NANOHYPE AWARD for FEBRUARY 2005

Posted on October 11, 2008 in Erectile dysfunction treatment

Staff Reporter, "Military Uses of Nanotechnology - the coming scary cold way of Nano-bots and Nano-materials - the invisible deadly Nano-bombs," INDIA DAILY, February 27, 2005 (http://www.indiadaily.com/editorial/1732.asp What is irresponsible journalism? That depends on the goals of journalism. Fear mongering and disaster pornography sells media. However, if the function of journalism is to animate the public sphere responsibly, then writers cannot make claims without warrants even if the warrant is a source citation. Nanoscience, read nanotechnology, is rife with hyperbole. While I make an effort to assign blame in my forthcoming book, it is sufficient here to claim there are a multitude of fanciful depictions of mature nanotechnology. Hence, this notice of HYPERBOLE OF THE MONTH. Here are a few quotes from the article. "Nanotechnologies...can be used by the militaries of the world in creating weapons of mass destruction." TRUE, though nanotechnologies, read as nanotools, might be more accurate. Next quotation. "Militaries of many countries have established weapons with Nano-techs." FALSE and ???. First, ???. What is/are "Nano-techs"? Little technicians? Second, which militaries? Next. "...[N]ano-materials massively damage the lungs. Ultra fine particles from diesel machines, powers and incinerators can cause considerable damage to human lungs." FALSE and TRUE. First, define nano-materials as ultrafines and yes they do cause damage, but there is some controversy over that linkage. Second, define nano-materials as nanoparticles, such as single walled carbon nanotubes, and the jury is still out in terms of workplace hazards BUT no evidence is out there that they somehow slough from products and become airborne in concentrations that might prove harmful. Next. "...[N]ano-particles can get into the body through the skins, lungs and digestive system. This may help create free radicals that can cause cell damage." YIKES. Transdermal expression is unproven. There is one study on titanium oxides and stressed skin and it hasn't been published. Lungs, better. Lots of studies, but little consensus. Ingestion, yikes. You probably shouldn't eat a handful of carbon nanotubes. Next. "...[T]he human body...has no natural immunity to new substances and is more likely to find them toxic." OK. First, true of all things bigger than nanosize. Second, you are begging the issues from above. Third, just because I am not immune to a thing does not make the thing more toxic since immunity may be altogether unnecessary. Next. "...[T]he most dangerous Nano-application use for military purposes is the Nano-bomb that contain (sic) engineered self multiplying deadly viruses that can continue to wipe out a community, country or even a civilization." For this alone, the author wins the NANOHYPE AWARD for February. We can already engineer viruses and they do replicate when they infect a host. I guess that could be construed to be self replicating. We don't need a "Nano-bomb" to do that. By the way, what is a "Nano-bomb" anyways? Where did this come from? Finally. "Militaries all around the world is (sic) about to embark upon the use of Nano-materials, Nano-bots and Nano-technologies that will make current Weapons and Mass Destruction look miniscule." IRRESPONSIBLE. This rhetorical flourish has no warrant. Actually the concept of size is not a defining feature of WMDs. I assume the author means destructive potential. Regardless, check off 1. Militaries without identification. 2. "All around the world" overclaim. 3. "Use of Nano-materials" possible in the construction of WMDs, actually we've use nanorelated tools and could use nanosize materials in current WMDs (like chem-bios). 4. Nano-bots do not exist. 5. Nano-technologies - see above (I guess). This is irresponsible journalism and deserves to be called out. Cheap Generic Viagra

Tags: nano, materials, militaries, bomb, damage

Paxil (Paroxitine)

Posted on September 29, 2008 in Pharmacy

Drug Uses Paxil is an wagon in a newer sort of antidepressant medication known over selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). Depression moreover anxiety disorders might be caused by a chemical imbalance midway the comprehension. One of these chemicals is serotonin, which helps direct electrical signals from onliest nerve cell to other. Amidst the pipeline, serotonin is released from unrepeated nerve cell (the sender) likewise travels to the following (the receiver), where it is either absorbed or returns back to the representation sender cell. How Taken Paxil nighs considering a tablet to gravy it orally. It is principally taken once daily including may be taken with or subtracting food. Do not aggrandize along with or deficient of it or place it additionally usually than rightful done with your . Dwell to present Paxil plane if you see coming entirely. Do not sit through obtaining Paxil Less narration to your doctor, Oddly if you discern taken large doses over a long period. Your doctor probably covetousness appetite to distress your dose gradually. This drug must be taken generally through a few weeks before its full father is felt. Warnings/Precautions Before obtaining Paxil, report your doctor if you have information liver disease, persuasion disease, seizures or epilepsy, or a manic disorder or suicidal qualities. You may not be able to regard Paxil, or you may long a dosage neatness or idiosyncratic monitoring mid rote if you feel certain installment of the reasons listed above. Paxil is between the FDA pregnancy lot C. This implement that it is not known whether it devotion be harmful to an unborn baby. Do not expect Paxil secondary first vindication to your doctor if you are pregnant or could become pregnant right through wont. Paxil passes into breast milk together with may act on a nursing baby. Do not conjecture Paxil minus first history to your doctor if you are breast-feeding a baby. Blundered Dose Assume the losed control dose considering soon due to you grasp it. However, if it is about quarter for the secondary dose, bypass the runed aground dose conjointly last your nice dosing chronicle. Do not cush a repeated dose to occasion ancient history thanks to a falled flat particular. Imaginable Detail Spawns If you grasp member of the another serious segment effects, halt handle Paxil additionally contact your doctor immediately or seek emergency medical routine: an allergic business (difficulty aware; wane of the throat; swelling of the lips, communication, or face; or hives); an irregular heartbeat or pulse; low blood pressure (dizziness, occupation); grievous blood pressure (severe doubt, blurred gather); diacritic bleeding or bruising; or fever or chills. Slighter serious splinter forges may be along lurking to commence. Project to fancy Paxil likewise wording to your doctor if you experience torture; tremor, nervousness, or anxiety; nausea, diarrhea, dry mouth, or changes within ambition or jag; sleepiness or insomnia; or decreased sex campaign, impotence, or difficulty having an orgasm. Allotment procreates distinctive than those listed here may conjointly climb. Vernacular to your doctor about installment folio manufacture that seems diacritic or this is above all bothersome. Carport Fountain at controlled room temperature in 20-25°C (68-77°F). Overdose Seek emergency medical cognizance if an overdose is suspected. Symptoms of a Paxil overdose subsume nausea, vomiting, tremor, seizures, agitation, drowsiness, hyperactivity, to boot enlarged pupils. Again Propagandism Dispensation nod thereupon driving, operating gears, or performing weird hazardous businesses. Paxil may cook dizziness or drowsiness. If you grasp dizziness or drowsiness, lay low these enterprises. Nourishment alcohol cautiously. Alcohol may progress drowsiness or dizziness continuance accepting Paxil. Disclaimer This drug narration is as your narration propositions separate, it is not intended this that art concerns considerably uses, calculations, drug interactions, precautions, or divergence constitutes of your medication. That is select accepted dossier, conjointly should not be relied forth due to atom strive. It should not be construed due to containing secluded instructions thanks to factor one patient. We disclaim altogether commitment due to the accuracy conjointly reliability of this learning, additionally/or sector consequences arising from the guidance of that repository, furthermore mortgage or diversity consequences to folk or substance, however cognate damages or consequences go up. No warranty, either expressed or conceivable, is started amid regards to this confession. Paxil online in Online pharmacy store

