A report in the Journal of Natural Products investigates a link between ginkgo biloba and epileptic seizures.
Among many active ingredients, ginkgo biloba contains ginkgotoxin. This is concentrated in the seeds in lethal amounts.
Ginkgotoxin is also present in the leaves. Report authors Eckhard Leistner and Christel Drewke noted massive variations in the strength of active products in ginkgo biloba teas, although they did not specifically test for ginkgotoxin.
They did look at how ginkgotoxin works in humans. They found it prevents uptake of vitamin B6 by the brain, appears to interfere with 2 neurotransmitters known to trigger epileptic convulsions, and also may prevent the uptake of anticonvulsant medicine.
The report covered 10 cases, 7 of which are on the US FDA’s Special Nutritionals Adverse Event Monitoring System.
The authors suggested product manufacturers should be required to test for the level of ginkgotoxin.
The German equivalent of the FDA, Bfarm, ruled recently that pharmaceutical companies selling ginkgo biloba medications have to amend the package insert advising patients suffering from seizures to consult their physician before taking high-dosage medications of this type.
Creating a French Country antique paint finish on a Medicine Cabinet is an easy project that can be accomplished in one weekend. To start this French Country antique Medicine Cabinet project you will need a few different materials from your local home improvement store as well as some time.
Those cheap plain fake wood Medicine Cabinets are perfect for French Country antiquing. If you have old or outdated wood Medicine Cabinet and just want to change the color or look this French Country antique paint process is also good.
Here is a list of supplies you will need to start French Country antiquing and resurfacing your old Medicine Cabinet:
Primer Bright or Royal Blue Paint & Sunny Yellow Paint or Terra Cotta and Blue Paint Roller paint brushes A variety of 2″, 3″, or 4″ paint brushes Wood stain Glaze Sandpaper Drop clothes Cheap, outdated, or plain Medicine Cabinet
Now, start sanding the surface of your plain Medicine Cabinet. Once you have the surface lightly sanded, you should wipe off the dust with a clean dry clothe. An old white t-shirt will work perfectly here.
Now, you are ready to put a coat of primer. If you are using a cheap fake wood Medicine Cabinet this is a very important step. Your resurfacing and French Country antique paint technique will not stick to your surface if you don't sand and then prime your Medicine Cabinet.
If you want a rough more rustic French Country look try putting the primer on with one of the 4″ brushes. This will give texture and create the look of real wood. If you prefer the smoother look you can roll the paint on with any type of paint roller. A foam roller will create the smoothest surface.
Allow your primer to dry completely.
Put on a coat of your base paint, which can be one of two colors. You can use yellow as your base and blue as your topcoat or blue as your base and terra cotta as your topcoat. This first paint should not be the actual color you want your French Country Medicine Cabinet to end up, but the color you want to show through when you antique the Medicine Cabinet.
Now you are ready to paint your French Country Medicine Cabinet with the real color you wish them to be, so blue or terra cotta, whichever applies to you?
Don't be scared to choose a bright color because the antiquing process will tone down the appearance of the French Country Medicine Cabinet considerably.
Once your French Country Medicine Cabinet color has dried you are ready to start antiquing it. Start by using the sand paper to rough up edges and other areas that would typically be used over time.
This will allow your sunny yellow to show through the bright blue or your blue to show through the terra cotta color.
Once you have finished sanding the French Country Medicine Cabinet wipe the surface down with a clean dry cloth. That old white t-shirt will work well here again. You can stop at this point, but if you want to go the extra mile you can use a mixture of ½ wood stain and ½ glaze to darken your piece.
Start by mixing your wood stain and glaze in a plastic container. Use a white rag or another old t-shirt to rub the stain onto the French Country Medicine Cabinet.
You can do this process until you achieve the antique look you want for your French Country Medicine Cabinet.
Tips:
For additional French Country antique inspired embellishments to a very plain Cheap Medicine Cabinet try attaching some pre cut wood embellishments. You can find them at any home improvement store.
This will completely change the look of your inexpensive Medicine Cabinet and instantly give a French Country antique feel.
You can also add some picture and ceiling molding as well.
Check out more of Rebecca's Vintage Crafts.
This article brought to by http://www.freemedicaltextbooks.hostoi.com
From London – According to a report in the journal "Nature" published the budget of the protein which could be the best diet for healthy aging as a restriction of caloric intake. Researchers, fruit flies fed different amounts of vitamins, lipids and amino acids in a diet consisting of sugar, water and yeast. The researchers were able to lifespan, without the need to maximize the fertility of the Flies by varying the amount of amino acids, while the modification of other nutrients had no such effect. Chicago – …
Today’s photo is of the other woman in James’s life – Annie, his Animas 2020 insulin pump. This pump continuously infuses insulin under James’s skin via an infusion site, and James can also tell it to give a larger ‘bolus’ of insulin when he eats. This is better for his body than insulin injections as it is closer to what a healthy pancreas does, which then minimises the complications that can occur in long term diabetics.
Caring means sharing your husband with another woman! But hopefully only other women who are insulin pumps!!!
A few weeks ago I floated the idea – which I swiped from Cenk Uyger – of using reconciliation to pass meaningful health care by vastly expanding Medicare. Now it seems that Ezra Klein is warming up to the idea:
My preference is that House Democrats pass the Senate bill and then run their fixes through the reconciliation process. But I think there is an argument that the current health-care bill has been terribly compromised by the months of controversy, the shady deal with Ben Nelson, the ambivalence of key legislators, the endless meetings with industry players, the wasted time, and the collective freak-out of congressional Democrats in the aftermath of Scott Brown’s election.
