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First 4-In-1 Flu Vaccine approved by FDA

2012-03-02T02:35:00.002-08:00

New York: Now a vaccine that offers an extra layer of protection against the virus name influenza has been approved by Federal Health officials, this vaccine will protect the subject from four strains of common flu that affects millions around the world each year.
The FluMist Quadrivalent vaccine from AstraZeneca's MedImmune unit protects against two strains of influenza A and two strains of influenza B. The Food and Drug Administration approved the spray-based vaccine for people ages 2 to 49.
Previously all vaccines contained two strains of influenza A and one strain of influenza B, chosen annually by medical experts based on their potential to spread the virus. Having an extra strain of influenza B increases the likelihood that the vaccine will protect against illness, the FDA said in a statement.
Similar to the previously approved FluMist, the new vaccine is a nasal spray that delivers weakened strains of the virus.
"Illness caused by Influenza B virus affects children, particularly young and school-aged, more than any other population," said Dr. Karen Midthun, M.D., director of the FDA's biologics center.
The severity of illness and death due to flu varies widely from season to season. Between 1976 and 2007, flu-related deaths have ranged from an estimated low of about 3,000 to a high of about 49,000 people, according to the FDA.
You can even buy a generic Tamiflu online from Vertical pharmacy at cheap rates and save yourself from this Viral Flu.

How to Find out What a Pill or Drug is used for?

2012-02-22T05:10:00.000-08:00

Drug Addict

In case you are the parents of troubled or addicted kids, it is a nightmare to find a hoard of pills in your kid’s room. It could also be your better half that is using these pills or medication, which you are most curious to know about.

What can you do?

The simplest way to find out about the medication or pack of pills is to read the chemical composition mentioned on the packet or the name of the medication.

Pills

1. Logon to www.verticalpharmacy.com. Vertical pharmacy is an online pharmacy and has a vast database of drugs and medications

2. On the website, there is a search bar on the right corner, just type the name of the medication or pills you found.

3. Hit search button and you will find the details of the medication or pills that you are searching for.

It is possible that your kids or your partner are afraid of telling you about certain diseases. After you find out, politely speak to them about the disease and make them feel that you are there for support and to help them treat the disease with smile.

Biggest baby born with a normal delivery

2012-01-30T01:38:00.000-08:00

Biggest baby born with a normal delivery at Mercy Medical Center

Asher Stewardson came into the world on Jan. 26 weighing 13 pounds, 13 ounces. He measured 23 1/2 inches.

He is believed to be the biggest baby ever born at Mercy Medical Center without a surgical delivery and follows on the heels of his 15-month-old brother, Judah, who weighed 12 pounds, 1 ounce at birth. Asher is healthy and did not have gestational diabetes.

The biggest baby on record in Iowa since 1980 weighed 14 pounds, 13 ounces. Only one-tenth of one percent of all newborns weigh more than 11 pounds at birth, according to information provided by Mercy.

Asher’s mom, Kendall, made it through six hours of labor pain without an epidural. Having Asher as naturally as possible was extremely important to her and her husband, Joshua, who live in Des Moines.

“We wanted to avoid a C-section because that would have not been good for me or the baby,” Kendall said. “We didn’t want to forfeit the best possible outcome.”

One year polio-free milestone for India.

2012-01-25T02:19:00.000-08:00

NEW DELHI, Jan 12 - India is about to hit a milestone in its battle to eradicate the polio virus with no new cases reported in the past year, the country's health minister said on Thursday, a dramatic drop from being the country worst affected by the crippling disease.
The last case was detected on Jan. 13 in a two-year-old girl in the country's east. A full year without any new cases means India will no longer be classed as "polio-endemic" by the World Health Organisation, leaving only Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Nigeria.

"We are excited and hopeful, at the same time, vigilant and alert," said Ghulam Nabi Azad in a statement, cautioning it was still important to remain vigilant.

"This giant leap towards polio containment in a short span of two years is an endorsement of India's tireless and persistent efforts."

Just two years ago 741 Indians fell sick with polio, nearly half the world's cases that year. Until the 1950s the disease crippled thousands every year in rich nations. It attacks the nervous system and can cause irreversible paralysis within hours of infection.

It often spreads in areas with poor sanitation -- a factor that helped it keep a grip on India for many decades -- and children under five are the most vulnerable. But it can be stopped with comprehensive, population-wide vaccination.

The Polio Eradication Programme in India aims to immunize every child under five years of age with the oral polio vaccine.

The massive programme has seen millions of health workers fan out across the country, going door-to-door, village-to-village immunizing more than 170 million children every year with oral doses of the polio vaccine.

The number of polio cases dropped to 42 in 2010 compared with 741 the previous year. The last case in 2011 was reported from the state of West Bengal.

Health experts welcomed the India's milestone, but added caution.

"India must maintain sensitive surveillance and high childhood immunity against wild polio virus to guard against any importation of polio until eradication is achieved globally," said the Global Polio Eradication Initiative in a statement.

"In 2011, Pakistan and Afghanistan have both seen alarming increases in polio cases, and polio virus from Pakistan re-infected China ... as long as polio exists anywhere, it remains a threat everywhere."