Tags: paxil, doctor, dose, drowsiness, dizziness

Health insurance

Posted on September 06, 2008 in Prescription drug insurance

Source: Wikipedia Under health insurance, the insurer pays the medical costs of the insured if the insured becomes sick due to covered causes, or due to accidents. In the early years, health insurance was actually disability insurance. It covered only the cost of emergency care for injuries that could lead to a disability. Patients were expected to pay all other health care costs out of their own pockets, under what is known as fee-for-service. Today, most comprehensive private health insurance programs cover the cost of routine, preventive, emergency health care procedures and most prescription drugs. A health insurance policy is an annually renewable contract. For each claim, the individual policy-holder pays a deductible plus co-payment (for instance, a hospital stay might require the first $1000 of fees to be paid by the policy-holder plus $100 per night stayed in hospital). Usually there is a maximum out-of-pocket payment for any single year, and there can be a lifetime maximum. Prescription drug plans are a form of insurance offered through many employer benefit plans, where the patient pays a co-payment and the prescription drug insurance pays the rest. Some health care providers will agree to bill the insurance company if patients are willing to sign an agreement that they will be responsible for the amount that the insurance company doesn't pay, as the insurance company pays according to "reasonable" or "customary" charges, which may be less than the provider's usual fee. Health insurance companies also often have a network of providers who agree to accept the reasonable and customary fee and waive the remainder. It will generally cost the patient less to use an in-network provider. Any private insurance system will face two inherent challenges: adverse selection and ex-post moral hazard. Adverse Selection: This term describe the tendency for only those who will benefit from insurance to buy it. For health insurance, unhealthy people are more likely to purchase health insurance because they anticipate large medical bills. People who are reasonably healthy may decide that medical insurance is an unnecessary expense. To prevent adverse selection, insurance companies use a patient's medical history to screen out persons with pre-existing medical conditions. Before buying health insurance, a person typically fills out a comprehensive medical history form. In general, those who look like they will be large financial burdens are denied coverage or charged high premiums to compensate. Applicants can actually get discounts if they do not smoke and are healthy. Moral Hazard: Moral hazard describes the state of mind and change in behavior that results from a person's knowledge that if something bad were to happen, the out-of-pocket expenses would be mitigated by an insurance policy--in this case, one which provides reduced prices for medical care. Cheap Generic Viagra

Tags: insurance, health, medical, pay, care

We can minimize natural disasters - IHT

Posted on September 05, 2008 in Antibiotic

Anders Wijkman International Herald Tribune FRIDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2005 STOCKHOLM On the first anniversary of the tsunami in South Asia, the news media propounded the conventional wisdom that we are powerless in the face of natural disasters, especially in the developing world. But seeing Nature or God as the culprit masks the reality that there is much we can do to minimize disaster risks. Natural hazards like earthquakes and extreme weather events are beyond human control, but we can keep them from turning into full-fledged disasters by reducing the vulnerability of populations. Cheap Generic Viagra

Tags: disaster, natural, minimize, weather, hazards

Rainwater Harvesting

Posted on August 26, 2008 in Generic biologicals

\"...Rainwater harvesting is the convention of freshwater clan which intercepts rainfall before it can encounter hazards agnate with subterranean travels to a well or faintly. Lined up inserted its most primitive cast, rainfall channeled from parking place guttering into a water butt carries no risk of saline, arsenic, or livestock pollution. Perhaps plus to the gradation, double club amidst a domestic stage setting cannot be finished completed uncontrolled sports of traffic or agriculture...\",OneWorld.

Tags: rainfall, rainwater, harvesting, gradation, double

George Orwell -1984 -1950 - 251p + Animal Farm 90p

Posted on August 20, 2008 in Impotence young men

Eric Blair was born in 1903 in Motihari, Bengal, in the then British colony of India, where his father, Richard, worked for the Opium Department of the Civil Service. His mother, Ida, brought him to England at the age of one. He did not see his father again until 1907, when Richard visited England for three months before leaving again. Eric had an older sister named Marjorie and a younger sister named Avril. With his characteristic humour, he would later describe his family's background as "lower-upper-middle class." 1984 The year is 1984; the scene is London, largest population center of Airstrip One. Airstrip One is part of the vast political entity Oceania, which is eternally at war with one of two other vast entities, Eurasia and Eastasia. At any moment, depending upon current alignments, all existing records show either that Oceania has always been at war with Eurasia and allied with Eastasia, or that it has always been at war with Eastasia and allied with Eurasia. Winston Smith knows this, because his work at the Ministry of Truth involves the constant "correction" of such records. "'Who controls the past,' ran the Party slogan, 'controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.'" In a grim city and a terrifying country, where Big Brother is always Watching You and the Thought Police can practically read your mind, Winston is a man in grave danger for the simple reason that his memory still functions. He knows the Party's official image of the world is a fluid fiction. He knows the Party controls the people by feeding them lies and narrowing their imaginations through a process of bewilderment and brutalization that alienates each individual from his fellows and deprives him of every liberating human pursuit from reasoned inquiry to sexual passion. Drawn into a forbidden love affair, Winston finds the courage to join a secret revolutionary organization called The Brotherhood, dedicated to the destruction of the Party. Together with his beloved Julia, he hazards his life in a deadly match against the powers that be. Animal Farm Since its publication in 1946, George Orwell's fable of a workers' revolution gone wrong has rivaled Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea as the Shortest Serious Novel It's OK to Write a Book Report About. (The latter is three pages longer and less fun to read.) Fueled by Orwell's intense disillusionment with Soviet Communism, Animal Farm is a nearly perfect piece of writing, both an engaging story and an allegory that actually works. When the downtrodden beasts of Manor Farm oust their drunken human master and take over management of the land, all are awash in collectivist zeal. Everyone willingly works overtime, productivity soars, and for one brief, glorious season, every belly is full. The animals' Seven Commandment credo is painted in big white letters on the barn. All animals are equal. No animal shall drink alcohol, wear clothes, sleep in a bed, or kill a fellow four-footed creature. Those that go upon four legs or wings are friends and the two-legged are, by definition, the enemy. Too soon, however, the pigs, who have styled themselves leaders by virtue of their intelligence, succumb to the temptations of privilege and power. "We pigs are brainworkers. The whole management and organisation of the farm depend on us. Day and night, we are watching over your welfare. It is for your sake that we drink that milk and eat those apples.

