Category: medical news

Crony Capitalism at the FDA – Comes Back To Bite

~ Pharmer

Medical News: FDA Yaz Panel Had Ties to Industry – in Washington-Watch, FDA General from MedPage Today.

Some of the panalists on the FDA advisory committee which endorsed the Yaz and Yazmin branded birth control pills, had ties to Bayer, the manufacturer of those pills.

The panelists of the Reproductive Drugs Advisory Committee and the Drug Safety and Risk Management Advisory committee  jointly voted 15 to 11  that the benefits of drosperinone-containing BCPs outweighed the risks.

Some  members reported their financial  ties to Bayer,  and the FDA thought that was just fine, and not a conflict of interest sufficient for their exclusion from the advisory groups.

Sidney Wolfe, MD, of Public Citizen comsumer advocacy group had opposed that class of birth control pills due to risk of thromboembolism.   His role on the advisory committee was reduced to non-voting status due to his ‘intellectual conflicts’.

Intellectual conflict = bad.  Financial conflict = good.

What goes around, comes around, and Bayer has to feed the lawyers now, after years of untoward post-marketing experience.

Was this an purposefully  constructed food chain?

 

Paul Campos: A Failure To Appreciate Diversity

~ Pharmer

BODY Diversity that is.   Diversity is exalted in all its forms, except for what the liberals think is bad.   Paul Campos expressed this in an Opinion Worth Reading, addressing the Strong4Life  anti-fat, ad campaign.  He cleverly  ties this effort and  the attitude behind  Michelle Obama’s failing anti-obesity campaign together.

Leftists have their favorite religions which should be protected, and their un-favorites (Christianity).  They exalt the behavioral diversity of homosexual activity, and sometimes even incest (Professor  David Epstein), and pedophilia (ACLU/NAMBLA), if the mood is right.  Diverse responses to the very young  (ranging from killing them to lavish prenatal and perinatal care) are celebrated and funded with your tax dollars.  Poverty is celebrated, and sustained with government subsistence income.  If the leftists  can squeeze votes by celebrating diversity, it will be done.  They have wrung every vote possible from their sham “support” of racial minorities.

One  can plainly see which groups don’t bring votes to the Democrats.  They have given up on White Working People, and Pharmer thinks they have perhaps  bailed on Fat People too.

Perhaps we can be glad if the Obama administration is managing  to alienate some more voters with Michelles  ineffective anti-obesity  campaign,  meant to make Fat People more aware of something that is already brought to their attention multiple times daily. What they won’t be offering is an effective means to curb the unhealthy eating habits of Americans.  Leftists  will continue to be inconsistent in their supposed aims to foster health and longevity:  smoking = bad,  fast food=bad, sedentary lifestyle=bad, multiple sex partners=good, using the ‘rear exit’ for sex=good.

Families will have to keep both parents working at multiple jobs to pay the taxes and the bills, (and alimony and lawyers if they’re divorced).  They’ll be pressured to run their kids to various athletic events, or keep them inside, because they’re too scared of criminals and perverts to let the kids roam the outdoors.  They’ll continue to catch fast food on the fly, rather than cook  real food at home.  We see just one more example of the government wasting your tax dollars on a problem that is largely generated by their policies.

Incidentally,  Strong for Life is a program of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.  The media and this organization are NOT trumpeting the (federal)  sources of funding.

Europe’s Answer to Prenatal HIV Exposure

~ Pharmer

KILL THE BABY!!

They’ve lost energy and funding for medical research in Europe, and have been pushing abortion for all sorts of untoward prenatal diagnoses, so this new abomination is just one in a series.

This resolution was passed by Members of the European Parliament on the first of December. Along with the push for aborting the babies of HIV infected moms, comes promotion of the risky behavior which spreads HIV, and use of the inadequate means of “protection”.

A number of factors have pushed the advancement of medical science in Europe into a state of suspended animation. One is the inherently bankrupt nature of government run medicine. Another is the practice of killing the victims which eliminates the pressure to find medical means to alleviate their suffering.

There have been regimens of HIV meds given to  infected mothers,  and regimens of zidovudine or nevirapine used in newborns, to prevent the appearance of HIV in the infant, which have met with very high rates of success.

Apparently an extreme impoverishment of the health care systems in Europe  motivates them to promote abortion as a solution to this problem, instead of using antiretroviral drugs.

Teeny Preemie, 290 Grams At Birth, Will Go Home With Mom Soon

~ Pharmer

‘Touch and Go’ Extreme Preemie Could Be Home by New Years | Video | TheBlaze.com.

Melinda Star Guido was born at 24 weeks gestation, a bit small for her age, at 290 grams.   She’s the second smallest preemie in the U.S. to be heading home, though she doesn’t go officially on record as a survivor until early January, when she’s slated to leave the hospital.  Melinda was due on Dec 15th (today), at which time she has grown to 8 times her birth weight.

