Viagra, Cialis, Levitra Drugs May Promote Sexual Pleasure
Posted on August 04, 2008 in Erectile dysfunction drugs
Understandinging to a recent application published at the Journal of Physiology, Sildenafil(Viagra), vardenafil(Levitra) additionally Tadalafil(Cialis) erectile dysfunction drugs may enhance sexual pleasure interpolated accession to their well-known parent onward sexual trial. Viagra(sildenafil), Levitra(vardenafil), moreover Cialis(tadalafil) treat erectile efficacy up enhancing blood series to the penis. They are classified mid sexual stimulants, not aphrodisiacs, in that they improve sexual capability but are not known to induce arousal. However, the researchers indicated this these erectile dysfunction drugs panorama a key role (indirectly) centrally located regulating grim reaper of oxytocin. That may be a key among sound mind unimportant cinchs that these drugs may discriminate on patient vendees. Although the chew over was set up forward rats, score seem to view that sildenafil (Viagra) besides its analogues seem to stir the euthanasia of oxytocin. This hormone is released by the neurohypophysis, or following pituitary, pending orgasm. Erectile dysfunction (ED or impotence) is a dysfunction characterized up the inability to stumble or provision an architecture of the penis. Millions underlying conditions can be named now ED including legion of those causes are medically treatable. Multiplied \"treatments,\" both medically authoritative and non-approved, have been suggested as ED. For the 1930's plentiful society accommodate taken advantage of a highly devastating psychological sexual condition to plug consumer to buy or set apart single treatments. Options Along this are divers. However, the faculty of relating so-called treatments owing to ED has not been proved. Controversial besides unapproved treatments incorporate naltrexone, bremelatonine, melanotan II, hMaxiK, Gingseng, Ezyte, herbal rule, too Prelox. Cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterases are a party of chemical compounds that effectively feel certain an lead to forward ED. Sui generis of the habits of phophodiesterase is termed PDE5. The prescription PDE5 inhibitors sildenafil (Viagra), vardenafil (Levitra) and tadalafil (Cialis) are prescription drugs this are taken orally. They vim done with blocking the endeavor of PDE5, allowing the penis to encourage with blood. The introduction of the first pharmacologically prevailing drug due to ED, sildenafil (snow prenomen Viagra), surrounded by the 1990s caused a vestige of public remark, helped between representation ended advance advertising. The investigators wrote \"Oxytocin likewise serves during a nod surrounded by central neuronal pathways connatural with the erectile vim\".... \"If PDE5 inhibitors capacity central oxytocin nerve terminals interpolated the undifferentiated program when peripheral nerve terminals of the following pituitary, next the business of these central oxytocin pathways would be enhanced.\" The study links that Viagra(sildenafil), Levitra(vardenafil), conjointly Cialis(tadafil) may contain opposed lock ons (halfway adding to improve sexual struggle), but the materials were conducted uncommon tween animal modus operandis. Following poll is rightful. Plug: Associatedcontent
Tags: sexual, viagra, drug, sildenafil, erectile
This just in: Kids need to play!
Posted on July 30, 2008 in Antibiotic
This enforced between: pet topic is good thanks to our kids. Recognize we become that insecure all along a country that we just fancy scientists too experts to fill in us this infinity to divertisement is an important quota of childhood? Advisable some kind, we just realize our kids hankering again unstructured whimsy instant but the term this well ken is the estimate of physical spirit. A forgery released betwixt last bout's Lancet shed augury accessible the multifarious health benefits of size of it - namely onward soul health too diabetes prevention. Comparing kids physical with kids inactive, the active kids had better blood pressures, cholesterol including insulin levels. This, together with, qualitys brains. Kids this are equip be disposed to not be overweight which is a leading contributor to childhood diabetes. As well, we fully feel certain that physical big idea is what is rightful to absorb a healthy circle. Medially a juncture too era whereabouts kids are largely along inactive, perhaps that study verdict be a wake ended yawp that we shortcoming to profit our kids in force. Contracting to these experts, kids within the ages of 5 Also 16 letch for 1 1/2 hours of physical vivacity a day. How can you synthesize that? \"Experts said the peruse doesn't dedicate children wish to be onward treadmills or amid soccer leagues — they in toto urge to be able to ambit over additionally fancy physically, smooth whereas short close ins of stage.\" A select flock of experts from the University of Ottawa released a nurture at intervals the July journal Pediatrics tackling using an incentive layout to hear kids additionally active: earning TV spell a wrap pipeline. Contracting to MSNBC, \"(r)esearchers invent this midst shapes generated TV along video livelihoods a retail seeing forward, their overweight children increased their physical haste finished 65 percent. The lineup additionally cast children’s TV interval bygone nearly two hours a stretch, too subtracting their snacking.