MedWorm Tags: car

Living Car-Free in a Food Desert

Women's Health News — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 19:00:29 +0100

CC BY-SA 2.0, dain of the iron hillsUntil I started trying it myself, I honestly did not understand why food deserts are defined in such a short radius – surely people 1-2 miles from a grocery story, even without a car, can’t really have *that* hard a time getting to food, right? Wrong. I have been without a car for about 3 months now, and have to spend a good chunk of time planning around and acquiring food. There are a number of challenges to getting around a city like Nashville – not known for great transit options – without a car. Below, I’m sharing some of my methods, challenges, helpful supplies, and privileges that make things easier for me but which suggest how difficult getting to food in a food desert can really be. It’s clear to me that some...

The Critical Thinking Coach: Interview with Stephen Haggerty

World of Psychology — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 16:44:52 +0100

Stephen Haggerty is a 2011 recipient of Eastern Kentucky University’s Critical Thinking Teacher of the year award. The award is given to recognize “outstanding faculty members who have had an effect on developing their students’ critical/creative thinking skills.” (Read more about the award at Think EKU.) In this two-part interview I discuss critical thinking with Stephen Haggerty. What is the primary goal of critical thinking? If I am a critical thinker, I am thinking things through before making choices. In other words, a fundamental goal of critical thinking is to be able to consider multiple perspectives before deciding to act upon information, a person’s request, or even something like buying car or a house. A critical thinker in school will be more success...

Maximizing your exposure with social media optimization

Nicola Ziady — Fri, 27 May 2011 03:03:58 +0100

Today’s world is “social”. We all tweet, post and like. The question arises “are we getting found”? This blog post will help you maximize your exposure with social media optimization tips and tricks. [See post to watch Flash video] (Source: Nicola Ziady)

Microbiologists: Your car's filthy

Consumer Reports Health Blog — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 20:30:00 +0100

Here's something to chew on the next time you're chowing down while behind the steering wheel. You're eating in a spot that's roughly nine times dirtier than a public toilet seat. That's what microbiologists at Queen Mary University of London, England found when they did a small research study for B&Q, a UK-based home and garden retailer. On average, they found that the steering wheels, driver's seat floor, rear seats and gear shift lever contained an average of 700 bacteria per 10 square-centimeters. The worst area: The car's trunk with 1,000 per 10 sq.cm. Public toilet seats, note the researchers, contain on average 80 bugs per 10-square centimeters. Dr Ron Cutler, Director of Biomedical Science Degree Programmes at Queen Mary University said: While most of the bacteria were unlike...

Pharmalot… Pharmalittle… Good Morning

Pharmalot — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 11:54:02 +0100

Top of the morning to you. Gray skies are hovering over the Pharmalot corporate campus, but our spirits remain sunny. And why not? This inspires us to trot out one of our favorite sayings, courtesy of the morning mayor: ‘Every brand new day should be unwrapped like a precious gift.’ So while you tug on the ribbon, here are a few items to get you started. Have a great day, everyone, and smile… Merck To Buy Back Up To $5 Billion In Stock (Reuters) Teva Resumes Manufacturing At California Site (Orange County Business Journal) J&J Agrees To Buy Synthes For $21.3 Billion (Bloomberg News) Supreme Court Skeptical About Vermont Data Mining Law (Bellingham Herald) Lupin May Wait To Sell Birth Control Pills In The US (Bloomberg News) Merck And Biogen Expand Facilities In North...

heart trouble/car trouble

i'm so sleepy — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 15:57:00 +0100

Sorry ma'am, the ambulance that your new heart was travelling in has broken down(it's going to be a long day) (Source: i'm so sleepy)

Enjoy new-parenthood--without injuring your back

Consumer Reports Health Blog — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 14:00:00 +0100

Even as the memory of late-pregnancy back ache fades into relative oblivion, the daily demands of infant and child care can continue to wreak havoc on new parents’ backs. Infants don’t weigh much of course, but the smaller the baby the more paraphernalia parents find themselves shlepping around. Happily, this new Sherpa role need not result in chronic back pain. Being mindful of the requirements of the daily tasks can help protect your back from these unfamiliar routines. Consider some of the ways your back is taxed as part of routine child care: • bathing the baby • changing and dressing the baby on a changing table • Toting the baby in a baby carrier or backpack carrier. • getting the baby in and out of a stroller or car seat • transporting baby’s stuff in a...

Central African Republic

MSF Blogs — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 10:09:26 +0100

MSF’s fistula camp in Boguila – November 2010 Patients must drink large amounts of water before and after their surgery so that their urine is not concentrated. Approximately two million women in Africa have a fistula, which is a hole between the vagina and the bladder or rectum, through which urine or faeces leak continuously. Fistulas can be caused by prolonged obstructed labour and childbirth or sexual violence in addition to lack of medical facilities. Women with fistulas are often outcasts from their communities because of the smell associated with the leaking of urine/faeces, and in some cases they are abandoned by their husbands. Chances for women to have their fistula repaired are slim, as many hospitals or health clinics do not have the proper instruments or knowledg...

Plastic Surgeon Dr. Daniel Ronel Killed in Car Crash

Inside Surgery — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 16:18:09 +0100

Well-known New Mexico plastic surgeon Dr. Daniel Ronel was killed in a one car crash in Sandoval County, New Mexico while driving north on I-25. The cause is under investigation. (Source: Inside Surgery)

The Psychology of Advertising

World of Psychology — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 01:00:37 +0100

How often have you seen a teeth-whitening ad that shows the person with bright, white teeth as more attractive — sexier even? Or viewed an ad for a green cleaning product that made you fearful that using a chemical product would harm your kids? Or just think of any product — diet food, skin care, insurance company, car, medication — that features celebrity testimonials or the words of other consumers who’ve achieved “incredible results.” For these common advertising ploys, you can thank John B. Watson, the founder of behaviorism here in America. After getting fired from his academic post at Johns Hopkins, Watson began working for one of the biggest advertising agencies in New York City, J. Walter Thompson. (He was dismissed for his scandalous divorce. Short story: He fell in lo...

Too Drunk to Drive? Your Car Will Tell You If So

Better Health — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 16:00:23 +0100

Drunk driving continues to be a serious problem. In 2009 for example, alcohol was a factor in more than 10,000 highway deaths. The same year, a stunning 10 percent of respondents to a survey of U.S. adults said they had operated an automobile while drunk during the previous year. Nearly 6 percent said they had done it more than once. So how would you feel about a car that can instantly detect whether a driver is drunk and prevent that person from starting the car? You better make up your mind quickly, because scientists are close to perfecting this technology. “We’re five to seven years away from being able to integrate this into cars,” Robert Strassburger, the VP for safety at the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers (AAM) told the Washington Post. The AAM, an automotive trade...

9 Ways to Ward Off Your Worries

World of Psychology — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 14:11:05 +0100

Worrying is like a magnifying glass: It enlarges everything. It empowers anxiety. It gives anxiety legs, fuel and a superhero costume. You get the picture: Worrying gives us a false sense of control. I’m a worrywart, who feels like she has to worry. (Don’t all worrywarts?) Because if I’m not concerned about one thing or another, that means I have no choice but to relax. And relaxing feels strange — not always, but most of the time. Relaxing means that the grip on control is loosened. For many people, worrying is living. You can’t help but worry. You have an endless list of “what ifs?” What if I lose my job? What if I get into a car accident right now? What if dinner is disgusting? What if the weather is bad? What if I miss my flight? Concern after concern pop...

Why Doctors Oversell Benefits, Undersell Risks and Side Effects

World of Psychology — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 20:24:09 +0100

Virtually across the board of medicine and psychiatry, doctors will constantly and consistently oversell the benefits of a given treatment, and undersell the risks and side effects of it. This may not be as surprising when you look at some of the key factors into how medical and psychiatric treatment is learned and then conducted on patients. Why do doctors often oversell the benefits of a given treatment, and minimize the risks and side effects of it? 1. Treatment is rarely experienced first-hand. While you don’t need to undergo surgery to understand the benefits of surgery or how to do surgery, you will surely have a great appreciation to the patient’s perspective if every surgeon was required to get an appendectomy before being allowed to practice. Surgeons know, in most ca...

Winter Storm Being Blamed in Death of Surgeon Dr. Mark Pescovitz

Inside Surgery — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 05:52:52 +0100

Indiana University surgeon Dr. Mark Pescovitz died in a motor vehicle crash this weekend after returning from a trip to Michigan to visit his wife. (Source: Inside Surgery)

Best of Our Blogs: November 19, 2010

World of Psychology — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 11:52:33 +0100

Every moment, we have an opportunity for self-growth. In fact, I was having one of those just yesterday. It was about five in the evening and I was stuck in traffic. As cars attempted to race past me, getting just a mere two cars ahead, I started to think about the frustration and impatience we all seemed to be feeling in the moment. Would I choose to give into the overwhelming negativity all around me? Or would I drown out the sounds of car engines and frustration with the radio and the TV I could see in the van directly in front of me? I decided to use this unpleasant situation for my benefit by fully being in the moment. I saw the dark clouds looming overhead, the lights from cars shining through it and the feeling of impatience that was slowly taking over me. It was an hour of sitting ...

