Cheap Cialis Blogger | Search results for "shows"

Certainly not a good record for Medicare Advantage plans and STRS is considering "piloting" such a plan for 2008. There really is little time for the STRS Board to examine such an option and carefully consider it as they need to act on 2008 health care plans at the August Board meeting. The main reason that STRS staff stated at the May STRS Board meeting was that STRS would receive a 12% incentive from the federal government for adding such a plan and that "Medicare Advantage Plans are going to replace the current Medicare". Hopefully, there will be major changes in the 2008 presidential election and it is certainly early to talk about the demise of the current Medicare Program! ~ Nancy Hamant Who Gets the Advantage? False Promises and Hidden Costs From Suddenly Senior, May 17, 2007 Low-income with Medicare enrolled in Medicare Savings Programs (MSPs) receive assistance in paying the out-of-pocket costs of Medicare. Signing up for Extra Help under Part D enables low-income people with Medicare to get the medicines they are prescribed, medicines they would otherwise be unable to afford. Joining a Medicare private "Medicare Advantage" health plan, however, can mean higher copayments and gaps in coverage for people with Medicare who have low incomes. Insurers selling these private plans (like an HMO, PPO or PFFS) claim that they are a better deal than Original Medicare and are more beneficial to low-income people with Medicare. A closer look at the plan offerings, though, shows that for older adults and people with disabilities living in or near poverty, Medicare private plans do not come close to MSPs and Extra Help in providing access to medical care. Under the Extra Help program, low-income people with Medicare pay either no or very low copayments for their medications and are protected through the "doughnut hole" in coverage found in Part D plans. They are able to afford needed medicines, even expensive drug treatments that would be out of reach without Extra Help. Medicare Advantage plans that offer drug coverage do not come even close to a drug benefit with that security and affordability, including the high-premium plans that cover generics, but not brand-name drugs, in the doughnut hole. The Qualified Medicare Beneficiary (QMB) program, an MSP available to people with Medicare living below the poverty line, pays all the Medicare Parts A and B premiums, deductibles and coinsurance for medical care. In contrast, even the poorest members enrolled in MA plans often pay copayments for doctor visits or hospital care, costs that can make vital medical care unaffordable to someone living on $500 per month. Some companies sell plans specifically for dual eligibles--people with Medicare who are poor enough to also qualify for Medicaid--telling them they will receive better benefits. Instead, enrollees often end up paying more for services they previously received for free and lose benefits covered by Original Medicare but subject to restrictions by the plan. Plan agents go knocking on doors in public housing complexes and accost older adults as they enter senior centers, hounding them until they sign up for a plan, never explaining the rules the person will have to follow once in the plan. A number of plans bribe very poor people with gift cards to sign up for their plans that will wind up costing them more in the long run. Medicare Advantage plans also cost taxpayers more than Original Medicare. Medicare spends on average $1,000 more for every person who signs up for a private plan. In 2007, overpayments will total $7.5 billion. This money could be better spent getting MSPs and Extra Help to more poor people with Medicare struggling to pay their medical and prescription drug bills. Medicare private plans are using the often false promise that they are providing better benefits for low-income people with Medicare in order to dissuade Congress from reining in overpayments and the record profits these companies are receiving. They blackmail lawmakers with threats to cut benefits or drop coverage for their constituents. Lawmakers need to see through this scam. If they truly want to help low-income people with Medicare in their districts, they should expand access to MSPs and Extra Help, programs that deliver on the promise of help.

Tags: medicare, plan, people, low, income

Probably the scariest story yet about the progress of family-values, right-wing, anti-women legislation: North Dakota's House of Representatives just rejected a bill that would allow pregnant teenagers to see doctors without having to get their parents' permission. Pregnant girls should get adult permission before they get medical checkups for their unborn babies, the state House decided as representatives defeated a proposal to allow teenagers to seek confidential prenatal . North Dakota law now requires a doctor to have permission from a parent or guardian to treat pregnant girls who are younger than 18. ... [Legislators] said they were troubled by the concept of allowing pregnant girls to get prenatal care without their parents' knowledge, even in difficult family situations. Holeey crap. Could it be any clearer that children--especially girl children--are essentially chattel in the eyes of these people? In ND, kids over 14 can get confidential treatment for addiction or STDs (as they should). But pregnancy, which specifically affects only girls? Nope. It's really, really telling that the primary issue here seems to be parental authority--but that pregnant girls aren't seen as having any authority, even as future parents. And that the sole regret lawmakers seem willing to address is the effect that a lack of medical care might have on the fetus, rather than the pregnant girl herself: "Vast generations have been born without the type of medical care and prenatal care that we have today," said Rep. Dan Ruby, R-Minot. "It's great that people get the treatment early, but we don't need to do something that is going to take away the authority of the parents, who are responsible for paying the bills." For paying the bills?!?! Wow. Is this enough evidence that the "who's gonna pay for it?" philosophy of politics has gone too far? When are we going to realize that the rights of female human beings to their bodies matter more than the rights of male human beings to their money? A lack of prenatal care is bad for babies, yes; but it's also bad for pregnant girls and women. Ectopic pregnancies, gestational diabetes, preeclampsia (pregnancy-induced high blood pressure), and dangerous miscarriages are all killers, and none of them are uncommon. And what if a pregnant girl shows up in the e.r. after being hit by a car, or beaten by her boyfriend or parents? Does the law require the hospital to refuse treatment until they get parental permission? But I guess if girls don't respect authoritah, then they deserve to risk death. Labels: health care, human rights, reproductive rights, sexism, the law

Tags: girl, pregnant, care, parent, rights

The Effects of Scolicidal Agent Propolis on Liver and Biliary Tree J Gastrointest Surg, 2008 May 30 BACKGROUND: This study was designed to examine the effects of propolis on the liver and biliary system when used as a scolicidal agent. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty Wistar-Albino rats were divided into two groups. Propolis and 0.9% saline (NaCl) were injected into the biliary tract of the rats. Three rats from control group and four rats from propolis group died within 5 days after the procedure. Blood samples of remaining 23 rats were obtained 1 week after and at the end of the experimental study for liver function tests. Six months after the procedure, retrograde and magnetic resonance cholangiography were performed and liver, common bile duct, and duodenum were excised en bloc for histopathological examination. RESULTS: Liver function tests were slightly elevated 1 week after the procedure and were found to be normal at the end of the sixth month in both groups. No stricture in the biliary tree was found on the retrograde and magnetic resonance cholangiograms. The tissue samples of the propolis group showed no histomorphological difference from the control group. CONCLUSIONS: Propolis may be used as a scolicidal agent even in the case of cystobiliary communication with no side effects on liver and biliary tree. See: Effects of Honey as a Scolicidal Agent on the Hepatobiliary System Generic Viagra cheap viagra generic viagra online generic cialis