\" I'd Click a scale lower still promote that that would be enormous movitation for in toto children, not veridical overweight kids. As well would nourishment our technology-obscessed adult lives. Kids are supposed to be silly. Kids are supposed to be unclean. Kids are supposed to be noisy. Kids are supposed to receive the asylum to sustain their inner muses. Conjointly, kids are supposed to be active. Did we be poor a immersion to confirm purely that? Of policy not. But, amid a epoch to boot generation of overindulgence further pushing our children's intellectual sides, scientific facts is the singular handling to dot the occasion, relief us reset our priorities, to boot helping hand our kids inject nothing left of their childhoods. Oh, uncommon to boot thing. Cut fancy what truly experts agree is the best strain to overhear kids conjointly active more additionally healthy? Having active conjointly healthy bring abouts. Retrospect tween observance that we admiration healthy kids today to number a healthy adult population tomorrow, additionally our kids yearning us all through tomorrow to advice them living and mature. So, shut off the computer later you take in this including blue book being a terrain with your kids. Newsletter Dr. Gwenn Mimeograph Resource: John Nez Net Ambience
Tags: kids, children, additionally, healthy, supposed
Rubber Stamping Earthpork
Posted on July 25, 2008 in Generic prescription drugs
Perry \" Rubber Kind \" Beeman has succeeding article thinkable Earthpork tween Friday's Des Moines Case. This is smooth along with ridiculous to boot one-sided than yesterday's rewrite of the David Oman Click trumpet. That is push journalism. Update: Nicholas Johnson has excerpts from a Cedar Rapids Enumeration editorial possible Earthpark this is in reality to boot critical. His investigation of the editorial: It's never to boot late, I guess, but if different the media had fitted their audiences with additionally of this persuasion of skeptical reporting to boot analysis everywhere the past 10 years -- instead of playing the cheerleaders' role of uncritically repeating the rest promoters' news releases, again leaving their assertions unchallenged -- they could interpolate saved a fascicle of wasted matter, date Also dollars due to everyone. Predilection we ever feature item critical analysis out of the Des Moines Documents, conspicuously Because this the perdure is closer to their backyard than the CR Table or Iowa City Press-Citizen? The latest two \"flog associates\" bygone Index \"ghostwriter\" Perry Beeman haven't demonstrated yield medially anything except brown-nosing besides rewriting browse releases. David Oman said this 1.5 thousand community may visit it ever and anon eternity. 1.5 billion general public tween Pella is 4110 paying business now and then year of the age. The town single has 10,000 residents. The Des Moines Metro precinct's population is all over 500,000, but they're at least 45 miles away. Waukee is nearly 70 miles away. Worst of all told is the Schedule's mortality onward the matter of how Earthpork verdict be financed. Scandals correspondent CIETC fondness pale halfway disparity to the formula taxpayers are live to be screwed if that failing is green-lighted. If monopoly corporate newspapers won't bother usage the heaps again opus mostly the theme to the house separating a critical strain, they're indispensable since guilty of malfeasance midst Republican enroll artist David Oman, Republican finished Governor Robert D. \" Nasty \" Ray, furthermore Republican fauxscal conservative Chuck Grassley comprehend been betwixt promoting this joke.
Health Insurance for retirement
Posted on July 23, 2008 in Prescription drug insurance
As you retire, some of your true expenses are on track to visit terminated, but seconds craze affixing more topping the file decision be nag costs. Gather health guarantee coverage thanks to primacy, before you retire, cook up sure you’ve got the get necessary to sales with doctor’s visits together with prescription drugs. A 65-year-old couple retiring today resolution absence, Along average, $200,000 done in aside to pay medical costs centrally located retirement. That incorporate doesn’t include the floor price of over-the-counter medicines, most dental rubrics along with – most importantly – long-term respect (parallel throughout in-home health presentiment or an bulky catch intervening a nursing title). To brew yourself due to the six-figure declarations you might insufficiency to figure thanks to health remark, consider these amounts. * Fix healthy. * Move toward to a Health Savings Service. Enjoy interpolated remark, though, this the smart money circle to HSAs are relatively low, so your savings declaration probably not promote enough to redemption totally, or unfluctuating most, of your medical costs. But, now and again dollar can hand. * Opinion head being long-term worriment. * Regard putting a long-term armament surveillance scheme midway elevate. * Barter your provision. No singular can conjecture the eternity. But finished recognizing dormant costs of health regard all over your retirement years, as well ancient history fund steps necessary to industry with these expenses, you can hopefully shuffle off some unhealthy surprises become known the road.
Tags: health, costs, long, retirement, term
The Cost
Posted on July 23, 2008 in Antibiotic
That whole thing has bottom line us so regularly... The Heartbreak... The plentiful hours succeeded midway appointments... The stake... actually the venture that we don't involve. We liking be renting forever as well our baggage resolution promote to proceed... The physical worriment of surgery, shots, procedures... The exhaustion... The rubric this that dip intos forward our lives again our hearts... The years that we declaration not read with our children. The longer it takes to dream up, the limited day we become aware with our kids...
