WASHINGTON — The Founding Fathers left one legacy not celebrated on Independence Day but which affects us all. It's the national debt. The country first got into debt to help pay for the Revolutionary War. Growing ever since, the debt stands today at a staggering $11.5 trillion _ equivalent to over $37,000 for each and every American. And it's expanding by over $1 trillion a year. The mountain...
This is a gruesome story. Kristen Diane Parker, a lab/surgery tech at Rose Hospital in Denver (one of our most prominent medical centers) who was infected with Hepatitis C, stole syringes filled with the pain-killer Fentanyl from the OR, shot herself up, put saline in the used syringes and replaced them on the rack in the OR. She got fired and went to work in Colorado Springs where she did the same...
This is about as disgusting as Palin Derangement Syndrome can get. A blog just published at the Huffington Post is disgracefully titled " Palin Will Run In '12 On More Retardation Platform ." The author, fiction and comedy writer Erik Sean Nelson, actually wrote the following (readers are seriously warned to proceed with caution as this is really vile stuff): In Sarah Palin's resignation...
During a townhall in Waukon, IA Tuesday, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) was asked by a constituent of his: “Why is your insurance so much cheaper than my insurance and so better than my insurance?” When Grassley struggled to explain the details of his own health care plan, the elderly man followed up, “Okay, so how [...]
We're supposed to support this garbage ? I can't help thinking that the only thing to do is a full-scale assault against " the public plan " on the grounds that it doesn't go far enough and won't deliver what we really need, and unstinting advocacy of single-payer or an NHS. Scare the pants off the bastards. I mean it. It would be great if it was a plan open to all and if people knew what...
Ammo by digby The Urban Institute has released a study on the public plan option that should be of interest to those who are following this debate. They focus on the competition factor, particularly on the fact that consolidation and concentration have already made any complaints on that count moot, something we've written about here a few times: This paper makes the argument that a public plan is...
Senator Jeff Merkley was in town this week doing the get around Oregon town hall thing. I caught up with him after the Intertwine event in downtown Portland and had just a few minutes to talk with the very busy Merkley about the "public option" for health care reform. Even though Merkley is a very junior Senator, he seems eager to tackle the very complex and often controversial landmines...
Research has identified a new gene associated with diabetes, together with a mechanism that makes obese mice less susceptible to diabetes. A genomic fragment that occurs naturally in some mouse strains diminishes the activity of the risk gene Zfp69. The researchers also found that the corresponding human gene (ZNF642) is especially active in overweight individuals with diabetes.
BlizzCon approaches! Preparing for BlizzCon is your regular source for tips on how best to prepare for Blizzard's gaming extravaganza. Every con I have ever been to, gaming-related or otherwise, has resulted in a bunch of people getting sick afterward -- usually including me. I've heard it called Con Crud , confluenza and the grunge. Whatever the name, it's pretty much the same: cold and flu symptoms...
I’ve been struggling with how to respond to an article by The New Republic’s Jonathan Chait, who accuses conservatives of hypocrisy and Republicans of whorishness when it comes to wasteful spending in Medicare and other government health programs. I have grudgingly decided that a good fisking is the only way to go. Chait writes: Two weeks ago, [...]
Researchers have determined that individuals with mild to severe symptoms of lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) are more likely to suffer from metabolic syndrome, a collection of cardiovascular risk factors thought to be linked by insulin resistance). LUTS encompass voiding (incomplete emptying, weak stream, intermittency, straining) and storage (frequency, urgency, nocturia) difficulties.
There's a classic scene in TV's "Happy Days" in which The Fonz, wearing his trademark leather jacket, water skies over a shark , thus giving birth to the term "jumping the shark." It's come to mean a pivotal event which goes too far, thus destroying its own credibility. This evening, I witnessed the Tea Party movement leap mightily over that sea creature. At April's event , I was...
As manufacturers add probiotics, the so-called "friendly" bacteria with health benefits, to many products, experts caution that the word "probiotic" is widely misused and misunderstood.
The head of the World Health Organization said the spread of the swine flu worldwide is unstoppable. Speaking at a flu summit in Mexico, WHO's Margaret Chan said most influenza A H1N1 cases are mild and people recover without treatment.
According to a new meta-analysis in Psychological Medicine ( Lynch et al., 2009 ), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is not helpful for those with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, and any improvements seen in major depression are rather small: Conclusions: CBT is no better than non-specific control interventions in the treatment of schizophrenia and does not reduce relapse rates. It is effective...
Did you know that 60% of heart attack victims Do Not have clinical high blood pressure levels? Yet, the fact that 40% of heart attack victims Do have high blood pressure still shows a clear link between sudden heart attacks and HBP . . . Having HBP ...
Though the term mind-body connection is one that seems a bit new-agey or even esoteric to some, the concept is a simple one. The things that we feel emotionally affect out bodies as does the experience in our physical body affect the way we feel emotionally or mentally. But how exactly do they affect one another and what is the mechanism for their relationship? Recent research has found that each and
Biofeedback is a therapy that helps you harness your mind’s power to help improve your health. It is a type of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) treatment called mind-body therapy, which helps enable you to use your thoughts and will to control your body. The therapy is based on the idea (and confirmed by scientific studies), that people have the innate potential to influence with their
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