I got into the AIDS debate with Dean again. I know, I know, I really shouldn't, but this one pissed me off.

The argument is based on this article from the LA Times detailing the death of Eliza Jane Scovill, the 3 year old daughter of a well known "HIV does not cause AIDS" activist mother. EJ was conceived, carried, and breast-fed by an HIV positive mother who was not on medication and because of her beliefs, refused to have either EJ or her brother Charlie tested for HIV.

EJ's death was recently ruled by the LA county coroner's office to be due to "AIDS-related pneumonia".

This pissed me off on so many levels: the parents, the doctors, and the article.

1. The kid was sick with a cold and then an ear infection that got worse for over two weeks from the first peds visit until her death

2. Given her well documented risk, why did NONE of the 3 doctors who examined her even think to give her antibiotics or take a culture swab to see what was causing her symptoms? They knew mom was HIV+ and she was at risk (according to the article)

3. The second doctor suspected an ear infection but never gave her drugs, the third doctor FINALLY gave her an antibiotic the day before she died. I'm no fan of over medicating, but in a case where a kid (or an adult) is at risk of being severely immunocompromised, you do a swab and then use a drug that kills whatever you found. It's too easy for something relatively innocuous to take hold in someone who is already defenseless. I know from experience.

3.5 What about the drug they gave her? The article says she was vomiting severely the day after starting the amoxicillin. Was she having a reaction? Amox and the other cillins and some derivatives make me break out, vomit, or both. Did her reaction (if any) to the drug contribute to her death? Was she too sick before starting the drug to overcome any effects of a reaction? Did a drug reaction weaken her to the point that she could no longer fight the illness?

4. I don't appreciate anyone (this girl's mother) who equates "small apartments on busy streets, extended day care, and oscar mayer lunchables" with neglect. Just because not all parents can AFFORD to stay home and give their kids organic vegetables doesn't make their kids any less special than yours or make you any less neglectful and selfish. I'd rather VACCINATE my babies (which this mom didn't), make sure I knew what ALL their health issues were, and give them junk food than be so deep in denial that I can't face the fact that it might have killed my baby and let the doctors take the blame.

UPDATE: Dean points out in the comments that not all vaccines are safe and effective. I actually agree with him, but I had forgotten about the "new" vaccines, which I utterly disagree with: chicken pox, pneumonia, and ear infection. The long-term safety of these vaccines is clearly unknown as they are less than 10 years old, and the effectiveness of them is also in question, as a large chunk of kids who get these vaccines still get sick when exposed....

5. Where's the HIV test? They say she died of AIDS related pneumonia, but there was no mention of them even doing an HIV test. I know there are some legal issues with reporting someone's HIV status, but I assume the parents would want the truth to be told, since they say that they still believe HIV doesn't cause AIDS.

I guess what gets me here is the disconnect and the denial. On the part of the parents AND the doctors. Look, I respect your right to parent as you see fit, including whether or not you find out about your kids HIV status if they are at risk. However, that doesn't give you the right to act imprudently. Based on ALL the evidence out there, HIV is clearly linked to AIDS, and MOST LIKELY causes AIDS. If your child is at risk of being HIV+ and you choose not to find out, for whatever reason, then you have to be aware that when that child gets sick, it could spiral out of control quickly, as it may have in this case. If you choose not to vaccinate your child, you have to be aware of the risks that go along with that and the risks that your children import to other people because they have not been vaccinated. If you choose to avoid antibiotics, then you need to be aware that your child can die just as quickly from a bacterial infection as from a car accident. It can happen that fast.