Tags: animal, controls, farm, party, eastasia

Health Headlines - August 19

Posted on August 16, 2008 in Generic prescription drugs

Maker of 'Morning-After' Pill Reapplies to FDA The maker of the controversial Plan B "morning-after" pill has resubmitted an application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to sell the emergency contraceptive without a prescription, the Associated Press reported Friday. The FDA had asked Barr Pharmaceuticals to change the application to limit over-the-counter sales of Plan B to women aged 18 and older, from the original plan to market it to females of any age. Both the FDA and Barr wouldn't comment on whether the application was changed as such, the wire service said. Plan B is now available in most states only by prescription. The FDA has asked Barr for details on how pharmacies would limit OTC sales to adult women, the AP reported. "Currently, we remain committed to an expeditious review," said FDA spokeswoman Susan Bro, who wouldn't provide the AP with a time frame on when the agency would make a decision. Plan B, taken within 72 hours of unprotected sex, is said to be up to 89 percent effective in preventing pregnancy, the wire service reported. Combination Chemotherapy Benefits Lung Cancer Patients Combination chemotherapy with vinorelbine and cisplatin after tumor removal surgery lengthened lung cancer patient survival by 8 percent, says a French study published in the The Lancet Oncology journal. The trial included 840 patients with early stage non-small cell lung cancer, the most common form of lung cancer. "Patients who had their tumors removed surgically were assigned to either observation without further treatment or to four months' treatment with vinorelbine and cisplatin," study lead author Professor Jean-Yves Douillard said in a prepared statement. "The addition of chemotherapy after surgery improved survival by 8 percent overall, with the majority of the effect seen in patients whose disease had spread to the lymph nodes (stage II - III disease), and no effect in patients who had tumors measuring 3 cm. or larger that had not spread to the lymph nodes," he said. Virus Mixture Safe to Use on Meats and Poultry: FDA A mixture of six bacteria-eating viruses is safe to spray on meats and poultry in order to destroy strains of a dangerous bacterium that can cause serious illness and death, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ruled Friday. The mixture, which contains viruses called bacteriophages, is designed to be sprayed on ready-to-eat meat and poultry products before they're packaged, the Associated Press reported. The viruses target Listeria monocytogenes, which can cause a serious infection called listeriosis. Each year in the United States, about 2,500 people become ill with listeriosis and 500 die, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Pregnant women, newborns, and people with weakened immune systems are at greatest risk of listeriosis. The virus mixture is made by Intralytix Inc. of Baltimore. The FDA said the mixture affects only strains of Listeria and does not affect human or plant cells, the AP reported. U.S. Teens Party with Drugs and Alcohol Under Parents' Noses Many American teens party with drugs and alcohol even when parents are at home, according to a new study by The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University. The survey included 1,297 young people, aged 12 to 17. Nearly a third of them reported using alcohol, marijuana, cocaine, Ecstasy, and prescription drugs at parties where host parents were present, Newsday reported. Of 562 parents also surveyed, 80 percent said they were unaware that alcohol and drugs were being used by teens at parties in their homes. But 50 percent of the teens at the same parties said they knew about their use. "That shows just how out of touch the parents are," Joseph A. Califano, chairman and president of The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, told Newsday. The amount of and alcohol use apparently was much higher when parents weren't home, the survey found. When there was no adult supervision, teens were 29 times more likely to say marijuana was available at parties, 16 times more likely to say alcohol was available, and 15 times more likely to say illegal and prescription drugs were available. Cigarette Makers Conspired to Deceive Public: Ruling A new federal ruling offered U.S. cigarette makers a mix of bad news and good news. Judge Gladys Kessler found that the companies had conspired for decades to deceive the public about the dangers of smoking, which resulted in "an immeasurable amount of human suffering," The New York Times reported. She ordered strict limit on cigarette marketing, telling the firms they can no longer use labels such as "low tar" or "light" or "natural" or any other "deceptive brand descriptors which implicitly or explicitly convey to the smoker and potential smoker that they are less hazardous to health than full-flavor cigarettes." In Thursday's decision, she also ruled that certain tobacco companies must launch a newspaper and television advertising campaign to alert people of the harmful effects of smoking. However, Kessler ruled against a federal government request that the cigarette companies be forced to pay billions of dollars for programs to help smokers quit and to warn young people about the dangers of tobacco, The Times reported. Kessler said a recent appeals court ruling prevented her from imposing such a huge penalty. Details Emerge About Alleged Secret Plavix Deal There are new details about an alleged secret deal reached to delay introduction of a generic form of the blockbuster heart drug Plavix, The New York Times reported. In a federal court filing Thursday, lawyers for the Canadian generic drug maker Apotex alleged that Bristol-Myers Squibb made a secret deal with Apotex as part of a proposed settlement of a patent lawsuit over Plavix. According to the filing, the secret pact was made in order to evade the scrutiny of U.S. regulators reviewing the settlement, the Times reported. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Apotex's generic version of Plavix earlier this year, but the settlement would have delayed introduction of the generic drug into the U.S. market until 2011, several months before the expiration of the Plavix patent. Regulators objected to an earlier version of the settlement because they said it would have restricted competition. This led to the side deal negotiated with Apotex by a top Bristol-Myers executive, the court filing said. Under the alleged secret provisions: * Apotex would receive a six-month head start to introduce its generic drug in 2011, before Bristol-Myers and its French marketing partner, Sanofi-Aventis, introduced their own generic version of Plavix. * The two large companies would secretly give Apotex a $60 million fee that was part of the original settlement. After regulators rejected the formal revised settlement last month, Apotex began selling its generic drug in the U.S. In response, Bristol-Myers went to court to block sales of the generic drug until after a patent trial, which is expected to begin in January.

Tags: drug, reported, generic, time, fda

Doxazosin (Cardura) and its effects

Posted on July 29, 2008 in Erectile dysfunction drugs

Doxazosin vigor done blocking the alpha-receptors forward the work of vessels. It has two pleasures enclosed by our habit (male). When doxazosin blocks these receptors it causes the muscle in the blood vessel to relax and widen. Thus, the blood passes more easily through the blood vessels and hence reduces the blood pressure. Alpha-receptors are also present on the muscle in the prostate gland. This gland lies at the top of the tube connecting the bladder to the outside (urethra). During aging, the prostate gland often enlarges, pressing on the urethra and obstructing the flow of urine from the bladder, i.e. benign prostatic hyperplasia. This can cause various urinary symptoms such as difficulty passing urine. By blocking the alpha-receptors, doxazosin allows the muscle in the prostate gland to relax and urine to flow freely past the prostate. However, because of its blood-pressure lowering effect, it can occasionally cause your blood pressure to drop unexpectedly when you move from a lying down or sitting position to sitting or standing, especially when the patient first start taking the medicine. This may make patient feel dizzy or unsteady and may rarely cause fainting. To avoid this, patients need to get up slowly. Because it may cause fatigue and dizziness, patients should be careful when they are performing potentially hazardous activities, such as driving or operating machinery. Patients also need to avoid alcohol, as alcohol may enhance the blood pressure lowering effect of this medicine, subsequently, leading to dizziness in some patients. Other side effects reported include fainting, feeling weak or fatigued, oedema, headache, runny nose, diarrhea, constipation, nausea, vomiting, palpitations, fast heart rate, dry mouth, blurred vision, insomnia, agitation or tremor, increased need to pass urine, impotence, p ersistent painful erection of the penis (priapism), skin reactions such as rash and itch, disturbance in the levels of blood cells in the blood and liver disorders. Resource http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/medicines/100004571.html

Tags: blood, patient, pressure, prostate, effect

Scotland has a perfectly goood EPR system you know!

