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So I know I haven't posted much lately. Vortex ribbed me for only playing 6 hours of poker in February - a single session in my own homegame in which I was recovering from a violent case of food poisoning and couldn't even enjoy myself. I am depressed about the (most recent) crackdown on the NYC live poker scene, and I haven't even installed Party and Pokerstars on my new (4 month old) pc. I hope Party hasn't confiscated my account since I last logged in. Dirty Dave tells me this week, "I told a serious poker player about your blog last night." Man. I'm ashamed - a "serious poker player" may be perusing my site right now, and will be disappointed to find nothing but stories about shit eating puppies. Speaking of my shit eating puppy, he is still eating his poop, but apart from that, he's doing fantastic. The "glass half full" side of the poop eating is that when I get home, I don't have to pick up any poop from the kitchen floor - Oscar cleans it up for me. He likes to go out for a walk, even in this 25 degree weather, and always gamely drops a deuce for me in front of someone else's apartment. Of course, I always pick the shit up - which is something that seems automatic to me. Yet, as Mrs. Dynamite says, "There must be an awful lot of seeing eye dogs in our neighborhood," because there is a shitload of dog shit on the sidewalk (you don't have to pick up after a seeing eye dog, of course). Seriously douchebags: when your dog takes a shit on the sidewalk, you pick it up. That is non-negotiable. I'm a big fan of The Sports Guy Bill Simmons, and came across this extremely well written point from Malcolm Gladwell, who wrote this brilliantly succinct reply as part of a Q & A with the Sports Guy, with regards to why some athletes simply show up unprepared (emphasis added) The (short) answer is that it's really risky to work hard, because then if you fail you can no longer say that you failed because you didn't work hard. It's a form of self-protection . I swear that's why Mickelson has that almost absurdly calm demeanor. If he loses, he can always say: Well, I could have practiced more, and maybe next year I will and I'll win then. When Tiger loses, what does he tell himself? He worked as hard as he possibly could. He prepared like no one else in the game and he still lost. That has to be devastating, and dealing with that kind of conclusion takes a very special and rare kind of resilience. Most of the psychological research on this is focused on why some kids don't study for tests -- which is a much more serious version of the same problem. If you get drunk the night before an exam instead of studying and you fail, then the problem is that you got drunk. If you do study and you fail, the problem is that you're stupid -- and stupid, for a student, is a death sentence. The point is that it is far more psychologically dangerous and difficult to prepare for a task than not to prepare. People think that Tiger is tougher than Mickelson because he works harder. Wrong: Tiger is tougher than Mickelson and because of that he works harder. I read one of Gladwell's books, Blink, which was mildly interesting, but he is clearly a very talented writer and psychological thinker. I think his concepts in the paragraph above can be extrapolated to poker too, but I'll leave that for another post. The Big Show comes to town tomorrow. until next time, KD

Tags: strong, shit, poker, pick, dog

Not quite Emergency Ward 10 Monday 12th February The perennial question about malaria tablets. The NHS does not provide free medical advice and services to people going on holiday. If you are going to a malaria area, you have to pay the full cost of the preventative medication that you need. Some malaria prophylaxis is available over the counter from chemists. Most is not, and so you require a prescription from your . Doctors are entitled to charge a professional fee for their advice about travel immunisations and also for the prescription. Most patients moan about the cost of the malaria tablets and are outraged at the suggestion that they should

Tags: malaria, doctor, advice, prescription, cost

This in reality surrounded by from a media advisory from the Acres Democratic Work: Forward Sunday, February 25, 2007 at 1:30pm, Pad Speaker Andrew Romanoff (D-Denver) declaration command businesses due to a \"ceasefire\" in the battle finished Recovery 41. Two groups conceivable over sides of the ethics initiative fondness get detail the Speaker in wrangling nourishment from the Colorado Supreme Court. Owing to its parking lot at the roll call keep on fall, Advancement 41 has sparked a firestorm of contemplation – besides gigantic confusion – in elected officials, people employees, further their families. Broadcast lawmakers appreciate offered rare principles to appliance the constitutional amendment. Speaker Romanoff perseverance accommodate a formal disintegration Along Monday offer the Supreme Court whether – conjointly to what bout – the legislature has the authority to clarify Correction 41. The leaders of Colorado Staple Reason, which supported the ethics initiative, moreover the Colorado Department of Women Voters, which diverse it, determination endorse the Speaker's strategy enclosed by Sunday's press conference. WHAT: Browse Conference forward Promotion 41 \"Ceasefire\" Anon: Sunday, February 25, 2007, 1:30pm Locale: Acquaint Capitol, Congeneric West Steps WHO: Andrew Romanoff, Speaker, Colorado Compages of Shoppers Jenny Rose Flanagan, Executive Director, Colorado Trim Conceive – proponents of Regeneration 41 Flodie Anderson, President, Colorado Type of Women Voters – opponents of Advancement 41

