Vegetable oils and soybeans protect against stroke
Linoleic acid – found in vegetable oils and soybeans – appears to protect against strokes, researchers report in the August issue of Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association.
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Thursday, August 01, 2002
Doctors' measurements of blood pressure less useful than nurses' or patients' self-measurements
A British Medical Journal report suggests that the "white coat" effect leads to inflated measurements of blood pressure. That is, patients having their blood pressure measured by a doctor tend to have a higher blood pressure at the time due to the psychophysiological factors associated with seeing a doctor face-to-face.
The authors conclude that treatment decisions should not be based on doctors' measurements of blood pressure. Measurements should be made by nurses, by remote monitoring devices or self-administered by patients in a clinical environment.
I bet a lot of doctors won't like the implications there...
Medical research funded by for-profits more likely to conclude in favour of for-profit's interests
The British Medical Journal reports in its August 3 issue that medical research funded by for-profit organisations are more likely to recommend experimental intervention (use of drugs, etc.) than research funded by not-for-profit organisations. The study examined 159 trials in 12 specialties
The authors suggest that seeing as the BMJ requires authors to declare financial interests, many avoid publishing there when funding comes from a for-profit. Therefore, they may be an even stronger correlation between funding by a for-profit and conclusions favouring the for-profit's interests.
Perhaps the most disturbing thing about the research is the reminder that very few medical research journals require authors to declare their interests...
Black hole merger
Most galaxies are believed to have a black hole at the centre. So when two galaxies merge, what happens to the black holes? A paper published online today at Science Express presents evidence that they also merge and as they do so, dramatically change the direction in which they spin.
A spinning black hole in a galaxy emits jets perpendicular to the plane of rotation so observation of a galaxy can indicate the spin axis. A number of galaxies show that the jets being emitted have recently changed direction - evidence of a recent black hole merger.
These mergers should be observable with gravitational wave detectors about once per year (once they become operational!)
Earth is getting fatter
The Earth is getting fatter for some reason unknown to scientists. The earth is not a perfect sphere, being fatter around the equator. The proportions of the Earth can be described by its oblateness which just says how much larger the equatorial radius is than the polar radius.
The oblateness of the Earth increases and decreases as the ice caps melt and freeze moving in and out of ice ages. However, the changes since 1998 have been twice as large as can be accounted for by ice cap melting.
One possible explanation is a change in the distribution of the Earth's liquid metal core as the Earth's magnetic field changes.
The research is reported in tomorrow's issue of Science.
Interstellar hamburger
New Hubble Space telescope picture is thought to resemble a hamburger...
Opposition to Nuclear Test Ban Treaty is flawed, says report
In 1999, the US Senate defeated the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. However the National Academy of Sciences convened a panel to report on the validity of the objections used to block the treaty. In its report, handed down yesterday, it found that the objections were without merit.
The report concludes: "We judge that the United States has the technical capabilities to maintain confidence in the safety and reliability of its existing nuclear weapon stockpile under the C.T.B.T., provided that adequate resources are made available."
GWB opposes the treaty. In combination with his departure from the Ballistic Missile Treaty with Russia and the hints in the Nuclear Posture Review that he wants to be able to resume underground nuclear testing in Nevada, you have to wonder why he wants to have so much nuclear firepower at his disposal and no treaties to prevent him from using it at will...
