In October of 2008, I launched Webicina.com, the world’s first medical free web 2.0 guidance service, in order to help empowered patients and their doctors find quality medical information and medical web tools easily. 2009 was a fantastic year with many new features and international conferences where I presented our work. Here are the milestones.
Webicina.com was presented at:
Medicine Meets Virtual Reality Conference 17 (Long Beach, CA; January, 2009)
Web 2.0 BarCamp in Budapest, Hungary (March, 2009)
Acutezorg.nl event in Nijmegen, The Netherlands (March, 2009).
Sanidad 2.0 in Bilbao, Spain (June, 2009)
Science Foo Camp in San Francisco, USA (July, 2009)
Pharma 2.0 event in Budapest, Hungary (October, 2009)
Reshape Health 2.0 event in Nijmegen, The Netherlands (October, 2009)
Cor 09 National Cardiology Congress in Budapest, Hungary (November, 2009)
Webicina.com Medical Web 2.0 Collections:
Neurology and web 2.0
Rheumatology and web 2.0
Radiology and web 2.0
Diabetes and web 2.0
Depression and web 2.0
Cancer and web 2.0
Pregnancy and web 2.0
Weight Loss and web 2.0
Autism and web 2.0
Webicina.com free e-guides:
How to keep yourself up-to-date in medicine?
How to write a quality medical blog?
How to give a remarkable slideshow?
Medicine in Second Life
PeRSSonalized Medicine is a free tool that lets you select your favourite resources and read the latest news and articles in one personalized place. Now it has 26 sections!
Languages of PeRSSonalized Medicine:
English
German
Spanish
Portuguese
Dutch
Hungarian
We are just finishing major changes on Webicina, so in 2010, we will come up with some innovative and useful features. Please stay tuned for more!
Our mission is to help patients and doctors use the web as efficiently as possible.
After a week off work, I returned home from Illinois last night at 8pm. For at least 24 hours before that I had been counting the hours until I had to return to work, laughing at the absurdity of being at work 900 miles away. Laughing mixed with bitterness I see now. Laughing is what I always do when it comes to impossible situations.
I was ready to return, though. Lack of structure is hard on me psychologically, so one week is plenty of break. After returning home, I mostly took it easy last night.
This morning, after shoveling through a mountain of email (which, yes, is better than shoveling snow), I headed for the chapel. I was there over an hour. I always have mixed mind about that. I believe very strongly in prayer, and I believe that any ministry job which faults me for praying too much has its own problems. Yet I also know that the ‘desire to pray’ and the ‘desire to take a nap’ can overlap with each other. This wasn’t that kind of prayer. For weeks perhaps, I have been without set aside times for prayer, which is unusual for me. There were plenty of days where I consciously noted that I hadn’t had two days in a row where I really gave any time to prayer in a while. I was parched, and I needed that time.
The one part of my unit’s final evaluation with less than the highest marks was attending to self-care. I vocally disagreed with my supervisor’s assessment, but my decision to stay in the chapel was definitely a self-care decision (although not only a self-care decision).
Then I went to see patients. There were two referrals and one other family that I had been seeing before the break. I have been seeing that family since I started at Duke in June. They were literally the second family I ever visited with at the beginning of my residency, and they have been at Duke continuously since May. Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and a handful of family birthdays later, they are still here. And since the end of June, I have known (or at least have constantly assumed) that he was going to die. Nothing went right with his recovery from surgery. Kidneys shut down, liver shut down, digestive tract shut down, depression and anxiety set in. And for weeks, literally every heart beat and every breath has been dictated by the steady metronome of machines. He is as healthy as a machine. His heart and breath rates are so perfect and so pristine, that he is more ‘healthy’ than nature will provide.
After I saw him today and talked to one of his doctors, I wondered if the miracle his family has been praying for all along is just around the corner. I wonder if the miracle might be a good death, that God would rescue him from an end wrapped in blood, clawing for air (and this is the end which his doctor says is now likely).
In a CPE residency, one of the things we talk about so often is transference and counter-transference. Transference is when a middle aged female patient notices that I look a bit like her son and then starts relating to me as if I were her son. Counter-transference is when I relate to her as if she were my mom. Most of the time it is much more subtle, and you notice it because your emotional attachment to a patient is a lot stronger than any intellectual view of the relationship can explain.
In my view, the reason my job is hard is not because people die around me, but because when they die, I somehow experience it. I am in it. I am with them. And sometimes, I experience enough of their pain that I know that I am too close. This is one of those times. This will be one of those deaths where I need to ask myself the question again, “What will happen to you if this patient dies?” and the corollary, “Why this patient?”, as in “Why is this patient’s death and not some other death really getting to you?”
The easy and true answer is that this family has been at the hospital longer than I have. Add up their hours since May and my hours since June, and I would guess they have been here 2-3 times as long as I have. I introduced this family to at least three other chaplains, as the patient was shuttled from floor to floor, unit to unit. And then the second crop of interns left at the beginning of December, and I was their chaplain again. Add up the hours I have spent with them, and it is…well, a lot.
I’m angry about it really. Why won’t God just kill the guy? (A question with tone enough to show you how strongly I feel this death.) Why won’t his family let him go? Why can’t the doctors say, “There is nothing more that we can do. Sorry, but we need to remove support,” and then do it and not have their labcoats sued right off their backs? Everything is wrong about this.
What is at stake for me in this? As I am assessing the last several months, the thread that runs through it all is this man, and I have failed him. No, I haven’t failed him, but he is a failure. He didn’t live and he won’t live, and he won’t even get a good death, as far as I know. For anyone wondering whether there are fates worth than death, there are. And for those wondering if there really are such things as the undead, there are, but they can’t walk the earth. Their skin is far too destroyed, their legs far too weak, and their wills are snapped in pieces. All that’s accurate about the movies is the groaning, because they can no longer speak. If we continue on this cinematic route, just know that Darth Vader is a beautiful fantasy to real machine people.
So what is it to me? I keep asking myself this. What is it for you? What is here for you? I can give lots of answers, many of them true, but I can’t find the answer. Maybe the truth is that there is no ‘the answer.’
A practical side. If I see him every day, I will not be able to stay separate. I cannot minister to the other if I become enmeshed with the other. And I am in danger of becoming enmeshed. I know this. I am Harry Potter staring too closely into Albus’s pensieve; if I’m not careful I will be sucked into somebody else’s life head first.