LA hospital prepares to send tiny baby home

2012-01-20T05:07:00.000-08:00

As we Reported earlier that worlds third smallest baby was born, Follow up on that news:

LOS ANGELES (AP) — One of the world's smallest surviving babies is headed home.
Melinda Star Guido weighed only 9 ½ ounces at birth— less than a can of soda. After spending her early months in the neonatal intensive care unit, a team of doctors and nurses will gather Friday to see her off.
Melinda has been growing steadily and gaining weight since she was born premature at 24 weeks in August at the Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center. She is the world's third smallest baby and the second smallest in the U.S.
Now weighing 4½ pounds, doctors said Melinda has made enough progress to be discharged. It's too early to know how she will fare developmentally and physically, but doctors planned to monitor her for the next six years.
Most babies this small don't survive even with advanced complete medical care. About 7,500 babies are born each year in the United States weighing less than 1 pound, and about 10 percent survive.
A study published in the journal Pediatrics in 2010 found that many survivors have ongoing health and learning concerns. Most also remain short and underweight for their age.
There are some rare success stories. The smallest surviving baby born weighing 9.2 ounces is now a healthy 7-year-old and another who weighed 9.9 ounces at birth is an honors college student studying psychology, according to doctors at Loyola University Medical Center in Illinois where the girls were born.
Soon after birth, Melinda was treated for an eye disorder that's common in premature babies and underwent surgery to close an artery. Melinda's mother, 22-year-old Haydee Ibarra, held her for the first time after the operation in November.
Despite the hurdles, doctors said Melinda was fortunate she did not suffer serious complications such as bleeding in the brain.

Comfort Comes at it own price - Diabetes.

2012-01-17T03:04:00.000-08:00

STANFORD (US) — Health experts expect the number of diabetics in developing countries to increase as incomes rise around the world.

In China and India—two of the world’s most populous nations, both with fast-paced economies—the prevalence of diabetes is expected to double by 2025. Between 15 and 20 percent of the adult populations will develop the disease as household budgets increase, diets change to include more calories, and new health problems emerge.

But China, India, and other developing countries are not fully prepared to deal with the rising trend of diabetes care. And a growing number of diabetics aren’t getting the care they need to prevent serious complications, Stanford University researchers say.

Even with insurance, many diabetics don’t have essential medications that could help them manage their conditions. In many cases, people in developing countries are spending a great deal of their household incomes to pay for their diabetes treatment, says Jeremy Goldhaber-Fiebert, an assistant professor at Stanford University, who led the research.

“Public and private health insurance programs aren’t providing sufficient protection for diabetics in many developing countries,” says Goldhaber-Fiebert.

“People with insurance aren’t doing markedly better than those who don’t have it. Health insurance and health systems need to be re-oriented to better address chronic diseases like diabetes.”

Heavy burden

Failure to adequately manage diabetes will lead to more severe health problems like blindness, heart disease and kidney failure, the study shows.

Diabetes often strikes people at an age when they’re taking care of children and elderly parents. To sideline these primary caretakers as dependants will lead to a heavy burden for communities and create an obstacle for economic growth, Goldhaber-Fiebert adds.

Using responses to a global survey conducted by the World Health Organization in 2002 and 2003, Goldhaber-Fiebert and his colleagues examined data from 35 low- and middle-income countries in Asia, Latin America, Africa, and Eastern Europe to determine whether diabetics with insurance were more likely to have medication than those without insurance. Their findings are published in Diabetes Care, the journal of the American Diabetes Association.

They also wanted to know whether insured diabetics have a lower risk of “catastrophic medical spending,” a term the researchers define as spending more than 25 percent of household income on medical care.

“Surprisingly, diabetics with insurance were no more likely to have the medications they need than uninsured diabetics,” Goldhaber-Fiebert says. “They were also no less likely to suffer catastrophic medical spending.”

There are many reasons why health insurance may not protect diabetics in developing countries against high out-of-pocket spending. In some cases, there’s a lack of sufficient medicine—such as insulin—to regulate glucose levels. Without those drugs, there is a greater risk of complications that often lead to more hospitalizations and more expenses.

In other cases, co-payments and deductibles are too high. Sometimes, drugs and medical services useful in preventing diabetes complications are not covered. And doctors and hospitals don’t always accept insurance.

“Better policies are needed to provide sufficient protection and care for diabetics in the developing world,” Goldhaber-Fiebert says.

Ahead of the curve

Without medications to manage diabetes and prevent secondary complications, the condition will worsen and the burden of catastrophic spending will increase, he says.

“It’s important to get ahead of the curve and prepare so there’s an infrastructure in place to deal with these health and cost issues,” he says.

While preventing diabetes in the first place would be ideal, programs and policies must be established to care for the many cases that will surely continue to exist.

“There isn’t a single country that’s managed to entirely arrest or reverse the trend of diabetes,” he says.

“Programs that focus on primary prevention are extremely important, but the reality is that the developing world faces hundreds of millions of diabetes cases that are unlikely to all be prevented.”

Wonder Milk or a Marketing Strategy of Pakistan?

