRA!, Live with Kelly and Michael and the Meredith Vieira Show. As an associate professor at Emory University and former spokeswoman for the American Academy of Pediatrics, Dr. Taz MD continues to bring attention to the frequently ignored health issues of women and children.
So she’s a quackademic and a Dr. Oz wannabe every bit as steeped in pseudoscience as the Master who periodically freelances for CNN. I wonder who pitched the story idea to Ms. Shade. Be that as it may, she comes to the job with a “conversion” story that reminds me, more than anything else, of those of The Food Babe and Mike Adams, both of whom related a story of being chronically ill at a young age and both of whom claim to have reversed it by a radical lifestyle change, chock full of woo, of course:
So what services does Dr. Bhatia offer to bring her patients to “whole health”? It’s a veritable cornucopia of quackery. Homeopathy? Check. Acupuncture? Check. (Obviously.) IV vitamin therapy? Check. Oh, and of course Dr. Bhatia offers thermograms. She even offers mobile thermograms. Never mind that thermography remains an unvalidated test for the early detection of breast cancer, much less for all the other conditions for which Dr. Bhatia recommends it, such as arthritis, fibromyalgia, back injuries, digestive disorders, “and more…”
I also think I know what those graphs on the computer screen that Dr. Bhatia was explaining to her patient was in the news story, Biopulsar-Ayurvedic Bioenergetic Screening:
Real time energetic information throughout the body can be measured through the Biopulsar system. The Biopulsar scan is non-invasive, and measures the pulse frequency of your organ systems via reflex zones (similar to acupuncture points).
These measurements help us visually see each organ’s vitality or life force on a screen. Biopulsar measures the vitality of 49 organs and glands, including the complete brain. The technology incorporates the sciences of thermography, EEG, EKG, neuroscience, reflex zone therapy and pulse diagnostics. This is a revolutionary energy diagnostic system that gives us a snapshot of a patient’s present condition combined with his or her history.
The Biopulsar also gives us the ability to look at the organ systems and apply concepts from multiple systems of medicine, including conventional, Ayurvedic, Chinese, and naturopathic medicine. We use this tool to provide you with an Ayurvedic diagnosis. Repeated scans can be used for biofeedback to determine the effectiveness of medications, dietary interventions, or supplements.
Hmmm. This reminds me very much of Bill Nelson‘s EPFX/Quantum Xrroid Consciousness Interface (EPFX/QXCI). It really, really does. If you don’t believe me, go back and read for yourself what this interface involves. True, the computer interface of Dr. Bhatia’s software doesn’t look as eye-meltingly psychedelically painful as that of the EPFX/QXCI. (Maybe new programmers worked on the application.) It’s also under a different name. In any case, whether it’s a competing product or an “evolution” of the EPFX/QXCI, the Biopulsar-Ayurvedic Bioenergetic Screening sure does strongly remind me of the EPFX/QXCI.
The depressing thing about this story goes beyond the sheer credulousness of a CNN reporter and the local news team at WDIV Detroit. What’s depressing is that Dr. Bhatia is not only apparently a respected physician but an advisor to CNN and multiple media outlets. For every Dr. Oz who is nationally syndicated and can reach several million viewers a day, there are all sorts of Dr. Bhatias out there, spreading the same message.