Glory-of-Government Religiosity Finds Bailout Skeptics “Willfully Stupid”

Cato-at-liberty — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 16:50:58 +0100

By Daniel IkensonWhen you believe in things that you don’t understand, Then you suffer, Superstition ain’t the way - Stevie Wonder David Ignatius is entitled to this opinion: We have just lived through one of the more notable successes of government intervention in modern times – the auto and bank rescues that almost surely saved the country from another Great Depression. But if his intention is to convince skeptics—and not just to rally the deflated spirits of those who came to Washington with high hopes of teaching Americans how to love their government—he does a lousy job. A bold assertion like his requires supporting evidence more rigorous than hearsay, superstition, and the opinions of his friend, and former “Car Czar,” Steven Rattner. Ignatius considers ...

Sorry I’m Late

Cato-at-liberty — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 16:19:28 +0100

By David BoazIt’s Car Free Day in Washington, and the traffic on I-66 was the worst in memory. Update: Link fixed. (Source: Cato-at-liberty)

Driving Safe Cars Can Save Lives

Better Health — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 12:00:00 +0100

New England Patriots NFL quarterback Tom Brady was on his way to practice when he crashed into a minivan which allegedly ran a red light. His Audi S8 car T-boned the other vehicle a few blocks from his home. A relieved New England Patriots owner Bob Kraft noted after the accident: “[Tom] arched and prepared himself and we’re just lucky with the glass and angles. We have a lot to be thankful for. It was really a miracle…We’re very, very lucky. Patriot Nation is lucky he had his seatbelt on.” Was it simply luck or good car design and mechanical engineering? Crumple zones and the passenger cage of a car when built for maximum safety decrease injury. Yet, unfortunately, there is significant variability among safety in cars. Brady walked away from the accide...

Texting While Driving: “It’s Like Everybody’s Drunk” Or Worse

Better Health — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 20:00:28 +0100

A mentor recently mentioned in passing that he stopped riding motorcycle when cellphones came out, as he noticed the average driver distraction level had gone way up. He said, “It’s like everybody’s drunk.” There’s lots of ways to be an impaired driver: Physical or mental fatigue, chemicals (legal and not), emotional extremes, etc. (This is not an exhaustive list). What I want to focus on here is a very controllable risk factor: Divided attention. A quick Internet search turned up some original research from Car and Driver on the subject of texting while driving compared with actual alcohol-impaired driving, and the results are shockingly worse than I would have thought. From their (admittedly limited but well done) study, texting is way worse than being at the leg...

Our 5 Favorite Local TV Commercials From Childhood – What Are Yours?

Breastfeeding 1-2-3 — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 16:25:29 +0100

Somebody stop us: We cannot stop searching for our favorite cheesy local/regional TV commercials from our childhood hometowns. You know, the ones with really high-quality production values, classically-trained actors, and demure used car salesmen that only you and the people you grew up with remember? We bet a slew of your own nostalgic TV ads will come to mind if you really sit and think about them. (Do this while at work – we did!) And when you find those old-timey commercials on YouTube, paste the link in the comments section below, along with any memories you’d like to share, and we’ll publish your retro hometown TV commercial on Blisstree! To put you in the proper old-school mood, here are 5 TV gems spanning the country – from the good ol’ days of Blisstree staff...

what?

Cancer does suck but it is a little funny. — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 05:01:00 +0100

Iam falling asleep soon. Tomorrow is an early day because I have reiki and on top of that, i now have to get up a half hour earlier than before to put on all that free make-up and get it right. I was going to start to transition to putting it on in the car but I only have two hands and what with talking on the phone and drinking coffee it is going to be hard to add a new task. Wish I was rich enough to have a chauffeur.I am in an unbelievably good mood, love my job, my kids and my life. I think in a tiny way, having cancer makes me appreciate things more. Oh, did i say that before? The part of my brain that is so full of appreciating things apparently is sort of leaking out some memory. It's a fair trade.Good night. (Source: Cancer does suck but it is a little funny.)

Never Change Your Oil Again: The Electro-Lube Oil Refiner

Breastfeeding 1-2-3 — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 14:30:38 +0100

photo: Thinkstock If you’ve got a car, you’ve got to do a super annoying thing every 3,000 miles or so — clean it. On the inside. Wouldn’t it be great if you never had to change your oil again, and had a better fuel economy? Enter the Electro-Lube Oil Refiner. It’s been around since the 1970s, mostly being used in tugboats and other ships, but it can be used in anything that uses oil. It cleans the oil so it can be used continuously. This little oil-saver can be purchased for around $600, and you’ll need to change the filter every 25,000 miles. Just hire a mechanic to install it, and you’re all ready to never get your oil changed again. Would you try the Electro-Lube Oil Refiner? via Yahoo! Green Post from: BlissTree Never Change Your Oil Again: The El...

Dr. Randeep Mann Convicted On Attempted Murder Charges On Arkansas Medical Board Chief

Inside Surgery — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 19:04:28 +0100

Dr. Randeep Mann was convicted by a federal jury of attempting to kill Dr. Trent Pierce, who was acting at the time as the head of the Arkansas Medical Board. Mann, who had numerous disciplinary actions before the board, detonated a car bomb that seriously wounded Dr. Pierce. (Source: Inside Surgery)

A Big Pay Raise For Internists?

Better Health — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 12:00:00 +0100

Full-time internists average $191,864 in income, according to one recruiter’s annual salary survey. LocumTenens.com conducted its survey in the early spring of 2010 among locum tenens and permanently employed physicians. That’s up from $179,958 in 2009, the company reported. Specific breakdowns by gender, years in practice and owner/employee status are here. That’s a 6.6 percent pay raise. We’re going to do our own salary survey right here. Let us know if you saw such an increase in the past year. *This blog post was originally published at ACP Internist* (Source: Better Health)

Highway Safety Hazards Mean Pedestrian Dangers

Breastfeeding 1-2-3 — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 21:51:05 +0100

Tons of communities and subdivisions are surrounded by highways. It’s great when you want to drive somewhere quickly, and not so great when you want to walk or ride your bike instead. This makes being a pedestrian dangerous, especially if they have to cross highways to get to work or school. Check out this clip about the hazards of crossing highways: via Treehugger Post from: BlissTree Highway Safety Hazards Mean Pedestrian Dangers (Source: Breastfeeding 1-2-3)

Midnight in the Chattahoochee Valley…

The 4th Avenue Blues — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 17:56:00 +0100

I couldn’t sleep last night after sleeping for about four hours. I was wide awake at midnight. I had two Klonopin to take which usually make me sleepy as they are very sedating, but I knew to save them for the next afternoon – ever mindful of that anxiety that always hits the most late in the day. I got online and applied for countless fast food jobs just for the hell of it – interested in if I would get some calls. I also applied for a job opening as a grocery clerk at Kroger -- putting feelers out there. The assessment tests on these online applications were interesting in what they would ask – only a moron would answer incorrectly the questions were so obvious in their solutions. I wandered down to the convenience store well after midnight.&nb...

My Poor Dilapidated Car…

The 4th Avenue Blues — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 22:23:00 +0100

(Source: The 4th Avenue Blues)

Dear Health Care Journos, There’s Nothing Free about ObamaCare

Cato-at-liberty — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 18:41:30 +0100

By Michael F. CannonThe Obama administration announced yesterday its plans for implementing ObamaCare’s mandate that consumers purchase first-dollar coverage for preventive services. The press release reads (emphasis added): Administration Announces Regulations Requiring New Health Insurance Plans to Provide Free Preventive Care Of course the administration would emphasize that consumers will pay nothing for these services at the moment of service, and elide the fact that this mandate will increase their health insurance premiums. The administration’s use of the word “free” is what we call spin. What’s surprising–and more than a little disappointing–is that journalists and headline writers at major media organizations would repeat the administrat...

The Titan V8…

The 4th Avenue Blues — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 10:11:00 +0100

I am enamored with my benefactor’s truck. It is a brand new Nissan Titan V8. I had to resist mashing the gas pedal heavily on my way to Ponder’s nursery yesterday. That truck has so much exciting horsepower and torque and makes the feeble inline four in my CR-V seem meek in comparison. My car will be ten years old soon. I only have 96,000 miles on the clock, but it is beginning to show it’s age appearance wise. With the deer damage and with the paint coming off my hubs, I need to get some cosmetic work done. I talked to dad last night pleading with him to just bite the bullet and get my car fixed. I also need new brake pads and shoes. “We’ll get some more estimates in the next few weeks,” he said trying to placate me. Mom assures me he ...

Prince Albert of Monaco Officially Engaged to Charlene Wittstock, South African Olympic Swimmer

Breastfeeding 1-2-3 — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 16:11:07 +0100

photo: WENN.com It’s a royal engagement at least four years in the making. It was just announced that Prince Albert II of Monaco is engaged to longtime girlfriend, Charlene Wittstock, who’s a former South African Olympic swimmer. The couple has a 20-year age gap, and this will be the first marriage for both of them. Prince Albert has, however, fathered two children (not with Wittstock), so rumor mills are swirling as to whether or not Wittstock is preggers. Apparently, there’s a “royal protocol” that requires at least six months between the engagement announcement and the wedding, so we’ll find out before the nuptials if those rumors are true. Wittstock will be Monaco’s first First Lady since the lovely and iconic Princess Grace (Kelly), Prince Alb...