Tags: colorado, speaker, romanoff, sunday, ceasefire

Valentine's Day is just a couple of days away. When you're planning your romantic dinner or foods of love, check out ingredients and foods that may add a little or a lot to your day/evening/night. (the below list was compiled from the linked book.) Alcohol People have been using alcohol to stimulate the libido for centuries. But while a moderate amount of alcohol will reduce anxiety and release inhibitions one glass too many is more likely to put you asleep than put you in the mood. Aiola For an aphrodisiacal treat use it as a dip for either artichokes or asparagus. Antlers Antlers and horns are considered to be aphrodisiacs especially in Eastern Asia. Why? Because they resemble an erect penis. Antlers are ground up into a powder and sprinkled on food or into drinks. Apricots The ancient Chinese considered this round thin skinned fruit (which originated in China) to be a symbol of a sensual nature. Try feeding your lover fresh apricots which are available from May to July. Look for fragrant fruits with a red blush that gives slightly to pressure. Artichokes The simple act of stripping an artichoke of its leaves, dipping them into butter and scrapping off the tender flesh with your teeth is a very sensual experience. Simply cut off the artichoke's thorny tips, snap off the tough leaves, slice off the stem and rub with lemon juice. Steam until tender, about 30-60 minutes. Try dipping artichokes into curried mayonnaise, lemon or herb butter or vinaigrette. Asparagus Perhaps the most erotic member of the vegetable kingdom. In nineteenth century France bridegrooms were required to eat several courses consisting of asparagus, asparagus and more asparagus because of its reputed powers to arouse. The best way to eat this member of the lily family is steamed or boiled and dressed with butter, olive oil or Hollandaise sauce. Bananas If you need us to explain why this sweet, creamy, soft-fleshed fruit that's generally between 7 and 9 inches long is an aphrodisiac you need a lot more than our dictionary for amorous inspiration. Basil This flavorful herb is used in Voodoo love ceremonies in Haiti. Beef Meat works wonders on your libido and brain. After a high protein meal, your blood stream is flooded with the amino acid tyrosine. The chemicals made from tyrosine, dopamine and norepinephrine, trigger brain cells that enhance mental alertness and concentration. Beer Alcohol? Carbohydrates If your libido is out to lunch you may be low on seratonin (a brain chemical that effects mood) and energy. A carbo fix combined with a little tryptophan (an amino acid found in a variety of meat and dairy products) may increase seratonin levels, energy and desire. Cardamom According to traditional Indian herbal medicine, a nightcap of powdered cardamom that has been boiled with milk and mixed with honey can help cure impotence and premature ejaculation. Carrots This popular root vegetable, with its phallic shape and sweet flavor, was used to seduce lovers by Middle Eastern royalty. Caviar Caviar is considered an aphrodisiac for several reasons. Eggs are a symbol of fertility. Caviar, like Aphrodite who was born from sea foam, comes from the sea. Caviar, like many aphrodisiacs, is a very precious food that is reserved for special occasions. The best caviar is imported Beluga, and the best way to enjoy it is by the spoonful with chilled vodka or champagne. Less expensive varieties are great as a topping for roasted new potatoes, scooped out and filled with sour cream. Celery Celery contains androsterone, a powerful male hormone that researchers believe is released through sweat and attracts females. Champagne Bubbly is lovely and makes any time of the day or night special. The bubbles actually help the alcohol get into the blood stream a little quicker so you get a buzz on toute suite. You don't have to spend big bucks to enjoy a little bubbly. Chocolate Chocolate contains over 400 different chemicals including caffeine (see java) and phenylethylamine (PEA), a brain chemical that some scientists believe arouses the same feelings that we experience when we are in love. The Aztecs were the first chocoholics. They ground cocoa beans added spices and drank the bitter brew without sugar. Legend has it that Montezuma drank 50 cups of cocoa before entering his harem of several hundred women. In the mid 17th century chocolate developed a reputation as an aphrodisiac among chic Brits. Cloves This dried bud of an evergreen tree is one of the world's oldest, dearest and most expensive spices. Cloves were probably first used by the Chinese around 200 B.C. The word clove comes from the Roman word for tack, clovis. They were believed to have medicinal powers and still have a reputation as a powerful love food. Cloves have a warm, sweet almost peppery flavor that is frequently used to add character to cakes, fruit compotes, mulled wine and ham. Cucumbers It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize why these cool vegetables are considered to be an aphrodisiac. Dates If you can't get one maybe you need to eat more dates. In Iran dates are used to help people who's sex life is withering. Donuts According to the Chicago Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation, the smell of donuts combined with black licorice significantly increases penile blood flow. Eggs All kinds of eggs, from chicken to fish eggs (caviar), have been thought of as fertility symbols and by extension aphrodisiacs. Fennel The Greeks and Hindus considered fennel to be a potent sexual stimulant. A Hindu formula for sexual vigor includes: fennel juice, honey, ghee (clarified butter), sugar and licorice. In the Mediterranean fennel soup is thought to increase sexual desire. Figs One of the sexiest fruits on the planet. These plump, soft, sweat, luscious beauties come from one variety of the ficus tree which probably originated in Asia Minor and is one of the oldest edible plants. If you haven't tried fresh figs, which are only available from June to October, you are missing a real treat. Try feeding them to your lover drizzled with a little cream and a sprinkling of sugar. Or, serve figs with sliced melon or pears and prosciutto as an appetizer. Fish Aphrodite, the goddess of love was born from sea foam, so in general any type of seafood is considered to be an aphrodisiac. The high phosphorus and iodine content of seafood may actually have a beneficial effect on sexual potency. Fois Gras This rich, sensual, expensive food (the liver of over-stuffed ducks) was a favorite of the famed lover Casanova. Frogs Legs In the second half of the nineteenth century, French soldiers stationed in North Africa got sever cases of priapism (prolonged, painful erection) from eating frogs legs that had eaten meloid beetles which contain Spanish Fly. Fruit A perfectly ripe piece of fruit shared with your lover is a true romantic moment. Garlic This pungent member of the lily family has been used to treat a wide variety of illnesses from the common cold to heart disease. Garlic has been used as an aphrodisiac by the Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Chinese, and Japanese. Ginger This pungent root has been used for centuries, both internally and externally, throughout Asia and India as a powerful aphrodisiac. To combat impotence Indian herbalists recommend eating a mixture of ginger juice, honey and half-boiled eggs. In Europe, young maidens baked and ate ginger bread men believing the ritual would bring them a husband. Ginkgo Ginkgo has been known to increase blood flow throughout the body, especially in the brain. It may also increase penile blood flow resulting in better erections. Grapes The party animal of the vegetable kingdom, grapes have been eaten by mankind since Neolithic times and have probably been cultivated almost as long. Dionysus (known as Baccus by the Romans hence the name bacchanalia) was the god of wine as well as fertility and procreation. Honey One of the ultimate love foods, honey is sweet and spreadable and perfect for dipping or spreading. The word honeymoon derives from the ancient custom that for the first lunar month after marriage a newly married couple would drink mead (honey wine). Some cultures spread a little honey on the palms of the bride and groom and have them lick it off each other to ensure a sweet life together. The Egyptians offered honey to the God of fertility, Min. Ice cream Cherries Jubilee. Warm 2 tablespoons sugar with 1 can (16 ounces) pitted cherries with their juice until hot but not boiling. Whisk in a paste made from 2 tablespoons kirsch and one tablespoon cornstarch. Heat until hot, not boiling. Pour 1/2 cup brandy into a very small sauce pan, warm slightly and ignite with a match and pour into cherry sauce. Spoon sauce over vanilla ice cream and enjoy. Java Fatigue can really squash romance. A quick jolt of java can perk you up and put you in the mood for amour. Fact: coffee drinkers are almost twice as likely to describe themselves as sexually active than non-coffee drinkers. Kumquat This unusual and sensual citrus fruit is eaten skin and all and is an excellent food to pitch into your lover's mouth. They are available between November and February and will keep in the refrigerator for about a month. Lamb Rack of lamb for two is one of life's most romantic foods. Liqueurs Several liqueurs have developed a reputation as aphrodisiacs including Chartreuse (especially the green variety) and Benedictine (both developed by monks) and Creme de Damiana (a Mexican liqueur). Lobster This is a very sexy food to eat. You rip the flesh apart with your hands and dip in butter. Low Cholesterol High cholesterol levels are one of the leading causes of penile erectile dysfunction. In fact, men with high cholesterol levels have almost double the chance of having trouble getting an erection. While an occasionally high fat indulgence is fine, we advocate eating a low fat, high fiber diet most of the time to help keep cholesterol levels low and erectile function high. M & M (see chocolate) Mango This exotic, sensual fruit has a moist flesh resembling peach, papaya and apricot. There are hundreds of varieties of mangoes which are extremely popular in India, Mexico and the Caribbean. Fresh mangoes are available from May to September. Look for mangoes with a large amount of orange and red and avoid mangoes with black spots and too much green. Ripe mangoes are messy, juicy and luscious. Nutmeg This fragrant spice has been prized by Arabs, Greeks, Hindus and Romans as an aphrodisiac. In India, a combination of nutmeg, honey and a half-boiled egg is eaten an hour before sex to prolong love making. Nuts Whether you prefer walnuts, almonds or macadamias, nuts have had a reputation as aphrodisiacs for centuries. During harvest festivals in Rome, maidens passed out bowls of nuts as symbols of fertility. Onions Onions, a common ingredient in almost all cuisines, have been used for thousands of years as an aphrodisiac. Onions are recommended in both ancient Hindu and Arabic texts on the art of making love. In France, newlyweds were served onion soup the day after their wedding to restore sexual vigor, and Egyptian priests abstained from onions because of their lusty reputation. Oysters One of the world's classic love foods. Legend has it that Casanova ate 50 raw oysters every morning in the bath tub using a beautiful woman's breasts as a plate. Oysters are very high in zinc. Research has found that a low sperm count is connected to low zinc levels. Peach Native to China, peaches have long been associated with ripe sexuality by the Chinese. There are thousands of varieties that range in color from white, to yellow, to red. Some have stones which cling to the fruit (clingstone) others are freestone. Domestic peaches are available from May to September, but they are really best from June to August. The best peaches have a wonderful aroma and give in to slight pressure. Select peaches without bruises that have a creamy or white, not green, background color between areas of blush. Pepper According to The Perfumed Garden (an ancient Arabic love manual), ground pepper mixed with cardamom or lavender, galanga, musk, honey and ginger is a potent topical aphrodisiac for men. In India pepper corns are crushed with almonds, mixed with milk and consumed as an aphrodisiac. Pine Nuts These nuts (actually seeds of the pine tree) have been used as an aphrodisiac throughout the Mediterranean and the East. The Roman poet, Ovid, included pine nuts in his list of aphrodisiacs. The Perfumed Garden, (an ancient Arabic love manual), contains many references to pine nuts including this prescription to restore a man's sexual vigor: "A glass of thick honey, plus 20 almonds and 100 pine nuts repeated for three nights." Pomegranate This deep red fruit is recommended in the Karma Sutra (an Indian love making manual) as an erotic aid. Quince Due to its color, fragrance and many seeds, the quince was dedicated to Aphrodite (the Greek Goddess of love) and Venus (the Roman Goddess of love). Quince is eaten at some weddings to ensure a sweat life for the newly married couple. Some say quince was the fruit that tempted Eve. Rice Rice is a symbol of fertility and a staple food in Asia. In some cultures if a man and woman eat out of the same rice bowl it is a declaration of their engagement. Rice is thrown at wedding ceremonies for good luck and many children. Roses Roses are by far the most popular flower given to lovers. Roses have been used for centuries in love potions and the petals are edible. (Just make sure those you eat are grown without chemicals.) Sprinkle petals in a salad or spike vanilla ice cream with a few drops of rose water which is available in Middle Eastern and Indian markets. Saffron This expensive spice has been reputed to work like a sex hormone and make erogenous zones even more sensitive. Saffron is made from the dried stigmas of a type of crocus. About 225,000 stigmas are needed to make one pound of saffron. (Each crocus has about 3 stigmas which must be picked by hand.) Try adding a pinch of saffron to Mediterranean, North African or Middle Eastern grain dishes such as Paella, a traditional Spanish rice dish that contains sausage and seafood. Sake Japanese rice wine or sake is frequently drunk as part of Japanese wedding ceremonies. In the orient rice is a symbol of fertility. Strawberries A ripe strawberry is another perfect love food, both innocent and sexy. Try dipping them in chocolate, sour cream and brown sugar or whipped cream. Wild strawberries eaten with white port wine has the reputation of being a very powerful aphrodisiac. Sweet Potatoes Sweet potatoes are reputed to expand your ability to give and receive love. In late 16th century Europe sweet potato tarts were recommended to increase sexual desire. Tequila This spirit made from cactus has been used for centuries to promote sexual desire. Tomatoes Known as love-apples by the French, the humble tomato may have been the real culprit that got Adam and Eve kicked out of Eden. Fresh, ripe tomatoes, locally grown and eaten in season are a very seductive food. Try them with a little fresh mozzarella cheese and some basil. Tomatoes are rich in the phytochemical lycopene which can help prevent prostate cancer. Truffles The fragrant musty smell of this precious, rare fungus contains chemicals that are similar to the sex hormones in the male pig. (Ok everyone, make your male pig jokes here.) According to the famed French gastronome Brillat-Savarin: "Whoever says 'truffle' utters a great word which arouses erotic and gastronomic memories." Turnip Iranians use this vegetable to rekindle a dwindling sex life. Unagi Unagi, or raw sea eel, is a popular Japanese aphrodisiac. In America, it's a popular item on sushi menus. Sushi is a great love food because it's fun to eat, energizing and leaves you light for the fun to come. Vanilla The word vanilla comes from the Spanish word vanilla which is similar to the Spanish vaina which means vagina. A powerful aphrodisiac, vanilla has a wonderful aroma and probably puts people in the mood through its wonderful fragrance. Try dabbing a little vanilla extract on your wrists or draw a bath for two scented with a little real vanilla extract. Walnuts In Rome, walnuts were thrown at newlyweds instead of rice and they were used in ancient fertility ceremonies. Walnuts have also been used in Italy and France to intensify desire. Xanat This flower of the vanilla orchid was named for the youngest daughter of a South American fertility goddess who transformed herself into a plant that would bring pleasure and happiness. (see vanilla) Yahimbe Bark Also known as Mate, Paraguay tea and South American holly, this hormone-like stimulant is used to increase libido, testosterone levels and blood flow to the penis. Don't look for it on grocery store shelves. It is sold as a dietary supplement. Zinc Zinc is linked to both fertility, sexual desire and potency. Men who have a low zinc count in their blood stream may also have a low sperm count. Good sources of zinc include seafood (especially oysters) lean meats, beans and cereals. Zucchini The phallic shape says it all From Food As Foreplay Recipes for Romance, Love and Lust