In this case, prudence dicated an aggressive treatment strategy. One that should have started by determining what bacteria/virus/fungus was causing the symptoms, instead of looking, guessing, and sending the kid home. More than once. It took two weeks before she was given anything other than "naturopathic remedies"(link)

And what of the reporting? Surely the author of the 5 page LA Times article was intelligent enough to ask the questions I've raised. Especially with regard to the HIV testing. That's clearly relevant here. Perhaps the journalist wouldn't know enough about the possible side effects and reactions to amoxicillin, but a simple Google search would have sufficed. Also, the journalist doesn't appear to have enough healthy criticism of the doctors. While the writer allows Dr. Gordon to second-guess himself, Dr. Fleiss is paraded out as the pediatrician to the stars, notorious and controversial, but well established. Little criticism of the treatment strategy of any of the doctors is offered, except by unnamed, uncredentialed "experts". While it is likely that the little girl died of HIV related symptoms, no direct evidence to support this is presented except the single conclusion of the coroner.

I am flabbergasted by the ignorance and denial among educated people. By all accounts this was a healthy, active, intelligent child who should not have fallen so fast. Something was missed. Whether or not it was AIDS remains to be seen (where's the test??), but clearly there was more going on here than meets the eye.

Posted by: caltechgirl at 11:18 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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Funny, but this particular movie quote covers two of the new shows I saw this week.

First up, last night after CSI I caught the premiere of CBS' Criminal Minds starring, among others, Shemar Moore, Thomas Gibson, and Mandy Pantinkin (thus the Princess Bride quote). Patinkin's character is a FBI profiler who long ago "retired" to teaching at the academy and comes back out into the field to lead a team of profilers as they chase psychopaths and serial killers across the country. I had two impressions, first, that the pilot episode was all about Silence of the Lambs. There were a number of references to the film, both visual and plot-wise. Second, the show works hard to move away from those references. The episode started slow, but gained momentum as the hour went on, and I think I'll watch it again on Wednesday night at its regular time.

Next up, NBC's Inconceivable (only in this case it means EXACTLY what you think it means). I wasn't planning on watching this show. Between my loathing of any kind of baby show, and my preconceived notion that it was going to be sappy and dumb, I was rather planning on avoiding it and watching Numbers instead. However, I caught it before Numbers started and it hooked me. The show is a lot more like ER was at the beginning of its run than I expected. Of course Ming-Na as one of the stars doesn't hurt. The show focuses on the doctors and staff of a fertility clinic as they help their patients (and in some cases themselves) along the road to parenthood. Like ER, it was engaging and interesting, and in some cases altogether unexpected. For example, one of the storylines of this episode was what happens after a surrogate gave birth to her own baby, rather than the baby she was supposed to be carrying for an infertile couple. Not bad for a Friday night show. I'll probably try to see it next week.

The third new show I saw was E-ring, NBC's pentagon drama starring Benjamin Bratt and Dennis Hopper. Not bad. Good suspense, although not quite a Tom Clancy novel. I'm sure military types will freak out about how unrealistic it is, but hell, I liked it, for what it's worth, as did DH, so we'll probably try to catch this one again.

Two shows I saw that I don't care if I see again: Bones (ruin a good book, why don'tcha?) and Martha's Apprentice (better than the Donald's, but eh. It's the Apprentice)

Posted by: caltechgirl at 11:17 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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what can I say?

Yesterday I had the meeting about the preliminary offer and it went well, just waiting for them to get their ducks in a row. I'm supposed to hear today but I can't help but worry. There's still a chance (albeit small) that this could fall through....

Just trying to keep it together while I wait. I really want the job. Not to mention the paycheck.

Also, the Princess has an ear infection, and I can't find the freaking expensive antibiotic solution for her ears..... I can find the ear flush, the baby ear bulb, and everything else we usually use for her ears, but not the damn antibiotics. Arrgh.

On a more positive note, we got the first power bill yesterday: $102 for 6 weeks. Damn I love living here. It would have been >$150 for 4 weeks in Carolina what with having to run the AC 24 hours a day.... Ah well, it won't last. I suspect the next gas bill will kill me.

Posted by: caltechgirl at 12:29 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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At least, according to the Commissar. I know you're there. Only half of my traffic is due to google!

Drop me a comment and let me know who you are!

