‘So Wolf began snooping around and found that two chains, Costco and Sam’s Club, sold generics at prices far, far below the other chains. Even once you factor in the cost of buying a membership at Costco and Sam’s Club, the price differences were astounding. Here are the prices he found at Houston stores for 90 tablets of generic Prozac:
Walgreens: $117
Eckerd: $115
CVS: $115
Sam’s Club: $15
Costco: $12
Those aren’t typos. Walgreens charges $117 for a bottle of the same pills for which Costco charges $12.’
‘Marine veteran Jonathan Schulze survived the war in Iraq but almost two years after he came home, it ended up killing him, reports The Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith. [..]
“She asked, ‘Why do you want to be seen?’ and I was standing behind him and he was sitting in a chair, his shoulders were slumped and Jim was standing in the doorway and he said, ‘I feel suicidal,’ ” Marianne Schulze said.
His parents say the VA told Jonathan they couldn’t admit him that day and asked if he would call back the next day. He did but was told he was number 26 on a waiting-list and the VA didn’t have enough beds for him. Four days later he hung himself.’
‘A fossil unearthed in northeastern China has middle ear anatomy somewhere between more primitive and modern mammals, confirming for the first time transitional steps in the evolution of the important structure.
Scientists suspected the malleus or hammer, incus or anvil, and stapes or stirrup, split off from a location at the hinge of the lower jaw to become separate structures.
The new find, 125 million-year-old Yanoconodon allini, has middle ear bones that are partly separated from the jaw, but remain connected by a bridge of ossified cartilage. [..]
As Dr. Luo put it: “We have now a clear case documenting why a very elaborate and very delicate and very sophisticated ear structure came about and how it came about.”‘
‘A woman whose doctor says marijuana is the only medicine keeping her alive can face federal prosecution on drug charges, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday.
The ruling was the latest legal defeat for Angel Raich, a mother of two from Oakland suffering from scoliosis, a brain tumor, chronic nausea and other ailments who sued the federal government pre-emptively to avoid being arrested for using the drug. On her doctor’s advice, Raich eats or smokes marijuana every couple of hours to ease her pain and bolster her appetite. [..]
Raich, 41, began sobbing when she was told of the decision that she was not immune to prosecution and said she would continue using the drug.
“I’m sure not going to let them kill me,” she said. “Oh, my God.”‘
‘Texas lawmakers are fighting to block the governor’s order requiring that sixth-grade girls be vaccinated against the virus that causes cervical cancer, with the House giving final approval to a bill to make the shots strictly voluntary.
Gov. Rick Perry’s executive order has inflamed conservatives who say it contradicts Texas’ abstinence-only sexual education policies and intrudes into family lives. Some critics also have questioned whether the vaccine has been proven safe.
The House voted 118-23 on Wednesday to approve a bill that would keep the vaccine off the list of required shots for school attendance. The measure now heads to the state Senate, where more than half the members are co-sponsoring an identical bill.’
‘A new study in the journal Neurology is being hailed as unassailable proof that marijuana is a valuable medicine. It is a sad commentary on the state of modern medicine that we still need “proof” of something that medicine has known for 5,000 years.
The study, from the University of California at San Francisco, found that smoked marijuana was effective at relieving the extreme pain of a debilitating condition known as peripheral neuropathy.
It was a study of HIV patients, but a similar type of pain caused by damage to nerves afflicts people with many other illnesses including diabetes and multiple sclerosis. [..]
As all marijuana research in the United States must be, the new study was conducted with government-supplied marijuana of notoriously poor quality. So it probably underestimated the potential benefit.’
