Adverse Effects of Pitocin in Newborns

OMG!  ”Pitocin Side Effects:  Harm to Newborns Found in Child Labor Drug Study Triggers mommy-Blog Firestorm!“

I wasn’t really sure what the problem was from the headline.  Were mommy-bloggers upset over child labor?  Were newborns put to work on a drug study?  What’s going on?!

Apparently the moms at Babble and The Stir have their granny-panties in a knot reporting, sensationally*, on a press release from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. (*meaning they are sensationalizing the results for clicks, not that they are doing a sensational job reporting on the study)

All the hubbub is over Poster #74 at ACOG’s Annual Meeting.  Title:  ”Oxytocin Usage for Labor Augmentation and Adverse Neonatal Outcomes” by Dr. Michael S. Tsimis et al.

What the study looked at?

…a  retrospective analysis of deliveries that were induced or augmented with oxytocin. The study included more than 3,000 women delivering full-term infants from 2009 to 2011. The researchers used the Adverse Outcome Index, one of several tools used to measure unexpected outcomes in the perinatal setting and to track obstetric illness and death rates. (Source)

What the data showed?

Researchers found that induction and augmentation of labor with oxytocin was an independent risk factor for unexpected admission to the NICU lasting more than 24 hours for full-term infants. Augmentation also correlated with Apgar scores of fewer than seven at five minutes. The Apgar is a test that evaluates a newborn’s physical condition at one and five minutes after birth based on appearance (skin coloration), pulse (heart rate), grimace response (medically known as “reflex irritability”), activity and muscle tone, and respiration (breathing rate and effort). A baby who scores eight and above is generally considered to be in good health. (Source)

What the authors concluded?

The analysis suggests that oxytocin use may not be as safe as once thought and that proper indications for its use should be documented for further study. “However, we don’t want to discourage the use of Pitocin, but simply want a more systematic and conscientious approach to the indications for its use.” (Source)

The take home message?  The study (as far as I can ascertain from the ACOG press release) did not establish a causal link between pitocin use and adverse effects in newborns, it showed a correlation.  Like any drug, pitocin isn’t without side effects.  Doctors and patients must exercise their judgement in using it- adverse effects from pitocin may be preferable to outcomes of NOT using it and complications of delayed delivery of a baby.

Keep in mind, since this is a poster and not a published paper, the data hasn’t been peer reviewed, actually, unless you are actually AT that meeting, you can’t see the data, because it’s on a poster. My search for the abstract was fruitless, leading me in circles back to the press release.

So, as always, talk to your doctor, ask questions, make informed choices.  Don’t just listen to some random mommy-blogger (or in this case, #scimom blogger/Evidence Based Parenting blogger) on the internet.

Wish we’d done this for Earth Science lab!

I feel the need to do some geology research- where did I put those Double Stuff Oreos?

Source: IFLS

Using common sense: you’re doing it wrong

This kind of stupidity really p!sses me off.

Kiera Wilmot. Inquisitive and felonious?

Exemplary student does science experiment that causes the cap to pop off a water bottle and make a little smoke, and she’s being charged with a felony for making, possessing or discharging a destructive device and with possessing or discharging weapons on school grounds!

Read more about Kiera Wilmot, budding scientist, and the gross overreaction of her school district (expulsion) and local law enforcement (felony charges) here and here.

Sign the change.org petition encouraging the local DA’s office to use common sense here.

Pop Quiz: Science and Religion, you’re doing it wrong

I read this piece on Slate’s Bad Astronomy Blog today, Lord of All I Survey.  It links to two Pew Research Surveys of Americans.  One is looking at basic knowledge of world religions (basic tenets, key players, etc) here, the other is looking at basic science (earth science, scientific method, etc.) here.

So, of course I took them.  You should too.  See how you do.  I talk about some of the questions below, so if you don’t want to cheat, take it before you read the rest of this post.

As usual, I’m disappointed by America.  Our lack of basic understanding of the religions practiced here, and of the way our world works is heart-breaking.

