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During my workout today, I listened to Sanjay Gupta talk to Wolf Blitzer about Ted Kennedy's newly found brain tumor for a good seven or eight minutes without ever learning what the actual diagnosis was - other than "malignant brain tumor." The News HourWith Jim Lehrer rarely lets me down and somebody had apparently informed the UCSF neuro-oncologist they interviewed, Susan Chang, of the diagnosis - malignant glioma. Everyone seems to be dancing around the prognosis; suffice it to say, the prognosis is poor. According to my own bit of cursory research, 80% of people in senator Kennedy's age bracket can expect to be dead in about a year with almost none surviving past 3 years. On a tangential note, I was very impressed to see that, at the time of the writing of this article, someone had already updated Ted Kennedy's wikipedia entry to reflect the diagnosis which was only made public earlier today.

The point that I want to get at - and, I realize this is going to sound callous - is that I think that this is one of the best things that could have happened to Obama's campaign. Kennedy is one of Obama's most prominent supporters. And when someone that close to you, with that degree of popularity, has been diagnosed with a fatal illness...it's gold! Even McCain was chocked up today:

"I have described Ted Kennedy as the last lion in the Senate," a tearful McCain said on his campaign bus in Florida. "And I have held that view because he remains the single most effective member of the Senate."

Remember when Elizabeth Edwards was diagnosed with a recurrence of breast cancer back in March 2007? Unfortunately, breast cancer is just way too curable and any momentum that this may have provided the Edwards campaign had pretty much fizzled by primary season. But, what if it had been ovarian cancer? And what if she had died in January 2008? Edwards would have been UNSTOPABLE! There would have been such an outpouring of sympathy and support for this brave man who carries on despite this terrible tragedy; he would've rolled right into the democratic nomination. If Ted Kennedy (heaven forbid) doesn't make it to November 4th, it will unite the Democratic Party behind Obama like nothing else. How could one not pay tribute to one of the most influential senators who ever lived by voting for the candidate whom he had endorsed?

Therefore, any concievable path to victory for John McCain includes the following two things that must necessarily happen before the election 1) Kennedy must stay alive, 2) they need to find Bin Laden.

Posted by James Logan, M.D. at 12:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I missed the season finale of Law and Order SVU because I was watching the Frontline documentary: Storm Over Everest. But I quite enjoyed the previous episode called "Authority," in which Robin Williams plays a disgruntled sound engineer who expresses his years of stored guilt and rage by tricking gullable people into doing things that they wouldn't otherwise do. He does so under the guise of a fictional character named, Miilgram; the name is a reference to the famous "Milgram Experiment" (footage below) in which subjects were asked to administer what they believed to be real electric shocks of increasing voltage to paid volunteers. The shocks, of course, were not real; the subjects who were allegedly being shocked were confederates. The purpose of the experiment was to study the degree to which individuals would blindly follow authority.

Though it produced some very interesting results, today the expirement is widely considered to have been unethical. I, personally, am a strong beliver in informed consent and I don't necessarily think such an experiment is unethical so long as adequate informed consent is obtained (though, this very issue often presents a problem for psychological experiments, in general).
For fun, I included some actual footage from the Milgram experiemnt:

This footage was also included in the Enron documentary, The Smartest Guys in the Room - which I highly recommend.

Posted by James Logan, M.D. at 10:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I love the new incarnation of American Gladiators almost as much as the 1990's original. But, to the AG producers, please indulge me as I voice one small bit of constructive criticism. Your female gladiators - Jet, Venom, Phoenix, Siren - all get to wear dead sexy outfits that expose lots of abs and are tight enough to give us all the information we need about the size and contours of their thighs and of their respective gluteal regions. So, what's the deal with Helga's outfit?

Helga is your HOTTEST gladiator! And just like in all the later seasons of Xena, Warrior Princess (the ones where Xena was really buff), she has to completely cover up the midriff and she has to hide her legs and butt with some frilly skirt-like thingy. American Gladiator producers, take my advice; put the skirt on Jet - she's an amateur and there isn't much there anyway. If there's anyone whose costume should come in two pieces, it's Helga. You guys clearly are not shy about showing off the human form; let's see Helga's beautiful physique!

Posted by James Logan, M.D. at 08:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

My girlfriend and I went to see Iron Man last night. The new glut of superhero movies that began around 1998 makes me wish that I had picked up a Marvel comic book or two as a kid instead of all those "outdoor activities" my parents made me partake in - which seemed like a good idea at the time.

We both really enjoyed it. One of the most refreshing aspects of the movie, is that it successfully avoids the trap which so many post-cgi revolution comic book movies fall into. That is, they don't rely on the cgi too much. Or maybe they do, but cgi has improved to the point where I can't tell the diferrence. That point is that, with few exceptions, the movie never looks like a cartoon. There are many fantastic close-ups of "Iron Man" (which Downey's character builds in the basement of his house in Malibu) with relatively few fast-paced, out-of-focus, night-time action sequences. And I never get tired of Stan Lee's principle theme, no matter how many different ways he packages it: that with the power and gifts we are given comes the responsibility to use them for good.