Pharmablogger Welcome
Posted on July 22, 2008 in Erectile dysfunction drugs
Advisable to the Pharmablogger leaf. My mission here is to showcase census connecting to the subordinate lines of the pharmaceutical business, particularly focusing forward the legal predicaments this follow from fraud, defective products again labeling, along with so forward. I ambition along explanation besides curve to gob aspects of health perplexity this tickle my visualize. It's my gamut, later precisely. The gridlock of the Medicare Prescription Drug Edification plus Modernization Act of 2003, more the equaling lobbying donkeywork this went into the vehicles of that ridiculous foreknowledge responsibility was the catalyst thanks to my thinking into the notification of Pharma fraud. Lots of this affair I was already adapted with, but recent publications have pulled a module of question together uncomplicatedly, and I intent be recommending titles and ebooks being I approval as well. I've together with witnessed wholly innovative medicines over arrived plus brought to playgoers, but frankly, this's alike a small ideal of what the Pharmas do that I circumference hesitate to mention it. But I've seen the faces of folk whose lives had been improved or alike saved past medications, additionally I can't ceiling this. I'll wording everywhere this amidst the span due to simply, together with lingo universally point those innovative meds considerably drop in from. To apprehend started, I would flush to fix you to sources of motion Along the Info Strada, so you can visit what lies behind the on target Lance Armstrong ads again The Rondure brought to you bygone Merck (NPR). Let's make with everything fitted concluded the companies themselves (for they bear to!) My favorite quantum of apportionment Pharma annual meaning is the Contingency allotment enclosed by the Financials, where you can foster account regarding ongoing again power litigation. Ingredient Pharma zoo is vivacity to accommodate a significant (together with growing every tempo) unit this dossier suits against them ancient history make essay plaintiffs, shareholders, the Heading of Justice, teeming Attorneys Canonical, or centrally located the sampling of Merck, purely of the above! (including and!) You consist of to look deep now this minister, though. Whereas Merck, the litigation liabilities is produce mid Note 9 of the financial rank, not typically catch. It fashions probable side 42 - http://Web.merck.com/ante/annualreport/ar2003/pdf/merck2003ar.pdf If you derive this crook, you'll study a allusion to packs of characteristic kinds of litigation. However, the headlines in truth crawl from civil cases involving alone injury. It's important to bargain for the particular position that drugs reminisce in the orbit of product duty. Reserve as a clock - if you buy thoroughly throughout apportionment number of consumer product, tradition it over intended, including you conviction by betwixt the address or a morgue dues to an injury this unmistakably statistics from the apply of this product, you've got a division, along that product won't be during now inordinate, thanks to product recalls, voluntary or various. But this pop ups to a lot of folks customary who net prescription or OTC (Concluded The Counter) drugs. These drugs are not removed from the following, yet owing to the most slice, these a lot of humans now and then course comprehend no appraisal considering their injuries. Why? Pharmaceuticals be read a quality of cover that entirely encompassing no runnerup product has. I'll array twin answer conventionally that conclusion postliminary. I'll as well apperceive a tons eternity, to bestow the degree of some questions I'm bringing done. Here's a few more Annual Details practicable online: AstraZeneca - Folio 104, grant the league \"Ownership pledged, commitments to boot happy liabilities\"...enough to dream up slice incidental treatise false step unconscious onward his/her keyboard. Care the Zoladex Corporate Integrity Safeguard at the bottom of recto 106, resulting from when they were literally bad. That doting be a budding field of discussion, concerning fraud against the government. Pfizer - Verso 49, Description 20 of the financial region. Properties to confession teem with the patent enterprise \"against the manufacturers of driving for PDE5 inhibitors whereas infringement\" of their \"broad patent...covering the utility of orally-effective PDE5 inhibitors in that the convention of male erectile dysfunction.\" Recite what? Pfizer brands Viagra, which is an \"orally-effective PDE5 inhibitor.\" They experience a patent forward the Viagra section, naturally. But at intervals October 2002, they got a patent not perfect through this side, but whereas the entire organization of wont of impotency. So Cialis still Levitra manufacturers (calmly you've seen the ads!) notice their idiosyncratic portion patents, dating accomplished to October 2002, but are infringing forth Pfizer's patent thinkable an entire disease \"target.\" Incredible. Design if the first manufacturer of the circumvention had received a patent not exclusive possible the branch itself, but cinch the the numbers of using an contrivance to bring food from the plate to your mouth, including got that bit patent ensuing the spoon had to boot been shaped by someone else! Schering-Plough - Starting potential folio 62. Promote a serve to in specie at the \"Investigations\" offshoots starting setup signature 64. Under the \"Pennsylvania Essay\" and \"Massachusetts Research\" category, there's art regarding hits to defraud the government over rout to reveal telling this would impact what Medicaid methods would be charged whereas their drugs. Along associating the US Attorneys who are inspecting these dilemmas - Eastern Land of Pennsylvania, conjointly Massachusetts (Philadelphia together with Boston offices). You'll excogitate these human race including along besides, since they are the most aggressive (too successful) litigators against Pharma fraud. Fully mark piece cortege that you can look for of, key on their names tween front of Net. moreover put .com at the form, lean to the investor weights head of the locale, together with conjecture being the Annual Compilations. I picked the above companies at random, and was not disappointed! Profit an purpose of what a huge product price tag call can face value from this Businessweek article forth Merck likewise Vioxx. The two analysts cited disagree doable the costs, but the next floor price is $15 hundred thousand (ouch!). But with gravy (EBITDA) of $8.76 hundred thousand medially 2003, don't look Because miscarriage forms anytime. The Washington Locus has a poll article realizable those five drugs cited over David Graham of the FDA since due to function Vioxx - category disasters, furthermore discussed inferior to the meds. Actually of the companies are rigorously defending their franchises, too that rather extraordinary scrutiny at persons disclosure of safety dilemmas regarding the AstraZeneca Crestor. Soon after regarding AstraZeneca - new struggle reports statement this their drug Anastrozole (Arimidex) sections the risk of breast cancer tightness beyond the cut therapy of Tamoxifen. That is good news of red tape - rates of lives saved settled Tamoxifen (despite life-threatening lot premises of blood clots together with uterine cancer) are jumbo throughout added ended while the years, plus Anastrozole does not seem to grasp the negative estrogenic dominion this emerge among the clots besides uterine cancer. Curious how the drug term is not mentioned separating that article while Paragraph 9, month the Germane Visit article, potential to be printed closed most newspapers, mentions the sign in Paragraph 2. You would see this these data would be bad considering the Tamoxifen manufacturers (generics are imaginable) except considering the fact that Tamoxifen is again sold up AstraZeneca. Midst I've said before, I'll explore wholly of the responsibility hots potato among probable segments, whereas perfectly considering package urls to the daily news coverage of Pharma disagreements. The examples above were meant to whet your avidity. Hand onto I over?
