Friday, August 12, 2016

COMMENTS on where this stuff comes from


Sadly, both are gone

The sources I consult in writing these things vary greatly in their prospective audience.  At one extreme are the English tabloids (”Brighton Mum with ovarian cancer thanks God and the NHS for remission”).  I read these only when I am in an early-morning stupor.  At the other end of the spectrum are articles with Abstracts, sections of References Cited, often upwards of twenty authors, all identified as having M.D.s, Ph.Ds. –or both.  These manuscripts also often include a statement that none of the authors is associated with Big (or Little) Pharma in any pecuniary way.  These I also skip, although I will sometimes scan the Abstract and Conclusion sections to see if I can discern what is going on, and if it is likely to be important.  Then I wait for some smart cookie of a science writer to boil it down for me.

Well, here is one that’s just a bit above my present pay grade:


This is a through though brief summary of recent developments in immunotherapy – current as of about a year ago.  I will tackle it again in a few days and, maybe between Wikipedia and me it will materialize out of the fog.  My problem – and it is growing – can be called "Teflon brain".  If I have to look up “cytokine” one more time I will report to the booby-hatch.


So, you read it, too. You are bound to be impressed by how much work is going on.   If, after a second attempt,  I think I can write an explanatory paragraph that is worth publishing I will stick it in as a Comment.

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