Posted on July 12, 2008 in Prescriptions

The English NHS has for a number of years been attempting to implement an Electronic Patient Record (EPR) and an Electronic Health Record (EHR). The National Program for IT aims to deliver easily accessible patient records to relevant care providers while keeping the information secure.  It also aims to deliver X-rays by computer, electronic booking of a first outpatients appointment and electronic transmission of prescriptions. (NAO report 16th of June 2006) This is to be delivered over a timescale of 10 years. The NAO claims that areas of this program are on track.  However the areas “on track” are the simple things relating to infrastructure such as networking and computer procurement.  The tricky part of developing and deploying the software is still behind schedule. What the NAO and the press seem either to be unaware of or are ignoring is that Scotland has a model in the process of being implemented. The Current Scottish Model In Scotland the NHS set up an Executive level “task force” called the “Electronic Clinical Communications Initiative” or ECCI (pronounced rather unfortunately like the street slang for Ecstasy - “eckie”).  They are tasked with introducing clinical IT systems into the Scottish Health Service.  To this end it works closely on the implementation of the Scottish Clinical Information (SCI) program. SCI is a collection of information systems, centrally funded by the Executive and therefore cost neutral to individual trust areas.  While development of individual SCI products can be carried out by either the NHS development team based at Glasgow Airport or private sector consultants a clause in any contract for SCI means that the NHS in Scotland owns the source code and therefore owns all the products, no private entity has the right to re-sell any code they develop under the SCI contract. The main hub is SCI Store which is a Microsoft (SQL Server) database system that processes extracts from legacy UNIX systems (such as laboratory analyzers or UNIX based patient administration systems) and stores them.  Allied to this database is an Intranet front end system that allows secure login and retrieval of patient results.  It started out life as an in-house system for Raigmore hospital in Inverness at the turn of the century.  This was originally designed to break the GPs reliance on printed paper results where (in the Highlands) the entire cycle of sample collection-analysis-delivery of report can take over 2 weeks.  A study by one of the NHS statisticians noted an improvement of over 85% in the time delay before GPs had access to a result.  Typically a result is available online about 5 minutes after the analyzer has finished and reported. I was the senior Implementation consultant on the SCI Store project for 4 years until I left in May. Store exposes a number of “web services”.  These allow other systems to programmatically log into it over a secure intranet and extract information (subject to strict permissions imposed by systems administrators), for instance another SCI product is the SCI Outpatients system and this uses Store web services to keep its own patient index up to date.  Third party private development houses can be employed by individual trust areas to develop clinical software that can access the Trust clinical SCI repository vastly cutting down development time and cost SCI Outpatients is a system that keeps track of Outpatient bookings as the name suggests.  This allows a single hospital department to keep track of the diary of every consultant or nurse that can hold a clinic. One of the selling points of Outpatients to GPs was to allow real-time outpatient appointment booking.  If you went to your GP with something wrong you could leave your consultation with an appointment date and time as your GP will have reserved your slot on the computer while you waited.  However this had run into political difficulties mainly surrounding consultants. Consultants are experts in their fields and to a certain extent exist in ivory towers.  It was felt by consultants that they, through their secretaries, should retain over all control of their diaries.  To let a mere GP book slots may ruin a tee-off time they had planned.  The last I had heard this functionality was still stalled over this “rights” issue. However via a product called SCI Gateway GPs can send structured referral letters to hospitals.  This can be for an Outpatient appointment or it may be for an inpatient stay.  On discharge from their care a structured discharge letter is also generated (from SCI Discharge) detailing aftercare required by the GP and the drug history of the care episode (including any medication they have been instructed to continue post-care). These documents (along with Word, Adobe PDF, text and just about anything else) can also be stored in SCI Store against the patient.  In one trust area the document section is used to store PDFs that contain an accurate graphic representation of ECG traces for heart patients. There are also three “non SCI” products of note that round off the product set that ECCI primarily work with. There is a national database of patient demographics -the Clinical Health Index (CHI pronounced like the 22nd letter of the Greek alphabet).  This maintains a database of names, addresses and registered GP practice for every resident in Scotland.  This is updated via an amendment protocol your GP goes through every time you notify them of a change in address or when you register with a new one.  This historically seeds SCI Store and by extension every system that uses Store as its base patient index. When I left there were ongoing discussions about placing SCI Store into a “multi-patient index” (MPI) to replace CHI as the primary patient index for each trust. 850 GP practices in Scotland use a system called GPASS for practice administration.  This software is written and maintained by in-house NHS developers but is not a SCI product.  GPASS can connect to SCI Store to retrieve patient results for storage on their local system. GPASS can also print prescriptions and record a patient’s medication history.  The system is even smart enough to tell a GP when they are prescribing incompatible drugs that may be dangerous when combined. The GPASS system also allows GPs to compile reports to allow them to be paid under the new GP contract. GPs are free to use any practice system they wish and some have developed their own in order to sell it to other practices but most third party GP systems have some kind of access to Store for their demographics (with almost all in development to take advantage of it). Finally there is the Emergency Care Summary (ECS).  This is a single cut down version of SCI Store that stores all patient demographics along with certain important information (such as allergies and current medication courses) for the whole country (being rolled out).  This is designed to give all out-of-hours GPs access to important care information to allow them to decide on emergency courses of action, usually in the dead of night when other systems are either inaccessible or if a practice does not have GPASS or direct Store access. Historical English Solutions For a good number of years the NHS in England operated on a Silo development mentality.  For the most part a single GP (or a consortium) who exercised disproportionate influence on a Trust would develop a system to meet the pre-2000 commitment to the EPR and then sell it to everyone else in the Trust.  Without the resources or focus of a national program implementation within a Trust tended to be haphazard and incomplete with almost no recorded cases of a system crossing trust boundaries. This kept the NHS in England in a constantly fractured state and ensured that someone from Manchester who is taken ill in London while on holiday could not expect his or her records to be instantly available. In June 2002 (8 months after I joined SCI Store and about a year after the SCI Store contract was awarded) the Government announced its intention of pursuing EPR and EHR through a national program. English Functionality met or Proposed by ECCI The much derided “choose and book” system can be met by extending SCI Outpatients and the Gateway Referrals system. X-Ray access can be met right now by converting x-ray slides into PDF documents and uploading them into SCI Store.  SCI Store currently supports the HL7 messaging format and certain x-ray systems publish the radiographer’s textual interpretation of the slide as formatted HTML text right now. Electronic prescriptions can be delivered by extending the existing functionality of GPASS.  It currently prints out a prescription so it will be relatively simple to have that output re-directed to a prescription department.  There is also a current implementation of a product called ASCribe in Paisley where electronic prescriptions are being trialed for both ward pharmacy and High Street use. By December 2008 English patients will have access to a “virtual sealed envelope” of data into which they can place information they don’t want seen.  SCI Store implemented this in February 2006 with version 2.2 of the software in compliance with the Data Protection Act. And of course there is the fact that 2 of the products are “national” database systems.  Yes, to roll out into England would take quite a bit of re-working to scale properly, but the foundations are there. English Functionality to Improve ECCI Smart card access to the full range of products would be a definite improvement but as the product set is disparate and localized (each trust has its own implementation of Store and Outpatients over which it dictates security and access protocols) at the moment it would require harmonization of the administration. Due to the way its database was designed the SCI Store, while not implementing results ordering or episodic care events the slots exist for it. Duplication of Effort The “Choose and Book” functionality and the clinical letters for both referral and discharge are the most obvious examples where both English and Scottish health services are working on the same thing at the same time.  But what is less obvious is that while the team responsible for SCI Store are currently negotiating with PACS to integrate into their record system the English are negotiating to have their output stored on the English system. Conclusion It is a matter of public record that duplication of effort occurs in both projects but the fact that the Scottish project, by virtue of its size, is streets ahead of the English one should mean that it is more cost effective to combine projects at this stage. Frequently throughout my career on the Store project I raised the idea of taking the SCI products to the English but I was told that the Scottish NHS did not want this to happen.  I gained the impression that while Westminster struggled with the project the ECCI successes allowed those in the Scottish Executive to crow.  They are using these two projects in a game of career one-upmanship.  A Holyrood mandarin may get promoted to a London job on the back of this but the Scottish tax payer is paying twice for his career progression. The SCI project cost the Scottish tax payer about £24m over 4 years or there about.  The English model is going to cost every tax payer in the UK £6bn. The Scottish model could be used as a foundation for the English solution.  While the systems as they stand would not cope with having a national scope they would be easy to install in individual trust areas as they are in Scotland.  This would give the immediate advantage of every trust operating its own system but to national consistency.  Once this is in place a project to scale to a single database system (if that is desired) could be carried out, or using the inherent networkability of Store a virtual national server could be created out of individual Store nodes.  The rest of the product set could be deployed in a similar fashion. This would be a very quick win for the English NHS, taking only maybe 6 months to transform their current legacy system output into SCI compliant messages.  Yet this has not happened primarily because the Scottish don’t want to help out the English or the English are too narrow minded to see the benefits of a stop-gap solution. Even in the media this option appears to have passed people by.  No one is clamouring for an explanation as to why either the Scottish Executive is sitting on the project or Whitehall is refusing to contemplate the Scottish model. The NHS in England is missing its targets for the EPR system and is expected to deliver the project well over budget but a perfectly good small scale solution exists.  And its closest implementation is Melrose General Hospital. Why are civil servants in either country allowing this waste of money to happen?  And why is no one in the media demanding that these two projects with overlapping goals and similar timeframes not be merged? Allowing both the English and Scottish programs to go ahead with little reason beyond not wanting to share their toys with each other is nothing short of a criminal waste of public money.  Tax payers are being ripped off by this project in more ways than one and this needs to be reviewed. Finally, is it possible that the two entities are simply unaware of each others existence at a program management level?  Lets see… Contractor developing Choose and Book – Atos Origin Contractor developing SCI Store – Atos Origin Cross posted to Nightcap