2012-01-14T04:02:00.000-08:00

KARACHI: International campaigns are pushing the idea that camel milk is the world’s next super food and a small venture in Karachi is doing its bit to sell, promote and expand the consumption and distribution of the product.
Wondermilk, founded by Ambreen Jahangir and her daughter Sarah, was inspired by Ambreen’s lactose-intolerant husband’s quest to find an alternative to regular milk. “He started by Googling information about camel milk,” she told The Express Tribune. “He then found camel herders, bought it directly from them and started drinking two to three glasses a day.” She admitted being initially turned off by the idea.
But then, after her husband continually insisted she try it out, the diabetic Ambreen read up on the milk’s nutritional potential and gave it a try. “After drinking it regularly, I had my blood sugar level checked and surprisingly it had decreased,” she said.
Ambreen says that one quart of camel’s milk can contain up to 45 units of insulin, and as a result many of Wondermilk’s customers are people with diabetes. She has also received requests from people with other conditions such as autism and cancer. “Many parents of autistic children are buying this milk because their bodies tend to reject a lot of other foods,” she said. “We have even heard reports of it helping in behavioural changes.” No independent local research was, however, available to back these claims.
For now, the simply packaged product’s revenue is going straight to the herders. The Jahangirs are not making a profit and are simply running it as “more of a service”. The milk is pricey, more than an average consumer can afford at Rs150 for 250 ml. But patients who will regularly consume it get a customised discount. It comes in flavours such as chocolate, strawberry, ice-cream soda, and coffee.
The Jahangirs have been trying to win aid and grants from international NGOs for their venture and the NGO What Took You So Long has approached Wondermilk to include them in their film documenting camel milk around the world, “Hot Chocolate for Bedouins”.
The entire operation works out of the Jahangir home and the milk is taken straight from the herders. The herders wear disposable gloves, the udders are washed, and sterilised steel buckets are used. No heat can be used in the process and the milk is neither pasteurised nor does it go through a process of homogenisation in order to retain the nutrients. The Jahangirs claim it has thrice the amount of Vitamin C than regular milk. Wondermilk employs a camel vet as well.
According to different online reports, camel milk contains nutrients that help battle anaemia, osteoporosis, allergies, auto-immune diseases, autism, Crohn’s disease and the side-effects chemotherapy.
Baloch camels in Pakistan are the most prized camels in Pakistan, according to the Jahangirs and buyers from the Middle East regularly come to buy them. Unlike cows, only camels that have recently given birth, can be milked. Out of a herd from 20 to 100 camels at times only a few may be able to produce milk. But the yield is high, as high as 40 litres a day, compared to that of cows.
The milk doesn’t curdle, so yoghurt cannot be made from it but cheese can be made, albeit in a difficult process. The Jahangirs have, however, managed to make a delicious mousse and are selling a kheer (rice pudding) made from camel milk.
Wondermilk is delivered through Khadim online and customers can also pick it up themselves. Another Jahangir family member will be opening a bakery in the coming days that will stock also Wondermilk’s products.
Aside from the nutritional aspects, Wondermilk says there are cosmetic properties to the milk as well. “It has slimming properties and a low percentage of fat, varying from 1.8% to 2%. It also is great for your skin because it includes natural lanolin,” says Ambreen.
When asked why camel milk hasn’t caught on in larger markets like the US, Sarah say that the Food and Drug Administration hasn’t approved it so far allegedly because of pressure from big business. Whether this is the truth behind the matter, nomadic tribes around the Middle East and the sub-continent have been consuming camel milk for centuries, and it still remains an untapped market.
An FAO report on camel milk states, “the prejudice against the camel stems from a misconception that it is of low economic value and is synonymous to under-development.” For those who can afford it, this perspective will have to be altered before this product can be milked for all it is worth.

Top seven discoveries in Chemistry that helped the Medical World.

2012-01-11T03:53:00.000-08:00

Chemistry is the basis of all medical knowledge to human beings. From determining the structure of a simple cell, to the determination of highly complex DNA molecules, chemistry has various applications in the medical field. It can be generalized that medicine is the sub branch of chemistry. Chemistry is utilized in finding the cause of a health malfunction and its treatment. All drugs and medicines available to us are formulated from the knowledge of chemistry.

From the vast field of discoveries in chemistry that have helped the medical world Vertical Pharmacy present to you some of them:

1. DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid):- The structure of DNA was suggested by Francis Crick, James D Watson and Maurice Wilkins in the year 1953. The structure of DNA bestows upon us the knowledge of genes, heredity and is the basis of genetic engineering. Cellular DNA is the information source for making proteins in the cell. A section of DNA that provides information for one protein is called the gene. Genes control the traits for a new born.

2. Insulin: – Paul Langerhans in1869 noticed insulin when he was dealing with the pancreas under the microscope. Insulin is an effective method of eradicating the symptoms of diabetes. Leonard Thompson, a 14 year old diabetic, was the first person to be injected with Insulin.

3. Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS): – It is a combination of gas-liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry to examine different substances within a test sample. Using GC-MS congenital metabolic diseases and compounds in minor concentration present in urine can be detected.

