What’s the birthstone for October?

Opalized fossils. Image Credit: Cobalt123

Opal
The opal is a fragile hydrated silica material, made of submicroscopic silica spheres held together by more silica and water. It is a soft stone, easily altered in appearance by changes in heat and pressure. This mineral contains varying amounts of water within it that determine the appearance of the gemstone. When water evaporates out of an opal, the stone appears slightly smaller and the stress of the evaporation creates cracks on it.

Opals are formed in near-surface volcanic rocks, within cavities and cracks. In sedimentary volcanic ash rock, percolating water in the ground dissolves silica that eventually precipitates to form the opal, sometimes becoming the replacement material for fossils – shells, bones, wood – whose original material had dissolved away.

Image Credit: Aramgutang

Opals are famous for their “play of colors” – many stones flash the colors of the rainbow when moved, due to the interference of light on small cracks and other internal structural differences. Opals also have characteristic colors due to impurities within the stone. The milky or pearly appearance of some opals are due to inclusions of tiny gas bubbles. Yellows and reds betray the presence of iron oxides. The spectacular black opals that sometimes flash green, blue and red get their color from magnesium oxides and organic carbon within the stone. Perhaps the most valuable opal pattern is the “harlequin,” large angular patches of red, yellow and green resembling the checks on a clown’s costume.

The principal source of opals is Australia, noted for its magnificent black opals. Fire opals were first mined in Mexico, and continue to be produced today. In the United States, brilliant fire opals are also found in Nevada. Other commercial sources of opal are Brazil, Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Japan and Ireland.

The name opal is derived from the Sanskrit word “upala,” as well as the Latin “opalus,” meaning “precious stone.” Opal is a gemstone of much variety; the ancient Roman natural historian Pliny once described it in the following way:

“… it is made up of the glories of the most precious stones. To describe it is a matter of inexpressive difficulty: There is in it the gentler fire of the ruby, the brilliant purple of the amethyst, the sea-green of the emerald, all shining together in an incredible union.”

There is an Indian legend about the origin of the opal. Quoted from Gemstones by Willard Heaps:

“…the gods Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva once vied in jealous love for a beautiful woman. This angered the Eternal, who changed the fair mortal into a creature made of mist. Thereupon each of the three gods endowed her with his own color so as to be able to recognise her. Brahma gave her the glorious blue of the heavens, Vishnu enriched her with the splendor of gold, and Shiva lent her his flaming red. But all this was in vain, since the lovely phantom was whisked away by the winds. Finally, the Eternal took pity on her and transformed her into a stone, the opal, that sparkles in all the colors of the rainbow.”

To ancient Romans, the opal was a symbol of love and hope. Orientals called it the “anchor of hope.” Arabs say it fell from the heavens in flashes of lightning. It was believed to make its wearer invisible, hence the opal was the talisman of thieves and spies.

During the Medieval period, a change in color intensity of an opal was believed to indicated if its wearer was ill or in good health. The opal was supposed to maintain a strong heart, prevent fainting, protect against infection, and cleanse foul-smelling air. The stone, as in ancient times, was still regarded as a symbol of hope.

But the opal’s reputation changed in the mid-14th century. The Black Death swept across Europe, killing one quarter of its population. The gem was believed to be the cause of death. When worn by someone struck with the deadly plague, it would appear brilliant only until the person died. Then it would change in appearance, losing its luster. In reality, it was the sensitivity of this stone to changes in temperature that altered its appearance, as the heat from a burning fever gave way to the chill of death.

In Elizabethan England, the opal was treasured for its beauty. Shakespeare wrote of it in the Twelfth Night as the “queen of gems.” Queen Victoria presented her children with opal jewelry, thus making the the stone popular. But the stone continued to have a mixed reputation, chiefly due to a novel written by Sir Walter Scott in 1887 that depicted it as a stone of evil.

In Australia, there is a legend of a huge opal that governs the stars and guides human love, as well as controls the gold in mines. But Australian aborigines see it in a different light – to them, the opal is the devil that lurks in the ground, a half-serpent and half-human with flashes of wicked magic that lures men to destruction.

Tourmaline via Orbital Joe

Tourmaline
The alternate birthstone for October is the tourmaline, a gemstone that exhibits the broadest spectrum of gemstone colors. Gem-quality forms of this mineral have in the past been misidentified as rubies, emeralds and sapphires. In fact, a famous tourmaline-the size of a pigeon’s egg-belonging to the Russian Empress Catherine the Great was long thought to be a ruby. The name of this gemstone is believed to derive from the Singhalese (Sri Lankan) word “toramalli,” a term applied to yellow, green or brown stones, that means “something little out of the earth.”

Tourmaline is a complex aluminous borosilicate mineral built of crystals with complicated aggregations of sodium, aluminum, boron, oxygen, hydrogen and silicon atoms. Other metals are also present within the crystal structure, and are responsible for the characteristic colors of the gemstones. Pink, for example, is due to the presence of manganese, while ferrous iron, chromium or vanadium betray their presence as green gemstones.

Most tourmalines are found in a myriad of colors: yellow, green, red, blue, pink, brown, black. Some even have bi-colored properties. A valued bi-colored variety of tourmaline, found in Brazil, is called the “watermelon.” The outer edges of the gem are green, transitioning to a transparent white zone that gives way to a pink or light red interior.

Tourmaline has an unusual property. When it is warmed or rubbed, it attracts small bits of paper, lint and ash. This occurs because the gem becomes charged with static electricity. In fact, Benjamin Franklin used this gem in his studies of electricity. Maintaining a tourmaline exhibit at museums requires frequent cleaning of the gemstone because heat from lights of the display case create a charge in the stone that attracts dust.

Compared with other gemstones, tourmalines are a relatively recent discovery. Hence, it lacks the rich lore that accompanies many other precious gems. However, among some people, the stone is known as the “peace stone,” believed to dispel fear and make its wearer calm.

Enjoying EarthSky? Sign up for our free daily newsletter today!

Find out about the birthstones for the other months of the year:

January birthstone
February birthstone
March birthstone
April birthstone
May birthstone
July birthstone
August birthstone
September birthstone
October birthstone
November birthstone
December birthstone

from EarthSky http://ift.tt/1i0DZH0

Opalized fossils. Image Credit: Cobalt123

Opal
The opal is a fragile hydrated silica material, made of submicroscopic silica spheres held together by more silica and water. It is a soft stone, easily altered in appearance by changes in heat and pressure. This mineral contains varying amounts of water within it that determine the appearance of the gemstone. When water evaporates out of an opal, the stone appears slightly smaller and the stress of the evaporation creates cracks on it.

Opals are formed in near-surface volcanic rocks, within cavities and cracks. In sedimentary volcanic ash rock, percolating water in the ground dissolves silica that eventually precipitates to form the opal, sometimes becoming the replacement material for fossils – shells, bones, wood – whose original material had dissolved away.

Image Credit: Aramgutang

Opals are famous for their “play of colors” – many stones flash the colors of the rainbow when moved, due to the interference of light on small cracks and other internal structural differences. Opals also have characteristic colors due to impurities within the stone. The milky or pearly appearance of some opals are due to inclusions of tiny gas bubbles. Yellows and reds betray the presence of iron oxides. The spectacular black opals that sometimes flash green, blue and red get their color from magnesium oxides and organic carbon within the stone. Perhaps the most valuable opal pattern is the “harlequin,” large angular patches of red, yellow and green resembling the checks on a clown’s costume.

