Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland Movie

An article with lots of great photos is at the Daily Mail: Link

WSJ: Surgeon Didn't Disclose Company Ties

... a sweet news item ...
"UCLA Says Surgeon Didn't Disclose Company Ties


By DAVID ARMSTRONG

A top surgeon at the University of California at Los Angeles has lost his position as executive director of its spine center and faces an investigation by the school into his research after allegedly failing to disclose he was being paid by several companies whose products he was studying.

Between 2002 and 2008, Jeffrey Wang repeatedly failed to report on forms filed with the state and with the medical school that he was receiving consulting payments, stock options and royalties from five companies on whose products he was conducting research, according to the university. The failure to report these relationships "violated university guidelines," the school said.

"UCLA regrets that in the case of Dr. Jeffrey Wang, associate professor of orthopedic surgery, a pattern of non-disclosure could have persisted without our knowledge," the school said in a statement. "We are committed to examining our processes to determine how, as an institution, we will prevent similar problems in the future."

Dr. Wang didn't return a telephone call to his office seeking comment. He remains on the school faculty.

Dr. Wang was removed as co-executive director of the UCLA Comprehensive Spine Center. A university spokeswoman said the school is considering further sanctions against him.

The university also has appointed a committee to investigate Dr. Wang's work and determine whether the payments from companies affected his research and "if there are any mitigating actions needed to ensure the integrity of the research results." UCLA said it would make the results of that inquiry public, but that so far it has not found evidence of research misconduct. His research involved studying the products in both animals and humans.

UCLA alleges that Dr. Wang failed to disclose financial interests in connection with research projects sponsored by DePuy Spine Inc., a unit of Johnson & Johnson, which paid Dr. Wang $125,900 in royalty and consulting payments from 2002 through 2008; Facet Solutions Inc., a company in which Dr. Wang acquired options for 18,000 shares in 2004; Paradigm Spine LLC, an entity related to another company in which Dr. Wang received options for 20,000 shares; FzioMed Inc., which paid Dr. Wang $144,000 from 2002 through 2008; and medical-device maker Medtronic Inc., which paid Dr. Wang $275,000 in royalty and consulting payments from 2003 through 2008.

In the case of Medtronic, Dr. Wang did report some, but not all payments from the company, according to the school.

Dr. Wang published at least two favorable evaluations of Oxiplex, a product from FzioMed to prevent spinal adhesions. In 2004, he was the author of a study published in Neurosurgical Focus that found Oxiplex "easy to use and safe." That study noted FzioMed provided funding for the study, but didn't cite the payments to Dr. Wang.

A 2008 abstract published in the Spine Journal by Dr. Wang and a co-author found "consistent clinically significant improvement in outcomes resulting from the use of Oxiplex gel in lumbar spine surgery." While the abstract doesn't indicate Dr. Wang had a financial relationship with FzioMed, he is listed as a consultant to the company elsewhere in the journal.

A Food and Drug Administration advisory committee in July 2008 voted against approving Oxiplex for sale in the U.S. because it wasn't convinced the product was effective.

Most medical schools require doctors to report financial relationships and often have rules limiting how much they can receive from companies whose products are being studied. But medical schools often have difficulty verifying whether financial information filed by doctors is accurate.

A handful of states, including Massachusetts and Minnesota, have instituted public-reporting requirements in which drug and medical-device companies must disclose payments to physicians for many kinds of services, including consulting.

Two U.S. senators, Republican Charles Grassley of Iowa and Democrat Herb Kohl of Wisconsin, are pushing for a federal law that would require companies to report payments to doctors of more than $100."

WSJ -What s doctor did that was worth $1M

This is just a little gator - cleaning up the whole swamp will be a big job.