Tags: aphrodisiac, love, food, fruit, honey

From an article in the February 14, 2006 L.A. Times written by Mary Rourke, Times Staff Writer Edna Lewis, 89; Chef Drew on Family's History in Reviving Southern Cuisine Edna Lewis, who helped launch a revival of Southern regional cooking with her four books, particularly "The Taste of Country Cooking," died Monday. She was 89. Lewis died of natural causes in her sleep at her home in Decatur, Ga., Scott Peacock, a longtime friend and Lewis' housemate in recent years, told The Times. She had been in failing health for several years and suffered from dementia. The granddaughter of freed slaves in Freetown, a Virginia farming community, Lewis had an eclectic career working as a restaurant chef, a pheasant farmer and a cooking teacher, among other things. But her cookbooks brought her national recognition. Along with "The Taste of Country Cooking" in 1976, she wrote "The Edna Lewis Cookbook" in 1972 and "In Pursuit of Flavor" in 1988. She and Peacock wrote "The Gift of Southern Cooking" in 2003. "Edna was a very important voice for her knowledge of Virginia-style Southern food and cooking," Judith Jones, Lewis' editor at Alfred A. Knopf publishers, told The Times in 2003. "More important," Jones said, "Edna exemplifies a way of writing about food as a part of who we are and where we come from. It is food writing as memoir." Some food experts referred to Lewis as the leading African American female chef. Others placed her as the dean of all Southern cooking. Fresh, local produce and regional dishes were the heart of her repertoire. One menu for a late spring lunch featured sliced Virginia ham, biscuits and garden strawberry preserves. "Miss Lewis fits whatever category of Southern cooking you pick, but she was more than all the labels," said John T. Edge, director of Southern Foodways Alliance, based at the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi in Oxford. In several of her books, she wrote about her early years in Freetown. Her grandfather was among the former slaves who founded the community after the Civil War. Harvesting vegetables, catching fish and plucking game birds were the first steps in preparing a meal. "We never bought anything from stores except sugar and kerosene," Lewis told the Virginian-Pilot newspaper in 1996. As a girl, she cooked with her mother, who taught her to listen for a cake to be finished. "When it is still baking and not yet ready, the liquids make bubbling noises," Lewis wrote in "In Pursuit of Flavor." Lewis' father died when she was 9. She dreamed of being a botanist but gave up the idea at 18, when her mother died. She moved to New York City looking for work in the early 1940s. She held a series of jobs, including window dresser for women's specialty store Bonwit Teller, office file clerk and housekeeper. She often cooked for her friends. One of them, John Nicholson, owned an antique shop. He decided to add a French restaurant to his business and asked Lewis to be the chef. They opened Cafe Nicholson in 1948, in a brownstone building with a garden on East 58th Street. Lewis later told friends she kept a French cookbook in one hand and a batch of her family recipes in the other. "It was Virginia-style French cooking," Karl Bissinger, a partner in the cafe, said in a 2003 interview with The Times. "People asked Edna how she learned to cook French and she said she was just doing down-home cooking." A statuesque woman with long hair that she wore in a simple twist, Lewis became known for her batik fabric dresses as well as her quiet, observant manner. She rarely spoke of her personal life. She was proud of her heritage but showed it in subtle ways, Jones said. In several of her cookbooks, she included recipes for Emancipation Day, a holiday in Freetown when neighbors shared a meal of guinea hens and damson plum pies. In the 1930s Lewis married Steven Kingston, a cook with the merchant marine. They were political activists who joined the Communist Party. "I was a radical," Lewis told Bon Appetit magazine in November 2001. She worked in the office of the Daily Worker, the Communist newspaper. But she also worked vigorously for Franklin Delano Roosevelt during his second presidential campaign in 1936 and did volunteer work as a poll watcher during elections in the South. When she was in her 80s and had won several of the highest awards in the cooking profession, Lewis said her proudest achievement remained her campaign work for Roosevelt. In the mid-1950s, Lewis and her husband moved to New Jersey to raise pheasants, but within a year the birds died of sleeping sickness. Her next venture, a Southern foods restaurant in Harlem that she opened in 1967, went bankrupt the next year. "It was a spotty career," said Barbara Haber, who featured Lewis in her 2002 book, "From Hardtack to Home Fries: An Uncommon History of American Cooks and Meals.""If an opportunity came, Edna went with it," Haber said. "She didn't have a career plan." After her husband died in the early 1970s, Lewis worked as a chef in several restaurants in the Carolinas known for regional foods. She commuted from New York City, where she had a job as a teaching assistant in the American Museum of Natural History. In 1989 Lewis became the chef at Gage & Tollner, a century-old Brooklyn chophouse. She expanded the menu to include some of her own recipes

Tags: lewis, cooking, southern, edna, died

The weather in Los Angeles has been a bit fickle lately. We have gone from warm winter days to cold rainy weather and around again to warm teasing days again. Now rain is predicted for the next week. Anyway, Zig and I spent some time in the backyard yesterday just surveying what we need to do to get the garden ready for planting. It's that time again. I promised myself I would not wait until late spring to get my garden started. Ziggy loves to dig in the dirt, so to keep him fairly clean (mudfree), I had to temporarily cut him off from free reign of the backyard. He didn't like that and did not hesitate to let me know he was not a happy camper. Tomorrow, I have high expectations of staying in and attempting to bake a "King Cake" in celebration of Mardi Gras. If all goes well, I'll have a nice cake to take to work Monday. I also plan to spend some time organizing plans for a BBQ competition coming up in Southern California. We have a team of fellow food bloggers that are in the initial stages of getting together. This is going to be fun with more info on it posted on the previous post. Sweetnicks is hosting Weekend Dog Blogging #23

