sarpeedo's comments

The elephant curve[0] is an interesting quantification of global income changes in the modern era. Notably it represents global incomes so presumably the United States occupies the higher end of this range.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Elephant_Curve

Curiously, 2.4ghz light corresponds to microwaves which is actually long wavelength low energy light. If you have a video stream on while the microwave oven is turned on you'll notice large enough interference to disconnect your stream.

The fact that water absorbs 2.4ghz light is what enables microwave ovens to heat water in the first place. So while it's an inconvenient property during dives, it's very convenient in the kitchen.

In cataract surgery there are three main kinds of simulation I'm aware of.

1. Computerized i.e. Eyesi Surgical Simulator

2. Practice surgery with real equipment on synthetic eyes designed to replicate human tissue

3. Practice surgery with real equipment on human cadaver / pig cadaver eyes

Many ophthalmology residency programs use a combination of these for training.

[0] https://eyewiki.aao.org/Cataract_surgery_training_around_the...

I think we should solve autonomous driving before jumping multiple steps to autonomous surgery. There are many low hanging fruit in the world of automation; automated surgery is not one of them.

These are called accommodating intraocular lenses. This is a fairly active area of research with huge potential but current technology is very limited.

As a side note who needs eye tracking when your own retina does that for you. The goal with these IOLs is for their lens power to shift based on contraction of the ciliary muscle (the same way a healthy youthful lens works).

I am certainly curious about the potential impact of this UV curable lens technology on cataract surgery and possibility of new types of IOLs.

Most modern airliners are equipped with capabilities to conduct Category IIIa ILS approaches with autoland.

One would probably be able to coach a passenger through the steps necessary to get set up this kind of approach.

Medicare funds medical residency (not the NIH and not the AMA). The 1997 balanced budget act passed by congress limited the expansion of new medical residency training.

[0] https://www.npr.org/2018/03/09/592333771/severe-shortage-of-...

I see this argument made often on HN. I would imagine if we compared software engineering salaries in these same countries you would see that similarly software engineers in the US are also "overpaid".

Software

United States of America $95,879

United Kingdom $68,664 = 72% USA

Germany $61,390 = 64% USA

France $47,617 = 50% USA

Medicine

United States of America $313,000

United Kingdom $138,000 = 44% USA

Germany $163,000 = 52% USA

France $108,000 = 35% USA

(I believe the software salaries I've sourced are somewhat conservative)

[0] https://www.codingame.com/work/blog/find-developers/average-...

To add to this here's a recent systematic review looking at rates of dog bites by and bite severity by breed. Consistently Pit-bulls and German Shepherds have higher likelihood of causing biting injury against people and have increased severity of injury [0].

Anecdotally, so far I have only seen bite injuries in the ER from Pit-bulls and German Shepherds (n < 5).

That being said, whether or not breed specific legislation works to minimize dog bites is a separate scientific question.

[0] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30579079/

In fact Uğur Şahin CEO of BioNTech and co-inventor of the Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA vaccine was recommended by his teacher to attend a hauptschule. If his German neighbor hadn't intervened and stood up for him he may have never attended university let alone get a doctorate.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uğur_Şahin

This perspective of "the vaccine" may not be the best approach. It might be better to instead say given the choice of Moderna Vaccine vs Pfizer-BioNTech vs Johnson-Johnson etc, which vaccine is the best choice for the recipients demographics and wishes.

Maybe convenience is the highest priority (prefer single dose).

Maybe effectiveness against delta is the highest priority (prefer Moderna).

Maybe minimizing risk of myocarditis is a priority (say you have a history of autoimmune over reaction).

Ultimately, not only do we have the choice to get vaccinated, we also have the choice of which vaccine to get and this new data allows the population to make more informed choices about which vaccine is right for them.

Even if you drive down staff salaries physician, nurse, and everyone else working in the hospital, the profits that are made from those changes would simply be pocketed by the CEOs and MBAs in the system.

Many business which successfully reduce costs don't pass on those savings to consumers.

I will also point out medical students graduate (after 4 years college and 4 years medical school) on average with $210,000 of debt and make $60,000 dollars a year while working 60-80 hours a week for 3-8 years of residency. While yes doctors after residency are well compensated they have gone through 11-16 years of post secondary education by the time they achieve these salaries. Cutting salaries without reforming medical school tuition and residency salaries would be a mistake.

I'm not convinced this specific therapy will remove the side effects. It's still administering the same contents of the pills to your body.

Theoretically this is giving you cells which not only release the medication, but they also manufacture the medication inside the cell. The microchip seems to simply be a control mechanism.

Honestly I think this solves a problem most people don't have. Carrying pills is not that annoying.

But if therapies requiring prolonged clinic / hospital visits like chemotherapies or IV infusions could be given out using this technology that might be life changing.

Before Chicken Pox vaccination was invented people would hold "Pox Parties" to infect and immunize their children at a young age when risk of severe infection was low.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pox_party

I would point out fear of resistance is not a good reason to withhold vaccination or withhold care. Resistance will always eventually happen through evolution. What's important is that care is given when indicated.

The issue with plasma donation is that the plasma contains antibodies which are temporary (6ish months). What we want is to elicit a response which produces memory B cells so the vaccinated individual can create their own antibodies. That can only happen through vaccination or infection.

Actually this is sort of a thing. For example the polio vaccine has a killed vaccine (analogous to spikes) and a live attenuated vaccine. The live vaccine has higher risk of side effects but provides more robust immunity.

Vaccine schedules can be designed to give the killed version first for some immunity followed by live vaccine to provide more robust immunity.

None of the COVID vaccines so far are live attenuated vaccines as far as I'm aware.

From the perspective of a US MD Medical Student. While the match system is certainly imperfect the numbers and points the report makes are either misleading or downright wrong.

First, the match rates they reference are pre-soap numbers. In reality, the majority (~99%) of US trained medical students do match somewhere.

Second, there are more positions (~38,000) than there are MD graduates (~32,000). Most of these positions are in primary care (Pediatrics, Internal Medicine, Family Medicine) (~17000).

Third, most of the unmatched physicians in this country are either US citizens who had to train internationally or foreign citizens who are attempting to gain US certifications.

Lastly, NRMP is actually extremely transparent with match data; this reference backs up my claims: https://mk0nrmp3oyqui6wqfm.kinstacdn.com/wp-content/uploads/...

From my perspective the issues with the match system are below: 1. Application Fever. The average applicant applies to 50-80 programs (depending on specialty) to guarantee matching. 2. Useful work hours. Many residents work 60-80 hours a week with much of this work being scut work rather than useful learning. 3. Low salary and benefits relative to training. Residency salaries are between 50k-70k annual which can be extremely difficult for families living in NYC or SF. 4. Inability to quit or switch programs. Many residents also don't have too much choice in residency location. In Washington State for example the residency positions available are extremely limited.