Yet the family needs care and would benefit from daily visits. The balance (and this is a daily rather than an anomalous balance for chaplains) is that I ask for help. I can go twice a week, but I can ask someone else to go on those other days. But that gives them three days and me two!, I may think. Possessiveness is evidence that I am getting too close. I know I’m healthy enough if I can ask somebody else to provide care to this patient alongside me. Asking someone else also reminds me that I am not alone in my suffering with this family. It’s a whole other reflection (and this is already three or more in one), but the reminder that I am not alone here is a reminder that at my most alone feeling, I am never alone.
Book overview
In recent years, the remarkable advances in medical imaging instruments have increased their use considerably for diagnostics as well as planning and follow-up of treatment. Emerging from the fields of radiology, medical physics and engineering, medical imaging no longer simply deals with the technology and interpretation of radiographic images. The limitless possibilities presented by computer science and technology, coupled with engineering advances in signal processing, optics and nuclear medicine have created the vastly expanded field of medical imaging. The Handbook of Medical Imaging is the first comprehensive compilation of the concepts and techniques used to analyze and manipulate medical images after they have been generated or digitized. The Handbook is organized in six sections that relate to the main functions needed for processing: enhancement, segmentation, quantification, registration, visualization as well as compression storage and telemedicine.
* Internationally renowned authors(Johns Hopkins, Harvard, UCLA, Yale, Columbia, UCSF)
* Includes imaging and visualization
* Contains over 60 pages of stunning, four-color images
Download this book for free from here
Download link
An estimated 300 to 350 million people worldwide are carriers of the Hepatitis-B virus (HBV); around four to five million people are suspected HBV carriers in Pakistan. This was stated by doctors and experts who spoke about the dangers of HBV at a public awareness seminar on Thursday.
The event was organised by the Aga Khan University (AKU), in collaboration with the Pakistan Society for the Study of Liver Diseases (PSSLD). The HBV can cause a number of liver diseases, including chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis (scarring of the liver) and liver cancer.
Close to two million people worldwide die each year from HBV, and according to the World Health Organization (WHO), the virus is 50 to 100 times more infectious than HIV/AIDS. HBV is endemic in parts of Asia, with more children being affected as the virus can be passed from an infected mother to her baby at birth.
*Allen, David E.; Bird, Lewis P.; and Herrmann, Robert, eds. Whole Person Medicine: An International Symposium. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1980.
*Bouma, Hessel, et al. Christian Faith, Health and Medical Practice. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1989.
Granberg-Michaelson, Karin. In the Land of the Living: Health Care and the Church. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 1984.
Hauerwas, Stanley. Suffering Presence: Theological Reflections on Medicine, the Mentally Handicapped and the Church. Notre Dame, Ind.: Univ. of Notre Dame Press, 1986.
Jones, D. Gareth. Our Fragile Brains. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1980.
*Kelsey, Morton. Psychology, Medicine and Christian Healing. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1989.
Kilner, J.F., Cameron, N.M. de S., Schiedermayer, D.L., eds, Bioethics and the Future of Medicine: A Christian Appraisal. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1995.
Lammers, Stephen E., and Verhey, Allen, eds. On Moral Medicine: Theological Perspectives in Medical Ethics. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1987.
Marty, Martin, and Vaux, Kenneth, eds. Health/Medicine and the Faith Traditions: An Inquiry into Religion and Medicine. Philadelphia: Fortress, 1982.
Miller, J. Roman and Brubaker, Beryl H. eds. Bioethics and the Beginning of Life: An Anabaptist Perspective. Scottdale, PA. and Waterloo, ON: Herald Press, 1990.
Munson, R. Intervention and Reflection: Basic Issues in Medical Ethics, 5th ed. Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth, 1996.
Nelson, J. B. Human Medicine. Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1973.
Peters, Ted. Playing God? Genetic Determinism and Human Freedom. New York and London: Routledge, 1997.
Ramsey, Paul. Fabricated Man. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1970.
Shelly, Judith Allen. Dilemma: A Nurse’s Guide for Making Ethical Decisions. Downers Grove, Ill.: intervarsity Press, 1980.
Shelly, Judith Allen, and Fish, Sharon. Spiritual Care: The Nurse’s Role. 3d ed. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1988.
Verhey, Allen, ed. Religion and Medical Ethics: Looking Back, Looking Forward. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1996.
Some see the likely passage of healthcare reform as a victory for everyone except the people. Why? There are two big issues from my perspective. First, the orignal bill is about 2,000 pages long and there have been 478 Senate ammendments offered against this bill. Who has a clue what it actually says now? And have our Senators actually read the damn thing, cover to cover? I think not; certainly, neither of my Senators have confirmed to me they have. Second, what Article of the US Constitution grants the Congress authority to mandate citizens buy private health insurance? I don’t think any of them do.
On several occassions, I’ve asked my Senators, Carl Levin (D) and Debbie Stabenow (D) these same questions. So far all I’ve received is boilerplate responses about why they support healthcare reform in general. Neither has responded about the Constitutionality of the bill nor whether they’ve read the entire bill—in its current incarnation, mind you—not to mention if it will actually cut costs and save money.
The Senate voted for cloture on the healthcare reform bill strictly along party lines: 58 Democrats and 2 Independents for, 40 Republicans opposed. In his remarks on the early Monday vote, Pres. Obama said:
By standing up to the special interests—who’ve prevented reform for decades, and who are furiously lobbying against it now—the Senate has moved us closer to reform that makes a tremendous difference.
Frankly, I’m confused. It seems to me Congressmen being in bed with the American Medical Association and other bribes, such as Sen. Levin’s donations from non-profit insurer Blue Cross Blue Shield, played a large role. In fact, those 478 Senate ammendments are nothing more than maneuverings to buy votes, just like when Majority Leader Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) bought out Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) for that 60th vote. The American Hospital Association and the American Medical Association both support the bill, even if they have issues with parts of it. Interestingly, both point to insuring an additional 30 million citizens as their reason for supporting the bill. Correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t these two of the largest special interest groups regarding healthcare?
