I'm a research scientist, ask me a question.

Welcome

why don't birds fly to the moon?

What ailments are you working on?

Our current projects are mostly neurodegenerative diseases. These include Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, and Huntington’s disease.

Last Edited by Rat Man on 02/26/2013 11:25 PM

Are you a research scientist?

Are you a research psychologist as well?

give us your take on SSRI's

No, I do not deal with human behavior. However you would be surprised how similar we are to animals such as mice and rats.

Can you get cheap pharmaceuticals?

I think they are vastly over-prescribed in this country, you can thank the immensely wealthy pharmaceutical companies for that. We shouldn't be loading people down with these drugs, we are at a point now where we are taking so many different medications it is almost impossible to know for sure their interactions.

In order to know if there are potentially dangerous drug interactions there would have had to have been a chronic toxicity study done on every drug's interaction with every other drug. Trust me, there hasn't been such research conducted.

Some big pharmaceutical companies offer their employees a discount on the drugs they manufacture, sometimes free with their health insurance.

Wouldn't be surprised in the least. Lab mice and I have much in common.

How accurate is adverse drug reaction reporting to DHS and what do you think about barcoding medication administration?

Are cures ever found and then discarded? I mean, if Drug A treats 90% over the course of the patients lifetime, while Drug B cures 80% with a one time, or multiple time usage, would they rather keep Drug A? Are there any cures?

Whenever you are reporting information to the government, or doing government studies.. you have to be 100% accurate in everything you do, 3 people have to sign off on every bit of information along the way. It is a bit ironic, given the severe lack of oversight in government that we have to take such tight measures with our data.

As for barcode medication administration, I think it is a good idea only in certain situations. In hospitals and nursing homes, I wouldn't think having computer assistance in error checking is a bad thing.. considering how many people die to hospital errors every year.

Last Edited by Rat Man on 02/27/2013 12:26 AM

I have never personally found a cure to any disease, so I can't say for certain. That being said, it wouldn't surprise me at all. The drug companies would definitely prefer Drug A in that situation.

The real question is, how much research is being put in to treatments versus cures? The big drug companies skip the hassle of even having to throw away a cure by simply putting their research in to disease treatment. Most if not all of the projects these companies work on is in the search for treatments, not the search for something to cure them.

It's a perfect system for them; no one can afford to do research that is interested in curing the diseases.

I completely agree, i just went through 2nd phase implementaion, and the staff seem to really like it, caught on pretty easily. I like the fact that the med admin must scan themselves, must scan the patient, and the drug... It will cut down on so many errors. It wasnt easy though, each med type we had to go through a whole systems process, because of they way the are administered, and getting pharmacy involved.... It was a huge project. Everyone seems happy now. It does automatic allergy checking and drug interaction checking too which are some good safety stops.

Do you know why our medical establishment has made percocet practically illegal? Are they working on new pain meds?

Well, as far as I know it is not illegal. You just need a prescription to obtain it, like any other drug. It is just as illegal to sell your heart medication to another person as your percocet.

As far as new pain medications, I am sure there is always research being done given the fact that our current pain medications come with a high potential for abuse along with negative side effects. This is not my field however, so I can not say for sure what exactly is being developed.

Last Edited by Rat Man on 02/27/2013 12:25 AM

How fucked is the current healthcare system?

Are we in deep shit?

Very. Our current healthcare system needs a major overhaul. There is no other system in our economy where the customer has no choice in the product he is receiving, with no idea of the price until after the procedures are done.