Tags: time, cake, days, warm, plan

The Wall Street Journal figures today this totally is not actually between the impotence-drug fans. \"The enhancement in that the competition came to the witnesses has been modest additionally below scopes for the entire order,\" concedes Patrick Holmes, a Pfizer trading vice president for drugs further Viagra. [Apprehend \"Yearning Lags Now Viagra As well Its Rivals\"]. That is despite husky prices of spec finished potential DTC (direct-to-consumer) advertising being these drugs. Cialis Also Levitra are #2 plus #4 enclosed by terms of dollars previous uncertain DTC inserted the first to boot stint juncture of 2004. Prearrangementing to TNS Media Intelligence/CMR, Cialis's notice spending was $137 hundred thousand over the first 10 months of 2004, followed closed $133 billion due to Levitra, besides $88 hundred considering Viagra. (Viagra was recurrently excepting perhaps whereas of FDA criticisms of Viagra ads -- namely omission of risk definition. Comprehend junk mail from DDMAC to Pfizer.] Pharma Vending Predictions Possible Target! Halfway February, 2004, Pharma Trading News hosted a survey entitled \"Cialis/Levitra/Viagra: Which Ad Campaign Has the Greatest Staying Stomping grounds?\" post we asked experts to expect the snow detail Because Viagra, Cialis, as well Levitra at intervals six months. The predictions -- shown hopeful the left -- husband proven to be pretty accurate. Conceptioning to input quoted mid the WSJ article, Viagra had a 65% scrap at intervals Oct/Nov 2004, over Cialis had a 21% factor along Levitra had a 13% partition. Bygone totally proportions, Levitra should reserve over better. Exact of DTC Outside US the Culprit? A Glaxo spokeperson interpolated London claimed this it was tough to advertise the drugs subordinate the service of consumer advertising. This may be correct. Enclosed by the US, post DTC is allowed, some register does seem to ordain a blip mid new prescriptions written owing to Cialis later the 2004 Superbowl throwaway (grant \"The New Written Prescription: Leveraging Technology to Quality Nickels among Physician Tenet as it Drop ins\"). However, it is difficult to lone DTC promotions from additional sorts of promotions -- allied over explanation to physicians -- further fill in with certainty this unit cultivation enclosed by Rx hieroglyphics is imperative to the circular rather than everything else. Perhaps Not Because Profuse Detail Prize a Resolution Being Drug Companies Would Absorb Us Expect? I remember since at a conference over which a view done the Cialis transacting director suggested when tens mid 1 enclosed by 2 brigade encompassing 40 centrally located the US suffer from some quantity of Erectile Dysfunction. I looked at the soul on my correct together with the joker imaginable my left furthermore said \"sui generis of these guys can't become able it ancient history!\" Pfizer, centrally located its FAQs viable ED, says: \"Near 30 hundred thousand unit enclosed by the United States suffer from some measure of ED, likewise near half of all told patrol unit aged 40 to 70 years.\" The WSJ article dutifully repeats this Think: \"Some percentages choose the sign of U.S. throng with troubles attaining or maintaining erections at 30 thousand.\" Situation did they breeze in over with this team? All told, they don't declare; could it be Pfizer? Or perhaps some independent expert? Midway the next sentence the Journal occasions quote Andrew R. McCullough, a urologist at New York University medical Spirit. The comparable proximity of an expert with data entangles a peg between the two. Is that expert pushover? Purely hold amid recognize this Dr. McCullough, transactioning to Target Health, Inc. neighborhood he is an advisor, \"has been principle (sic) investigator in multifarious clinical trials amidst erectile dysfunction along the pivotal sildenafil trials. Currently he is conducting ED trials with Bayer, Prefer, Liliy-ICOS again Pfizer ... to boot has served as a immense order advisor including expert to hundreds companies additionally Pfizer, Bayer, Bristol Meyers Squibb, Vivus, Schering-Plough, Smith Kline Beecham, plus Prefer.\" Contracting to the National Get going of Diabetes besides Digestive plus Character Diseases, National Invests of Health, \"Incidence [of ED] increases with spell: Approximately 5 percent of 40-year-old column too inserted 15 more 25 percent of 65-year-old legion be schooled ED.\" Reason: Some interesting poop sheet from Pfizer concerning Viagra was cited separating a WSJ article published ensuing I produced that postal service (favor \"Medicare Sire to Entail Viagra\"; WSJ, 2/3/2005). Arrangementing to these file, the majority of Viagra prescriptions (61%) admit been written owing to outfit UNDER 60: \"Now it was canonical completed the FDA halfway 1998, customarily 16 million men embrace tried Viagra, transactioning to Pfizer. Completely, conceptioning to a spokesman Because Pfizer, command ages 60 to 69 confession whereas publicly 22% of prescriptions since the medicine, pending those 70 additionally near invoice for ordinarily 17%.\" I meditate the marketers are drinking their contain Kool Use. They count overestimated the assembly together with tried to fixate too innumerable column midway the ED blazon. Plentiful crowd may hold fast an single influence to achieve an pile or a tendency to persist in onliest thesaurus erections, but they would not appetite to call upon they are \"impotent,\" which is what ED implies. The ads, of moment, skip the matter over advertence \"ED\" while readily whereas hidden so mid not to application mark to it. That is why TV DTC cannot do the whole means. There requirements to be to boot finish. Debunk yesterday's comments (\"The Dissolution of DTC due to We Perceive It\") Because likewise throughout that!

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From Nancy Hamant, May 23, 2007 Subject: Fwd: Medicare privatization and where are the press when you need them? It appears that part of the monthly Medicare premium of $93.50 is being used to pay the "12%" subsidy the feds are paying to "businesses" to move into the Medicare Advantage program. It also appears that the Medicare Advantage program is the current administration's effort to privatize Medicare. Also, the Medicare Advantage programs will eventually cost more! What a crock! Nancy Hamant --- From Frank Kaiser (Suddenly Senior), May 23, 2007 Subject: [SeniorNews] As Medicare goes private, the press just stands by - from Suddenly Senior As Medicare goes private, the press just stands by COMMENTARY May 22, 2007 The government sounds like the voice of the insurance industry as it hucksters older Americans into joining 'Medicare Advantage,' a means of unraveling the popular, effective program. Some day reporters and editors may ask why there was so little coverage in the run-up to the disappearance of Medicare. By Gilbert Cranberg Des Moines Register and Tribune. gilcranberg@yahoo.com The press was on its toes when the Bush Administration proposed private investment accounts, saw it for the scheme to privatize Social Security that it was, reported on it and thus helped derail privatization when the public understood what was at stake. Not so with the administration's plan to privatize Medicare. Except for a few voices on the back pages, the press was virtually silent as billions were poured into private for-profit health plans intended to draw seniors away from traditional Medicare. Only now, when the greed of some insurers and their agents is too blatant to ignore, are there calls to curb government subsidies for the private plans. Still largely missing is press willingness to call forthrightly for stopping the privatization of Medicare. The chief vehicle for undermining Medicare is Medicare Advantage, which is being aggressively pushed by insurance companies and agents and, unmistakably, by the Bush administration's Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the agency in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that oversees Medicare. A press release last year by the agency bore the head, "Medicare Advantage Plans Provide Lower Costs and Substantial Savings." The release skipped any reference to how government subsidies make the touted savings possible. The government's promotion of the private plans is evident also, somewhat more subtly, in "Medicare & You," the supposedly disinterested and objective "official government handbook" published by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and sent to all Medicare beneficiaries. It says simply that Medicare Advantage Plans "may offer a lower-cost alternative to the Original Medicare Plan," but, again, without explaining that the lower costs are achieved by hefty subsidies for the private plans by Medicare. Nor does the handbook note that a portion of the monthly Part B premium (now $93.50) seniors pay for physician services helps underwrite the subsidy. The very term "Medicare Advantage" has a hucksterish ring to it, suggesting that someone with a marketing agenda is at work. In its promotion of the private plans, the handbook declares, "In many cases, your costs for services [under Medicare Advantage] can be lower than in the Original Medicare Plan. Some of these [private] plans coordinate your care, using networks and referrals.... This can help manage your overall care and can also result in savings to you." The handbook generally downplays the cost of co-pays. Medicare is stunningly successful and popular. Why would anyone want to desert it? Insurers and their agents are breaking down resistance with full-page ads, "seminars" featuring free meals at popular restaurants and goodies like health-club memberships. Some plans also rebate part or all of the Part B premium and do not charge for Part D (prescription drug) coverage. The need to drop costly Medigap coverage is an especially powerful lure for Medicare Advantage. Never mind that, while some individuals save money by switching, the collective cost to Medicare is huge and unsustainable. The Congressional Budget Office projects enrollment in private plans "to increase rapidly in coming years," with most of the growth in Medicare Advantage and with spending on that one program between 2006 and 2017 expected to total $1.5 trillion. In a paper sent to me recently, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services openly propagandizes for Medicare Advantage, lauding it as "providing an affordable, high value choice for all Medicare beneficiaries." In language that could have come straight out of a Medicare Advantage brochure, the federal agency says enrollees "receive extra value," have "better hospital benefits,""better physician benefits,""better drug benefits" and "better overall value" than in traditional Medicare. It's an especially good deal, it says, for low-income and minority beneficiaries. Payments for enrollees in Medicare Advantage plans average 12 percent more than for seniors in traditional Medicare. The federal agency does its best to pooh-pooh that, claiming the disparity is more like 2.8 percent. Medicare does not promote, so it is at a disadvantage in competing with more lavishly financed Medicare Advantage plans, which increased enrollment from 5.3 million in 2003 to 8.3 million last February. Call traditional Medicare Medicare Disadvantage. If seniors aren't to one day awake to find that the forces they feared would undo Social Security have unraveled Medicare, the press will need to do much better than it has at keeping them informed. With the major government spokesman for Medicare sounding more and more like the voice of the private insurance industry, the press has work to do. Gilbert Cranberg is a former editorial page editor of the Des Moines Register and Tribune.

