Ethical Thought

Bioethics at the Movies

Here is an interesting twist on how to help maintain and grow interest in thinking about bioethics.

JAMA Review of the book.

It is a great statement that this book exists and that it can be used to train people about the issues raised by movies such as Gattica and Million dolar baby.  But I must admit a certain amount of sadness that we need extra hooks to reach people.  There must been some kernel of interest onthe part of the public that caused the movies to be popular but unfortunately that is not enough.

Wow  a couple months ago my Dr. did a blood test to check on my arthritis medications; he found no problems with anything except he said I had a remarkable Vitamin D deficiency and I was put on a mega dose of Vitamin D supplement and then a maintenance dose.  Now it seems it is not at all unusual for us lazy Americans:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/03/090323161111.htm

“ScienceDaily (Mar. 24, 2009) — Average blood levels of vitamin D appear to have decreased in the United States between 1994 and 2004, according to a new report.

Clinicians previously believed the major health problems associated with vitamin D deficiency were rickets in children and reduced bone mineral content in adults, conditions reduced by fortifying foods with vitamin D, according to background information in the article. More recently, insufficient vitamin D levels have been associated with cancer, heart disease, infection and suboptimal health overall. Evidence suggests that levels of 30 nanograms per milliliter to 40 nanograms per milliliter may be needed for optimum health

“Vitamin D supplementation appears to mitigate the incidence and adverse outcomes of these diseases and may reduce all-cause mortality,” the authors write. However, currently recommended levels of supplementation—200 international units per day from birth to age 50, 400 international units per day from age 51 to 70 and 600 international units per day for adults age 71 and older—focus primarily on improving bone health. In addition, decreases in outdoor physical activities and successful campaigns to reduce sun exposure may have contributed to vitamin D insufficiency, since sunlight exposure is a main determinant of vitamin D status in humans.”

Balaclava? Knitted helmet?

Whatever you want to call it, it is made to help keep you warm and even is long enough to tuck into your shirt.

http://www.neseafarers.org/Participate/Participate_balaclava.html

I just started it but I have no idea how it will look.  I searched ravelry for a pic or better instructions but did not come up with anything.  I know I am knitting slower, but I am still knitting along.

It seems that my recent posts have not appeared!  the most recent I can see is from October.  I will see if I can resurect some of the missing ones but out of Pure lazyness I may just continue from here.  All Files for the site are now updated.