Bits

[unixronin]

Some notable bits from New Scientist:

University of Colorado researchers have created a fermionic condensate, an exotic form of matter believed to be a crucial first step towards room-temperature superconductors.

ESA is trying a software fix for radiation-induced "flameouts" of the Smart-1 moon probe's ion engine.

A Haifa, Israel company has developed an implantable mesh diverter which, implanted into high-risk patients, could prevent about 40% of strokes.  Long-term effectiveness of the device has, of course, not yet been established.

A new DNA test now allows easy identification of a newly discovered neurodegenerative disease related to fragile X syndrome.  FXTAS sufferers were previously commonly misdiagnosed with Parkinson's or Alzheimer's.  There is no treament as yet, but at least they're no longer getting the wrong treatment.

The cause of mass die-offs of three species of griffon vulture in India has been traced to veterinary over-use of diclofenac, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, on sick and aging draft animals such as oxen and buffalo.  When the animals die, their bodies are eaten by vultures, who ingest diclofenac in quantities sufficient to cause kidney failure.  All three species, one of which was formerly the world's most numerous vulture, have lost over 95% of their populations and are now considered "critically endangered".

Comments

[griffen.livejournal.com]

Your icon....

*drooooools*

WAAAAAAANT!!!!

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Help yourself. :)

Re:

[griffen.livejournal.com]

Wheee! :) Thank you!

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

*sigh* there's a buttload of NSAID's out there that will cause kidney failure in a hurry if you get too much of it. One of the most dangerous? Acetaminophen. That's right, it's *very* easy to OD on simple Tylenol, there *are* no warning symptoms, just *boom* you've got no functioning kidneys. Dead, dead, dead. I highly recommend anyone with kids (and that's why I'm following up to you, kind sir) to use ibuprophen, which is considerably less dangerous (with respect to quantity, anyway... still a similar OD method, but you've got to have quite a bit more of it - four times the OTC dosage is routinely prescribed.)

Of course, the flip side of this in the quoted situation is keeping better track of potential culls and actually doing the culling... but the warning about NSAIDs in general is still viable.

Re:

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Yup. We use children's Motrin for the kids, which is ibuprofen.
Of course, that option's not open to me, as I'm allergic to ibuprofen....

Re:

[micheinnz.livejournal.com]

Dude, that sucks.

[cymrullewes.livejournal.com]

Especially how we found out. (But it might just be he's allergic to a mix of ibuprofen and morphine.)

Re:

[micheinnz.livejournal.com]

Might be. I found out the hard way that I'm allergic to morphine.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

I don't have any problems with morphine, but I'd been having problems previously with uncontrollable, and very uncomfortable, muscle spasms and involuntary movements when I took ibuprofen. Only I hadn't made the connection to the ibuprofen.

Re:

[micheinnz.livejournal.com]

Makes me feel mighty fortunate that all morphine does to me is make me vomit.

Of course, 4 hours after having a Caesarean section isn't the best time to find this out. :P

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

I'll bet......

Re:

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Hey, at least now I KNOW. What sucked was before I made the connection, and didn't know what was causing the uncontrollable muscle spasms.... it wasn't until the hospital put me on 800mg of ibuprofen every 8 hours when I got off the morphine drip after the accident, and I spent a night convulsing and hallucinating, that I made the connection.