There is another option.
Democrats could scrap the legislation and start over in the reconciliation process. But not to re-create the whole bill. If you go that route, you admit the whole thing seemed too opaque and complex and compromised. You also admit the limitations of the reconciliation process. So you make it real simple: Medicare buy-in between 50 and 65. Medicaid expands up to 200 percent of poverty with the federal government funding the whole of the expansion. Revenue comes from a surtax on the wealthy.
And that’s it. No cost controls. No delivery-system reforms. Nothing that makes the bill long or complex or unfamiliar. Medicare buy-in had more than 51 votes as recently as a month ago. The Medicaid change is simply a larger version of what’s already passed both chambers. This bill would be shorter than a Danielle Steel novel. It could take effect before the 2012 election.
(The rest of his column is here.)
I realize that reconciliation is tricky, and it can’t do things like eliminate discrimination based on preexisting conditions. Also, Medicaid is no panacea. It’s second-class health insurance in some pretty major ways. Many doctors won’t accept it.
Still, a massive expansion of Medicare would also be a massive step toward affordable health care for all. It would establish the principle of universal coverage without making millions of Americans essentially captive to private insurers. It could set the stage for further expansions of Medicare.
Regulatory reform could still be achieved, though probably in a more piecemeal way. How many congresscritters would come out in favor of preserving the insurance industry’s right to discriminate on preexisting conditions, if that were the centerpiece of a bill? (This would obviously assume the prior existence of an individual mandate, because otherwise people would try to game the system, only buying insurance after they needed it.)
Anyway, just ’cause Ezra Klein likes it doesn’t mean it will happen. But his suggestion does mean that the policy wonks who have a voice in the debate haven’t declared “game over.” It means that we could accomplish meaningful reform without the likes of Ben Nelson and Scott Brown and (shudder) Joe Lieberman. It would mean lives saved.
That’s what I did Friday night. It wasn’t just me, though-five of the other fourteen people in Bangkok got it around the same time. Nobody is sure what caused it though. I did do something to help bring it on, though. All I had for dinner was flavored soy milk, a scotch and soda and peanuts. A humorously nausea-inducing combo. It sucked for sure-I had diarrhea and barfing simultaneously and eventually ended up in the hospital with a shot to end the nausea and a saline drip to rehydrate me. It worked, but I had to lie there half-awake for like four hours.
The Thai hospital was pretty nice. The emergency room felt basically like an American one-I was impressed. They got a little confused, though; they weren’t keeping good track of what had already been done so they tried to give me a pill twice. Another impressive thing was the price. The whole trip, all five or so hours of it at the hospital, including the cab and drugs, came to under ten dollars. I felt like giving a donation.
Their English was pretty good. At one point, though, the doctor said “we’re going to give you some fluid,” but her accent made it sound like “food” because Thai people have trouble with consonant blends. I was like “Sunil, go tell them I’m a vegetarian.” It was sort of funny. The best part of the experience, actually, was that Sunil was really supportive (he’s my roommate). He went with me to the hospital, filled out paperwork, paid for me and everything. It was great. I owe him one.
This one is part of a family medical centre. For a few years I have been forced to see whatever doctor is available in one of these huge medical centres where even if you have an appointment with a certain doctor, you can wait hours. While I was seeing one particular doctor whenever I could, he wasn’t MY doctor and I was hesitant to sign on as his patient. Provincial health care rules mean that if you sign on with a particular doctor, that’s it. You are stuck for life unless they leave the practice and don’t take you with them.
My beloved family doctor retired back in 2000 and was unable to find me a doctor. I’ve been with a couple of others but they simply left the clinics they were in and the clinics didn’t seem to care what happened to their patients.
So this week, I had my first actual check-up since 2000.
I had a “check-up” a few years ago at one of the “megaloclinics”. My “appointment was for 9am and I arrived at 8:45. I didn’t get called until 2:15. My “check-up” consisted of height, weight, and an eye-test (which the “nurse” did, insisting that I tack off my glasses and look at the chart 15 feet away… Since I can barely see the palm of my hand front 3 inches away, this was pretty pointless… Since I had just had my eyes checked less than a week ago by an actual eye doctor, it was even more pointless). That was the sum total of my check-up.
THIS time, I got the full work-up, including a home colon-cancer test kit.
So, now for the Pap…
Women know the scoop. Butt at the end of the table and knees in your ears.
Doctor says “This may be a little uncomfortable, since it hasn’t been used in a while…”
I’m thinking to myself “Either she doesn’t do too many internal exams and is using a reusable speculum…”
“Ummm, you mean the speculum or my…”
“I meant your….”
I’d have doubled over if I didn’t think that might just hurt a lot….
I received the following today. Of course, late responses are welcome, although it would’ve been better to get it sooner.
Dear Mr. Gardner,
Thank you for contacting me about comprehensive health care reform. I appreciate hearing from you on this important issue.
Let’s see if you actually read what I wrote to determine how much you appreciate hearing from your constituents.
As you know, the Senate approved, with my support, comprehensive health care reform legislation on December 24, 2009. This legislation, titled the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (H.R. 3590), will tightly regulate insurance companies to protect consumers, ensure that 94 percent of Americans actually have health coverage, improve Medicare benefits and reduce the federal deficit by $130 billion over the next ten years.
She claims the bill is there to “protect consumers”, and “ensure that 94 percent of Americans actually have health coverage”, “improve Medicare benefits” and “reduce federal deficits”.