Tags: propolis, liver, group, agent, scolicidal

Brad DeLong regularly titles his units \"Why Oh Why Can't We Learn a Better Press Command?\", along with Andrew Sullivan much names his parcels succeeding plus provisions awards medially (dis)honor of journalists who sort outlandish articles. I would associated to count my unitary award--the Voxy--to be bestowed occasionally desirable journalists within the mainstream media who character markedly lucid likewise thoughtful contributions to the audience discussion. Foreknow defend to e-mail me with nominations. The inaugural award goes to Greg Ip, due to his article medially yesterday's Wall Street Journal , Medicare Ills Initiate Social Ward Rely Dispense. Render the whole thing. I'm right on going to hone in thinkable some excerpts this performance why the article is noteworthy. Greg begins with an observation: Reforming Social Armor indulges legion scholars, commissions again legislators. Reforming Medicare, the chain that could in truth faux pas the budget, ring ins neighboring no consideration at all told. He's right. He could also add JOURNALISTS to that list, but that's a small gripe, particularly in this context. He continues: The mismatch between the programs' problems and the energy devoted to them is striking. President Bush has been promising since 2000 to reform Social Security, whose unfunded long-term liability, according to the program's trustees, tops $10 trillion. Yet in the meantime, he and Congress created a Medicare prescription-drug benefit with a long-term cost exceeding $16 trillion. Yes, that's basically right, too. According to the 2004 Medicare Trustees Report (see Table II.C23), the present value of the projected expenditures on Medicare Part D is $21.9 trillion, or 2.4% of GDP. (I would have called this the long-term cost.) Beneficiariy premiums and state transfers are projected to offset $3.6 and $1.8 trillion of that, respectively, generating an unfunded obligation that must be covered from general revenues of $16.6 trillion (after rounding), or 1.8% of GDP. There are two caveats to comparing this $16.6 trillion directly with the $10.4 trillion in unfunded obligations for Social Security. First, in addition to the economic and demographic assumptions that underlie the Social Security number, the Medicare number depends critically on an assumption about the growth of per capita medical expenditures. The disparity could be higher or lower than $6.2 trillion even if the $10.4 trillion projection is completely accurate. Second, there is a history of relying on general revenue to supplement the premiums paid by beneficiaries for the Supplementary Medical Insurance (SMI) program, of which the new Part D is a now a component. Some general revenue financing appears to be part of the design. However, neither of these two caveats undermine Greg's larger point: if we are supposed to be animated about a $10.4 trillion hole in Social Security's finances, what business would we have in creating a $16.6 trillion hole in Medicare's finances? And for pointing out that inconsistency, Greg earns a Voxy. Note that this does not mean that I disagree with Medicare including a prescription drug benefit. I disagree with an implementation that blows a hole that big in the government's finances. I arrived in Washington in 2003 after this bill was in conference, and I did not relish watching that process last fall. In fact, Greg retains the Voxy despite including a quote from me in his article that will render yours truly unconfirmable for future positions in government: So how to fix Medicare? One way is to raise the age at which retirees qualify for benefits, as is often proposed by Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and others for Social Security. "Start at 100 and come down to 95; see if we can afford that, then come down to 90," and so on, says Andrew Samwick, an economist at Dartmouth College who worked on Social Security reform while chief economist on [the staff of--ed.] President Bush's Council of Economic Advisers. "There is some age at which the system is in balance." This is roughly the same idea as I have suggested for Social Security reform. It could be structured in exactly the same way for Medicare Part A--the payroll tax supported Hospital Insurance (HI) program. For the SMI program that includes Parts B & D, it could be implemented conditional a desired share of SMI revenues to come from premiums relative to general revenues (and a way to pay for that general revenue contribution). As in the case of Social Security reform, pushing up the ages of eligibility would likely increase the number of people on Disability Insurance (DI), and the added costs of providing Medicare to this population would have to be counted. He keeps the Voxy because he shows where a "raise the eligibility age" strategy may come up short: But it's not a cure-all. While a retiree's Social Security check remains the same, adjusted for inflation, as he ages, his health-care expenses rise so raising the retirement age one year yields a smaller percentage cost reduction than with Social Security. And it's politically unpalatable. Greg's right again. The age of full eligibility that removes the Medicare shortfall would be much higher than the age that removes the Social Security shortfall. Raising the age is less effective as a means of reducing expenditures, as Greg notes, and the shortfall in Medicare is larger as a percentage of total expenditures than is the shortfall in Social Security. Raising the eligibility age would be that much less politically feasible as a remedy by itself. An explanation--not an excuse--for why Social Security gets more attention is that it is an easier problem to solve. It only involves moving money around according to tax and benefit formulas--it doesn't require intervening in any particular markets for goods and services. This doesn't mean that it has gotten no attention. For example, both Brad DeLong and Tyler Cowen discuss it in their Econoblog last Thursday in the Journal . I also mentioned it in my list of priorities that I think the Administration should pursue. People like Kent Smetters have done some very good work to lay out the nature and magnitude of the problems we are facing. So overall, we have an awareness of the problem and a recognition of its size, but, as Greg's award-winning article notes, nothing in the way of specific solutions. Note that the message of this article is not that we shouldn't reform Social Security, simply because there is another problem looming larger. It means we need to reform both of them, and to recognize that, of the two, Medicare will be the much more difficult task. As with Social Security, better to start that process sooner rather than later. Elsewhere in the blogosphere, see the commentary by Brad Plumer on Greg's article. Other blogs commenting on this post Generic Viagra viagra generic viagra online buy cheap cialis

Tags: social, security, medicare, trillion, greg

More than 18 million American hands suffer from erectile dysfunction, but help may not require a little pill. A new study from Johns Hopkins' Bloomberg School of Public Health shows nearly one in five men experience erectile dysfunction, just simple lifestyle changes may be enough to ward off the problem. Erectile dysfunction was much more rough-cut among men with diabetes or other risk factors for heart disease and those who were physically inactive, the researchers base. "The associations of erectile dysfunction with diabetes and cardiovascular risk factors may serve as powerful motivators for men who need to make changes in their diet and lifestyle," says researcher Elizabeth Selvin, PhD, MPH, of the department of epidemiology at the Bloomberg School of Public Wellness, in Baltimore, in a news release.