So, it seems, it’s just business as usual and the taxpayer be damned. Michigan’s two Democrat Senators voted in favor of cloture. See how your Senator voted on Roll Call 385. But, the, you already know: Democrats, for; Republicans, opposed. So much for a bipartisan healthcare bill.
Here’s what I told my Senators yesterday:
You must vote no on all future votes on the current health care reform bill in the US Senate.
I am disappointed in your failure to answer whether or not you have read the entire HR 3780 and each of the 478 Senate ammendments to the bill for which you have voted in favor of cloture. I am also disillusioned by your apparent complicity in the corruption and bribing of your fellow Senators to reach the necessary 60 votes.
You have also failed to inform me as the the specific Article(s) of the US Constitution from which the Congress derives the authority to require citizens to purchase private health insurance. I find it inexcusable that my elected representatives can vote yea on legislation for which they have not established clear Constitutional authority to do so.
According to recent public opinion polls, somewhere between 53% and 85% expect higher costs, either in premiums or taxes or both, from this fiasco. The bill does not enjoy public support and you need to vote in accordance with your constituents. Failure to do so is a violation of their sacred trust. Vote against SA 2786 at the next vote.
Results released today of a Quinnipiac University poll found most voters oppose the healthcare reform bill. The poll said 53% “mostly disapprove” of the plan and 56% disapprove of Obama’s handling of the matter. Overwhelmingly—72-23 percent—they disapproved of using public money to pay for abortions.
Today the Senate held its 60-39 majority to shut off debate on Majority Leader Harry Reid’s version of healthcare reform. The next hurdle is tomorrow’s vote to limit debate on the bill.
While using maximum times to delay votes on the bill, Senate Republicans caved in to a final vote 11 hours earlier, assuming the Democratic caucus maintains it’s 60-40 lead for Wednesday’s vote. With this expected result, the Senate will pass its ammended HR 3780 on healthcare reform before most of us are done with coffee on Thursday.
Even if it might not matter, have you told your Senators how you feel on this issue? You better, right now; we’re just two votes away.
The increasing use of social media to recruit patients for clinical trials (Pharma Strategy Blog): There are more and more news ways for patients to find ongoing clinical trials and also for pharma companies to find interested patients.
ResearchGATE and Its Savvy Use of the Web (BusinessWeek): The world’s biggest scientific community site has over 200,000 members and an official blog which I’m a co-author of.
Buzzwords in Academic Papers (Flowing Data)
20 People Who Make Healthcare Better (Health Leaders Media)
FDA Social Media Guidelines Best Done in Baby Steps (Pharma Marketing Blog)
Are any of these the Web’s next big thing? (CNN)
Hacked Wiimote Makes Super Scientific Sensor (Wired Science)
To gamers, $40 may seem like a steep price to replace a Wii remote controller, but to scientists, a hacked Wiimote is a steal compared to the pricey sensors needed for a lot of field research.
Inspired by videos of renowned hacker Johnny Chung Lee turning the Wiimote into a finger-tracking device and a touchscreen white board, physicist Rolf Hut of Delft University of Technology built a Wiimote wind sensor.
In another *facepalm* moment, the state legislature in Maine will soon be considering a bill that would require cell phones to carry warning labels that they, you guessed it, might cause brain cancer. Ugh – I have posted about this topic before (in my post “Electromagnetic Fields & Cancer Myths”), and I cannot state strongly enough that there is no evidence that cell phone use causes cancer! Not only is there no conclusive evidence that cell phone radiation causes cancer, but according to the known laws of physics there is no physical mechanism by which this is even possible. But that won’t stop some non-scientifically minded nut with political clout from pushing this nonsense into a useless law…
Maine to consider cell phone cancer warning
A Maine legislator wants to make the state the first to require cell phones to carry warnings that they can cause brain cancer, although there is no consensus among scientists that they do and industry leaders dispute the claim.
The now-ubiquitous devices carry such warnings in some countries, though no U.S. states require them, according to the National Conference of State Legislators. A similar effort is afoot in San Francisco, where Mayor Gavin Newsom wants his city to be the nation’s first to require the warnings.
Maine Rep. Andrea Boland, D-Sanford, said numerous studies point to the cancer risk, and she has persuaded legislative leaders to allow her proposal to come up for discussion during the 2010 session that begins in January, a session usually reserved for emergency and governors’ bills.
And here’s my favorite part of the article…
While there’s little agreement about the health hazards, Boland said Maine’s roughly 950,000 cell phone users among its 1.3 million residents “do not know what the risks are.”
Ahem, Rep. Boland, this is an argument that is essentially begging the question… the assumption is that there is a risk, despite there being any conclusive evidence of a cause-and-effect relationship (not to be confused with correlation) between cancer & cell phone use AND a lack of any kind of physical mechanism to even facilitate that process. Folks, this is what happens when you mix political power with the Paralyzing Precautionary Principle. Now this may be crappy science, but I’m sure it’ll raise Rep. Boland’s political profile – too bad she couldn’t just stick to the actual science as opposed to pushing pseudoscientific & fear-mongering woo woo.
Folks, if you live in Maine, please take a moment to contact your state representatives and ask them to – for the sake of good science & sound legislative policies – just throw Boland’s bill in the trash heap where it belongs. I’m sure there are far better, more important, and real issues the Maine legislature could be dealing with on behalf of that state’s citizens.
Well, placement is finally over, and Christmas has begun!!! I still haven’t quite taken in that it’s Christmas Day in one week’s time. It still seems like months away, and even scarier is that I graduate in 6 months time. It really doesn’t seem long since I was a nervous 1st year, and scared of everything and everyone. And now i’m much more confident, and loving every minute of being in Swansea.
Haverfordwest wasn’t actually that bad. The staff were really amazing, and let me get on with whatever I wanted to do. It was really great.
My medicine application is still going well. I received a letter inviting me for an interview at St. Georges for 25th January, and an email asking for work experience information for Nottingham. So things seem to be on track. I’m learning to trust that God has everything in his control, and if it’s his will, it will happen regardless of me.
The last couple of days have been a little rocky, and apparently for no particular reason. I’m just feeling really down, and emotional. I suppose it’s something to do with being so tired at the moment, and being drained of energy. I need a holiday, but that won’t be possible til at least May, and possibly not even until July when my exams are over.
Oh well, i’ll just have to survive, and keep going.