The principal source of opals is Australia, noted for its magnificent black opals. Fire opals were first mined in Mexico, and continue to be produced today. In the United States, brilliant fire opals are also found in Nevada. Other commercial sources of opal are Brazil, Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Japan and Ireland.

The name opal is derived from the Sanskrit word “upala,” as well as the Latin “opalus,” meaning “precious stone.” Opal is a gemstone of much variety; the ancient Roman natural historian Pliny once described it in the following way:

“… it is made up of the glories of the most precious stones. To describe it is a matter of inexpressive difficulty: There is in it the gentler fire of the ruby, the brilliant purple of the amethyst, the sea-green of the emerald, all shining together in an incredible union.”

There is an Indian legend about the origin of the opal. Quoted from Gemstones by Willard Heaps:

“…the gods Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva once vied in jealous love for a beautiful woman. This angered the Eternal, who changed the fair mortal into a creature made of mist. Thereupon each of the three gods endowed her with his own color so as to be able to recognise her. Brahma gave her the glorious blue of the heavens, Vishnu enriched her with the splendor of gold, and Shiva lent her his flaming red. But all this was in vain, since the lovely phantom was whisked away by the winds. Finally, the Eternal took pity on her and transformed her into a stone, the opal, that sparkles in all the colors of the rainbow.”

To ancient Romans, the opal was a symbol of love and hope. Orientals called it the “anchor of hope.” Arabs say it fell from the heavens in flashes of lightning. It was believed to make its wearer invisible, hence the opal was the talisman of thieves and spies.

During the Medieval period, a change in color intensity of an opal was believed to indicated if its wearer was ill or in good health. The opal was supposed to maintain a strong heart, prevent fainting, protect against infection, and cleanse foul-smelling air. The stone, as in ancient times, was still regarded as a symbol of hope.

But the opal’s reputation changed in the mid-14th century. The Black Death swept across Europe, killing one quarter of its population. The gem was believed to be the cause of death. When worn by someone struck with the deadly plague, it would appear brilliant only until the person died. Then it would change in appearance, losing its luster. In reality, it was the sensitivity of this stone to changes in temperature that altered its appearance, as the heat from a burning fever gave way to the chill of death.

In Elizabethan England, the opal was treasured for its beauty. Shakespeare wrote of it in the Twelfth Night as the “queen of gems.” Queen Victoria presented her children with opal jewelry, thus making the the stone popular. But the stone continued to have a mixed reputation, chiefly due to a novel written by Sir Walter Scott in 1887 that depicted it as a stone of evil.

In Australia, there is a legend of a huge opal that governs the stars and guides human love, as well as controls the gold in mines. But Australian aborigines see it in a different light – to them, the opal is the devil that lurks in the ground, a half-serpent and half-human with flashes of wicked magic that lures men to destruction.

Tourmaline via Orbital Joe

Tourmaline
The alternate birthstone for October is the tourmaline, a gemstone that exhibits the broadest spectrum of gemstone colors. Gem-quality forms of this mineral have in the past been misidentified as rubies, emeralds and sapphires. In fact, a famous tourmaline-the size of a pigeon’s egg-belonging to the Russian Empress Catherine the Great was long thought to be a ruby. The name of this gemstone is believed to derive from the Singhalese (Sri Lankan) word “toramalli,” a term applied to yellow, green or brown stones, that means “something little out of the earth.”

Tourmaline is a complex aluminous borosilicate mineral built of crystals with complicated aggregations of sodium, aluminum, boron, oxygen, hydrogen and silicon atoms. Other metals are also present within the crystal structure, and are responsible for the characteristic colors of the gemstones. Pink, for example, is due to the presence of manganese, while ferrous iron, chromium or vanadium betray their presence as green gemstones.

Most tourmalines are found in a myriad of colors: yellow, green, red, blue, pink, brown, black. Some even have bi-colored properties. A valued bi-colored variety of tourmaline, found in Brazil, is called the “watermelon.” The outer edges of the gem are green, transitioning to a transparent white zone that gives way to a pink or light red interior.

Tourmaline has an unusual property. When it is warmed or rubbed, it attracts small bits of paper, lint and ash. This occurs because the gem becomes charged with static electricity. In fact, Benjamin Franklin used this gem in his studies of electricity. Maintaining a tourmaline exhibit at museums requires frequent cleaning of the gemstone because heat from lights of the display case create a charge in the stone that attracts dust.

Compared with other gemstones, tourmalines are a relatively recent discovery. Hence, it lacks the rich lore that accompanies many other precious gems. However, among some people, the stone is known as the “peace stone,” believed to dispel fear and make its wearer calm.

Enjoying EarthSky? Sign up for our free daily newsletter today!

Find out about the birthstones for the other months of the year:

January birthstone
February birthstone
March birthstone
April birthstone
May birthstone
July birthstone
August birthstone
September birthstone
October birthstone
November birthstone
December birthstone

from EarthSky http://ift.tt/1i0DZH0

Do you think that’s air you’re breathing? How cancer cells corrupt the matrix

In the 90s Sci-Fi dystopian blockbuster ‘The Matrix’, a computer programme shields humanity from a terrifying ‘real world’, where machines harvest energy from humans.

The system corrupts the healthy, living world around it in order to thrive.

What if we told you that there are actually a surprising number of similarities between this plotline, and the processes that can help cancer cells survive and grow within the body?

But rather than 1s and 0s, our bodies’ day-to-day support network is made up of proteins and sugar molecules that, along with supporting cells, help keep our tissues working. But this network can also be corrupted – by growing cancer cells.

Welcome, to the extracellular matrix.

At the Francis Crick Institute in London, Cancer Research UK’s Dr Erik Sahai has been studying this matrix for years, trying to understand how cancer cells can corrupt their healthy counterparts.

And today, his team – working with researchers at the University of Copenhagen – have discovered how healthy cells might help cancer cells spread to other parts of the body – and it’s all do to with the matrix and oxygen levels.

Down the rabbit hole

The discovery centres on a particular type of cell called a cancer-associated fibroblast, or CAF for short.

These are cells that tumours recruit to support them as they grow and spread. They release signals into the world around a tumour that help shape and stiffen the stringy networks of proteins and sugar molecules that cancer cells use as support when they spread.

By bending the rules of the matrix in this way, the fibroblasts can tunnel through the surrounding tissue, allowing the cancer cells to follow them down the rabbit hole to other parts of the body.

The effects are striking, as shown in this video of lab-grown cells.

• Watch how fibroblasts help breast cancer cells spread

Breath Neo

For their latest study, Sahai’s team homed in on a crucial chemical balance that can affect how tumours grow: oxygen levels.

Tumours are notorious for containing pockets of low oxygen – a situation called hypoxia – and it’s been known for some time that this can trigger signals inside cancer cells that can help them survive, and even prompt the development of a new blood supply.

But how does hypoxia affect the cells and matrix that surrounds a tumour?

When the team took fibroblasts from tumours and grew them in an artificial matrix, they found that a drop in oxygen deactivated the fibroblasts.

And when the fibroblasts were exposed to low oxygen for long periods of time, and then mixed with cancer cells, these deactivated fibroblasts were no longer able to help the cancer cells move through the artificial matrix.