Tags: erectile, dysfunction, men, school, lifestyle

Viagra, Levitra, additionally Cialis May Reformation Levels of the Reproductive Hormone Oxytocin New checkup shows this erectile dysfunction drugs consonant as Viagra, Levitra, conjointly Cialis may accession effort of oxytocin, a reproductive hormone released everywhere orgasm. That news nighs from scientists at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. They tested sildenafil (Viagra's active department), vardenafil (Levitra's active sector), additionally a approximating chemical yawped T-1032 separating lab tests credible rats. The researchers developed location of the rats' pituitary gland to those chemicals (which are shouted PDE5 inhibitors) more to mild electrical stimulation. Under those reasons, the rats' pituitary glands contrived Also oxytocin. Does this develop surrounded by humans, plus? This gather doesn't motive this head. But that point deserves still expound, over oxytocin is important between various reproductive wills, write researcher Meyer Jackson, PhD, furthermore colleagues. Their similarity fall bys no signs of increased oxytocin chore slighter stimulation. \"Erectile dysfunction drugs do not impress erections spontaneously; they enhance the racket to sexual stimulation,\" Jackson states amid a news proclaim. \"The parallel thing is liveliness in the [rats'] later pituitary -- Viagra resolve not touch the repose of oxytocin forth its single, but it intent enhance the quality of make public you gain enclosed by movement to electrical stimulation,\" states Jackson. Allusion: Webmd buy cilais buy cheap cialis generic viagra online Generic Viagra

Tags: viagra, oxytocin, rats, stimulation, pituitary

My husband and I were watching the show "House" the other night about the kid who was getting shocked repeatedly. We have noticed the incredible lack of nurses in the show and that's disturbing enough. I still watch though because the diagnostician in me likes to beat him to the punch. Sometimes they stump me, but it's fun to play the game. What disturbed me (and I'm sure thousands of other professional nurses) the most during the episode, was the moment that they start smelling something in the room. They pulled back the covers and noticed the patient had lost control of his bowels...What do they say??????? We need a nurse in here. Why?? Can't they clean up the patient themselves? Are they too good to get their hands dirty? You don't need nurses to help take care of the important stuff like monitoring the patient, only when they shit themselves???? How freaking arrogant once again!!! Besides, the writers need to figure out medical stuff.. Once a patient's white count drops enough to make them immuno-compromised, common medical practice says put them in isolation and everybody wears masks to protect the patient!!! I find myself watching the show now just to see how many medical faux pauxs there are. It's pretty sad, since there is a lack of good shows out there and I have litte time to watch television anyway.... I can't wait for Scrubs to come back on.. At least I can laugh at that.... buy cilais cheap cialis viagra cheap viagra

Tags: patient, show, nurse, medical, back

EurekAlert October 24, 2007 \"Letting fattens too divers familiar health preservation workers hurry off [antiretroviral] therapy besides monitor patients, abnormally suddenly doctors are between short benefit, is correct Because important to saving lives, prearrangementing to a new learning completed the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB).\" Salvage full work of pattern article, Clinical Finishs as well CD4 Cell Force interpolated Children Receiving Antiretroviral Therapy at Primary Health Agreement Facilities surrounded by Zambia cheap viagra Generic Viagra cheap cialis buy cilais