4. Affinity chromatography: – Meir Wilchek developed affinity chromatography for separating biochemical mixtures based on a highly specific biological interaction. In 1972, he showed that this method can be utilized to remove toxic substances like heme peptides from blood using immobilized human serum albumin; this became the basis for modern Hemoperfusion.

5. Affinity Therapy: – In 1975, Meir Wilchek, Michael Sela, Ester Hurwitz, and Ruth Arnon applied drug-conjugated antibodies for the targeted conveyance of cytotoxic compounds to cancer cells. Their approach was later adopted by others and ultimately led to the efficient treatment of human breast cancer by recombinant humanized anti-HER2 antibody (Herceptin) in a mixture with paclitaxel and doxorubicin.

6. Hemoperfusion: It is a process of purifying a patient’s blood by passing large volumes of blood over an adsorbent substance like resins and activated carbon. Toxic substances like drugs and poisons are removed. Hemodialysis is a process similar to Hemoperfusion but in the former urine removal is done for patients with kidney failure.

7. MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging):- In 1991 Richard Robert Ernst pioneered the development of nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy which was the base for MRI. MRI is used for visualizing detailed internal structures. MRI has been used for distinguishing brain tumors from normal tissues.

These are some of the chemistry based methods used in medical fields but almost all elements and many organic and inorganic compounds are also utilized in drug manufacture, diagnosis and the treatment of human diseases. For eg. Anesthesia is used during surgery; MDMA commonly called ecstasy is used for psychotherapy; and Technetium-99m is used in radioactive isotope medical tests.

Oldest Twins in World Celebrate 102nd Birthday

2012-01-05T03:22:00.000-08:00

The oldest twins in the world had their cake and ate it too when they celebrated their 102nd birthday Wednesday. Ena Pugh and Lily Millward of Wales chalked up their centenarian health to “laughter and a good joke.”
The twins’ families presented the sisters with the most recent edition of the Guinness Book of World Record so they could check out their new entry, according to the UK’s Sun. Pugh and Millward were born on January 4, 1910, making them the oldest pair on the planet.
Born to farmers in Garthbrengy, near Brecon, Wales, Millward and Pugh were two of 10 children. They are the only siblings still living, and both sisters’ husband’s died about 20 years ago. The twins have 15 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren between them. The sisters reportedly talk on the phone every day despite both having significant hearing loss, and only recently have their weekly shopping and tea sessions slowed down because Millward broke her hip after a fall.
Nevertheless, the women were together on their birthday, and expressed gratitude for being blessed with happiness and good health.
“We used to work on the farm all day, but we would enjoy ourselves,” Millward told the Wales News Service. “It was a lot of fun and sociable. We’ve been very lucky and we have always had good health.”
But even in an era of complex exercise regimens, perfect diets and juice cleanses, it is genes more than lifestyle, that play a major role in whether a person will reach centenarian proportions.
“At higher and higher ages, genetics play a larger and larger role,” said Dr. Alan Shuldiner, director of endocrinology, diabetes and nutrition at University of Maryland. “Many centenarians eat unhealthy diets, smoke, never exercised. I suspect genetics is a large reason why they have lived 204 years between them.”
About 84,000 centenarians live in the United States, and that number is expected to grow to 10 times that by 2050, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. While a study back in 2010 found that genes played a direct effect into a long life expectancy, 30 percent of the centenarians studied had a lifestyle that played a large role in their longevity.
Those lifestyle factors include the ones we should all know by now: exercise, a healthy diet, keeping weight off, not smoking, limiting alcohol, staying social and keeping the cognitive function fresh with reading and crossword puzzles.
Longevity is a complex process, said Dr. Heidi Tissenbaum, professor in the program of gene function and expression at University of Massachusetts Medical School.
“Although there are many that say a positive attitude is good, as well, thus far, studies on centenarians have shown that there is not one environmental factor that stands out,” she said.
“Clearly genetics play an important role and the fact that this is seen in twins confirms that, no less genome sequencing findings,” said Dr. Eric Topol, director of Scripps Translational Science Institute in San Diego. But he notes, “laughter didn’t get known as the best medicine by accident!”

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Reasons Your Safety is at Risk Under Obama Care policy

2012-01-02T04:26:00.000-08:00

LOS ANGELES, January 2, 2012 – Under Obamacare, many medical specialties will suffer irreparable harm; the underlying reasons for this signal a poor prognosis for the American health care delivery system as a whole. The public is right to support the noble goals of health care reform, but would be wise to understand the safety implications of the sweeping health system changes underway.

#1: Mandates and bureaucracy do not equal safety:
Simply saying you want to decrease medical errors and improve safety is not enough to effect positive change in the health care environment.

President Obama correctly identifies a litany of challenges in reforming the U.S. health system: improving morbidity and mortality statistics for various diseases, the need to implement information technology systems across the board (e.g., the electronic medical record), upgrading access to care for all Americans, affordable prescription drugs, etc. These are obvious and noble goals toward any meaningful national health policy reform. What the President is missing, however, is a high-profile, non-political approach to tackle the most under-reported and troubling reality of the U.S. medical system: safety loopholes that needlessly lead to over 100,000 error-related deaths (and over 1.5 million medical errors) in American medical institutions each year.