‘”I found this man, and other than his hands and feet, he looked and seemed in good health. As best as I could gather these growths began when he was 14 years old, and began in the area of his wrists. The skin on his wrists and the back of his hands resembles that of a hedgehog – hundreds of spike like growths. The problem is much more severe on his palms and fingers where the growths resemble very much that of nails infected with a fungus. The growths have that same texture, smell and feel. I cut a number of the largest growths off, most of witch did not bleed. Some of the smaller growths did bleed a small amount and he seemed much more sensitive to the cutting of the smaller growths. I soaked his hands first in 3 WEA (phenyl mercuric nitrate) and then began. The 3 WEA did help to soften the growths but they still took time to cut through, or sand down, but it worked just as it does with these types of nails on normal hands or feet. I was able to pull many of the smaller growths off applying steady pressure and slowly pulling. But after 1.5 hrs there was not a noticeable change as there are hundreds and hundreds of growths. There was also quite a bit of dissolved material in the bucket of 3 WEA after we finished. [..]’
‘British medics warned that a lack of donated dead bodies was damaging the quality of training for new doctors and surgeons, and possibly putting patients at risk.
The Royal College of Surgeons said there was a serious national shortage of cadavers which are needed to teach anatomy to medical students.
“Visual demonstration is not enough,” said Dick Rainsbury, RCS education director, adding that he had doubts about whether those who learnt by observation could perform operations with “any degree of competence or confidence”.
“There has been a noticeable and serious decline in the general level of applied anatomical knowledge displayed by junior doctors,” he said. [..]
The RCS said it estimated 1000 bodies a year were needed for medical teaching and that there was currently a 30 per cent shortfall, with particular problems in London.’
‘Weight loss surgery could lead to a condition which can result in memory loss, according to US research.
The syndrome – Wernicke encephalopathy – affects the nervous system and brain, and can lead to confusion and the inability to co-ordinate movement.
The study, published in Neurology, the journal of the American Academy of Neurology, says the syndrome is caused by a lack of vitamin B1, or thiamine.
Frequent vomiting after surgery can lead to the syndrome, the study found.’
‘An ex-con and former mental patient who won a landmark state Supreme Court decision in 2004 that allowed hundreds of mental patients to stop taking forced medication appeared in an Alameda courtroom Friday on charges that he killed his roommate in September.
Kanuri Qawi, 46, was charged with murder in the fatal stabbing of his roommate, John Laird Milton Sr., 59, whose body was found Sept. 13 in their home on Moonlight Terrace at Dignity Commons, a housing facility for veterans at Alameda Point, the site of the former Alameda Naval Air Station. [..]
The court said Qawi had been diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenic and had been medicated against his will between 1995 and 2004.’
‘Within the last five years, pets have finally overtaken farm animals in the pharmaceutical marketplace, claiming 54 percent of spending for animal drugs, according to the trade group Animal Health Institute.
Keeping more than 130 million dogs and cats alone, Americans bought $2.9 billion worth of pet drugs in 2005. Though equal to only 1 percent of human drug sales, the market has grown by roughly half since the year 2000.
“As more and more drugs are being developed for people, more and more drugs are being developed for veterinary medicine. It’s really a parallel track,” says Dr. Gerald Post, founder of the nonprofit Animal Cancer Foundation.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved more than 40 new pet drugs over the past five years.’
‘The common view that nerves transmit impulses through electricity is wrong and they really transmit sound, according to a team of Danish scientists. [..]
The physicists say because the nerve membrane is made of a material similar to olive oil that can change from liquid to solid through temperature variations, they can freeze and propagate the solitons.
The scientists, whose work is in the Biophysical Society’s Biophysical Journal, suggested that anesthetics change the melting point of the membrane and make it impossible for their theorized sound pulses to propagate.’
‘Authorities in the United States have given preliminary approval to a plan to grow rice genetically modified to produce human proteins.
Rice plants including human genes involved in producing breast milk would be grown in the state of Kansas.
The company behind the proposal, Ventria Bioscience, says the plants could be developed into medicines for diarrhoea and dehydration in infants.
Critics say parts of the rice plants could enter the food chain.’
‘Two Atlanta men survived an attempt to kill themselves Friday by cutting off their arms with a circular saw, according to Atlanta Police Major Lane Hagin.