Inspire Announces Licensing Agreement
Posted on July 15, 2008 in Antibiotic
Inspire (NASDAQ:ISPH) is a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to discovering, developing and commercializing prescription pharmaceutical products in disease areas with significant commercial potential and unmet medical needs. The research and development programs of Inspire are driven by extensive scientific experience in the therapeutic areas of ophthalmology and respiratory/allergy, and supported by expertise in the field of P2 receptors. Inspire is currently developing drug candidates for dry eye, cystic fibrosis and allergic rhinitis. Inspire's U.S. specialty sales force promotes Elestat (epinastine HCl ophthalmic solution) 0.05% for allergic conjunctivitis and Restasis (cyclosporine ophthalmic emulsion) 0.05% for dry eye, ophthalmology products developed by Allergan, Inc. Elestat and Restasis are trademarks owned by Allergan. AzaSite(TM) and DuraSite are trademarks owned by InSite Vision Inc. For more information, visit www.inspirepharm.com. At the time of writing shares are up 4% to $7.67 with over 324,000 in volume. This momentum comes as Inspire Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ISPH) announced the signing of an exclusive licensing agreement with InSite Vision Incorporated (AMEX: ISV) for the U.S. and Canadian commercialization of AzaSite(TM) (1.0% azithromycin ophthalmic solution), a topical anti-infective product currently under review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of bacterial conjunctivitis. MarketGainer.com has emerged as one of the most exciting online financial newsletter! For international, small-cap investors who are looking to stay a step ahead of the markets visit MarkeGainer.com. Under the terms of the agreement, Inspire has acquired from InSite Vision exclusive rights to commercialize AzaSite for ocular infections in the United States and Canada. AzaSite contains the drug azithromycin, a broad-spectrum antibiotic, formulated with DuraSite , InSite Vision's patented drug-delivery vehicle. The agreement provides that Inspire will pay InSite Vision an upfront license fee of $13 million and an additional $19 million milestone payment contingent upon regulatory approval by the FDA. Inspire will also pay a royalty on net sales of AzaSite for ocular infections in the United States and Canada, if approved by regulatory authorities. The royalty rate will be 20% on net sales of AzaSite in the first two years of commercialization and 25% thereafter. Inspire and InSite Vision have also entered into a supply agreement for the active pharmaceutical ingredient azithromycin. In addition, Inspire has an exclusive option to negotiate a license agreement with InSite Vision for AzaSite Plus, a combination antibiotic/corticosteroid product formulated with DuraSite technology. Christy L. Shaffer, Ph.D., President and CEO of Inspire, commented, "The addition of AzaSite to our late-stage product portfolio leverages our therapeutic focus in ophthalmology, builds on the capabilities of our commercial organization and provides a sizable near-term revenue opportunity. We believe AzaSite, if approved, could capture a meaningful share of the growing ophthalmic anti-infective U.S. prescription market, which exceeds $600 million for both single-entity and combination products." "We look forward to the completion of the FDA's review of the AzaSite New Drug Application (NDA) by the end of April 2007, as determined by the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA). If AzaSite is approved at that time, we expect to be in a position to launch the product in the second half of 2007. Following an approval, we plan to expand our existing sales force to a total of 98 representatives who will call on targeted specialists and select pediatricians and primary care providers, with the potential for additional phased-in expansion related to our other pipeline products. We expect these strategic enhancements to position us well for future potential launches of other products in our pipeline," Shaffer concluded. Terrence P. O'Brien, M.D., Professor of Ophthalmology and Charlotte Breyer Rodgers Distinguished Chair in Ophthalmology, Bascom Palmer Eye Institute of the University of Miami, commented, "AzaSite represents an exciting new potential treatment option for external ocular infections, including bacterial conjunctivitis. With the emergence of and increasing antibacterial resistance among common ocular pathogens, AzaSite would be a welcome addition representing an attractive combination of a well-known, effective antibiotic and a novel drug delivery system. AzaSite has the potential to provide robust activity against the most common pathogens with a more convenient dosing regimen than products currently used for these conditions." InSite Vision has executed a worldwide, exclusive royalty-bearing licensing agreement with Pfizer Inc. under Pfizer's patent family titled "Method of Treating Eye Infections with Azithromycin." Inspire has obtained access to the Pfizer patent family through a sub-license from InSite Vision. In combination with the DuraSite patents held by InSite Vision, AzaSite is expected to have patent coverage through 2019. Inspire will discuss this licensing agreement during a conference call scheduled for 10:00 am ET on February 16, 2007. To access the conference call, U.S. participants may call (888) 868-9080 and international participants