how nigerian senate fights for our

How the Nigerian Senate fights for our health

Those that follow the Nigerian health scene will be aware of The

National Health Bill that has been with the National Assembly for

close to two years.

There are fundamental problems with the organisation of health care

delivery in Nigeria. One of the most important lapses is that the most

critical aspect of health care delivery; primary health care is left

in the arms of the weakest part of governance in Nigeria (the Local

Government). The Minister of Health, Prof. Adenike Grange has argued

severally that for things to move forward we need to address this

legistlative dilemma.

To quote her...

"....the absence of a National Health Act to back up the National

Health Policy has been a fundamental weakness which needed to be

tackled frontally. This weakness means that there is no health

legislation describing the national health system and defining the

roles and responsibilities of the three tiers of government and

other stakeholders in the system. This has led to confusion,

duplication of functions and sometimes lapses in the performance of

essential public health functions"

This Bill has been lying with the National Assembly for 2 years.

Health care workers in Nigeria have been literally begging lawmakers

to pass the bill. The WHO made it top of the agenda in a recent

meeting with Nigerian Health care Professionals. A Nigerian National

Health Conference (NHC2006) begged for our National assembly to pass

the bill.

,

After all the public hearings retreats and discussions...read the

reaction of YOUR SENATE

.

Today Thisday reports...

The move to have a National Health Bill for Nigeria suffered a setback

in the Senate as the consideration of the report was suspended during

plenary session yesterday.

The bill was read the second time and referred back to the Senate

Committee on Health for the final legislative work before the end of

the last senate tenure in June 2007.

To conclude legislative work on the bill yesterday, the Chairman of

the Senate Committee on Health, Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello presented

the report as scheduled for consideration in yesterday's Senate Order

Paper.

But the Senate Leader, Senator Teslim Folarin immediately moved a

motion for the report to be suspended until the senate revisits its

standing rule 111.

The motion was seconded by the Deputy Minority Leader, Senator

Olorunnimbe Mamora, who was a member of the Health Committee that

worked on the bill in the last senate.

The rule states: "The Legislative business of the Senate which remains

undetermined at the close of session or the life of the Senate shall

be resumed and proceeded with in the same manner as if the session or

life of the Senate has not ended."

Not even the argument of Senator Obasanjo-Bello that the nation is

in dire need of a National Health Bill and that so much work has

gone into the bill including public hearings, retreats and

discussions with various stakeholders could make the senate change

its mind yesterday

.She said: "The bill before you today is probably the most important

bill on Health that will be passed by this distinguished Senate and

probably the most important health bill passed by the Senate in our

country's history concerning the health of the people."

"The need for this bill arises because the Constitution is silent on

health. Health is not mentioned on either the exclusive or concurrent

list. The only area related to health mentioned is Drugs and Poison on

the exclusive list." She stated.

"Being healthy is mainly preventive medicine, which is why Primary

Health care is important and should be the focus on our health

delivery system. Solidifying primary Healthcare is the only way to

improve health for most Nigerians.

She went on: "Yet on born Nigerians will benefit from the impact of

this bill. It provides funding for Primary Health Care, regulation for

carrying out human clinical trials, regulation for transplanting,

rights of health care workers and patients, division of health

responsibilities of Federal and State Governments among other

2007_12_01_archive

Athletes Harm Others with Performance Enhancing Drugs

Some people think that we should let athletes take

performance-enhancing drugs because they think that these athletes can

only harm themselves and do not harm others. We already know that

anabolic steroids can cause liver damage, heart attacks and strokes,

and that growth hormone causes heart attacks by causing the heart

muscle to outgrow its blood supply. Now a two-year study of former

East German athletes shows that athletes who take these drugs can harm

their children.

In the 1970s and 80s, almost all government sponsored East German

athletes were forced to take anabolic steroids and other

performance-enhancing drugs. A study of 69 children of 52 of these

athletes showed that seven had birth defects and four were mentally

retarded, an unusually high incidence for a group of this size. More

than 25 percent had allergies and 23 percent had asthma. The women

suffered 32 times the normal incidence of miscarriage and stillbirth,

25 percent suffered cancer and 61 percent had therapy for mental

disorders. The study was conducted by Dr. Giselher Spitzer at Humbolt

University in Germany.

Many people are not aware that at this time, there is no test to catch

athletes who take growth hormone. The winner of the 2006 Tour de

France and the leader of the 2007 tour were disqualified for allegedly

taking performance-enhancing drugs. This was just the tip of the

iceberg. Martial Saugy, director of the Swiss Laboratory for Analysis

of Doping in Lausanne, Switzerland, told a Belgian newspaper that 47

of 189 riders raced on blood transfusions or EPO in the 2007 Tour de

2007_04_01_archive

public health ethical issues

wait for it wait for it

Wait for it ... wait for it ...

The worries of Chicago-area mass transit riders, Illinois public

schools and human service providers culminated at the state Capitol

Thursday, but they were all put on hold for seven to 10 days. Gov. Rod

Blagojevich said Thursday night outside of his Statehouse office that

he would announce a short-term plan Friday that would save

Chicago-area mass transit from severe cuts in services and in payroll.

In those seven to 10 days, Blagojevich said he and the legislative

leaders -- three of whom stood next to him Thursday night -- would

urge the Regional Transportation Authority to avoid cutting

Chicagoland mass transit services November 4. He said that's because

he and the Illinois General Assembly could tie up major differences in

the capital program for road and school construction financed by a

gaming expansion. And tying that up would allow for Republicans and

downstate lawmakers to approve a mass transit bill primarily for

Chicago, he said.

He was joined by Senate President Emil Jones Jr. and the two

Republican leaders, Tom Cross in the House and Frank Watson in the

Senate.

Quote Blagojevich: "There's broad consensus among Senate President

Jones, Republican Leader Watson, Republican Leader Cross and myself

that the practical reality is that in order to solve the mass transit

problem long-term for the Chicagoland area, we need an infrastructure,

capital construction program to get the downstate members to vote for

a Chicago issue and to get the Republican members to support a Chicago

issue."

The missing force was House Speaker Michael Madigan, who arrived late

and left early from the leaders' meeting. Afterwards, Madigan said

little other than that the House would wait to hear the governor's

announcement before voting on the mass transit proposal that would

increase the regional sales tax and real estate transfer tax in Cook

County and restructure the governance of the Chicago Transit

Authority.

"We're going to wait to hear from the governor to see if he has

produced more money for another short-term, one-week to 10-day

bailout," Madigan said before walking away.

Downstairs from the leaders' meeting, Chicago Transit Authority

executive director Ron Huberman told a House committee that the agency

can't risk accepting another short-term solution. But that depends on

whether he, as well as the mass transit riders and other service

providers waiting for state money, believe the governor's promise that

everything will fall into place within seven to 10 days.

Jones said the RTA and the CTA officials will testify to a Senate

committee Friday.

Schools held hostage?

One more issue tangled in this mess is state aid payments for public

schools.

School districts across the state are still waiting for increases in

state aid payments promised to them when the legislature approved a

state budget in August. (They've been getting their fiscal year 2007

levels since August.) The piece of legislation needed for the state to

distribute the new money -- including an increase in per-student

spending and an increase in reimbursements for special education

teachers -- is another victim of the political standoff on capital and

mass transit funding.

"Enough is enough." That was the message delivered by state Rep. Roger

Eddy, a Hutsonville Republican, on behalf of fellow House Republicans

and school superintendents earlier Thursday in a Statehouse news

conference.

Without the legislation to release the new money, Eddy said not only

will schools miss out on the promised increased funding, but some

districts actually will lose money. The Illinois State Board of

Education would have to recalculate general state aid payments using

last year's numbers.

"In fact, 726 school districts, as of today, when the calculation is

recalculated, will actually receive less money in state aid payments

beginning with the November 10 payment," Eddy said.

For instance, Jeff Patchett, superintendent of Oblong Community Unit

School District 4 in east central Illinois, said that his district,

which is already on the federal financial warning list, would lose out

on $8,571 in state aid per month without legislative action. If the

legislation to implement the payments were approved, then the

district's state aid payments would increase by more than $21,000 per

month.

Logistically, the House could vote on one "budget implementation bill"

(a.k.a. BIMP) already approved by the Senate. Instead, the House

advanced a new, more comprehensive BIMP bill that Democratic budget

negotiator Rep. Gary Hannig of Litchfield said is more in sync with

the approved budget than the one approved by the Senate month's ago.