Protect consumers: I don’t feel safer having my future in the hands of government regulators. A fat lot of good regulation did in our financial industry, one of the most heavily regulated industries in the country. Rather, I feel safer when people are competing for my money and business. I trust the free market, not government. I don’t have to look very far to see how the Federal Government is treating our soldiers in the VA hospital or our medicare recipients to see that sub-standard care and an apathetic bureaucracy are the results of heavy regulation.
Ensure that 94 percent of Americans actually have health coverage: How can we have health coverage if our health industry is in the same state of ruin as every other country with socialized medicine? Or what does she think health coverage is? Actually getting treatment, or having a piece of paper signed by the Federal Government?
Improve Medicare benefits: Apparently, cutting hundreds of billions of dollars from the Medicare budget is supposed to improve benefits. The only place in the world where you can get more with less is in free enterprise economies, with real competition provided by actual companies that have to make a profit. In government, you get less with more, as we can see with our education system.
Reduce federal deficits: Here, the democrats played a trick on the people. See, they gave the CBO instructions to only look 10 years in the future, pretend that the medicare cuts would actually go through, and then only count the benefits of the bill after 4 years when they go into effect. Of course, if you take 6 years of spending with 10 years of taxes, along with an impossible cut, they are going to claim that they are saving money. But what happens in the next 20, 30, 50, 100 years with their bill? No one talks about that, because the answer is obvious: BANKRUPTCY.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is the product of more than a year’s work by the Senate Finance Committee and the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, with the final debate taking place on the Senate floor. The last steps of the process involve merging the House and Senate passed bills and having each chamber vote for final passage before sending one final bill to the President to be signed into law.
The senator believes we don’t see what kind of rules they are breaking to move this forward. They are supposed to get consent from the Senate before moving into conference committee. They failed to obtain that.
This bill is being ram-rodded down our throats, in violation of several senate rules.
As we work through these final steps of the legislative process, I will be fighting to make sure the health care reform bill we send to the President retains the strong reforms I have worked to include in the Senate’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. I will also be pushing to strengthen the legislation where there remain weaknesses. The Senate bill would be stronger if it included additional elements I have supported, such as a public option, that would further reduce costs and improve Washingtonians’ choices in health care coverage.
Yes, socialism! Here she is admitted that she is fighting to thrust socialism upon the American people, despite the fact that we don’t want it and we stand ideologically opposed to the semblance of it.
Maria Cantwell, you do Josef Stalin proud. Keep up the good work, comrade! One day, they’ll raise a statue to you, and we can force our little children to lay wreaths of flowers around it, worshiping your hard work in taking from those who have and giving to those who would’ve had had the rich been able to continue what they were doing.
You, my friend, are an enemy to America, you are an affront to individual liberty, and you have no right to sit in your office because you do not support the basic principles and clear limits on government in the constitution you swore, falsely, to uphold.
Included as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is my Basic Health Plan. This provision allows all 50 states to establish programs similar to Washington’s Basic Health Plan, which has a successful 20-year track-record of providing quality coverage to people with income below 200 percent of the federal poverty level. This provision will fully fund our state’s program by directing money to participating states so they can use their purchasing power to negotiate with insurance carriers to lower costs and improve benefits. A typical Basic Health Plan will cost 30 percent less than the same plan in today’s market. In Washington State, residents will see improved benefit packages under the Basic Health Plan, and the state will save much needed funds.
Wake me when I see a federal program that actually delivers more for less money than the private sector.
The way these plans work is that tax your pants off and then give a fraction of it to the poor in a shoddy manner. These are the same poor that are only poor because of the taxes and regulations enforced upon those people who are working hard to drive costs down and increase employment and wages in our economy.
Additionally, I was able to secure critical short-term funding for state-funded health care programs, including Washington’s Basic Health Plan. This bridge funding will help to improve coverage in our state until federal reform is fully implemented in 2014. It will also provide significant relief to our struggling state.
WAIT A MINUTE! I thought you just said that Washington’s Basic Health Plan was successful. Why do we need federal funding? Isn’t it more efficient at delivering health care than the private sector? Why do we need to tax ourselves and other states to provide for our own poor? Something is fishy here!
Also included in the Senate’s health reform bill is my Medicare “value-index.” This proposal will adjust the way physicians are paid under Medicare to reward high quality health care. Under the current system, doctors are paid strictly by the number of services they provide to patients without regard to how their patient’s health improves. My value-index provision puts the focus back on patient health, paying doctors more when they provide better care to their patients. The value-index will significantly benefit Washington State doctors, patients, and taxpayers by bringing more money to Washington State providers while reducing over payments in other parts of the country, saving the Medicare program billions of dollars a year.
The unfortunate fact is that doctors are fleeing medicare. It’s stupid regulations like the one you are proposing that make providing care to medicare patients more expensive and less profitable. If they can’t feed their families by providing medicare, they won’t do it at all. Without doctors, what are you going to do? Can we enslave doctors to provide medical care? Or are we going to have to increase the payouts to compensate for the mountain of regulations they have to comply with?
This value-index is one of several crucial reforms to the Medicare system, reforms that are necessary to ensure the program remains solvent and provides America’s seniors with the health coverage they need. Under the currently flawed system we have today, both providers and Medicare Advantage plans in other parts of the country receive more federal funding per patient and provide more benefits than those in Washington State. I support keeping Medicare Advantage strong for Washington State seniors. The reforms in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act would help Medicare Advantage plans in Washington State by correcting the payment imbalance that has hurt us in the past. Washington State Medicare providers and Medicare Advantage plans would finally be eligible for higher payments to reward their long history of efficiency. This will create a more equitable Medicare program across the country and bring substantial benefits to Washington State’s senior citizens.
