So sad the last day of vacation. Above is a picture from my bedroom window one morning this week. Still, it was a lovely week of long drives in the mountains, hiking with the pups, good meals, including a killer bee pheasant I made, meeting charming people in Woodstock, and lots and lots of naps. And here is a little bit of what happened in the worker bee world:
Pew Releases Study on Twitterers – – The Pew Internet and American Life Project issued a report on February 12 providing an update on who is using Twitter. In December 2008, 11% of Americans were now using an update service such as Twitter, with heavier use among younger aged persons (19% of 18-24 year olds, for example and 20% of those 25-34). Those using Twitter tend to be more mobile and are interfacing Twitter with other social media, such as blogs (note my Twitter Feed in the upper left hand corner of the blog – My Twitter now has about 500 followers).
FDA Issues Statement on Bisphenol- A Meeting – The agency issued a statement on February 9 regarding a meeting that occurred on January 30 between the agency and manufacturers of products containing BPA. BPA is in some plastics and cans and has been the basis of health concerns. Part of the statement contained the following – Health Canada’s Health Products and Food Branch has concluded that current dietary exposure to BPA through food packaging uses is not expected to pose a health risk to the general population, including newborns and infants. However, using a precautionary approach, the Government of Canada has taken steps to reduce exposure to BPA for infants and young children. That will be of interest to some members of Congress who will want to know why FDA did not follow suit. The statement also says that the FDA is currently preparing a detailed response to the October 2008 review by the FDA Science Board of the agency's draft assessment of the safety of BPA for use in food contact applications, but does not say when that detailed response will be ready. Not sure what the purpose of this statement exactly was, frankly.
Man Appears Free of HIV After Stem Cell Transplant – After receiving stem cells from an individual who is one of the few carrying a gene that confers resistence to HIV infection, an HIV positive patient apparently remains HIV-free after two years in astunning report from the New England Journal of Medicine.
That's it for me this week folks. Typepad has been very uncooperative this morning and I am on dialup. Readership, by the way, has been way up in 2009 – many thanks. I appreciate it. And stay tuned for next week, where I have some great stuff in the works, I hope.