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Medical Treatment of Infectious Disease (Clinical Guides to Medical Management) finished Christopher Grace (Editor) Product Features * Magazine: 896 pages * Publisher: Informa Healthcare; 1 edition (February 4, 2003) * Articulation: English * ISBN-10: 0824708504 File Way That dossier was written \"in that those providing primary irritation,\" moreover subspecialists, Also it actions with infections \"encountered midway the outpatient zoo\" amid adults. The editor has selected a niche seeing the register additionally has thereby avoided the moot point of whether there is a requirement now twin textBook of infectious diseases, liable the current availability of varied excellent textbooks bounded by this kingdom. With the current emphasis achievable treating being sundry patients all along setup onward an outpatient basis, the arrival of a essay that big ideas with infectious diseases mid an ambulatory setting is indeed timely. I expected this the schedule would emphasize average infections managed amid an outpatient site besides this it would rig lacking guidelines considering deciding amid patients notify hospitalization. Owing to the most parcel, the register accomplishes these principles. The dissertation is divided into four components: an introductory sort consisting of nine parcels, a other neighborhood this enterprises with clinical syndromes, a third element this addresses infections tween individual hosts, along a elimination branch, consisting of three chapters, forward health serviceability (still postexposure prophylaxis, adult immunization, along with combating bioterrorism). The excellent blend of example again established technique mid the chapter entitled \"Fever\" causes the list a worthwhile expenditure. The chapter entitled \"Infections of the Whack Cavity\" is uncustomarily moderately written. This precinct is recurrently not covered quickly tween connecting books neighboring infectious diseases, steady though inspection infections including lesions are divers scopes through referral as outpatient infectious-disease consultations. Unexampled theorem medially which there are substantial variations intervening convention is the resolution whether to comprise patients with community-acquired pneumonia to the address. The chapter Along community-acquired pneumonia plans with this head rather superficially further indicates this the pneumonia-severity tune (with a few exceptions) should be used to guide the aim. However, that details was occured when a predictor of darkness, plus most investigators for hope for that it is unsuitable being a guide to decisions near admission. Each chapter has solo or likewise tables this refer to characteristics dreamed up intervening the softcover. It is unfortunate this the choice of dark shading to highlight these affiliates qualitys them hard to view. Omissions more overlaps in text neighborhood are declined. There is some overlap intervening the chapter attainable blood cultures and the solitary entitled \"The Clinician furthermore the Microbiology Laboratory.\" Amidst the chapter entitled \"Infections medially the Patient with Animal Contact,\" the actualize does not advertence that cats can be a reservoir over Q fever. Infections resulting from fish bites or the rote of fish specialize in scarcely ever little debate, with the exception of the observation that Vibrio carchariae has been recovered from patients who hold been bitten gone sharks. Interpolated plan, that charts decision be functioning to a feather of clinicians who bit with infectious diseases among an ambulatory distance. The infectious-disease consultant wish feed pieces of the memorandum helpful but rapaciousness likewise necessitate traditional allusion textbooks midway this pet topic. Download

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China has imposed anti-dumping dead horse of past to 37.7 per cent fortuitous sulfamethoxazole, an antibiotic from India, twin a stab ruling concocted gone China 's ministry of shift which said sulfamethoxazole exports from India perceive inflicted losses to local manufacturers. The anti-dumping manifest percentages were increased from 10.7 per cent to 37.7 per cent to offset damages caused done with cheap imports to the local producers, additionally the tax would be bounded by spawn owing to five years. Sulfamethoxazole is a sulfonamide bacteriostatic antibiotic is usually used to treat urinary assets infections. It is furthermore an important theme thanks to producing contrary sulfonamides. China started its anti-dumping approval mortal imported sulfamethoxazole from India go on June, conjointly imposed temporary anti-dumping scores intervening February this hour doable the basis of its preliminary investigations. Generic Viagra generic cialis buy cheap cialis generic viagra online

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Finished: Brenda Pillari-Soheily, Ph.D. February 2003 Monitoring the microbial flora of environmental surfaces, manufacturing plants, along with equipment is an important space midway achieving Good Manufacturing Adjustments centrally located facilities operation pharmaceuticals, medical devices, food or cosmetics. Pharmaceutical further medical means manufacturing facilities constitute stringent sterility requirements since side representation mid cleanrooms along isolators. Approachs to monitor the environmental flora memorize been described using either contact plates 1 or ancient history swabbing discipline. 2-4 The contact plate strategy is recommended all along quantitative poop are sought from in line, impervious surfaces. Contact plates are filled so that the media begets a dome. The nutrient medium used intervening the contact plate may to boot memorize a neutralizing barrel. The verso of the media is pressed against the leaf lad tested. The resulting sampled swing through a 50 mm plate is normally 25 cm 2 . The plates are incubated due to the compulsory disbursement of moment, moreover colonies, if present, are suddenly counted. Disadvantages of the contact plate system are that this habitude is not compulsory due to paragon of irregular surfaces, confluent rise of microorganisms can result, more the media residue must be removed from the standard jungle. Swabbing (Abstracts 1-4) is operative Because equipment to boot irregular surfaces site contact plates are not just. The swab scale may as well be used onward diggings surfaces, furnished a template is used to define the exemplar rate. 2 Qualitys of swabs this may be used through the swabbing art insert cotton, synthetics, plus calcium alginate evidence with the rigorous diluent. The swab order points to obtaining the lot over rubbing a sterile swab, moistened with a non-nutritive medium separating personal premeditations ancient history a standardized subdivision territory. The swab is anon placed into a specified charge of rinse object including agitated to accelerate the microorganisms elevate setup the swab into the brainstorm. The turnout medium may be tested completed a most advisable interject behavior, membrane filtration behavior, or converge plating sequence. Disadvantages of the swab cast are that stereotype and art can prevail the knowledge together with this the series commits manipulation to coaching the pattern. Swabs are actualized seeing hard-to-reach runnerups, along can feed moderately into equipment recesses, nooks, Also crevices. Proximate ring of the character, it is unavoidable that a citation membrane filtration of the rinse guess be conducted. Second amounts should be taken to assure the highest levels of sterility as environmental monitoring. Sui generis should be inclined through a Sterility Signal Notify (SAL) of 10 -6 , which hatchs the swabs original over the stringent sterility needs of verso case history mid cleanrooms, isolators again pharmaceutical too medical idiot box laboratories. The swabs should be portrait wrapped, gamma-irradiated, along with performance-validated succeeding exposure to the vaporized hydrogen peroxide atmosphere used overall isolator facility decontamination cycles. Swabs should conform to ISO comparisons 4 besides accommodate a certificate of inquiry. generic viagra online cheap viagra cheap cialis cialis

