Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Stephen Fry: The Secret Life of the Manic Depressive
Part One of Twelve
Part Two of Twelve. Click through on the video for the rest of the series.
Mr. Fry's website is here.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Damaged By Pharma? Call Rules Committee Members Now!
Been Damaged By Pharma? Call Rules Committee Members Now!
ALLIANCE FOR HUMAN RESEARCH PROTECTION (AHRP)
Promoting Openness, Full Disclosure, and Accountability
http://www.ahrp.org and http://ahrp.blogspot.com
Call Members Of The Rules Committee Now!
FYI
Below, the National Whistleblower's Center is asking advocates to call members of the House Rules Committee asking them to vote for a National Whistleblower's Protection Law. [text below]
Absent from the legislative language developed by the Whistleblower's Center is inclusion of protection for citizens who are victimized by hazardous medical products. Hundreds of thousands of citizens suffer serious disabling harm--many are killed--by toxic prescription drugs and defective medical devices.
Whistleblower legislation cannot be blind to the suffering caused by corrupt practices by corporations and /or government officials.
Contact: Vera Hassner Sharav
212-595-8974
veracare@ahrp.org
From: "National Whistleblowers Center"
mw@whistleblowers.org
Date: January 27, 2009 1:12:30 PM EST
To: "Stephen Sheller" sasheller@sheller.com
Subject: Call Members Of The Rules Committee Now!
Reply-To: "National Whistleblowers Center" mw@whistleblowers.org
Dear Active Member,
Contact the Congressional Rules Committee to urge them to vote for federal whistleblower protection in the stimulus bill. It is critical that you call Rules Committee members now!
Below is a list of the Rules Committee members and their office phone numbers. Please call them now and tell them to vote for oversight and accountability today!
Louise M. Slaughter (D-NY) - (202) 225-3615
James P. Mc Govern (D-MA) - (202) 225-6101
Alcee L. Hastings (D-FL) (202) 225-1313
Doris O. Masui (D-CA) (202) 225-7163
Dennis Cardoza (D-CA) (202) 225-6131
Michael Arcuri (D-NY) (202) 225-1891
Ed Perlmutter (D-CO) (202) 225-2645
Chellie Pingree (D-ME) (202) 225-6116
Jared Polis (D-CO) (202) 225-2161
David Dreier (D-CA) (202) 225-2305
Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-FL) (202) 225-4211
Pete Sessions (R-TX) (202) 225-2231
Virginia Foxx (R-NC) (202) 225-2071
Thank you!
Stephen M. Kohn
President
National Whistleblowers Center
PETITION FOR A NATIONAL WHISTLEBLOWER PROTECTION ACT
WHEREAS, the adequate protection of employee whistleblowers is essential to ensure that the American people know about the misconduct of their elected officials;
WHEREAS, employee whistleblowers have saved the taxpayers billions of dollars;
WHEREAS reports made by employee whistleblowers exposed numerous failures in the "war on terror";
WHEREAS, employee whistleblowers serve the public interest by disclosing violations of law, fraud against investors and threats to the environment and public health and safety;
WHEREAS, there are currently no federal protections for employees who expose drug safety violations, election fraud, medical misconduct, food safety violations, pesticide abuses, consumer fraud and violations of numerous other laws designed to protect the American public;
WHEREAS, Congress has not enacted a comprehensive national whistleblower protection law akin to the national laws enacted to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex, race, age, religion or disability;
BE IT RESOLVED, that the undersigned petitioners hereby call upon the Congress of the United States to pass a National Whistleblower Protection Act designed to prevent retaliation against employees who blow the whistle on violations of law and threats to the public health and safety;
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that any National Whistleblower Protection Act provide whistleblowers with a level of protection that is at least equal to the protections currently afforded all employees under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (the law which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, sex, religion, or national origin), and the false claims act.
Related Links:
* FDA Protection Failure - Drug Safety Crisis
Vera Hassner Sharav, AHRP/Gardiner Harris, New York Times
Friday, February 6, 2009
Death Cures Smoking
Chantix, a smoking cessation drug, now carries serious warnings by the FDA. Chantix has been implicated in suicide, has been banned for pilot use by the FAA, and is now being sold by drug dealers as a recreational drug to teens.