Are we to believe that Obamacare will help improve this statistic, or will medical care deteriorate under greater federalist control and authority?

Consider that the current rate of mortality due to drug 'mistakes' and other medical errors has been compared to a large jetliner full with passengers crashing every couple of days. The number of deaths from car crashes alone, or AIDS alone, in any given year is less than the number of iatrogenic (provider-caused) deaths in theUnited States.

There are many studies and initiatives underway to further elucidate the reasons for the
roughly one hundred thousand avoidable deaths attributable to health system errors per year. Some conclusions and statistics have already begun to trickle in, and they place large blame on medication labeling errors, medical management or judgment errors, and deficiencies in skill (e.g., performing a given procedure or surgery for which one is not qualified).

Here are some additional facts:

One in five medications in health care facilities is incorrect (wrong time, wrong dose, or unauthorized drug)--Archives of Internal Medicine 2002 (Sept 9); 162 (16): pages 1897-1903;

Two percent of those admitted to a hospital experience major disability or death--Int J Qual Health Care 2000 (Oct); 12 (5): pages 379-388.

One and a half million people per year in America require hospitalization and one hundred thousand die as a result of prescription drug-related injuries--Journal of the American Medical Association 1998; 279: pages 1571-1573.

American politicians need to be frank with their constituents with regard to the realistic ability of any national health system to literally 'pay for everything', but a focused effort to reign in medical errors will more than pay for itself multiple times over. The President, in advancing the cause of national health care reform should know better than to play doctor with the crucial issues of patient safety and medical resource allocation.

There is a problem with medical errors, but could Obamacare make things worse? Will giving more money to the U.S. Postal Service increase the quality and efficiency of its systems? Health care is not mail delivery, but these are important questions to ask.

Underlying the wonky budget analyses and political gamesmanship of the ‘Affordable Care Act’ legislation, there are real medical quality, safety, and security issues which must be afforded the light of day to fully appreciate. Some will praise the recognition of medical errors in the PPACA legislation through further regulations, rules, and oversight, but simply throwing taxpayer money and more bureaucracy at a known problem will not, in and of itself, help solve the problem.

#2: Physician, not politicians, should have crafted health care reform:
Although the American Medical Association (AMA) signed on to support Obamacare, the majority of America’s physicians did not. In fact, about 85% of practicing community doctors in America are not AMA members and do not support the ‘Affordable Care Act’.

Contrary to common lore, most physician are not rich. By increasing the number of low-paying ‘Obamacare card-carrying’ patients they will be asked to see, and failing to address the long-term Medicare (‘SGR’) payment formula for physicians, many quality docs will be forced to restrict, rather than expand, their services (or close shop altogether). The recent Congressional two-month extension to the ‘Doc Fix’ problem is unacceptable.

The medical field demands that the best and the brightest students make a huge personal sacrifice of time and expense. Most medical students finish their residency training at the age of about 30 or older; their undergraduate and graduate school debt ranges from $250 thousand to $600 thousand or more. Coming ‘out’ to the work force a decade later than most in their age group, and working 80-100 hour work weeks is stressful business for doctors.

Medicine is a fascinating and wonderful profession, but the undertaking demands the highest caliber individual. There are two ways to insure that American doctors remain the best in the world: sustain competitive, free-market incentives, or go completely ‘socialist’ by paying for the entire process of medical education and training as is done in many European countries. Obamacare does neither, and thus leaves physicians dangling in a precarious position as education costs continue to climb and reimbursements continue to fall.

Every President, every congressman, and every person who has every worked in or around the White House, the Pentagon, Capitol Hill, or any other elevated branch of government receives the very best the American medical system has to offer. This basic assumption of quality, and the implicit policy of safety under a physician's care, will always be there for those with power or means; under Obamacare, the powerful will continue to be well cared for. But for the rest of America, this assumption will likely not hold.

In 1993, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, then known commonly as ‘Medicare’, cut the reimbursement for my specialty of anesthesiology by roughly 70%.

Many other specialties have received large cuts in reimbursement since. Anesthesiology as a specialty was able to survive in teaching institutions, community hospitals and surgical centers because of higher reimbursements received by private health insurers.

Under Obamacare, there will be an expansion of what are called ‘physician extenders’. Many patients may not consider the care of non-physicians to be an acceptable replacement to their doctor. As more and more companies drop their private health insurance plans, and society moves toward a nationalized, single-payer health care system, doctors will no longer be able to afford to meet expenses, pay off educational loans, and be incentivized to endure the challenging and demanding years of study and training to become board-certified.

Only in America can a pregnant patient expect an obstetrician to be accompanied by a board-certified anesthesiologist at any time of the day or night to place a labor epidural to ease the pain of childbirth. Only in America can a patient expect the highest degree of anesthesia experience, surgical expertise, radiological skill, and internal medicine know-how to guide them through treatments for advanced and complex disease. Only in America, today. With every year we move forward under the new health care legislation, these services, which we take for granted, will recede progressively. Once gone, finding ample numbers of trained physicians willing and able to provide this highest level of care will be increasingly difficult.