Watch:

BOGUS Scientists Say Catholic Nuns Should Take Birth Control | TheBlaze.com

~ Pharmer

Scientists Say Catholic Nuns Should Take Birth Control | TheBlaze.com.

Your friendly pharmer got  a call from EWTN today regarding This  ‘Nonscience’,  by Kara Britt and Roger Short.

The quality of this Lancet article is comparable to the those  in the Journal of Irreproducible Results, a hilarious research PARODY journal, which entertains science nerds such as this one.  One does not expect parody or satire in the Lancet.  But, yes it sometimes contains garbage.

First of all, the increased incidence of breast cancer was highlighted uppermost in the illustrations of the article  in question, though the pill does not protect against this disease.

Second of all, according to the authors themselves, the nuns show less than or equal risk of ovarian and uterine cancer than the general population  until AFTER age 70.

Third, the lower doses hormone replacement therapy, which used to be given to reduce the risk of such disorders has been largely discontinued, except for short term use for menopausal symptoms, because it was not efficacious as a preventative.

Fourth,  the birth control pills are associated with thromboembolism and stroke to a much higher degree than the pharmaceutical regulatory bodies are apparently  aware, because such associations so often go unreported.

Pharmer  could go on past  number ninety nine  until the readers  are bored to tears.
There is extremely poor analysis of risk vs benefit in this article, and this has generated  one more  insane recommendation of preventative “medicine”.

 The detrimental advice in the Lancet  leads to a burning question:
Did these two authors get whacked with a ruler by nuns in grade school?

CDC Participates in Plan to Reduce Number of Organ Transplants

~ Pharmer

CDC’s proposed guidelines for transplants say two sex partners is too many for top-notch organ donors – NY Daily News.

Shazaam!  Just in time for Obamacare, all kinds of new standards for preventative exams  (reducing them),  and a means to reduce the desire for transplants, as well as the available pool have been generated.

SUDDENLY there are proposed new guidelines for the rating of organs in risk categories.

Those who participate in the sexual lifestyle touted as normal, by the progressives, are to be classed as high risk donors of organs.

People with two or more  sex partners in the last year will be considered at risk for transmission of hepatitis B or C, and HIV, etc.

The organ will be rated as risky and the potential recipient could be made aware of this, and be less likely to accept the transplant.

Organ transplants are expensive to carry out, and very expensive to maintain.   Obamacare requires that these be much fewer in number in order to avoid immediate failure through insolvency.

A way to achieve this goal has been provided by the CDC, with the excuse that 12 unexpected deaths from infections have occurred between 2007 and 2010  in transplant patients.

 

TED Talks: Alexander Tsarias, Imaging Fetal Development

~ Pharmer ~ 1 Comment

Alexander Tsarias is a self-taught programming specialist who wrote algorithms for the transformation of physiological magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data into visual images.
Below is a video compilation of Tsarias’ project on human fetal development. Get to know your embryo and fetus here. Tsarias himself is a whole picture thinker, and is quite skilled at conveying his work to the layman. Listen up!

Want the book? Amazon has it.

Wis. Doctors Reprimanded Over Protest Sick Notes « CBS Minnesota

~ Pharmer

Wis. Doctors Reprimanded Over Protest Sick Notes « CBS Minnesota.

The Wisconsin Medical Examining Board has reprimanded the physicians, for giving  out unjustified sick excuses for work absence , at the union protests in Madison Wisconsin.

An attorney representing some of the docs  says that this reprimand will remain on their records for the rest of their careers.  They are also being required to take continuing education in medical records keeping, and pay the costs of the board proceedings against them.

The Board found that the physicians did not keep proper records of having examined and found their patients ( fellow protesters)  too ill to go to their jobs. This failure therefore violated the public trust placed in physicians, the board determined.

Nearly all of the physicians investigated for this infraction are affiliated with the University of Wisconsin.  Seven of the doctors received their reprimands this past Wednesday.  Six of those are part of a group of 22 docs who were investigated by the University of Wisconsin medical school for the fake sick notes.  Some of those were found not to have handed out notes, and some were reprimanded or demoted.

Americans Are On Drugs

~ Pharmer

One in four American women take medication for a mental disorder | Mail Online.

The number of people in the US taking drugs for mental disorders is increasing, with 26% of American women taking the meds in 2010. Also with the health care crunch, it’s cheaper to go on drugs than to obtain other kinds of behavioral therapy.

The economy probably hasn’t helped people’s moods, and now they need SSRIs to replace the shopping.

There’s also the cocoa/chocolate  shortage and ballooning coffee prices…

The regional break down is interesting to see, with southern regions coming in quite high on the scale.  Many of them are non-drinkers, and that is likely associated with increased interest in benzodiazepines.

The western areas come in the middle of the range, but they have many non prescription drug substitutes available, as well as medical weed, which does not count in this category of mental health meds.

On the lowest  end of the scale is Pharmer’s region, but of course we have increased chocolate seeking behavior.