Somewhere in Kansas

white pebble — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 17:04:21 +0100

So here we are in the middle of Kansas, in June when it’s a green place, and not an endless expanse of brown, cold fields. It makes a change in the traveling attitudes: no existential scream begging to be torn from my chest makes me a much happier passenger. One thing I’m noticing: there are trees in Kansas! I think that when we drove from Colorado to Ohio a couple of Decembers ago, we were too cold and bored to notice that fact. Also, the leaves on the trees makes them a tad more noticeable. In winter, all of the brown stuff merges together in the landscape. Silly travel pictures will be taken eventually, and probably posted. Filed under: travel Tagged: car trip, Kansas, travel (Source: white pebble)

Car Bomb in Times Square: Send in the Clowns

Donna Trussell — Sat, 08 May 2010 03:22:36 +0100

New cartoon by Trussell & Trussell on Politics Daily. Car Bomb in Times Square: Send in the Clowns. Filed under: Politics Daily Tagged: car bomb, chaos theory, political cartoon, robert donna trussell, terrorism, theater, times square (Source: Donna Trussell)

Green Cars: Don't Wear Seat Belts, Sit On Them

Breastfeeding 1-2-3 — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 21:29:38 +0100

Here’s something you can do with your old clunker that’s both eco-sensitive and eco-chic. The folks at UncommonGoods are hosting a Vintage Vehicle Challenge, featuring items made from recycled car parts or materials. The entries include car chain cuff links, tail light paper weights, a necklace made from windshield glass, and this excellent seat belt chair: You can vote for your favorite recycled car accessory on Facebook. Post from: BlissTree Green Cars: Don't Wear Seat Belts, Sit On Them (Source: Breastfeeding 1-2-3)

Our Top 25 Eco-Friendly Posts – An Earth Week Roundup

Genetics and Health — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 19:59:00 +0100

Guess what? Earth Week’s almost over, so pretty soon you can get back to work polluting the environment! But before you do, travel back in time with us (in a fuel-efficient Honda Fit, perhaps) to recall Blisstree’s 25 best green posts from this intensely earthy week. 1. Are Sandblasted Jeans Killing People? – Worn Denim Could Be Causing Lung Disease 2. Eco-Friendly Outdoor Furniture: Backyards Both Green and Cool 3. 10 Best Detoxifying Natural Foods From Our Hunky Naturopath 4. Eco-Friendly Shopping: 10 Garden Bargains Under $10 5. Earth Day Organic Beauty Products: Made From Earth Skin Care Line 6. All Things Green: 10 Best Earth Day Lists on the Web 7. The Whole Enchilada: Can 8 Wheat-Free Frozen Mexican Meals Be Healthy? 8. Eco-Friendly Yoga: 30 Green Studios Across the ...

Felony Charges for Recording a Plainclothes Officer

Cato-at-liberty — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 15:23:42 +0100

By David RittgersYesterday I wrote about the University of Maryland student beaten by police and falsely charged with assault during a post-game celebration. I concluded with a warning that a law barring citizens from taking photos or videos of law enforcement officers (such as those in force in Great Britain) would have prevented the false charges and beating from coming to light. I did not know that Maryland was already heading that direction. Video: // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ DayPortPlayer.newPlayer({articleID:"22384",accSite:"WMAR",accPos:"CCTVI.NEWS.LOCAL",categoryID:"14",rootCategory:"",domain:"wmar.web.entriq.net",playerInstanceID:"24FAD9E0-DC70-2532-414F-7E6F051C4C2F",videoAdConDefID:"2",videoAdObjectID:"4",bannerAdObjectID:"5"}); // ]]> Anthony Graber was riding his motorcycle...

Mom, Take a Chill Pill!

The 4th Avenue Blues — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 20:34:00 +0100

“Maggie’s rabies shots are due!” mom said frantically over the phone early this afternoon. “I don’t know if I can take her today. I just looked at her pet care calendar and noticed they were due yesterday.” “We don’t have to go right now,” I said exasperated by my mother’s insistence on immediacy. “We have to get her shots though,” mom said fretting. “Let’s go next week,” I said trying to soothe the situation. Like my father, I am very prone to procrastination. “Maggie will be okay. Rabies shots are a recent thing as far as the history of dogs are concerned.” I really didn’t want to fool with that today as well. I’ve been extremely sleepy all day to the point I have slept most of the day and had the most brilliant and vibrant and wond...

Is Your Town Safe For Kids?

Breastfeeding 1-2-3 — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 13:32:22 +0100

At home and at play, keeping your children safe is a huge undertaking. From bicycle accidents and skateboarding mishaps to toy recalls and playground falls, there seems to be a never-ending list of things for parents to worry about. And though we can only do so much to protect our kids, some areas of the country are safer than others. Image: istockphoto Taking into account criteria such as bicycle helmet laws, car-seat regulations, violent crime rates, availability of emergency centers, school bus crossing safety, and dozens of other factors, Parents magazine came up with this top 10 list: 1. Connecticut 2. Rhode Island 3. New Jersey 4. New York 5. California 6. Maine 7. Pennsylvania 8. Massachusetts 9. Maryland 10. Oregon (2008) BusinessWeek created a list of the Best Places to Raise Your...

New Car Seat Recommendations

Dr Nabong's Pediatric Blogs — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 16:57:00 +0100

The newest recommendation by the American Academy of Pediatrics is that the infant needs to be rear-facing in a car seat till they turn 2 years of age. Multiple studies have shown that infants survive the accident better with less injuries facing backwards than forwards.birth to 2 years of age up to 35 lbs rear-facing (get a rear-facing convertible seat for children up to 35 pounds)over 2 year of age forward facing car-seat with a harnessunder 4 feet 9 inches tall booster seatover 4 feet 9 inches tall-safety belt in the back seatAll children under the age of 13 years old should ride in the back seatWhat is the Arizona law?The Arizona Child Passenger Restraint Law says that children under 5 years of age need to be in a child passenger restraint device when in a moving vehicle.As you can...

Midday Report…

The 4th Avenue Blues — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 17:50:00 +0100

“I can’t sleep. We’re going to get something to eat and I won’t take no for an answer,” George said at lunch. I laughed. Oooo-kay! George got his Caprice back this morning from getting a dual exhaust installed and it is loud, but not redneck loud. I was relieved. We went rumbling down the street to the Waffle House. The V8 sounds very throaty. ************* “I get tired of momma’s cooking,” George told me as he drove. “She be having chicken salad for lunch.” “BLASPHEMY!” I thought. George needs to walk in my shoes filled with microwave meals for a few weeks. He would be begging his mother to fix some of that fried cubed steak or fried chicken. He is spoiled. ************** George and I pigged out at the Waffle House after arriving. I ordered a ham and cheese ome...

My Thoughts for the End of the Blogging Day…

The 4th Avenue Blues — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 23:54:00 +0100

It Pains Me… It pains me to see my mother struggle with her mental illness. She has had a rough past few months with lots of ups and downs. I thought maybe it was me – that all she does for me puts too much pressure on her. Thus my conversation with her yesterday. She is terrible at handling stress and pressure. Tonight, she called me fretting over her meal tonight with her friend and going to get my groceries tomorrow. She said she had been driving back and forth down through the Valley endlessly in worry. She didn’t know if she could do all that, but she couldn’t bring herself to cancel. Mom and I have two distinctly different modus operandi as far as when our mental illnesses flare up. Mom gets hyper, manic and super s...

Thoughts for the Day…

The 4th Avenue Blues — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 10:18:00 +0100

Charlie’s Horsefly… Charlie’s out of town so dad had Horsefly last night – Charlie’s youngest son. Horsefly is autistic and mentally retarded. He speaks a language all his own and only a few people can decipher it including dad, me, my brother, and Charlie. Well, Maggie is so intrigued by Horsefly. She was scared at first as he talks so loudly and it sounds like gibberish. Now, Maggie is comfortable around him, but she knows something is not quite right. She will follow him from room to room worried about him. It is endearing in a way. Dad marveled at Maggie and Horsefly last night saying what a smart dog Maggie is. “She knows something is wrong,” dad said as he sat on the couch. The Call of the Car… I made the mistake ...

Duh Study: Sleepy Teens = More Accidents

Healthbolt — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 13:12:36 +0100

Here’s another for the Duh Study File: “A study in the Feb. 15 issue of the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine shows that sleepiness at the wheel and poor sleep quality significantly increase the risk of motor vehicle accidents in adolescents.” Who’d have thought? Do these studies really do anything to educate the public? Do you really think a sleepy teen is going to read a piece about sleep teens and driving and think it applies to them? If parents haven’t clued in on this problem before, would this type of article really make a difference? Researchers in Italy asked 339 licensed drivers (58% male) who were between 18 and 21 years old to complete questionnaires about their lifestyle, sleep habits, if they were fatigued during the day, how they dealt with thei...

Painful Games Companies Play

Neuromarketing — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 13:15:27 +0100

Does your company play painful games with your customers? I’m not talking about physical pain, but brain pain. More specifically, what has been termed buying pain or the pain of paying. According to research conducted by George Loewenstein of CMU and others, this pain is triggered when we are presented with a [...] CommentsSomething that “pains” me is the thought of spending money ... by Jim TrothI've had exactly that same reaction to the rental car gas ... by Dr. PetePlus 5 more... (Source: Neuromarketing)

Maggie and I…

The 4th Avenue Blues — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 12:56:00 +0100

You should see Maggie and I cramped on that little twin bed in my computer room. I like it though. She will nestle against my bare chest and her rhythmic breathing puts me to sleep. You can also feel her slowing heartbeat as she settles down and drifts off. Dad calls her my wife. Any room I am in and she is with me keeping up with me. My injection is this Tuesday. I am now in that twilight zone where my medication levels are slowly fading and dropping. This always makes for interesting times. I experienced some numbness in my hands this morning shortly after awaking. Thankfully, it went away after eating a breakfast of Chef Boyardee mini ravioli. Dad, lately, has been more forgiving of giving me extra Risperdal when I get l...

