Grand Rounds: Pediatric Dentistry

( notes )

Blagojevich Switched Prison Diet to Soy Protein

He was elected governor of Illinois in 2002, and in January 2003 suddenly the inmates got a new diet. Soy protein is cheaper than meat and diary, so the state could save money by feeding it to the prisoners. If meat is served, it is mixed with about 2/3 soy protein. Of course the Department of Corrections is costly to run. And Archer Daniels Midland (soy supplier) was a major contributor to Blagojevich's campaign. But is it really fair to feed prisoners a food-substitute that is increasingly demonstrated to be have toxicity, as well as being hormonally active?

Million Dollar Prize to Prove Your Magic

http://www.randi.org/site/
Another person offering a million bucks to anyone offering a homeopathic or other cure that will withstand scientific challenge.

Bayh Says Bye to the Senate

( Un-civil US Congress Drives Away Reasonable Member )

Antioxidants for Chronic Hepatitis C

In a recently published phase-I, open label clinical trial, 50 patients with chronic HCV infection were treated orally with a combination of seven antioxidative oral preparations (glycyrrhizin, schisandra, silymarin, ascorbic acid, lipoic acid, L-glutathione, and alpha-tocopherol) on a daily basis for 20 weeks, along with four different intravenous preparations (glycyrrhizin, ascorbic acid, L-glutathione, B-complex) twice weekly for the first 10 wk[11]. Normalization of liver enzymes occurred in 44% of patients who had elevated pretreatment ALT levels. A decrease in viral load by one log or more was observed in 25% of the patients. Histological improvement, with twopoint reduction in the HAI score, was noted in 36.1% of the patients. The SF-36 quality of life score improved in 26 of 45 patients (58%) throughout the trial. No major adverse reactions were noted. These findings suggest that antioxidant therapy may have a beneficial effect on necroinflammatory variables in these patients.

Then they did this study:
http://www.wjgnet.com/1007-9327/13/5317.pdf
( summary from abstract )