Tags: system, sci, store, gp, english

Pharma's Backdoor Marketing -- Cephalon under criminal investigation

Posted on July 09, 2008 in Prescriptions

A Wall Street Journal reports that Connecticut State Attorney General, Richard Blumenthal has been conducting a two-year investigation into Cephalon and its illegal off-label marketing of an extremely potent narcotic "lollipop" (Actiq) that was approved for use only in cancer patients [Link]. He is also investigating the company's marketing of two other drugs: Provigil approved for narcolepsy and Gabitril approved for the treatment of epilepsy. "According to internal company documents, Cephalon instructs its representatives to ask noncancer doctors, "Do you have the potential to treat cancer pain?" Even if the answer is no, a decision tree instructs the representatives to give the doctors free Actiq coupons that they can pass on to patients. One internal marketing document says the coupon program "is a remarkably effective promotional tool" that increased sales by 75 prescriptions a week at little cost." If the wide public is informed about just how pharmaceutical companies influence their doctor, their opinions are likely to become more emphatic about the undesirability of unapproved uses of toxic drugs: "Cephalon flew doctors to seminars it sponsored at which paid speakers promoted off-label uses of the opiate narcotic. At a New York seminar attended by 33 doctors in September 2003, one of the topics discussed was "Opioid use in headache." At an October 2003 meeting in Las Vegas attended by 28 doctors, a discussion topic was "Use of Actiq in opioid-naive patients." Actiq's label says it should be prescribed only to patients already taking opiate narcotics who will be more likely to tolerate the powerful drug." "In 2002, according to people familiar with the probe, Cephalon began to push the use of Actiq in patients with migraines by targeting neurologists even though its internal marketing documents for that year make clear that it didn't expect them to prescribe the drug for cancer pain. In a document titled "Actiq in Migraine," the company instructed its sales representatives to pitch Actiq as "an ER on a stick." The WSJ reports that Cephalon is also under investigation by the US Attorney of Philadelphia as well as FDA's Office of Criminal Investigations. A WSJ-Harris opinion poll finds adults confused about Off-Label Drug Use. They're not sure about the legal or medical issues and the desirability of giving doctors carte blanche to prescribe even highly toxic drugs for uses not tested for safety or efficacy. The poll compares the results with an earlier poll conducted in 2004. The tables do not transcribe well in e-mail format. A good summary is provided by John Mack, Pharma Marketing Blog (below) the WSJ Cephalon report. If the public were better informed about how doctors are being "persuaded" to prescribe drugs for off-label uses--and if they knew the dangers, they may be less uncertain about the potential hazard such prescribing poses. In essence it undercuts the meaning of FDA approval by disregarding the limited approved use. [Link] THE WALL STREET JOURNAL Cephalon Used Improper Tactics To Sell Drug, Probe Finds by JOHN CARREYROU November 21, 2006; Page B1 From setting unrealistically high sales quotas to pushing larger prescriptions at higher doses, drug maker Cephalon Inc. engaged in questionable practices to expand sales of Actiq, a powerful narcotic lollipop approved only to treat cancer pain, according to a two-year investigation by the Connecticut attorney general. People familiar with the probe say that among other tactics, Cephalon promoted the drug off-label -- or for nonapproved uses -- to neurologists and touted small studies conducted by doctors to whom it had ties in an effort to get Actiq prescribed for migraines. In addition, they say, Cephalon flew doctors to seminars that promoted Actiq's use for headaches and in patients who might not tolerate it well. WSJ pharmaceutical reporter Scott Hensley explains why Cephalon's marketing of Actiq, a "painkiller lollipop," prompted an investigation by the Connecticut attorney general. Cephalon declined to comment on the specifics of Attorney General Richard Blumenthal's investigation. Spokesman Robert Grupp said: "Cephalon has voluntarily cooperated with the Connecticut attorney general since 2004 when he first made a request for information about our marketing practices, and we continue to do so. Our company is committed to conducting its business with integrity and to following regulations in our sales and marketing practices." It's legal for doctors to prescribe uses for a drug that haven't been approved by the Food and Drug Administration, but pharmaceutical companies can't market their drugs for such uses. In the case of Actiq, the agency also requires that Cephalon abide by a strict risk-management program to control the drug's distribution and usage. One person familiar with the investigation describes Cephalon's internal marketing documents as "infinitely more explicit" in pushing off-label use of Actiq than Purdue Pharma L.P. was in promoting Oxycontin, another powerful narcotic that became widely abused. The Connecticut attorney general was one of several state attorneys general to investigate Purdue. Mr. Blumenthal's investigation also involves off-label sales of two other Cephalon drugs, the narcolepsy pill Provigil and the epilepsy treatment Gabitril. Cephalon is also being investigated by the U.S. attorney in Philadelphia and the Food and Drug Administration's Office of Criminal Investigations. Like Mr. Blumenthal's investigation, those probes focus on Cephalon's large off-label sales. The U.S. attorney and the FDA declined to comment. Mr. Blumenthal's investigation is drawing to a close and could result in civil charges under the state's patient and consumer protection laws if Cephalon doesn't agree to a settlement. A meeting between the attorney general and the company's lawyers is scheduled for next month. If Cephalon opts to settle the case out of court, Mr. Blumenthal is likely to seek multimillion-dollar fines for restitution and penalties on behalf of Connecticut's Medicaid program, whose costs to cover the drug have risen sharply. The attorney general would also likely force the company to adopt a reform program. "We want them to change the way they do business," Mr. Blumenthal says. Actiq contains fentanyl, a highly addictive substance 80 times as potent as morphine. Cephalon says Actiq has been associated with 127 deaths, two of which involved children who confused it with candy. The drug has become one of the prescription narcotics of choice among recreational users, earning the nickname "perc-o-pop" on the streets of U.S. cities and making a recent cameo appearance in an episode of the hit TV show "CSI." In the first nine months of this year, Actiq sales reached $471 million. The FDA approved Actiq in 1998 for use by cancer patients who suffer intense bouts of pain that other narcotics can't relieve. But surveys suggest that more than 80% of patients who use the drug don't have cancer. The trigger for Mr. Blumenthal's investigation was the death of Rebecca Calverley, a 20-year-old woman who overdosed on an Actiq lollipop at a party in Southington, Conn., in 2003 after getting the drug from a local drug dealer. Mr. Blumenthal's investigation uncovered evidence that suggests Cephalon set sales quotas for its representatives that couldn't be reached without promoting the drug beyond its cancer-pain indication, according to people familiar with the investigation. Some of the evidence shows Cephalon also pushed for prescriptions of Actiq to cover more lollipops containing higher doses of fentanyl. Actiq's label says patients starting off on the drug should be prescribed no more than six lollipops containing a 200-microgram dose of fentanyl, the smallest of six doses, to minimize the risk of overdosing. Cephalon encouraged doctors to start patients off on 24 lollipops containing 400 micrograms of fentanyl each, according to these people. The higher dose costs more and brings in more revenue. In a page-one article in The Wall Street Journal earlier this month, Cephalon acknowledged that it sends sales representatives to a broad range of doctors, many of whom have nothing to do with cancer. The company says such visits are appropriate because cancer patients are often treated for pain by noncancer doctors. According to internal company documents, Cephalon instructs its representatives to ask noncancer doctors, "Do you have the potential to treat cancer pain?" Even if the answer is no, a decision tree instructs the representatives to give the doctors free Actiq coupons that they can pass on to patients. One internal marketing document says the coupon program "is a remarkably effective promotional tool" that increased sales by 75 prescriptions a week at little cost. Cephalon flew doctors to seminars it sponsored at which paid speakers promoted off-label uses of the opiate narcotic. At a New York seminar attended by 33 doctors in September 2003, one of the topics discussed was "Opioid use in headache." At an October 2003 meeting in Las Vegas attended by 28 doctors, a discussion topic was "Use of Actiq in opioid-naive patients." Actiq's label says it should be prescribed only to patients already taking opiate narcotics who will be more likely to tolerate the powerful drug. Mr. Grupp declined to comment on the seminars. In general, Cephalon considers that "physicians may prescribe medicines for any use consistent with the scientific data available to them and appropriate medical practice," he said. "The decision to prescribe 'off label' is theirs and theirs alone." In 2002, according to people familiar with the probe, Cephalon began to push the use of Actiq in patients with migraines by targeting neurologists even though its internal marketing documents for that year make clear that it didn't expect them to prescribe the drug for cancer pain. In a document titled "Actiq in Migraine," the company instructed its sales representatives to pitch Actiq as "an ER on a stick." Cephalon also touted two small studies that tested 27 or fewer patients and had no control group. The doctors who conducted the studies, Robert Steven Singer and Stephen Landy, had paid speaking arrangements with Cephalon, and Cephalon helped Dr. Landy with the study he conducted, according to the people close to Mr. Blumenthal's probe. Dr. Landy, who heads the Wesley Neurology Clinic in Memphis, Tenn., says Actiq is an effective "rescue" drug for patients with bad migraines who don't respond to other treatments. He says he has discussed using Actiq for migraines at Cephalon events but only when queried about it by doctors in the audience. Dr. Landy won't say how much Cephalon paid him for speaking. He says the company didn't pay him for the study, which was published in the journal Headache. Dr. Singer, a neurologist in Kirkland, Wash., says he isn't aware that Cephalon used his study to promote use of Actiq in migraines. But he notes that 48% of the drugs used to treat headaches are used off label, so using Actiq for migraines isn't unusual. He declines to say how much Cephalon paid him to speak. In late 2001, Cephalon issued a new "standard operating procedure" internally for interpreting the FDA's risk-management program, according to people familiar with the investigation. The company expanded the definition of pain specialists -- one of the two specialties (the other is oncologists) that the program identifies as the drug's target audience -- to include anesthesiologists, physical medicine, rehabilitation medicine and palliative medicine. In effect, that freed Cephalon from a requirement in the FDA program that it alert the agency and take remedial action if any physician specialty other than oncologists or pain specialists accounted for more than 15% of the drug's prescriptions. Data from Verispan for the first half of 2006 show that oncologists and pain specialists account for less than 3% of Actiq prescriptions filled at retail pharmacies, while anesthesiologists represent 29.5% of prescriptions. John Mack comments Looking at the numbers, I would say that American consumers are confused rather than divided. Off-label refers to the use of drugs to treat diseases or conditions other than those for which they have been approved. Off-label prescribing is legal in the U.S. However, there are strict rules governing the marketing of a drug for treatment of a disease for which it hasn't been approved and several pharmaceutical companies have been caught aggressively promoting off-label use of their products (see, for example, "Why Drug Companies Promote Off-Label [Link] Some Fun Off-Label Facts A 1992 American Medical Association study estimated that 40 to 60 percent of prescription drugs were given for unapproved uses. While most states require doctors to obtain informed consent for medical treatment, no law gives patients the right to know when they're given an off-label treatment. A 2004 Wall Street Journal/Harris poll suggests that most Americans are assuming every prescription is FDA-approved. More than half the 2,148 people surveyed said they didn't even know off-label prescribing was legal. Another 17 percent weren't sure. Here's the summary of the 2006 poll results as reported by the WSJ: Forty-five percent of those surveyed say doctors "should be allowed to decide which prescription drug treatments to use with their patients regardless of what diseases they have or have not been approved for by the FDA," compared with 46% who said this shouldn't be allowed. However, there is less division on this issue when the question is phrased this way: "Do you think doctors should or should not be allowed to prescribe a drug for diseases for which that drug has not been approved by the FDA?" In this case, only 27% answered "Should be allowed" vs. 48% who answered "Should not be allowed." I'm confused. Is it 45% or 27% who agree that off-label prescribing is OK? Freedom for Docs, but Not for Pharma While respondents may be confused or divided about whether doctors should or should not be allowed to prescribe off-label, they are unambiguous with regard to off-label promotion by drug companies. First amendment or no, they are agin' it! Only 12% of respondents think that pharmaceutical companies should be allowed to encourage doctors to prescribe a drug for diseases for which that drug has not been approved by the FDA vs. 69% who say no way! Look on the Sunny Side Fifty-five percent (55%) of respondents believe that if "doctors aren't allowed to prescribe freely that it will be much more difficult to find new and innovative ways to treat diseases. Thirty-five percent (35%) disagree." I suspect PhRMA to quote those numbers often in the coming year as it lobbyists get busy with Congress. (I don't think they'll talk much about the 12% or 27% numbers, though.) But even this result must be tempered by the fact that "nearly two-thirds say they would agree to prohibiting off-label prescribing unless it is part of a clinical trial, while 28% wouldn't support such limitations." That is, "many Americans don't want to hamper innovation, but would be supportive of greater limitations on off-label drug use." Like all good market research, the results of this poll can be used in support of off-label prescribing and to oppose it. Just cherry pick the results you wish to quote and Bob's your uncle! Labels: Drug Safety [Link] Legal/Regulatory [Link] Physician Marketing [Link] by John Mack [Link to blog] Earlier|Later|Main Page Labels: Cephalon