NHS Car Parking: Consultation on Improving Access for Patients

Fade Library — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 09:00:14 +0100

Title: NHS Car Parking: Consultation on Improving Access for Patients Skinny: Widely publicised in the mass media, this is the consultation on NHS parking charges. It seeks views on seeks views on the implementation of free NHS hospital car parking for inpatients by the 23rd February 2010. Publisher: DH Size of Publication: 38p. Published: 29/12/2009 Posted in Financial Management, Grey Literature, NHS, NHS Estates Tagged: Car Parking, Consultations, Financial Management, Grey Literature, Inpatients, NHS, NHS Estates (Source: Fade Library)

Stifling Innovation with Subsidies

Cato-at-liberty — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 13:52:47 +0100

By Tad DeHavenA couple of weeks ago I wrote about a story in Wired regarding the Department of Energy’s Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program. The gist was that government subsidies to particular manufacturers are putting non-recipients at a competitive disadvantage in obtaining private capital. The author, a former Tesla Motors official, noted that “this massive government intervention in private capital markets may have the unintended consequence of stifling innovation by reducing the flow of private capital into ventures that are not anointed by the DOE.” An article in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal builds on this theme by detailing the political shenanigans surrounding the DOE’s awarding of a loan to Finnish high-end automaker, Fisker Automotive: When tiny ...

Dental – Heart Health Link Extends Past Periodontal Disease

dental blog for dentists about dentistry — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 14:24:03 +0100

A recent study published in Journal of Dental Research, held by the Indiana University School of Dentistry, evaluated a group of people with healthy gum tissue to study the differences between people with good and poor oral hygiene. The subjects were from various ethnic groups and included women and men. Black, male participants who neglected daily oral care showed a unique response. Those in this group who accumulated plaque were found to have a white blood cell response (neutrophils). When an infection exists in the body, neutrophils move from bone marrow to the affected part of the body as a defensive measure. A person with a high white blood cell count is at greater risk of heart attack. Researchers hope that the finding will help medical professionals identify patients at increased ri...

H1N1 - the testing confusion

Malaysian Medical Resources — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 23:00:00 +0100

I think there are mixed signals about testing coming out from the MOH especially when there were earlier media reports about the Health Minister encouraging doctors to use the “rapid test”. The Star reported As the death toll from Influenza A (H1N1) rose to 38, the Government green-lighted the use of rapid test kits for private clinics and hospitals to conduct flu checks on the public. Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said private healthcare providers can use these kits to help cope with the large number of patients wanting to be checked, and for faster detection and containment of the pandemic. “Use of rapid test kits was discouraged in the private sector earlier when the H1N1 outbreak was still small and mostly imported. “Now that it has reached the community lev...

Big Think: Swine Flu and the next Pandemic

Malaysian Medical Resources — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 23:00:00 +0100

Andrew Seidler wrote in: Dear Malaysian Medical Resources, In response to the growing global concern over the H1N1 virus, Big Think, an online interactive think tank featuring video interviews with many of the world’s most distinguished thought-leaders has organized an expert forum on the H1N1 virus. The series includes exclusive insights from many of the world’s leading disease specialists, from Harvard to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, and even a presentation by Michael Worobey, the evolutionary biologist whose groundbreaking research—just published last month—uncovered the genetic origins of this resurgence of H1H1. Below, I’ve included a full description of the video content which yielded many crucial and immediately relevant findings for people in Malaysia a...

9 Year Old Autistic Leads Police Chase

AspieWeb.net — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 02:18:23 +0100

A nine year old autistic girl led police on a car chase, and struck a cruiser in the process. According to reports the nine year old autistic girl stole her grandmothers keys and led police on a 90 mph car chase down highway I-20. According to officers, “she floored the vehicle and… stuck the [...] (Source: AspieWeb.net)

Michigan Prohibits Nursing in Moving Cars

Breastfeeding 1-2-3 — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 12:31:45 +0100

Believe it or not, Michigan law used to allow babies to be out of their car seats if they were nursing. At the time I assumed it was a misguided nod to the Big Three and all things automotive. The car is king! Keep it moving! Despite the unsafe nature of the law, I appreciated the apparent belief in the importance of breastfeeding. Michigan's Mackinac Bridge (Photo by Cece Chen) However, Michigan recently chose to tighten its car seat belts laws. Local News Channel 3 WWMT explains: The legislation now also prohibits removing a child from a car seat to nurse while the vehicle is in motion. Babies should only be nursed once the vehicle has been stopped in a safe place. With this change, Michigan is now eligible for additional federal traffic safety funds. My spies tell me that some Michi...

Surviving a Head-On Collision

World of Psychology — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 11:02:27 +0100

I survived a head-on collision. Okay, that’s an exaggeration, but I wanted to get your attention. Although I indeed was involved in a minor, fender-bender type of head-on collision, I was stopped at the time and the car that hit me was going about 3 or 4 mph. The other driver, distracted by trying to do something on her cell phone, made a right-hand turn very wide, right into my lane as I was coming out of the side street she was turning in to. She was an older woman and looked very much like someone’s grandmother. Impeccably dressed for summer in Newburyport fashion, she was driving a Volvo station wagon. After she hit me, it took a full 2 or 3 seconds for what she had just done to register on her face. It felt like time stood still during the entire 10 seconds of the accident...

Genetics and Health Give-away: Subway Car Kit winner!

Genetics and Health — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 16:07:49 +0100

Hey everyone, thanks for joining the Subway car Kit Give-away at Genetics and Health! It was fun reading about where you went or plan to go this summer. Traveling with family is always memorable, so I hope yours continue to be that. Be safe and healthy! And now, for the winner of the Subway Car Kit! The winner gets an insulated lunch tote for healthy snacks, a $15 SUBWAY gift card, car games, etc. (approximate value = $35-40). Out of 210 entries, by random drawing - Ruth Utterback wins! Ruth, I sent an email your way for instructions on claiming your prize. Hopefully you can respond in the next few days. Have a healthy and safe summer! Image: Subway Post from: Genetics & Health (Source: Genetics and Health)

MS Recipe for Success: The Low-Car Diet and Cheese

Life with MS — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 21:22:30 +0100

First that’s not a typo, I really do mean low-car as in the automobile. Each month we take one blog posting to chat about healthful, tasty, easy was to feed ourselves and our family (and sometimes our friends). Today, I’ve set out on a new “diet” and want to share some of the tasty details with our Life with MS community. The folks at Zipcar have offered me (and about 30 other Seattleites) an opportunity to get fit, think outside our norms and save the planet at the same time. Today, we brave few turned in our car keys and began the “Low-Car” Diet. You’ll be able to follow my progress (and three others from different cities) on the Low-Car Diet Blog on Everyday Health as well as on Zipcar’s Low-Car Diet Web site. I intend to stick to the rules of this diet (likely b...

Everything is Bigger and Better in America

Whitterer on Autism — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 06:06:00 +0100

Our daily route in our huge hire car on the tiny little roads in England on holiday.Ooo the excitement!If you enjoy caption competitions and photographs, you may wish to nip along to"DJ Kirkby" over at "Chez Aspie" and test your brain power.If you like what you read, send it to someone in 'need.' (Source: Whitterer on Autism)

Medical misinformation in Malaysiakini: the Live Blood Analysis hocus pocus

Malaysian Medical Resources — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 23:00:00 +0100

CONCLUSION: We conclude that Live blood analysis may have no clinical significance. 2. Complementary and alternative allergy tests : review article. Morris, Adrian 2006 This article reviews the common tests employed by complementary and alternative medical practitioners to diagnose allergies and intolerances. These tests include VEGA, applied kinesiology, hair analysis, auriculocardiac test, stool and live blood analysis, leucocytotoxic tests and IgG ELISA tests. None of these tests has proven to be as accurate as specific IgE measurement in allergy diagnosis and they cannot be recommended. 3. eMJA 2004; 180 (12): 647-648: Good medicine and bad medicine: science to promote the convergence of “alternative” and orthodox medicine - poses a question which those in charge of ethics should p...

Farewell MJ

Malaysian Medical Resources — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 23:00:00 +0100

The morning got off to a bad start. The website was down as the MySQL server had caught H1N1 I guess. Then the depressing news that Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, has passed on. We don’t know the exact cause of death as a post-mortem has not yet been done. I don’t want to say too much so I’ll just post this video of my favourite song performed by MJ Heal The World Make It A Better Place For You And For Me And The Entire Human Race There Are People Dying If You Care Enough For The Living Make A Better Place For You And For Me So true, MJ. RIP. from the Malaysian Medical Resources Farewell MJ (Source: Malaysian Medical Resources)

Child car-seat warning to parents

Malaysian Medical Resources — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 04:00:00 +0100

A recent study apparently shows that rear facing car seats are better at protecting the very young in car accidents compared with front facing seats. The BBC reports Most UK parents are too quick to switch their children to front-facing car seats, a team of doctors has argued. They say mounting evidence suggests it is safer for children to use a rear-facing seat until the age of four and parents should be advised accordingly. In the UK it is common practice to switch babies to a front-facing seat when they weigh 9kg (20lb) - around the age of eight months for an average boy. Back in Malaysia, the problem is that car seats are not compulsory and most Malaysian parents don’t bother about child safety. It is all too common to see young children on the laps of their parents in the fro...

Buy American Hurts Most Americans

Cato-at-liberty — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 18:34:17 +0100

Earlier today, Doug Bandow weighed in with some commentary on the problems that Buy American provisions are creating for both Canadian and American businesses. Let me reinforce his view that such rules are anachronistic and self-defeating with some thoughts from a forthcoming paper of mine about the incongruity between modern commercial reality and trade policies that have failed to keep pace. Even though President Obama implored, “If you are considering buying a car, I hope it will be an American car,” it is nearly impossible to determine objectively what makes an American car. The auto industry provides a famous example, but is really just one of many that transcends national boundaries and renders obsolete the notion of international competition as a contest between “our” pro...

