http://bmartinmd.com/ For the love of disease. en Copyright 2012 Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:01:53 -0600 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification Pimpernel Smith (1941) is Leslie Howard's updated riff on his previous leading role in The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934), the classic espionage adventure of rescue set during the French Revolution. In the former movie, released just 2 years before Howard's shocking... http://bmartinmd.com/2012/02/kickback-friday-193.html http://bmartinmd.com/2012/02/kickback-friday-193.html Kick-Back Friday Kick-Back Friday movie Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:01:53 -0600 Two articles in this week's Neurology consider the significance of biomarkers for Alzheimer disease in the cognitively normal elderly.Essentially confirming a recently published Mayo Clinic study, investigators from Texas reported the high prevalence of beta amyloid deposits (detected with Avid... http://bmartinmd.com/2012/02/ad-biomarkers.html http://bmartinmd.com/2012/02/ad-biomarkers.html Epidemiology Neurology Neuropsychiatry Pharma Alzheimer's disease Thu, 02 Feb 2012 08:36:21 -0600 Watching The Final Countdown (1980), starring the recently departed James Farentino, is more of an exercise in "How could I make this movie really good?" as opposed to recognizing its few merits—one of which is the evergreen premise of rewriting... http://bmartinmd.com/2012/01/kickback-friday-192.html http://bmartinmd.com/2012/01/kickback-friday-192.html Kick-Back Friday Kick-Back Friday movie Fri, 27 Jan 2012 11:16:01 -0600 Implementation of the Sustainable Growth Rate, or SGR, formula—the formula ostensibly used to control Medicare spending and physician reimbursement for Medicare services—has been stayed numerous times since it was legislated in the late 1990s. As Harvard policy analysts describe in... http://bmartinmd.com/2012/01/harvard-sgr-hole.html http://bmartinmd.com/2012/01/harvard-sgr-hole.html Legislation Medicare Medicare Thu, 26 Jan 2012 08:55:01 -0600 At last, something positive (albeit very preliminary) to report about the use of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs)...in disease, no less.Yesterday The Lancet published (and made freely available—!) early safety results from Advanced Cell Technology's 2 prospective phase 1/2 clinical... http://bmartinmd.com/2012/01/early-results-hesc-macular-degen.html http://bmartinmd.com/2012/01/early-results-hesc-macular-degen.html Ophthalmology Pharma macular degeneration stem cells Tue, 24 Jan 2012 10:07:43 -0600 Friday the FDA announced that it's permitting the marketing of the first test for antibodies to the JC virus (Stratify JCV Antibody ELISA test; Quest Diagnostics), the cause of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) in immunocompromised individuals and now an official... http://bmartinmd.com/2012/01/who-the-hell-was-john-cunningham.html http://bmartinmd.com/2012/01/who-the-hell-was-john-cunningham.html Medical history medical history PML Mon, 23 Jan 2012 10:29:16 -0600 "Life on Mars" (2006-2007): A modern-day Manchester policeman (played by the terrific John Simm) is transported back to politically incorrect 1973 after being struck by a car. Is he mad, in a coma, or back in time? The nifty opener... http://bmartinmd.com/2012/01/kickback-friday-191.html http://bmartinmd.com/2012/01/kickback-friday-191.html Kick-Back Friday Kick-Back Friday Fri, 20 Jan 2012 16:00:15 -0600 In a Pharmalot interview, money manager, blogger, and diabetic David Kliff absolutely excoriates "Buttah Queen" Paula Deen and insulin-maker Novo Nordisk for their newly announced, and arguably duplicitous, promotional relationship. Kliff easily tosses out words like "hypocrite," "shyster," and "bastardizing"... http://bmartinmd.com/2012/01/deen-novo-taken-down.html http://bmartinmd.com/2012/01/deen-novo-taken-down.html Endocrinology Health care Media diabetes Media Fri, 20 Jan 2012 11:40:23 -0600 Medivation and partner Pfizer will cease development of Dimebon (latrepirdine), a now thoroughly defunct antihistamine, "for all indications and will terminate the ongoing open label extension study in Alzheimer's disease." The small biopharm company announced the official end of Dimebon... http://bmartinmd.com/2012/01/dimebon-development-for-ad-dead.html http://bmartinmd.com/2012/01/dimebon-development-for-ad-dead.html Neurology Neuropsychiatry Pharma Alzheimer's disease Wed, 18 Jan 2012 09:07:57 -0600 The October Man (1947): Seriously brain injured in a bus crash (which takes the life of his young companion), a recovered, but terribly guilt-ridden, man (John Mills) is suspected of murdering a needy female acquaintance. Given his mental handicap, he,... http://bmartinmd.com/2012/01/kickback-friday-190.html http://bmartinmd.com/2012/01/kickback-friday-190.html Kick-Back Friday Kick-Back Friday movie Fri, 13 Jan 2012 15:02:13 -0600 Sherley et al v Sebelius et al. The case that won't go away...to the chagrin of scientists who rely on government funding for research with human embryonic stem cells (hESCs).The Nature News Blog reports today that scientists James Sherley and... http://bmartinmd.com/2012/01/theyre-baaack-plaintiffs-appeal-hesc-ruling.html http://bmartinmd.com/2012/01/theyre-baaack-plaintiffs-appeal-hesc-ruling.html Ethics Legal Legislation stem cells Fri, 13 Jan 2012 08:42:27 -0600 About one-third of cognitively normal elderly demonstrate an elevated load of beta-amyloid,* a pathologic hallmark of Alzheimer disease, in the brain, according to a newly published study from the Mayo Clinic. These data support previous observations, in which the PET-imaged... http://bmartinmd.com/2011/12/amyloid-cognitively-normal.html http://bmartinmd.com/2011/12/amyloid-cognitively-normal.html Ethics Neurology Neuropsychiatry Pharma Alzheimer's disease amyloid Thu, 22 Dec 2011 10:17:04 -0600 My Foolish Heart (1949): A major weepie with Susan Hayward. As an alcoholic and terribly unhappy wife, Hayward recounts the lost love of her life to a visiting college chum. The movie, which is oh-so-loosely based on* J. D. Salinger's... http://bmartinmd.com/2011/12/kickback-friday-189.html http://bmartinmd.com/2011/12/kickback-friday-189.html Kick-Back Friday Kick-Back Friday movie Fri, 16 Dec 2011 21:38:17 -0600 First Jeffrey Kindler, then Lipitor, and now this: Pfizer announced today that it's* its dependency on the FDA's approval is over. * Bloody hell.... http://bmartinmd.com/2011/12/worlds-largest-drug-maker-lets-go.html http://bmartinmd.com/2011/12/worlds-largest-drug-maker-lets-go.html FDA Media Pharma Pfizer Fri, 16 Dec 2011 14:55:43 -0600 Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979): The faithfully adapted 7-part BBC mini-series of John Le Carre's titular novel—a story as much about of the banality of espionage during the Cold War, as it is about the treachery. Starring the (nearly) incomparable... http://bmartinmd.com/2011/12/kickback-friday-188.html http://bmartinmd.com/2011/12/kickback-friday-188.html Kick-Back Friday Kick-Back Friday movie Fri, 09 Dec 2011 20:07:29 -0600