In other words, the fibroblasts’ ability to change the matrix and help the cancer cells spread seemed to be sensitive to changes in oxygen levels.

A glitch in the matrix?

To explore this further, Sahai’s team turned to experimental drugs known to be able to mimic the effect of hypoxia on cells.

These drugs target a group of molecules called prolyl hydroxylase domain proteins, or PHDs, which act as molecular ‘switches’ inside cells, allowing them respond to changes in oxygen levels.

When the team tested this, they found that, as predicted, the drugs softened the matrix around breast tumours in mice. And, crucially, this limited the tumour’s ability to spread.

What this shows is that prolonged hypoxia switches fibroblasts off, reducing their ability to help cancer cells spread

–  Professor Ali Tavassoli

Next, the team switched off a form of PHD – called PHD2 – inside lab-grown CAFs and mixed these with breast cancer cells. When the cancer cells formed tumours in mice, the team saw that fibroblasts lacking PHD2 were unable to help the cancer cells spread.

“This is a really interesting finding,” says Professor Ali Tavassoli, an expert in hypoxia and cancer from the University of Southampton.

“What this shows is that prolonged hypoxia switches fibroblasts off, reducing their ability to help cancer cells spread.”

And according to Tavassoli, the fact that the process only occurs with prolonged hypoxia is really important.

“The key factor is that the effects aren’t immediate, it’s a process that takes several days,” he says. “This suggests a complex and indirect set of signals may be involved, which need to be studied in more detail in further research.”

We need models. Lots of models

Sahai acknowledges that it’s still early days, but stresses that these findings suggest that PHD2 may be a promising target for drug development.

“There is already some work going on to develop drugs that target PHD2,” he says. “So these proteins can be considered a real therapeutic target.”

But the big challenge he sees in taking these results closer to the clinic is finding better ways of differentiating between affects on the tumour matrix, or the cancer cells themselves.

“In terms of what’s next, there are some big challenges,” says Sahai. “First, we don’t know enough about how well our lab models of the tumour matrix reflect the real world in patients.

“We would need to know more about this before going on to a clinical trial. As a step towards this, we are working with clinicians across London to collect CAFs from tumours removed from patients as part of their treatment so we can understand how they work.”

Ultimately, these latest findings reinforce the need to see cancer as more than just rogue cells. It’s a working ‘machine’, much like a virus, that can co-opt and corrupt healthy cells to keep growing.

For Sahai this means studying not just the tumour, but all the other tissues, cells and molecules that surround it.

By doing so, we’ll not only be able to tell you we’re working out how cancer cells spread – we may also find a way to stop them.

Nick

Reference

Madsen, C., et al. (2015). Hypoxia and loss of PHD2 inactivate stromal fibroblasts to decrease tumour stiffness and metastasis EMBO reports DOI: 10.15252/embr.201540107

from Cancer Research UK - Science blog http://ift.tt/1RhFuV0

In the 90s Sci-Fi dystopian blockbuster ‘The Matrix’, a computer programme shields humanity from a terrifying ‘real world’, where machines harvest energy from humans.

The system corrupts the healthy, living world around it in order to thrive.

What if we told you that there are actually a surprising number of similarities between this plotline, and the processes that can help cancer cells survive and grow within the body?

But rather than 1s and 0s, our bodies’ day-to-day support network is made up of proteins and sugar molecules that, along with supporting cells, help keep our tissues working. But this network can also be corrupted – by growing cancer cells.

Welcome, to the extracellular matrix.

At the Francis Crick Institute in London, Cancer Research UK’s Dr Erik Sahai has been studying this matrix for years, trying to understand how cancer cells can corrupt their healthy counterparts.

And today, his team – working with researchers at the University of Copenhagen – have discovered how healthy cells might help cancer cells spread to other parts of the body – and it’s all do to with the matrix and oxygen levels.

Down the rabbit hole

The discovery centres on a particular type of cell called a cancer-associated fibroblast, or CAF for short.

These are cells that tumours recruit to support them as they grow and spread. They release signals into the world around a tumour that help shape and stiffen the stringy networks of proteins and sugar molecules that cancer cells use as support when they spread.

By bending the rules of the matrix in this way, the fibroblasts can tunnel through the surrounding tissue, allowing the cancer cells to follow them down the rabbit hole to other parts of the body.

The effects are striking, as shown in this video of lab-grown cells.

• Watch how fibroblasts help breast cancer cells spread

Breath Neo

For their latest study, Sahai’s team homed in on a crucial chemical balance that can affect how tumours grow: oxygen levels.

Tumours are notorious for containing pockets of low oxygen – a situation called hypoxia – and it’s been known for some time that this can trigger signals inside cancer cells that can help them survive, and even prompt the development of a new blood supply.

But how does hypoxia affect the cells and matrix that surrounds a tumour?

When the team took fibroblasts from tumours and grew them in an artificial matrix, they found that a drop in oxygen deactivated the fibroblasts.

And when the fibroblasts were exposed to low oxygen for long periods of time, and then mixed with cancer cells, these deactivated fibroblasts were no longer able to help the cancer cells move through the artificial matrix.

In other words, the fibroblasts’ ability to change the matrix and help the cancer cells spread seemed to be sensitive to changes in oxygen levels.

A glitch in the matrix?

To explore this further, Sahai’s team turned to experimental drugs known to be able to mimic the effect of hypoxia on cells.

These drugs target a group of molecules called prolyl hydroxylase domain proteins, or PHDs, which act as molecular ‘switches’ inside cells, allowing them respond to changes in oxygen levels.

When the team tested this, they found that, as predicted, the drugs softened the matrix around breast tumours in mice. And, crucially, this limited the tumour’s ability to spread.

What this shows is that prolonged hypoxia switches fibroblasts off, reducing their ability to help cancer cells spread

–  Professor Ali Tavassoli

Next, the team switched off a form of PHD – called PHD2 – inside lab-grown CAFs and mixed these with breast cancer cells. When the cancer cells formed tumours in mice, the team saw that fibroblasts lacking PHD2 were unable to help the cancer cells spread.

“This is a really interesting finding,” says Professor Ali Tavassoli, an expert in hypoxia and cancer from the University of Southampton.

“What this shows is that prolonged hypoxia switches fibroblasts off, reducing their ability to help cancer cells spread.”

And according to Tavassoli, the fact that the process only occurs with prolonged hypoxia is really important.

“The key factor is that the effects aren’t immediate, it’s a process that takes several days,” he says. “This suggests a complex and indirect set of signals may be involved, which need to be studied in more detail in further research.”

We need models. Lots of models

Sahai acknowledges that it’s still early days, but stresses that these findings suggest that PHD2 may be a promising target for drug development.

“There is already some work going on to develop drugs that target PHD2,” he says. “So these proteins can be considered a real therapeutic target.”

But the big challenge he sees in taking these results closer to the clinic is finding better ways of differentiating between affects on the tumour matrix, or the cancer cells themselves.

“In terms of what’s next, there are some big challenges,” says Sahai. “First, we don’t know enough about how well our lab models of the tumour matrix reflect the real world in patients.

“We would need to know more about this before going on to a clinical trial. As a step towards this, we are working with clinicians across London to collect CAFs from tumours removed from patients as part of their treatment so we can understand how they work.”