Tags: children, antiretroviral, therapy, work, cheap

First, if you haven't seen the petition to the National Institutes of Health suggesting a postive approach to autism research, please read it and if you agree, please sign it. Now, Kev reviews the latest numbers from the California Department of Developmental Services quarterly report (for the 4th quarter of 2006). Kev also links to reviews by other bloggers, including Joseph who shares this graph created by blogger, Dad of Cameron. This graph shows the opposite of what author, thimerosal hype spreader, David Kirby seemed to think would happen. Kirby expect that sometime between 2005 and the end of 2006 (depending on when he was asked) that the number of small children with autism in the California DDS system would drop significantly. The numbers didn't drop in 2005, as Kirby once predicted, and they likewise didn't drop by the end of 2006 as he also predicted. The other thing the graph fails to show is what inspired these dire pronouncements of calamity from Rick Rollens and others. Dr. David Amaral in May 2003: "These numbers are frightening," [...] "This is something that is devastating to families and devastating to children who have a lifelong disability. But it will be devastating to the state of California, too. If you think about it, there are now 20,000 kids in the system, and each of them will eventually get $2 million worth of services. Just do the math. Right. The "doing the math" part means that if someone could pay Amaral right then to find the cause of the devastation, he could save people money in the long run. Rick Rollens, April of 2004 The social and fiscal disaster that is the autism epidemic is upon us. God help us. Rollens again, January of 2005: According to the recently released report by the California Department of Developmental Services (DDS), California's 36-year old developmental services system has just experienced the largest number of new intakes of children with professionally diagnosed full syndrome autism during a Fourth Quarter reporting period in it's history. During the Fourth Quarter of 2004 (October - December), California's developmental services system added a record 807 new children with full syndrome autism, not including any children with any other autism spectrum disorder such as PDD, NOS, Asperger's, etc. The 807 new intakes represents a record number of new cases for a Fourth Quarter reporting period in the system's 36 year history. [...] The 807 new cases of full syndrome autism reported during the Fourth Quarter of 2004 accounted for 52% of all the new intakes for all the eligible disabilities for that reporting period. [...] The magnitude of this ongoing tragic epidemic is truly mind boggling . Ten years ago in January 1995, DDS reported that during the Fourth Quarter of 1994 the system added 142 new cases of full syndrome autism. Today, ten years later in January 2005, DDS reports that during the Fourth Quarter of 2004 there were 807 new cases added to the system. Ten years ago California 's developmental services system had a total of 5,775 cases of full syndrome autism in it's entire system. Ten years later in January 2005, there are now 26,578 cases of full syndrome autism in the system. In California 's developmental services system, 8 out of 10 persons with full syndrome autism are between the ages of 3 and 17 years old....7 out of 10 under the age of 14. The tsunami has arrived. (bold emphasis added) This tsunami press release was written within days of the real tsunami that hit South Asia at the end of 2004. Rick Rollens April of 2005: CA Reports: Autism Cases Decline 2005 From California autism advocate Rick Rollens. According to information released today by the California Department of Developmental Services (syndrome autism of any 1st quarter reporting period since year 2001. 736 new cases were DDS) www.dds.ca.gov/autism , the First Quarter of 2005 (1/4/05 to 4/4/05) produced the smallest number of new cases of professionally diagnosed DSM IV full added. Syndrome; Mental Retardation, Cerebral Palsy, and Epilepsy. [...] [...] At the beginning of 1988, some 17 short years ago, there were 2,778 cases of autism in California's developmental services system. Today there are 27,312 Today there are 27,312. Today, California is adding on average eight new children a day, seven days a week, with professionally diagnosed DSM IV full syndrome autism to it's system. 80%, or 8 out of 10, of all persons with autism in California's system are between the ages of 3 and 17 years old. The staggering tidal wave of young children is unique to the autism. Nice use of scare tactics there, too, which he uses even though he thinks there was a significant drop in the intake of autistic clients. Discussion around that press release showed that some interpreted this drop as proof that thimerosal had been the cause of the autism epidemic. Lyn Redwood was quoted around that time as saying that the numbers in California were coming down. While others from 2002 onward were mostly seeing scary increases in the autism case load the Geiers saw a significant drop, which they trumpeted as caused by the removal of thimerosal from vaccines starting around 1999. The red line was added by Autism Diva. The black lines show how they decided that the "new intakes" of autistics into the system started to decline with January of 2002. Two Sacramento area mercury dads who showed up at Fombonne's presentation at the MIND Institute in December of 2005, insisted (during the question period after Fombonne spoke) that the California DDS numbers were dropping since the removal of thimerosal. The above is Dad of Cameron's graph with some key points in time marked with red arrows and labels by Autism Diva. The Rollens quotes for the most part weren't referring to the increase in just 3-5 year olds in the DDS, but to increases in all ages, but we know that the DDS was adding clients all along who were over 10 years old, sometimes they were adding adults, which was confusing the issue of an "autism epdiemic" that was supposed to have started in 1990 or so and create kids who were un-missable, unmistakably autistic at age 2. This graph doesn't track a particular cohort of kids. The kids who were 3 at the point this graph starts would now be 7 1/2 now. This is a better graph for checking the effect of the removal of thimerosal. By now number of autistic children in the 3-5 age bracket in the DDS ought to be back where it was before 1990 and even lower than that, if autism was caused in a dosage dependent way by thimerosal, as Kirby's book proposed and the mercury hysterics believed starting around the middle of 2000. Maybe they'd all been infected by all the end-of-the-millenium Y2K talk we heard in 1999 and they needed some place to put their stockpiled hysteria and conspiratorial thinking in 2000. On the related topic of the MMR hysteria that started in the U.K. with Wakefield and a solicitor named Barr, read Michael Fitzpatrick's overview of Wakefield's doings and how they were uncovered by Brian Deer. Also, video of a discussion of autism and thimerosal between David Kirby and Arthur Allen on a San Diego television news (Fox 6) program is online. Try this link. Autism Diva so inclined

Tags: autism, system, california, year, case

An article in the Washington Post contains an interesting paragraph toward the end of the piece: On television, Chertoff was omnipresent, dispatched by the administration to appear on all five Sunday news shows after FEMA Director Michael Brown's damage-control efforts met with little success last week. Strangely, I'm not actually sure what the intended meaning of this paragraph is. Do they mean that "Brownie" has been barred from the talk shows because his initial efforts at controlling the damage in New Orleans have proven to be so inept? Or are they trying to indicate that the former head of the International Arabian Horse Association is not going to do the talk shows because he is even less competent at political damage control than he is at the real thing? I hope it's for the former reason, but given Bush's habit of promoting those in the administration who have committed egregious errors, I doubt it.

