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Friday, 21 October 2005
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A rare form of cancer could soon be detected with a simple blood test, after a key discovery by Western Australian researchers.
A breakthrough a day keeps the health scare away.
[ABC News: Health]
11:17:30 PM 
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David Pescovitz:
Researchers from the University of Southern California report that
pathological liars and cheats actually have differently-structured
brains than people who don't. Adrian Raine and Yaling Yang report in
the British Journal of Psychiatry that liars they studied seemed to
have 22 percent more white matter in their prefontal cortex than
"normal" people. From Reuters:
The new study suggests that because grey matter consists
of brain cells, while white matter forms the "wiring" or connections
between these cells, pathological liars may have more capacity to lie
and fewer moral restraints.
"They've got the equipment to lie
and they don't have the disinhibition that the rest of us have in
telling the big whoppers," Dr Raine said...
While the findings have no practical implications at present, if
confirmed they could be useful in clinical diagnoses of whether a
person is pretending to be sick.
They
could also help in criminal justice settings by helping police
determine if a suspect is lying, and in pre-employment screening.
Lying interests me. I don't tend
to do it. It doesn't suit me, I'm not good at it, it's quite a bit of
effort, and usually unnecessary. The truth can be uncomfortable, but in
the long run I'm always happier with it.
Having said that, I realise that just about anyone, including myself,
will lie if the lie is to their advantage and if it will not
particularly harm anyone.
But I have known a few people who would rather lie than tell the truth.
Think about that. The lie they tell may harm someone. They don't care.
The lie may not give them any advantage or gain. They lie anyway.
This is either evil or pathological.
Link
[Boing Boing]
1:22:55 AM
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The Australian Nursing Federation (ANF) says the Howard Government's
proposed industrial relations (IR) changes will turn nurses away from
the profession.
I have it on good authority that if nurses get shifts they don't want, it is fairly common that they just don't turn up.
No one's going to sack them. If there is no incentive to work particular shifts many nurses will leave the service.
Of this I'm sure.
[ABC News: Health]
1:05:23 AM
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Warren Zevon songs have become earworms for me. They have virally infected my brain. In a good way.
A few weeks ago I taped the movie Things to do in Denver when You're Dead. I plan to watch it over the weekend.
I'd forgotten that the title is a Warren Zevon song; the song does feature in the movie, which, from all reports, is crap. I'll watch it anyway.
Then today I read where Dave Winer,
exactly my age, has had his regular medical tests because of a health
scare a few years ago, and half expects one day after these tests to be
told to get his affairs in order.
He quotes a Warren Zevon song to express what he hopes his reaction will be on that day.
12:49:20 AM
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Doctors are calling for the Federal Government to subsidise a new
breast cancer drug after research found that it dramatically cuts the
chances of relapse.
The government must do this; the old male buggers'd jump fast enough if the drug worked on prostate cancer.
[ABC News: Health]
12:22:42 AM
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© Copyright 2005 Peter Nixon.
Last update: 1/11/05; 10:07:21 PM.
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