Ultimately, these latest findings reinforce the need to see cancer as more than just rogue cells. It’s a working ‘machine’, much like a virus, that can co-opt and corrupt healthy cells to keep growing.

For Sahai this means studying not just the tumour, but all the other tissues, cells and molecules that surround it.

By doing so, we’ll not only be able to tell you we’re working out how cancer cells spread – we may also find a way to stop them.

Nick

Reference

Madsen, C., et al. (2015). Hypoxia and loss of PHD2 inactivate stromal fibroblasts to decrease tumour stiffness and metastasis EMBO reports DOI: 10.15252/embr.201540107

from Cancer Research UK - Science blog http://ift.tt/1RhFuV0

Citizen Scientists can spot cancer cells like pathologists, so what happens next?

At the top of every scientific paper, in small, neat typography is a roll call of the researchers who helped make the study happen.

This can be just a few researchers, or – for larger collaborations – more than 100. But a recent Cancer Research UK study takes this to a new level, with almost 100,000 extra people to thank for the findings. And those people are our Citizen Scientists.

Three years ago we launched the Cell Slider project. And like a scientific version of spot the difference, members of the public were asked to identify breast cancer cells and gauge how brightly they were coloured by looking at images on the project’s website.

98,293 Citizen Scientists took up the challenge. And now the results are in.

It turns out that they did a pretty good job of spotting the cancer cells. In fact, when the data were averaged across all those who took part, the combined analysis from the volunteers was almost as accurate as a trained pathologist.

But what does this mean?

Well, it’s the first time we’ve shown the true power of the crowd in helping our researchers in this way. And it’s an important milestone for our Citizen Science work. But does it signal the end of professional pathologists?

The short answer is no.

Going public

Citizen Science isn’t designed to replace expertise; its aim is to share the workload of a particular research challenge.

And it all comes down to time.

“Asking pathologists to evaluate large numbers of tumours in the lab is a problem because it’s so time consuming,” says senior author on the study, Professor Paul Pharoah. “And an expert pathologist’s time is at a premium.”

So the project was set up based on the idea that the collective efforts of the public could free up this time. And by bringing as many people together as possible to look at the same problem, we hoped a reliable scientific result would emerge.

In the case of Cell Slider, the images the public analysed were samples of breast cancer tumours from previous studies. So these women had already been treated for their disease.

Are there any cancer cells in the image?

The images themselves could each contain a mixture of different looking cells. Some might be cancer cells; others healthy breast cells, and some might be the supporting tissue surrounding these cells. The challenge for the Citizen Scientists was to spot the cancer cells following a short tutorial when they signed up.

The images were also coloured based on how much of a particular important molecule, called the oestrogen receptor, the cells produce.

Pathologists have to look out for its levels in patient samples to help make decisions about what treatment a woman should receive. So the volunteers were also asked to gauge how bright this colouring was – if indeed there was any there at all.

On the surface it may seem odd to ask the public to do the job of trained scientists. But it turns out that we are naturally suited to this type of analysis – even better than a complicated computer programme.

“The task is fundamentally one of pattern recognition,” explains Pharoah. “And humans are good at this.”

“So I expected Citizen Scientists to do reasonably well, but I wasn’t sure how well.

“I was also interested to find out whether the public would engage with a project like this, which was the first biomedical science project to use Citizen Scientists on a large scale.”

So how did they do?

High accuracy

The Cell Slider site was loaded up with 180,172 images from 12,326 samples that had originally come from 6,378 breast tumours.

Some people checked, or ‘scored’ lots of these images; others only looked at a handful. But, collectively, once the project was finished, our researchers were left with almost two million scores to help test how accurate the public had been.

To do this the researchers looked at the volunteers’ responses when asked whether they could see cancer cells in the images or not. And, crucially, when the team checked these scores against 3,000 of the samples that had also been analysed by a pathologist, they found the public gave the same answer as the pathologist in nine out of 10 cases.

But the availability of tens or hundreds of thousands of Citizen Scientists ought to make it possible to do research on a much larger scale

–  Professor Paul Pharoah

According to Pharoah, this is a good level of accuracy, and shows just how powerful this approach could be in helping our scientists accelerate the progress of their research.

“We are asking Citizen Scientists to do the same thing as a pathologist,” he says. “But the availability of tens or hundreds of thousands of Citizen Scientists ought to make it possible to do research on a much larger scale than is possible when relying on expert pathologists.”

But there is always room for improvement.

“While the Citizen Scientists were accurate, they weren’t as good at classifying some tumours,”  according to Pharoah. And because so many people got involved with the project, it’s actually taken a while to reach this conclusion, something he acknowledges as “frustrating”.

But that’s how science works. And this is real science. So the methods need to be tweaked and improved, which is something Pharoah, along with our other scientists involved in the project, are keen to do next.

“We need to do further work to find out if we can improve the performance of the Citizen Scientists by changing the brief training that they are given,” he says. And that’s exactly what our latest project focuses on.

Trailblazer

The results from Cell Slider show that the public can accurately spot cancer cells in pathology samples, which is great. But what if each volunteer could do more?

One of the things our Citizen Scientists struggled with in Cell Slider was distinguishing between the different cells in the images. This meant that in some cases they overestimated the number of cancer cells.

So with more training, would it be possible to boost their accuracy by training smaller groups of people to analyse more complicated samples and really save our researchers’ time? That’s the question our new ‘Trailblazer’ project seeks to answer.

A sneak preview of Trailblazer

We’ll be working with smaller groups of volunteers to see how different types of training and tutorials could help improve the accuracy of their scores.

Then, once these tutorials are shown to be effective, they can be rolled out to larger groups of people. And this is something Pharoah believes will be really important for getting the most out of Citizen Scientists.

“The scoring of pathology images by the public should be tested in the same way that one would test any new method,” he says.

“First, try it out on a reasonable number to get an idea of how well it works. And then, depending on this first answer, either carry on with a larger number of people to get definitive answer, or tweak the method to get improvements.”

In addition to the breast cancer samples analysed through Cell Slider, we’ve also started looking at lung, bladder and oesophageal cancer samples with researchers from across the UK.  And we’re planning to extend this to other cancers too.

But we need your help.

If you fancy joining our Citizen Science community and taking part in the Trailblazer project then drop us an email: citizenscience@cancer.org.uk

Your lab coat awaits.

Nick

• Find out more about our other Citizen Science projects on our website

Reference

Candido dos Reis, F., et al. (2015). Crowdsourcing the General Public for Large Scale Molecular Pathology Studies in Cancer EBioMedicine, 2 (7), 681-689 DOI: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2015.05.009

from Cancer Research UK - Science blog http://ift.tt/1KNRT0u

At the top of every scientific paper, in small, neat typography is a roll call of the researchers who helped make the study happen.

This can be just a few researchers, or – for larger collaborations – more than 100. But a recent Cancer Research UK study takes this to a new level, with almost 100,000 extra people to thank for the findings. And those people are our Citizen Scientists.

Three years ago we launched the Cell Slider project. And like a scientific version of spot the difference, members of the public were asked to identify breast cancer cells and gauge how brightly they were coloured by looking at images on the project’s website.

98,293 Citizen Scientists took up the challenge. And now the results are in.

It turns out that they did a pretty good job of spotting the cancer cells. In fact, when the data were averaged across all those who took part, the combined analysis from the volunteers was almost as accurate as a trained pathologist.