#3: Misplaced priorities:

All of this brings us back to our esteemed political representatives in America, who will continue to receive the best medical care in the world, while many Americans will have to settle for something less than the best—something far less than what we have now.

Obamacare was crafted in back rooms to satisfy political goals and schemes, but not to expand the delivery of America’s best medical care to all Americans. In the absence of major changes to the Obamacare legislation, danger in terms of physician coverage for hospitals and physician availability for office visits lies ahead.

None of us would fly on an airplane without a trained and experienced pilot in the cockpit. Then why would we allow ourselves to ‘go under’ without an anesthesiologist at the head of our bed in the operating room, a cardiologist treating our heart problems, or an internal medicine specialist physician writing our prescriptions?

The United States health system is not perfect and our heterogeneous population poses tough challenges, but our philosophy has always been to go the extra mile to treat our patients. For example, the U.S. has perhaps the most advanced premature infant treatment programs in the world. Here, we do everything we can to save lives, even for the weakest, prematurely delivered babies. Obviously, in doing so, we extend great cost and also accept a greater mortality rate for this vulnerable population. If you espouse the Michael Moore approach to statistics, you’d say that Cuba had superior infant mortality rates to the U.S.; of course, you’d be dead wrong. In fact, Cuba has the world’s highest abortion rate, and thus discards the lives of babies who are never given a chance to become infants--and thus never entered into the equation used to calculate ‘infant mortality’.

For those who believe Mr. Moore is correct about superior medical care in Cuba, that nation’s services are only a boat ride away. For the rest of us who value the worth of American medical institutions, I suggest we look past mere constitutional challenges to Obamacare, and focus our attention on the fundamental flaws in safety in its design.

Be wary of the enemy at the gate. Health care reform is tricky business and the ‘Affordable Care Act’ does not have its act together. The Obamacare journey to the future could be a very treacherous one indeed.

Issues of medical safety, security, and health care reform are covered in more depth at America’s Medical Society (www.AmericasMedicalSociety.com).

Doctor Dorin is a Hopkins-trained, board-certified anesthesiologist, practicing in San Diego. He is a small business owner, a Commander in the US Navy Reserves, and the Founder/President of America's Medical Society, Inc., (AMS) a non-profit corporation created to serve and educate physicians and the general public in matters of national health-care reform and medical politics.

For more on this subject and related matters, see www.AmericasMedicalSociety.com.

MSF names Somalia aid workers killed in Mogadishu

2011-12-30T03:07:00.000-08:00

Two aid workers shot dead in the Somali capital have been identified as Belgian and Indonesian nationals.

The pair worked for medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres, which said it was relocating some staff as a result of the shooting but would continue its humanitarian work in the country.

Sources say Belgian Philippe Havet, 53, and Indonesian Andrias Karel Keiluhu, 44, were shot by a former MSF employee.

Somalia is said to be the world's worst humanitarian emergency.

After two decades of warfare and the worst drought in 60 years, some southern areas have been declared as suffering from famine.

MSF said it was "deeply shocked" and "saddened" by the shooting.

One of the men was killed immediately, while another died in hospital from his injuries, the aid agency said.

A Somali national has been arrested over the shooting - there are reports he had recently been sacked from his job with MSF.

Last week, three Somali aid workers distributing food to famine victims were shot and killed, the UN said.

Two of them worked for the UN World Food Programme, while the third worked for one of its partner organisations.

The attack took place in the central town of Mataban, which is controlled by Ahlu Sunnah - a militia which generally supports the government.

The Islamist al-Shabab group has banned most foreign aid agencies from the areas it controls - most southern and central regions.

The UN-backed government controls the capital, Mogadishu, but al-Shabab, which is linked to al-Qaeda, stages suicide attacks in the city.

Yemeni leader’s request for U.S. visa still in Jepordy

2011-12-28T03:10:00.000-08:00

A senior Yemeni official said Tuesday that the Obama administration has assured the government that President Ali Abdullah Saleh will be allowed to enter the United States to receive medical treatment, a decision that could prove politically dicey if it actually occurs.

The State Department strongly denied that a decision had been reached, saying that it is still reviewing Saleh’s visa application. The department stressed that it would not allow Saleh entrance for any other reason than legitimate medical concerns.

“Contrary to some reports that we’ve seen, that permission has not been granted yet,” State Department spokesman Mark Toner said.

But a top adviser to Saleh expressed surprise Tuesday at the denials, saying the Yemeni government was told by the U.S. Embassy in Sanaa that the visa had been approved.

“We were informed yesterday from the American Embassy about the arrival of the visa,” said Sultan al-Barakani, a senior ruling party official. “They called us again today and confirmed the visa. And they requested to know the date of the travel and the route.”

When asked whether the visa was contingent on Saleh receiving medical treatment, Barakani said it was “unconditional.”

The White House deliberations reflect a sensitive political calculus. The administration is trying to help orchestrate a smooth transition in Yemen, where Saleh has ruled for 33 years. But the U.S. government does not want to appear to be supporting a repressive strongman — a politician many Yemenis want to face trial for the deaths of hundreds of political dissidents over the years.

Demonstrators have called since January for his removal, and Saleh has formally relinquished power to his vice president in anticipation of a presidential election in February.