The House and Senate are back in session Friday, and the leaders are

us global health workers on lookout for

U.S., global health workers on lookout for deadliest infectious diseases

The United States is joining countries around the world in being on

high alert for some of the globe's most deadly infectious diseases.

Under new International Health Regulations created by the World Health

Organization, the United States is working through its state and local

reporting networks to identify, respond to and share information about

public health emergencies of international concern. The regulations

took effect in the United States July 18.

The regulations call on WHO member countries -- which include the

United States -- to report disease outbreaks and other public health

events that have an international impact. Specifically, the new

regulations add four diseases -- smallpox, polio, severe acute

respiratory syndrome -- to the list of those that must be immediately

reported to WHO.

"Today's world of rapid air travel, international migration, emerging

diseases, threats of terrorism and the potential threat of an

influenza pandemic underscore the importance of the International

Health Regulations," said U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services

Mike Leavitt.

The emergence of SARS in 2003 demonstrated "as no previous disease

outbreak ever had" how interconnected the world has become and how

rapidly a new disease can spread, according to WHO. SARS served as a

wake-up call for global health officials, said Margaret Chan, MD, WHO

director-general, but isn't the main concern today.

"Today, the greatest threat to international public health security

would be an influenza pandemic," said Chan in June, when the

International Health Regulations came into force. "The threat of a

pandemic has not receded, but implementation of the (regulations) will

help the world to be better prepared for the possibility of a

pandemic."

posted by APHA Flu Team at 12:33 PM

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trash is greatest public health threat

2005_09_01_archive

New Version of TOXMAP Available

A new version of TOXMAP was released July 25, 2005.

TOXMAP 2.4 contains the following new features:

* 2003 Toxics Release Inventory Data (TRI)

* Chemical Spell Checker: Chemical names are often hard to spell;

TOXMAP now locates 'near matches'

* TRI chemical list page, with links to National Library of Medicine

chemical information resources

* Updated and expanded FAQs

TOXMAP is an interactive web site from the National Library of

Medicine that shows the amount and location of reported toxic

chemicals released into the environment on maps of the United States.

TOXMAP allows users to visually explore information about releases of

toxic chemicals by industrial facilities around the United States as

reported annually to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). It

also integrates the map display with access to relevant bibliographic

references and other data on these chemicals, providing a map-based

new who erroneous peer reviewed us

2007_02_01_archive

The Wanderer Returns

Nine days, more than 3,500 miles of driving, 3 interviews. I'm pooped

- all of us are. But we made it home safe and sound around 7:30 pm

last evening. Now I've got to get out of here and go to the hospital.

2006_07_01_archive

Passing the torch

Today, my class and I registered for our fourth year. So, now it's

officially our last year in med school.

Later, a few of us met with the new 3rd years to offer them our sage

advice for surviving this rite of passage. We shared our wisdom, our

do's, and our dont's. We told them about the long hours on surgery, of

not seeing your family for a week at a time on Labor and Delivery,

about working 75 hours in a week and still being expected to find time

to study for the NBME. In general, we scared the beejeesus out of 'em.

Then, mercifully, we brought them back from the brink and told them

that it would be all right; that they would make it through just as we

did.

As I looked at their big "doe" eyes, I wondered, "could I possibly

have looked like that just 12 months ago?" I'm sure I did. And I'm

sure in 12 months, they'll be looking at the next class in just the

maintaining critically important health

MAINTAINING CRITICALLY IMPORTANT HEALTH BENEFITS--BY ENDING THEM

December 27, 2007

U.S. Ruling Backs Benefit Cut at 65 in Retiree Plans

By ROBERT PEAR

WASHINGTON -- The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said

Wednesday that employers could reduce or eliminate health benefits for

retirees when they turn 65 and become eligible for Medicare.

The policy, set forth in a new regulation, allows employers to

establish two classes of retirees, with more comprehensive benefits

for those under 65 and more limited benefits -- or none at all -- for

those older.

More than 10 million retirees rely on employer-sponsored health plans

as a primary source of coverage or as a supplement to Medicare, and

Naomi C. Earp, the commission's chairwoman, said, "This rule will help

employers continue to voluntarily provide and maintain these

critically important health benefits."

. . . In general, the commission observed, employers are not required

by federal law to provide health benefits to either active or retired

workers.

Dianna B. Johnston, a lawyer for the commission, said many employers

and labor unions had told it that "if they had to provide identical

benefits for retirees under 65 and over 65, they would just drop

retiree health benefits altogether for both groups."

--read entire article--

___________________________________________________________

Wow!

The commission, by contrast, said that under that law, it could

establish "such reasonable exemptions" as it might find "necessary

and proper in the public interest."

Well, I ask you, what could possibly be more in the public interest

than cutting loose 10-15 million people from their health insurance

coverage? Nice work, Naomi.

Just like namesake Wyatt, Naomi Earp (chairman of the commission)

pretty much single-handedly shot health care out of the saddle and is

now blowing the smoke off the end of her six-shooter.

And I am in favor. Not because it is fair or even equitable to cut the

intra-venous life support of medical care to a bunch of old folks, but

because I believe it will hurry the decades-late decision to provide

single-payer national health care.

No one can afford where we have chosen to direct our health care

expense:

* not the uninsured

* not the company programs

And certainly not the tax payers who support the world's most costly,

least effective on a dollar-benefits ratio insurance system.

The only current winners are those who bring nothing to the table, yet

eat first and leave the public the crumbs; i.e. the insurance,

hospital, equipment rental and pharmaceutical industries.

_________________________________________________________________

* For more in-depth articles by Jim on Health Care, check out

Opinion-Columns.com

avarice and health

Avarice and Health

Many bloggers are discussing the nature of people going into extreme

debt at this time of year - procuring expensive electronic items with

little to no argument about the cost. It is, of course, only natural

to make the connection between the money spent on frivolous

expenditures while we wring our hands over what to do about the poor

and healthcare. What must be seen, if you haven't already seen the

absurd juxtaposition is this: these same people, who spend several

hundreds to thousands of dollars for one day's avarice are the exact

same who bemoan the cost of healthcare and villify the physician.

Personally I have changing views on the subject. I used to believe

that universal coverage was the best option - in effect, socialized

medicine. Then I began reading about the Canadian and the NHS, their

troubles, and realized that, even though their citizens are covered,

they had harder times getting people to use the system correctly,

providers throughout all spectrums were incredibly taxed to work

"within" the system, and the outcomes were not much improved. Now I

find myself less inclined towards universal healthcare, but struggling

to find a plan that makes the most sense.

I do know that some of the political ideas of taxing physicians in

order to help cover healthcare for the poor are just monstrously

ignorant. Why should those who have to suffer direct losses from this

patient population be forced to incur further decompensation simply

because of their profession? Do we honestly expect doctors, the one

profession that has little to no say in what they receive in

reimbursement, to keep allowing insurance companies to decrease their

payments precipitously while, at the same time begin taxing them for

indigent populations for whom they've never received compensation?

Would lawyers be so willing, I wonder, to take hits in the same

respect as that offered by some of their colleagues? We all know the

answer to that.

The idea of requisite health insurance seems more on the right track.

We require people to have car insurance based on the degree of risk

inherent with owning an automobile, so why not coverage for their

health needs? Certainly people realize that at one time or another

they'll need the healthcare industry - either for minor ailments or

severe conditions - and should be more capable of contributing towards

their care. We are, as humans, inherently at risk each and every day.

Making people comprehend that they are responsible for covering their

asses won't be easy though. Massachussets has had significant backlash

regarding their plan, some due to the significant cost of covering

oneself, but a great deal from the parasitic nature of lower income

and young populations. The idea of having to pay for something that

one might never use has been routinely touted as a justifiable reason

to avoid insurance mandates by those refusing to buy into the idea.

Despite the problems encountered by Massachussets, I feel its ideals

are on the right track - shifting the responsibility onto those who

are actually culpable for their actions and less on those who just

have to deal with them. People are so eager to get the newest cell

phone accessory, iPod, or fanciest TV regardless of their income

level, but refuse to spend a few bucks each week towards their

healthcare. Cigarettes continue to increase in price, yet the 1+ pack

per day smoker doesn't cut down on their habit, just their luxuries -

like bills and responsible spending. I cannot count the numerous times

I've seen someone with little to no insurance, complaining about the

cost of their care, with a fancy cell phone, cigarettes, and a tricked

out car who inevitably heads to the nearest fast food chain for lunch.