But what does this mean?

Well, it’s the first time we’ve shown the true power of the crowd in helping our researchers in this way. And it’s an important milestone for our Citizen Science work. But does it signal the end of professional pathologists?

The short answer is no.

Going public

Citizen Science isn’t designed to replace expertise; its aim is to share the workload of a particular research challenge.

And it all comes down to time.

“Asking pathologists to evaluate large numbers of tumours in the lab is a problem because it’s so time consuming,” says senior author on the study, Professor Paul Pharoah. “And an expert pathologist’s time is at a premium.”

So the project was set up based on the idea that the collective efforts of the public could free up this time. And by bringing as many people together as possible to look at the same problem, we hoped a reliable scientific result would emerge.

In the case of Cell Slider, the images the public analysed were samples of breast cancer tumours from previous studies. So these women had already been treated for their disease.

Are there any cancer cells in the image?

The images themselves could each contain a mixture of different looking cells. Some might be cancer cells; others healthy breast cells, and some might be the supporting tissue surrounding these cells. The challenge for the Citizen Scientists was to spot the cancer cells following a short tutorial when they signed up.

The images were also coloured based on how much of a particular important molecule, called the oestrogen receptor, the cells produce.

Pathologists have to look out for its levels in patient samples to help make decisions about what treatment a woman should receive. So the volunteers were also asked to gauge how bright this colouring was – if indeed there was any there at all.

On the surface it may seem odd to ask the public to do the job of trained scientists. But it turns out that we are naturally suited to this type of analysis – even better than a complicated computer programme.

“The task is fundamentally one of pattern recognition,” explains Pharoah. “And humans are good at this.”

“So I expected Citizen Scientists to do reasonably well, but I wasn’t sure how well.

“I was also interested to find out whether the public would engage with a project like this, which was the first biomedical science project to use Citizen Scientists on a large scale.”

So how did they do?

High accuracy

The Cell Slider site was loaded up with 180,172 images from 12,326 samples that had originally come from 6,378 breast tumours.

Some people checked, or ‘scored’ lots of these images; others only looked at a handful. But, collectively, once the project was finished, our researchers were left with almost two million scores to help test how accurate the public had been.

To do this the researchers looked at the volunteers’ responses when asked whether they could see cancer cells in the images or not. And, crucially, when the team checked these scores against 3,000 of the samples that had also been analysed by a pathologist, they found the public gave the same answer as the pathologist in nine out of 10 cases.

But the availability of tens or hundreds of thousands of Citizen Scientists ought to make it possible to do research on a much larger scale

–  Professor Paul Pharoah

According to Pharoah, this is a good level of accuracy, and shows just how powerful this approach could be in helping our scientists accelerate the progress of their research.

“We are asking Citizen Scientists to do the same thing as a pathologist,” he says. “But the availability of tens or hundreds of thousands of Citizen Scientists ought to make it possible to do research on a much larger scale than is possible when relying on expert pathologists.”

But there is always room for improvement.

“While the Citizen Scientists were accurate, they weren’t as good at classifying some tumours,”  according to Pharoah. And because so many people got involved with the project, it’s actually taken a while to reach this conclusion, something he acknowledges as “frustrating”.

But that’s how science works. And this is real science. So the methods need to be tweaked and improved, which is something Pharoah, along with our other scientists involved in the project, are keen to do next.

“We need to do further work to find out if we can improve the performance of the Citizen Scientists by changing the brief training that they are given,” he says. And that’s exactly what our latest project focuses on.

Trailblazer

The results from Cell Slider show that the public can accurately spot cancer cells in pathology samples, which is great. But what if each volunteer could do more?

One of the things our Citizen Scientists struggled with in Cell Slider was distinguishing between the different cells in the images. This meant that in some cases they overestimated the number of cancer cells.

So with more training, would it be possible to boost their accuracy by training smaller groups of people to analyse more complicated samples and really save our researchers’ time? That’s the question our new ‘Trailblazer’ project seeks to answer.

A sneak preview of Trailblazer

We’ll be working with smaller groups of volunteers to see how different types of training and tutorials could help improve the accuracy of their scores.

Then, once these tutorials are shown to be effective, they can be rolled out to larger groups of people. And this is something Pharoah believes will be really important for getting the most out of Citizen Scientists.

“The scoring of pathology images by the public should be tested in the same way that one would test any new method,” he says.

“First, try it out on a reasonable number to get an idea of how well it works. And then, depending on this first answer, either carry on with a larger number of people to get definitive answer, or tweak the method to get improvements.”

In addition to the breast cancer samples analysed through Cell Slider, we’ve also started looking at lung, bladder and oesophageal cancer samples with researchers from across the UK.  And we’re planning to extend this to other cancers too.

But we need your help.

If you fancy joining our Citizen Science community and taking part in the Trailblazer project then drop us an email: citizenscience@cancer.org.uk

Your lab coat awaits.

Nick

• Find out more about our other Citizen Science projects on our website

Reference

Candido dos Reis, F., et al. (2015). Crowdsourcing the General Public for Large Scale Molecular Pathology Studies in Cancer EBioMedicine, 2 (7), 681-689 DOI: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2015.05.009

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October 2015 Open Thread [Deltoid]

More thread.

from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/1QMhYi2

More thread.

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How to Lie With Statistics [EvolutionBlog]

Did you watch the big hearing in Congress the other day? Congressional Republicans, having failed completely with their plan of holding their breath until the Democrats and Obama agreed to cut off funding for Planned Parenthood, had to settle for the consolation prize. They hauled up Cecile Richards, PP’s president, so they could browbeat her for five hours. If you watch any five minute segment of it you will have seen the whole thing. The Republicans asked one stupid, mendacious question after another, and then cut Richards off the second she tried to answer. I’m sure the crazies loved it, but I don’t think the Republicans made any inroads toward getting the all-important sane vote.

An especially interesting moment came when Jason Chaffetz, a congressman from Utah, presented what he thought was a damning piece of evidence against Richards. It was a graph showing two lines. One showed the number of “Cancer Screenings and Preventative Services” offered by PP. This line was pointing down with a high slope. The second line showed the number of abortions over the same time period. This line was pointing up with a high slope. The lines crossed somewhere in the middle. The point was to challenge PP’s claim that abortions make up a tiny percentage of the services they provide. “I got these numbers from your own corporate reports,” Chaffetz intoned.

Now, as Richards had the satisfaction of pointing out, this was a big lie by Chaffetz. The graph came from a pro-life website, and not from his own meticulous reading of corporate reports. The way we know it came from that website is that Chaffetz’s chart had the source clearly printed at the bottom.

More than that, though, the chart is a real masterpiece of dishonesty. It takes people with no conscience at all to produce a graph as dishonest as this one. Kevin Drum has the full details. The graph, you see, had no y-axis. Without that, what you have is not any honest presentation of data, but rather just two lines with made-up slopes.

The actual numbers speak for themselves. According to what is on the chart, the number of abortions went from roughly 289,000 to 327,000, between 2006 and 2013. During that same time period, cancer screenings and whatnot went from a little over two million down to roughly 935,000. Of course, cancer screenings hardly cover the totality of PP’s non-abortion services. When you factor in STD testing and contraceptive services, the number goes from slightly over nine million in 2006, to 8,892,000 in 2013.

