‘Dr. Stephen Goldberg, who heads up Jewish Hospital’s weight management program, said the drug is healthy, much more so than many of the diet drugs on the shelves today. But he said dieters must do their part, limiting their fat intake to 15 grams per meal — or else.
“You would experience bloating, you would experience loose stools, the urgency to have a bowel movement. Some people would have accidents. In general, side effects that aren’t very pleasant,” Goldberg said.’
‘Thousands of pensioners will go blind every year after the Government’s rationing watchdog said a sight-saving drug available in Scotland should not be given to NHS patients in England and Wales.
Patients’ groups and doctors condemned “cruel” draft guidance from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence.
Nice rejected the use of Macugen for patients with the most common form of blindness, wet age-related macular degeneration, or AMD.
It said another drug, Lucentis, could be used but only if patients have gone almost blind in one eye and the disease is far progressed in the other.
It also restricted the use of Lucentis to a specific type of the condition which affects only around 20 per cent of sufferers.’
‘A 14-year-old boy was arrested after dialing a wrong number and offering to sell drugs to the person on the other end — who happened to be a police detective.
After the call, Gulfport detective Matt Parks arranged to meet the teen in the parking lot of a school to buy an ounce of marijuana and some crack cocaine, a police report said. When the boy showed up, he was arrested on charges of possession of 18 grams of marijuana with intent to distribute within 1,000 feet of a school. [..]
Parks’ phone number is unlisted, and there were no similar phone numbers found in the boy’s cell phone, police said. Detectives said the boy, whose name was not released, likely dialed a random number to try to drum up new business.’
‘A 16-year-old Sacramento boy spent nearly eight hours on a busy intersection Tuesday holding a sign that read, in part, “I’m stupid.”
On Sunday night, Dominiq Drye, 16, came home from hanging out with some friends. His mother, Christine Drye, said she knew immediately something was wrong. “His eyes were red and glossy,” said Drye. “I knew something wasn’t right.”
Dominiq eventually admitted he had smoked some marijuana. His mother said this wasn’t the first time. “I’ve tried taking things, I’ve tried other punishment. It’s not working,” she said.
So Drye decided to try something different, something extreme. [..]’
‘A 25-year-old Hilton Head Island man is accused of breaking into an apartment and then calling his mom for a ride home from the crime scene.
An alert neighbor heard someone scurrying around in an upstairs apartment at Cordillo Courts, 104 Cordillo Parkway, and followed the pair all the way to New Orleans Road, where a deputy caught up to them, according to a Beaufort County Sheriff’s report.
Isaac Talavera, Jr., 25, of 26 Forest Cove, was charged with second-degree burglary after officers found 13 pairs of socks, two cell phones, two tank tops, cigarettes, car keys, a watch and vehicle titles stolen from the apartment at 3:52 p.m., Thursday, the report stated.’
‘New research shows that Australian children are becoming more anxious about themselves and the future of the planet.
The Australian Childhood Foundation survey of 600 children shows that more than half are scared there will not be enough water in the future.
The report also showed that more than a third of children were anxious about terrorism, were worried that one day they will have to fight in a war, and one in four believed the world will end before they reached adulthood.
The head of the foundation, Dr Joe Tucci, says this insecurity could have consequences for society.’
‘Two Thai street mutts who became ace sniffer dogs at an airport near the notorious “Golden Triangle” opium-producing region have been fired for urinating on luggage and sexually harassing female passengers. [..]
“He liked to pee on luggage while searching for drugs inside,” Mok’s former handler, Police Lieutenant Colonel Jakapop Kamhon, said. “He also liked to hold on to women’s legs.”
“Both were just as good as foreign dogs trained for use in drug missions.
“But they were stray dogs, so their manners were worse than those of foreign breeds,” he said.’
‘Paris Hilton has not eaten or slept since arriving at the medical ward of a Los Angeles jail and is being given psychotropic drugs, celebrity Web site TMZ.com reported on Saturday, citing law enforcement sources.
Nevertheless, the socialite and hotel heiress said late on Saturday afternoon that she had told her attorneys not to appeal the order that sent her back to jail on Friday after a day of house arrest.