Vaccination: The Hidden Truth

'This is the first half of the shocking but extremely and timelessly informative video documentary "Vaccination - The Hidden Truth" (1998) where 15 people, including Dr. Viera Scheibner (a PhD researcher), five medical doctors, other researchers, and parents' experiences, reveal what is really going on in relation to illness and vaccines. With so much government and medical promotion of vaccination for prevention of disease, ironically the important facts presented here come from the orthodox medicine's own peer-reviewed research, of which a total of well over 100,000 pages has been studied by those interviewed. The result is a damning account of the ineffectiveness of vaccines and their often harmful effects. It shows that parents are not being told the truth by the media, the Health Department and the medical establishment, with a medical doctor, Dr. Mark Donohoe, confessing that "It is a problem for me that I am part of a profession that is systematically lying to people." Find out how vaccines are proven to be both useless and have harmful effects to your health and how they are often erroneously believed to be compulsory. Many people simply refuse to believe the truth regardless of how clear it is, but the impeccable documentation presented in this amazing video has changed the minds of many who have seen it. This first half explains most, but not 100%, of the reason for counterproductive effect of vaccines. The last part of the reason, which also is published in medical research, is in the second half of the video. To view or purchase the whole DVD/video, go to www.vaccination.inoz.com. Please note that this video was very expensive to make and sales and donations support the freely provided Vaccination Information Service, which exists only for the benefit of you and your children.'

Top Ten Noteworthy Lobotomies

Link
Wikipedia entry on lobotomy
We hear that nowadays they use pills instead of icepicks. See "chemical lobotomy".

Hypothyroid and Suicide - an SSRI Connection?

Could the effects of Fluoride-related ingredients in Accutane, SSRI's and other medications that require Black Box warnings, be the cause of thyroid damage leading to suicidal ideation and acts? Could thyroid damage also be the cause of Bipolar disorder that sometimes emerges during antidepressant treatment?
Click on the image to see it in larger size, and on the PDF link to read the article in full.
Hypothyroid Presenting As Psychosis -Link to PDF



Thyroid-Disrupting Chemicals: Interpreting Upstream Biomarkers
of Adverse Outcomes

"We do not have a health care system in the United States; we have a sick care system"

"As the lead Senator in drafting the Prevention and Public Health section of the bill, I view this legislation as our opportunity to recreate America as a genuine wellness society – a society that is focused on prevention, good nutrition, fitness, and public health.

The fact is, we currently do not have a health care system in the United States; we have a sick care system. If you’re sick, you get care, whether through insurance, Medicare, Medicaid, SCHIP, community health centers, emergency rooms, or charity. The problem is that this is all about patching things up after people develop serious illnesses and chronic conditions.
We spend a staggering $2.3 trillion annually on health care – 16.5 percent of our GDP and far more than any other country spends on health care – yet the World Health Organization ranks U.S. health care only 37th among nations, on par with Serbia.

We spend twice as much per capita on health care as European countries, but we are twice as sick with chronic disease.

How can this be so? The problem is that we have systematically neglected wellness and disease prevention. Currently in the United States, 95 percent of every health care dollar is spent on treating illnesses and conditions after they occur. But we spend peanuts on prevention.

The good news in these dismal statistics is that, by reforming our system and focusing on fighting and preventing chronic disease, we have a huge opportunity. We can not only save hundreds of billions of dollars; we can also dramatically improve the health of the American people."

Senator Tom Harkin on the new Health Reform Bill

Joanna Moncrieff: The Myth of the Chemical Cure

"...although ideas like the serotonin theory of depression have been widely publicised, scientific research has not detected any reliable abnormalities of the serotonin system in people who are depressed.
Second, it is often said the fact that drug treatment "works" proves there's an underlying biological deficiency.
But there is another explanation for how psychiatric drugs affect people with emotional problems.
It is frequently overlooked that drugs used in psychiatry are psychoactive drugs, like alcohol and cannabis.
Psychoactive drugs make people feel different; they put people into an altered mental and physical state."


This is absolutely true. Pharmaceutical companies put the information right in their products. Package inserts and patient information on SSRI's and other psychoactive drugs often list "altered mental status" as a side effect.

In fact, altered mental status is listed in the
Merck Veterinary Manual!

In some countries physicians are not even required to tell patients about such adverse drug effects; legally, they are permitted to leave that job to the pharmacist who fills the script. Once you have decided to fill a script, it may already be too late.


BBC Link
Dr. Moncreiff's site at University College London
Article from news at UCL
Link to her book