Yet somehow, these lines managed to cross on Chaffetz’s graph.

To anyone capable of looking at and understanding numbers, this is a complete vindication of PP’s claim that abortion is a tiny percentage of the services they provide. Chaffetz’s graph proves the exact opposite of what he said it proved. But the pathological liars of the far right do not care about such things.

from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/1iNl9uP

Did you watch the big hearing in Congress the other day? Congressional Republicans, having failed completely with their plan of holding their breath until the Democrats and Obama agreed to cut off funding for Planned Parenthood, had to settle for the consolation prize. They hauled up Cecile Richards, PP’s president, so they could browbeat her for five hours. If you watch any five minute segment of it you will have seen the whole thing. The Republicans asked one stupid, mendacious question after another, and then cut Richards off the second she tried to answer. I’m sure the crazies loved it, but I don’t think the Republicans made any inroads toward getting the all-important sane vote.

An especially interesting moment came when Jason Chaffetz, a congressman from Utah, presented what he thought was a damning piece of evidence against Richards. It was a graph showing two lines. One showed the number of “Cancer Screenings and Preventative Services” offered by PP. This line was pointing down with a high slope. The second line showed the number of abortions over the same time period. This line was pointing up with a high slope. The lines crossed somewhere in the middle. The point was to challenge PP’s claim that abortions make up a tiny percentage of the services they provide. “I got these numbers from your own corporate reports,” Chaffetz intoned.

Now, as Richards had the satisfaction of pointing out, this was a big lie by Chaffetz. The graph came from a pro-life website, and not from his own meticulous reading of corporate reports. The way we know it came from that website is that Chaffetz’s chart had the source clearly printed at the bottom.

More than that, though, the chart is a real masterpiece of dishonesty. It takes people with no conscience at all to produce a graph as dishonest as this one. Kevin Drum has the full details. The graph, you see, had no y-axis. Without that, what you have is not any honest presentation of data, but rather just two lines with made-up slopes.

The actual numbers speak for themselves. According to what is on the chart, the number of abortions went from roughly 289,000 to 327,000, between 2006 and 2013. During that same time period, cancer screenings and whatnot went from a little over two million down to roughly 935,000. Of course, cancer screenings hardly cover the totality of PP’s non-abortion services. When you factor in STD testing and contraceptive services, the number goes from slightly over nine million in 2006, to 8,892,000 in 2013.

Yet somehow, these lines managed to cross on Chaffetz’s graph.

To anyone capable of looking at and understanding numbers, this is a complete vindication of PP’s claim that abortion is a tiny percentage of the services they provide. Chaffetz’s graph proves the exact opposite of what he said it proved. But the pathological liars of the far right do not care about such things.

from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/1iNl9uP

Moon near Aldebaran late night October 1

Are you an early riser? If so, look for the line-up of lights in the eastern sky: Venus, Regulus, Mars and Jupiter. Venus and Jupiter are by far the brightest in this part of the sky!

If you live at northerly latitudes, you can always use the constellation Auriga and its brightest star to star-hop to Aldebaran, when the moon isn’t there to guide your eye.

Lunar occultation of Aldebaran in Alaska!

Tonight – October 1, 2015 – you’ll have to stay up late or wake up early tomorrow to see the waning gibbous moon near Aldebaran. This star represents the fiery eye of the Bull in the constellation Taurus. The moon and Aldebaran rise over the eastern horizon quite late tonight, then climb upward together in the wee hours after midnight. Before dawn, look for the moon and Aldebaran high in your southern sky if you live at mid-northern latitudes. From the Southern Hemisphere, look in your northern sky.

Because the rising times for the moon and Aldebaran vary around the world, you might want to refer to the links on our almanac page. You can also find out the rising time for Aldebaran via the U.S. Naval Observatory.

The lit side of the waning gibbous moon will be pointing toward Aldebaran on the night of October 1-2. To reduce the lunar glare, try blotting out the moon with your finger to see Aldebaran better. Be aware that the illuminated side of a waning moon always points in the moon’s direction of travel: eastward through the constellations of the Zodiac.

In other words, the moon will travel toward Aldebaran throughout the night on the night of October 1 (morning of October 2). Although the moon and Aldebaran will move westward across the sky, the moon will also be moving eastward, toward Aldebaran, a key star of the Zodiac. If you catch the moon and Aldebaran before going to bed tonight, and then wake up before dawn October 2, note how much closer the moon is to Aldebaran tomorrow morning.

Lunar occultation of Aldebaran in Alaska!

From far-western Northern America, it’s possible that you won’t see Aldebaran at all. From Alaska, for instance, the moon will actually occult – cover over – Aldebaran before dawn on October 2. More specifically, as seen from Anchorage, Alaska, the moon will occult Aldebaran from 4:41 to 5:31 a.m. Alaska Daylight Time (AKDT). Click here to know when this occultation will take place at other Alaskan localities. Remember, the times given on this site are in Universal Time. Subtract 8 hours from Universal Time to convert to Alaskan Daylight Time.

You might be able to see Aldebaran slip behind the moon from far-western Canada and the West Coast of the mainland United States, though it’ll be at dawn October 2. From Seattle, Washington, the occultation starts at 6:04 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time (PDT). Click here for more information for the occultation times along the US West Coast. Remember to subtract 7 hours from Universal Time to convert to Pacific Daylight Time (PDT).

It might be difficult to see the beginning of this occultation, for the star will disappear behind the moon’s illuminated side, only to reappear on the moon’s dark side. Around the world tonight, look for moon’s lit side to point toward Aldebaran, as these two luminaries rise in the east late tonight.

Bottom line: Tonight – October 1, 2015 – you’ll have to stay up late or wake up early tomorrow to see the waning gibbous moon near Aldebaran. This star represents the fiery eye of the Bull in the constellation Taurus. From far-western North America, the moon will pass in front of Aldebaran before dawn on October 2.

Hurricane Joaquin a major flood threat for U.S. East in early October, 2015

The lunar calendars are almost here! View the moon phases throughout the year.

EarthSky astronomy kits are perfect for beginners. Order today from the EarthSky store

Donate: Your support means the world to us

from EarthSky http://ift.tt/1JF32Ni

Are you an early riser? If so, look for the line-up of lights in the eastern sky: Venus, Regulus, Mars and Jupiter. Venus and Jupiter are by far the brightest in this part of the sky!

If you live at northerly latitudes, you can always use the constellation Auriga and its brightest star to star-hop to Aldebaran, when the moon isn’t there to guide your eye.

Lunar occultation of Aldebaran in Alaska!

Tonight – October 1, 2015 – you’ll have to stay up late or wake up early tomorrow to see the waning gibbous moon near Aldebaran. This star represents the fiery eye of the Bull in the constellation Taurus. The moon and Aldebaran rise over the eastern horizon quite late tonight, then climb upward together in the wee hours after midnight. Before dawn, look for the moon and Aldebaran high in your southern sky if you live at mid-northern latitudes. From the Southern Hemisphere, look in your northern sky.

Because the rising times for the moon and Aldebaran vary around the world, you might want to refer to the links on our almanac page. You can also find out the rising time for Aldebaran via the U.S. Naval Observatory.

The lit side of the waning gibbous moon will be pointing toward Aldebaran on the night of October 1-2. To reduce the lunar glare, try blotting out the moon with your finger to see Aldebaran better. Be aware that the illuminated side of a waning moon always points in the moon’s direction of travel: eastward through the constellations of the Zodiac.