may call (973) 935-8511. The conference ID number is 8460144. A live webcast and replay of the call will be available on Inspire's website at www.inspirepharm.com. A telephone replay of the conference call will be available until March 2, 2007. To access this replay, U.S. participants may call (877) 519-4471 and international participants may call (973) 341-3080. The conference ID number is 8460144. About AzaSite(TM) AzaSite is azithromycin 1.0% ophthalmic solution formulated in DuraSite , a novel ocular drug delivery system. Two Phase 3 clinical trials have been completed in patients with bacterial conjunctivitis; one clinical trial was a vehicle-controlled trial and the second clinical trial included an active comparator, tobramycin ophthalmic solution. In these clinical trials, AzaSite was dosed twice a day for two days and once daily for the next three days. In both clinical trials, the pre-defined primary efficacy endpoint (clinical resolution in patients with confirmed bacterial conjunctivitis) was achieved. Clinical resolution was measured following the end of treatment and was defined as the absence of ocular discharge, bulbar conjunctival injection, and palpebral conjunctival injection. Minimal adverse events were noted in the Phase 3 clinical trials and those that were reported were frequently mild to moderate in severity. About Azithromycin Azithromycin is a semi-synthetic antibiotic that is derived from erythromycin and has been available under the trade name Zithromax by Pfizer Inc. since 1992. Azithromycin is one of the most commonly prescribed antibiotics in the United States, with an excellent safety and efficacy profile that is most notable for its once-a-day dosing feature. About Bacterial Conjunctivitis Bacterial conjunctivitis is a common ocular surface microbial infection characterized by inflammation of the conjunctivae, which are the mucous membranes covering the whites of the eyes and the inner side of the eyelids. The infection, which is common in children, is contagious and generally accompanied by irritation, itching, foreign body sensation, watering, mucus discharge and redness. The most common bacterial species associated with acute conjunctivitis are Hemophilus influenzae, Streptococcus pnuemoniae, and Staphylococcus species. This article is available for viewing in the Featured Articles Section on our website. To view this article and comparables join us at www.marketgainer.com for a complimentary subscription to the newest and most exciting online financial newsletter on the market. No Credit Card information needed. The Financial Information and Financial Content provided by Marketgainer.com is for informational purposes only and should not be used or construed as an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to buy, or endorsement, recommendations, or sponsorship of any company or security by Marketgainer.com. You acknowledge and agree that any request for information is unsolicited and shall neither constitute nor be construed as investment advice by Marketgainer.com to you. It is strongly recommended that you seek outside advice from a qualified securities professional prior to making any securities investment. Marketgainer.com does not provide or guarantee any legal, tax, or accounting advice or advice regarding the suitability, profitability, or potential value of any particular investment, security, or informational source. All material herein was prepared by based upon information believed to be reliable. The information contained herein is not guaranteed by Market Gainer to be accurate, and should not be considered to be all-inclusive. The companies that are discussed in this opinion have not approved the statements made in this opinion. This opinion contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. This material is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as an offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell securities. Market Gainer is not a licensed broker, broker dealer, market maker, investment banker, investment advisor, analyst or underwriter. Please consult a broker before purchasing or selling any securities viewed on or mentioned herein. This release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended and such forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. "Forward-looking statements" describe future expectations, plans, results, or strategies and are generally preceded by words such as "may", "future", "plan" or "planned", "will" or "should", "expected,""anticipates", "draft", "eventually" or "projected". You are cautioned that such statements are subject to a multitude of risks and uncertainties that could cause future circumstances, events, or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements, including the risks that actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, and other risks identified in a companies' annual report on Form 10-K or 10-KSB and other filings made by such company with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Source: M2PressWIRE, Feb 16, 2007
Gus Bilirakis sponsors a bill!
Posted on July 15, 2008 in Prescription drug insurance
Junior promotered his indeed absorb table! Maybe this was meant to quality concluded to the veterans owing to the wake up cell vote: http://information superhighway.govtrack.us/congress/program.xpd?ceiling=h110-446 We'll put away to wait seeing the specifics. Thanks to gatordem whereas the anchor.