For the past four days, my alarm has gone off at 6 am. Why? Because for the intercession schedule at work, my shift is the 7:30-10:30 am. You would think this would technically be a good thing, as it gives me the entire day to get things done. But then I get off and all I want to do is sleep. Which I do. Tomorrow is the last day before winter break, two weeks of doing absolutely nothing except for Christmas stuff.
The holidays passed me up this year, I think. I feel like I’ve been too busy with life and trying to sort things out to really get in the spirit. If that makes sense. Maybe tomorrow, when I’m done with work, I’ll go home and clean my room and set up a little tree of some sort while listening to Christmas music. Hopefully it’ll help.
I went to see my psychologist on Tuesday. He’s a pretty cool dude. He’s into medication and therapy, but also in alternative healing practices, like meditation and hypnosis. We decided to up my mood stabilizer and see if that made me a little less irritable and such. I have yet to drop off the prescription, but I suppose I’ll go do that tomorrow as well.
Auguste got a new job as a bar back at Riverside Warehouse. He starts next Friday and I think he’ll be happier there, though I hate that he’ll be working Friday and Saturday nights. But I want him to be happy, so you know.
I just wanted to update a bit. I took a melatonin and I’m now going to go mess around online a bit and then try to get some sleep.
Support Senator Coburn in his efforts to stop socialized medicine by requiring that any amendments and the final bill be read first in its entirety.
Three Cheers!
Tom Coburn and John Barrasso Talk About Reforming Health Care
Related Posts On Pronk Palisades
Health Care
Progressive Radical Socialist Health Care Plan Written In Prison By Convicted ACORN Felon Richard Creamer!
Obama’s Trick On The American People: Health Insurance Reform=Huge Hikes in Taxes and Premiums for Health Insurance and Massive Medicare Funding and Payment Reimbursement Cuts–Congressional Coercion–It’s Alive!
Second Opinion: Doctors Speak Up On Proposed Health Care Reform–And A Third Texas Opinion!–Videos
American Citizens Want Jobs and Criminal Alien Removal, Not Criminal Alien Census and Health Care!
Illegal Aliens Can Buy Health Insurance Plans–No ID Needed:–Demand Criminal Alien Removal and Deportation!
Congressman Paul Ryan–Townhall Meeting–Health Care Reform and The Patients Choice Act–Videos
The Arrogance of President Obama: Hectoring Habitual Liar
Broom Budget Busting Bums: Replace The Entire Congress–Tea Party Express and Patriots–United We Stand!
Public Option = Government Option = Pathway to Single Payer = Single Payer = Socialized Medicine = Blue Pill = Poison Pill
Obama: First We Kill The Babies, Then We Kill The Elderly, Then We Kill The Veterans–Your Life, Your Choices–Your Time Is Up!
This Joker Is A Lost Cause: Keeping President Obama Honest on Health Care–Let’s But A Smile On That Face–Staying Alive
Fact 1. Federal Government Health Insurance Is Compulsory–Kill The Bill–H.R. 3200
Patient Empowerment: Health Savings Accounts–High Deductible Catastrophic Health Insurance–Affordable, Portable, Fair, Individual Health Care Plan–Consumer Driven Health Care Reform!
The Dangers Of A Single Payer Health Care System: Ronald Reagan On Socialized Medicine and Friedrich A. Hayek On State Monopoly
The American People Believe The Government Public Option Plan Is The Path To The Single Payer Government Plan–Socialized Medicine–Obama Caught Lying To The American People!
The American People Confront Obama’s Red Shirts (ACORN) and Purple Shirts (SEIU)–Bullhorns and Beatings Over Obama Care!
The Obama Depression Has Arrived: 15,000,000 to 25,000,000 Unemployed Americans–Stimulus Package and Bailouts A Failure–400,000 Leave Labor Force In July!
Obama’s Marching Orders For His Red Shirts (ACORN), Purple Shirts (SEIU) and Black Shirts (New Panther Party)–Progressive Radical Socialists
Health Care Resources
Republican Health Care Reform: The Patients’ Choice Act
Medical Doctor and Senator Tom Coburn On Health Care–Videos
The Senate Doctors Show–Videos
Obama’s Waterloo– Government Compulsory Single Payer Socialized Medicine!–Videos
President Obama’s Plan of Massive Deficit Spending Is Destroying The US Economy–The American People Say Stop Socialism BS Now!
The Bum’s Rush of The American People: The Totally Irresponsible Democratic Party Health Care Bill and Obama’s Big Lie Exposed
Chairman Obama’s Progressive Radical Socialist Health Care Bill Kills Individual Private Health Care Insurance–Join The Second American Revolution!
The Obama Big Lie and Inconvenient Truth About Health Care–The Public Option Trojan Horse–Leads To A Single Payor Goverment Monopoly of Health Care and The Bankruptcy of USA!
The Obama Public Option Poison Pill For A Government Health Care Monopoly–Single Payer System–Betting Your Life and Paying Though The Nose
Government Bureaucracy: Organizational Chart of The House Democrats’ Health Plan
Dr. Robert W. Christensen–Videos
John Stossel–Sick In America–Videos
Bizarre implant was discovered during routine dental exam.
The National Reporter
Wally Hanson, a sixty-seven year old retired police officer from Albany New York, got an unexpected surprize last week.
While visiting his dentist for a routine check up, a mysterious metallic object was discovered in his tooth.
“It’s weird as hell.” He said. ”It’s a tiny electronic implant of some sort. I have no idea how the hell it got there. It wasn’t there the last time I had my teeth X-rayed a year ago.”
His dentist, Dr. Fred Wallington had this to say.
“I never saw anything like this. There is no opening anywhere near the implant. No scarring or filling, it’s like it just grew there.”
There are no markings to indicate how the strange electronic implant was placed into the tooth.
Mr. Hanson contacted the FBI about his mysterious implant the day after it was discovered and they were very interested in finding out what it was.
He was immediately flown to Washington DC to under go some extensive tests.
Dr. Bernard of the FBI’s forensic medical investigations unit conducted several tests on the object and concluded that it was a transmitter of some sort and that not only was it transmitting a very high frequency signal, it was also receiving an incoming signal.
What that incoming signal is and how it is effecting Mr. Hanson is a mystery.