“Being in jail is by far the hardest thing I have ever done,” Hilton, 26, said in a written statement issued by her attorney, Richard Hutton. “During the past several days, I have had a lot of time to think and I believe that I am learning and growing from this experience.”‘
‘A medical examiner blamed a 17-year-old track star’s death on the use of too much anti-inflammatory muscle cream, the kind used to soothe aching legs after exercise.
Arielle Newman, a cross-country runner at Notre Dame Academy on Staten Island, died after her body absorbed high levels of methyl salicylate, an anti-inflammatory found in sports creams such as Bengay and Icy Hot, the New York City medical examiner said Friday.
The medical examiner’s spokeswoman, Ellen Borakove, said the teen used “topical medication to excess.” She said it was the first time that her office had reported a death from using a sports cream.’
‘The green blood came as a bit of a shock to Dr. Alana Flexman and her colleagues when they tried to put an arterial line into a patient about to undergo surgery in Vancouver’s St. Paul’s Hospital. [..]
As surgical staff prepared the man for the middle-of-the-night emergency operation, Flexman and a colleague attempted to insert a line into a wrist artery.
Arterial lines are used to monitor blood pressure during an operation; any blood that flows when the line is inserted into the artery should be vivid red, the sign it has been oxygenated in the heart.
But in this case, which occurred in October 2005, it was not.’
‘Nigeria has filed charges against the pharmaceutical company Pfizer, accusing it of carrying out improper trials for an anti-meningitis drug.
The government is seeking $7bn (£3.5bn) in damages for the families of children who allegedly died or suffered side-effects after being given Trovan.
Kano state government has filed separate charges against Pfizer.
The firm denies any wrongdoing, saying the trials were conducted according to Nigerian and international law.’
‘Three Australian businessmen charged with misbehaving on a flight to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are expected to be deported from the country within the next 24 hours.
For the past six weeks the trio had faced the possibility of 14 years’ jail or floggings under Shariah law.
David Evans has instead received a 12 month suspended sentence for using rude language and touching a stewardess on the arm.
Jeremy Snaith has received a six month suspended sentence for drinking alcohol without a permit and using offensive language.
A third Australian, William Sargent, has been acquitted because the prescription drug in his blood stream did not fall under UAE jurisdiction.
The businessmen’s lawyer, Ross Hill, says they are expected to be deported within the next 24 hours.’
Followup to Pair accused of air fracas face desert hell in jail.
‘No-rules culture – where teachers gave alcohol to teenagers and students turned up to class drunk and had sex on school camps – has been exposed at a private school in Melbourne’s wealthy eastern suburbs.
A Victorian tribunal has declared Alia College, in the leafy Melbourne suburb of Hawthorn, was a school with an “anarchistic nature” where “anything is allowed and no one is prepared to take responsibility”. [..]
“There was evidence that some teachers had become concerned that students were having sex together and drinking alcohol at school camps,” it said.
“There was other evidence that a teacher had complained that students were coming to afternoon classes drunk, as another teacher was supplying them with alcohol at school. Morgan’s evidence about the provision by the school of alcohol to students was extraordinary. He appears to have done nothing to discipline any teacher for providing alcohol to students. Alcohol was said to be available to students at school functions.”‘
‘A gay gang that allegedly raped victims lured on the internet, drugged them and infected them with the AIDS virus has shocked the Netherlands and raised questions over its liberal sex culture.
A date rape drug known as “Easy Lay” and ecstasy were allegedly involved.
Health Minister Ab Klink called the case “horrible”, as the press splashed the news across its front pages today.
The matter came to light yesterday, when police said they had arrested three men two weeks ago after four victims, men aged 25 to 50, accused them of rape and premeditated bodily harm. [..]
The three suspects – one of whom is a male nurse – were said to have raped the men, and even injected some of them with a mix of their contaminated blood.’
‘Council meetings in Reus could take a turn for the bizarre after the northern Spanish town voted in a councillor who promised to turn up dressed as Elvis Presley and wants to turn the square into a nudist pool.
Ariel Santamaria, a former postman, stood for a small independent party dressed in full Elvis regalia complete with sideburns and won enough votes last weekend to take a council seat.
It remains to be seen how other parties will take his proposals for Reus, a town of 100,000 people near Barcelona.