It's actually quite ironic to consider that the money spent on these

gadgets and behaviors actually decreases one's health (cancer, hearing

loss, obesity, HTN, heart disease, etc.).

While I certainly don't have the answer, I do feel socialized medicine

is not the option that's best for this country. As a 4th year medical

more jmla news

More JMLA news

Some other news from the Journal of the Medical Library Association

this week:

- The archives of the precursors to the JMLA are now available via the

PubMed Central JMLA archives -- in addition to the issues under the

journal's former title, the Bulletin of the Medical Library

Association (1911-2001), readers can now access The Aesculapian

(1908-1909) and the Medical Library and Historical Journal (1903 to

1907).

- MLA is also pilot testing a new pre-print area for articles from

forthcoming issues - available via the members-only section of the

site, MLA members can use their MLANET username (MLA ID#) and password

to access several preprints from the April issue of the journal.

posted by Becky at 6:42 AM

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2007_08_01_archive

Medical Care Is Not Health Care

The "political season" generates pressure to propose innovative

solutions to problems that rank high for public attention. This season

health is on that list. If the goal is improved health status at lower

cost, then health promotion, preventive health care, early detection

of disease and more consistent care for chronic health problems are

good ideas.

The concept of preventing health problems has been around for a long

time. The greater part of improved health and increased life span that

occurred during the 19th and 20th centuries is directly or indirectly

due to public health and prevention. Think of sanitation, housing,

safe drinking water, adequate nutrition, refrigeration, personal

hygiene and immunizations. To say the least, improved health status is

a broad, complex area that requires active participation of

individuals and populations with social and government institutions.

If it is to be done at a lower cost, the implementation cannot be

within the medical care system.

During the 20th century, America redefined health care as medical care

and, then, equated medical care with medical insurance. It has been a

lethal and costly mind-set. When health promotion and preventive

health care are defined in terms of medical care, the costs become

prohibitive and the effectiveness is lost.

The politicians have a good idea. Now, they have to rethink how to

implement it. I suggest they define and refine medical care to study

and treat serious illnesses and diseases. Stop equating medical

insurance with improving health status and recognize it as an economic

risk tool to protect against financial ruin. Create a health care

program for all citizens and implement it through the public health

and educational systems at the community level.

I believe the Director of the National Center for Disease Control and

great article about canadian health

Great article about the Canadian health care system vs. the American system

This article paints a very good, very clear picture of the Canadian

system, and quite frankly shows why single payer health care makes the

most sense.

posted by Sinister at 10:46 AM

2 Comments:

Blogger BigAssBelle said...

oh dear. i blathered on at length here and i think i deleted

it. bottom line: our health care system is broken and people

die of it every day. that is unacceptable in this country.

unacceptable.

this is my experience with healthcare and i feel fortunate as

hell that my husband didn't die and we had the resources to

survive disaster:

http://bigassbelle.blogspot.com/2007/06/it-could-happen-to-you-

too.html

by the way, i'm just nattering on in your blog as if i know you

and i don't. but i was pleased to find a progressive in tulsa.

we're few and far between. happy.

10 February, 2008 20:20

Blogger Sinister said...

We are few and far between, that is true. I'm glad to have your

input. Comment anytime.

10 February, 2008 21:14

Post a Comment

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2006_07_01_archive

find out health of your hard drive

FIND OUT THE HEALTH OF YOUR HARD DRIVE

reposted from Kim Komando Show Electronic Newsletter - Oct. 21, 2006

Hard drives have a lifespan of three to five years. But I've seen some

die after two years. I have a few that are still chugging along after

5 years. There's really no good way to judge how long one will last.

There may be signs, though. If you hear a popping or a cat-like sound,

your drive may be failing. Problems starting Windows may also be

caused by a failing drive. I had a drive that would disappear and then

reappear in Windows Explorer. A few days after this started, it died.

Programs are available to monitor the health of hard drives. They use

the drive's self-monitoring tools. HDD Health and HD Tune are two such

utilities. They're free.

find out health of your hard drive

FIND OUT THE HEALTH OF YOUR HARD DRIVE

reposted from Kim Komando Show Electronic Newsletter - Oct. 21, 2006

Hard drives have a lifespan of three to five years. But I've seen some

die after two years. I have a few that are still chugging along after

5 years. There's really no good way to judge how long one will last.

There may be signs, though. If you hear a popping or a cat-like sound,

your drive may be failing. Problems starting Windows may also be

caused by a failing drive. I had a drive that would disappear and then

reappear in Windows Explorer. A few days after this started, it died.

Programs are available to monitor the health of hard drives. They use

the drive's self-monitoring tools. HDD Health and HD Tune are two such

utilities. They're free.

hillarys garnishments

Hillary's Wage Garnishments

Hillary Clinton finally admitted the obvious this morning, her health

care plan means garnishing the wages of those who cannot afford high

insurance premiums. Hillary Clinton's health care plan would force

many low wage workers into high deductible health insurance plans.

This is the wrong approach on so many levels. Part of the problem with

the health care system is a lack of preventative care. High deductible

plans are set up in a way that forces people to think twice before

going to the doctor. A lump may go unchecked for months, and a routine

outpatient surgery may turn into the total disaster of chemotherapy.

Worse than that, for those who are currently uninsured, the wage

garnishments could have disastrous effects. To an average worker

making $30,000 a year, the $115 per month in premiums that Clinton

would garnish represents 6 percent of their net income. Under

Clinton's plan, people who are struggling to pay their mortgage or

rent would have face a de facto 6 percent tax increase.

And what do these people get for their increased taxes? Not much. The

$115 per month in premiums Hillary would garnish buys a 40 year old

non-smoker a plan with a $2,500 per year deductible. If a disaster

strikes, and their medical expenses exceed $2,500, the person will

start to see a benefit. However, most people do not see a disaster in

a typical year (if they did insurance would collapse).

Most people just want to be able to go to the doctor for the flu and

to be able to afford the medicine the doctor tells them to take. Most

people just want to be able to go to the hospital if they break their

arm without being forced to pay a leg when the bill is due. But for

these items, which run in the hundreds of dollars, Hillary's mandate

won't help.

In fact, it'll likely make the situation worse. A person without

insurance may be able to go to a doctor when they are sick; they may

put aside a few hundred dollars a year for "miscellaneous medical

expenses." But if this person is facing a 6 percent de facto tax

increase in the form of a "wage garnishment for health care," and ends

up with a high deductible plan which doesn't cover the mundane

expenses they face during the year, they'll skip going to the doctor.

And a mundane ailment unchecked can quickly turn into a catastrophic

illness.

Hillary's health care mandate is a bad idea. It takes money out of the

pockets of working Americans and hands it to the insurance companies.

Most working Americans are unlikely to see any real benefit out of

Hillary's plan. The high deductible plans that will inevitably arise

out of a mandate will discourage, as they are designed to do, people

from getting a routine ache checked. When in doubt, realize that the

candidate of the health insurance industry is almost always bad news

for average American patients.

The good news is that health care mandates may be on a sinking

campaign. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are now tied in the polls.

Hillary Clinton's support seems to cap out at 45% of Democrats. One

interesting item in a USA Today/Gallup poll was the difference between

the candidates favorable and unfavorable ratings. Hillary Clinton is

viewed favorably by 48% of Americans and unfavorably by 48% of

Americans. Barack Obama is viewed favorably by 59% of Americans and

unfavorably by just 32% of Americans. Who can win in November should

be obvious to my fellow Democrats by now. Hillary's wage garnishments

2006_08_01_archive

Eclipse OHF, Health Care and Open Source

Just in time for Linux World Expo IBM came out with a press release

about IBM's involvment in the Open Source - Eclipse open Healthcare

Platform (OHF). Thanks to Eishay Smith for the info!

posted by Gerrit @ 3:42 PM 0 comments links to this post

Containers and Virtualization

The sourceforge list for containers (lxc) is being shut down since

sourceforge mailing lists are being soooo slow. The list list is at

OSDL - containers@lists.osdl.org. People working on openvz and vserver

(with the goal of getting a common solution into the mainline linux

kernel) will get postings sent to this list as well since the plan is

currently to subscribe the existing openvz and vserver mailing lists

to this list

To subscribe, please visit:

https://lists.osdl.org/mailman/listinfo/containers

The end result of this discussion and relevent patches should be a

single infrastructure in the mainline kernel that is fast, reasonably

complete, and allows any other solutions to be wholly contained within

the kernel or enabled through user level applications on top of the

base kernel support. Today, all major groups are consolidating here

with some healthy debates about the details of implementation. No

outlook yet on completion but all groups are motivated to generated

patches as fast as possible.

gerrit

posted by Gerrit @ 3:36 PM 0 comments links to this post

Open Source and Health Care

Another activity I've been involved in lately is looking at Open

Source utilization in the Health Care field. I have a lot of reasons

why I think this is very interesting, which I'll try to share sometime

in the future. However, for those that may be interested, I'm in San

Francisco this week at Linux World Expo and participating on a panel

at their Health Care Day. I should have lots more information to share

about where Open Source and Health Care are headed after that event as

well. Feel free to look me up if you are in San Francisco!

posted by Gerrit @ 12:06 PM 0 comments links to this post

Virtualization

Here's one of the more accurate articles I've seen on the current

state of Linux and Hypervisors.