In other words, the moon will travel toward Aldebaran throughout the night on the night of October 1 (morning of October 2). Although the moon and Aldebaran will move westward across the sky, the moon will also be moving eastward, toward Aldebaran, a key star of the Zodiac. If you catch the moon and Aldebaran before going to bed tonight, and then wake up before dawn October 2, note how much closer the moon is to Aldebaran tomorrow morning.

Lunar occultation of Aldebaran in Alaska!

From far-western Northern America, it’s possible that you won’t see Aldebaran at all. From Alaska, for instance, the moon will actually occult – cover over – Aldebaran before dawn on October 2. More specifically, as seen from Anchorage, Alaska, the moon will occult Aldebaran from 4:41 to 5:31 a.m. Alaska Daylight Time (AKDT). Click here to know when this occultation will take place at other Alaskan localities. Remember, the times given on this site are in Universal Time. Subtract 8 hours from Universal Time to convert to Alaskan Daylight Time.

You might be able to see Aldebaran slip behind the moon from far-western Canada and the West Coast of the mainland United States, though it’ll be at dawn October 2. From Seattle, Washington, the occultation starts at 6:04 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time (PDT). Click here for more information for the occultation times along the US West Coast. Remember to subtract 7 hours from Universal Time to convert to Pacific Daylight Time (PDT).

It might be difficult to see the beginning of this occultation, for the star will disappear behind the moon’s illuminated side, only to reappear on the moon’s dark side. Around the world tonight, look for moon’s lit side to point toward Aldebaran, as these two luminaries rise in the east late tonight.

Bottom line: Tonight – October 1, 2015 – you’ll have to stay up late or wake up early tomorrow to see the waning gibbous moon near Aldebaran. This star represents the fiery eye of the Bull in the constellation Taurus. From far-western North America, the moon will pass in front of Aldebaran before dawn on October 2.

Hurricane Joaquin a major flood threat for U.S. East in early October, 2015

The lunar calendars are almost here! View the moon phases throughout the year.

EarthSky astronomy kits are perfect for beginners. Order today from the EarthSky store

Donate: Your support means the world to us

from EarthSky http://ift.tt/1JF32Ni

The University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health teams up with quacks [Respectful Insolence]

Naturopathy is quackery.

I like to start most, if not all, posts about naturopathy with that simple statement. The reasons are simple. First, it’s true. Second, most people—including doctors—are unaware of this simple fact. Finally, it irritates naturopaths and their fans. It also has the benefit of setting the tone I want to convey whenever I hear about naturopathy being granted the appearance of academic legitimacy by being embraced by a real academic medical institution. Such were my thoughts when I was made aware of this press release entitled SCNM Offers Dual-Degree Program for Master’s of Public Health and Naturopathic Medical Degree in Collaboration with University of Arizona:

In collaboration with the University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine (SCNM) is pleased to offer a dual-degree program for a naturopathic medical degree (ND) and a master’s degree in public health (MPH). Naturopathic medical students will begin classes in the fall 2016.

Students must apply and be accepted into both programs in order to qualify. For the master’s degree in public health, students can choose to concentrate in either public health practice (PHP) or in health services administration (HSA). “For a student interested in leadership positions in public health at government agencies, international health organizations and non-governmental associations, this is a tremendous opportunity to develop a career path,” said SCNM President Paul Mittman. “For SCNM, this collaboration represents another milestone in our strategic plans to grow the college’s academic side as well as our ability to reach and engage more students, faculty and staff.”

Yes, you heard that right. The UA’s College of Public Health has made a deal with a school of naturopathy to offer a dual degree consisting of a fake degree from a fake medical school, namely a degree in naturopathic medicine (ND, or, as I prefer to call it, “not a doctor”) and a real degree from a real school of public health, or an MPH. It’s like a bizarro world copying of a trend that’s been going on in medicine for a while, namely for physicians to obtain both an MD and an MPH in order to be able to do a combination of medical research and public health research. It’s a powerful combination; so I suppose it shouldn’t be too surprising that naturopathy schools, mimicks of all things medicine as they are, saw this trend and tried to copy it for their not-doctors. What I am surprised at is that any reputable school of public health would fall for it. On the other hand, I suppose if medical schools have gotten into bed with naturopathy schools before, as the the Georgetown University has done with Bastyr University and National University of Health Sciences.

So what is the rationale for this collaboration? This:

“Students of naturopathic medicine seek formal public health training. The fundamental principles of naturopathic medicine are similar to those of public health in such areas as health promotion, prevention, and patient education,” said Dr. Cecilia Rosales, assistant dean of Phoenix programs at the UA Zuckerman College of Public Health. “NDs are trained to be more proactive in their approach to wellness than reactive approaches to disease management and treatment.”

“We think it is important to offer public health training to all health-care providers responsible for individual care. This is especially important with the new health-care law that seeks to keep the population well rather than treating and managing illness.”

Dr. Rosales said the collaboration enhances career opportunities for SCNM students as well as opens up wider inclusion of naturopathic medicine in the broader public health community. “At the same time, we are at the very front end of what we expect to be a tremendous partnership with the Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine.”

No, the fundamental principles of naturopathy sound superficially similar to those of public health, but that’s it. Naturopaths claim to be about health promotion and prevention. When their teachings overlap science-based medicine, which they sometimes do by coincidence alone coupled with their co-opting of the science-based modalities like exercise and diet, there is a tiny amount of truth to the claim. However, naturopathic “prevention” comes at a high price, and that price is exposure to pure quackery. As I like to say, you can’t have naturopathy without homeopathy. It’s a mandatory part of the curriculum in naturopathy schools. It’s even in the examination naturopaths take to become certified, the NPLEX. Many naturopaths use it in their practice. Given that homeopathy is The One Quackery To Rule Them All, the very fact that naturopaths so readily embrace homeopathy should tell you all you need to know about how weak their commitment to science is and how much their specialty is infused with pseudoscience.

Homeopathy, of course, is not the only quackery that naturopaths learn and practice, just the most quacky. As Britt Hermes, a former naturopath who gave up naturopathy up when she realized how ridiculously full of pseudoscience it is, points out, naturopathy school also requires its students to master hydrotherapy, herbology, acupuncture and energy medicine (or, as I like to call it, faith healing).

Of course, among all medical institutions, the University of Arizona would have been one of the first ones I’d expect to team up with quacks because the University of Arizona School of Medicine is already highly infused with quackademic medicine, thanks to its resident “integrative medicine” guru, arguably the most famous quackademic in the world, Andrew Weil. Indeed, a year and a half ago, I learned that the University of Arizona Cancer Center was offering the faith healing that is reiki to its pediatric cancer patients, indeed to all of its cancer patients. Meanwhile, Dr. Weil has founded an “integrative medicine” residency program and developed a board certification in this specialty that “integrates” quackery like naturopathy into medicine. Meanwhile, UA rakes in the dollars from the National Center Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) to study acupuncture and other alternative therapies. So, unfortunately, the precedent had been set. It also doesn’t help that Arizona as a state is about as quack-friendly as it gets, licensing homeopathic physicians and naturopathic not-doctors.