His platform included plans to paint the town hall pink, plant marijuana in the parks and give the town police global positioning systems to find people who might need a light while rolling a joint.’
It’s relatively obvious. 🙂
(8.5meg Windows media)
see it here »
‘Researchers may have figured out what makes la vita so dolce in Rome. A report from Italy’s National Research Council released Thursday found that there are traces of cocaine and cannabis in the air of the Eternal City.
The institute made the discovery during a study of toxic substances in the air of Rome, Taranto, in the heel of boot-shaped Italy, as well as in Algiers. The results found that in Rome, there were traces of cocaine and cannabis – as well as nicotine, caffeine and benzopirene, which is commonly released in cigarette smoke and auto emissions.
“The highest concentrations of cocaine were found in the center of Rome and especially in the area of the University of La Sapienza,” said Dr. Angelo Cecinato, who led the investigation.’
‘They have been accused of sexually abusing staff during a drunken rampage through the first-class cabin of an international flight.
Now Sydney men Jeremy Snaith and William Sergeant are eating fermented camel meat inside the notorious al-Wathba prison outside Abu Dhabi. in the United Arab Emirates.
The food is the least of their worries as the wheels of justice grind slowly and Snaith and Sergeant contemplate up to 15 years in a desert prison where the temperatures soar above 50 degrees and punishment includes stonings, lashings, overcrowding and sleeping in lice-infested blankets on cement floors.’
‘When Dana Acker went to check on her 15-year-old son in the bath, she never imagined she would never see him alive again. Joshua Dean Knight died after inhaling from an aerosol can used to clean electronics. [..]
More and more kids around the country are engaging in a dangerous practice they call “computer dusting.” The product, made by a variety of manufacturers, produces a burst of air which is meant to blow dust off keyboards, cameras or other hardware.
Acker says more and more kids are dying each year because they don’t realize the burst of air contains a chemical, Freon, which is used in refrigerators and air conditioners. She says officers who responded to her son’s death told her it’s a growing problem.’
‘Pakistani police have arrested nine people, four of them doctors, for abducting people, drugging them and stealing their kidneys for transplant operations, police said today.
Selling kidneys from living donors is not illegal in Pakistan, which medical experts say has a reputation as the world’s “kidney bazaar”.
But police said those arrested in the eastern city of Lahore tricked people then drugged them before removing their kidneys.
“These poor people were given tranquillisers and were deprived of their kidneys without their consent,” Lahore police chief Malik Mohammad Iqbal told Reuters.’
‘A man once called one of the Internet’s most notorious pirates of music and movies was sentenced Wednesday to five years in prison for blowing up a portable toilet, prosecutors said.
Bruce Forest, 50, was charged last year with a series of toilet explosions in 2005 and 2006. But under a plea agreement, Forest admitted only to blowing up one toilet in Weston in February 2006. No one was injured in any of the blasts.
His defense attorney and his wife said the incident was completely out of character for Forest. They said he had been addicted to painkillers initially taken for migraine headaches caused by a severe fall about 10 years ago. A prescribed drug intended to wean him off the painkillers caused psychotic episodes, they said.’
‘A disabled gran was stabbed 97 times by her killer — for 32p in her piggy bank.
Frail Ann Alfanso, 61, was knifed in the head, body, hands and neck by drug-crazed John Mansfield.
Convicted robber Mansfield, 45, was high on heroin, morphine, cocaine and methadone when he used two knives and scissors to butcher his victim, who lived alone.
A court was told that one blade went right through one of Mrs Alfanso’s hands as she tried to protect herself. As he hunted for cash, Mansfield dragged her around her flat before raiding the piggy bank beside the phone and fleeing, leaving her for dead.’
‘Doctors are being advised to prescribe oily fish or omega-3 fatty acid supplements to heart attack patients.
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) believes this is an effective way to cut the risk of further heart attacks.
It is the first time NICE has recommended lifestyle change – alongside drugs – in guidance on preventing repeat attacks. [..]
Research has found that one specific omega-3 supplement – Omacor – cut the risk of a patient dying suddenly by up to 45%.
Omacor is currently the only omega-3 supplement with a licence for post-heart attack treatment.’