Lunchtime walk

white pebble — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 23:24:06 +0100

I was downtown today for lunch with Buck and the Librarian. I brought my camera along with me, and took this picture as we rambled back down Main Street to the car. Technorati Tags: camera, car, lunch, photo, picture, walk (Source: white pebble)

Tips for Infant Car Trips (Mom-to-Mom #18)

Breastfeeding 1-2-3 — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 17:10:03 +0100

This latest installment in the Mom-to-Mom question and answer series deals with advice for families planning a car trip with a baby. After reading The Value of Traveling with Your Baby, reader Christina asked the following question: I am actually taking my first trip with my 4 month old this weekend to a wedding. It will be a 7 hour car drive - any advice for the car trip? And on a tangent - any advice for breastfeeding in a dress or am I doomed for separates? Great question! When my first daughter was four months old we drove from Boston to Detroit and the trip went really well. Car trips with a baby take just a little advance planning. Hopefully other readers will chime in with their advice, after I get started with these tips: 1. Build in extra time for the trip. I have learned from exp...

America’s Car-Driven Society Bad for Health

Healthbolt — Fri, 29 May 2009 09:20:40 +0100

Driving might be the American way of life, but it’s a way of life that’s simply not good for your health nor the environment. The more we drive, the less we walk and the more difficult it becomes to get the recommended 10,000 steps a day to maintain wellness. In fact, according to Lawrence Frank of the University of British Columbia, “Every additional 30 minutes spent in a car each day translates into a 3 percent greater chance of being obese,” he said. Unfortunately, many American cities are not made for walking. As David Goldberg of Smart Growth America (a coalition of nonprofit groups that works to improve town and city planning) says “We have designed cities to suppress walking” But times have changed and now the cities need to look at ways to move away from...

Obama’s Fuel-Economy Standards

Cato-at-liberty — Wed, 20 May 2009 13:04:12 +0100

If you like driving a big car or SUV, the good news about Obama’s new fuel-economy standards is that they won’t dictate what kind of car you will be able to buy in the future. If you want to buy a 15-mpg SUV, Detroit (or Aichi or Wolfsburg) will be free to make and sell you one. The bad news is that the standards may make your car more expensive. Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards are actually calculated as the mean of gallons per mile, not miles per gallon. So, as of 2016, for every 15-mpg model made by an auto maker, that company will have to make five models of cars that can go 50 mpg in order for its fleet to meet Obama’s new target. Since bringing each new model to market can cost billions of dollars, if there are not enough people who want to buy those ...

Simultaneously Destroying and Subsidizing the Auto Industry

Cato-at-liberty — Tue, 19 May 2009 14:14:24 +0100

The Obama Administration has announced new fuel-economy regulations and emissions rules that will boost the cost of new car by at least $1300. This is probably another nail in the coffin of the American automobile industry, but Jerry Taylor is the guy to provide thoughtful analysis. When I read about the new White House scheme, the first thing that came to my mind was this extremely clever video (yes, I am envious that my videos are not this creative) about the type of car we will all be driving if politicians continue to run amok: (Source: Cato-at-liberty)

Kaiser vs. “Czar”

Cato-at-liberty — Mon, 04 May 2009 12:47:20 +0100

Just when you thought you’d seen everything, ol’ Kaiser Bill emerges from the Beyond to castigate the U.S. president: Mr. President, Gott im Himmel! Enough with the czars! You’ve named 18 so far, according to something I read in Foreign Policy. That includes a border czar, a climate czar, an information technology czar and — I don’t think Thomas Jefferson grew enough hemp in his lifetime to dream up this one — the “faith-based czar.” Your car czar, Steve Rattner, was in the news last week, trying to keep Chrysler out of bankruptcy. It took Russia 281 years to accumulate that many czars. Even with hemophilia, repeated assassinations and a level of inbreeding that would gag a Dalmatian breeder. You did it in less than 100 days. And every one of...

Where Can I Get One of These?

Breastfeeding 1-2-3 — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 05:33:35 +0100

Somewhere between the “Baby on Board” warning sign and the “Honor Student” bumper sticker lies this awesome car decal: “Lucky Breastfed Baby on Board.” I wonder whether this is a one-off or some place is actually selling these! Photo by John Trainor (Source: Breastfeeding 1-2-3)

Find your happy place

Whitterer on Autism — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 06:54:00 +0100

There are many occasions in life when is next to impossible to do the right thing. If you are forced to act in a manner in which you would prefer not to, then it’s a good idea to find a method of keeping your cool. Some people are naturally calm, unflappable, no matter what life throws at them. They are people that I greatly admire but other lesser mortals, such as myself, are more easily ruffled. Around here, a frequent occasion pops up in the form of car travel. The car has long been an aversive experience for the boys, but they have developed their own coping mechanism, namely circular little ditties and noises that help calm them. These phrases are not calming to either the driver, nor other passengers. For long journeys we have different strategies but for short trips it’s merely ...

A breast cancer diagnosis always means a chance

Life with Breast Cancer — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 16:32:16 +0100

The other day, we suffered a huge tragedy in our area of Michigan. Four teens aged 16 to 19 were in a car waiting at red light when they were plowed into by a speeding car. The drunk driver behind the wheel of the car that hit them escaped with mild injuries while all four teens were killed. Being a mother of a 17 year old and a 20 year old, I have to say that this has really affected me. Frankly it has affected most everyone in Metro Detroit. These kids were on their way to a Pizza Hut at eight o’clock at night, following all the rules of the road as well as the ones laid out by their parents. In a sense they were sitting ducks with no warning of what was headed their way. It would be easy to equate this somehow with being hit with a cancer diagnosis out of the blue. The truth is ...

The End of Remote Prescribing

World of Psychology — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 11:00:33 +0100

There’s long been a gray market in the U.S. for prescription medications that can be had online without actually having a prescription. Erectile dysfunction medications are the most common such prescriptions. This practice has commonly been done on websites based in India or another country. The prescription is then forwarded to a pharmacy clearinghouse in the U.S. that has contracted with physicians to write prescriptions for such orders. How can a doctor do this without a physical exam? Easy! It’s called a form that the customer fills out on the prescription website. The doc reviews the form and ostensibly ensures the customer has no pre-existing condition that may cause untoward side effects with the sought-after prescription. But this business, which has been going on for y...

No Pharmacists, No Vicodin

The Angriest Pharmacist — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 04:57:29 +0100

The newest in TheAngriest Line…No Pharmacists, No Vicodin! Combine that with The*Angriest*Pharmacist’s free shipping offer, and you’ve got a nice little gift for your favorite drug dealer. I’ve also created a shirt that I think is going to take the pharmacy world by storm: (Source: The Angriest Pharmacist)

Avoid Putting an Infant to Sleep in a Car Seat

Sleep Education — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 18:06:00 +0100

Car safety seats should never be used to put a baby to sleep. That’s the warning for parents after the recent death of an infant in Quebec.The mother of the 2-month-old baby had put him to sleep in a car seat after he woke up crying early one morning. An hour later when she checked on him she realized that he had stopped breathing.This issue received attention in 2006. An article in the British Medical Journal reported on the similar death of nine infants.The problem is that infants do not have well developed head control. The researchers found that a baby’s head may slump forward while sleeping in a car seat. As a result the baby’s jaw presses against his or her chest.This position narrows the airway and makes it hard to breathe. The throat muscles also relax during sleep. This incr...

Drugs are not like antifreeze

Dr. Needles Medical Blogs — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 01:40:00 +0100

DRUGS ARE NOT LIKE ANTIFREEZE Drugs are not like antifreeze. Your heart is not a car engine that needs mechanical repair, like reconnecting the fuel pump or cleaning out the hoses. As a human being you have a built in mechanism for repairing yourself. Many of you must find a new model that is more powerful than last year’s model. If you don’t get a prescription for a drug advertised on TV, you find your doctor lacking. The pressure is on the doctor to prescribe new exotic drugs. You don’t want your doctors opinion on the real dangers of new powerful drugs. You expect medicine for every symptom you have. When given a prescription, you are confident your doctor knows what he is doing. Your body has the best pharmacy and releases the best natural drugs that will heal. ...

Research on Older Driver's Safety

SharpBrains — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 04:09:36 +0100

Good article in the New York Times today: An Epidemic of Crashes Among the Aging? Unlikely, Study Says - "The (Insurance Institute for Highway Driving) insurance institute is conducting further research to determine why the risks appear to be going down for older drivers. It may be that today’s older drivers are simply in better physical and mental shape than their counterparts a decade ago, so they are not only less likely to make a driving mistake, but also less frail and better able to survive injuries." There is no doubt that, as a group, older persons of any given age are in better physical and mental shape today than their counterparts years ago. For context, worldwide life expectancy has increased more than 20 years in less than 6o years - so you can imagine how a person...

Adhd

Autism Vox — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 19:42:53 +0100

Saw those 4 letters on the license plate of an older SUV while driving around Berkeley on Tuesday—–no kidding! Tags: adhd, asperger syndrome, autism, auto, berkeley, California, car, Health, license plate, pdd-nos, SUV, vanity plateShare This (Source: Autism Vox)

Seat restraints: half measures?