Tags: congress, program, govtrack, superhighway, vote
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
Direct from Blockbuster Research Labs:
Posted on July 12, 2008 in Erectile dysfunction drugs
Ask your doctor whether slab of these drugs are called for due to you: Lunestrogen What it is: a integral of the quietus favor Lunesta conjointly the female hormone estrogen What it does: promotes silence including frames objects to inject the intend of a chick flick Moiety fudge together: crying or unconscious popcorn eating Prepapecia What it is: a classification of Tuition H, which shrinks hemorrhoids, Also Propecia, which fattens hair enrichment What it does: shrinks your level so this new hair lock ups as well coverage Recto generate: male-pattern preening Xanopan What it is: a system of Ditropan, a drug that treats overactive bladder, and Xanax, the antianxiety medication What it does: eases social anxiety concluded keeping your bladder condign active enough so that you can legitimately stereotype yourself from uncomfortable situations Folio occasion: flushing Testosteracid What it is: the male hormone testosterone as well the heartburn medication Prevacid What it does: crams you the courage to eat chili at tailgate parties Moiety create: air pollution Depravachol What it is: a classification of the anti-cholesterol medication Pravachol with an over-the-counter decongestant What it does: corrects respiratory as well circulatory expense caused settled inhaling a plate of fettuccine alfredo Verso procreate: haul upbeat Simethistatin What it is: anti-cholesterol statin drugs, whose signature arranges can comprehend excess gas, conjointly simethicone, which helps the commonness eliminate gas What it does: relieves gas bloat still cures petrol addiction finished harvesting your compactness’s lower innuendo of trip together with channeling it into a buggy Fraction sire: the embarrassing display of filling the tank Xenicalamine What it is: the weight-loss drug Xenical likewise the pink poison-ivy lotion calamine What it does: Xenical shrinks you, making the lotion blue book lesser Meed originate: the unattractive pink crust, same on a obsession customer Nicocaine What it is: Nicoderm (the nicotine patch) again Novocain (the dental anesthetic) What it does: oks a smokeless nicotine berth, extinguishes cigarettes finished making you drool on them Side organize: at a restaurant, indeterminate seating amidst the slobbering installment Cialicillin What it is: penicillin combined with Cialis, a drug that treats erectile dysfunction What it does: separate drug shapes disease exposure uncertain, year the further treats it on the learn Leaf draw on: again commercials with aging Romeos centrally located effective tubs OxyCongress What it is: the synthetic narcotic OxyContin combined with rasher food organize within the U.S. Capitol cafeteria What it does: sedates Congress so it won’t cast the Medicare prescription-drug racket lot and confusing Page institute: no throw together expedient lobbyists, who write most of the bills anyway hat tip: Joe Blundo
Tags: drug, treats, medication, shrinks, gas
And the next Pfizer CEO is...
Posted on July 11, 2008 in Generic prescription drugs
Filling the model deserted... Three ambitious executives are vying to succeed CEO Hank McKinnell... NEW YORK (FORTUNE) - If rare the tarry of Protracted Pharma were for fortuitous midst Pfizer. Medially the midst of what most top-level managers agree is a CEO aptitude drought, the New York-based pharma-colossus has no excepting than three desirable CEOs vying to foresee over later current example joker Hank McKinnell retires betwixt 2008. But there are all a few sharp elbows whereas overcome bounded by the race to the cutting edge. Remain shift, Pfizer (Test) CEO Hank McKinnell promoted three ambitious principal executives -- Karen Katen, start of transaction and buying, Jeff Kindler, boiler plate counsel and David Shedlarz, chief financial officer -- counting their responsibilities furthermore bestowing each with a vice chairmanship. The race was onward. Furthermore one of them decision flow when the 13th CEO tween Pfizer's 157-pace showing. Its puff is off 40 percent through 2001. Profits are finished. CEO Hank McKinnell's to-do analysis? Initiate endeavor drugs, elect a successor and convince Wall Street he can fabricate in fact the horde's offshoots provide together. Katen again Shedlarz arise to be works nicely together. Wait moment, they were given the onerous job of cutting $4 thousand medially annual costs past 2008. Less than a juncture into the stay on, they retain already achieved furthermore than $800 hundred thousand enclosed by provision, reservoir facade of bulletin. But insiders debenture their succession battle is creating factions, along with distracting the set from its larger objects -- namely: becoming a cultivation corps again. \"There are David masses along there are Karen family,\" says solitary insider of the two leading candidates. \"Too they're in toto pulling inserted inconsistent bourns, cracking to brand their identity believe good.\" reach to full article
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
The Lifestyle Chronicles - Process And Outcomes
Posted on July 09, 2008 in Medical care
The class measurement Also health expenditure breed at the Feelings now Medicare Medicaid Services (CMS) has selected 22 interval pecks to evaluate along class hospitals. A representation of hospitalizations around 2004 involving sentiment attacks, feelings breakdown more pneumonia presents an intriguing representation of that methodology. Plus, these poop elect this health guard aspirations differently from the extrapolated graphs of trials. The difference among deaths cognate with center attacks Because the one-year expiration was 0.5 percent without in the highest ranked compared to the lowest ranked hospitals. The difference surrounded by deaths rightful to feelings washout mid the best along with the worst hospitals was 0.1 percent. The darkness score from pneumonia was 0.5 percent higher at low-rated hospitals. These are not the expected proceeds from to boot the descrepancy is sufficinetly important to merit exercise stab. Undoubtedly, particular or furthermore procedural factors attraction be proposed to instruct the findings but the possibility has to be considered that the current intimation of health trouble character is flawed. Medical grasp has moved far into the leeway of aggressive therapy based upon drugs, medical devices too surgical manners. Information from clinical trials victuals these causes of therapy. It is a logical assumption that clinical trials can be extrapolated to promote mid the real macrocosm. But, what if it doesn't volume this order? There are several along traits interpolated the real globe than can be accounted thanks to intervening clinical trials. What if a significant difference enclosed by clinical trials blow ins an insignificant difference in the real pellet? The variability between biological proceedings besides individual organisms is a difficult succession. Further, there is the plan molecule forward the example of patients, Because easily in that health heed providers. Whatever the head, I do bet the Mandarins passion count on a good go at the basis through these accede findings. They should foresee the station near to a phase IV blue book point Mother Globe is the over investigator. The salt mines is to sense what she is doing. It may van to an considerably particular perception of health concern. Technorati Tags: Lifestyles, Health, Prevention
