1 October 2020 (Tuesday) - More Work (?)

Here’s something to make you think. An article in “The Scientist” claims that “Researchers have partially mitigated the effects of an ischemic stroke in mice simply by replacing a small amount of their blood with that of a healthy donor. Days after receiving the transplant, mice had less tissue damage surrounding the clot and suffered fewer neurological side effects compared to mice that had not received a blood infusion.”

I wonder if this works in humans? And if so, how long before we are doing it?

29 April 2020 (Wednesday) - Top Prize?

Having worked in pathology seemingly forever I’ve seen some changes (doesn’t that make me sound old!!) Some for the better, some for the worse. But in this morning’s email from “The Scientist” there is a worrying development.

In the past the departmental equipment has been bought by a fully documented procurement process. It might seem long-winded and laborious, but the idea is that public money is spent widely and accountably on getting what is the best bit of kit available for the specific job that needs to be done.

But today there are blood counters being given away as prizes from on-line competitions. The device might be really good; it might be a ple of crap... Who knows?
But is this any way to equip a laboratory?

15 April 2020 (Wednesday) - Common Knowledge?

It is common knowledge that cannabis has beneficial anti-cancer properties…

Or does it?

It would seem that reliable evidence is still lacking. Again I really must be sur ethat what I am doing and saying is based on proper science and not common knowledge…

13 April 2020 (Monday) - New is better...?

 

Here’s an interesting article from a new source of CPD I’ve started following. TheScientistDaily I can distinctly remember talk of Herceptin a year or so ago. I *think I blogged about it here but (I won’t lie) I can’t be bothered to dig through the archives to find what I said.

But this article has researchers questioning whether Herceptin is as good as it was billed, and if current clinical guidelines for classifying and treating breast cancer may be off the mark. New classification schemes may better identify those patients more likely to benefit from anti-HER2 treatment or point to therapies that might be more effective.

Perhaps not directly relevant to what I do, but it makes me wonder just how wonderful the latest “wonder treatments” actually are. And how long it will be before the new classification schemes are superseded?

I can remember reading that NASA refused to allow technology less than five years onto their space probes as they wanted tried-and-tested technology; it’s no good finding problems when the space probe is half the solar system away.