I spent some quality time with Simon Crosby (XenSource) and previously

with Jack Lo (VMware) as everyone was working to find a good solution

to getting Linux to directly run on a virtualized platform. Of all the

news articles on this that I've seen so far, this is definitely the

most accurate.

On a similar note, whether or not Xen is ready for prime time, we at

IBM have done a lot of testing in support of Novell's inclusion of Xen

and believe that it is ready for Enterprises to begin testing and

evaluating for use in Enterprises. It is still relatively young in

capabilities compared to System p and System z virtualization

2005_12_01_archive

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angioplasty patients can and should

Angioplasty Patients Can and Should Exercise

If you have had angioplasty and your doctor does not already have you

in as supervised exercise program, ask when you can start. In one

study from Bern, Switzerland, researchers showed that a three-month

exercise program can increase blood flow to the heart in people who

already have their coronary arteries blocked by plaques (European

Journal of Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation, April 2007).

The study participants were selected from patients who had stents

inserted to widen blockages in their coronary arteries. The longer and

harder the subjects were able to exercise, the greater the increase in

blood flow.

The blood flow to the heart muscle comes primarily from arteries on

the outside surface of the heart. Chest pain with exercise is usually

caused by narrowing of these arteries, which prevents adequate amounts

of blood to flow to the heart muscle. The heart muscle then suffers

from lack of oxygen and hurts. A heart attack occurs when plaques that

coat the inner lining of arteries leading to the heart break off and

travel down the ever- narrowing artery until they completely obstruct

the flow of blood to a part of the heart muscle. Then part of the

heart muscle that is deprived of oxygen dies and a person suffers a

heart attack. People with damaged coronary arteries are at higher risk

for heart attacks during exercise, so the study participants were

checked for blood flow to the heart before and after the program, and

fashion health week

Fashion Health Week

�����

Back by popular demand, a look at Fashion Health parlors in Japan -

here's one to cross off your lists straight away - Sailors near Nagoya

station is "Japanese Gentlemen Only". The establishment is subtitled

"Idol Campus" with the girls appearing in a variety of costumes

depending on the course selected.

Fashion Health

Fashion Health parlors offer oral sex sessions from between 6,000 to

12,000 yen on average per 50 minute "course". The majority of, though

not all, fashion parlors routinely bar foreigners from entry.

For the best introduction to the Japanese sex industry read:

Pink Samurai: An Erotic Exploration Of Japanese Society

by Nicholas Bornhoff

Buy this book from Amazon

Pink Samurai

USA

UK

Japan

AddThis Social Bookmark Button

health providers to expand it adoption

Health Providers To Expand IT Adoption in 2008, Study Says

Can't function without it these days....especially in Health

Care...and the good news is that higher management is becoming more

aware of the ROI and value...BD

The annual study, called "Provider Clinical Technology Expenditures

2007," found that nearly half of all hospital executive respondents

are allocating 40% or more of their technology budget to clinical

tools. The study concludes that by the end of 2008, more than 80%

of facilities will have invested in applications, such as: image

* Computerized physician order entry;

* Digital medical imaging;

* Electronic health records;

* Medication management/electronic prescribing;

* Mobile tools;

* Patient care planning tools;

* Patient documentation; and

* Radio frequency identification devices/drug distribution.

Health Providers To Expand IT Adoption in 2008, Study Says -

iHealthBeat

cD-DiggIt! cD-Add to del.icio.us cD-Add to Technorati Favorites cD-Add

to Facebook cD-Add to Stumble Upon

autism speaks pushes health insurance

Autism Speaks Pushes Health Insurance Coverage in Florida, California and

Michigan

Advocacy group Autism Speaks today announced it would work to pass

legislation in Florida, California and Michigan to require health

insurers to cover autism services such as ABA.

The group's leaders Bob and Suzanne Wright said they plan to meet with

Florida Governor Charlie Crist and legislative leaders in what they

hope will be a bipartisan effort to pass legislation requiring health

insurers to cover autism-related therapies like Applied Behavior

Analysis (ABA) "and other structured behavioral therapies, which are

the most effective forms of treatment and have the best outcomes, both

in human costs and in long-term economic benefits."

"It's time for insurance companies to step up and assume some of the

financial burden now shouldered by families and school districts,"

said Bob Wright. "The autism community is mobilized and determined to

go state-by-state state and knock on every legislator's door until

these unreasonable insurance laws are changed. It's time to remove

these barriers to care."

The announcement cites the fact that so far, Indiana, South Carolina

and Texas are the only states which require insurers to cover

autism-related services and asserts: "Nationwide, few private

insurance companies or other employee benefit plans cover Applied

Behavior Analysis and other behavioral therapies. In fact, most

insurance companies designate autism as a diagnostic exclusion,

meaning that no autism-specific services are covered, even those that

would be used to treat other conditions."

As part of this advocacy effort, Autism Speaks posted a paper citing

arguments in favor of autism insurance coverage. You can see the PDF

document here. It's the same document that advocates in Arizona

published on their website. For more on that, see "Arizona Advocates

Prepare for Autism Insurance Push."

The choice of these big states is interesting as we enter a

presidential election year in which health care is an important issue.

So far in the campaign autism has been mentioned briefly, if notably,

by Democrat Hillary Clinton. (See "Autism Issue Makes Ripple in

Presidential Race.") Autism Bulletin readers responding to an online

poll posted Dec. 17 identified autism services as the most important

factor in their presidential choice.

It's an election year at the state level, too, and that's where the

autism insurance battles will be fought. Autism Speaks said it plans

to continue advocating for passage of a bill in Pennsylvania that was

pending earlier in 2007 and faced opposition from business lobbyists.

Autism Speaks is one of the nation's biggest autism advocacy groups,

and funds research and education initiatives as well as advocacy

efforts. It was founded by the Wrights who have an autistic grandson.

Bob Wright is the former CEO of NBC.

Also see:

* Michigan to Hold Hearing on Autism Insurance Legislation

* Related Autism Bulletin coverage of the health insurance issue

ontarios health plan join conversation

Ontario's Health Plan: join the conversation

"Make a difference in the future of health care. Have your say."

How can the Ontario government improve health care for its citizens?

What's important to you? Make your voice heard.

The provincial government is in the midst of a campaign to get answers

from you. Hey, it's your tax money so make sure it goes where you want

it to! The campaign's site provides a form to submit suggestions for

improving Ontario's health care system. The Ontario Ministry of Health

and Long-Term Care will also be holding public consultations

throughout the province.

I will be attending the Ottawa session on Wednesday, March 7th and I

will be advocating for the improvement of mental health services and

increased funding. You may register online to attend (for free, but

space is limited). There are also sessions being held this week in

consumer health digest 05 28

For additional information, see Live Blood Cell Analysis:Another

Gimmick to Sell You Something

###

"Top AIDS doctor" surrenders his California license.

Michael J. Scolaro, M.D., of Beverly Hills, California, has been

assessed $4,500 in costs and surrendered his license to practice

medicine to settle charges of negligence, incompetence, unprofessional

conduct and failing to keep required records in the treatment of three

patients. The Medical Board of California says that he gave an

unnecessary drugs, ordered excessive tests, failed to appropriately

monitor a patient's progress, and failed to obtain consultation when

needed. In 1994, the board placed Scolaro on three years' probation

for improperly experimenting on 11 terminally ill AIDS patients by

inoculating them with blood containing the human immunodeficiency

virus. Scolaro founded and operated a clinic called Let There Be Hope.