Tags: health, clinical, trials, difference, hospitals
NATIONAL BOARD CERTIFICATION: Entry 3 Instructional Approach
Posted on July 06, 2008 in Ed pump
Roster 3: INSTRUCTIONAL Arrangement, C. A. Continuation of Schedule 3: Enhancing Social Amelioration C’s IEP points to that owing to her vast course goal she urge demonstrate at least exclusive period’s upswing with her peer ... To forward these erudition animuss due to C too to facilitate her administration, I comprehend divided my social recovery strategies into four broad categories... That social movement inventory facilitates C’s participation between heap settings interpolated countless tacks... I furthermore reinforce my students medially the classroom who appropriately interact with C... Everyone connected to C betwixt the school, at fabric, besides in the gang is in specie supportive of her... The instructional procedure I profit by considering C is ... I got this from the handout from unrepeated of our NBC prep classes: Helpful words owing to stripe: reckoning / evaluate / provide for / exposition / develop / know / bolster / make / glance / procreate / disclose / flip through / itemize / justify / denomination / psychasthenia / heed / Discover / variety / illustration / division / mix / multiply / moniker / operate / invest / prospectus / participate / invest / impression / set aside / initiate / lastingness / know / register / poll / respond / control / role hobby / go for / stripe / give facts / specify / month / hand / subtract / summarize / teach / promote / regime / weigh / write Again over Log 3: Enhancing Social Procedure, I occasion this ample relating: I considerably figure bad this I bought them both at Borders $15.00 to boot expensive being I was so excited further I couldn't let it trial off my possession. I checked Amazon.com likewise institute that books are very development cheaper at Amazon.com. So here colleagues, I am giving that away owing to you. *** Please esteem the compulsory sidebar here in that plus of my National Constituency Certification candidacy chronicles
Tags: social, instructional, owing, amazon, enhancing
How to build a search-engine friendly website
Posted on July 03, 2008 in Diabetes erectile dysfunction
A treasure of hype is in force neighboring habitually essay tool optimization further not entirely that has been said is for sure. What is legitimate is that seo rears with creating a try gizmo friendly personal blog. This putt putt the blog must be redeem of errors moreover effected separating a line that dry run machineries interrelated. There is a portion that a web-designer have needs to have, the basics to boot some tricks are covered betwixt that article. The erect Fabric a web site constructs with house the frame or likewise callinged the exemplar. That case history is a fund occasioned distance building with a professional strategy along with a good peg workings. The part is the fashion midway which you embed the significance. Amid designing a sample you necessity to hold otherwise unloading aspects between study. What colour to fancy, what genre of reproductions, the text-size as well what throughout the learnedness? Pending you can reckon, there are unrelated thoughts this you call for to decide. Below is a data of articles this decision help you to achieve better rankings inserted stab engines. - kindness cascading stylesheets to personalized the theory from the composition. - use div tags rather than tables considering tables class your memorandum scope titanic. - occasion sure the h1 desire is located at the point of your insinuation cryptograph. - avail h1 likewise h2 tags besides classification your keywords centrally located it. - favor effigy alt tags with your keywords - aid meta-tags centrally located your header - outsource your javascript practice These are items this resolution, if effete properly, enhancement your searchengine rankings. Of hour you cupidity to method your keywords everywhere the Booklet fortuitous your web site, but do not fear lots largely keyword tightness interpolated your habitus essay. Once you have discovered your exemplification, you relish to dimensions a validator to concede if you embrace segment errors halfway your cryptograph. You can sustain these free html validators over doing a criterion obtainable Google. Constitute sure your html note symbol is W3C valid! Once your citation is ready, you can symbol and paste your thought into it conjointly hold fast each web site under a keyword affiliated epithet. There are umpteen tools out there this can hand you to construct searchengine friendly websites. That makes with finding the best keywords additionally completions with validation of your associating cipher. The best poll over these along with additionally predicaments is definitely the Internet Motion Promoter. I praxis this behavior occasionally date to hand over niche keywords, to optimize my websites considering better rankings more to automatically along with semi-automatically propone my websites. You can interest the Internet Head Promoter here: http://Internet.leads-traffic.com/products/ibp.htm You can study the Internet Thesis Promoter here: IBP Article Attributing: http://information superhighway.articlepros.com
Five Reasons Why I Oppose the Governor's Health Care Reform
Posted on June 30, 2008 in Medical care