Unfortunately, the doctors don’t seem to agree with you. More regulation is not the answer.
This health care legislation stabilizes skyrocketing costs, encourages quality and extends health care coverage to 31 million uninsured Americans. It will also tightly regulate the health insurance industry to protect consumers from being denied coverage due to a pre-existing condition. Insurance companies will be prevented from dropping coverage due to illness and it will be illegal to arbitrary increase premiums on policy holders. Additionally, small businesses will be allowed to pool together to achieve the purchasing power of large companies, which will finally allow them to access affordable coverage for their employees.
Why are costs skyrocketing? I’ll give you several reasons.
There is no competition in the health insurance industry. More competition would lower costs and increase quality. As it is today, the tax code gives insurance companies a monopoly in each employer. Eliminate the tax incentive to provide health care, and allow people to buy insurance from out of state.
Lawyers like John Edwards abuse the malpractice laws to extort billions from good doctors. End the abuse of our tort system by placing caps on pay-outs and limits on what doctors can be held accountable for. Better yet, allow the juries to be composed exclusively from doctors of a similar field so that they can judge whether their colleague actually was abusing his profession. This malpractice payout money ultimately comes from the pockets of the patients, driving up health care costs.
Stop regulating medical devices and drugs. The FDA is supposed to insure that only safe drugs and devices are introduced into the field of medicine. They have failed. We are better left with doctors and manufacturers regulating themselves, and allowing patients to choose whether they will experiment with a new drug or not. This will reduce the cost of R&D by billions.
Stop regulating the medical industry altogether. Stupid regulations are expensive to enforce. Rather, let each doctor, hospital, and association of doctors and hospitals set their own standards, and enforce the same. Let the patients decide which doctors, hospitals, or professional organizations are trustworthy and which are not.
Stop buying drugs and paying for doctors for the elderly and sick. By getting the Federal Government out of the charity business, and leaving private individuals and organizations to care for those who truly can’t afford their care, there will not be a massive incentive to extort money from the federal government. Let charities determine how much or how little they will pay for drugs and care for the elderly and sick. Let individuals have the ultimate say, not the government.
The final product will not include everything I believe we need to improve our health care system, but make no mistake: this is a landmark bill that institutes significant reform, offers immediate relief and provides a foundation for a health care system that will last us well into the future. As we work to combine the House and Senate bills, I am focused on ensuring the policies which benefit Washingtonians remain strong. For the full text and various summaries of the bill as passed by the Senate on December 24, 2009, please see: http://dpc.senate.gov/dpcdoc-sen_health_care_bill.cfm.
It is landmark in its audacity to violate Article 1, Section 8. Have you even read it? If you have, how can you justify this bill by it?
Thank you again for contacting me to share your thoughts on this matter. You may also be interested in signing up for periodic updates for Washington State residents. If you are interested in subscribing to this update, please visit my website at http://cantwell.senate.gov. Please do not hesitate to contact me in the future if I can be of further assistance.
Sincerely,
Maria Cantwell
United States Senator
Senator, you’ve addressed none of my concerns. Instead, I feel like you have deleted my email and ignored my comments. Please, seriously consider the following facts.
Article 1, Section 8 clearly delineates what Congress can do. Medical regulation is not one of them. Please explain to me why you feel it is justified to violate our sacred constitution and violate that oath you swore to protect and defend the same.
The medical system in the United States is the #1 system in the world, bar none. Tell me why you feel it necessary to emulate the failing systems of the UK and Canada. Tell me why you are not working to extend the freedoms and liberties of the people, the very thing that makes our medical system superior to all others.
What is it about the Republican proposals that you refuse even to admit they exist? Why not reform our tax code to allow people to buy their own insurance, outside of their company? Why not allow out-of-state insurance companies to sell policies to the people? Why not reform the tort system?
I fully expect to be ignored, because that is the MO of the Democratic Party nowadays.
You may interpret Scott Brown’s victory as evidence that you need to pass more communist bills faster. I assure you, I have a different opinion. At the very least, I encourage you to pursue the path you are following. It’s been a while since we’ve sent a conservative republican to the senate from Washington, anyway.
Scott Brown (R) has pulled it off and will become the next US Senator in Massachusetts, a seat formerly held by Ted Kennedy. He ran in a very Democratic district and his Democratic opponent was ahead in the early stages of the campaign. That all changed as more and more independent voters turned away from the Democratic Party and President Barack Obama. This spells trouble for other Democrats who are up for election around the country.
Congressman Travis Childers (D) is up for reelection here in Northeast Mississippi but has become unpopular with independent voters. He will be running against Alan Nunnelee or Henry Ross. Also a black female conservative at Fox News has expressed interest in running in the GOP primary. I predict that the Democratic Party will lose huge numbers of seats this year and Congressman Travis Childers will also be defeated.
One thing you might want to consider. Everyone knows that President Barack Obama has America on the wrong track but who started that direction? President Bush started the bailout of the bankers and Wall Street and continued his unneeded wars in the Middle East. Barack Obama is only following his lead. Who gets elected isn’t important. It is who is behind the certain. As long as the Federal Reserve is still in operation – nothing will change. Abolish The Federal Reserve!
Surgeons from the Davis Medical Center have used artificial muscle to make the eyelid of a human cadaver blink.