“It doesn’t seem to be having any kind of effect on Mr. Hanson.” Dr. Bernard told us. “But we do know that every time it transmits, a few seconds later a signal is returned to the device.” The National Reporter – How often does the implant send out signals?
“We’re not sure, but it seems to be at least four times a day. They are very short and easy to miss, so there may be more. Some of them only last for a hundredth of a second, but despite the short transmission time, there is a lot of information being exchanged.” The National Reporter - Do you have any idea who or what put the implant in Mr. Hanson’s tooth?
“Not yet, but it can be anything from some kind of marketing device placed in there by a corporation or a foreign government using it to spy on us. And we aren’t counting out extra terrestrial’s either.” The National Reporter - Do you have any idea’s what the signals are saying?
“They are in some kind of code, but it isn’t the usual binary code. This is weird, it’s in some sort of quad code. So far we haven’t been able to make heads or tails out of it.” The National Reporter – Have you tried to remove it?
“Yes, and when we did the implant immediately lost power and shut down. Apparently it is rigged to disable itself if the tooth is removed, so we have to study it while it is in Mr. Hanson’s mouth.”
The FBI has still not been able to decipher the code or locate the origin of the implant.
They have informed The National Reporter they we would be notified when they have learned more about it.
Until then, we will just have to wait.
HIV=AIDS : Fact Or Fraud (1997) A letter from the producer, Stephen Allen, is quoted at the bottom of this post.
.
. Deconstructing The Myth Of AIDS (Gary Null)(2001?)
.
. The Other Side of AIDS – (Robin Scovill) 2004
.
. AIDS Inc. (Gary Null) (2007)
HIV=AIDS : Fact Or Fraud
A shocking documentary that exposes HIV/AIDS as a deceptive and deadly scam.
A LETTER FROM THE PRODUCER, Stephen Allen
In 1992, I embarked upon a pursuit that eventually would compel me from the grandstand of passive-objective journalism into the dangerous realm of “non-objective” advocacy. It all began when I took an in-depth look at America’s war against AIDS.
Like any independent reporter, I wanted my shot at a groundbreaking story. Any shocking expose that would accolade my career with the likes of great muckraking writers like Upton Sinclair, Ida Tarbell, Bernstein and Woodward would do. What I found however, plunged me into long hours of despair, frustration and deep debt, accompanied by an inability to tear myself loose from the cause of millions of lives hanging in the balance. The story was even bigger than I suspected! But what I did not expect was that only a few discerning souls would want to hear it—and even fewer care enough to voice opposition.
It all began when I followed a lead from a story written by Tom Bethell in The American Spectator, about a “heretic” scientist named Dr. Peter Duesberg, Duesberg is a prominent retro-virologist from the University of California at Berkeley, which was a great setting for an antiestablishment fracas to germinate. Quirks and quacks are always common with any high-profile story like the “AIDS epidemic,” but Dr. Duesberg sparked my interest because he was different. He had been a pioneer and cornerstone in the field of virus biology and the first scientist to map the genetic structure of retroviruses like HIV. During his research, he discovered oncogenes (genes that cause cancer), a find that is proving to be one of the greatest medical breakthroughs in understanding cancer.
Yet, despite a brilliant career of scientific research and government grants, Dr. Duesberg risked everything when he stood up against the gods of science and public opinion and boldly stated, “HIV is NOT the cause of AIDS!” I had to know more — could he be right?
In early 1992,Dr. Duesberg’s arguments were already five years old, having been published in his well-researched denunciation of HIV in Cancer Research back in 1987. By the time I interviewed him, other respected biomedical experts had joined their voices in dissent with HIV/AIDS: Nobel prize winners Dr. Walter Gilbert from Harvard and Dr. Kary Mullis (who ironically invented the polymearse chain reaction technology used to falsely determine what is called HIV “viral load”); Dr. Richard Strohman, Berkeley professor emeritus of cell biology; and Dr. Charles Thomas, a biomedical research scientist who headed labs at Scripps-Howard and Upjohn. As a former Harvard professor, Dr. Thomas used his administrative skills to formulate, “The Scientific Group for Reappraisal of the HIV/AIDS Hypothesis.” HIV has never been proven to cause AIDS and remains a hypothesis mired in a myriad of idiosyncrasies. The “Group” only numbered 40 members then, but would soon swell to over 600 members by 1996 (eventually thousands more by 2000).
I booked tickets, packed video equipment and flew to California to document their story. To present an “objective” point of view, we also interviewed Dr. Warren Winklestein, an HIV-supporting epidemiologist and Dr. Duesberg’s on-campus rival, along with Dr. Chip Schooley, the “AZT guru” from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. They added balance, but nothing more; unless you value scientific arrogance. Instead, they proved to be typical of an army of financially vested “experts” who only muddy the waters with useless and deceptive data in support of HIV as the “cause of AIDS.” It was apparent early on that Robert Gallo (who invented the AIDS fraud after pirating the HIV virus from the French Pasteur Institute), and the money behind this scientific disaster had swayed the best of minds. All other facts be damned!
It didn’t take long to see that Robert Gallo’s bug had never passed real scientific scrutiny. On April 23rd, 1984,without peer review or debate, Health and Human Services Secretary, Margaret Heckler, and Gallo were busy at the U.S. Patent Office securing the royalties to the HIV antibody blood test as they made the announcement that they had discovered “the probable cause of AIDS”. All of the CDC’s earlier assessments, that the AIDS crisis was primarily the result of recreational drug use among addicts and sexual stimulants called “poppers” among a small percentage of gay men, was brushed aside due to it’s non-lucrative value. HIV was clearly where the money was, and the only cause of AIDS anyone wanted now. The landslide of public funding that followed would blow away any common sense and dissent from “honest” scientists who stood in the way.
The simple but profound letter questioning HIV issued by the Group for Reappraisal was the first victim of censorship. Their four-sentence statement called for proof that HIV really was the culprit behind this crisis, and that the entire hypothesis of HIV/AIDS be re-evaluated by a “suitable independent group”. The letter didn’t receive a smattering of ink in the galleys of the pharmaceutical-funded publications Nature, Science, New England Journal of Medicine or Lancet. Evidently, something foul was underfoot. The AIDS machine had already corrupted these editors into becoming the gatekeepers of silence.