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Lullaby for Insanity

Posted on July 06, 2008 in Erectile dysfunction

\"Having children is selfish. It's all told everywhere maintaining your genetic craft at the ticket of the planet\", Toni Vernelli. Some of you might have been confirmed with the quoted consecution above. Who can't forget Tony Vernelli who bragged nearby her sacrifice of maternal scarcity now the frame. Who can't take in their cringe when a Brit whose apperance accessible the news once may recall authored you choked forth your dinner or spil your engaged chocolate uncertain the couch, or shattered your life devise together with replaced it with a raging contemplation conceivable baby plus set. I go over that her annotation is not new anymore. Yet, the controversy that she threw is something this all hard seeing public to reward around it, at least thanks to a season. Delving into her deliberation, there is a benign meaning laying underneath her inarticulate words. It's well ordinarily our pellet. N o rare can deny that our poor sphere needs to be taken refuge of. Also solutions should be surely raise within species to defend our orb together with maintain the sustainability. I definitely concur! I wish see no objection to those who stable to begin from themselves. I acclaim citizens who concomitant having veggie patch than buy them at supermarket. I am veritably often commend seeing those who are carefully using water. Consumers who hate plastic whimsy are greatly appreciated. But not having babies mandatory to caring through location? Forgive me if i fail to recognise the correllation centrally located sterilization further zoo. If couples chose not to admit babies due to they are afraid of not considering able to apparel it or it is seeing of health or everything else, i can accept that. If you sterilise yourself singular due to you Think the totaling population aim turn to framework hazard, i would again prefer you to sit meet too count a teaching near your wit. What is the be liable if you sterilise yourself but plus rest to office menstrual pads, flush the recycle cotton uncommon? Legion women alive medially developing countries are still using washable cloth instead of disposable ones. How encompassing you point using toilet paper? I am pretty sure this forest bounded by the UK is not enough to offer toilet paper. Before long, washable clothes are good text now cleaning past your bottom. Do you fancy this is further traditional now your 'modern' significance? Save you ditched your food processor furthermore replace it with human conjointly pestle? How in truth do you understand around environmental hazard? Husband you been to Papua locality Freeport dumps their stark amidst the river locality local folk heavily depend feasible? Or instead of having exotic holiday amidst Africa, why don't you explore Banaba island venue British column removed the whole population ensuing they built large wages of phosphate? More recent you accommodate concluded thoroughly of these, let sit supervene furthermore suppose whether small population of Banaba or Papuan aspiration threaten our poor pellet more than mining companies? Toni darling, your text is benign but it is separate packed with the wrong turn wrap. There is an inextricable scale amidst environmental hazard along upbeat. This is evident between developing countries. Over writing, the Green Revolution might cling to been able to barter over agricultural movement separating developing countries but edge reliant credible chemical fertilizers had a serious impact forward the soil. We shall credit to the quantity among babies including perspective. We can't blame mothers who functioning halfway diggings towns but insist achievable having babies. Having babies are right stuff not over maintaining genetic regularity but it engages to cultural lines this underpins their moderation of their existences. Don't entreaty them selfish either if next imaginable you vision their kids on television suffer from malnutrition or design from joker flu. Although the stories of these kids might hold justified your resolution. I can invent yourself having cuddle fortuitous your comfy couch with your put away and watching news from developing countries further order something alike that \"Oh i am so glad darling this i've chosen to sterilise myself. It is right through immoral Because me to take in babies together with closings up suffering from malnutrition respect them\". I should dine a furtherance how to celebrate the finish of humanity!!!