It was a good time. And it also brought home another point I think worth mentioning: "why will congress not authorize the funding to provide our young men and women in Iraq with the robotic, armor-plated, bullet-proof, rocket-propelled, weaponized suits they need? So many brave soldiers risk their lives every day in the name of freedom and justice and everything that America stands for. And yet the democrats in congress want to deny our troops in harms way the armored, nuclear-powered rocket-suits that they so desperately require. The world changed on 9/11..."
-Ugh. I'm having flashbacks to the nightmare that was 2004. I probably have a little PTSD.

And not to worry, this movie is fun without being a flag-waver (which doesn't seem as fashionable as it used to be anyhow). The thinly veiled representations of Al-Qeda terrorists turn out to be victims - not innocent victims, but victims nonetheless - pawns in the game of an American rogue arms dealer, played by Jeff Bridges. The real enemy, as it is an all good superhero stories, is hubris. For it is hubris that was ultimately responsible for the downfall of, among others: Doctor Frankenstein, Morbius (Forbidden Planet), the first two Spider-Man villans, and of course, the Bush administration.

Posted by James Logan, M.D. at 11:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I hadn't eaten at McDonald's for several months, I have lost 20lbs in the past seven weeks; I decided yesterday that I had earned myself the privelage of a one cheesburger meal for lunch. Not a two cheeseburger meal, not a big mac + a chocolate shake meal - a ONE cheeseburger meal. My girlfriend and I pull up to the drive thru where we are accosted with a $1 menu that includes a double cheeseburger. "That's cool," I think to myself. "Double cheeseburger only costs $1. Therefore a single cheeseburger must cost..." (scanning menu, scanning menu) "ALSO $1?!"
"(static)Good afternoon, McDonald's. Can I take your order?(static)"
"Hi, I think there might be some mistake on your menu out here. How much is your cheeseburger?"
"(static)$1.(static)"
"And your double cheeseburger is also $1?"
"(static)Cheeseburger and a double cheeseburger are the same price.(static)"
Well, paint me green and call me gumby. A cheeseburger and a double cheeseburger are the same price. I spent a minute or two trying to justify to myself how I might decide to get just a cheeseburger. But, in the end, it simply didn't make economic <groan>cents</groan>. Twice as much meat for the same price? I had no alternative but to go with the doublecheeseburger.

Now, I'll be the first to admit that I'm no economics expert. In fact, econ 101 was the only class in which I received below a 'B' throughout my 4 years of college. But, I really think this warrants some further study. If we could only figure out what economic principle is operating here, we could kick this recession once and for good. Clearly there is something far more complex that just ordinary 'supply and demand' at work. If we could only harness that power - just imagine the newscasts...
"The price of crude oil held steady today at $114 a barrel. However, thanks to the administration's bold, new economic initiatives in recent months, the price of two barrel's of crude oil also held steady at $114 a barrel. As a result, gas prices held steady at $4.09 a gallon or $4.09 for two gallons. While the price of a ton of rice in the third world continues to soar, overall food shortages have been greatly aleviated as the price of two tons of rice is now at an all time low. Gwen Ifill reports..."

Posted by James Logan, M.D. at 03:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

You've probably seen Digene's new ad for their HPV test with the tagline, "take the test, not the risk." I'm flabbergasted that this commercial hasn't been taken off the air, for it completely misrepresents what the test is meant for. The commercial clearly makes the implication that the life of Jodi, "whose story every woman should hear" was saved because her positive HPV test allowed her doctor to catch her disease before it became cancer. THIS IS COMPLETELY FALSE. A positive test is only useful if your pap smear is equivocal. Otherwise, a negative test along with a normal pap smear can reassure you that your cervix is fine and doesn't need to be checked on again for three years (instead of the standard 1 year). The reason they don't recommend the test for women under 30 is because around 60% of sexually active women in the under 30 age range are positive for a high risk strain of the HPV virus anyway. We want those women to come back yearly for their paps regardless of what Digene says about their HPV status. Jodi's pap was normal, but she was HPV positive. All this means is that she had a normal pap smear and an unnecessary test and would have to come back again the following year for another pap smear - which, apparently, "showed that she had cervical disease." But, if she'd never taken the test, her doctor would have told her to come back in a year for another pap smear ANYWAY. Therefore, Jodi, "whose story every woman should hear" is exactly the person for whom the HPV test is of no value whatsoever!
Take home message = please help do your part to help in not contributing to the high cost of healthcare by not asking your doctor for an unnecessary test unless you are a) over 30 and b) are not engaged in any high risk behavior. Second take home message = please don't engage in any high risk behavior.

Posted by James Logan, M.D. at 10:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)