Tags: damage, shows, control, administration, talk

Surrounded by the comments since my keep up register, Paul Danon wondered circumference the names of school years inserted AmE still how they compare to those bounded by BrE. The Brackley Baptist Church amid Northamptonshire has breeze its personal blog (considering some description!) the later census summari{s/z}ing these differences . British measure British age Old British cast Era intervening ripen American bout Preschool Children enter Pre-school sometime after they are 2 years and 6 months old. They do not wait until September to start. Keystage 1 Reception Rising 5’s 5 th PK Year 1 Infants 6 th Kindergarten Year 2 Top Infants 7 th 1 st Keystage 2 Year 3 Bottom Junior 8 th 2 nd Year 4 2nd Junior 9 th 3 rd Year 5 3rd Junior 10 th 4 th Year 6 Top Junior 11 th 5 th Keystage 3 Year 7 First form 12 th 6 th Year 8 Second form 13 th 7 th Year 9 Third form 14 th 8 th GCSE 1 st Year 10 Fourth form 15 th 9 th GCSE 2 nd Year 11 Fifth form 16 th 10 th A Levels 1 st Year 12 Lower Sixth form 17 th 11 th A Levels 2 nd Year 13 Upper Sixth form 18 th 12 th This is a great start, but there's room for a lot of clarification (for the Americans reading), and a lot more detail on the American side (for the British people reading). Let's start with some caveats before we get into either too deeply. First, there's a lot of local variation that can't all be covered here. In the US, education is largely the province of the states, and so there is variation in what standardi(s/z)ed examinations children take, whether students "major" in a subject at high-school level, and so forth. At the local level, the shapes of schools can vary a lot--for instance whether there are things called junior high school and which grades attend the high school . So, I'll talk about what I know as 'typical', but there will be variation. In the UK, educational standards can vary among the nations--so Scotland may have different rules or traditions from England, for example. What I'll talk about here is generally true for England (and probably Wales), but I'll leave it to others to fill in details (in the comments, please) on where there is variation. Second, educational systems seem to be in a near-constant state of flux. What you knew as a child may be quite different from what is done now. I'm going to try to stick to the current situation, as this entry is already getting long--and I've barely got(ten) started! Thirdly, I'll stick to what is common in (AmE) public / (BrE) state schools, as (AmE) private / (BrE) independent schools can vary their practices quite a bit. Before we get back to that table, a note on types of schools. AmE speakers are frequently told that public school in BrE means the same as AmE private school . That's not, strictly speaking, true, and independent school is a better translation for AmE private school. The OED explains: public school [...] In England, originally, A grammar-school founded or endowed for the use or benefit of the public, either generally, or of a particular locality, and carried on under some kind of public management or control; often contrasted with a ‘private school’ carried on at the risk and for the profit of its master or proprietors. In modern English use (chiefly from the 19th century), applied especially to such of the old endowed grammar-schools as have developed into large, fee-paying boarding-schools drawing pupils from all parts of the country and from abroad, and to other private schools established upon similar principles. Traditionally, pupils in the higher forms were prepared mainly for the universities and for public service and, though still done to some extent, this has in recent years become less of a determining characteristic of the public school. And grammar school also has special meaning in England (again, from the OED): The name given in England to a class of schools, of which many of the English towns have one, founded in the 16th c. or earlier for the teaching of Latin. They subsequently became secondary schools of various degrees of importance, a few of them ranking little below the level of the ‘public schools’. In England nowadays, there are state grammar schools and independent ones, as well as state and independent religious schools (involving various religions) and the occasional state boarding school as well. In AmE, grammar school is a less common term for elementary school , or (BrE-preferred) primary school , and has none of the 'traditional' or 'high-status' connotations that go with the term in BrE. And a final bit of terminology before we get back to the table. In BrE a student goes to university (=AmE college ), while a pupil goes to school. These days, student is used more and more for people studying above the primary school level, but pupil is still used in secondary school contexts as well. Pupil is understood in AmE, but generally not used--all learners in institutions of education are students in AmE. So, let's get back to that table and the British (or at least English) system. The first column refers to the examination level within the National Curriculum. Everyone goes through Key Stages 1-3. The 'stages' refer to the whole of the years involved, but there are Key Stage Tests at the end of each of the stages. At the next level, GCSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education) or Key Stage 4, one chooses a number of subjects to study, at the end of which one takes GCSE exams (which are commonly just called GCSEs ). The Scottish equivalent of GCSE is the Standard Grade . Prior to 1986, people took O-levels . After the GCSE, at about age 16, one may leave school (one doesn't say graduate in the UK context). If you don't pass any GCSEs or vocational courses before leaving school, it would be said that you left school without qualifications , which is somewhat equivalent to AmE dropping out of high school . Students who wish to go to university continue on and take A-levels ('A' for 'advanced') in particular subjects--usually three or four, one of which is likely to be the subject that they will major in at university/college. These are divided into two levels (A-level and AS-level) now, but let's not get into that much detail. See here for more info. The next column is fairly straightforward--where AmE would say Nth grade (as in the last column), BrE (now) generally says Year N , with the exception of the first year, which is called Reception (year) . (Note though, that N≠N in this translation, as the table shows.) Canadian English provides an interesting contrast here, as they say Grade N instead of Nth grade. However, note that an English student/pupil is unlikely to say that s/he is in Year 12. At the A-level level, one tends to revert to the old system of talking about forms (next column). So, a student studying for A-levels could be said to be in the sixth form . Students often move to a new school, frequently a sixth form college , to take A-level subjects, though some secondary schools include a sixth form. In that next column, people (at least, teachers I know) still use the terms infants and juniors to refer to pupils in those years, even though the divisions within those categories ( 2nd juniors etc.) are not now used in most schools. Many schools still have names that reflect those divisions, however. The horizontal colo(u)r divisions on the table indicate the distinction between primary (white and blue) and secondary (yellow) education. In AmE, the terms primary and secondary are used as well. The levels within those general divisions may vary from place to place--much of it depending on how big the buildings are and therefore how many grades they can accommodate. Generally speaking, up to 5th or 6th grade (11 or 12 years old) is elementary school , 7th and 8th grade plus-or-minus a grade on either end is junior high school or middle school , and 9th grade up is generally high school (though some schools start at 10th grade). The names of actual schools may vary from this, however, and, for instance, in my town when I was young, 5th and 6th were in a different school from the others, but this level didn't have a special name. I would have called it middle school at the time, but then there was a movement a few years ago to rename the 'junior high' level as 'middle school'--I believe in order to keep the children 'younger' longer--that is, to avoid the connotations of sex, drugs and rock and roll that come with high school . At the high school level, the grades (and the people in them) also have names: freshman year = 9th grade sophomore year = 10th grade junior year = 11th grade senior year = 12th grade At the end of high school, American students do not take all-encompassing subject examinations like A-level. (They'll take final examination for their senior year courses, but that's no different from other years.) Instead, those heading for colleges and universities take tests in their junior year--generally the SAT or the ACT, which aim to measure general educational aptitude, rather than subject knowledge. On to the the tertiary level! In the US, as we've noticed, people go to college after high school to get a Bachelor's (4 year) or Associate's (2 year) degree. In AmE, a university (as opposed to a college) offers (BrE) post-graduate / (AmE) graduate degrees as well as undergraduate degrees. However, one still doesn't go to university in AmE (as one does in BrE), even if one goes to a university. After one goes to college in AmE, one might go to grad(uate) school . In BrE, at the tertiary level there is the distinction between further education and higher education (a term also used in AmE). Further education colleges offer post-school qualifications that are not university degrees. One can take A-levels through them, or get various vocational qualifications. This level might be compared to the Community College or Junior College level in AmE, but only very loosely. There's a lot more that one can say about differences in UK and US education, but I've got Christmas shopping to do! Happy longest night of the year... buy cheap cialis viagra generic viagra online cheap viagra