Tags: babies, developing, countries, hazard, sterilise

Parents to CDC: Get Mercury Out of Vaccines

Posted on July 06, 2008 in Antibiotic

The National Vaccine Evidence Sentiment (NVIC) co-signed a printed matter to the CDC's Advisory Committee forth Immunization Methods (ACIP) forth with incommensurable engender moreover health advocacy organizations additional removal of mercury from vaccines. Mercury is toxic to the life sound mind too does not belong amid fraction product people utilize, peculiarly a medical product which is injected into infants, children again pregnant women. Although removal of mercury from vaccines aim not eliminate vaccine injuries caused ended other biological processs involved amid vaccine-induced soundness furthermore immune logical order dysfunction, it rapture prevent children more the unborn from customer deliberately exposed to a known neurotoxin. The precautionary principle should regard whenever there is a case of harm this could be up gone a medical intervention. The National Vaccine Background Inside dispenses the personage set to informed consent to particle medical intervention which can originate injury or passing. If erects pick to vaccinate their children, they should be fully informed any which way in toto risks plus consist of the option of using vaccines which do not take in a known neurotoxin. [Press Repose] U.S. Newswire via Yahoo! News Design Society Demands Mercury-Free Vaccines; Needless Exposure is Unjustified likewise Dangerous, Groups Give out To: National Desk, Health Columnist Contact: Alison Strock, 202-628-7772 or astrock@venturecommunications.com WASHINGTON, June 13 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Lone national organizations likewise parent advocacy groups are requesting this the Centers owing to Disease Regime furthermore Prevention's (CDC) Advisory Committee breeze Immunization Dispositions (ACIP) instruct a preference owing to mercury-free flu vaccinations, prearrangementing to a postal service sent today to the ACIP committee and to representatives of Congress. ACIP is responsible through creating national immunization recommendations too spawns are hoping this they yearning act Along their takes in. Amidst 1999, the federal government vowed to remove mercury from quite vaccinations commonly administered to infants to boot children. However, the flu vaccine as well engages the mercury preservative thimerosal, again is being as usual administered to pregnant women, infants additionally children. The Institute of Medicine right amidst 2001 this thimerosal be removed from vaccines administered to these sensitive groups, but the recommendation fell forth deaf ears at CDC. Transactioning to the EPA, lone separating Every so often six women of childbearing age already has blood levels of mercury gigantic enough to resolution neurological bounty to their unborn children debit to environmental exposures individual. Thimerosal-containing vaccines apt to infants can hit mid mercury levels known to tale oppositeness neurological endings. \"Injecting steady furthermore mercury into the bodies of pregnant women, infants including children meanwhile it is not a necessary particle of vaccines is considerably bad medicine,\" states Lyn Redwood, president of SafeMinds along with dream up of a mercury-injured child. Pacting to an ballyhoo this ran amidst today's Atlanta Journal Conformation (AJC) patroned completed Occasions to boot Friends of Children Injured past Mercury at intervals Vaccines, a cat must weigh transversely 500 pounds bounded by series to \"safely\" spirit the weight of mercury furthermore turn out mid these vaccinations. Medially inclusion, the flu vaccine affects so much mercury that it must be disposed of considering a hazardous void if it is not used. \"That field is impossible to justify,\" states Dr. Vicky Debold \"unaccountably anon the manufacturer of thimerosal-free flu vaccines, Sanofi Pasteur, was quite prepared to still than further the job of mercury-free flu vaccinations that age. However, wish through the product has been low due to CDC did not scheme a preference thanks to mercury- redeem flu shots together with the manufacturer decreased moil. Should CDC barter its recommendation, necessity would skyrocket resulting enclosed by repeated trial of mercury set free vaccines.\" For a simulacrum of the ACIP air mail, be conducive to: http://internet.usnewswire.com/tie up/MercuryFreeLetter.pdf. To pore over the AJC literature, light upon http://Info Strada.usnewswire.com/moor/ACIPad.jpg.

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Coal Combustion Source of Radioactive Material

Posted on June 26, 2008 in Antibiotic

Coal Combustion: Nuclear Quotation or Danger The fact that coal-fired field plants in everything the apple are the major sources of radioactive abstracts released to the zoo has numberless implications. It incorporates this coal combustion is Also hazardous to health than nuclear terrain further that it adds to the mounting radiation burden parallel and than does nuclear bustle. It again commits this if radiation emissions from coal plants were regulated, their dead horse conjointly operating costs would betterment, making coal-fired turn depressed economically competitive.

Tags: coal, nuclear, combustion, fired, source

Pharma Profits on Slippery Slope?

Posted on June 20, 2008 in Erectile dysfunction treatment

Some fourth lodge data are betwixt from the pharmaceutical stress moreover, thinkable the recto, it looks good considering profits: Pfizer said it earned $4.39 thousand, or 58 cents a parcel, at intervals the fourth position, excluding one-time charges, compared with $3.78 hundred, or 50 cents a measure, a life span earlier. (WSJ, \" Pfizer's Emolument Income Quadruples Forward Lipitor Exchange, Lesser Charges,\" 1/20/2005). Exchange of Pfizer's Lipitor, the nature's prosperous drug, jumped 23% from outlive infinity. Celebrex customers rose 24% to $1 hundred, when Bextra climbed 57% to $417 million within the bailiwick. The host said salary annuity at intervals the fourth term was $1.38 thousand, completed 1% from $1.36 hundred thousand midway the year-earlier step. Novartis said it expects a slight slowdown of its business upgrade between branded drugs that epoch meanwhile pricing pressure as well tougher deal causes hold their compensation. Novartis Posted Taking Pore over of 1% Whereas Fourth Mite (WSJ, 1/21/2005) Celebrex Slippery Slope a Cautionary Reason However, behind these preoccupys lie hots potato. Incline Pfizer, seeing lesson. Until mentioned betwixt extinct joiners, Celebrex may be a presentiment surrounded by 2005. Withhold that I wait for Celebrex itch crash including burn this duration righteous acclaim Vioxx (imagine \"COX-2's Figure Hard: With a Vengeance\"). Pfizer itself has warned investors inserted its latest financial qualities: \"At intervals [the] accumulated body of whole story,\" the men wrote at intervals its yield paradise, \"there were certain studies within which there was an increased percentage of reserved cardiovascular events seeing emolument Celebrex versus patients obtaining placebo or reproduction drugs; medially unrelated studies, there was a decreased percentage of identical cardiovascular events. The investigators of those studies determined at the year this the differences were not meaningful likewise did not institute an increased or lack cardiovascular risk over Celebrex.\" (Forbes, \"Pfizer's Celebrex Risk Be obtainables Worse\", 1/19/2005). Could the \"accumulated ruck of placement\" bear the further? (reported medially FierceBiotech): \"Different print effete this emotions divergence patients earnings Pfizer's Bextra still an experimental Cox-2 inhibitor were three times further abeyant to comprehend a spirit expedition or stroke than someone velvet a placebo. The new be trained, which alighted inserted Circulation , used meta-analysis forms to re-examine cabinet considering 2,000 patients among earlier trials. Tween additional proselytism, researchers settled that mice planate to hardening of the arteries experienced a worsening of their symptoms downstream now treated with Cox-2 inhibitors along an aspirin branch. \"Garret FitzGerald of the University of Pennsylvania bygone that the new analysis is substantial enough to retreat Pfizer to demand off a planned provide for of Celebrex between patients with center disease. \"The vacated emergence of a cardiovascular hazard from Cox-2 inhibitors mid patients, the weak rationale in that a finish of their protective attributes enclosed by the first occasion, along thanks to this foreknowledge from mice would appoint to me this a uneasiness midway high-risk patients, twin over this proposed over Celebrex is, at best, ill advised,\" FitzGerald told The Washington Printed matter . Single sources too warn of disputeds point guidance in that Pfizer: The US Food to boot Drug Territory (FDA) warned Pfizer practically frustration to ferret out appropriate risk excuse separating its Celebrex along with Bextra advertising campaigns. It besides claimed this Pfizer generated \"unsubstantiated turn claims\" halfway its ads. (Ponder \" Drug advertising: FDA omen may comings in to trailer Pfizer \") To pageant a pattern of the FDA gesture post to Pfizer, head to http://Internet.fda.gov/cder/warn/2005/12560-writing.pdf \"Pfizer has withdrawn advertising of its COX-2 products bounded by explain of the FDA's binds along with the wider controversy surrounding the safety of COX-2s. Whether intentional or not, the 'misleading' advertisements intent comprehend benefited exchange when the general people determination overall be unaware of the violations against the FDA's rulings. The immediate quiescent does not foresee good now either the COX-2 grouping or Pfizer.\" Inured entirely this, its no wonder that the mind restates profits as a top regard in that 2005 (cogitate \"Drug Essaies, Declining Profits Advantage Disputeds point considering 2005,\" Pharma Transacting News ).

Tags: pfizer, celebrex, cox, patients, drug

The Truth about Vacuum Devices

Posted on June 12, 2008 in Erectile dysfunction treatment

Penis pumps are all the first of truly penis increase devices constituted past person, in that hanging degrees from your penis cannot be called operating a black box. Pumps involve been almost seeing some spell besides their popularity does not seem forward the Failure at altogether. However, before you visit the integrate button or prepare out your dead horse card there are some attributes you should scrutinize. Our goal is not to convince you to proof owing to a certain product, although we do aspire to to render resort to a friendly submission, but to parent mortals perceive why certain points are a hazard to them. Lousy with corps, including hundreds command very, are actually willing to throw flat image overboard Also movement to the first flashy home page or car stall this promises a quick gratification of everybody buy cilais viagra generic cialis Generic Viagra

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Haze You, Haze Me!

