Sunday, March 20, 2016

My Experience Sharing Protocols in the New "protocols.io" Environment

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Scientists publish methods in their manuscripts, but these summaries can fail to capture the technical details involved in the described processes. Many scientists get around this by by making the actual step-by-step protocols freely available to the public. There are a variety of avenues for accomplishing this. Some scientists publish their protocols with their manuscripts, some post them in public archives, and others publish them on their lab websites. There are advantages and disadvantages to these approaches, and most of us are always learning about new and improved resources to facilitate the sharing process. I recently learned about the online resource protocols.io, which is a surprisingly robust and free resource for sharing experimental protocols.

Sunday, March 6, 2016

Helping Both Humans and Dogs: A Recent Study of Canine Atopic Dermatitis

Example of canine Atopic Dermatitis, as seen
in the manuscript we are discussing.
Atopic dermatitis (AD), which is also referred to as Eczema, is a very common dermatological disease, especially in children. It is estimated that AD affects 10% of children. The disease presents as dry, scaly, itchy skin. Atopic dermatitis can be especially problematic when the victim (often a child) itches the skin extensively, thereby increasing susceptibility to skin infections. Treatment of the disease ranges from controlling the itchy skin with soothing topical medication to bathing the patient in dilute bleach (the bleach bath technique).