The technique could benefit thousands of people each year who lose their ability to blink due to stroke etc., and may also have application in other conditions, such as inability to smile.
Craig Senders, Travis Tollefson and colleagues used EPAM (electroactive polymer artificial muscle) and a small battery to power a simple setup for making a blink. They found the amount of force and stroke required to close the eyelid with the setup were well within the attainable range of the artificial muscle.
Two techniques currently in use to restore blinking both have drawbacks.
Senders and Tollefson estimate the technology will be availabe for patients within 5 years.
The report is in the Archives of Facial Plastic Surgery.
Dude, I am so happy I’m not the only one who gets cringey feelings and second-hand embarrassment when I see Doctor Oz in his tv scrubs:
First off, I really, really wish that Dr. Oz would stop wearing scrubs on his show. I realize that it’s designed to scream to the audience that “I’m a doctor, dammit! Listen to me! I know what I’m talking about!”…Dr. Oz is in his TV studio doing a partially scripted talk show, and he just looks silly. There’s no other way to describe it. Orac, over at Respectful Insolence, taking down the good doctor’s disturbing style preferences in and amongst taking aim at his more disturbing…medical tendencies of late.
The scrubs on set are bad enough. He then goes and adds Crocs. Worn without socks.
It’s just weird, really. For instance, he must pitch up at the studio in normal casual wear, or a suit from a meeting, or whatever, and then gets to work and gets ready for the make-up chair and….dons his scrubs for the important clinical sterile requirements of a talk show studio? For me to sit there and think “dude, what…is the ‘Dr’ in front of your name not enough, and OMG your feet must stink by the end of taping!?’.
As if that weren’t enough it seems like the dollar signs are now too mesmerising. Sigh. The large, funny-named woman on the telly and everywhere else is dangerous! Repent! Flee, flee for your lives!
“The eternal providence has appointed me to watch over the life and health of Thy creatures. May the love for my art actuate me at all time; may neither avarice nor miserliness, nor thirst for glory or for a great reputation engage my mind; for the enemies of truth and philanthropy could easily deceive me and make me forgetful of my lofty aim of doing good to Thy children.
May I never see in the patient anything but a fellow creature in pain.
Grant me the strength, time and opportunity always to correct what I have acquired, always to extend its domain; for knowledge is immense and the spirit of man can extend indefinitely to enrich itself daily with new requirements.
Today he can discover his errors of yesterday and tomorrow he can obtain a new light on what he thinks himself sure of today. Oh, God, Thou has appointed me to watch over the life and death of Thy creatures; here am I ready for my vocation and now I turn unto my calling.”
Today’s term is a twenty-letter word that many nursing students learn.
Term: pharmacotherapeutics
Definition: The study of the effects of drugs in a clinical setting.
The emphasis here is on the effects that a drug has, and accordingly, the drug’s proper uses.
A couple of somewhat similar-looking words have their own meanings of course. “Pharmacodynamics” refers to the study of the interaction of drugs with living tissue, and “pharmacokinetics” refers to the study of what happens to drugs in living organisms.
The more general term, “phamacology” can be defined as the study of the effects of drugs.
Coming on Saturday (1/16/10), “If I had a hammer…”
—
Any single term and definition provided here may be used for personal or educational purposes. Please attribute any such use using “From ScientificWords.wordpress.com – ” followed by the posting date. Source material includes various editions of the “EasyTerms” series of books on scientific vocabulary. More info at:
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You can also search for books by title or by searching for my name at major online retailers.
“EasyTerms” is copyright 2010, Ed Creager. “Scientific Words of the Week” is a service mark of Ed Creager. All rights reserved.
In many countries, prescription drug advertising is banned, but pharma companies can still give little gifts to doctors. Now a Spanish blog covers, as reported by Advertising in Health, a lot of gadgets and gifts which sometimes are quite weird or have no functionality.
And if you think doctors are fed up with these, just take a look at the two videos below. The first one becomes interesting at 0:35.
For more information on prescription drug advertising, see the website of the Food and Drug Administration and also EthicAd.org.
Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc is Latin for “after this, therefore because of this,” or in other words, associating correlation with causation.
People are notorious for making this error in logic, because when something significant happens we want to be able to know & explain why it happened.
I was guilty of this error the other day when my laptop broke (I lost all of my files, I cried and learned my lesson – back them up!!!). I was going about my computer business as usual, and remembered that my iPod battery was nearly drained, so decided to plug it in. As soon as the cord hit the USB port, the screen went black, it crashed, and I couldn’t turn it back on.
I blamed this crash on the iPod, I even yelled at it and threw the cord against the wall! But when my husband took it in to get fixed, they said it wasn’t possible that the iPod was what caused the problem. Sorry iPod, it was just a coincidence that my computer happened to die at the exact moment that I plugged it in. I think this is a great example that helps to understand why many people buy into the anti-vaccine movement in spite of the complete lack of evidence correlating vaccines with autism.
Just like a certain amount of peoples’ computers will crash shortly after they plug their iPods into their USB ports, a certain number of children will be diagnosed with autism shortly after they are immunized. Just because it happens before, doesn’t mean it was the cause.
There’s a story that Paul Offit, author of Autism’s False Prophets, likes to tell that illustrates this beautifully:
My wife is a privately practicing pediatrician in the suburbs. And she was in the office one day and there was a four-month-old sitting on her mother’s lap. And my wife was drawing a vaccine into a syringe that she was about to give this child. Well, while she was drawing the vaccine into a syringe the child had a seizure, and actually went on to have a permanent seizure disorder—epilepsy. And there had been a family history of epilepsy, so she was certainly at risk for that. If my wife had given that vaccine five minutes earlier, I think there’s no amount of statistical data in the world that would have convinced that mother that anything other than the vaccine caused the seizure, because I think those sort of emotional events are very hard to argue against.