Posted by: caltechgirl at 12:08 PM | Comments (11) | Add Comment
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You knew it was only a matter of time, but CBS has set up blog of former Survivor contestants to watch the show and snark back at it.

Oh yeah!

Survivors Strike Back is here.

(h/t Wizbang!)

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Remember Lite Brite? I loved it. Used to have all the picture cards, too. And extra pegs in special colors.

Now, you can play with Lite Brite without fear of stepping on the pegs.

Just go here for an online version.

(h/t Pam)

Posted by: caltechgirl at 08:11 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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1 That's SO COOL! Now if only they'd bring back the Parcheesi, Rainbow Brite dolls, Jem and her friends, and real cartoons on TV, I'd be reliving my childhood!

Posted by: Amanda at September 22, 2005 09:53 AM (ay+rD)

2 80s? How about 60s? I loved my Lite Brite!

Posted by: Ith at September 22, 2005 10:00 AM (LCvAk)

3 I'm with Ith. I *always wanted* a Lite Brite and didn't ever get one. This explains a lot, doesn't it? *twisty grin*

Posted by: Margi at September 22, 2005 01:39 PM (nwEQH)

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Saw this loony quiz at Boudicca's and I knew I had to post it:

Which Historical Lunatic Are You?

Born in England sometime in the second decade of the nineteenth century, you carved a notable business career, in South Africa and later San Francisco, until an entry into the rice market wiped out your fortune in 1854. After this, you became quite different. The first sign of this came on September 17, 1859, when you expressed your dissatisfaction with the political situation in America by declaring yourself Norton I, Emperor of the USA. You remained as such, unchallenged, for twenty-one years.

Within a month you had decreed the dissolution of Congress. When this was largely ignored, you summoned all interested parties to discuss the matter in a music hall, and then summoned the army to quell the rebellious leaders in Washington. This did not work. Magnanimously, you decreed (eventually) that Congress could remain for the time being. However, you disbanded both major political parties in 1869, as well as instituting a fine of $25 for using the abominable nickname "Frisco" for your home city.

Your days consisted of parading around your domain - the San Francisco streets - in a uniform of royal blue with gold epaulettes. This was set off by a beaver hat and umbrella. You dispensed philosophy and inspected the state of sidewalks and the police with equal aplomb. You were a great ally of the maligned Chinese of the city, and once dispersed a riot by standing between the Chinese and their would-be assailants and reciting the Lord's Prayer quietly, head bowed.

Once arrested, you were swiftly pardoned by the Police Chief with all apologies, after which all policemen were ordered to salute you on the street. Your renown grew. Proprietors of respectable establishments fixed brass plaques to their walls proclaiming your patronage; musical and theatrical performances invariably reserved seats for you and your two dogs. (As an aside, you were a good friend of Mark Twain, who wrote an epitaph for one of your faithful hounds, Bummer.) The Census of 1870 listed your occupation as "Emperor".

The Board of Supervisors of San Francisco, upon noticing the slightly delapidated state of your attire, replaced it at their own expense. You responded graciously by granting a patent of nobility to each member. Your death, collapsing on the street on January 8, 1880, made front page news under the headline "Le Roi est Mort". Aside from what you had on your person, your possessions amounted to a single sovereign, a collection of walking sticks, an old sabre, your correspondence with Queen Victoria and 1,098,235 shares of stock in a worthless gold mine. Your funeral cortege was of 30,000 people and over two miles long.

The burial was marked by a total eclipse of the sun.

Posted by: caltechgirl at 06:57 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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1 Wow. Yours is WAY cooler than mine!

Posted by: Bou at September 21, 2005 07:36 PM (5JHEt)

2 Hey, at least you didn't allegedly sleep with your own sibling!

Posted by: Contagion at September 22, 2005 05:53 AM (Q5WxB)

3 Emperor Norton defined Frisco. And it's been downhill ever since.

Posted by: Ken Summers at September 22, 2005 06:13 AM (UefPN)

4 The best legacy of Emperor Norton? Emperor Norton's Sourdough Chips. Waaaaay better than the Old San Francisco brand. And Ken, please don't call it "Frisco". This is a hate crime-able offense.