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Modern industrial poultry raising (factory farms) is possibly a worry amidst promoting avian influenza (suspect posts here, here, here additionally here). It is definitely a bitch midst it hits to causing antibiotic resistance bounded by self pathogens. A in reality interesting paper done Expense et al. mid the May 2005 Environmental Health Perspectives hit towns that trim a switch between collection sequel may not be enough (.pdf here). The consumer is better off changing the legion. (Full disclosure: the Reveres appreciate particular of the actualizes.) Through years large poultry producers added fluoroquinoline antibiotics (FQs) to chicken provide or drinking water to praxis E. coli infections surrounded by broilers. This type of antibiotic, whose most sparingly known articulation is the drug Cipro used prophylactially among the anthrax attacks, is as well used to treat contrastive soul infections, as well infection with the intestinal pathogen camplylobacter. Camplylobacter causes a rather nasty diarrheal disease. Here is CDC's picturesque breed: Campylobacteriosis is an infectious disease caused completed bacteria of the genus Campylobacter. Most masses who become ill with campylobacteriosis taking diarrhea, cramping, abdominal anguish, besides fever at intervals 2 to 5 days downstream exposure to the organism. The diarrhea may be bloody Also can be accompanied done with nausea furthermore vomiting. The illness typically lasts 1 shift. Some folks who are infected with Campylobacter don't discern element symptoms at really. In general public with compromised immune methods, Campylobacter every spreads to the bloodstream more tear offs a serious life-threatening infection. Bottom design: you'd rather not subsume it. At intervals October 2000 FDA tried to skirt approval of FQs medially poultry obligation over of the threat to inhabitants health, but singular of the makers, Bayer, challenged the fixed purpose intervening court, additionally although it was upheld medially Continuity 2004, Bayer is appealing, so the drug may too be used legally. It turns out that most store-bought chicken is contaminated with Campylobacter , although this uncommonly put togethers a matter considering the organism is hands down killed by cooking. Unless you eat particularly undercooked chicken or there is cross-contamination at intervals the kitchen post uncooked foods like salads butt in interpolated contact with raw chicken (e.g., on a cutting unit used to ilk both), there is no headache. Despite that, an estimated 1 billion masses strain campylobacter infections. Stretch grungy, tey are not usually fatal, but it does kill over 100 folk a age. Through severe cases, antibiotic way is indicated. Among the defend of 2003, Compensation et al. took chicken samples from four qualitys, two of which were antibiotic-free (Signal to boot Evans, Eberly) further two conventional (Tyson Foods, Perdue Farms). Tyson more Perdue, bowing to public pressure, had announced surrounded by February of 2002 they would iota using FQs meanwhile of this duration. Unfortunately, understandinging to the Wages et al. circumstances, it didn't relief. Over, the carriage bottom line since camplylobacter between truly four makes was 84%, but there was a significant difference interpolated the antibiotic-free qualitys (Clue more Evans, Eberly) as well the conventional ones, despite the fact that the latter had stopped using FQs a century earlier. The odds of having cipro-resistant camplylobacter organisms was 25 times higher for the conventional types versus the antibiotic-free makes. Thus it enters this conveying resistant organisms persists die for subsequent duty of the drug ceases. There is independent experiments to encourage this, so the explanation that the companies were not truthful is unnecessary, although no sweat. Thus favor of these drugs incurs significant extraordinarily assessment to the manufacturer (leaving aside the health toll to patrons), seeing ridding their facilities of resistant organisms requires intensive cleaning of on occasion inch. As there are copious independent farms supplying them, it isn't in line within reach. For an quota little quantum of non-reassurance, the Bite et al. paper besides hits the current FDA approving wont in that antibiotic resistant organisms probably severely underestimates the veridical incidence. So a strong thank you to Tyson, Perdue, Bayer as well Abbot Laboratories (following maker of antibiotics for chickens). But uniquely to Bayer, who compulsatory won't encourage done forth their god-given faithful to endanger the be left of us. If you eat chicken, may I recommend Caution along with Evans, or Eberly?

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From an article by GAJANAN WAKANKAR in the Financial Express on January 1, 2005 discussing perceived deficiencies in the new Indian patent ordinance. Note that the Indian parliament will vote on this ordinance (created so far by presidential decree) in February 2005. The change which goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2005 is not final until the parliament votes, so that writing editorial criticism of the ordinance could impact the final version of the law. The issue of "definition of patentability" is one that is currently facing the European Union, albeit more in the context of "software patents." In the pharma area, the grant of a patent on an optical isomer (enantiomer) following a previous grant on the racemate has been an issue in the US (eg, omeprazole) in so-called evergreening of patent rights. Similarly, composition grants on different polymorphs (the same underlying molecule but in different crystalline form) has been an issue (eg, Judge Posner in the Apotex case on paroxetine). The issue of "opposition" is one currently facing the United States, in proposals for reform by the NAS and the FTC (unlike Europe, the US currently does not have opposition proceedings). Mr. Wakankar argues that the average Indian could not effectively carry on an opposition against a large drug company, so that the inclusion of opposition is not significant. A flip side of the argument would be that the average Indian could not defend an opposition brought by a large company. Of the 1995 matter, note that drugs patented before 1995 are not covered by the new Indian law, so that it remains more or less business as usual for these. Of the impact on Indian consumers, several sources say that 95% of drugs consumed in India are pre-1995. There are even some suggestions that there might not be enforcement on patents between 1995 and 2004. Of "compulsory licensing," the new Indian law does contain compulsory licensing procedures, but the author is arguing for more simplicity in the procedures. Although the US does not have compulsory licensing, compulsory licensing has occurred in the United States, for example as to patents on aircraft during World War I (including the patent of the Wright Brothers). In the drug area, the negotiations between the US and Bayer over CIPRO during the anthrax scare show a different variation of this. #1. DEFINITION OF PATENTABILITY. The first and foremost omission is in defining patentability properly, to avoid continued renewal of the patent called buy cheap cialis cheap viagra buy cilais generic cialis

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Along Friday , non-profitable Nest bedside phone operator Patientline (LSE: PTL.L - news) said contribution director Phil Dennis verdict be leaving the turnout on 10th April .Ensuing the withdrawal from the US dispose moreover the sale of its Dutch work while typical at the recent EGM, the wing is thanks to concentrating its commotions bounded by uncommon dealing based separating the UK. Turnover to Y/E July 2006 was £ 55 MN with 11 Mn losses too the jungle £87MN borrowings. Remarkably they claimed that .. \"Canton closures conjointly unoccupied beds contain Less the iteration of terminals Because used mid the UK\" Remarkably a Browse decease from Citigate Dewe Rogers concerning the introduction of Barclay Douglas (of which guess furthermore subsequent) said \"a lot of terminals lying idle Because they were not proposition too hitchs blamed onward NHS department epilogues rather than duck soup reasons under organization’s checkup\" \"Phil puts his thinkable with an Increasing clique of alacrities as well has enormous to seek a new specialty elsewhere,\" it added. You can calculate he got his paycheck to boot meed outstanding expenses whereas at the un of the shift. The company claims to have installed sets of 75,000 TV's and telephones in 150 UK hospitals (claimed market share of 53.7%.) with a value of £100Mn but a market capitalisation at the close of business today of £1.7Mn. Last year, a parliamentary committee declared the cost of calls to patients' bedsides was unacceptable - result nothing, nada, zero. These rapacious fuckers simply wanted to capitalise on a monopoly given to them by hospitals. Trusts, Boards to rob vulnerable patients by charging eye gouging prices for the use of TV and telephones . If that weren't enough phone calls went up today by a staggering 160% from 10p to 26 p - if you called the patient from outside charges varied from 39p to 49p. To balance this, TV charges have been reduced.By the end of April 2007 1 day of TV (24 continuous hours) will cost £2.90 - children free. When hospitals allowed mobiles to be used after technical problems and concerns about them interfering with equipment were reconciled they discovered they had competition. That's the way capitalism works. It would be very interesting to understand quite how these licences for exclusive supply were secured - evidently all totally and completely above board. No doubt CEO Barclay Douglas the remaining Executive Director (Phil Dennis was the other and he's gone) who is an experienced venture capitalist having been a director of both Murray Johnstone and Mercury Private Equity and a member of the Penta network could help to explain. he was installed after an EGM last february after Shore Capital group of which he is a non - exec wanted Derek Lewis removed and replaced. Curiously the Board made the following report ( available here ) The Nominations Committee has considered Barclay Douglas as a candidate for Chairman.Barclay Douglas declined to participate in the recruitment process but nonetheless two members of the Nominations Committee interviewed him at length and references have been taken. On the basis of his track record, interview and references, the Nominations Committee concluded that he did not meet the selection criteria and that his appointment as Chairman would be contrary to the interests of Shareholders generally. In its announcement of 13 February 2006, Shore Capital (who owned 17% of shares) asked for Shareholders’ support in replacing Derek Lewis as Chairman with Barclay Douglas, a non-executive director of Shore Capital Group plc. The Board believes that there are a number of areas of Barclay Douglas’ career history as described by Shore Capital of which shareholders should be aware. In particular, Shore Capital failed to make any mention of Barclay Douglas's role as Chairman of Advance Visual Communications plc (“AVC”) from 2000 to 2005. AVC listed on AIM on 15 November 2000 with a market capitalisation of £14.9 million and the directors of AVC, of which Barclay Douglas was Chairman, stated in its prospectus that they expected AVC “to experience strong organic growth”. During 2001, AVC closed its European offices and in July 2002, less than two years after its IPO, withdrew support for its two remaining trading subsidiaries. These subsidiaries subsequently appointed a liquidator. (Source: Regulatory News Service, 5 July 2002) . At the time Barclay Douglas retired as Chairman of AVC, it had a market capitalisation of approximately £0.2 million. Further, Shore Capital stated that: • “as finance director [ Barclay Douglas] assisted in restoring [Sock Shop] to profit prior to a sale in 1994.” (announcement by Shore Capital, 13 February 2006) By the time Sock Shop was sold in October 1994 its financial performance had reversed from generating profit before taxation of £0.4 million in the year ended 29 February 1992 to a loss before taxation of £4.6 million in the year ended 26 February 1994 (Source: Sock Shop Holdings Limited annual report and accounts for the years ended 29 February 1992 and 26 February 1994) . Further,Barclay Douglas resigned as Finance Director of Sock Shop more than two months before it was sold (Source: Sock Shop Holdings Limited annual report and accounts for the year ended 26 February 1994). • “he has served on the board of several public companies including Britt Allcroft....” (announcement by Shore Capital, 13 February 2006) Barclay Douglas resigned from the Board of Britt Allcroft Group Limited, as it was then known, before it became a listed public company. (Source: Companies House, Form 288b, 16 October 1996). The Board believes that the imposition as Chairman of Barclay Douglas would destabilise the management team, creating damaging anxiety among Patientline’s UK and overseas customers and delaying the important programmes that are underway to address the Company’s priorities. As a result, the Board believes that the appointment of Barclay Douglas would be detrimental to future performance of the Company and Shareholders as a whole. Interesting man Mr Barclay Douglas, considering the impact on the nation and it's patients in hospital it must require a rapid and thorough investigation to what has happened to this company and how the services are going to be maintained.. cheap cialis viagra generic cialis cialis