Here are my results from the science survey:

My results from the Pew Research Center “Science and Technology Knowledge” Quiz. I was in the 93rd percentile answering all 13 questions correctly.

Just think about the first three questions on the science survey- each were True/False questions.  That means answering by chance (say by flipping a coin) would mean that you had a 50/50 chance of getting it right.  Thus, surveying monkeys who can’t read would likely result in 50% of the monkeys getting the question right.

The first True/False question was “All radioactivity is man-made.”  A respectable 66% of respondents got that one right, it’s false, radioactivity is naturally occurring.

The second question was “Electrons are smaller than atoms.”  An abysmal 47% got it right, the statement is true.  It was True/False question, guessing randomly would have 50% of people getting it correct.  Thus, monkeys could have done better on this question than the actual people who took it.

I’m serious.  Science is everywhere.  That laser pointer, there’s a whole lot of science that went into making it.  Source: jimbenton.com

The third questions was “Lasers work by focusing sound waves.”  An abysmal 48% got it right, the statement is false.  38% of women got this question wrong.  HOW?!  Have people never seen a laser pointer?!  (Granted the 65+ group was the worst on this, with only 33% getting it right, so I guess maybe they haven’t seen one, but how do they think the doctor fixed their cataracts?!)  I could cry that only 38% of women got this question right.  Have they not seen/used a laser pointer?  Do they not watch YouTube videos of unsuspecting cats and dogs tirelessly and futilely chasing the red dot? Was there any sound to be focused from the GLOWING LIGHT?  Ugh.

I just don’t know what to say about this, except that it’s sad.  It’s sad that as a populace we are so uninformed.  It’s even more miserable that in general women did even worse than men.  Miserable.

Here are my results from the religion survey:

My results from the Pew Research Center “Religious Knowledge” Quiz. I was in the 97th percentile answering 14 out of 15 questions correctly. (Damn you Great Awakening!)

Now onto religion- which seems to have become a weapon in the US.  The Jews know the most.  Most people only got half of the questions right.

Only 23% of the respondents knew it was acceptable for a teacher to read from the Bible in a public school as an example of literature.  There were only two options for answers to that question, “Yes, permitted.” or “No, not permitted.”  Thus, yet again, monkeys would have done WAAAY better just randomly selecting an answer and getting it right 50% of the time.  That means that in our nation people are actually MISinformed as opposed to just UNinformed on a topic that impacts PUBLIC SCHOOLS!?!

So, how did I get so many religion questions correct?  My friends.  No, I didn’t call them up and ask them the survey questions.  I have friends and family who are Jewish, Mormon, Buddhist, Muslim, Hindu, etc.  I was raised Catholic.  I’ve been to temple.  I’ve worshipped at a Seventh Day Adventist Church.  I’ve meditated at a Buddhist Monastery.  I’ve broken a fast during Ramadan. I’ve celebrated Diwali and Eid and Passover and Easter and Hanukkah.

I have friends of every ilk, representing many of the world’s religions.  Part of being a friend is learning about one another.  I  just asked my friend why she wears the hijab and learned about how she made the decision to cover her head.  I’ve engaged hours and hours of conversation with with my best friend from college about Seventh Day Adventism.  As a little kid I went to temple almost every Friday night with my friend (not surprisingly, I was always the kid standing right next to the rabbi when it was time to bless the challah).  On Saturdays I went to CCD at the Catholic Church.  Every summer I went to Vacation Bible School at the Baptist Church.

I’ve lived in the world.  I’ve made friends.  I’ve come to love people from all these religions.  In getting to know them, in coming to love them, I’ve learned about their religions.  That’s how I scored well on that quiz.  That’s why it’s nigh impossible for me to fall prey to prejudice and bigotry in this regard.

These surveys always depress me.

Please, take the surveys and tell me in the comments how you scored so as to bolster my spirit- I’m sure you will do better than a monkey.

