Are plastic chemical compounds in the environment behind the birth of giant babies and the epidemic of obesity?
Link
Our Stolen Future
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Giant Babies, Obesity: Are chemicals in plastics to blame?
Are plastic chemical compounds in the environment behind the birth of giant babies and the epidemic of obesity?
Link
Our Stolen Future
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
UK: Scandalous abuse of the elderly - prescribed antipsychotics
From the page:
Link
It is the first time the scale of the abuse in hospital wards is exposed, following warnings that 100,000 dementia patients in care homes are prescribed the drugs leading to the deaths of 23,000 a year
Three quarters of nurses have seen people with dementia in general wards in hospital prescribed antipsychotic drugs that are known to double the risk of death and triple the risk of a stroke in these patients, research has shown.
It is the first time the scale of the abuse in hospital wards is exposed, following warnings that 100,000 dementia patients in care homes are prescribed the drugs leading to the deaths of 23,000 a year.
Ten leading charities, carers groups and experts have written to The Daily Telegraph saying: "We cannot stand by while this scandalous abuse of vulnerable citizens continues."
Neil Hunt, Chief Executive of Alzheimer’s Society said: "The massive over prescription of antipsychotics to people with dementia is an abuse of human rights, causing serious side effects and increasing risk of death. These powerful drugs should only be used in a small number of cases. The Government must take action to ensure that these drugs are only ever used as a last resort."
They have called on the government to publish its long-overdue review of the use of antipsychotics which ministers promised would be out in May of this year.
Rebecca Wood, Chief Executive of the Alzheimer’s Research Trust, said: "While the Department of Health prevaricates, thousands of people are being put at risk through the misuse of antipsychotics."
There are 700,000 people in Britain with dementia and the numbers are rising rapidly.
Antipsychotics have a sedative effect and are not licensed for use in dementia but are prescribed when patients become agitated or difficult and often then are left on them for long periods.
Link
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Canada: Recipients of flu vaccine more likely to catch H1N1
From the page:
Link
...according to Dr. Rubinstein, the research shows that people who received the seasonal shot during the 2007-08 flu season remained vulnerable to swine flu well into 2009 – an interval that should provide most immune systems ample restoration time.
“We don't understand the mechanism,” Dr. Rubinstein said. “At the present time it is quite perplexing.”
Link
Monday, October 5, 2009
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Misdiagnosed Youngsters? - John Sorboro, MD
Psychiatric News September 6, 2002
Volume 37 Number 17
© 2002 American Psychiatric Association
p. 32
Letter to the Editor
Misdiagnosed Youngsters?
John Sorboro, M.D.
Youngstown, Ohio
"It was with great interest that I read in your June 21 issue a review of the study by Dr. Barbara Geller, "Two-Year Prospective Follow-Up of Children With a Prepubertal and Early Adolescent Bipolar Disorder Phenotype." This study should be a wake-up call to the legions of psychiatrists who continue to pollute our youth with medications that have no real benefit or solid research to support there use.
I found it most puzzling that the author, while speculating why none of the "treatment" worked but a two-parent home was of benefit, did not consider the most obvious answer: that most of the children in her study (as well as in the United States) whom we call "bipolar" are not. Have we all forgotten what Kraepelin taught us, and how this illness is defined? The psychiatric community needs to recognize the limits of descriptive diagnosis with regard to both treatment and research. Most of us recognize there is a spectrum to this illness, but we must end this practice of labeling all children with mood lability and chaotic behavior—as well as adults with personality disorders—as bipolar.
I have cared for hundreds of adolescents in a residential setting who were diagnosed as bipolar, and many had reported psychotic symptoms. None of them was helped by medications that we acknowledge help adults with manic-depressive illness. Many of the youngsters improved with time because of structured environment and growth. Neuropsychiatric illnesses such as obsessive-compulsive disorder, major depression, and schizophrenia can present in young people, but let’s stop pretending that all behaviorally disordered children have an illness that by definition will never go away.
Have we also forgotten that our first job as physicians is to recognize our limits and to do no harm?"
Link
Volume 37 Number 17
© 2002 American Psychiatric Association
p. 32
Letter to the Editor
Misdiagnosed Youngsters?
John Sorboro, M.D.
Youngstown, Ohio
"It was with great interest that I read in your June 21 issue a review of the study by Dr. Barbara Geller, "Two-Year Prospective Follow-Up of Children With a Prepubertal and Early Adolescent Bipolar Disorder Phenotype." This study should be a wake-up call to the legions of psychiatrists who continue to pollute our youth with medications that have no real benefit or solid research to support there use.
I found it most puzzling that the author, while speculating why none of the "treatment" worked but a two-parent home was of benefit, did not consider the most obvious answer: that most of the children in her study (as well as in the United States) whom we call "bipolar" are not. Have we all forgotten what Kraepelin taught us, and how this illness is defined? The psychiatric community needs to recognize the limits of descriptive diagnosis with regard to both treatment and research. Most of us recognize there is a spectrum to this illness, but we must end this practice of labeling all children with mood lability and chaotic behavior—as well as adults with personality disorders—as bipolar.
I have cared for hundreds of adolescents in a residential setting who were diagnosed as bipolar, and many had reported psychotic symptoms. None of them was helped by medications that we acknowledge help adults with manic-depressive illness. Many of the youngsters improved with time because of structured environment and growth. Neuropsychiatric illnesses such as obsessive-compulsive disorder, major depression, and schizophrenia can present in young people, but let’s stop pretending that all behaviorally disordered children have an illness that by definition will never go away.