But what was proving far worse then the absurdity of the HIV hypothesis itself, was the industry of death it was spawning. The same year Peter Duesberg exposed HIV as a fraud (1987), Burroughs-Wellcome, (now Glaxo-Smith-Cline) finagled an old cancer chemotherapy called AZT through the FDA for approval to treat AIDS patients. This highly toxic nucleoside analogue, designed to destroy the DNA of white blood cells, was given to human patients for the first time (after it caused cancer and poisoned the rats they fed it to in studies).One could only wonder why this known carcinogenic toxin was being administered to patients who desperately needed the very cells it was designed to kill. Unless of course, the drug was needed to actually cause AIDS because HIV did not. Dr. Duesberg pointed out that even the manufacturer’s warnings claimed AZT could cause AIDS by prescription!
The whole thing loomed at me like some kind of medieval nightmare. A failed hypothesis about a phantom germ, that terrorized the victim into taking poisonous “medications” that caused the very disease they are supposed to prevent. It was a self-fulfilling formula for medical disaster: “HIV causes AIDS”
In his brilliant investigative work, Poison by Prescription, statistician turned journalist, John Lauritsen, exposed the crooked and fraudulent tests the Wellcome company used to get AZT through FDA approval. Yet his voice, along with others from both the scientific and gay communities questioning the AIDS establishment’s terror tactics, were shouted down in anger.
That is exactly what happened to my first attempt with the documentary. After about four months of hard work and time, a rough-cut of the project was circulated to numerous potential distributors. They were colder then gravestones…no one wanted anything to do with it! Steve Smukie of the prestigious Creative Artists agency in Hollywood told us that he “found the information very compelling, but we can’t use it.”
Within months, Tom Hanks and Philadelphia would sweep the Oscars. Stars, news anchors, politicians, talk-show hosts, educators and preachers were turning AIDS into some kind of pathetic party with every guest wearing a red ribbon. As Tom Bethell was later heard to say, “AIDS has become more of a social program than a disease.”
Now anyone who questions HIV and AIDS as a sexually transmitted threat to the entire world, is dangerous and politically incorrect. I have seen it so many times even among my friends. When these questions are raised, there is almost a programmed psychological reaction that shuts off all information intake and analysis. This reflex reaction disables all analytical thinking, and leaves the listener uncomfortable and despondent. Like a an icy talon twisting it’s way into the inner mind, the AIDS establishment’s 20-year fear and terror campaign has embedded itself deep into the American psyche.
Grudgingly, I admitted my documentary effort was a lost cause. Yet somehow I trudged on and continued to follow the issue. I joined the Scientific Group for Reappraisal, followed the news and talked to anyone who might be willing to think above the HIV/AIDS lemming mentality. As the months drifted by, our numbers were growing. 1993 was a pivotal year. Dr. Robert Root-Bernstein released his book Rethinking AIDS and it generated reports questioning HIV orthodoxy on CNN, CBN and slew of local newscasts. Nicholas Regush and John Hockenberry did a prime time expose interviewing Dr Root- Bernstein and Dr. Peter Duesberg on ABC’s DAY 1. Later, Root-Bernstien and Dr. Anthony Fauci, the US Health Department’s AIDS “expert”, debated the issue on Nightline.
But this had little lasting effect. When I contacted John Hockenberry about the response he received concerning the DAY 1 segment, he responded that it “hit with a thud”. He was actually surprised that there was virtually no audience response to the issue. Here was the most deadly and expensive medical hoax of the 20th century being exposed on prime television and even this was not enough to awaken the public from the spell. Former London Sunday Times Science Editor, Neville Hodgekinson, who has experienced the same reaction in the UK, expressed his curiosity with this “extraordinary” power of the fear of phantom germs over rational thinking adults. In our brief phone conversation we both agreed that this is an issue for sociologists, not research scientists. There was never any science behind HIV and that is progressively evident. The only real question is how this campaign of fear and social engineering continues to manipulate our highly educated modern culture?
I must admit that I grew weary of the battle. I excused myself from the issue for a while, thinking that these adults who chose to believe the government’s virus lies did so by their own consent, and it was their option to inform themselves. It was then that Celia Farber’s articles in Spin magazine about pediatric AIDS and pregnancy torched my anger, and compelled me back into the fight. Farber had been the lone light in this tunnel of media darkness for several years with her “AIDS: Words from the front” series. Her outstanding and ongoing investigation was now focusing on the use of AZT in children and treating pregnant women with it. This enraged me to no extent! To this day there are no large clinical tests in the US to determine what effects a substance designed to destroy DNA could have on a developing baby. But reports from small foreign studies are shocking! Babies are born with extra fingers, odd bowling-ball shaped heads, nerve and brain damage, holes in the vital organs and—AIDS.
In 1993, a large cohort study released at the Berlin AIDS conference (Concorde study 93) revealed that AZT was ineffective in slowing the progression of AIDS. In fact, as Peter Duesberg and John Luritsen had warned, people were dying 25 % percent faster—AIDS by Prescription. And now they were giving this useless toxic drug to pregnant women?
Imagine the US Department of Health, which recommends that women refrain from a few ounces of alcohol during pregnancy, actually advocating that these same women take a substance designed to destroy their baby’s DNA! Even if one believes that HIV causes AIDS, this is utter madness! 80 percent of all babies born to HIV positive mothers will be HIV negative. Of the remaining 20 percent, about half will not test positive to the virus according to Glaxo-Wellcome’s claims. (The media reports a 50% reduction of HIV transmission but it is actually only 1 out of 10) So we are destroying the DNA in developing fetus and babies in nine out of ten cases (90%) for no reason at all!
I had to do everything I could to stop this. With the help of Dave Dodd, my wife Debbie and the encouragement of some potential distributors I set out to produce the documentary for the second time. Because of legal complications, virtually everything was lost from my first attempt. I had to call Dr. Peter Duesberg, Dr. Charles Thomas and Dr. Richard Strohman again and ask them for more of their valuable time. They were very gracious and granted it. With credit cards in hand and my wife Debbie as production assistant, we began the task again in 1996.