His Web site refers to him as "one of the world's top AIDS doctors."

###

Study finds vitamin E and aspirin won't prevent cancer in women.

Newly released data from the Women's Health Study do not support use

of vitamin E or aspirin to prevent cancer or heart disease in

apparently healthy women. The study involved 39,876 women aged age 45

years or older who were randomly assigned to receive vitamin E or

placebo and aspirin or placebo and were followed for an average of

10.1 years between 1992 and 2004. The study found no difference in

cancer death rate. Cardiovascular death rate was lower in the vitamin

E group, but there was no decrease in the overall death rate. [Lee I-M

and others. Vitamin E in the primary prevention of cardiovascular

disease and cancer. Journal of the American Medical Association

294:56-65, 2005]

http://tinyurl.com/aen76

The authors concluded:

**The data from this large trial indicated that 600 IU of

natural-source vitamin E taken every other day provided no overall

benefit for major cardiovascular events or cancer.

**The data do not support recommending vitamin E supplementation for

cardiovascular disease or cancer prevention among healthy women.

**The findings should be viewed in the context of the available

randomized evidence, as well as data that should be available over the

next several years from ongoing trials.

**The findings of decreased cardiovascular death rate with vitamin E

and decreased major cardiovascular events among women aged at least 65

years differ from the totality of evidence and should be explored

further.

**At present, in the primary prevention of CVD and cancer, therapeutic

lifestyle changes including a healthy diet and control of major risk

factors remain important clinical and public health strategies.

###

BMJ will stop posting letters from "AIDS deniers."

The British Medical Journal has announced that its criteria for

posting "rapid response" letters to its Web site have been

tighened.The rapid response program, which began in 1998, has resulted

in more than 50,000 posts. The editors like the program because it

enables important comments about articles to be made immediately.

However, the easy access has also resulted in what the editors call

the threat of "bores taking over." The new policy requires that

responses contribute substantially to the discussion and not be

repetitive. One topic that will be curbed is the denial that AIDS is

caused by the HIV virus. [Davies S, Delamonthe T. Revitalising rapid

responses. British Medical Journal 330:1284, 2005]

###

Astrologer sues NASA over comet crash.

Russian astrologer Marina Bai is suing the U.S. National Aeronautic

and Space Administration

http://www.nasa.gov/home/index.html?skipIntro=1, claiming that the

agency's bombardment of the Tempel 1 comet has "deformed" her

horoscope and violated her spiritual rights. A NASA probe rammed the

comet last week as part of an experiment that scientists hoped would

help reveal how the universe was formed. The suit asks for damages of

$300 million, which approximates the cost of the mission. The James

Randi Educational Foundation has posted this reaction from one of its

readers: "I certainly agree with . . . Ms. Bai that NASA has caused a

big difference in her life. Before Deep Impact hit the comet, she was

an unheard-of buffoon; now she's a well-known buffoon."

###

Other issues of the Digest are accessible through

http://www.ncahf.org/digest05/index.html For information about the

National Council Against Health Fraud, see

http://www.ncahf.org/about/mission.html. If you enjoy the newsletter,

please recommend it to your friends.

To unsubscribe, send a blank message to chdigest-unsubscribe@ssr.com

------------------------------------------------------------------

Stephen Barrett, M.D.

Board Chairman, Quackwatch, Inc.

NCAHF Vice President and Director of Internet Operations

P.O. Box 1747, Allentown, PA 18105

Telephone: (610) 437-1795

http://www.quackwatch.org (health fraud and quackery)

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http://www.autism-watch.org (guide to autism)

http://www.casewatch.org (legal archive)

http://www.chelationwatch.org (under construction)

http://www.chirobase.org (guide to chiropractic)

http://www.credentialwatch.org (under construction)

http://www.dentalwatch.org (guide to dental care)

http://www.dietscam.org (under construction)

http://www.devicewatch.org (under construction)

http://www.homeowatch.org (guide to homeopathy)

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http://www.infomercialwatch.org (guide to infomercials)

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http://www.mlmwatch.org (multi-level marketing)

http://www.naturowatch.org (naturopathy)

http://www.nutriwatch.org (nutrition facts and fallacies)

http://www.ncahf.org (National Council Against Health Fraud)

http://www.chsourcebook.com (consumer health sourcebook)

Editor, Consumer Health Digest

http://www.quackwatch.org/00AboutQuackwatch/chd.html

Donations to help support Quackwatch can be made

conveniently through PayPal or Amazon via

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2007_09_01_archive

USAID and the 'war against terrorism'

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has

always had two faces. As a non-military foreign assistance agency,

concocted during the Kennedy era, you have the caring vision of

"extend[ing] a helping hand to those people overseas struggling to

make a better life, recover from a disaster or striving to live in a

free and democratic country..." USAID supports health programs around

the world. But USAID is also committed to the promotion of US foreign

policy, where geopolitical interests can trump humanitarian goals, and

there have long been lingering suspicions about links between USAID

and the CIA.

In last week's (September 1) editorial in the Lancet basically

complains that USAID has slipped into its 'ugly American' mode. USAID

announced recently that it plans to implement what it calls the

Partner Vetting System, in which all organizations receiving USAID

funds would have to supply detailed information about their employees.

Even the beneficiaries of aid might have to submit personal data

including name, date and place of birth, social security number, phone

numbers, email addresses, nationality, citizenship and profession. The

idea seems to be that if USAID has amassed all this information, it

can be sure that they are not funding terrorist organizations or

providing aid to terrorists. The Lancet editorial labels the proposed

plan 'unworkable nonsense'; it is not as if real terrorists are crazy

enough to give truthful information to USAID. It seems that USAID has

been swept up by the current US administration's mindless fascination

family reminds edwards of health care

"It's the second photo of the Nashua boy that his mother, Tami

Haught, has given the Democratic presidential candidate and former

North Carolina Senator. Tami was diagnosed with HIV nearly 14 years

ago.

"When I gave it to him three years ago, he was talking about health

care and poverty so I gave him the picture of Adrian," she said. "I

said if you ever get tired, look at the picture. It's one of the

people that you are fighting for."

The back of the photo says, "ADAP (AIDS Drug Assistance Program)

saves lives. ADAP?saves families." Haught said she wanted to

encourage Edwards to support the program that helps provide access

to medication."

To read More click here - Family reminds Edwards of health care

early retirees try to fill gap in

Early retirees try to fill gap in health coverage

Denny Brown, a computer analyst in West Chester, Ohio, will turn 62 in

August and hopes to retire by the end of the year. Financially, he's

in good shape: He has a pension from a previous employer,

profit-sharing through his current job and substantial savings. An

amateur photographer, avid traveler and Civil War buff, he's eager to

start the next chapter in his life.

"I have a lot of interests," he says, "and I'm tired of working."

There's just one obstacle on the road to Brown's retirement adventure:

health insurance. Brown, along with 2.8 million of the oldest boomers,

will be eligible for Social Security benefits this year, but he won't

be eligible for Medicare until he turns 65. Whole story here.

******

Sourcers! Don't be left out. Get listed in the 2008 Book of Sourcers!

brain surgery and single payer health

cofactors may explain why some get

Cofactors May Explain Why Some Get Colon Cancer, Others Don't

Although scientists are not sure what causes colon or rectal cancers,

they know that they are associated with lack of exercise, eating too

much meat, and the human wart virus (HPV). A study from Sendai, Japan

shows that men who spend a lot of time walking are at reduced

susceptibility to developing colon cancer.

An extensive review of the world's literature shows that colorectal

cancer occurs far more frequently in prosperous industrialized

countries, and that dietary factors may cause up to 75 percent of

these cancers. You are increased risk for colon cancer if you are

overweight, and exercise reduces your risk. Rectal cancer is not

affected by obesity or exercise, and may be associated more with

infection, such as with the HPV virus that causes genital warts. Since

the vast majority of people who are infected with HPV do not get

cancer, we have to explain why some do. The leading theory is that of

cofactors: some combination of infectious agents, genetic

susceptibility or lifestyle factors. I think that rectal cancer

requires some kind of infection, but you do not develop the cancer

unless you also smoke, lack vitamin D, eat a lot of meat, or some

other combination of factors. Colon cancer appears to require some

combination of factors such as lack of vitamin D, eating meat, not

exercising or not eating enough foods from plants. Journal references;

health care in syria

Health care in Syria

The good news:

"There has been dramatic improvement in health indicators for Syria in

the last three decades: life expectancy at birth has increased from 56

years in 1970 to 71.7 years in 200231; infant mortality has dropped

from 123 per 1,000 live births in 1970 to 18.1 in 2001; under-five

mortality rate has dropped significantly to 20 per 1,000 live births;

maternal mortality has fallen from 482 per 100,000 live births in 1970

to 65.4 in 2002.