Malaysian Medical Resources — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 05:00:00 +0100

The rear seat belt laws which came into effect this year, will be strictly enforced from 1 January. But it seems the “Fourth rear passenger won’t be fined“. I presume this is because sedan cars have a maximum of three rear sear belts. But what about MPVs? I think the seven seaters should not be excused. The fourth back passenger in a private vehicle found not wearing a safety belt will not be fined, the Road Safety Department clarified today. Its director-general Datuk Suret Singh said the government had no intention of doing so, following public confusion over reports that an unbuckled fourth rear passenger would face a fine. “The action has never been and will not be enforced as it will burden the people,” he told reporters after launching a road safety advocacy c...

Safer to Chat with Passenger Than on Cell Phone

World of Psychology — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 13:29:48 +0100

Tara Parker-Pope blogged about new research describing results that found talking to the passenger in your car is safer than talking on a cell phone. David Strayer, professor of psychology at the University of Utah and the study’s lead author [said,] “When you’re in the same physical environment, you tend to adjust your discussions to the difficulty of driving. If driving becomes difficult, they stop talking or they point out hazards.’’ The current research, like virtually all research into driving behaviors, was done in a simulator. But this study also used hands-free cell phones, suggesting that even hands-free isn’t as safe as we might have been led to believe. So states that have banned handset cell phone conversations while allowing hands-free conversations (IR...

Philadelphia Story on the Day of the Dead

Autism Vox — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 07:04:09 +0100

Sunday we drove to Philadelphia to see a good friend. He was driving into the city from one direction and we from Jersey, and we agreed to meet in South Philly. We drove past what I noted was a Vietnamese restaurant and then lines of police cars and small groups of policemen, and lots of people walking vaguely in the direction of a giant pinata that Jim promptly dubbed “like the Trojan Horse” (it was a burro shaped pinata) and that we later realized was part of a Day of the Dead celebration. Jim found a barely the right size parking place on a city block and maneuvered the car in. We started walking, ducked into an Italian seafood restaurant to use the ATM, and sighted our friend, Hal, across Washington Avenue. Lunch was suggested and we started to debate about what to eat. ...

The first genius of my writing career: in which I have a rave review for a completely unwritten novel.

white pebble — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 06:32:43 +0100

I have to believe in something other than emptiness. I’ve been feeling the bite of emptiness here and there these past couple of days. That’s exactly it! The Bite of Emptiness, soon to be a major motion picture! Ripped from the pages of the best selling novel of the year! Novice writer Patti Niehoff pulls off a literary success of the kind that the publishing world of today rarely sees, much less wants to see! Copyright © 2008 white pebble. This Feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator, the site you are looking at is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact legal@www.white-pebble.net so we can take legal action immediately.Plugin by Taragana Technorati Tags: book, books, car, emptiness, Novice, pic...

Discriminating Against People with Mental Illness

World of Psychology — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 18:21:42 +0100

You’d think that as people become more and more educated about the complex biological, social and psychological factors that go to make up mental illness, people would become more understanding and less stigmatizing. As we are on the cusp of having a nationwide ban from discriminating in mental healthcare reimbursements, you’d think government and ordinary people are getting the message. Well, you would be wrong. First, we learn from the Mental Health Blog that Nova Scotia almost began discriminating against drivers renewing their driver’s license because of a mental disorder. Their new renewal form initially had a question regarding one’s prior history of mental disorder diagnoses, as though there were any research to show that people with a mental illness someh...

Powerlessness and power

white pebble — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 14:40:52 +0100

I must start out this blog post by admitting a thing that might make me either very popular here in Cincinnati, or, possibly, unpopular: we have electrical power at our house. Ever since Monday’s infamous “deluge” by the remnants of hurricane Ike, with huge windstorms and much power outage, the most common question around here is “Do you have power?” We came home, slowly but surely, yesterday, to find out that we did have power at our house. We came home slowly because, on Sunday when the windstorm hit, we were in a plane in the region of Knoxville, flying home from Ft. Lauderdale. Thus, since the Cincinnati airport was closed, we were rerouted to Atlanta where, as you saw, we stayed the night. Further slowness in our arrival was caused by a huge fallen tree t...

Good news for me: Genvec says cancer therapy increases survival

white pebble — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 13:08:15 +0100

Via Reuters… Genvec says cancer therapy increases survival; shares up | Industries | Healthcare | Reuters: May 29 (Reuters) - Genvec Inc (GNVC.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said its gene therapy product, TNFerade, increased survival of patients with esophageal cancer longer than comparable studies, sending its shares up 11 percent before the bell. The company said long-term survival data from the mid-stage trial showed that following treatment with TNFerade and chemoradiation, the median overall survival of patients was 48.4 months. Literature review of comparable studies shows median survival ranging from 9.7 to 18.6 months, it added. Technorati Tags: esophageal cancer, cancer Copyright © 2008 white pebble. This Feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you ...

Cats are sneaky

white pebble — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 13:44:34 +0100

Another era in my cat-blogging starts now, with Satchel attempting to steal my breakfast apple turnover. I thought he’d go for the raspberries first, but that’s more Newton’s style. Satchel loves the carbs. Pictures will appear if I can get my camera. Copyright © 2008 white pebble. This Feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator, the site you are looking at is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact legal@www.white-pebble.net so we can take legal action immediately.Plugin by Taragana (Source: white pebble)

Saturday morning

white pebble — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 15:15:39 +0100

Peter came by late last night and picked up his puppy whom he dropped off here at 7:30 in the morning, of all the odd times. He’s usually not conscious at that time, and has carefully avoided all 8 and 9 o’clock classes. So we had a wonderful puppy for the day, and I was sad to see her go just before bedtime. Maybe we’ll turn the house into a puppy day-care, for just one puppy. Now playing on iTunes: Teardrop from the album “Mezzanine” by Massive Attack Copyright © 2008 white pebble. This Feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator, the site you are looking at is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact legal@www.white-pebble.net so we can take legal action immediately.Plugin by Taraga...

Car Stories and an Arrest

Autism Vox — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 00:07:31 +0100

Charlie once took the car key and put it in the lock of the front door lock. We park our car outside and, fortunately, we soon noticed the key in the lock and quickly retrieved it, realizing that our car could have been driven away by the next passerby. Charlie’s never (yet) tried to get behind the wheel and given his visual processing difficulties, that wouldn’t be a good thing to occur. An autistic 16-year-old in Apex, North Carolina, drives his family’s SUV, damaging mailboxes and cars and accidentally striking his father, today’s WNCN-TV reports. And in tomorrow’s New York Times, writer Ann Bauer describes how her 20-year-old autistic son Andrew drove her car 70 miles away to St. Cloud, Minnesota, where it was found “scratched, filthy and out of ga...

A Safe Space

Autism Vox — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 22:09:26 +0100

We tried a new Mexican restaurant Saturday night. Charlie was initially game to try the rice and beans and licked up some guacamole, then put his hands over his ears (classic rock soundtrack playing) and moaned. I finished up my burrito and took him back to the black car, which is so much a comforting space. He was hunched over, but calmed. Charlie loves to be in motion (hence, his love of the ocean’s waves) and so we’re often at home in the road, in the car. Maybe we’re not exactly living out of a motor home, but sometimes the black car (often with Charlie’s backpack and my overstuffed bag) feels the equivalent. Small wonder, then, that getting home (with the beach house a surrogate for our actual home; we’ve one more week here) feels like we’ve won som...

Safe text!

Malaysian Medical Resources — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 04:00:00 +0100

(originally spotted in PalmAddicts) No, this Health reminder is not about putting a condom on your cellphone. It’s about being careful when you are using your cellphone, be it talking or texting. Have you seen people so blissfully unaware of their surroundings when they are using their cellphones? There could be accidents waiting to happen, and that applies to pedestrians, not just drivers. So the MMR Health tip of the day is : Practice Safe Text. Watch where you are going when you use that cellphone! Related MMR posts: Cell phone talkers as bad as drunk drivers Stop chatting on the phone while driving! a Safe text! (Source: Malaysian Medical Resources)

Rember to help patients remember

Malaysian Medical Resources — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 04:00:00 +0100

Promising news for Alzheimer’s disease sufferers and their carers. A recent UK study shows that a drug called Rember halts the progressive decline seen in this terrible illness. The BBC reports UK scientists have developed a drug which may halt the progression of Alzheimer’s disease. Trials of the drug, known as Rember, in 321 patients showed an 81% difference in rate of mental decline compared with those not taking the treatment. The Aberdeen University researchers said the drug targeted the build-up of a specific protein in the brain. Alzheimer’s experts were optimistic about the results, but said larger trials were now needed. Presenting the results at the International Conference on Alzheimer’s Disease, Professor Claude Wischik said the drug may be on the market...

Pandu Cermat

Malaysian Medical Resources — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 04:00:00 +0100

I notice that Pandu Cermat has a brand new website. It is bi-lingual and there is an English version as well as a BM version. The new site has the usual Web 2.0 features including a Blog, Forum etc. I think blog posts like So You Think You are An Immortal are useful reminders on road safety tips like wearing a rear seat belt. The examples and pictures are indeed graphic reminders! I notice too a fellow blogger, Spinosum, seems to be quite active in their forum Related MMR posts on Seat Belts a Pandu Cermat (Source: Malaysian Medical Resources)

Packing For the Road

Autism Vox — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 23:00:09 +0100

So what do you pack besides extra patience—-as noted in an article in today’s Ledger (Florida)—-when you hit the road/maybe not so friendly skies/boat/etc. with an autistic relative? Tags: Airplane, asd, asperger, autism, autism blog, car, cruise ship, disabilities blog, disability, disneyworld, Family, family blog, florida, Health, Parenting, pdd-nos, TravelShare This (Source: Autism Vox)

Down the Up Ramp: On seeing things differently

Autism Vox — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 08:05:25 +0100

“No” was Charlie’s not unsurprising response—-with his eyebrows (no other word describes it) furrowed—-when I told him we’d have to drive the bluish Mercury Milan parked across the condo parking lot. Jim had rented it late Thursday night at Newark airport and I’m sure Charlie had paid it no attention when he got on the bus Friday morning. Now he was standing beside the black car, whose right rear tire was a small spare with a yellow sticker and looking forlorn. I tried to find words to explain: “It has a flat tire—the tire’s broken” (what in the world was I saying? “broken tire” sounds like those ragged black strips from a semi’s recap tires strewn on the shoulder of the Interstate). “Remember how we ...