UPDATE from May 2008: Some 800 Canadians are getting together to take action against Chantix, called Champix in that country. Link Thanks and a tip of the Mad Hatter's chapeau to Philip Dawdy at Furious Seasons.
Terry Pratchett: On His Alzheimer's
UPDATE: Aug. 9 2009
Pratchett is fighting for the right to die.
Link
Not so fast, Sir Terence: Alzheimer's may not be what your medical experts tell you it is. See
Link
Not so fast, Sir Terence: Alzheimer's may not be what your medical experts tell you it is. See
Harold Foster.
http://web.archive.org/web/20060526175827/http://www.hdfoster.com/Foster_Alzheimers.pdf
From The Times
January 30, 2009
Discworld author Terry Pratchett on Alzheimer's and his best work
The Discworld author is funny, fluent and channelling the anger towards his Alzheimer's disease into some of his best work
Andrew Billen
The Talmud decrees that to save one life is to save the world. If scientific research can save Sir Terry Pratchett from Alzheimer's disease, then it will also save Discworld, the fantastical other Earth that the novelist has chronicled in 36 books. Discworld is a flattish disc that rests on four elephants standing on an enormous turtle - but you probably know that, even if you have never read Pratchett. The idea is such a delightful joke, both on creation myths and the more pompous strains of fantasy fiction, that it resonates. As a young fan interviewed on a two-part BBC documentary that follows Pratchett's first year from diagnosis, says: “How could a great mind like that be lost?” I try the thought out on Pratchett, that for intellectuals, such as Bernard Levin or Iris Murdoch, the disease is particularly cruel. “Yes, isn't that a pile of c***?” he replies. “It is a tragedy for everybody. Or, if it is a tragedy for anyone, then it is tragedy for everyone.”
You need to be careful when talking to Pratchett on this matter. For a start he has a particular strain of Alzheimer's called Posterior Cortical Atrophy (PCA) and its symptoms are different. Second, he does not think it makes him special. Over the new year, Edward Stourton on the Today programme on Radio 4 made the mistake of linking his knighthood with the news of his illness, released on the web 13 months ago, a few months before his 60th birthday. Pratchett retorted that he hoped he was being recognised for more than getting ill. He let Stourton off when he said he was referring to the way he had addressed the condition. Stourton was lucky. I get into trouble for saying that having a film crew accompany him as he investigated his own prognosis must have been a “sacrifice”.
“You see, there you go again. It seemed to me absolutely natural because I had to tell people and I thought, ‘Well why be bashful about it?' It's not as if I'd done something wrong. In too many people's minds Alzheimer's is considered madness. It is a physical disease that affects the brain.” In fact, he will admit that the campaigning - not just the television but a visit to Downing Street, where Gordon Brown personally made him a cup of tea and, what is more, listened, a pledge to give a million dollars in research, appearances at support groups and so on - has cost him “half a book”. This is a sacrifice, for he must keep writing.
“Otherwise I'm just Terry Pratchett, ‘the sufferer'. It's all part of our modern culture. We like people to be sufferers because then we can pity them.” He doesn't then want a movie made of his “battle”, such as that Iris Murdoch film? “No. I think three different researchers wrote to me asking could I help them with work on analysing my style as the illness progresses, and I wrote back, 'What I like about vultures is that they wait until the donkey is dead'. I just couldn't believe that they would try that.”
Link
About his television program on living with Alzheimer's
Link
http://web.archive.org/web/20060526175827/http://www.hdfoster.com/Foster_Alzheimers.pdf
From The Times
January 30, 2009
Discworld author Terry Pratchett on Alzheimer's and his best work
The Discworld author is funny, fluent and channelling the anger towards his Alzheimer's disease into some of his best work
Andrew Billen
The Talmud decrees that to save one life is to save the world. If scientific research can save Sir Terry Pratchett from Alzheimer's disease, then it will also save Discworld, the fantastical other Earth that the novelist has chronicled in 36 books. Discworld is a flattish disc that rests on four elephants standing on an enormous turtle - but you probably know that, even if you have never read Pratchett. The idea is such a delightful joke, both on creation myths and the more pompous strains of fantasy fiction, that it resonates. As a young fan interviewed on a two-part BBC documentary that follows Pratchett's first year from diagnosis, says: “How could a great mind like that be lost?” I try the thought out on Pratchett, that for intellectuals, such as Bernard Levin or Iris Murdoch, the disease is particularly cruel. “Yes, isn't that a pile of c***?” he replies. “It is a tragedy for everybody. Or, if it is a tragedy for anyone, then it is tragedy for everyone.”