It looks like, upon looking back at the year 2009, that in many ways it was a good one for science & skepticism – at least, it was good for medical science. That’s because, according to a breakdown by LiveScience.com, various forms of alt-med woo woo got a well-deserved smackdown. That’s because a number of popular alt-med ideas were – gasp! – actually tested out under controlled conditions to see if they actually do what their practitioners claim. Let’s look at the results…
Reiki
Reiki is a spiritual practice developed in Japan in the early 20th century that, in the hands of Westerners, has evolved into a new-age healing practice. Popular in Hawaii and California by the 1970s, reiki has since become a staple at health spas and in granola-loving cities across the United States.
Reiki involves a practitioner (that is, someone who has taken a couple days of training) who places her hands on or just above a patient’s body to transmit healing energy — the “ki” or reiki, better known as qi in Chinese traditional medicine. Reiki has all the trappings of new-age healing: restoring balance and instilling life energy through mysticism and/or vibrational energy. Akin to a hands-off massage, reiki is said to relieve stress, fatigue and depression and promote self-healing for just about any disease, including cancer.
The two largest scientific reviews of reiki, published last year in International Journal of Clinical PracticeJournal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, reveal that reiki is not an effective treatment for any condition. and in November 2009 in the Also in 2009, the U.S. Catholic Church weighed in, stating at a March meeting of bishops that, “since Reiki therapy is not compatible with either Christian teaching or scientific evidence, it would be inappropriate for… Catholic health care facilities… to provide support for Reiki therapy.”
Reiki is not an outright scam; the practitioners seem to believe in what they are doing. In the end the soft music and whispery speech of the practitioners during the reiki sessions merely helps one relax.
Well, regardless of the Catholic Church’s theological opinion on reiki, one thing is clear: the science shows that, despite the fervent belief held by its practitioners, reiki doesn’t work. I can wave my hands in the air just as well as a “qualified” reiki practitioner and achieve exactly the same results… nothing at all. What’s next?
Reflexology or zone therapy
What’s the connection between the center of the ball of the left foot and the heart? Apparently nothing, according to systematic reviews of reflexology, or zone therapy, the practice of massaging the feet and sometimes hands or ears to cure disease.
Maybe you’ve seen the charts. The toes are somehow connected to the head and sinuses. There’s a spot in the middle of the foot that can help control diabetes, and next to that is the fresh-breath button. Foot massages sure do feel great. But “feel great” and “cure halitosis” are two different things.
As summed up in a study of over 250 adults, published in November-December 2009 issue of the journal Heart & Lung, reflexology and other massage techniques had no effect for heart surgery patients on postoperative mood, pain, anxiety, hospital stay and several other measures. (Actually, anxiety was lower in the group not getting the foot massage.)
This study follows systematic reviews published in September 2009 in the Medical Journal of Australia and in June 2008 by Taiwanese researchers in the Journal of Advanced Nursing finding no evidence that reflexology helps any condition.
So the bottom line is this: if your feet hurt, get a foot massage; if you’re recovering from heart surgery, for frak’s sake go see a cardiologist! Sheesh!
Homeopathy
Homeopathy is the use of physically impossible or implausible dilutions of medicines — or, poisons, actually, for homeopathy’s main tenet is “like kills like” — to cure just about anything. Numerous studies in 2009 found homeopathy to be either useless or marginally better than a placebo. But results tilt towards the “useless” side when the studies are bigger and the diseases are more serious.
In April in the journal Intervention Review, British researchers reported that there’s no evidence to support the use of homeopathy to treat the adverse effects of cancer treatment. In June in the journal Primary Care, a systematic review found homeopathy to be ineffective for weight loss. In October in the Annals of Oncology, more researchers reported no benefit from homeopathy in cancer treatment. And a medical perspective in JAMA in October detailed the lack of oversight for homeopathic products. (Maybe that’s why they don’t work.)
Also, in August 2009, the World Health Organization felt the need to make an official statement warning against the use of homeopathy for serious diseases, such as HIV, TB and malaria, after word spread that homeopathy was being promoted in some developing countries.
To be fair, the Faculty of Homeopathy, a UK-based professional society, lists numerous randomized, controlled trials on its website from previous years demonstrating the efficacy of homeopathy. If you want lots of positive results, you can always subscribe to the journal Homeopathy. And so the debate continues.
Actually, as far as I’m concerned – until the homeopaths can come up with some kind of plausible physical mechanism by which their woo-woo is supposed to work (as opposed to random hand-waving explanations) – the debate is DOA. Otherwise their claims amount to little more than a dragon in the garage. This silliness reminds me of a joke:
A man is strolling down the street, completely naked. A cop driving by pulls over and arrests the man for indecent exposure. As the man is being put into the cop car, he protests loudly by stating: “But officer, I’m not naked – I’m wearing my homeopathic pants!”
Moving on…
Magnetic therapy
Unlike many alternative therapies that come with ample amounts of good intentions, magnetic therapy seems like an outright scam. Most manufacturers know the magnets have no proven benefit for health, and yet magnets are added to everything from headbands to back braces to shoe inserts.