By now I was developing a strong bond with Dr. Charles Thomas and we enjoyed dinner and the hospitality he and his wife showed us. The Group then numbered over 600 members and was a constant source of new scientific data in dispute of HIV. When we arrived at Peter Duesberg’s lab in Berkeley, he asked us “so why are you still covering this?” Obviously he had seen many reporters come and go. My only answer was, “the kids”. I think we both pondered for a moment on the consequences of the HIV disaster now threatening a young defenseless generation. His wife had given birth to a son just days earlier and that brought to mind my son, less then 1 year old, back in Denver.
The interviews went well. In a few weeks I was ready to start editing. Shortly thereafter I met Dr. David Rasnick, now president of the Group, who explained the dangers of the new class of drugs called protease inhibitors. Dave Rasnick also provided data documenting why HIV mutation theories lack scientific support. Dave has been at the forefront of the battle ever since and has been fully involved in resolving African AIDS problems and myths with South African President, Thabo Mbeki.
My goal with this new documentary was to present the Group’s position on almost every aspect of the HIV debate. Unlike before, I intentionally didn’t interview HIV proponents, though I did discuss their views and arguments. They have had over 15 years and 60 billion dollars of government-funded support to make their claim. (At 2007 this amount is about 250 billion) I wanted a clear, unencumbered presentation of the Group’s position, without the useless, time-wasting nonsense they use to confuse the public. The program was to follow a logical progression. History first; how the AIDS crises started and how HIV was hoisted upon the public. Then 10 scientific reasons that explain in layman’s terms why HIV can NOT be the cause of AIDS. After this, we explain what the causes of AIDS really are and why drugs like AZT and the protease inhibitors are dangerous and can cause AIDS chemically.
It is only after you dispel the fears and myths about HIV that you can actually see the dark forces that are behind it. Based upon a solid scientific critique, I could expose the: 1.Political-economic reasons why the program is genocidal and self-serving . 2.Why we have been terrorized by lies about AIDS being sexually transmitted. 3. The invalidity of “HIV testing, viral load counts, CD4 counts and “treatment” benefits. 4. How these propaganda distortions have entwined themselves into the media, the medical industry, the gay community, Christian fundamentalists and political leaders.
I believe I succeeded in accomplishing my objective. In February of 1997 the tape premiered at several HEAL (Health, Education, AIDS, Liaison) chapters around the country. We got standing ovations and great reactions in Los Angeles, Seattle, San Francisco, New York and San Diego. The tapes sold like hot cakes for about 3 months, mostly to people directly affected by HIV. I never attended any of the events, but I was encouraged by the reports.
We scheduled our own premier in Denver, June 17th 1997. Ironically, the theater we scheduled the event at was also presenting a play called “Angles in America” simultaneously, a play about AIDS that supports AZT as a “miracle AIDS treatment” We invited all the newspapers, television news outlets, radio stations and local politicians. None of them came or reviewed the tape even though we sent them copies. Angels in America (which by this time was a re-heat of an old play from several years back) was reviewed and promoted by almost all the media extensively. Sadly, only the best of our friends attended the premier. But there were a small group of young HIV positive men who came and paid admission. Since then, they have gone off their medications and are all healthy. They bought the tape and have made dozens of copies for their friends.
But my prospective distributor refused to handle it claiming it was too long. I knew the real reason. Then other promoters and agents failed to secure television distribution and tape orders. I was deep into thousands of dollars in debt and by now most of the people hungry for the truth about HIV were already pirating copies from their friends. I am actually happy that the tape has been ripped off by so many people, because it is the only way the information could get out. The tape is saving lives and is circulating all over the world. Copies exist in the UK, France, Russia, Mexico, Australia and South Africa. I have sent copies to senators, congressmen, mayors, consumer groups and public watch-dog organizations. They rarely write back to even acknowledge they received it. But every now and then I am surprised by someone who has seen the documentary—and in cases where they are HIV antibody positive, they are deeply grateful. With a bitter sweetness, I have no regrets.
We offered the documentary, free of charge, to various PBS affiliates and “free Speech TV” channels, all declined to air it. Most cited reasons that it “didn’t present a balanced counter argument from the AIDS establishment.” We argued that if they really wanted balance they would air this tape to counter the hundreds of hours they spend providing unscientific programming in support of HIV=AIDS, which incidentally is paid for by huge pharmaceutical grants. Tony Brown’s Journal, which presented several programs that featured Dr. Duesberg’s debate on PBS, has been moved back past midnight in almost every market and eventually cancelled.
When we contacted our local PBS affiliate KBDI, they were at first thinking of presenting part of the tape along with a debate over the issue with Dr. Peter Duesberg and our old chum, Dr.Chip Schooley, from the AZT school of medicine at Colorado University. But when Schooley and Health official Frank Judson got wind of it they refused to debate the issue in any way and pressured KBDI not to even discuss the topic. On the night the debate was to air, the time was occupied by more AIDS establishment propaganda. Immediately after the program when they opened “free lines” for discussion, the program producer, Barbara Jabailey, recognized our voices and would not let us into the discussion. She laughed when we told her the information we had was lifesaving to many of the people viewing this program. These are typical examples of the censorship going on all around the world.
As I write this, a storm is brewing in South Africa where the conflict continues. The AIDS establishment has exported their hideous exploits to the third world, after the decline of AIDS in the US, and are now pressuring South African President Thabo Mbeki to give AZT to millions pregnant women. But thanks to the free flow if information through the internet and work of dissidents like Dr. Charles Geshekter and Anthony Brink, Mbeki is aware of the AIDS fraud and is resisting international pressure. Millions of lives hang in the balance of this decision—as President Mbeki reassesses the risk of HIV among the real heath concerns of this troubled little nation. As the international AIDS conference scheduled for South Africa draws near in July of 2000, the AIDS establishment is in an utter panic after Mbeki requested the advice of hated dissidents Dr. Peter Duesberg and Dr. David Rasnick. This may be the beginning of the end for the HIV/AIDS death march.
I sent several copies of the tape to Dr. Geshekter back in 1997. He has duplicated and circulated them at my request, and I know that they are having a great impact on the situation there. We are all part of a huge team effort and it’s finally beginning to pay off.