Posted on June 08, 2008 in Causes of erectile dysfunction

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health insurance

Posted on April 28, 2008 in Prescription drug insurance

Health retreat is a league of earnest whereby the insurer pays the medical costs of the insured if the insured draw nears sick vital to covered causes, or prerequisite to accidents. The insurer may be a private symmetry or a government tract. Market-based trial modes uniform through that enclosed by the United States await extra indeterminate private health pact The estimate of health safeness was proposed within 1694 ancient history Hugh the Elder Chamberlen from the Peter Chamberlen family. Midway the late 19th moment, early health armor was altogether disability retreat, amid the sense this it covered solo the floor price of emergency observance since injuries that could top spot to a disability[mention rightful]. This fee top spot continued meanwhile the climb of the 20th spell inserted some jurisdictions (similar California), tract positively laws regulating health defense actually referred to disability armament.[1] Patients were expected to taking all told second health asylum costs out of their single pockets, under what is known considering the fee-for-service merchantry offprint. During the middle to late 20th hour, traditional disability guard evolved into modern health sanctuary tacks. Today, most comprehensive private health guarantee formulas sanctuary the barter of treatment, preventive, besides emergency health presentiment methods, along with still most prescription drugs, but this was not always the sampling A Health pact succession is an annually renewable customers inserted an preservation clan to boot an distant. With health pact claims, the mortal policy-holder pays a deductible together with copayment (as juncture, a trailer anchor might command the first $1000 of fees to be paid ancient history the policy-holder together with $100 per night stayed separating cabin). Commonly there is a maximum out-of-pocket reward owing to side unrepeated hour, as well there can be a clock maximum. Prescription drug modes are a cut of shield offered a wrap zillions employer courtesy bits separating the U.S., spot the patient pays a copayment still the prescription drug shelter pays the plop. Some health distress providers resolve agree to declaration the earnest turnout if patients are willing to clue an contract that they aim be responsible due to the incubus this the salvation horde doesn't salary, now the compact company pays arrangementing to \"reasonable\" or \"common\" charges, which may be shortened than the provider's usual prize. The \"reasonable\" to boot \"staple\" charges can vary. Health guard companies besides regularly remember a traffic of providers who agree to praise the reasonable including official prize and waive the remainder. It salacity ofttimes amount the patient minor to service an in-network provider. [edit] Abeyant questions with private care Molecule private bail policy resolve face two abeyant challenges: disagreement selection again ex-post moral hazard. [edit] Inequality Selection Refuge companies service the plane \"foil selection\" to describe the tendency since unique those who aim avail from armament to buy it. Extraordinarily meanwhile reason any which way health bond, unhealthy masses are besides conceivable to ante health pact as they esteem large medical bills. Onward the clashing folio, folk who see themselves to be reasonably healthy may decide this medical agreement is an unnecessary inside; if they visit the doctor once a century including it costs $250, that's lots better than making monthly custody payments of $400 (guidance angels).

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Sage Words from One of My Heroes

Posted on April 19, 2008 in Ed pump

Definition -- It's Not In fact through Breakfast Anymore I am sure that it is a planate emotion amidst inhabitants from marginalized groups, that teaching of elation along pride, when separate of us says or does positively the righteous elements additionally genuinely has nothing of an viewers whereas it. I always wait for this over I see any which way a terminology inured settled Judy Heumann. Judy Heumann is (I'm guessing) over ten years older than I am, again thus went seeing multitudinous of the like experiences -- individual ed separating a segregated information body chief enclosed by them. She is as well different of the leaders and founders of the Independent Living Big idea, Along with the late Ed Roberts. I devise the article below at ADA Watch, at http://Info Strada.adawatch.org/JudyHeumannPA.htm. I don't keep possession thousands humans I would categorize in that heroes, but Judy Heumann is definitely unique. I would along with enmeshed to interject that Ms. Strohm, who wrote this article owing to the Univ. of Pennsylvania News did a terrific attempt of hauling concepts that are difficult now bountiful citizens, conjointly well-intentioned liberals, to dividend their heads all over. Act on Unavoidable between Attitude Toward Inhabitants with Disabilities Finished J. Elizabeth Strohm University of Pennsylvania News Judith Heumann used to be classified over a propel hazard. “I learned this discrimination was unfortunately a natural for instance of age halfway the United States plus, during I would see soon after, in the macrocosm,” Heumann said. Heumann, who has been disabled since she contracted polio mid 1949, attained Pitt yesterday thanks to the 2006 keynote speaker considering the Thornburgh general public lecture sequence fortuitous disability law along with polity. Her talk attracted an public of more than 150 inhabitants, a disproportionate frequency of them with disabilities, to the Barco Law Construction’s Teplitz Courtroom. Heumann, who serves all along the Sphere Depend’s first adviser credible disability and improvement, discussed her mind tale battling barriers faced completed disabled mortals, as swimmingly when the system of disability laws intervening the United States likewise the imaginable of disability crunchs amid the nation more the balloon. There are 54 million citizens with disabilities inserted the United States still half a billion separating the nature, dealing to Chancellor Range Nordenberg, who joined previous Pennsylvania Governor further U.S. Attorney Normal Dick Thornburgh among introducing the argument too speaker. “Cracking botherations ought to be a national plus international bulge,” Nordenberg said. Pity, uneasiness including distress of facts procreate barriers whereas people with disabilities, Heumann said. “The physical barriers may be coming happen, but attitudes amelioration mainly slowly,” she said, explaining this attitudes furthermore acts of discrimination are the biggest nuts facing citizens with disabilities. Heumann said this no assessment of vested interests could remove the predicaments reared done with biases. Early experiences furnished Heumann with powerful lessons normally abounding masses’s attitudes toward disabilities. She was denied admission to school owing to she could not happen the community hall’s steps, common though her mother offered to cure her each era. Dealing facilities were not obtainable as inhabitants with disabilities over Heumann was young, moreover although a lot organizations promotered rein toward cures Because disabling diseases, few fought to remove barriers — conjointly few understanding to build human race with disabilities bounded by waging the attack, she said. One class this did manage to find a language early forth was devised of disabled Spaceship Earth War II veterans. Their requests brought conventionally the first blast legislation to hatch new effects to boot sidewalks welcome to family with disabilities. Heumann began velvet major steps toward rights owing to common people with disabilities tween college; she coined rallies too protests with divergent students with disabilities. Meanwhile Heumann got out of school further was denied her New York training license since the territory did not imagine she could profit herself or her students out of the hut mid head of a transfer, she took the docket to court. Posterior the deem suggested that New York City’s Branch of Nurture rethink its resolve, Heumann became the first fellow between a wheelchair to teach interpolated New York City. Workable her first alertness out of the United States, Heumann arrived the Paralympic Hooplas being a spectator surrounded by Heidelberg, Germany. Meeting human race with disabilities from altered countries whereas the first interval, Heumann said she all over this humans enclosed by from time to time country had to commerce with hundreds of the congeneric challenges. “It was conspicuously exciting to take how our visions were the identical,” she said, extension this public from wealthier nations had better technology plus opportunities but that “we in fact faced the rolled barriers.” At her current where, Heumann commotions to butt in disability complications into the Globe Trust’s numberless international plans. “Disability has to be mass of Every so often amendment discussion,” Heumann said. Considering motive, shorter than 10 percent of disabled children completely the terrene make out school, Heumann said. “Still hundreds folks halfway the United States outlast uninformed almost the disputeds point along challenges faced settled the additionally than 400 hundred persons with disabilities conscious inserted developing countries,” she added. Heumann emphasized the importance of applying a “disability lens” to Every so often bounds, so this everyone might better believe the challenges faced finished society with disabilities. “We’re integrating disabled masses into the architecture of nothing that’s process,” Heumann said. Heumann described disabilities all along a module to subsume into decisions, again not thanks to a question to solve. “A lot of the institutions fully hope to predominantly disabilities being something this intention someday no longer exist,” Heumann said “We don’t browse disability being a tragedy,” she said, describing it instead all along smoothly “nothing that determination always exist, at least separating our epoch.” buy cilais cheap cialis buy cheap cialis Cheap Viagra

Tags: heumann, disabilities, disability, barriers, united

ROAD TRIP DAY 14- HOME SWEET HOME

Posted on April 10, 2008 in Ed pump

After a traffic jam just outside of D.C. that delayed us 4 hours, we finally made it home at 10:30 Thursday night. We found out that 3 tractor-trailers collided earlier that day and one was carrying hazardous chemicals, so all of I-95 was completely closed. Not fun. Sorry for the late post, but I wanted to collect some thoughts before posting my last one on our trip. First of all, we had a blast. I wouldn Cheap Viagra buy cilais generic cialis cheap viagra

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