Endless Tiring Afternoon, With a Dash of Understanding

Autism Vox — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 15:09:38 +0100

Hectic crazy stressful crying yowling (suddenly, in the deep end of the pool all while swimming most excellently) tense scared face and hunched up shoulders. Yesterday was that kind of afternoon for Charlie and me. It was an everything not in place kind of day with a call from the ESY director as I was walking out of class. Another student had been having a hard time, Charlie didn’t ask fast enough to go out of the room, the teacher was on jury duty: I was very glad the director added that last point. Charlie’s class had also gone on a roller skating field trip yesterday, so they’d had a day off from their classroom and the teacher wasn’t there……. He was himself getting off the bus—though I was on my cell about something sad—and looking forwa...

Lost In Any Language, and Then Found

Autism Vox — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 08:09:48 +0100

Friends had invited us to a pool party on Saturday afternoon. Jim had been asked to speak at a workshop here so I looked up directions on Google Maps, wrote them down, and off Charlie and I went—-only to spend an hour and 15 minutes driving in circles on both sides of a state road. I should have printed out a map; I mistakenly thought that knowing the names of the streets would be enough. We were going to the home of a relative of our friend but I couldn’t remember the relative’s name; I called information, but couldn’t get a phone number for her residence and my friend’s cell must have been off. So it was back and forth hither and yon and turning into many strange suburban streets. Charlie sat attentively in the center of the back seat and put up with my sall...

Out of the Window

Autism Vox — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 16:38:58 +0100

A 3-year-old girl who has a “form of autism” was treated at a hospital and released after jumping out of her mother’s moving car. KY3 reports that: The mother called 911 to report the girl jumped out of the moving car near the intersection of Farm Road 171 at Farm Road 66, south of Highway KK near Fellow Lake Recreational Area. The child showed up six-tenths of a mile away from where the mother parked her car. Cleo Link heard a scratching at his door at 6986 N. Farm Road 171 and opened it to find the girl about 7:30 a.m. An ambulance took the girl to a hospital. Corcoran says the mother has a proper child seat in the car. He doesn’t expect her to be cited or charged. Yet another argument for child safety locks in the backseat, and on the windows. Tags: asd, asperger, au...

What the Price of Gas Can Drive You to Do

Autism Vox — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 17:21:32 +0100

With gas prices up, drivers push closer to the end of the tank and more towing services are getting called—–don’t think I can do this and strand Charlie and me on the left lane of the Pulaski Skyway! Tags: asd, asperger, autism, autos, car, gas, gasoline, mother, Parenting, pdd-nos, pulaski skywayShare This (Source: Autism Vox)

Remembering the Red Schoolbus

Autism Vox — Fri, 30 May 2008 21:40:06 +0100

My son Charlie is finishing up his best school year ever: Today, though bleary-eyed, he got out of bed on his own when I asked, pulled on his blue hooded sweatshirt, and shuffled out to meet the yellow school bus. It’s only a short ride as he attends a school in our town but once he had a far longer ride. On the way to work a few mornings ago, traffic stopped almost as soon as I pulled onto the highway. I could hear the wail of an ambulance behind me. Cars edged over to the right and a huge truck kept glowering in my rear view mirror as it tried to get in front of me. Finally I could see that the two left lanes were blocked off—the flash of sirens was evident from there—and everyone was trying to squeeze into the right lane. Then I saw a blue pick-up truck at an odd angle...

A Hospital CEO Censors the Internet, Only to See "the Handwriting on the Medical Chart"

Health Care Renewal — Mon, 12 May 2008 21:32:00 +0100

The Fort Worth (Texas) Star-Telegram just ran a six-part series about the misfortunes of the JPS Health Network, a large county hospital network and health care system. The story had several twists. (See this page for links to the latter part of the series and related articles. The first three parts are here, here and here. )The series emphasized the overcrowding and long waits, problems with equipment and the physical plant, and jaded, demoralized staff that unfortunately fit stereotypes of underfunded public hospitals. Here are some quotes from the introduction to the first part of the series:The waiting room reeked. Along a crowded hallway, patients lay in beds, with only a thin curtain for privacy. Nurses readying for a new case in surgery noticed blood, bone and globules of fat on the...

Parenting Isn’t Easy, Period—and I’m Very Glad to Be a Mother

Autism Vox — Sun, 11 May 2008 04:33:33 +0100

First, Happy Mother’s Day to every mother reading this and many more (my own included, of course)! An essay by Robert Hughes in today’s Chicago Tribune is entitled What Autism Means to a Father and much of what he says strikes home with me as a parent. Hughes captures how a parent feels as he or she strives so patiently to help an autistic child, and how bad a parent can feel when you’re not “doing the right thing,” even though you’re trying your best. Hughes’ son is 21 years old and, on being asked about the “meaning of the latest statistic on autistic births”—that 1 in 150 children in the US have autism—-Hughes offers this “emotional, seldom-discussed meaning to the 1 in 150 statistic”: It means that the chance...

In Celebration of Older Americans Month

CaregivingMinutes™ by Pope Institute — Sat, 10 May 2008 02:13:58 +0100

May is Older Americans Month. In honor of this special occasion, Pope Institute for Health and Education is offering another free consultation giveaway this year. We are providing $10,000 worth of free consultation time for seniors and caregivers. No Purchase Necessary. To register for the event visit www.popeinstitute.com and click the blue register logo in the upper right corner or click the register logo on the right side of this blog. The consultation time will be awarded on a first come first served basis and there are a limited number of available times. The giveaway will continue on a weekly basis throughout the month of May. Visit www.popeinstitute.com for terms and registration details. This opportunity is available nationwide. Reserve your preferred consultation time by registe...

A Wife’s Work and a Young Man’s Too

Autism Vox — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 16:07:33 +0100

Seven extra hours of washing, dusting, vacuuming, tidying up, putting away: A new study from the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research has found that that’s how much more housework women who are married do. From Science Daily: “It’s a well-known pattern,” said ISR economist Frank Stafford, who directs the study. “There’s still a significant reallocation of labor that occurs at marriage—men tend to work more outside the home, while women take on more of the household labor. Certainly there are all kinds of individual differences here, but in general, this is what happens after marriage. And the situation gets worse for women when they have children.” The researchers did find that the amount of housework that women have been ...

Sexbolt Saturday: Position Yourself for Great Sex

Healthbolt — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 14:31:38 +0100

Another Saturday, another opportunity to share some links for great sex. This week, our focus is on - you guessed it - sex positions! I am amazed at the plethora of sex position ideas turning up throughout the ‘net. Some of them look killer hot. Some of them left me wondering how the couple could make it through their romp without tearing a ligament. But all are well worth a look, for sure. The important thing to remember when trying anything new in the sack is to make sure both partners are on board. Sure, it may take your suggestions (or prodding) to get your lovah to consider something new, and that’s totally fine. But forcing, or aggressively coercing, your honey into trying something they are wholly against is never good for your relationship. ‘Nuff said. So hereR...

Update on My Accident - Multiple Injuries - Am Using A Wheelchair

The Caregiver's Beacon - Resources, Links, Ideas, News — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 05:15:00 +0100

Readers know that about 6 weeks ago I was involved in an accident, and I have the left leg in a velcro cast and the right leg in braces. Thank you for asking about me, and I'll provide a short update today. It appears that the acl (ligament) in the left leg has a stage 3 (most severe) tear, the left leg meniscus (cartilage) is torn on the outside and inside of the knee, and degenerative arthritis was exacerbated by the accident. The right knee, which had surgery 35 years ago for ligaments, cartilage, etc. and has a metal screw in it, had severe arthritis related to the old knee surgery. The arthritis in the right knee was also exacerbated by the accident and that knee will need a total knee replacement due to this, as now it is "bone on bone." I am 55 years old, usually very active in spor...

Truth or Dare? [Part 1]

Whitterer on Autism — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 01:55:00 +0100

Forty plus years ago, I would walk to and from school every day with my sister. Twenty plus years ago, I repeated this routine with my own daughter. Currently with the present crop of children, walking anywhere is not part of our routine. I decide that I need to take stock and figure out why this should be?The easiest thing to do would be to blame my two autistic boys who have strong objections to walking. What I like about this excuse is that there is a nugget of truth in it, or rather a tiny granule. They are autistic and they don’t like walking. Convenient though that is, the real truth is more inconvenient. The first truth is that I have a genuine dislike of anything that could remotely be described as exercise. Exercise is in the ‘boring’ category for me. Not only is it boring,...