Access to health services has increased since the 1980s, especially in

favor of rural populations achieving better equity. Access to health

services rose from 76 percent for the period 1985-1988 to almost 90

percent in 2000. The urban-rural gap is also narrowing from 32 percent

for the period 1985-1988 to only 12 percent for the period 1990-1995.

National statistics indicate that the mean number of people served by

a single medical doctor was 683 in the year 2002 - ranging from 321 in

Damascus, the capital, to 1,849 in the eastern province of

al-Hassakeh. Government expenditure on the health sector has increased

as a proportion of total government expenditure from 1.1 percent in

1980 to 3.8 percent in 2002 (National Budget Report). No well

established system of health insurance exists in the country. A draft

proposal for a National System of Health Insurance is under study."

The bad news:

"Despite the improved capacity of the health system, there are still a

number of challenges; among these are: inadequate coordination between

different providers of health services,uneven distribution of human

resources, high turnover of skilled staff, an inadequate number of

qualified nurses, an uncontrolled and unregulated private sector,

stagnant budget allocations for health despite increasing demand and

cost, and uneven distribution of quality of health and medical

health orders chiropractor to halt

Health orders chiropractor to halt live blood analysis tests

Health orders chiropractor to halt live blood analysis tests

PROVIDENCE, R.I. A Rhode Island chiropractor has been ordered to stop

performing live blood analysis tests.

The order came from the state Health Department yesterday. It says

Joyce Martin was using the tests to diagnose problems that she says

could be treated with nutritional supplements. Medical professionals

say the tests have no clear value, and the public should be wary of

anyone who offers them.

Martin has offices in Cranston, East Greenwich, East Providence and

Providence. She says she was surprised by the department's action, had

removed the lab equipment, and wouldn't do the test anymore.

Martin is allowed to continue her chiropractic practice.

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international initiative on mental

International Initiative on Mental Health Leadership

The international meeting of the International Initiative on Mental

Health Leadership is fast approaching.

Canada will be hosting the formal events in Ottawa at the Chateau

Laurier from August 29 - 31, 2007.

As a member of this initiative, the National Network for Mental Health

will be hosting like organizations from around the globe including but

not limited to the following guests:

- Jenny Speed, Deputy Director, Australian Mental Health Consumer

Network Inc (Australia)

- Noreen Fitzgibbon, Regional Co-ordinator, Cork, CountyCork, Irish

Advocacy Network (Ireland)

- Judi Chamberlin, Consumer Survivor / User Advocate, Substance Abuse

and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) (United States)

- Shaun McNeil, Secretary, VOX-Voices Of eXperience (Scotland)

- Susan Crooks, Chief Executive Officer, THE LIGHT HOUSE TRUST (New

Zealand

- Anne Beales, Director, Together Working for Well Being (United

Kingdom)

preparing for work trip in nicaragua

Preparing for a Work Trip in Nicaragua - Health Tips

Scott Snider writes:

Hey Chuck, I've been following your post for a few weeks now, I do

appreciate it. By the way, I'm a seventh generation Moravian from

Charlotte, although I attended high school in Hastings, MN.

At this time I'm preparing to head down on a mission trip in 6-8 weeks

with Mark Ebert's first group. I thought it might be of interest to

post what I found on cdc.gov about "Preparing for Your Trip to

Nicaragua"...

From the Center for Disease Control

Before visiting Nicaragua, you may need to get the following

vaccinations and medications for vaccine-preventable diseases and

other diseases you might be at risk for at your destination: (Note:

Your doctor or health-care provider will determine what you will need,

depending on factors such as your health and immunization history,

areas of the country you will be visiting, and planned activities.)

To have the most benefit, see a health-care provider at least 4-6

weeks before your trip to allow time for your vaccines to take effect

and to start taking medicine to prevent malaria, if you need it.

Even if you have less than 4 weeks before you leave, you should still

see a health-care provider for needed vaccines, anti-malaria drugs and

other medications and information about how to protect yourself from

illness and injury while traveling.

CDC recommends that you see a health-care provider who specializes in

Travel Medicine. Find a travel medicine clinic near you. If you have a

childrens hospital adding telemedicine

petition for childrens mental health

Petition for Children's Mental Health

Send a message to the Ontario provincial government:

The opportunity to demonstrate your support for 1 in 5 children and

youth who are troubled by mental health issues, is still open. Life

long mental health difficulties so often start in our young. With your

help, our efforts to bring this issue the attention it needs can be

achieved.

By May 13th, the end of Children's Mental Health Week, we aim to have

5000 names on our petition.

So far we are almost 20% along and look for your help in moving this

number up.

This petition will not only be sent to the heads of our provincial

parties, we can use the strength of its numbers to bolster our

messaging in upcoming meetings and other advocacy efforts.

If you have not already signed the petition, you still have time.

* Log on to the secure website

http://www.parentsforchildrensmentalhealth.org/ then click on SIGN OUR

PETITION

* Be sure to forward this to your family, friends and colleagues.

Thank you

Consumers and Advocates Committee of the Provincial Centre of

Excellence for Child and Youth Mental Heath

Parents for Children's Mental Health

nurses ad on health care in iowa if

Nurses Ad On Health Care In Iowa: If Cheney Were Anyone Else He'd Be Dead

Print ads demanding health care reform will blanket Iowa newspapers on

Monday Dec. 11. The California Nurses Association (CNA) / National

Nurses Organizing Committee (NNOC) are running the ads as part of a

national campaign pushing for guaranteed health care coverage for all

Americans through a Medicare-based system.

The ad uses recent headlines about Vice-President Dick Cheney's heart

procedure to point out the difference between the government-funded

health care that the nation's leading politicians enjoy and the

precarious health care situation in which most Americans find

themselves.

A news article about Cheney's recent treatment for heartbeat

irregularities provides the context with the headline: "If he were

anyone else, he'd probably be dead by now." The text highlights that

factors such as the patient's history and prognosis would likely lead

hows your health been lately

childhood obesity threat to our public

Childhood Obesity - A Threat to our Public Health

About 33% of US children and adolescents between the age of 2 and 19

years old are overweight and 17.1% of those are obese

"If we don't take steps to reverse course, the children of each

successive generation seem destined to be fatter and sicker than their

parents." Dr. David Ludwig made this statement in an editorial he

wrote in a recent issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, in

response to the findings of two published studies of childhood

obesity. Both studies looked at the effects that childhood obesity

will have on the future health of overweight children. One study

followed 277,000 Danish students for decades by evaluating detailed

health records. The study found,

...the more overweight a child was between ages 7 and 13, the

greater the risk of heart disease in adulthood. The older the

children are, the higher the chance for later heart risk. So, for

example, a boy who was heavier than his peers at age 7 had a 5

percent increased risk for later heart disease, but a boy who was

heavier than his peers at age 13 had a 17 percent greater risk.

If these findings aren't startling enough, there's more. The most

obese child in the Danish study was at a 33% greater risk for heart

disease in adulthood. Yet, the fattest boys in the entire Danish

sample are barely considered overweight by US standards. Barely

considered overweight by US standards! Think about the implications of

that finding. This means that the risk for adult heart disease for

Americans is most definitely even greater than 33%.

Now combine this information with the findings out of UCSF which state

that:

if the number of overweight children continues to increase at

current rates, then by the year 2035, the rate of heart disease

will rise to 16 percent or as many as 100,000 extra cases of heart

disease attributable to childhood obesity.

Although it may not seem like it now, it won't be long before we are

standing on the threshold of a Public Health crisis. The economic

costs of this strain on our health care system will be enormous. A

surge in serious illness (and obesity also increases the risk for Type

2 diabetes, kidney failure, limb amputation and premature death)

translates into lower worker productivity, job loss and in the end a

dying economy.

Pretty bleak forecast and in the meantime, not a lot is being done to

turn this crisis around. Our kids continue to lead more sedentary

lives, snack on junk food, eat fast food for meals, be inundated with

ad campaigns for these dangerous foods and then be served them in

their school cafeterias.