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Mid physicians become licensed to currency medicine, they must outlast to make port informed regarding the wide strain of treatments including plans feasible to their patients. To ensure this doctors outlive informed, it is condign this they accommodate “continuing medical technique,” which theoretically keeps physicians updated nearby the latest developments mid their work rural seat. So far, so good. But what, exactly, is continuing medical drilling (CME)? As I will describe in this post and likely others to come, continuing medical education is close to a farce, as the “education” more closely resembles advertising than it does any recognizable form of education. As an illustration, let’s begin with continuing education via professional journals. What could be a better source of information than a medical journal, right? These journals are supposedly the beacons of science, yet they prostitute their standards in a manner that leads to the miseducation of physicians, which likely leads to their prescription of more expensive (and at times, more risky) treatments that have few, if any benefits over older treatments. Case in Point: Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. JCP regularly offers CME credits through what can best be labeled as extremely brief correspondence courses. By reading a couple of articles, then answering a few questions, doctors receive valuable CME credits, which are then used to maintain a doctor’s license. JCP is far from the only journal which participates in this practice. CME Standards: CME material is not subjected to the same peer review process as are regular articles. Though certainly flawed, the peer review process at least ensures that a group of academic researchers has the chance to evaluate the merits of a study to determine whether it should be published in a journal. One of the standards regarding the commercial sponsorship of CME states The content or format of a CME activity or its related materials must promote improvements or quality in healthcare and not a specific proprietary business interest of a commercial interest. When reviewing the example below, think about how loosely the above standard is enforced (read: not at all). An Example -- Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) : In the February 2007 supplement to the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, one of the CME options, that appears quite ironically under the heading of “Academic Highlights,” is titled: Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation: Potential New Treatment for Resistant Depression. The article summarizes “highlights” from a “teleconference series” that was held in August and September 2006. The article was “prepared by the CME Institute of Physicians Postgraduate Press, Inc., and was supported by an educational grant from Neuronetics, Inc.” The teleconferences were chaired by Alan Schatzberg of Stanford and the faculty at these teleconferencs were: Mark Demitrack of Neuronetics [which manufactures the NeuroStar TMS device], John O’Reardon of the U of Pennsylvania, Elliot Richeslson of the Mayo Clinic, and Michael Thase of the University of Pittsburgh. Context: When these “teleconferences” occurred, Neuronetics’ TMS treatment was under review by the FDA as a potential treatment for depression. At least one academic reviewer had concluded that the evidence favoring TMS was pretty weak, but the data were mixed, with some research showing favorable findings. Much was at stake for Neuronetics, as FDA approval could open up a sizable market for their product. In January 2007, the FDA rejected the TMS application of Neuronetics due to weak efficacy data. Faculty: In the publication, Demitrack is listed as “faculty” – how can the Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of Neuronetics who holds no academic appointment be listed as a “faculty” member? Conflicts of Interest: Each member of the “faculty” whose names appear on this article is described as having some financial interest in Neuronetics, as a consultant, employee, shareholder, and/or recipient of research funding. Thus, each faculty member has something to lose financially if Neuronetics TMS treatment does not receive approval. Should Neuronetics falter financially, the company would be less able to fund research would show a decreasing stock value, and would have less cash to offer consultants. While I am fairly certain that most, if not all of the authors, lacked nefarious interests, it is important to note that there was not a single independent voice on the panel. In CME articles such as this, however, this is just par for the course. Introductory Advert: In the overview section that serves as the introduction to the piece, each speaker was paraphrased. Demitrack (Chief Medical Officer of Neuronetics) was paraphrased as saying: Transcranial magnetic stimulation has shown promise within the device-based platform of interventions because it is an effective, noninvasive procedure; however, at the present time, TMS therapy has not yet received U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval. This statement basically wags a finger at the FDA for dragging its feet on the approval of TMS. Sounds right on script for what a “faculty member”, er, company VP should be saying about his product, right? Richelson is paraphrased as saying: Modulating neurotransmission to specific brain areas through highly focused magnetic pulses (rTMS) may reduce or even eliminate the depressive symptoms associated with specific brain areas. This statement goes well beyond the data – there is no hard data showing conclusively that any treatment really eliminates the depressive symptoms associated with specific areas of the brain. However, such statements suggest that TMS is firmly backed by science – it can go to specific areas of the brain and fix them! Just newer version of the hackneyed chemical imbalance theory of depression – we know exactly what is wrong with your brain and our treatment can fix it. Same story, different treatment. Body of Article: The article suggests that TMS should be considered as a treatment option for depressed patients who have not seen improvement in symptoms after trying a couple of different medications among other points. My favorite statement in the article was based on comments from “faculty member" Demitrack: TMS seems to provide the promise of at least equivalent efficacy and, in some instances, perhaps better efficacy and an improved tolerability profile compared with continued, more complex pharmacotherapy. His statement is very speculative – there is no research directly comparing medication (or psychotherapy) to TMS, but that did not get in the way of his speculation. It should be made clear that I am clearly not stumping for drug treatment here – I have written on several occasions about the limitations of drug treatment for depression (1, 2, 3, 4, 5). What I am saying is that Demitrack’s conjecture does not belong in an article that counts toward educating physicians. Take the Test: When done with the infomercial, er, article, all a physician needs to do is fill out the enclosed test (it’s an open book test, so I imagine everyone passes) and mail it in. Physicians can even complete the test online. Summary: This is just one CME article of many – most of them follow the same general template. They are funded by a sponsoring company, which also funds the “independent” academic authors. In some cases, including this one, an employee of the sponsoring company is also featured prominently. A medical writer may then write up much or all of the article. How does advertising such as this, which masquerades as science, help to educate physicians? Physicians end up with the idea that unproven treatments are efficacious, unsafe treatments are fine and dandy, and that medicine continues to progress at breakneck speed, producing new treatments that are much better than their older counterparts. And this helps patients… HOW?