You need to be careful when talking to Pratchett on this matter. For a start he has a particular strain of Alzheimer's called Posterior Cortical Atrophy (PCA) and its symptoms are different. Second, he does not think it makes him special. Over the new year, Edward Stourton on the Today programme on Radio 4 made the mistake of linking his knighthood with the news of his illness, released on the web 13 months ago, a few months before his 60th birthday. Pratchett retorted that he hoped he was being recognised for more than getting ill. He let Stourton off when he said he was referring to the way he had addressed the condition. Stourton was lucky. I get into trouble for saying that having a film crew accompany him as he investigated his own prognosis must have been a “sacrifice”.
“You see, there you go again. It seemed to me absolutely natural because I had to tell people and I thought, ‘Well why be bashful about it?' It's not as if I'd done something wrong. In too many people's minds Alzheimer's is considered madness. It is a physical disease that affects the brain.” In fact, he will admit that the campaigning - not just the television but a visit to Downing Street, where Gordon Brown personally made him a cup of tea and, what is more, listened, a pledge to give a million dollars in research, appearances at support groups and so on - has cost him “half a book”. This is a sacrifice, for he must keep writing.
“Otherwise I'm just Terry Pratchett, ‘the sufferer'. It's all part of our modern culture. We like people to be sufferers because then we can pity them.” He doesn't then want a movie made of his “battle”, such as that Iris Murdoch film? “No. I think three different researchers wrote to me asking could I help them with work on analysing my style as the illness progresses, and I wrote back, 'What I like about vultures is that they wait until the donkey is dead'. I just couldn't believe that they would try that.”
Link
About his television program on living with Alzheimer's
Link
How the Bailout Benefits Big Pharma - and YOU Will Pay For It
At about the 1:20 mark, Mr. Kucinich mentions Pfizer's $68 Billion buyout of Wyeth - for which YOU will pay. The New York times article link is here.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Rest in Peace, Lux
Lux Interior, founder and lead singer of the punkabilly group the Cramps, has died.
Here he performs for patients inside Napa State Mental Hospital.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cramps
Here he performs for patients inside Napa State Mental Hospital.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cramps
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Alzheimer's and B3/Niacin
Vitamin B3/Niacin as Alzheimer's therapy:
"Memory loss is the signature feature of Alzheimer's disease, and therapies that prevent or delay its onset are urgently needed. Effective preventive strategies likely offer the greatest and most widespread benefits. Histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors increase histone acetylation and enhance memory and synaptic plasticity. We evaluated the efficacy of nicotinamide, a competitive inhibitor of the sirtuins or class III NAD+-dependent HDACs in 3xTg-AD mice, and found that it restored cognitive deficits associated with pathology. Nicotinamide selectively reduces a specific phospho-species of tau (Thr231) that is associated with microtubule depolymerization, in a manner similar to inhibition of SirT1. Nicotinamide also dramatically increased acetylated -tubulin, a primary substrate of SirT2, and MAP2c, both of which are linked to increased microtubule stability. Reduced phosphoThr231-tau was related to a reduction of monoubiquitin-conjugated tau, suggesting that this posttranslationally modified form of tau may be rapidly degraded. Overexpression of a Thr231-phospho-mimic tau in vitro increased clearance and decreased accumulation of tau compared with wild-type tau. These preclinical findings suggest that oral nicotinamide may represent a safe treatment for AD and other tauopathies, and that phosphorylation of tau at Thr231 may regulate tau stability."
Link
More here: Link
A link has been established between Alzheimer's and calcium - a substance we take like candy in antacids. Link
What is the counterbalance for calcium? Magnesium. What makes magnesium work better? Niacin....
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