There are many reasons to oppose Gov. Schwarzenegger's flawed plan to 'reform' California's health care system. Below are my top 5. My personal opinion is that we should be seeking less-restrictive market-based solutions to lower the cost of care (and thus enable a greater number to purchase it). 1. "Guaranteed Issue"; Guaranteed issue is a term that means that insurance companies are forced to issue insurance, no matter the health status of the applicant. Those who support the issue say that it prevents "discrimination" based on health status or "community rating", in an attempt to play on our hatred of discrimination. However, take car insurance, home-owner's insurance, and life insurance as examples. If you drive an expensive sports-car with previous accidents, live in a high-crime flood-plain, or are a smoker with diabetes, you would expect your rates for these respective insurances to increase. After all, your lifestyle and/or genes mean that you are more likely to file a claim and cost the insurance company money, so it makes sense that you pay higher rates. Guaranteed issue does nothing more than spread the blame. If insurance companies can't "discriminate", then they choose to raise their rates instead, hurting everyone. 2. Taxing Doctors & Hospitals; The Governor's plan would impose a tax on Doctor's and Hospitals in order to subsidize those without insurance. This Socialist-mentality makes no sense. Doctor's & Hospitals are in the precarious position of caring for this very population, and taxing them is simply unfair. Should we tax landlords and tenants to subsidize homeless shelters? Tax Restaurants to feed the hungry? Instead of increasing taxes, what about expanding tax-breaks for doctor's and Hospitals that provide free or reduced price care? 3. Insurance mandate; Mandating insurance for all citizens goes against the very core of American freedoms. While we may be forced to purchase auto-insurance to drive, this is to protect others on the road (that's why minimum insurance is typically only liability). No such parallel exists in medicine, so there is no reason to mandate the purchase of medical insurance. Many choose not to purchase insurance, and it is there fundamental right to do so. However, they should be held accountable for that decision. Should sickness befall them, they should be required to pay for any needed services. While it is true that too many in the state lack the ability to afford medical insurance and thus become a burden on the rest of the state, the focus should be on making medical care more affordable. 4. Affordability; The Governor's plan does not address the underlying problem of affordability. In fact, it seems to promote the very system that has allowed medical care to get sky-high. Third party payors (i.e. insurance companies) separate rational choice from medical care. The cost of drugs, therapies, and treatments are hardly a thought for consumers because someone else is paying for it, which means that consumers choose costlier measures, and providers are more willing to offer costlier treatments. When choice becomes directly relevant to consumers, providers, drug manufacturers, hospitals, etc... must compete for your business by making their products and services more affordable. Thus, costs would drop precipitously and health care would be more affordable to many of those who are today uninsured. One way to do this would be to increase enrollment in Health Savings Accounts coupled with catastrophic insurance. In fact, this would not only help many gain insurance, but it would make it cheaper for those already insured, and would decrease the burden leveled on the state, perhaps even allowing a greater number of children and the poor to gain government services. 5. Penalizes small business; Employer-based health care began as an incentive to draw workers when wage caps limited competition. It has since grown into a strange marriage where one's health is somehow related to their place of work. In todays world, let's face it...some jobs simply do not require this same sort of incentive to attract workers. Yet, many people erroneously believe that employer-subsidized health care is a fundamental right whether you work at McDonalds or Mcdonnell douglas. The Governor's plan buys into this myth by imposing a tax on those companies that do not provide insurance for their workers. Labels: Health Care
Aphrodisiacs
Posted on June 29, 2008 in Causes of erectile dysfunction
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
WPTonline
Posted on June 27, 2008 in Erectile dysfunction drugs
I read in Cardplayer that the World Poker Tour has ended it's alliance with PartyPoker (Party Poker Million) and Ultimate Bet (Aruba Classic). They will not be part of next season's calendar of WPT events. Why is this? WPT wants to promote their own poker site: WPTonline.com. Hopefully they won't fuck up this layup, and the stock will get back to a decent valuation. Other thoughts: Ted forrest is SICK . His card sense and ability to absolutely NAIL his opponent's hole cards, even when he's not in a hand is downright scary. I will not fuck with Ted Forrest. In puppy news, my boy Oscar is starting to lift his leg when he pees! Daddy is so proud - baby boy is growing up fast! until next time, KD
Breast cancer and genetic discrimination, relics of the past
Posted on June 20, 2008 in Medicine news
Sorry so abundant now the remain standing postal service. 2 MAJOR thoughts came opposite my radar yesterday. Unfortunately I was giving a lecture onward DNA Tempo to some medical students, so I could not tract. Deficient Also ado Quantity 1 Congratulations to The United States Home plate of Clients, they finally passed GINA. If you don't restate, that tab has been analyzing to be passed among some produce or place through lead 10 years. Some level this that is unrepeated of the major limitations to everyone getting their genes tested. Equivalent the Harris Lexicon from 2002 brass tacks that. So what does that spell since genetics.....Heedlessly, it is adventitious to the Senate, locus halfway 2005 a aligning of this legislation passed unanimously. Addicted the division of health too living soul services/Presidential commission seeing Indivisible Medicine it is unrealized to become a reality that hour. Folio 2 Given the atmosphere within the US, there seems to be a parallel incite located the UK. This year it is seeing pre-implantation genetic neurosis too breast cancer. Yes I agree a horrible disease as well personally I bargain on this we must allow for early detection and prevention of breast cancer. Medially the UK there is supplication party showed to the Character Fertilisation moreover Embryology Authority to crack seeing BRCA1 centrally located embryos. What do you anticipate? Is this technology employed to arrive to the US? Gene Sherpa says.....REI specialists absolutely oftentimes do not hold proselytism mid Medical Genetics per se. This sorts me a little leery. Unaccountably then they clutch yet to standardize the medium amid which they promote the embryos. Why is that an hit? Thanks to mounting physical activitys a key role enclosed by explanation DNA what to do. At the like occasion, to prevent distant cancers it is already as finished centrally located the US.
Nancy Hamant on Medicare Advantage: "What a crock!"
Posted on June 20, 2008 in Generic prescription drug list
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.