‘A drug which reduces the desire for marijuana and blocks its effect on the brain has been successfully tested in rats. Scientists say the findings may translate into better therapies for cannabis addiction in humans. [..]
Over a period of three weeks the rats learned to enjoy the effects of synthetic THC and frequently self-administered the drug. By comparison, rats that received saline solution did not press the lever often.
Goldberg’s team then injected the rats with a compound derived from the seeds of the Delphinium brownii plant, which is in the buttercup family. The compound, known as methyllycaconitine (MLA), had a dramatic effect on the animals’ behaviour.
On the day that they received MLA they pushed the lever for synthetic THC 70% less than before. The drug did not seem to otherwise change the rats’ movement and coordination, and had no other apparent side effects.’
‘A guest speaker at an assembly at Boulder High School in Colorado has told students as young as 14 to go have sex and use drugs, prompting school officials to say they will investigate.
The instructions came from Joel Becker, an associate clinical professor of psychology at the University of California at Los Angeles.
“I am going to encourage you to have sex and encourage you to use drugs appropriately,” Becker said during his appearance at the school as part of a recent panel sponsored by the University of Colorado’s Conference on World Affairs.
“Why I am going to take that position is because you are going to do it anyway,” he continued. [..]’
‘Cannes is smacking its lips in anticipation of filmmaker and provocateur Michael Moore’s latest jeremiad against the US administration, which receives its premiere at the film festival today. Sicko, a documentary tackling the state of American healthcare, focuses on the pharmaceutical giants, and particularly on health insurers.
[..] Now, according to movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, whose Weinstein Company is behind the film, the US government is attempting to impound the negative.
According to Weinstein, the US Treasury’s moves meant “we had to fly the movie to another country”- he would not say to where. “Let the secret service find that out – though this is the same country that thought there were weapons of mass destruction, so they’ll never find it.” He added that he feared that if the film were impounded, there might be attempts to cut some footage, in particular the last 20 minutes, which related to a trip to Cuba. This, said Weinstein, “would not be good.”‘
‘This site was based off the 2 year diary of a real life Schizophrenic, James Caldwell. His True Diary of Psychological Episodes takes you along the journey of a mad man who struggles to get stabilized on medicine. His diaries of psychosis talk about everything he was hearing, tasting, smelling, and seeing during these encounters at the time, Hallucinating. He will take you through his fears, thoughts, and feelings. His original handwritten notebook has been transcribed to digital.’
‘Actor Sylvester Stallone was formally convicted Monday of importing restricted muscle-building hormones into Australia and ordered to pay more than $9,870 in fines and court costs.
New South Wales state Deputy Chief Magistrate Paul Cloran said the “Rocky” and “Rambo” star had failed to show he had a valid prescription for vials of human growth hormone that were in his luggage when he arrived for a promotional tour in February. Stallone also had failed to declare the male hormone testosterone on a customs entry form, although he had a valid prescription.
Cloran fined Stallone $2,500 and ordered him to pay $8,200 in prosecution costs. Stallone, who was not present in court, had pleaded guilty last week.’
Followup to Stallone charged over growth drug.
‘Police in a city in New York are investigating who sent a package containing 12 pounds of marijuana to an elementary school.
Kent Town Police also want to know who at the Kent Primary School was the intended recipient.
The package was addressed to Joan Pinserton — which is a misspelling of the principal’s name — Pinkerton. The principal was suspicious of the package when it was delivered by Federal Express Thursday because of the odor it emanated — so she had it moved to the rear of the school property by the bus garage.’
‘A police officer will avoid criminal charges despite admitting he took marijuana from criminal suspects and, with his wife, baked it into brownies.
The police department’s decision not to pursue a case against former Cpl. Edward Sanchez left a bad taste in the mouth of at least one city official, who vowed to investigate. [..]
The department’s investigation began with a 911 call from Sanchez’s home on April 21, 2006. On a 5-minute tape of the call, obtained by the Free Press, Sanchez told an emergency dispatcher he thought he and his wife were overdosing on marijuana.
“I think we’re dying,” he said. “We made brownies and I think we’re dead, I really do.”‘
Also, there’s a recording of the 911 call. 🙂
(13.2meg Windows media)
see it here »