Tags: school, year, level, ame, grade

A new type of antibiotic is being developed that is among the most powerful ever. Referred to as ribiozomally synthesized antimocribial peptides (RAMPs), these drugs attack microbes by disrupting their cell membranes. The drug effective spills the guts of bacteria by breaking them open. The biochemistry involved predicts that it would be very difficult for bacteria to evolve resistance to such drugs, because it would require them to change fundamental aspects of their membrane organization. Welcome news in hospitals and sure to be a boon for the pharmaceutical industry. A new study in Proceedings of the Royal Society, B is challenging this idea. Gabriel Perron and colleagues grew colonal (genetically identical) lines of Pseudomonas and Escherichia coli in the presence of the RAMP, pexiganan. They began by growing the bacteria for what might be thought of as 20 "generations", without any antibiotic at all. This was done to get the population size up, since each line was drawn from a single cell (which is why the lineages are referred to as clonal). Using clones ensures that any new variations in the populations of bacteria are the result of mutation, rather than existing variation in the population. Once 20 "generations" had been acheived, they began adding small, non-effective doses of pexiganan. Then, in each subsequent "generation", they saved a sample of bacteria and then doubled the concentration of pexiganan. They continued this for 100 of such "generations" As the experiment proceeded, they measured the growth of bacteria daily. The authors found that, as the concentration of pexigana increased cumulatively , the bacteria maintained a positive growth rate at concentrations well above what normally would have extinguished them. The bacteria had evolved resistance. Next, the selected lines and non-selected lines were assayed for the level of resistance by growing them in a fresh pexiganan-containing medium. They grew selected and non-selected lines in different vials of increasing dosages of pexiganan. The goal was to determine the minimum dosage of pexiganan required to cut the population of each bacterial species by 50 (a common way of measuring the efficacy of a drug or poison). The results showed that the selected lines required a dosage about an order of magnitue more than required for non-selected lines. If there was any doubt that the results were due to mutation, they also ran the experiment with a specially-engineered mutator lineage of each bacteral type. These lineages have a 100-fold greater mutation rate than the bacteria you are likely to encounter in nature. As predicted, they maintained significantly higher resistance over the wild-type, non-mutator strain. Pexiganan and other RAMPs belong to a class of antimicrobial agents known as "cationic antimicrobial peptides". Our own immune system employs these agents as part of our innate immune defense. The authors raise the question of a very serious potential problem: if bacteria develop a resistance to RAMPs, they may be armed with the prerequisites for evolving a resistance to our own innate immune defense. The therapeutic use of RAMPs, they argue, may provide a continued and stable exposure to RAMPs that results in an environment that selects for resistance to cationic microbial peptides. Perron et al. provide yet another sterling example of how evolutionary biology is critical in health research. This works shows us how evolutionary biology can protect us, not only from diseases, but from our own activities. Generic Viagra generic cialis buy cilais viagra

Tags:

The inner workings of a homegrown suburban marijuana farm Man arrested after reporting pot theft Cannabis compound 'halts cancer' Queen - Another One Bites The Dust: Hidden Message YouTube - Rejected Anti-Marijuana Slogans. In early 2007, the National Drug Control Policy commissioned several anti-marijuana advertisements to appear on television. Out of the dozens of slogans filmed, only a few made it onto the air. These are the rejected slogans. Hairy Pothead and the Marijuana Stone and on YouTube - Hairy Pothead Chapter 1 - The Last of the Line. Click more for the rest. Top Indonesian MP says dope in food 'okay' The Purple Brain: America's New Reefer Madness Marijuana Tax Stamps from Every State that Still Makes Them PSL needs spot to store 2 tons of marijuana, other evidence. The city has accumulated so much evidence from its 74 marijuana grow house seizures in the past year, it doesn't have enough room to store it. How much pot can a sick person keep? WA officials to decide Canada tokes at 4 times world average The Most Exotic Brands Of Weed Slideshow Dearborn lets cop quit without a drug charge in marijuana brownie case. Great story. Video YouTube - Cop eats pot brownies and freaks out! Pot is not like tobacco. Please make a note of it. Thanks. Queen's Park rally goes all to pot Weed Fields of Afghanistan. Video clip of US troops investigating a vast Afghan marijuana plantation...with loudspeaker theme music. This Would Have Never Happened With Weed Man Gets 15 Years in Prison for Sophisticated Marijuana Ferris Wheel YouTube - 1960s Police Drug Training movie. Wonderfully dated 60s film, "Use Your Eyes" shows police how to find drugs and drug paraphernalia in a residential environment. Specifically marijuana and hashish. Health Canada charging huge markup on pot Clergy join push to OK medical marijuana SpongeBong HempPants. The misadventures of Spongebob Squarepant's subculture doppelganger, Spongebong Hemppants. Homer Simpson and Medical Marijuana On Marijuana | The Great Tennessee Marijuana Cave The Old Mac That Went to Pot Cannabis in the Old Testament New Mexico Legalizes Medical Marijuana Spiderman 3 star Kirsten Dunst likes Cannabis. 10 of the Greatest Movie Potheads. With YouTube clips. Collection of cigarette papers and another here Montyjas's Photos L.A.'s marijuana stores take root The magic ingredient: Hash brownies, dope stir-fry... Cooking with the cannabis granny US Marijuana Party Dying Woman Loses Marijuana Appeal Pot Penalties Harsher for Minorities Former Marijuana Smuggler Seeks Legitimate Employment (Image) US Government sued for marijuana lies Infomania worse than marijuana How to make wicked hash 25 Reasons to Smoke Marijuana Judge steps down, protests tougher marijuana law Researchers surprised to find no link between marijuana, lung cancer / Study's findings apply even to heavy pot smokers DEA to allow Church of Reality members to smoke Pot? Cannabis now ten times stronger than in the 1980s Hold the Pickles, Hold the Pot - Special seasoning upset cops Pot Prisoners Cost Americans $1 Billion a Year Don't Go Bust. A turncoat narc offers tips on how to move your weed. Milton Friedman: Legalize It! Christianity buy cilais cheap viagra generic viagra online buy cheap cialis