The men managed to sever three of their arms about six inches above the wrist, he said.
The two men — ages 40 and 41 — left a suicide note with the manager of their Atlanta apartment building saying they were committing suicide because their business had failed and they were recently diagnosed with HIV, Hagin said.
After reading the note, the manager called police who found the two men in their apartment with “a lot of blood,” the major said.’
‘UK scientists have identified a way of using light to rapidly detect the presence of bacteria. [..]
The team have spent five years designing special large molecules, or polymers, which can bind to cells.
Once bound the polymer changes shape and emits a light signal.
This can either be a coloured light, such as a red glow, or a light that is naked to the visible eye but can be detected under a fluorescent lamp, depending on the type of polymer that is used.’
He has a banjo and he has a goiter.
The goiter is bigger than the banjo.
‘A Los Angeles hospital confirmed on Friday that two U.S. women who became ill during a trip to their native Russia, prompting investigations by both countries, were suffering from thallium poisoning.
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center said Marina Kovalevsky and her daughter, Yana, were receiving “appropriate treatment” for thallium poisoning. They have been listed in fair but stable condition. [..]
There has been no official explanation of how or why the two women, who according to family members do not work for either government and have no known political or business ties to Russia, were poisoned.’
‘Officials at the Grossmont Union High School District have sent letters home to parents, notifying them that a number of students have been caught on campus with medical marijuana cards.
District official Catherine Martin said they are concerned over the growing trend and the “apparent ease” with which teens are able to obtain the cards.
In the letters, parents, students and faculty are reminded that even if the cards are valid, it is against the law to have marijuana on school property.
Recently two East County teenagers were suspended for showing up at school high, with a medical marijuana card as their excuse, NBC 7/39 reported.’
‘Fran Bernstein wants what is best for her severely autistic, 48-year-old son.
So do those operating the Chicago group home where Bradley Bernstein lives.
But they disagree on what is the best way to respond when the stockily built Bradley begins a violent outburst.
His mother has long relied upon a small jolt from a cattle prod to calm her son down.
But disability advocacy groups, as well as the company running Bradley’s group home, Trinity Services, are shunning the shock punishments, which state legislators outlawed last year. [..]
“Most of the time, if he starts acting up and beating his head, we just show it to him and that’s sufficient,” Fran Bernstein said. “We had a judge sign an order saying it was OK to do with proper care, to let him live a decent life. The whole point of doing this was to protect him.”‘
‘Inmates in South Carolina could soon find that a kidney is worth 180 days.
Lawmakers are considering legislation that would let prisoners donate organs or bone marrow in exchange for time off their sentences.
A state Senate panel on Thursday endorsed creating an organ-and-tissue donation program for inmates. But legislators postponed debate on a measure to reduce the sentences of participating prisoners, citing concern that federal law may not allow it.’
‘That morning latte or espresso may not be the pick-me-up people think it is, a study has revealed.
University of Bristol researchers say the caffeine eases withdrawal symptoms which build up overnight, but does not make people more alert than normal.
The work, presented to the British Nutrition Foundation conference, showed only people who have avoided coffee for a while will get a buzz from caffeine.
But the British Coffee Association said regular drinkers did feel more alert.’
‘A 68-year-old grandmother convicted of growing cannabis at her Northumberland home has been given a 250 hour community service order.
Patricia Tabram, from Humshaugh, had denied charges of possessing and cultivating the drug when she appeared at Carlisle Crown Court.
She was arrested in 2005 when plants and growing equipment were seized. [..]
After the hearing she said: “I’m going to go on medicating.
“The police can come to my house every week. I’ll give them a cup of tea.
“I’ll give them a decent biscuit, which of course will be medicated and I’ll give them some cannabis so they charge me again and again and again.”‘
‘Try to absorb as much of the radiation as possible with your groin region. The current world record is 5 minutes, 12 seconds.
If you’ve become a radiation mutant with a deformed hand, remember to close the window. No one wants to see that. [..]
