Category: science

  • Thoughts on Down Time Activities for Land Survey Technicians

    Thoughts on Down Time Activities for Land Survey Technicians

    I was just thinking about the old-time land survey crews. When I was getting on the job training as a survey technician, the typical land survey crews were at least 2-3 persons. One rodman, one instrument man, and a crew chief who organized the job, which could be property or construction jobs. Nowadays, you get…

  • Reminder: FDA VRBPAC Meeting June 5, 2024 on Covid Vaccines for Fall 2024

    Reminder: FDA VRBPAC Meeting June 5, 2024 on Covid Vaccines for Fall 2024

    There will be an FDA VRBPAC meeting on June 5, 2024, 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. ET to discuss Covid vaccines for this fall.

  • Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry as a Supraspecialty

    Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry as a Supraspecialty

    I just rediscovered this old blog post below from 2010 in my files. The literature citations are dated, of course. I just wanted to reminisce about how I used to think through issues in consultation-liaison psychiatry. The post is old enough to contain the former term for the field-Psychosomatic Medicine. “At the annual Academy of…

  • Rounding At Iowa: Smoking and Vaping

    Rounding At Iowa: Smoking and Vaping

    I just want to give a shout out to University of Iowa Health Care and the Rounding@Iowa podcast for an outstanding presentation on the hazards of smoking tobacco, vaping, and dabbing. The program originally aired on May 14, 2024 and the guests included two ICU doctors who are pulmonologists I’ve worked with as a psychiatric…

  • Another Look at the C-L Psychiatry Pecha Kucha

    Another Look at the C-L Psychiatry Pecha Kucha

    Back in 2018, one of my emergency room staff physicians asked me to do a Pecha Kucha on what a consultation-liaison psychiatrist does. If you know what a pecha kucha is, you can understand why it was challenging for me to put it together and present it. Although you may have seen the video I…

  • Submitted My Two Cents on Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Proposal to Minimize the Importance of the Delirium Diagnosis Code

    Submitted My Two Cents on Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Proposal to Minimize the Importance of the Delirium Diagnosis Code

    I found out that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is planning to reclassify the diagnosis code for delirium, making it less serious than encephalopathy. Many clinicians are challenging it and organizations of consultation-liaison psychiatrists and the like, including me, don’t understand or agree with the plan. Even though I’m a retired C-L…

  • FDA VRBPAC Meeting on Covid Vaccines Postponed

    FDA VRBPAC Meeting on Covid Vaccines Postponed

    The May FDA VRBPAC meeting on Covid vaccines, originally scheduled for this month has been rescheduled to June 5, 2024, 8:30 AM-4:30 PM EST.

  • Svengoolie Movie Trilogy of Terror!

    Svengoolie Movie Trilogy of Terror!

    Last Saturday we watched the movie Trilogy of Terror on the Svengoolie show. Well, we tried anyway. There were a lot of interruptions from severe weather warnings. We didn’t mind them because you ignore them at your peril. It’s hard to forget the 2020 derecho in Iowa, which affected a lot of Iowans, including us.…

  • Yet Another Study Affirming Stair Climbing Is Great Exercise!

    Yet Another Study Affirming Stair Climbing Is Great Exercise!

    There is yet another study showing that climbing stairs is great exercise and could help you live longer. It’s not yet published in a peer-reviewed journal, but it was presented at the recent scientific congress of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Preventive Cardiology. Conclusions were that, compared with not climbing stairs, doing so was…

  • Carver College of Medicine Health Sciences Research Day!

    Carver College of Medicine Health Sciences Research Day!

    Heads up! The Carver College of Medicine Health Sciences Research Day is on April 26, 2024. The event is open to the public. Find your way to the Medical Research Facility (MERF) by google map.