Have we also forgotten that our first job as physicians is to recognize our limits and to do no harm?"
Link
Was Bayer Aspirin Behind 1918 Flu Deaths?
"High aspirin dosing levels used to treat patients during the 1918-1919 pandemic are now known to cause, in some cases, toxicity and a dangerous build up of fluid in the lungs, which may have contributed to the incidence and severity of symptoms, bacterial infections, and mortality. Additionally, autopsy reports from 1918 are consistent with what we know today about the dangers of aspirin toxicity, as well as the expected viral causes of death.
The motivation behind the improper use of aspirin is a cautionary tale, said author Karen Starko, MD. In 1918, physicians did not fully understand either the dosing or pharmacology of aspirin, yet they were willing to recommend it. Its use was promoted by the drug industry, endorsed by doctors wanting to "do something," and accepted by families and institutions desperate for hope."
Link
More old ads can be seen here.
The motivation behind the improper use of aspirin is a cautionary tale, said author Karen Starko, MD. In 1918, physicians did not fully understand either the dosing or pharmacology of aspirin, yet they were willing to recommend it. Its use was promoted by the drug industry, endorsed by doctors wanting to "do something," and accepted by families and institutions desperate for hope."
Link
More old ads can be seen here.
Friday, October 2, 2009
Game Brain
This article from Men Style/GQ is a little way off our usual Pharma trail, but certainly made us think - and wonder how many damaged brains we will see in the future in users of certain medications. The cruelty of corporate executives involved in these cases is noteworthy and clear; we do not doubt that similar coverups and indifference occur in fields other than sports.
"Let’s say you run a multibillion-dollar football league. And let’s say the scientific community—starting with one young pathologist in Pittsburgh and growing into a chorus of neuroscientists across the country—comes to you and says concussions are making your players crazy, crazy enough to kill themselves, and here, in these slices of brain tissue, is the proof. Do you join these scientists and try to solve the problem, or do you use your power to discredit them?"
"The coverage that week had been bracing and disturbing and exciting. Dead at 50. Mike Webster! Nine-time Pro Bowler. Hall of Famer. “Iron Mike,” legendary Steelers center for fifteen seasons. His life after football had been mysterious and tragic, and on the news they were going on and on about it. What had happened to him? How does a guy go from four Super Bowl rings to…pissing in his own oven and squirting Super Glue on his rotting teeth? Mike Webster bought himself a Taser gun, used that on himself to treat his back pain, would zap himself into unconsciousness just to get some sleep. Mike Webster lost all his money, or maybe gave it away. He forgot. A lot of lawsuits. Mike Webster forgot how to eat, too. Soon Mike Webster was homeless, living in a truck, one of its windows replaced with a garbage bag and tape.
...
Omalu stared at Mike Webster’s brain. He kept thinking, How did this big athletic man end up so crazy in the head? He was thinking about football and brain trauma. The leap in logic was hardly extreme. He was thinking, Dementia pugilistica? “Punch-drunk syndrome,” they called it in boxers. The clinical picture was somewhat like Mike Webster’s: severe dementia—delusion, paranoia, explosive behavior, loss of memory—caused by repeated blows to the head. Omalu figured if chronic bashing of the head could destroy a boxer’s brain, couldn’t it also destroy a football player’s brain? Could that be what made Mike Webster crazy?"
Article continues here.
The New York Times has more here.
Bipolar Disorder Secondary to Head Injury - a MEDLINE Search by Ivan K. Goldberg, M.D. can be found here.
To view healthy and sick brains at the Harvard Whole Brain Atlas, go here.
The Sports Legacy Institute is here.
"Let’s say you run a multibillion-dollar football league. And let’s say the scientific community—starting with one young pathologist in Pittsburgh and growing into a chorus of neuroscientists across the country—comes to you and says concussions are making your players crazy, crazy enough to kill themselves, and here, in these slices of brain tissue, is the proof. Do you join these scientists and try to solve the problem, or do you use your power to discredit them?"
"The coverage that week had been bracing and disturbing and exciting. Dead at 50. Mike Webster! Nine-time Pro Bowler. Hall of Famer. “Iron Mike,” legendary Steelers center for fifteen seasons. His life after football had been mysterious and tragic, and on the news they were going on and on about it. What had happened to him? How does a guy go from four Super Bowl rings to…pissing in his own oven and squirting Super Glue on his rotting teeth? Mike Webster bought himself a Taser gun, used that on himself to treat his back pain, would zap himself into unconsciousness just to get some sleep. Mike Webster lost all his money, or maybe gave it away. He forgot. A lot of lawsuits. Mike Webster forgot how to eat, too. Soon Mike Webster was homeless, living in a truck, one of its windows replaced with a garbage bag and tape.
...
Omalu stared at Mike Webster’s brain. He kept thinking, How did this big athletic man end up so crazy in the head? He was thinking about football and brain trauma. The leap in logic was hardly extreme. He was thinking, Dementia pugilistica? “Punch-drunk syndrome,” they called it in boxers. The clinical picture was somewhat like Mike Webster’s: severe dementia—delusion, paranoia, explosive behavior, loss of memory—caused by repeated blows to the head. Omalu figured if chronic bashing of the head could destroy a boxer’s brain, couldn’t it also destroy a football player’s brain? Could that be what made Mike Webster crazy?"
Article continues here.
The New York Times has more here.
Bipolar Disorder Secondary to Head Injury - a MEDLINE Search by Ivan K. Goldberg, M.D. can be found here.
To view healthy and sick brains at the Harvard Whole Brain Atlas, go here.
The Sports Legacy Institute is here.
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