But Saleh remains in the presidential palace and is widely believed to still be in charge. Government forces controlled by his son shot and killed nine demonstrators who took part in a protest march last weekend.

Saleh, who suffered serious wounds in a June attack on the palace, told reporters Saturday that he would leave the country for the United States. He suggested he would undergo medical tests but described his plans more in terms of temporary exile, the Reuters news agency reported.

“I will go to the United States,” Saleh said. “Not for treatment, because I’m fine, but to get away from attention, cameras, and allow the unity government to prepare properly for elections.” He said he would “be there for several days, but I’ll return because I won’t leave my people and comrades.”

In Honolulu, where President Obama is vacationing, a White House spokesman denied a New York Times report that the Obama administration had granted Saleh’s request and that he could be admitted to a hospital in New York this week. The newspaper subsequently retracted the report and said the decision had been made in principle, subject to conditions including Saleh submitting an itinerary.

“U.S. officials are continuing to consider President Saleh’s request to enter the country for the sole purpose of seeking medical treatment, but initial reports that permission has already been granted are not true,” deputy press secretary Josh Earnest said Tuesday.

Asked about Saleh’s request to travel to the United States, a U.S. Embassy spokesman in Sanaa said Tuesday, “It’s something under consideration.”

Yemen’s deputy information minister, Abdu al-Janadi, also said there were no dates, itinerary or a visa issued for a trip.

But he said Yemeni officials were under the impression that the United States had approved Saleh’s visit for medical treatment. Janadi said heading to the United States or Europe for medical treatment was one of Saleh’s conditions for stepping down as part of an agreement with the U.N. Security Council.

“The president has decided to go to the United States for a medical checkup and to stay away from Yemen so that the coalition government could go ahead and do whatever it has to do, and so that no one places the blame on the president if things don’t go correctly regarding the elections,” Janadi said.

But he also said that Saleh may postpone his trip because of the political situation. The political opposition — the Joint Meeting Parties, or JMP — has been trying to oust some of Saleh’s loyalists from key positions.

“The president is reconsidering his decision about traveling due to JMP showing bad intentions,” Janadi said. “The president sees that it’s important to fix what’s going on prior to making any decisions in terms of traveling.”

Top Three Medical Break Through In last decade

2011-12-27T04:12:00.000-08:00

Medical conditions like HIV and heart failures were once deemed a swift death sentence. Today, medical advancements have given new life and hope to people suffering from them. Eveline Gan takes a look at medical breakthroughs that have occurred in the past year.

Breakthrough:

A Cure for AIDS?

Timothy Brown, a HIV patient living in San Francisco, shook up the medical world as the first person to be officially cured of the incurable infection.

Incidentally, it was a totally unrelated disease which provided the cure. Diagnosed with leukaemia four years ago, Brown underwent a stem-cell transplant from a bone-marrow donor with the delta-32 mutation.

People with this genetic cell mutation are naturally very resistant to the HIV virus as it targets and cripples the CCR5 receptor, which is found on the surface of the cells in our immune-system. HIV cannot infect cells without the CCR5 receptor.

Today, Brown remains free of the virus.

Dr Ng Oon Tek, consultant at the Department of Infectious Diseases at Tan Tock Seng Hospital, said Brown's bone marrow transplantation cure is unlikely to be a common cure strategy for HIV.

"However, for the field of HIV research, this has established the CCR5 co-receptor as a primary target for studies on cure. Currently there are already medications targeting CCR5 available for treatment. Excitingly, there are phase 1 trials examining the possibility of gene therapy to excise CCR5 from immune cells and the initial results are promising," said Dr Ng, whose clinical interest is in HIV medicine.

Even without a cure, Dr Ng said current medications - about 30 types and counting - are so good at controlling infection that patients in care often do not die from AIDS but from unrelated diseases, like cardiovascular disease, liver disease and cancer.

Breakthrough:

A rechargeable heart

Just over a decade ago in Singapore, having a mechanical device replace the function of a failing heart would be almost inconceivable. Today however, an artificial heart assist device dubbed the Heart Mate II gives hope to end-stage heart failure patients until a suitable donor can be found.

Introduced in 2009 by the National Heart Centre Singapore (NHCS), the device has prolonged the lives of 17 critically ill patients while they wait for a heart transplant, said Dr Lim Chong Hee, senior consultant at the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery and director of the Heart and Lung Transplant Programme at NHCS. Singapore is the first country in South-east Asia to use this device.

Cheryl (not her real name), the first patient in Singapore to receive the Heart Mate II, will not be alive today if not for this new-generation mechanical device which is attached to her heart's left ventricle and aorta, the main artery which carries oxygen-rich blood to the entire body. The Heart Mate II can pump up to 10 litres of blood per minute around her body, said Dr Lim.

Before the implant, the 30-year-old was bedridden and in an unstable condition with an enlarged heart and severe irregular heartbeat.

"After the implant, she is able to continue working while waiting for a heart transplant. Had she not been implanted with Heart Mate II, she might not have survived," said Dr Lim.

