2 Wolfram Alpha On Lyme Disease Diagnosis

So, I'm not sure how familiar my readers are with Wolfram Alpha. If you've ever heard of the Mathematica software package, these are the guys that created it. Wolfram Alpha is an online tool that uses computational algorithms and data modeling to output objective information on a variety of topics. In other words: It takes statistics and facts from numerous sources and creates a database on given topics on the fly. (To learn more about what Wolfram Alpha's online tool does, go here: http://www.wolframalpha.com/tour1.html) You can go...

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0 Superbug Suit: Groups Sue FDA Over Risky Use of Human Antibiotics in Animal Feed

Approximately 70% of all antibiotics used in the United States are given to healthy farm animals at low doses to promote faster growth and compensate for unsanitary living conditions -- a practice that has increased over the past 60 years despite evidence that it breeds antibiotic-resistant bacteria dangerous to humans. The antibiotics, mixed into feed or water for pigs, cows, chicken, and turkeys, are used at levels too low to treat disease, leaving surviving bacteria stronger and resistant to medical treatment. FDA concluded in 1977 that feeding...

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0 Paper: Factors Affecting Duration of CFS in Pediatric Patients

Indian J Pediatr. 2011 May 27. [Epub ahead of print] Factors Affecting Duration of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome in Pediatric Patients. Petrov D, Marchalik D, Sosin M, Bal A. Source UMDNJ/Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick, NJ, USA. Abstract OBJECTIVE: To determine factors affecting duration of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) in pediatric patients. METHODS: This Retrospective cohort consisted of patients with CFS at the regional referral infectious disease clinic for evaluation of fatigue in children and adolescents. Demographic,...

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0 Administrivia: Most Recent Posts List Removed

Unfortunately, the service which provides the "Most Recent Posts" list plug-in has been down or at least producing code that isn't generating the list automatically - so I have had to remove that broken plug-in for now. Sorry for the inconvenience for anyone who was relying on it. I recommend using the search function or scrolling down to the archive post section to find newer pos...

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4 Repost: Lyme Disease & Antibiotics: More Than Skin Deep

This is a repost from Thursday evening's Daily Kos. Alexander Fleming discovered the first antibiotic, penicillin, in 1928. After the first clinical trials of antibiotics in the 1940s, they transformed medical care and dramatically reduced illness and death from infectious diseases. I have to wonder if Alexander Fleming ever realized just how many purposes would be found for antibiotic use in the future - and if he would have ever predicted that their use would generate controversy. A central controversy in treating people who have persisting...

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0 Daily Kos Posting Tomorrow At 6:30 PM EST

Please note that another entry will be posted on the Daily Kos tomorrow, May 26, Thursday at around 6:30 PM EST in observance of Lyme Disease Awareness month. That is: 12:30 HST,  3:30 PM PST, 22.30 UTC (GMT) The topic for this Daily Kos posting is going to be Long Term Antibiotic Treatment and asks why this is considered a controversial treatment for persisting symptoms of chronic Lyme disease as well as its named counterpart, Post-Lyme Disease Syndrome. Check it out tomorrow at the below link - and comment there if you have a Daily Kos...

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4 The FDA Vault: Dr. Vijay Sikand On Lyme Disease & Lymerix

You know how I've said you can never guess what you're going to come across when you surf the net looking for other things? Well, I came across this FDA transcript for a discussion on the Lymerix vaccine back in 1998. The original transcript contains an endorsement for the vaccine from the founder of Lyme Disease Foundation (LDF, not to be confused with the ADLF), who later determined the vaccine needed to be pulled from the shelves based on adverse reaction reports. I'm setting aside any discussion of the Lymerix vaccine for now and just posting...

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0 Video: The mystery of chronic pain

In this video from TED, Elliot Krane works with children in helping them with neuropathic pain and complex regional pain syndromes - nerve-related pain that continues from an injury long after the original accident occurred. He practices at Stanford Hospital and Clinics and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, and here is one story of how he helped a young girl stop the tremendous pain that made even a feather-light touch on her arm agonizing. This may or may not relate to those who suffer from persisting symptoms of Lyme disease - either way,...

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14 Chart: Ways To Discuss Your Position In An Argument

Referring back to this entry: http://campother.blogspot.com/2011/05/repost-lyme-disease-rant-wall-of.html, here is a chart that shows different kinds of interactions one can have during a discussion with opposing positions. From observation, discussions where parties hold conflicting views tend to degenerate and become either flaming troll wars or stalemates when anything from contradiction on down through namecalling is applied. When Counterargument, Refutation, or Refuting the Central Point are used, the discussion is far less likely to...

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6 Paper: Tired of Lyme borreliosis

I've decided that for the time being, I'm going to focus some of my time and energy on neuroborreliosis and late stage Lyme disease. Is there a relationship between missing an early diagnosis of neuroborreliosis and later persisting symptoms? There seems to be, based on what Dr. Brian Fallon has stated in the past. This is something that interests me. In my research on Lyme disease treatment guidelines,  I think this recent paper has been mentioned on Lymenet Europe: http://www.njmonline.nl/getpdf.php?id=10000693 Coumou J, van der Poll...

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8 Paper: Environmental Stress in Borrelia Burgdorferi

The things you find, just randomly surfing online... So, this is someone's dissertation for their doctoral degree. In 2004. RESPONSES TO ENVIRONMENTAL STRESS TRIGGERS DIFFERENTIAL EXPRESSION AND CELLULAR DAMAGE IN BORRELIA BURGDORFERI A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the University of Georgia in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHISOLOPHY ATHENS, GEORGIA 2004 Should I forgive the typo, on a dissertation? Well, I will. Just this once, because I am interested in commenting on more of the content...

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0 Repost: Lyme Disease: Money & Chronic Mayhem

The following is a repost of an entry from yesterday's Daily Kos. This past February, the Republican-led House of Representatives proposed a budget that would have cut millions of dollars from science agencies that fund Lyme disease research as well as research for other infectious diseases. These cuts would have not only lead to funding levels well below those proposed by Obama when he tabled his budget request more than a year ago, but also well below the 2010 levels they have been operating under since October. At the National Institutes...

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