Posted by: Jihad Jimmy, Minister of War Crimes and Chief Defender of the Faith at September 24, 2005 06:22 PM (65FEa)

5 Still Tesla.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at September 26, 2005 06:17 AM (QriEg)

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Just Yay!!

It's a Boy!

Congrats Margi and Koolaid!

Posted by: caltechgirl at 04:37 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Lair Simon and one of the kitties who lets him live in the house bring you a new way to measure hurricanes, or at least a way to tell if you're about to get swiped with a paw.....

The Piper Scale

Meow!

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Over at Vodkapundit, Steve posits that the NY Times is making a bad business decision, between laying off hundreds of employees and charging for access to their opinion pages.

To me, it signals the end of a long era in journalism. The layoffs and the desperate bids for increased revenue tell me that the Times is bleeding and is trying unsuccessfully to staunch the flow. Instead of looking seriously at the big knife stuck in their chest, they're trying to stitch around it.

Ok, enough with the blood metaphor. Clearly the growth of new media and the internet has taken a chunk out of their business, and they are scrambling to catch up. You could argue that these layoffs represent the first concrete evidence that "flammable" media is dying. The problem is that like most large corporations, those who are responsible for fixing the problems refuse to examine their own biases. A paradigm shift has taken place in the last 5 years. Media consumers now have multiple sources for news, and freely compare the information they get from each. They don't just accept the editorializing found at one source or another. Editors and publishers haven't (as yet) been able to look carefully at their own papers or broadcasts to see what it is that consumers are turning away from.

The Times will never be the same. It will never wield the same kind of authority that it did in days past. Why? Because as they lay off reporters they will lose the newsroom flexibility to cover breaking news, update older stories, and fact check pieces before publication. Forget editing, if you've even perused the Grey Lady over the last couple of years, you know that went out the window a long time ago.

Another step away from the "old media" also took place this week, though it was largely symbolic. During Sunday night's Emmy broadcast, Tom Brokaw, Dan Rather, and the late Peter Jennings were honored for their contributions to network news over the last two decades. Although the segment was supposed to serve as a memorial to Jennings, and a recognition of the careers of Brokaw and Rather, it was also a tacit memorial to the role of network news in American culture. Since the birth of TV, the majority of Americans got their national and international news from the evening broadcasts of each of the three major networks. With the retirement of Brokaw, the "retirement" of Rather, and the death of Jennings, clearly an era has ended. What remains to be seen is whether the evening news will ever be as important in American culture as it was before.

It is likely that in years to come we will look back at this week as highly significant in the history of media in that the events of this week represent the emerging importance of "new media" and the effect that internet journalism and blogging have on the bottom line of older media outlets.

Posted by: caltechgirl at 11:20 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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Excuse me while I curl up with a blanket and a good book while I still can......

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One of the things that I miss most about NC is the summer storms that wake you up with a terrible crash of thunder and a bright flash of lightning,

LA somehow managed to requisition such a storm just for me, and now I'm glad I'm an insomniac. I've been laying here enjoying the sound of the drops pattering on the bacony and smelling the wet air, listening to the thunder and warching the fireworks, so to speak.

Yay!

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So I have a meeting Thursday to finalize the details of the employment offer and ask whatever questions I want.

This is the first time I've had to do this, so I am completely unsure of what to do, except for a few questions I know I want to ask about daily activities and the benefits package.

What would you ask? What should I be thinking about? What are the smart questions no one asks? The details of the job offer are here.

This post will stay on top today in hopes of getting some answers.....

Posted by: caltechgirl at 11:59 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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Conventional wisdom in the Schizophrenia game has long held that the newer class of drugs, usually referred to as atypical antipsychotics, is more effective in treating both the positive and negative symptoms of Schizophrenia. Specifically, it is widely known that older drugs, such as Haldol (haloperidol), fail to treat any of the negative symptoms (such as lack of affect and anhedonia).