The basic premise, that magnets somehow improve blood flow, defies physics. The iron in your blood is bound to hemoglobin and is not attracted to magnets of any strength. This is a good thing. Otherwise you’d blow up in an MRI machine, with magnets thousands of times more powerful than your shoe insert.
Also, the magnets in most magnetic therapeutic devices are far too weak to penetrate the skin, particularly through clothing such as socks. Simply cover a magnetic shoe insert with a sock and try to attract something as light as a paper clip.
Nevertheless, some people swear by them, and some researchers still have the stamina to test these despite decades of negative results. And so, as published in August 2009 in Rheumatology International Clinical and Experimental Investigations, magnetic therapy did not improve the chronic pain associated with fibromyalgia.
The deathblow to magnet therapy should have been the large, randomized, double-blinded study on pain published in 2007 in Anesthesia & Analgesia. Yet sales of therapeutic magnets remain legal.
This one annoys me, as a physicist, to no end. The point about the MRI machines is particularly relevant – MRI machines generate magnetic fields many, many thousands (in some cases millions) of times more powerful than the crappy little magnets sold by these alt-med hucksters to the gullible. And an MRI machine is a diagnostic tool – it doesn’t treat or cure anything! So, just do the math folks… and save your money when approached by the next bogus magnetic therapy ad you see.
Last, but not least…
Kava
Herbs hold great healing promise. Many common drugs, such as aspirin and digitalin, were either once or continue to be synthesized from botanical herbs. Yet herbs can be deadly, too. Kava is one such herb, taken for relaxation. When mixed with alcohol, it can kill you. This is likely not the level of relaxation you are after. Also, the leaves and stems (but not the roots) can be toxic to the liver. Kava is indeed banned in many countries through Europe, where herbal medicine is otherwise popular.
In systematic reviews of kava and other herbals published in September 2009 in the journal Drugs and in Integrative Cancer Therapies, researchers found kava to be more trouble than it is worth, because it interferes with real medicines for cancer and other diseases.
Kava is not without its merits. Kava root is mixed into a drink in many South Pacific countries with few adverse effects, other than those that mimic alcohol abuse. Some studies have shown kava’s value in treating anxiety and depression from a specially prepared root extract. But despite the availability of kava on supermarket shelves, because of potential toxicity and drug interference, it is best to check with a doctor before self-prescribing this herb.
That last point cannot be emphasized enough, in my opinion. One of the dangers of buying into the alt-med, herbal remedy, “natural is good” philosophy is that it often leads people to circumvent the trustworthy medical process and go down the road of self-diagnosis & self-medication – which is sometimes very dangerous! It’s even more dangerous when self-medicating with some untested herb that is being pushed by someone who doesn’t have relevant medical training. For more info on this, check out what the potential harm is of self-medicating with herbs like kava.
So what is likely to be the response of many in the alt-med community to this news? My guess is that rather than acknowledge that the scientific process has put their cherished ideas to the test and found them lacking, they’ll instead attack the entire endeavor of medical science. This is often done by various alt-med woos when they drone on and on about various conspiracy theories involving “Big Pharma”, the government, doctors, and medical scientists.
And they can rant on all they want, it still won’t make their bogus therapies work. Self-delusion is sad to see.
Dean Giustini just published a fantastic list of educational guides that will help you when you have to do some research and have questions. It’s intended for librarians but I think any kind of medical professionals will find what they are looking for. The material is on HLWiki Canada. A few of the great collections:
Joint fund-raising efforts will support collaborative work of this unique partnership SEATTLE, Sept. 30, 2008 – The Swedish Neuroscience Institute (SNI) has joined forces with the Institute for Systems Biology (ISB) to fundraise for and collaborate on research they hope will lead to cures for diseases of the brain and nervous system. The new partnership brings together physicians, researchers and fundraisers from two of the most respected organizations in the Pacific Northwest. Greg Foltz. M.D., SNI neurosurgeon and head of the recently opened Center for Advanced Brain Tumor Treatment at Swedish’s Cherry Hill Campus, is jointly leading the project with Leroy Hood, M.D., Ph.D., ISB co-founder and president. “This is the first time that such a large group of established researchers have been brought together from the fields of neurosurgery, neuropathology, systems biology, genomics and biostatistical analysis to address serious diseases affecting the brain, such as malignant brain tumors,” said Dr. Foltz. “Also of significance is the fact that the SNI and ISB researchers are focused solely on developing early diagnostic tools and treatment solutions for human disease rather than theoretical pursuits.” The collaboration also brings to bear some of the most advanced research technologies that exist today. The SNI and ISB collaboration represents a powerful strategic partnership that joins the clinical expertise of Swedish with the systems biology, technology and computational expertise of ISB,” said Dr. Hood. “This study will integrate many different types of biological information from these patients which may in time lead to a deep understanding of the kinds of brain tumors today that are inevitably fatal.” ISB has been a global leader in the development of systems biology and the effort to identify organ-specific molecular ‘fingerprints’ in the blood that could lead to the pre-symptomatic diagnosis of disease. Diseases such as Glioblastoma (the most common and most aggressive type of primary brain tumor) are so deadly because by the time symptoms present in a patient, the disease has usually progressed to the point where a cure is not possible. In addition, researchers hope that understanding how biological networks of genes and proteins interact in brain cancer will reveal new and better targets for drug development and treatment of the disease. One of the partnership’s first research collaborations has been the creation of a brain tumor tissue bank and associated genomic database derived from samples removed during surgery. Dr. Foltz believes the tumor bank and database provide