I don't mean to say that nothing is being done to attack this

epidemic. The State of Arkansas began a health report card for all

students in grades K -12. At the end of every year students are sent

home with a report their weight, BMI etc. Apparently there have been

some positive results. When the fact that their child is overweight is

staring them in the face some parents and kids take action; however,

the program is purely elective, so it is unclear which families are

opting in and which families are not being counted.

School systems have instituted nutrition and exercise programs with

some success. For example, a research group, The Healthier Options for

Public Schools, followed 3700 students in a Florida county over 2

years. School districts instituted an intervention program in 4

schools and the results were measured against two schools that did not

have a program. The intervention program included dietary changes,

increased exercise and nutrition awareness. There were dramatic

changes in the kids who had intervention, however, when those students

returned from summer vacation, most had reverted back to their old

habits.

The good news is, that with education, changes in lifestyle and

healthful diets, this trend can be reversed. The broader and more

daunting question, is how? When the cost of healthy eating is often

too high for low-income families and fast food has become the norm

because families are too busy to sit down for a meal, and our entire

population has become sedentary, it appears that we are doomed to fail

our children. The issues are economic, cultural and political. But if

we do not create a comprehensive national strategy to attack this

problem, it will soon be too late.

We have in our communities a perfect storm that will continue to

feed the childhood obesity epidemic until we adopt policies that

improve the health of our communities and our kids," Frank

Chaloupka, an economics professor the University of Illinois at

Chicago.

So what do we do? There are countless competing issues. On the one

hand, we have a culture that is unhealthy and overweight and on the

other hand we have a "body image" obsessed society. There are issues

of self esteem, bullying, and stigmatization attached to obese kids

yet we also want to teach our kids to like themselves for who they are

and not for what they look like. The one thing is clear, however, we

cannot stay on this trajectory and if we do we will be doing a

cool teen health site

Cool Teen Health Site

Take a look at Your Sex Health: developed and produced by a team of

Australian researchers, writers, designers, and programmers, funded by

a grant to Professor Doreen Rosenthal AO at The University of

Melbourne, Australia.

Reading further, I discovered that Rosenthal and her team have the

credentials to host this information dense and useful site for teens

and young adults but it gets better- the fun is that the team also

includes a number of talented graphic artists, web developers and

street artists.

I was put off at first by the opening screen which makes the viewer

choose from the HTML or Flash version and almost didn't wait for the

graphics to fly in but have patience, it comes together fast and its

worth the brief wait.

I liked the combination of the safe sex message, interactive graphics

and solid content. Yet the jury is still out- I've sent the link to

some young adults near and dear and will report back with their

2007_02_01_archive

Local Government Tax Shell-acking Game

The people of New Jersey spent $38.2 billion for local government in

2006. That's the total amount spent for all public schools, municipal

and county governments in the state. It breaks down to $4,378.44 for

every man, woman and child in the Garden State.

Property taxpayers paid $20.9 billion of the total tab for local

government, of which $15.4 billion was picked up by homeowners. State

taxpayers contributed $13.3 billion and other local and state revenue

sources funded the remaining $4 billion.

This means homeowners paid 40.3 percent of the cost of local

government in 2006 before receiving direct property tax relief of $1.7

billion in the form of property tax rebate checks and credits. Of

course state taxpayers paid for this property tax relief program too

while the cost of local government remained unchanged at $38.2

billion.

The system for financing local government in New Jersey is one very

complicated shell game. The object of the game is to spend as much as

you dare while getting the other guy to pay for it. We'll show you how

new healthcare data standards for

New Healthcare Data Standards for the Country

Over the past 2 years, I've had the priviledge of working with 350

organizations as part of the US national effort to standardize

healthcare data, supporting the secure exchange of healthcare records

among patients, providers and payers with patient consent. On

Thursday, December 13, the Healthcare Information Technology Standards

Panel (HITSP), completed its 2007 work and approved 4 new

"interoperability specifications"

Quality - all the initial standards needed to support the process and

outcome measures for the Institute of Medicine's highest priority

diseases.

Consumer Empowerment - all the initial standards needed to support

personal health records exchanged via networks or via removable media

(such as thumb drives). These standards make products like Microsoft

Health Vault, the upcoming Google Health, Dossia, Medem, and Relay

Health much more useful for patients, as they make the patient the

stewards of their own data.

Lab - all the initial standards to order and result laboratories

including a consistent description of lab types, reasons for ordering

and units of measure. Today, the thousands of labs throughout the US

use a heterogeneous collection of standards which require custom

programming/configuration to connect them with electronic health

records and public health reporting systems.

Emergency Responder - all the initial standards needed to support

transfer of information among hospitals and emergency first responders

such as paramedics when delivering care in the field, such as might

occur in a Katrina-like event.

Also on December 13, the panel approved a Privacy Framework which

provides a mechanism to categorize all the various privacy policies

that exist in this country. This is important, since security

technology to protect confidentiality can only be implemented by first

understanding the policies which need to be enforced.

What are the next steps? All of the work done by HITSP on consumer

empowerment, labs and biosurveillance will be "recognized" by HHS

Secretary Michael Leavitt this month, except for the HL7 2.5.1 message

(used to communicate lab results) and the OASIS HAVE standards (used

to report hospital resources) which will be recognized in June 2008.

Recognition means that federal procurement will require these

standards to be included in systems deployed for federal government

use. Also, these standards will be included in the Certification

Commission for Healthcare Information Technology in 2008 and 2009,

encouraging vendors to incorporate them into electronic health

records, personal health records and hospital information systems.

As more and more clinicians use electronic health records and

interoperability standards become more common, care will become more

coordinated, improving quality and reducing costs. Standardization

also lays the foundation for patients to be move involved with their

care by getting access to all their healthcare data.

Creating a secure, interconnected healthcare system is a journey, but

health canada warning consumers not to

OTTAWA - Canada is warning consumers not to take the Chinese medicine

Shortclean because it contains glibenclamide (glyburide) and

phenformin, two prescription drugs that could pose a serious health

risk for people with low blood sugar or diabetes. Shortclean has been

promoted for the control of diabetes and as being derived from only

natural ingredients.

Shortclean is not approved for sale in Canada and does not appear to

be available to Canadians via the Internet. However, Canadians

travelling overseas may have purchased this product for personal use

and imported it into Canada.

The Department of Health in Hong Kong recently recalled Shortclean and

advised the public against its use. Glyburide is a prescription drug,

authorized for sale in Canada, that is used to lower blood sugar. It

is safe and effective when used as labelled in approved medications

and under medical supervision. People who have low blood sugar or

those with diabetes can inadvertently receive significantly high

amounts of glyburide by consuming Shortclean.

Similarly, Shortclean when used with other diabetes drugs could

increase the effects of those drugs, leading to a dangerous drop in

blood sugar.

Phenformin, the second drug ingredient found in Shortclean, was once

used in the treatment of Type 2 diabetes. Phenformin was removed from

the Canadian market in 1977, and is banned in several countries,

including Hong Kong, Singapore, Germany, France and the United States.

The bans resulted from numerous international reports of

life-threatening lactic acidosis, an often fatal metabolic disorder in

which an abnormal amount of lactic acid accumulates in the blood.

People with diabetes who use Shortclean as their only treatment will

not be able to effectively monitor the undeclared and uncontrolled

amounts of glyburide and phenformin. This could result in serious

health risks that may lead to a life-threatening situation. Further,

the label displayed on the product is advertised only in Chinese.

Pertinent information about dosage and side effects therefore may not

be available to the consumer. Consumers should immediately stop using

Shortclean and seek medical attention, especially if they are

currently being treated with diabetes drugs.

Immediate medical attention should also be sought if consumers are

experiencing symptoms of low or high blood sugar that include: rapid

heartbeat, fatigue, blurred vision, headache, excessive hunger,

excessive thirst, profuse sweating or confusion, numbness of the

extremities, tingling of the mouth, difficulty breathing, seizures or

loss of consciousness.

Canadians should only use drugs and natural health products that have

been authorized for sale by Health Canada. Authorized drugs and

natural health products will bear either an eight-digit Drug

Identification Number (DIN), a Natural Product Number (NPN) or a

Homeopathic Drug Number (DIN-HM). This authorization indicates that

the products have been assessed by Health Canada for safety, efficacy

and quality.

The public is encouraged to inform Health Canada if they are aware of

the sale of Shortclean by calling the Health Products and Food Branch

Inspectorate at 1-800-267-9675. To date, no adverse reactions from the

use of Shortclean have been reported in Canada or internationally.

