Petrossa's Blog

Don't Call It Autism

Petrossa — Tue, 21 May 2013 08:36:22 +0000

Confusion surrounding the term "autism" is surely nothing new. The word was first used in 1911 by Swiss psychiatrist Eugen Bleuler, who presumably invoked the Greek autos, meaning "self."

Researchers Explain How Schizophrenia Drug Fights Drug-Resistant Bacteria

Petrossa — Sat, 18 May 2013 08:43:43 +0000

Reblogged from news@JAMA:

An antipsychotic drug used to treat schizophrenia apparently paves the way for developing antibiotics to kill drug-resistant bacteria by knocking out a piece of the bug’s cell wall, researchers in Denmark reported today. The finding could help launch new ways to treat the global health threat of bacteria that have outwitted many, or in some cases all, existing antibiotics.

In the study, which appears today in the journal…

The Male-Dominated Green Landscape

Petrossa — Fri, 10 May 2013 09:53:11 +0000

Reblogged from NoFrakkingConsensus:

Why are female leaders rarer than rubies in green organizations?

Magda Stoczkiewicz, director of the European chapter
of Friends of the Earth

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of The Feminine Mystique - the book credited with igniting the second wave of American feminism (the first wave involved the struggle for the vote).

Which means it's an excellent time to raise an important question: Why are so few green groups led by women?

What’s a ‘Cultural Muslim’?

Petrossa — Mon, 06 May 2013 16:04:14 +0000

For years Saif Rahman has been an agnostic and an ex-Muslim activist. So why is he thinking of calling himself a cultural Muslim?
– By Saif Rahman –

For years I’ve been an ex-Muslim activist.

My transition from being a Muslim to ex-Muslim was sudden. After spending years frustratedly attempting to reconcile my personal and religious beliefs, I realised I was being intellectually dishonest and often bending Islam to fit with my personal ideals. My religious cousin from Pakistan crystallized this perfectly when he came to stay with us.

Link to Original article

What Does Half-a-Million in Science Grants Buy You?

Petrossa — Mon, 06 May 2013 09:15:09 +0000

Reblogged from NoFrakkingConsensus:

An academic paper funded by two National Science Foundation grants bears no relation to the intended purpose of that money.

In 2009, the US National Science Foundation awarded an "engineering education research" grant of $150,000 to Eric Pappas, a professor at James Madison University.

According to the official record, that money had a purpose. It was supposed to:

Red Meat and TMAO: Cause for Concern, or Another Red Herring?

Petrossa — Fri, 03 May 2013 17:17:29 +0000

By CHRIS KRESSER

I’m sure many of you have seen reports on a recent study published in the journal Nature suggesting a possible mechanism linking red meat consumption to heart disease. The day after one such report was published in the New York Times, I received numerous emails and numerous Facebook and Twitter messages from concerned red meat enthusiasts. This is understandable, but rest assured it’s not yet time to switch over to soy burgers.

The researchers in this study published a paper a while back proposing that a chemical called TMAO (trimethylamine N-oxide) increases the risk of heart disease. In this study, they hypothesized that eating red meat may increase levels of TMAO in the bloodstream, which would in turn ramp up your chances of having a heart attack. Sounds plausible, right?

The rest of the post

By me:

The everlasting search for blaming meat for every disease known to man can only be explained from the political correct vegetarian dogma that eating meat is wrong coupled with the political correct dogma that eating meat is anti-social since there are so many starving people. On the last one can be short, they are starving because there are too many in one place with too little foodsources or too many in one place incapable to earn enough to pay for food. Not because of lack of food.

Time after time they come up with new ‘reasons’ why it’s bad for health so to scare people into eating less meat.
We’ve had the cancer scare, which was debunked because it wasn’t the meat that caused cancer but the baking/grilling. Now we have the artherosclerosis scare which is debunked all over the place but mostly by studies like these:

L-carnitine significantly improves cardiac health in patients after a heart attack, say a multicenter team of investigators in a study published today in Mayo Clinic Proceedings. Their findings, based on analysis of key controlled trials, associate L-carnitine with significant reduction in death from all causes and a highly significant reduction in ventricular arrhythmias and anginal attacks following a heart attack, compared with placebo or control.

Meat is good for your heart

WebMD offers dangerous junk science-based dietary salt advice...

Petrossa — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 17:24:42 +0000

Reblogged from JunkScience.com:

... even though one of its cited "experts" tacitly admits there is no established cause-and-effect relationship between typical/normal/current salt intake and adverse health effects.

making violence against sex workers a hate crime in the UK

Petrossa — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 18:20:25 +0000

Reblogged from Doodles on the Margins:

In Merseyside, England, violence against sex workers is treated by the police as a hate crime. This means that when a sex worker is the victim of an assault, robbery, or rape, she or he can report the incident without fear of being charged with prostitution, because the police have agreed to place a higher priority on convicting the criminals who harm sex workers over criminalizing sex workers.

What Rick Mercer Didn't Tell Us About the ZENN Car

Petrossa — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 18:33:56 +0000

Reblogged from NoFrakkingConsensus:

Why weren't the profound limitations of an electric car the butt of a comedian's jokes?

Rick Mercer is a Canadian comedian/satirist employed by the publicly-funded Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Like his American colleague, Jon Stewart, he spends much of his time commenting on current affairs.

First and foremost, Mercer is an entertainer - a performer who wants to make us laugh.

RIP latest meat scare: Clinical studies show L-carnitine 'improves patient outcomes following heart attack' -- So how could it cause atherosclerosis?

Petrossa — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 16:34:54 +0000

Reblogged from JunkScience.com:

A 4-day scare.