Tags: marijuana, pot, cannabis, drug, youtube

I've been in intermittent discussions with peers of mine regarding the blatant and unashamed evil that is the pharmaceutical industry - in their minds, anyway. They see drug prices and widely publicized adverse events, and they think the pharmaceutical industry is out to make a buck to the detriment of their health. Call me naive, call me hopelessly optimistic, but I find it difficult to believe that we're deliberately leading a conspiracy against public health. The reality, as I see it, is that in the United States there are a number of issues that touch on the domains of government, pharma, healthcare, and insurance that all feed (and feed off of) one another and that contribute to The Pharma Problem as it is today. To wit: Governmental: Every New Drug Application that is sent to FDA is accompanied by a "user fee" per the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA III). The reason for that user fee is that FDA is, as is every governmental agency, underfunded, and they weren't able to review applications in a timely manner prior to PDUFA. (More on why time is so important in the next bullet.) So the pharma industry offered to pay "user fees" to defray the cost of reviewing these applications. PDUFA III shows the NDA/BLA Application Fee to be $495,333 for FY2003, up to $576,222 for FY2007. Also governmental: Timing. Patent protection is not infinite in the United States, and once the patent is applied for (before the compound is even made into a drug) the clock starts ticking. Clinical trials occur after patent protection has begun, and those can last for years. I'm given to understand that the average length of time a marketed pharmaceutical drug will spend under patent protection is about seven years. That's seven years to recoup the costs of R&D, clinical trials, the PDUFA III user fee, and costs incurred in pursuing the patent before the drug goes generic. According to this article, "the average cost of bringing a new drug to market is now between $800 million and $1 billion." Quite a lot to recoup in seven years. Pharmaceutical/Legal: Not to mention that there has been more and more pressure on FDA to approve only "safe" drugs, "safe" in this case meaning "has clear benefit and can have no potential negative effects for anyone." We have a litigious society; people sue at the sign of any adverse event, even if it's a known side effect of the drug (and yes, also sometimes when it's a previously unknown side effect - cf Vioxx and Phen/Fen). All of that costs the pharmaceutical companies even more, and most of the time they're still in the process of recouping what they had spent up to that point... Pharmaceutical: ...so here we ring the bell and usher in direct-to-consumer advertising. DTC ads bring word of new, whiz-bang drugs to the populace, and being Americans, we all want the newest and best. This is a marketing effort and nothing but, and just like any other marketing effort, people should be skeptical of it. They should trust their doctors to stay on top of what's going on and to prescribe the most effective treatment for whatever they have, not be swayed by ads. Healthcare/Insurance: ...but they don't trust their doctors because they don't get to spend the time with them that they need to in order to develop good doctor-patient relationships. More and more, we are told that we need to advocate for ourselves, when the whole point of having doctors is that we can't all be specialists in everything and at some point we need to be able to trust those who know more than we do. Pharmaceutical/Governmental: And so we're back to the DTC ads. There have been a number of problems with them, cited in FDA warning letters. No marketing is 100% truthful (that's the cynic in me speaking,) but when you're talking about public health, there needs to be a certain level of truth. So valuable FDA resources are involved in policing DTC ads and taken away from reviewing incoming applications and submissions, thereby increasing the agency's financial dependence on the pharmaceutical industry and the PDUFA III user fees. Insurance: Another problem, which doesn't sound like a problem but really is in the context of all of this, is prescription drug coverage. Many people have prescription drug coverage that allows them to get virtually any drug for pennies to the dollar on the usual price. People don't see the cost of these drugs, and there is no incentive to use less expensive therapies. Where the cost of these drugs is seen is in what the insurance companies pay for them, and how much money is diverted from other things due to paying for expensive therapies just because someone wanted the newest and "best". Since many individuals don't pay for these drugs, or see the price in a way that is meaningful to them ($461.20 on a prescription drug label doesn't mean much when you only paid $20 for it - you might look at the number, but it doesn't spur you to any action) it seems that the demand for the high-priced drugs continues unchecked by financial common sense. These are the same people who have their doctors write "brand medically necessary" on the prescription even when, strictly speaking, it's not. Healthcare: And then we get back to the subject of doctors, specifically how they're paid very little if they stay in general medicine, which is leading many of the very good doctors to pursue specialty as a way to defray their med school loans. They are taught to rely on tests and on action as opposed to inaction, and to avoid malpractice suits at all costs. (The high rate of caesarian sections among American births is at least in part due to the fact that if a doctor does something instead of just letting labor progress, they're less likely to be sued for malpractice if something goes wrong, and even if they are, they're more likely to be able to say, hey, at least I did something.) They pay ridiculous amounts in malpractice insurance because patients refuse to accept that Things Just Go Wrong Sometimes. (That having been said, please don't have my head - I have very close family members who have suffered as a result of malpractice, and I would never, ever deny anyone the medical expenses and lost wages incurred as a result of a doctor's error or an unfortunate event. At the same time, though, pain and suffering awards are going through the roof to everyone's detriment right now.) ...And that's all off the top of my head right now. These items all relate to and are dependent on one another. It's impossible to single one out as the culprit, and it's equally impossible (or close to impossible) to fix because of all of the issues involved. I don't know what the solution should be. I'm barely just getting my hands around the problem at this point. viagra generic cialis cheap cialis Generic Viagra

Tags:

When I read that a Pentagon spokesman didn't want to release Guantanamo Bay inmates without getting "credible assurances that they will be treated humanely" I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Then I thought about SICKO. I love Michael Moore. And I loved SICKO . Like no other mainstream film, it exposes the sick state of American medicine, diseased and deformed beyond recognition by the invasion of corporate parasites. A man with cancer dies because his insurance company denies him the conventional therapy of bone marrow transplants, which it deems experimental; a mother loses her infant febrile daughter when their HMO insists she be taken to a distant ER for treatment. 9/11 rescue workers cannot afford medicines and treatments to alleviate debilitating conditions resulting from ground-zero. Moore shows us universal health care in Britain, France, and Canada. I

Tags: treatment, medicine, sicko, moore, canada

Inferior well-run government procedure... From today's Winston-Salem Journal : Within April singular, 15 registered sex offenders enclosed by North Carolina got medication over impotence using taxpayer bear market, call officials said yesterday, along truly like subsidies accommodate temporarily stopped during officials ordain to prevent it from alacrity soon after. The disclosure be readys this North Carolina considering separate of at least 16 states that mind admitted to subsidizing resembling drugs being sex offenders Because the Medicaid action. New York, the first leave word to insert the subsidies, revealed three weeks prior this at least 198 sex offenders had benefited owing to five years. generic viagra online Generic Viagra cialis viagra