However, a new study released today in the New England Journal of Medicine (by my former advisor and several of his colleagues that I know well and have worked with) shows that only Zyprexa (olanzapine) is really any better than prior treatments, despite the difficult side effects (weight gain and development of type II diabetes in some patients)....

This study is a product of a long term NIH funded study of early intervention in Schizophrenia by clinical screening and antipsychotic treatment.

You can read the mainstream press article here, the journal article here, and information about the CATIE study here.

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To the god of MT and all things MuNuvian, Pixy Misa.

May your spams be few and your comments be many

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Yet another reason why Cuba must be freed from her opressors: cagastro's regime denies an education to children whose parents have been trying to flee. From Cubanet:

Four years ago the political police seized the identity card of Bárbara Lorenzo de Armas. Without this document, Lorenzo de Armas cannot obtain a minor's identify card which the Adolfo del Castillo school requires in order to register her daughter.

Even if the school allowed Jessica to register, her mother couldn't buy the required uniform because this comes from a government store that requires a document to buy there, which was also seized four years ago.

This is just beyond sick. Like Val, I'm just speechless. I'd like to see any of you little communistas out there defend this one.

Posted by: caltechgirl at 01:21 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Rachel Ann asks:

And your reaction is?

I really want to know. This is a kind of survey: could you all just copy the survey, fill it out and post it in the comments.

1.PETA--what is the first image that comes to your mind hearing the name?
2.How do you react emotionally?
3.Do you agree or disagree with PETA's overall message?
4.Do you agree or disagree with how PETA presents that message?
5.Are (or were) you a vegetarian?
6.Do you own any pets?
7.What rights over animals do you think humans should have?
8.Is experimentation on animals always wrong? Sometimes wrong? And if permissable when, what types of experiments, and how should they be conducted?
9. To what uses can we put animals? (Pets only, aide animals etc.)
10. Including PETA, what animal rights groups (if any) do you support?

Posted by: caltechgirl at 08:55 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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It be talk like a pirate day you scurvy dogs!

Posted by: caltechgirl at 08:01 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Visitor #50,000 arrived at 4:38 pm PDT courtesy of the lovely Da Goddess, who linked to this post.

I'd like to thank my fairy blog parents, Jay and Deb, for poking me with sharp things until I started blogging; Pixy Misa (which is Aussie-speak for God of all things MT) for my pretty MuNu digs; Beth and HWNNL for giving me huge numbers of recipe readers every week; Baldilocks and Ith for asking me to guest-blog; all the BFLers (who are AWESOME) and especially, Da Goddess, without whose RACK I would not see half so many google hits...

And I how could I forget Boromir and his Fellowship of Ninja Wizards.....
You love me, you really, really love me.....[/sally field]

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As of 8:18am PDT, SiteMeter reads 49, 915, which means I am 85 hits away from visitor #50,000!

WooHoo! I wasn't expecting this until Tuesday!

Update: 49,957 at 1:38 PM PDT

Update 2: 49,986 at 3:25 PM PDT

If you're Mr. or Ms. 50,000 get a screenshot for me.

Posted by: caltechgirl at 03:19 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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1 #49,928, and DAMN proud of it!

Posted by: Ian Hamet at September 18, 2005 09:43 AM (tuotg)

2 Weird...my visit shows # 49,928 too!

Posted by: Amanda at September 18, 2005 09:54 AM (qxu4H)

3 That's not a surprise. Sitemeter is notorious for undercounting

Posted by: caltechgirl at September 18, 2005 01:06 PM (XbkBK)

4 49,989....

Posted by: VW Bug at September 18, 2005 03:42 PM (J3xJ9)

5 Dang. I'm 49,999. I think.

Posted by: shrinkette at September 18, 2005 04:29 PM (ck0KS)

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