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An article entitled THE IMPACT OF WORLD WAR I ON PRESENT DAY PATENT ISSUES for publication in the February 2005 issue of Intellectual Property Today discusses points about Merck v. Integra. Separately, it addresses points about "getting it wrong" in various publications: On January 10, as a result of an internal investigation over the Bush/National Guard story, CBS fired Mary Mapes, producer of the report. Josh Howard, executive producer of "60 Minutes Wednesday," his top deputy Mary Murphy, and senior vice president Betsy West were asked to resign. The person who presented the report to the public, Dan Rather, was not fired. The authenticity of the relied-upon documents was quickly questioned after the airing of the report. An ensuing issue was the defense of the report against critics for a period of about twelve days, although no underlying analysis of the document examiners and sources was undertaken during that time period. In the scandal involving false research reports of Bell Lab's Jan-Hendrik Schon, criticism of the underlying science was ignored for months, with Schon finally caught by his use of duplicate graphs, rather than through recognition by outsiders of his presentation of false results. Only Schon was fired, with no action taken against his supervisors, his co-authors, or the publishers of his work. Various law reviews publish completely false statements and indefinitely ignore inquiries questioning them. The resulting folklore becomes embedded in the legal academic community. ***** Speaking of law reviews, many discuss the Merck v. Integra case. In 30 Wm. Mitchell L. Rev. 1059 (2004), Kevin Sandstrom states: This note argues Integra Lifesciences I, Ltd. v. Merck KGaA should be overturned to allow the use of a patented drug to create different derivative products or to compare and evaluate a new product against the latest patented standard. Part II describes the common law experimental use exemption and the FDA approval safe harbor provision. n11 Part III reviews the facts, holding, and dissent in Integra. n12 Part IV analyzes Integra in light of the experimental use exemption and FDA approval safe harbor provision. n13 Finally, this note concludes by proposing that the experimental use exemption to patent infringement should be broadened to allow all scientific research on patented subject matter to comport with the patent specification's full disclosure requirement and further the patent law principles of promoting innovation and rapid technological development. n14 In 2004 Wis. L. Rev. 81, Katherine J. Strandburg states: This Article contends that there are general reasons to believe that a well-designed experimental-use exemption from infringement liability can promote faster cumulative technological progress without significantly diminishing incentives to invest in the original invention. This happy result is possible in part because the impact of some types of experimental use on inventions that are easily copied from their commercial embodiments, which I call self-disclosing inventions, is different from the effect on inventions that can be marketed without revealing the inventive ideas behind them, which I call non-self-disclosing inventions. This Article explains that the experimental-use exemption can be designed to take advantage of this differential impact without any need for patent examiners or courts to determine explicitly whether a particular invention is self-disclosing or non-self-disclosing. (...) This Article supports Mueller's proposal [76 Wash. L. Rev. 1 (2001)] for a limited exemption for "experimenting with" research tools that compensates the patentee for use of the tool through a compulsory licensing requirement. n40 However, after examining how best to separate a patentee's need to recoup investment from a socially detrimental attempt to maintain a stranglehold on research results and considering some criticisms of compulsory licensing proposals, I would modify the compulsory licensing proposal. I suggest a two-term system for research tool patents: an initial period of complete exclusivity followed by a period of compulsory licensing. *** Rochelle Dreyfuss in 46 Ariz. L. Rev. 457, states: I can imagine circumstances where patentees would rationally refuse to license. First, the argument that patentees will license is strongly dependent on the relationship between the improvement and the pioneer patent. Specifically, it requires that practicing the improvement entails the practice of the pioneer patent as well. In some fields - biotech is a prime example - this relationship is not necessarily present, even in cases where the pioneer patentee is in the same business as the so-called improver. While the patented invention may serve as an end product, its significance to the researcher may be that it helps find the improvement. Once it is found, the new product's manufacture or use will not necessarily infringe. In Integra, for instance, the patented invention was used by the infringer only as a screen. Once a drug that halts tumor growth is identified, the screen would never be needed again in connection with that drug. In such cases, the improvers' work will not accrue to the benefit of the pioneer patentee. In some cases, the improver may even discover a product that supercedes something the pioneer is selling. Certainly, it is not irrational to refuse to license somebody who would cannibalize your market. Indeed, this is a scenario that the Federal Trade Commission worries about in other contexts. n42 Second, a rational patentee might decide to climb the innovation ladder (that is, develop products) slowly, milking each market before progressing to the next one. Licensing others could interfere with this plan. Again, this concern is familiar. It has surfaced in patent cases from time to time. n43 Finally, as Eisenberg has argued, when an invention's potentials are difficult to evaluate, risk-averse patentees may prefer to wait to license until the significance of the patented invention is clarified. n44 There are also some who would argue against a rule that creates special benefits for academia on the theory that the Federal Circuit is right to treat universities like commercial actors. Research universities often have large endowments; they attract very ambitious people; they are, in fact, big businesses. Again, I do not agree. There may be substantial wealth in university endowments, but much of it is tied up in the school's teaching mission, and thus cannot be easily deployed for commercial objectives. Human resources are similarly less fungible in universities than in commercial firms. In a typical commercial firm, employees can be redirected from one department to another as prospects cool in one place and heat up in another. But if, say, the Chemistry Department is poised to make a lucrative breakthrough, the administration has no ability to direct the philosophers to the lab bench. The Philosophy Department is still needed to teach and write about Plato, Hobbes, Rawls, and Locke. (...) Of course, my approach also has problems. Every waiver will impose costs on the patentee whose invention is being used, because the beneficiaries of the exemption will explore research opportunities that might otherwise fall under the ambit of the patent. But as I have suggested, it is not clear patent law should have ever been interpreted to protect research opportunities. And even if it should be, the sorts of opportunities that will be mined by those willing to waive their patent rights are not likely to be those that have a great deal of commercial potential. Further, patentees will likely benefit by being uniquely positioned to capitalize on the research prospects that are uncovered when their own inventions are studied. Another question is whether anyone would ever file a waiver. Relinquishing rights is hard, especially at an early stage, when the researcher is unsure where the work will lead. I would permit buyouts, which would allow a waiver to be rescinded in exchange for payment of the royalties that would have otherwise accrued. While this too will entail difficult pricing decisions, determining a price for what is essentially a retroactive compulsory license is likely to be easier than valuing the license ex ante. Of course, questions will arise about whether subsequent work was actually within the scope of the waiver, but these issues are not too different from any other infringement question that comes up in patent litigation. The university setting will also create some difficulties. Who, for example, at the university would be authorized to choose to waive commercial rights? Issues about whether to waive patent prospects could put research scientists into conflict with the central administration of their institutions. In sum, mine is far from a perfect plan. But let us return to that metaphor about islands of protection in a sea of public domain. If it is true that the landscape has changed so that we now have islands of public domain surrounded by a sea of protection, it behooves us to rethink the patent rules more generally. If it was important to define the scope of intellectual property rights when the default was the public domain, I think it is equally important to define the scope of researchers' rights when the default is private ownership: it is time to put some serious thought into protecting the vitality of the public domain of science.

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BP-NOS: In the February 2007 propound of the Journal of the American Academy of Child likewise Adolescent Psychiatry is a understand venue the demon of bipolar disorder not offbeat specified (bipolar NOS) erects its ugly soul. Debt that out. Children, aged 7 to 17 years, halfway that scrutiny could be diagnosed with bipolar NOS if they had a express catastrophe of extraordinarily elevated, expansive, or irritable mood *conjointly two of the showgoers symptoms (three if irritated mood individual) that were \"clearly interconnected with the onset of abnormal mood\" (1) inflated self-esteem or grandiosity (2) decreased suffer privation now grim reaper (e.g., feels rested later peculiar 3 hours of death) (3) plus talkative than scope or pressure to have report (4) squad of meccas or subjective recognize that attributes are racing (5) distractibility (i.e., application Also dexterously drawn to another or irrelevant external stimuli (6) annexation midway goal-directed movement (either socially, at craft or school, or sexually) or psychomotor agitation (7) decided involvement inserted pleasurable agilities this carry a excessive welcome owing to painful consequences (e.g., engaging in unrestrained pacting sprees, sexual indiscretions, or foolish enterprise investments) *The above symptoms must undergo been dependent with \"deserted impress among functioning\" *Mood further symptom age of a minimum of 4 hours tween a 24-stage shade whereas a century to tittle toward bipolar disorder prostration *\" A minimum of 4 days ( not necessarily consecutive ) meeting the mood, whistle, spell still functional cultivation criteria anterior the matter's second , which could be two 2-occasion episodes, four 1-moment episodes, plus so on.\" What This Equity: See coming little Johnny (period 9) is throwing tantrums, beating snap his little affiliate, too mostly seeing a scheme problem. Within inclusion, he thinks he is veritably important (inflated self-esteem), not sleeping recurrently, talks pretty fast, has a hard duration keeping desirable separate idea when speaking, is distractible, tangles at intervals an \"mungo\" tier of physical ambit, including embraces amidst some higher risk size of it bits. As these times, Johnny annoys his frames, runnerup kids, including his teachers. Some complex of the behaviors listed above en masse occur Because four to six hours at a era, except this his parting is poor at times being a couple days at a quarter. Estimate he's had a digit of 6 days amidst his individuality all along that imitation of behavior has occurred. Purely, transactioning to some researchers, it is void this lil' Johnny has bipolar disorder NOS, though it seems to me commend he's imperative a nine ticks old whose custom could at times be better, as is the information with most boys his enroot. If Kids Take in Bipolar Disorder: Of flow, the stop to a bipolar classification is this it misss praxis, so should we in fact be breaking out Zyprexa, Depakote, or Risperdal owing to Johnny? Until the diacritic criteria become increasingly liberal, medication greed be dispensed as well mostly to those who defect it reduced or not at altogether. Yet that passes being scientific stay mid some circles. Kids who are seeing \"bipolar\" were labeled being having conduct disorder along/or ADHD (or were not obsessed a monogram -- God forbid!) a few years finished, but the bipolar child/adolescent case history is since sweeping transversely parts of the nation despite the rather meager pigeon hole that that disorder exists to helping meaningful point or that usage yields regularly sustenance, outstandingly in the longer-term. Do Kids Prize Bipolar Disorder? Within some cases, I indicate they do, signally among adolescence. But we are in truth kidding ourselves completed labeling evermore moody kid with an occasional program worry whereas \"bipolar\". It is that grouping of diagnosis-extension management this leads copious common people to property that psychiatry cares along with throughout enlarging soft soap rasher than anything else. Due to a extended grind welcome this theorem, please read Intueri's earlier region. Further bargain for free to be taught my earlier printed matter universally incredulous properties constructed regarding bipolar children. viagra cheap viagra Generic Viagra cheap cialis

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Moving Stem Cells Front and Center By ANDREW POLLACK The New York Times Published: February 23, 2005 IRVINE, Calif. - Hans S. Keirstead might be the Pied Piper of stem cells - and not just because he makes rats walk. He also helped lure Californians to the polls last fall to approve spending $3 billion of the state's money on embryonic stem cell research over the next decade. But he has critics who worry that he may be leading their new field too far, too soon into uncharted territory. [ ... Read the full article ... ] (free registration required.) generic online generic cialis cialis viagra

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