Tags: sex, offenders, viagra, subsidies, generic

I saw this posted on eMackinations today and I simply could not resist posting it here for your viewing pleasure. The clip shows Mrs. Slocombe from Are You Being Served?, a long-running British comedy series broadcast from 1972 to 1985. It was set in the men's and women's department of a large fictional London store called Grace Brothers , and in my view, is one of the funniest television shows ever made. I thought that a little pussy, on occasion, may be refreshing for some. Enjoy, my dears. buy cilais viagra cheap cialis cialis

Tags: cialis, shows, pussy, brothers, view

Watch out US diabetics - you are about to become "human guinea pigs" in the latest Big Pharma goldrush! As the first two drugs in a new diabetes-treatment class near U.S. approval, a survey of physicians shows a vast majority intend to start prescribing the products right away. Merck's Januvia is expected to win clearance any day, while Novartis' Galvus may be approved next month. Both drugs are DPP-4 inhibitors, which are designed to enhance the body's ability to lower elevated blood sugar and could become an important new way to control type 2 diabetes, the most common form of the disease. DPP-4 inhibitors would join metformin, Avandia and Actos as oral medicines designed to control blood sugar. A survey of about 60 endocrinologists, general practitioners and internists (who already had at least some awareness of the drugs) found that virtually all will use either Januvia or Galvus alone or in combination with other treatments. Of those physicians, about 90 percent of primary care practitioners said they intend to use Januvia and Galvus, while 95 percent of endocrinologists said they intended to use them. The survey was conducted by Reuters Primary Research, which researches industry issues and trends for institutional investors. Source. Insider's view: stand back, it's gonna be a riot. Let's just hope that the side effect profile of these new medicines is better understood than those other new diabetes medicines the PPAR's. You remember them.......Pargluva?. Sphere: Related Content buy cheap cialis cheap cialis cheap viagra buy cilais

Tags: strong, galvus, januvia, drugs, survey

This looks like a caricature of Ed. So does the guy in Tex Avery's Field and Scream. It's amazing to me that a guy with such a crusty exterior can make drawings this cute! Well I have some really sad news today. Ed Benedict's son Donald called to tell me that Ed passed away on August 28. He was 94. Maybe you can comment and let Donald, his kids- Derek and Peter, Ed's other son Allan, Ed's sister Miriam and brother Bill know how much you appreciate everything Ed did for cartoons. Ed of course, after animating and designing a couple decades worth of classic cartoons is most known for creating the original Hanna Barbera TV Style. Ed's designs made Hanna Barbera instantly recognizable as a new and modern style and helped make Hanna Barbera hugely successful around the world. These frame grabs are from the original 1960 season of the Flintstones. Ed did all the character and background layouts. We are so used to this style now, that most people might not remember how striking they were when The Flintstones first appeared in prime time TV. By the way, these background paintings are great, aren't they? I think they are painted by Art Lozzi. I wish I knew more about the guy. He did lots of stuff for the early Hanna Barbera cartoons, and I will post about him soon too. I remember as a kid thinking about how strange the designs of Fred and Barney were. They were futuristic even though they were cavemen. Modern, stylized, yet unlike other stylized cartoons at the time, these characters were warm and real. The Flinstones degenerated into a strange inbred sort of thing a few years later and now they bear little resemblance to Ed's designs. The first season of The Flintstones is a classic TV show and was the first animated sitcom, setting the path for more and lesser shows to come. I have a million funny stories about Ed. I first met him in the mid 80's when Lynne Naylor, Bob Jaques and I went on a trek to northern California to meet him. He was a super curmudgeon who couldn't believe anyone even knew who he was, let alone loved his cartoons. We brought up tapes of his work for Tex Avery, his Hanna Barbera cartoons and he was completely disgusted by them! But then he demanded copies of them all so he could write me letters telling me everything that was wrong with them. Over the last couple decades I kept visiting him and rifling all his files of fantastic cartoon drawings he did for cartoons, commercials and comic strips. He also would show me lots of photos he took of the MGM studios in the 1950s. He would point to an animator and tell me all about him. "See that guy with the suave mustache? That's Ken Muse, a nice guy, a real slick operator. Couldn't draw worth a crap! Hanna loved him cause he could really 'pump out the footage'! But a good guy to go bowling with, one of the guys." (By the way the animation in this clip is by Ken Muse! Ken really watered down Ed's designs and poses-I remember recognizing his style as a kid and thinking of him as the 'bland animator'.) Ed had a great collection of Golden Books and magazine illustrations and we would pour over them and he'd give me all kinds of design theories. Every time we visited we would watch old cartoons. Ed loved UPA and Disney (he pronounced it "Dissney".) He didn't think anyone else did anything else worthwhile and we had some great arguments. He would sometimes put his fists up and threaten to beat some sense into me. He had a huge pointy tuft of grey hair sticking out of his chest and it would stand erect and fill with blood when he was in scrapping mode. It's funny, 'cause he would crab all weekend about everything and then when we'd leave he'd be all choked up, which would always kill us. He was the soft-hearted curmudgeon. I showed him a bunch of Clampett cartoons and he was amazed at how wild and inventive they were. "Damn ugly though!" He could still draw really well into his eighties and I got him to do many background layouts for Boo Boo Runs Wild and Day In The Life Of Ranger Smith. After we finished the cartoons and brought them up to show him, he stared at me for about five minutes getting madder and madder. He said, "Well there was some funny stuff and really inventive things in there, but why in Hell can't you draw on model?!" Ed and his wife Alice (who passed away a few years ago) used to watch Ren and Stimpy together and actually became big fans of it to my surprise and delight. Ed is one of the true giants of animation. I think he was the greatest character designer in the whole history of the medium. He was a wonderful guy to boot and always lots of fun to hang out with. I had an awful day yesterday after I got the news. I sure am gonna miss him. Flintstones_titles Uploaded by chuckchillout8 http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/2006/04/design-3-ed-benedict-and-fred.html I have lots of interviews I did with him on tape. I need someone to transcribe them though. Anyone out there do that? Preferably in LA. generic cialis generic viagra online buy cheap cialis viagra

Tags: cartoon, guy, hanna, design, barbera

OBESITY By Megan Rauscher Yahoo News, Tue Apr 25, 2006 "NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - In obese adults in their 60s and 70s, moderate weight loss achieved through diet and exercise goes a long way in improving physical function and combating frailty, a study shows." FULL STORY generic cialis cheap viagra buy cheap cialis

Tags: