http://friendsofslowmoney.com/
Slow Money's Mission
• To steer significant new sources of capital to small food enterprises, appropriate-scale organic farming and local food systems; and,
• To catalyze the emergence of the nurture capital industry— entrepreneurial finance supporting soil fertility, carrying capacity, sense of place, cultural and ecological diversity, and nonviolence.
Monday, October 5, 2009
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Conflict of interest
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/22237
The problems I've discussed are not limited to psychiatry, although they reach their most florid form there. Similar conflicts of interest and biases exist in virtually every field of medicine, particularly those that rely heavily on drugs or devices. It is simply no longer possible to believe much of the clinical research that is published, or to rely on the judgment of trusted physicians or authoritative medical guidelines. I take no pleasure in this conclusion, which I reached slowly and reluctantly over my two decades as an editor of TheNew England Journal of Medicine.
--Marcia Angell, M.D. (born 1939) is an American physician, author, and the first woman to serve as editor-in-chief of the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM). She currently is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School, in Boston, Massachusetts
The problems I've discussed are not limited to psychiatry, although they reach their most florid form there. Similar conflicts of interest and biases exist in virtually every field of medicine, particularly those that rely heavily on drugs or devices. It is simply no longer possible to believe much of the clinical research that is published, or to rely on the judgment of trusted physicians or authoritative medical guidelines. I take no pleasure in this conclusion, which I reached slowly and reluctantly over my two decades as an editor of TheNew England Journal of Medicine.
--Marcia Angell, M.D. (born 1939) is an American physician, author, and the first woman to serve as editor-in-chief of the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM). She currently is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School, in Boston, Massachusetts
Saturday, October 3, 2009
http://general-medicine.jwatch.org/cgi/content/full/2009/917/2
check out how many folks have high levels of antibodies naturally to swine flu
check out how many folks have high levels of antibodies naturally to swine flu
For all you health care professionals looking at this for Flu info
http://www.cochrane.org/influenza/reviews.html
"There is no evidence to show if regular influenza vaccine is beneficial to people with CF"
Influenza (flu) is a highly infectious disease, caused by viruses. Influenza has been thought to cause asthma attacks. Few trials have
been carried out in a way that tests whether asthma attacks following influenza infection (as opposed to following the vaccination) are
significantly reduced by having influenza vaccination, so uncertainty remains in terms of how much difference vaccination makes to
people with asthma. The included studies suggest that the vaccine against influenza is unlikely to precipitate asthma attacks immediately
after the vaccine is used.
There is no high quality evidence that vaccinating healthcare workers reduces the incidence of influenza or its complications
in the elderly in institutions
There is evidence that vaccinating the elderly has a modest impact on the complications from influenza. There is also high quality
evidence that vaccinating healthy adults under 60 (which includes healthcare workers) reduces cases of influenza. Both the elderly in
institutions and the healthcare workers who care for them could be vaccinated for their own protection, but an incremental benefit of
vaccinating healthcare workers for the benefit of the elderly cannot be proven without better studies.
In long-term care facilities, where vaccination is most effective against complications, the aims of the vaccination campaign are fulfilled,
at least in part. However, according to reliable evidence the usefulness of vaccines in the community is modest. The apparent high
effectiveness of the vaccines in preventing death from all causes may reflect a baseline imbalance in health status and other systematic
differences in the two groups of participants.
P L
Influenza vaccines are efficacious in children older than two but little evidence is available for children under two. There was a
marked difference between vaccine efficacy and effectiveness. No safety comparisons could be carried out, emphasizing the need for
standardisation ofmethods and presentation of vaccine safety data in future studies. Itwas surprising to find only one study of inactivated
vaccine in children under two years, given current recommendations to vaccinate healthy children from six months old in the USA and
Canada. If immunisation in children is to be recommended as a public health policy, large-scale studies assessing important outcomes
and directly comparing vaccine types are urgently required.
"There is no evidence to show if regular influenza vaccine is beneficial to people with CF"
Influenza (flu) is a highly infectious disease, caused by viruses. Influenza has been thought to cause asthma attacks. Few trials have
been carried out in a way that tests whether asthma attacks following influenza infection (as opposed to following the vaccination) are
significantly reduced by having influenza vaccination, so uncertainty remains in terms of how much difference vaccination makes to
people with asthma. The included studies suggest that the vaccine against influenza is unlikely to precipitate asthma attacks immediately
after the vaccine is used.
There is no high quality evidence that vaccinating healthcare workers reduces the incidence of influenza or its complications
in the elderly in institutions
There is evidence that vaccinating the elderly has a modest impact on the complications from influenza. There is also high quality
evidence that vaccinating healthy adults under 60 (which includes healthcare workers) reduces cases of influenza. Both the elderly in
institutions and the healthcare workers who care for them could be vaccinated for their own protection, but an incremental benefit of
vaccinating healthcare workers for the benefit of the elderly cannot be proven without better studies.
In long-term care facilities, where vaccination is most effective against complications, the aims of the vaccination campaign are fulfilled,
at least in part. However, according to reliable evidence the usefulness of vaccines in the community is modest. The apparent high
effectiveness of the vaccines in preventing death from all causes may reflect a baseline imbalance in health status and other systematic
differences in the two groups of participants.
P L
Influenza vaccines are efficacious in children older than two but little evidence is available for children under two. There was a
marked difference between vaccine efficacy and effectiveness. No safety comparisons could be carried out, emphasizing the need for
standardisation ofmethods and presentation of vaccine safety data in future studies. Itwas surprising to find only one study of inactivated
vaccine in children under two years, given current recommendations to vaccinate healthy children from six months old in the USA and
Canada. If immunisation in children is to be recommended as a public health policy, large-scale studies assessing important outcomes
and directly comparing vaccine types are urgently required.
Friday, October 2, 2009
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advisory_Committee_on_Immunization_Practices
these are the same people recommending swine flu shots
when you heard the CDC recommends something, we're talking about this committee
these are the same people recommending swine flu shots
when you heard the CDC recommends something, we're talking about this committee
10/2/09
Well folks,
Looks like this weekend we should have a forums site which will be much more organized and searchable
I was thinking we could use a section for stories about the hard economic times made worse or caused by the cost of health care. I've heard over the last 9 years more and more stories of folks stuck with unpayable medical bills that they are forced to deal with in the middle of an illness. Even more frequently I hear about the rising copays, deductibles, insurance denials, hard time affording medicines etc.
The financial stress the system causes sure isn't good for our health.
So I'm looking for contributions and personal stories once the forums is up and running. Everything you contribute can be annonymous.
Those of you who aren't getting email responses from me, check your spam folders. These email programs nowadays love to randomly put email in the spam folder. Yet another reason to get on the instant messenger.
Those of you who are overwhelmed trying to figure out the computer stuff, I can always come over and set stuff up for you when I make home visits.
Looks like this weekend we should have a forums site which will be much more organized and searchable
I was thinking we could use a section for stories about the hard economic times made worse or caused by the cost of health care. I've heard over the last 9 years more and more stories of folks stuck with unpayable medical bills that they are forced to deal with in the middle of an illness. Even more frequently I hear about the rising copays, deductibles, insurance denials, hard time affording medicines etc.
The financial stress the system causes sure isn't good for our health.
So I'm looking for contributions and personal stories once the forums is up and running. Everything you contribute can be annonymous.
Those of you who aren't getting email responses from me, check your spam folders. These email programs nowadays love to randomly put email in the spam folder. Yet another reason to get on the instant messenger.
Those of you who are overwhelmed trying to figure out the computer stuff, I can always come over and set stuff up for you when I make home visits.
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