Survive a biohazard attack by first standing, then begging on your knees, then rolling over and playing dead. [..]
If you see colors in the sky, grasp your throat and pretend to choke yourself. Girls go for that. [..]
Your telephone may be a practicing physician. Look for a phone with no numbers on it.’
‘Saleh Talib Saleh used to dream that he would grow horns on his head. He dismissed them as mere fancy at first, but then, at the ripe old age of 78, a horn did indeed begin to grow on the left side of his head, astonishing his fellow villagers. Saleh, a resident of A’dban district of the Shabwa governorate, claims that the horn started growing over 25 years ago. He has no explanation as to how the horn developed or why. However, a large medical team at the Aden Specialized Hospital believe that the horn was caused by multiplying layers of hardened, dried skin on Saleh’s head.
Eventually these layers piled up enough to become a horn. Saleh, 102, spoke to the Yemen Observer about the astonishing experience of growing horns on his head, beginning at the age of 77. The first, he said, began growing some 25 years ago, and kept growing until it reached a length of half a meter. But that horn broke off one day last year. Eight days later, another horn started growing in the same spot as the first one. This horn is currently still growing on the left side of his head.’
‘Two packages containing human body parts — including a liver and a partial head — that were intended for a lab were delivered to a home instead, and officials say more than two dozen similar packages could be dispersed across the United States.
The body parts, sent from China, were mistakenly dropped off at Franck and Ludivine Larmande’s home by a DHL driver who thought the bubble-wrapped items were pieces to a table.
“My husband started to unwrap one and said, ‘This is strange, it looks like a liver,'” Ludivine Larmande told The Grand Rapids Press. “He started the second one, but stopped as soon as we saw the ear.”
“Something wasn’t right. It was scary, and I’m glad I didn’t open them.”‘
‘· Over 50 Terabytes of Brain Image Data Accessible Online
· The Highest Resolution Whole Brain Atlases Ever Constructed
· A Suite of Free Desktop Applications for Navigating and Analyzing BrainMaps Data
· A Menagerie of Animal Brains’
‘Nearly 20 years ago, the World Health Organization and its partners launched an ambitious program to eradicate polio by the end of the millennium. That deadline passed and another was missed in 2005 and polio still strikes about 2,000 people a year, mostly children.
At a WHO meeting this week, some leading experts asked a grim question: Is it time to abandon the goal of eradication and focus instead on containing the disease? The answer, for most, was no even though many had doubts.
“Many people wonder why we are spending all this time and effort on polio when there are much bigger problems,” said Dr. Donald A. Henderson, who headed WHO’s smallpox eradication program in the 1970s. Smallpox is the only disease ever to have been eradicated.’
‘No action will be taken against a vet who punched his horse in front of a crowd during a temper tantrum after losing a race to a group of teenagers.
A Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons panel has cleared Lodewijk De Smet of Ammanford of “disgraceful conduct”.
De Smet, who practises in Llanelli, had denied the incident as he rode for the Banwen Miners’ Hunt at a show in Brecon in August 2005.
But the panel decided he had struck the horse in a “momentary loss of reason”.’
‘The most celebrated of all the diphallic terata was Jean Baptista dos Santos, who when but six months old was spoken of by Acton. His father and mother were healthy and had two well-formed children. He was easily born after an uneventful pregnancy. He was good-looking, well proportioned, and had two distinct penises, each as large as that of a child of six months. Urination proceeded simultaneously from both penises; he had also two scrotums. Behind and between the legs there was another limb, or rather two, united throughout their length. It was connected to the pubis by a short stem 1/2 inch long and as large as the little finger, consisting of separate bones and cartilages. There was a patella in the supernumerary limb on the anal aspect, and a joint freely movable. This compound limb had no power of motion, but was endowed with sensibility…’
I’ve been using the word “biphallic” all this time, it seems “diphallic” may be more correct..?
Followup to Biphallic Pictures.
see it here »