Britt Hermes makes an excellent point about the claim that naturopaths like to make that they are all about “prevention” while regular doctors are not:

This notion accuses the medical community of being incompetent and misguided. It is an old argument from the late 19th century when scientific medicine was still figuring itself out while homeopaths, osteopaths, chiropractors and naturopaths aggressively marketed fanciful methods designed “to treat the root cause of disease, not just symptoms.” For buying into this archaic ideology, the UA is being academically disingenuous, hindering the scientific process and tarnishing its reputation.

To be clear, there is nothing “proactive,” let alone safe, about giving patients sugar pills, recommending severe dietary restrictions, prescribing untested plant extracts, discouraging vaccines or injecting a cornucopia of substances from high-dose vitamins to ozone gas into patients’ veins.

Exactly. It is not a good thing to be “proactive” when being “proactive” involves subjecting patients to homeopathy, IV ozone, unproven supplements, using thermography to diagnose breast cancer and many other diseases (as naturopaths like to do). Being proactive should involve applying the best science to medicine and prevention. Good MPH programs teach their students how to do just that. By embracing the quackery and pseudoscience that is naturopathy, the University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health has abdicated its responsibility to teach their students about prevention, health maintenance, and public education about medicine.

from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/1WA0VUg

Naturopathy is quackery.

I like to start most, if not all, posts about naturopathy with that simple statement. The reasons are simple. First, it’s true. Second, most people—including doctors—are unaware of this simple fact. Finally, it irritates naturopaths and their fans. It also has the benefit of setting the tone I want to convey whenever I hear about naturopathy being granted the appearance of academic legitimacy by being embraced by a real academic medical institution. Such were my thoughts when I was made aware of this press release entitled SCNM Offers Dual-Degree Program for Master’s of Public Health and Naturopathic Medical Degree in Collaboration with University of Arizona:

In collaboration with the University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine (SCNM) is pleased to offer a dual-degree program for a naturopathic medical degree (ND) and a master’s degree in public health (MPH). Naturopathic medical students will begin classes in the fall 2016.

Students must apply and be accepted into both programs in order to qualify. For the master’s degree in public health, students can choose to concentrate in either public health practice (PHP) or in health services administration (HSA). “For a student interested in leadership positions in public health at government agencies, international health organizations and non-governmental associations, this is a tremendous opportunity to develop a career path,” said SCNM President Paul Mittman. “For SCNM, this collaboration represents another milestone in our strategic plans to grow the college’s academic side as well as our ability to reach and engage more students, faculty and staff.”

Yes, you heard that right. The UA’s College of Public Health has made a deal with a school of naturopathy to offer a dual degree consisting of a fake degree from a fake medical school, namely a degree in naturopathic medicine (ND, or, as I prefer to call it, “not a doctor”) and a real degree from a real school of public health, or an MPH. It’s like a bizarro world copying of a trend that’s been going on in medicine for a while, namely for physicians to obtain both an MD and an MPH in order to be able to do a combination of medical research and public health research. It’s a powerful combination; so I suppose it shouldn’t be too surprising that naturopathy schools, mimicks of all things medicine as they are, saw this trend and tried to copy it for their not-doctors. What I am surprised at is that any reputable school of public health would fall for it. On the other hand, I suppose if medical schools have gotten into bed with naturopathy schools before, as the the Georgetown University has done with Bastyr University and National University of Health Sciences.

So what is the rationale for this collaboration? This:

“Students of naturopathic medicine seek formal public health training. The fundamental principles of naturopathic medicine are similar to those of public health in such areas as health promotion, prevention, and patient education,” said Dr. Cecilia Rosales, assistant dean of Phoenix programs at the UA Zuckerman College of Public Health. “NDs are trained to be more proactive in their approach to wellness than reactive approaches to disease management and treatment.”

“We think it is important to offer public health training to all health-care providers responsible for individual care. This is especially important with the new health-care law that seeks to keep the population well rather than treating and managing illness.”

Dr. Rosales said the collaboration enhances career opportunities for SCNM students as well as opens up wider inclusion of naturopathic medicine in the broader public health community. “At the same time, we are at the very front end of what we expect to be a tremendous partnership with the Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine.”

No, the fundamental principles of naturopathy sound superficially similar to those of public health, but that’s it. Naturopaths claim to be about health promotion and prevention. When their teachings overlap science-based medicine, which they sometimes do by coincidence alone coupled with their co-opting of the science-based modalities like exercise and diet, there is a tiny amount of truth to the claim. However, naturopathic “prevention” comes at a high price, and that price is exposure to pure quackery. As I like to say, you can’t have naturopathy without homeopathy. It’s a mandatory part of the curriculum in naturopathy schools. It’s even in the examination naturopaths take to become certified, the NPLEX. Many naturopaths use it in their practice. Given that homeopathy is The One Quackery To Rule Them All, the very fact that naturopaths so readily embrace homeopathy should tell you all you need to know about how weak their commitment to science is and how much their specialty is infused with pseudoscience.

Homeopathy, of course, is not the only quackery that naturopaths learn and practice, just the most quacky. As Britt Hermes, a former naturopath who gave up naturopathy up when she realized how ridiculously full of pseudoscience it is, points out, naturopathy school also requires its students to master hydrotherapy, herbology, acupuncture and energy medicine (or, as I like to call it, faith healing).

Of course, among all medical institutions, the University of Arizona would have been one of the first ones I’d expect to team up with quacks because the University of Arizona School of Medicine is already highly infused with quackademic medicine, thanks to its resident “integrative medicine” guru, arguably the most famous quackademic in the world, Andrew Weil. Indeed, a year and a half ago, I learned that the University of Arizona Cancer Center was offering the faith healing that is reiki to its pediatric cancer patients, indeed to all of its cancer patients. Meanwhile, Dr. Weil has founded an “integrative medicine” residency program and developed a board certification in this specialty that “integrates” quackery like naturopathy into medicine. Meanwhile, UA rakes in the dollars from the National Center Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) to study acupuncture and other alternative therapies. So, unfortunately, the precedent had been set. It also doesn’t help that Arizona as a state is about as quack-friendly as it gets, licensing homeopathic physicians and naturopathic not-doctors.

Britt Hermes makes an excellent point about the claim that naturopaths like to make that they are all about “prevention” while regular doctors are not:

This notion accuses the medical community of being incompetent and misguided. It is an old argument from the late 19th century when scientific medicine was still figuring itself out while homeopaths, osteopaths, chiropractors and naturopaths aggressively marketed fanciful methods designed “to treat the root cause of disease, not just symptoms.” For buying into this archaic ideology, the UA is being academically disingenuous, hindering the scientific process and tarnishing its reputation.

To be clear, there is nothing “proactive,” let alone safe, about giving patients sugar pills, recommending severe dietary restrictions, prescribing untested plant extracts, discouraging vaccines or injecting a cornucopia of substances from high-dose vitamins to ozone gas into patients’ veins.

Exactly. It is not a good thing to be “proactive” when being “proactive” involves subjecting patients to homeopathy, IV ozone, unproven supplements, using thermography to diagnose breast cancer and many other diseases (as naturopaths like to do). Being proactive should involve applying the best science to medicine and prevention. Good MPH programs teach their students how to do just that. By embracing the quackery and pseudoscience that is naturopathy, the University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health has abdicated its responsibility to teach their students about prevention, health maintenance, and public education about medicine.

from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/1WA0VUg