He added that the survival rate for heart failure patients in need of a left ventricular assist device rarely goes beyond one year. However, 3,290 patients worldwide have been supported by Heart Mate II for longer than two years, and more than 83 for longer than four years. The longest duration supported is seven years.

In Singapore, heart failure is a top cardiac cause for hospital admission. NHCS sees one fifth of the 5,000 cases yearly.

Breakthrough:

Creating beating heart cells from skin

Imagine being able to use your own skin cells to create beating heart cells when your heart fails you. This astounding medical breakthrough may become a reality in the near future, if human trials go well.

The NHCS research team has come up with a virus-free method using skin cells from patients to generate pluripotent stem (hiPS) cells, which are then transformed into beating heart muscle cells outside the body. Although they are created outside the body, these beating cells are similar genetically and physically to natural heart cells.

For heart failure patients, this breakthrough means that damaged heart muscles can be replaced to relieve symptoms like breathlessness and possibly delay the need for a heart transplant. The virus-free (hiPS) cells also remove the need for immunosuppressants to prevent rejection as the source cells originate from the patient, said Associate Professor Philip Wong, senior consultant at the Department of Cardiology and director of the research and development unit at NHCS.

"On the diagnostic end, it also allows for the creation of a human heart cell model to examine the progression of heart diseases. It can also be used in a bench-top setup from testing drug responses to avoid unexpected adverse drug responses which has currently no good alternative available," added Assoc Prof Wong.

The research team is currently at the early phase of human trials involving a small group of patients to evaluate its safety.

Dad's Death Mystery solved after 54 years- a medical wonder.

2011-12-25T23:33:00.000-08:00

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World's 3rd smallest baby born at L.A. County-USC Medical Center.

2011-12-23T20:20:00.000-08:00

LOS ANGELES – Born 16 weeks early and weighing barely half a pound at birth, one of the smallest surviving babies ever born anywhere in the world is growing and thriving at L.A. County-USC Medical Center.
According to the Global Birth Registry, Melinda Star Guido is the third smallest baby ever born in the world when measured by both gestational age and weight.

Melinda was just 24 weeks old and weighed only 270 grams when she was born Aug. 30, county health officials said last week.

"She was always fighting, all the nurses were saying that she was really feisty, she was always fighting for her life," said the baby's parents, Haydee Ibarra and Yovani Guido, in a statement released by the county.

Doctors initially weren't sure Melinda would survive such a premature birth.

"The first three or four days I was worried if this baby was going to make it," said Dr. Rangasamy Ramanathan, chief of the neonatalogy section at L.A. County-USC Medical Center. "So every day, more than once we spoke to the family and said take it minute by minute."

The hospital's neonatal intensive care unit and their partner organizations will monitor Melinda over the next six years to check her health and ensure a continued quality of life.
source: http://thedowneypatriot.com

Pen found in pensioner's stomach still worked after 25 years

2011-12-22T04:31:00.000-08:00

A British pensioner who had a pen removed from her stomach has left the medical world amazed after it worked more than a quarter of a century later.

The 76-year-old, who has not been named, inadvertently swallowed the felt-tip in early 1986 while she was attempting to check her tonsils.

As she held down her tongue it fell down her throat and she rushed to hospital to have it removed.

But her husband and doctors dismissed her story after scans and X-rays failed to find anything. She later left the hospital and forgot about it.

More than 25 years later she was seen by a gastrointestinal specialist at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital Foundation Trust after suffering stomach pains, weight loss and diarrhoea.

An urgent investigation disclosed that areas of the woman's large intestine had become inflamed, which was causing the abdominal pain

A CAT scan of her abdomen appeared to uncover a "linear foreign body in the stomach" that looked remarkably similar to a pen.

The plastic felt-tip was later successfully removed during surgery under general anaesthetic but doctors were astounded when they removed the pen undamaged and still in full working order.

As a joke they wrote the woman a note simply saying "hello". It also had not left any internal damage to the OAP.

Medics later discovered her symptoms were caused by severe diverticulitis a common condition among older people that causes small pouches to bulge from the colon.

The details emerged in report from doctors at the hospital's gastroenterology department, which was submitted to the British Medical Journal.

''On subsequent questioning, she recalled unintentionally swallowing a pen 25 years earlier," wrote authors Drs Oliver Richard Waters, Tawfique Daneshmend and Tarek Shirazi.

''While she was interrogating a spot on her tonsil with the pen she slipped, fell and swallowed the pen by mistake.

''Her husband and general practitioner dismissed her story and plain abdominal films done at the time were reported as normal."

Reporting the case in the BMJ's Case Reports, the team added: ''It was subsequently removed in a combined endoscopic and ear, nose and throat procedure under general anaesthetic. The pen was still in working order.

''This case highlights that plain abdominal X-rays may not identify ingested plastic objects and occasionally it may be worth believing the patient's account however unlikely it may be.''

Neither a spokesman or the doctors were available for comment on Wednesday.

Source : http://www.telegraph.co.uk/

Vertical Pharmacy is an online generic drugs website

2011-12-21T20:24:00.001-08:00

Vertical Pharmacy is an Online Pharmacy drug store , exporting generic medicine only on prescription throughout the world....

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