researchers in Seattle and beyond the critical resources they need to further their research into slowing or stopping the growth of malignant brain tumors. “One thing that’s made learning about these tumors difficult is that there are few patients at any one center and the tumors progress so rapidly without treatment. With the tissue bank and associated genomic database, we are establishing the foundation for one of the largest brain tumor research projects in the country,” said Dr. Foltz. “It’s a project with a mission to help not only patients in the future, but also those currently affected and whose tumors are now being so carefully studied.” The Institute for Systems Biology, founded in 2000, integrates such sciences as biology, chemistry, physics, computation, mathematics and medicine. “Systems biology is the science of discovering, modeling, understanding and ultimately engineering at the molecular level the dynamic relationships between the biological molecules that define living organisms,” said Dr. Hood. “System-based approaches to diseases such as Glioblastoma afford powerful new opportunities for bringing this disease under control.” “This new partnership between the SNI and ISB represents the future of medicine,” says Dr. Foltz. “As a physician whose primary concern is my patients, it’s inspiring to see scientists working so hard to find a way to help them. Especially encouraging is the fact that this collaboration will bring together researchers from different backgrounds who will be working in concert to attack the most difficult problems in disorders of the brain.” “We had a very strong program before this collaboration,” Dr. Foltz added. “But, ISB’s inclusion in this effort puts some of the best scientific minds in the world to work on behalf of our patients.” For his part, Dr. Foltz has recently developed a way to analyze brain tumor patients’ blood and look for certain ‘markers’ that can help determine the best course of chemotherapy for their particular type of tumor. While there is still a long way to go, the early results look promising not only for brain tumors, but for other types of diseases as well. Additionally, the knowledge gained from the brain tissue bank may shed light on the causes and possible cures for other neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s and strokes now affecting aging baby boomers in ever greater numbers. The partnership’s joint fund-raising efforts will be spearheaded by Randy Mann, senior director of Campaign for the Swedish Foundation, and Laurence Herron, vice president of development for ISB. ### About Swedish Medical Center Swedish Medical Center is the largest, most comprehensive, nonprofit health-care provider in the Greater Seattle area. It is comprised of three hospital campuses (First Hill, Cherry Hill and Ballard), a freestanding emergency room and specialty center in Issaquah, Swedish Home Care Services and Swedish Physicians – a network of 12 primary-care clinics. In addition to general medical and surgical care, Swedish is known as a regional referral center, providing specialized treatment in areas such as neurological care, cardiovascular care, oncology, orthopedics, high-risk obstetrics, pediatrics, organ transplantation and clinical research. For more information, visit www.swedish.org About the Swedish Neuroscience Institute In 2004, Swedish Medical Center expanded its neuroscience services by establishing the Swedish Neuroscience Institute. The team of leading neurosurgeons and other specialists are building a world-class institute dedicated solely to the treatment and advancement of neurological disorders for patients in the Pacific Northwest and around the world. The Swedish/Cherry Hill Campus is the hub for the Institute and has been upgraded with four state-of-the-art operating rooms with intra-operative MRI and CT scanning, neuro-interventional radiology capabilities, a renovated neuro intensive-care unit, and a CyberKnife® facility for radiosurgical treatment of tumors throughout the body. SNI specializes in the research for and treatment of stroke; cerebral aneurysms and arteriovenous malformations; movement disorders such as Parkinson’s disease and tremors; brain tumors (including both malignant tumors and benign tumors such as meningiomas); neuro-endocrine disorders including pituitary tumors; epilepsy; child neurological disorders; neuro-ophthalmology; headaches; multiple sclerosis and many other neurological conditions and diseases. In each category, physicians from different specialties are brought together to provide a multi-disciplinary approach centered on providing top-notch patient care. About the Center for Advanced Brain Tumor Treatment Founded in 2008, the Center for Advanced Brain Tumor Treatment gives brain-tumor patients and their families access to: A multi-disciplinary team of skilled neurosurgeons, oncologists, radiologists and a specialized nursing staff to deliver coordinated care and innovative treatments. An integrated care coordinator who serves as a patient advocate and liaison Access to clinical trials that offer patients early and timely access to investigational drugs and treatments Promising new therapies that use gene-sequencing technologies to identify customized treatment options A comprehensive brain tumor research laboratory that provides rapid genetic analysis of brain tumors Funding for the Center has been lead by a recent $2 million donation by the David and Sandra Sabey family, which was announced May 31, 2008 at Swedish’s annual auction, Celebrate Swedish. A total of $3.3 million was then raised in support of the Center during the auction’s ‘Fund-A-Need’ program. Earlier this summer, the Center then hosted a first-year event – the Seattle Brain Cancer Walk (www.braincancerwalk.org) – to increase awareness about the cause and raise money for the Center and its related work. About the Institute for Systems Biology The Institute for Systems Biology (ISB) is an internationally renowned, non-profit research institute headquartered in Seattle and dedicated to the study and application of systems biology. Founded by Leroy Hood, Alan Aderem and Ruedi Aebersold, ISB seeks to unravel the mysteries of human biology and identify strategies for predicting and preventing diseases such as cancer, diabetes and AIDS. ISB’s systems approach integrates biology, computation and technological development, enabling scientists to analyze all elements in a biological system rather than one gene or protein at a time. Founded in 2000, the Institute has grown to 14 faculty and more than 230 staff members, an annual budget of more than $30 million, and an extensive network of academic and industrial partners. For more information about ISB, visit www.systemsbiology.org CONTACT: Todd Langton Associate Director of Communications and Public Relations (206) 732-1333