To take the surveys or see the analysis of results, click on the embedded links above.

Wordless Wednesday: The Blessed Mother takes a joyride.

The Immaculate Heart of Mary felt doll is from Etsy seller Saintly Silver- who seems to have gotten super popular since I ordered!

 

Grad Student’s Worst Nightmare

Grad student’s worst nightmare:

Source.

Apparently this happened to a Rutgers student.  You can read the full story here.

When I read it, my stomach got a knot in it.  I remember as a grad student and post-doc having nightmares about losing data.  I backed stuff up often- on Zip discs, later CDs or DVDs, external hard drives, servers, lab computers, email attachments, etc.  It’s kind of odd how academic labs vary dramatically in their data back-up approaches.  Some are totally DIY and up to the student.  Others are standardized- with university back up servers and such.

Now that I’m in industry and data is literally the work-product I’m responsible for producing, there are rigid and advanced protocols for backing EVERYTHING up.  From computer files to actual lab notebooks.  My entire hard drive is backed up in almost real time.  On days I’ve forgotten my laptop at home, I get a loaner from IT, log in, and I have access to my exact hard drive on a server- I don’t even miss a beat.  Old-school lab notebooks (for which there is no replacement and are still used despite existence of computers) are routinely collected and scanned so there are digital backups.  The company has onsite servers and backup servers.  They also have two different offsite servers for backing up the back ups.

When I posted the above image and story on Facebook, I was regaled with stories of lost/destroyed/damaged computers.  Unzipped backpacks seem to be common.  As are spills (root beer and nail polish remover amongst them).  I also got comments like, “I’m backing up right now…”

I feel horribly for that student.  However, I’m really hoping his raw data is backed up elsewhere and he’s just hoping to not have to reanalyze it or remake/rewrite figures/chapters of his thesis.  I know when I was working on my thesis I saved it on my hard drive and on a flash drive every single day- so I had every change each day.  There were also less frequent back ups to an external hard drive and the various chapters I emailed to myself or my advisor.

Another grad student (or any researcher) nightmare:

Imagine going to your animal facility and finding this? Source.

NYU Langone Medical Center was heavily damaged by SuperStorm Sandy- you can read about it here, here, and here.  While the news was filled with images and stories of medical staff evacuating patients, researchers everywhere were also wondering about the research labs.  Precious samples, genetically engineered mouse colonies, years of work, all in peril.

NYU’s entire animal facility, located in the basement, was flooded by the storm.  Almost all of their colonies were destroyed.  Years and years of work were destroyed along with them.  In addition to the lost colonies, without power, everything else in the labs that were not flooded was also in jeopardy- since the back up generators were swamped.

A friend and researcher on the Upper East side made room in the lab freezers for trash bags full of materials from colleagues at NYU.  Students, techs, and post-docs had basically run into the damaged buildings to dump armloads of samples (cell lines, cloning vectors, strains of bacteria and yeast, etc) from thawing freezers, clearing their bench tops with a sweep of the arm into garbage bags in the hopes of salvaging years of their lives spent constructing all of them.

Another friend who is a sales rep reported that a client (an industrial lab) busted out the walls of their building to load -80 freezers onto flat beds and move them out of lower Manhattan when it became clear how bad the flooding would be.  Holes in the building would do less damage than losing those samples.

I cannot imagine the sense of loss these researchers must have felt (or still be feeling), having years of their life’s work destroyed.  I cannot image being a 4th year grad student and being instantly back to square one- 4 years of work undone.

These are the things my nightmares are made of.  My heart breaks for colleagues living those nightmares.

Cool science fair idea/ DIY experiment: Dancing Oobleck

Saw this on IFLS, shared from Housing a Forest.  I totally want to try it!

Source: IFLS via Housing a Forest

An oobleck is a non-Newtonian fluid, meaning that in some cases it acts like a liquid and in others a solid.  You can make it at home with water and cornstarch!  See instructions and great pictures on Housing a Forest.

See it dance!