To report a suspected adverse reaction, please contact the Canadian

Adverse Drug Reaction Monitoring Program (CADRMP) of Health Canada by

one of the following methods: Telephone: 866-234-2345 Facsimile:

866-678-6789

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vitamin d deficiency linked to heart

Vitamin D Deficiency Linked to Heart Attacks

More than 75 years ago, we learned that lack of vitamin D causes

rickets, bone deformities and failure to grow in children. Twenty

years ago, reports started to appear showing that lack of vitamin D

also impairs your immunity to limit your ability to kill germs. This

was followed by studies showing that it also increase risk for certain

cancers. Now the Framingham Offspring Study from Harvard tells us that

low blood levels of vitamin D increase risk for heart attacks

(Circulation, January 2008).

The authors followed 1700 participants (mean age 59) without prior

cardiovascular disease for five years. Those with low blood levels of

active vitamin D at the onset had one and a half times the chances of

suffering a heart attack. Those with low vitamin D and high blood

pressure had twice the risk. At this time, nobody knows why lack of

vitamin D increases heart attack risk.

Dietary sources of vitamin D include deep-water fish and fortified

cereals, but most North Americans meet their needs for vitamin D from

sunlight and not from their diets. If you do not get out in the sun at

least a few times a week, ask your doctor to check your blood levels

of vitamin D. People with dark skin and those who are overweight are

cdc webcast health communication

CDC Webcast: Health Communication, Marketing, and Media

Selected Webcasts from the Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention's first National Conference on Health Communication,

Marketing, and Media are now available online.

The conference, held in Atlanta August 29th-30th, was designed "to

provide a scientific and professional forum for researchers and

practitioners to share insights, research findings, and best practices

to advance the fields of health communication, marketing and media."

The following programs can be viewed from the CDC Web site.

Opening Plenary: Understanding Customers/Consumers

* Using Metaphor to Understand and Communicate to Your Audiences

Mary Beth Jowers, Managing Director of Olson Zaltman Associates

* Self-Invention and Self-Care: A Yankelovich MONITOR Perspective on

Understanding Health Consumers In the Emerging Era of Consumer

Empowerment

Dr. J. Walker Smith, President of Yankelovich, Inc.

Special Keynote Presentation: Dr. Jeff French

* Applying Social Marketing Strategically: Lessons from England

Dr. Jeff French, Director of the National Social Marketing Centre

in London, England

Closing Plenary: Reaching Customers/Consumers

* Health Communication Challenges in the Digital World

Speaker: Dr. Esther Thorson, Professor and Associate Dean for

Graduate Studies, Director of Research, Reynolds Journalism

Institute, University of Missouri - Columbia

* Developing a Collaborative Distribution Channels Strategy

Speaker: Dr. Robert Spekman, Tayloe Murphy Professor of Business

lazy womans health food beets and sweet

Lazy woman's health food: beets and sweet potatoes

As happens all too often, my kitchen has a backlog of dirty dishes

and, as I confessed to just a couple of posts ago, I was lacking the

motivation to do anything about it or cook dinner by the end of the

work day yesterday. Fortunately, I had the ingredients for a lazy

woman's healthy dinner that took all of 10 minutes of active prep

time.

Ingredients:

Beets

White wine vinegar

Sweet potatoes

Yogurt (I prefer Greek, which is increasingly available in grocery

stores)

Garlic powder

Salt

Cheese, optional

**I was able to purchase everything but the vinegar, salt and yogurt

at the Greensboro Farmers Curb Market and, with the Goat Lady Dairy

starting to offer yogurt, the list of grocery store items will soon be

even shorter

I scrubbed the beets and wrapped them in foil with a splash of the

vinegar, which I think aids the sweetness of the beets. Then, I

scrubbed the sweet potatoes, poked holes in them and stuck everything

in a 400 degree oven.

Then I read a book for an hour.

Once the sweet potatoes were soft to the touch and the beets could be

easily pierced with a knife, I mixed together the yogurt, garlic

powder and salt while the beets cooled a little. To avoid pink hands

and to buffer the heat, I slapped on some latex gloves and peeled the

beets by rubbing them briskly with a paper towel; they were then

sliced to roughly 1/4-inch disks... very roughly.

I cut open the potatoes - Rob topped his with cheddar and cinnamon; I

stuck a dollop of the yogurt on mine. I divided the rest of the yogurt

between our plates and topped with beet slices. I sprinkled the slices

with the tiniest bit of kosher salt and tah-dah, a lazy woman's

healthy dinner.

The beets are a recipe from one of my favorite cookbooks, Arabesque -

they also suggest a drizzle of olive oil which I often do, using

Giacomo's brand. It nights like these that make me wonder why I ever

cost of romneys mass health care plan

Cost of Romney's Mass. Health-care Plan Skyrocketing

According to recent reports, the cost of Massachusetts' health

insurance mandate will rise 85 percent, or $400 million, in 2009.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R), meanwhile, has been on the

presidential campaign trail praising the program he put into place.

According to The Boston Globe, the cost increase is largely due to an

increase in the number of people signing up for state-subsidized

health insurance. State and federal taxpayers are likely to shoulder

the cost increase.

"Essentially, the people who signed up under the mandate were the

people who were getting subsidies," said Michael Tanner, director of

health and welfare studies at the libertarian Cato Institute.

Carmen Balber, a consumer advocate at Foundation for Taxpayer and

Consumer Rights, added, "What we've seen happen in Massachusetts is

that lots of people are signing up for subsidized care," although

"just 7 to 8 percent of the people who have newly signed up for health

insurance have enrolled in a program they must pay full price for."

Tanner told Cybercast News Service that the state will likely need to

raise taxes to cover the additional costs.

Romney, however, has been campaigning on the health insurance plan as

a success.

"We put in place a plan that gets every citizen in our state health

insurance, and it didn't cost us new money," he said during the

Republican debate in New Hampshire on Jan. 5. "It didn't require us to

raise taxes."

Mitt Romney likes to brag that he got universal coverage in

Massachusetts without a tax increase," said Tanner. "I don't think

health it update

Health IT Update

Stock Tickers: EMED, MCK, HLTH, CERN, MDRX

I was reviewing some outstanding issues, and one of the contributors

we use notified us of something that occurred this week. Because of

waves of earnings reports, Bernanke, the stock market, stem cell veto,

Israel, and other factors, this just didn't really seem to get picked

up or even noticed this week.

Our political analyst contributor notified us that this week Congress

did submit an approval list of healthcare providers that were

certified under the attempts to decrease human errors in presriptions

and medical record information that cause harm to patients. The

Institute of Medicine released a report claiming that medication

errors harm at least 1.5 million people and result in extra medical

costs of $3.5 Billion every year. The study recommends the use of

information technology as one solution to the problem and set a goal

of having all prescriptions written electronically by 2010.

Here is a list of the approvals:

* Allscripts (HealthMatics Electronic Health Record 2006)

* Allscripts (TouchWorks Electronic Health Record 10.1.1)

* Cerner Corporation

(PowerChart 2005.02)

* Companion Technologies

(Companion EMR v8.5)

* eClinicalWorks (eClinicalWorks Version 7.0 Release 2)

* Emdeon Practice Services

(Intergy� EHR v3.00)

* e-MDs (e-MDs Solution Series 6.1)

* Epic Systems (EpicCare Ambulatory EMR Spring 2006)

* GE Healthcare

(Centricity� EMR 2005 Version 6.0)

* JMJ Technologies

(EncounterPRO� EHR 5.0)

* McKesson (Horizon Ambulatory Care Version 9.4)

* MCS-Medical Communication Systems (mMD.Net EHR 9.0.9)

* MedcomSoft (Record 2006 (V 3.0))

* Medical Informatics Engineering(WebChart 4.23)

* Misys Healthcare Systems

(Misys EMR 8.0)

* NextGen Healthcare Information Systems (NextGen EMR 5.3)

* Nightingale Informatix Corporation (myNightingale Physician

Workstation 5.1)

* Practice Partner

(Patient Records 9)

Conditional Pre-market Certification

* Community Computer Service (MEDENT 16)

* LSS Data Systems (Medical Practice Management (MPM)

Client/Server 5.5 Service Release 2.1)

Here are the stocks affected:

MedcomSoft is part of MedCom USA (EMED-OTC)

McKesson (MCK)

General Electric (GE)

Emdeon (HLTH)

Cerner (CERN)

Allscripts (MDRX)