HIV/AIDS has robbed the public coffers of billions of dollars, wasted valuable research and medical talent, terrorized society and poisoned hundreds of thousands of people. It is by every measure the most dangerous and deadly medical fraud of all time. It is estimated that as many as 400,000 Americans have died due directly to the effects of “miracle drugs” like AZT. That’s almost eight times the number of US servicemen killed in Vietnam. The genocide induced by Robert Gallo’s titanic duplicity will be remembered in infamy for centuries to come. Was it conspiracy, collusion, fame or just the love of money that created HIV, the golden idol of junk science? Historians will ultimately have to make that call, as a journalist I can only report the facts as they happen.
I am very thankful that Marty Freyer came to Denver shortly before the documentary’s premiere and has headed up our local chapter of HEAL. He has been a constant support and influential leader. Together, we have done several radio and newspaper interviews while we worked through our strategies. He has a talent for cultivating the grass-root support and has talked to thousands of people. There are lots of local people who owe their lives to Marty, along with Larry Schneider, Chris, Bobbie, Jim Olsen, Rodney Richards and finally Tim and Eric. My deepest gratitude is extended to every one. Also I must thank my family and very good friend, Mike Sumrall, for their help and assistance in this horrific ordeal. These are only a few of the growing number of the finest people who have stood up against this madness. In spite of countless encounters with ignorance and callused arrogance, we are, as John Lauritsen put it, “bloodied but not bowed!”
GAO: Post-Vioxx, still no safety changes at FDA
December 9, 2009 by Maureen Martino
Three years after the Vioxx safety debacle, the FDA has yet to improve its drug safety oversight, according to Government Accountability Office findings. Vioxx was pulled from the market in 2004 after the drug was linked to an increased risk of heart attack and stroke. Two years later, the GAO, Institute of Medicine and other experts made recommendations to the FDA in order to prevent another Vioxx-like catastrophe.
I once read in a magazine that Neosporin acted as a perfect cuticle repair during the winter. Being a victim of brutal hangnails, I decided to slather my fingertips before bed for a couple nights. My roommate laughed at my dedicated primping, but the results were worth the extra minute before bed! The ointment was a little greasy (it has an White Petrolatum base) and spotted my sheets; but for me, the pros outweighed the cons. Hangnail free, I began to wonder what else Neosporin was capable of…
What I dug up:
Acne Treatment – Neosporin kills bacteria and promotes healing, so why shouldn’t it work as a spot treatment? Many people seem to swear by it, but I can’t help but consider the company’s warning, “Do not apply the ointment over large skin areas.” Don’t mask your face in this ointment, apparently Neomycin is a highly toxic antibiotic, used sometimes as an intestinal antiseptic in surgery.
Soothes raw skin and ingrown hairs! Ladies, if you wax or shave this ointment can save you from embarrassing bumps. I personally use this for a couple days after I wax my bikini line, it relieves the irritation and keeps my skin clean.
Eye Colds and Ear Aches – Surprisingly, a lot of people swear by warming the paste into a liquid and putting it… pretty basically anywhere. However, Neosporin warns that the ointment is for “external uses only” and also shouldn’t be applied to eyes. Hmm…
Ingredients: Polymyxin B Sulfate, Neomycin and Pramoxine Hydrochloride. Inactive – Mythlparaben, Mineral Oil, Polozamer 188, Propylene Glycol, Water Purified, White Petrolatum.
What Neosporin doesn’t tell you:
White Petrolatum is an inactive ingredient found in many moisturizers, lip balms, sunscreens, anti-itch creams, and even eye drops. However, it is regulated as a moderately toxic mixture and possible carcinogen.
Polymyxin B is an antibiotic that has been used to treat Strep Throat and Swine Flu. Perhaps this is why some people condone gargling watered-down Neosporin?
In conclusion, I can only recommend Neosporin as cuticle cream and bikini-line soother. Although it is fairly unnatural, it does an amazing job at combating painful skin irritations!
Dr. Gawande playing hangman during surgery, on his patient’s covers. Copyright : New York Times, 2007.
P.S – By the way, LOVED his book, “Complications”. Thinking about reading his sequel, “Better”.
Dr. Atul Gawande is such a great writer AND a doctor. It is admirable how he can be two amazing things simultaneously
How could a Doctor or Physician possibly know how you feel in your own body other than yourself.
Infact, he can’t see what you see or feel what you feel because he/she doesn’t have your eyes or body.
Your Doctor is very wrong in most cases, due to the ROTTEN PHARMACEUTICAL industry. Get a better understanding of why you are in your doctor’s or physician’s care, and will continue coming or going back to them if you don’t stand up for your own health, by watching the following video.
Don’t let the PHARMACEUTICAL decide what you need for your Body… Follow your own Gut…
Take the First Step by Simply Visiting http://eCa.sh/BlackGrape
Good news! (I think.) The dreaded lump has been pronounced a cyst! Guess I wasted a hell of a good worry, huh? Guess we all did. I still need my doctor to tell me what to do next, as E-Bro and Mr. GF both say that you just shouldn’t listen to the radiologist about anything other than the basic facts. My doctor had a death in the family and won’t be back until Monday, but at this point, I can wait.
The mammogram process was as pleasant as could be expected. There’s not much that’s fun about having your breast squeezed between two metal plates, especially when your orders are “Now, let me know when this is as tight as you can possibly stand it.” To be a wimp? Or to grit your teeth and bare (I mean bear) it? I chose the teeth-gritting stance, so they could get the best image possible.
The ultrasound was painless, and she let me see what she was seeing. She did mark me up with a Sharpie, but at least she didn’t draw a face or a mouse with whiskers or anything goofy. But her advice was not overly helpful. “What should I do now?” I asked. “Go through menopause and don’t take hormones,” she said. Gee. Thanks. I’ll get right on that.
The radiologist didn’t come to talk to me – just told the ultrasound tech what to tell me – and everyone kept saying that they’d looked at this before, which they hadn’t, which rather shook my confidence in them. Exactly who did they think they were looking at? But seeing the dark, vacant space on the ultrasound that represents fluid, not solid, was a certain relief.
So now, it goes away by itself, I suppose. I wait.
I wonder what I would have felt around me energetically if things hadn’t been okay? I was pretty sure things were okay, even though I was tearful and worried on Monday night, mostly because I couldn’t feel any clustering of comforting souls, and I am certain that I would have had I needed them.
Time to turn to, as the Captain would say, and focus on the next things…getting my back put back into place, since it went out on Sunday, finalizing the divorce thingamajiggys, and what to do with my work life for the next few years.