Ripping of the poor folk

NHS Blog Doctor — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 17:08:00 +0100

Poor people's car park in stockbroker belt hospitalAn entertaining article from Wat Tyler who checks out the parking charges in his local hospital in Surrey. It's St Peter's Hospital, Chertsey. Remember them? They are the ones trying to recruit Polish doctors. Their answer to the parking problem is simple. The riff-raff are charged for parking at the free at the point of entry NHS part of the hospital. The rich folk who attend the all private, MRSA free Runnymeade hospital, which is on the same campus, get free parking. No one has complained because St Peter's is right in the middle of the Surrey stock broker belt. So there aren't any poor folk.It was always so. Let them eat cake, says Dr Crippen. (Source: NHS Blog Doctor)

Free Parking? More "give me, give me, give me" selfishness

NHS Blog Doctor — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 17:56:00 +0100

Hospitals in Wales are to stop charging for car-parking. All the usual mawkish crap is being trotted out:Cath Lindley, general manager for Macmillan Cancer Support in Wales, said: "Cancer patients have long been calling for parking costs to be scrapped."On average, cancer patients make 60 trips to hospital from diagnosis to treatment to follow up, and as a result they are hit particularly hard, both financially and emotionally, by travelling costs and unfair parking charges. Do shut up, Cath. Playing the "cancer" card like this makes me want to puke. Why should cancer patients be of any greater importance than patients with ischaemic heart disease, or motor neurone disease, or multiple sclerosis, or many other serious diseases?The costs of maintaining a large piece of empty tarmac in Engli...

Financial Freedom and Autistic Adults

Autism Vox — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 20:00:31 +0100

At the Strategic Planning Retreat for COSAC yesterday, an autistic man noted that one thing his mother used to do for him, and that his brother now did for him as she has passed on, is to balance his checkbook. Today’s Newsday describes the financial difficulties that autistic adults face: 25-year-old Sean Beaudoin works 20 hours a week as a kennel assistant and has his own car, credit card, and good credit rating: Last month, Sean walked into Hustedt Chevrolet in Centereach and traded in his fully paid 1997 Ford Explorer for a $2,500 credit toward a 2002 Chevy Malibu with 50,000 miles. He owed an additional $11,400 on the Malibu. After Beaudoin’s mother discovered the purchase and complained to the dealership, the manager agreed to lower the total price to $8,550. That’s...

Four-Footed Therapists

Autism Vox — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 18:00:02 +0100

Dogs warm to children with autism reports the February 17th Chicago Tribune in an article about therapy dogs for autistic children—this is not the case for my own son, who on seeing a dog freezes, or backs up, or asks to be carry (something about the barks, especially when it is high-pitched, and their unpredictable movements). We’re not ready for a dog, not yet—-a family in Alaska have gotten approval to get a therapy dog for their 3-year-old autistic son, Trapper Leeth. Trapper’s family lives in a remote area of Alaska and, shortly after they were approved for the therapy dog, they got into a serious roll-over accident and Trapper’s mother, Jami, is now in body braces. Feline Fido, which is devoting autism donations to providing services dogs for autistic ch...

Jonathan Takes the Wheel

Autism Vox — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 03:58:24 +0100

Jonathan Anderson is 9 years old and has Asperger Syndrome—-when his mother, Marion Anderson, blacked out while driving on the highway, he avoided a crash by grabbing the steering wheel, pulling on the handbrake, and driving the car across three lanes of rush-hour traffic at Plympton, Devon, the January 31st Daily Mail reports. Jonathan and his mother were both uninjured: “‘It was scary because I’ve never driven a car before,’” he was quoted as saying. Sounds like he knew what to do, and at the right time—bravo. Tags: accident, asd, asperger, autism, autism spectrum disorder, car, children, Family, highway, mothers, pdd-nos, Psychology, thyroidShare This (Source: Autism Vox)

Bye Green Car

Autism Vox — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 07:55:02 +0100

It was just a car. The car was bought at a Subaru dealership in White Bear Lake outside of the Twin Cities in Minnesota in June of 1999. We chose green, same as the Saturn we had driven up from St. Louis, Missouri, the summer before, and said no to heated seats. Charlie was diagnosed with autism in July of 1999. He had just turned two years old on May 15th. It was 90 degrees plus the day we got the report from the Child Development Center of the Children’s Hospital of Minnesota. We lived in a second-floor duplex off Grand Avenue in St. Paul with one air-conditioning unit in Jim’s and my bedroom. The carpet was hot when I woke; my books were hot; the plastic cups that Charlie stacked and knocked down, and stacked and knocked down, and stacked and knocked down over and over...

Have you heard that Carrie Underwood song?

Andrew at Large — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 00:16:49 +0100

My kids loaded new songs on my iPod. One of them is sung by Carrie Underwood, a winner on the American Idol television show that our family watches with enthusiasm. The song is called “Jesus Take the Wheel” and tells the story of a young mother driving home on an icy highway, her sleeping baby in the car seat in the back. Her car goes into a skid and with seeming divine intervention she survives with no injuries and her baby remaining asleep through it all. I am not a very religious person and I am not a Christian, but I did think of that song as we approach the New Year. Yesterday I got that call you hate to receive from your teenager: “Dad, it’s Ruthie (our 14-year-old). Hannah and I have been in an accident. We are okay, the police are here and the ambulance guy wants to talk wi...

It is Not Only Cars That Deserve Good Maintenance: Brain Care 101

SharpBrains — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 17:27:18 +0100

Last week, the US Car Care Council released a list of tips on how to take care of your car and “save big money at the pump in 2008.” You may not have paid much attention to this announcement. Yes, it’s important to save gas these days; but, it’s not big news that good maintenance habits will improve the performance of a car, and extend its life. If we can all agree on the importance of maintaining our cars that get us around town, what about maintaining our brains sitting behind the wheel? A spate of recent news coverage on brain fitness and “brain training” has missed an important constituency: younger people. Recent advancements in brain science have as tremendous implications for teenagers and adults of all ages as they do for seniors. In a recent conversation with neuroscie...

Junior and Juliet

Autism Vox — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 21:03:57 +0100

12-year-old Thomas Onions publishes a daily cartoon about “Junior, a mixture of a cat and a fox, and Juliet, a mouse with attitude” on the web. Go here to see his cartoon: Today’s Worcester News notes that Thomas has Aspergers Syndrome and also skeletal dysplasia, which means he grows slowly. He is educated at home and his mother, Sue Onions says that “‘He’s drawn all his life. He’s never stopped drawing from being a toddler. We’re running out of places to display his drawings. ‘”Fortunately lack of space will not be such a big problem on the web! Share This (Source: Autism Vox)

Morning Memory

Autism Vox — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 16:07:03 +0100

I grabbed my bag and coffee and another bag with a miniature Christmas tree—a present for a co-worker—and headed out the door. Charlie, who had but a moment before had been lying (fully dressed) under the covers, ran out and poked his feet into Jim’s shoes. “Stay inside with Dad, Mom has to go to work!” I said, but Charlie was already thumping down the stairs after me. I put my things into the black car as he stood, serious but faintly smiling, on the sidewalk. Jim came down the stairs and I said good-bye. Charlie, disregarding of the morning cold in his short-sleeve black Puma t-shirt, scrunched up his shoulders, leaned forward a bit, and made some loud noise. The casual listener would most likely have presumed that someone was in distress. We knew that Cha...

Autistic Boy Killed in Traffic

Autism Vox — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 01:48:58 +0100

14-year-old Kevin Wilson of Garland, Texas, was killed this morning: The middle schooler, who was autistic, apparently missed his bus and was walking to school. One driver swerved to avoid hitting him, but Kevin was struck by the car’s rear view mirror and spun into oncoming traffic, where he was run over by a second vehicle. Today’s CBS1tv.com reports: A designated cross walk, with a crossing guard, is about one block from where the accident occurred. Officials say Bussey Middle School is about 2-3 blocks from accident scene and the school zone lights were on ………………. A police report confirms that the drivers of the two vehicles were outside of the school zone and weren’t speeding. Neither driver was cited. “From everyth...

A (Well Deserved) Rant about the RUC

Health Care Renewal — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 22:31:00 +0100

On DB's Medical Rants, the nominally anonymous blogger took on the RUC (RBRVS Update Committee).I am starting to believe that the distortions of physician reimbursement orchestrated behind the scenes by the shadowy RUC are one of the main reasons US health care is in such a mess. We had posted about the RUC, based on some important articles published this year that first brought its machinations to light (1,2,3) here and here.A new article just appeared in JAMA on the topic(4) by the perspicacious Dr John Goodson, which provided a focus for what was really a Medical Rant:The story of the RUC often reminds me of conspiracy theories. They (we never really know who they are) determine the fate of the world (or at least the economy). The RUC has disproportionate power and has apparently taken ...

OK now I want a new car

white pebble — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 23:42:30 +0100

Just go look…. Truemors :: Fiat 500 Cars Illustrated by Tracey Emin Sold at Auction for £42,000 (Source: white pebble)

What Was Mine.

Heroin Addiction Codependence — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 22:38:00 +0100

And if the whole world’s singing your songs,And all of your paintings have been hung, Just remember what was yours is everyone’s from now on. And that’s not wrong or right, But you can struggle with it all you like. You'll only get uptight. -Wilco, "What Light"I'm working to remember it. The experiences I share as a writer are mine, and I want to guard them jealously; however, they're here, and they're not mine anymore once I put them up. I had a good relationship with poetry, with letting it go once I'd written it and shared it. This forum is different, though...the stuff I'm writing is so clearly personal, so raw and real and unprocessed and unfiltered and immediate that sometimes getting feedback freaks me out a bit.I tried to remember what I started this whole adventure in ...

CA man leads police on bizarre low-speed car chase

The Diabetes Blog — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 04:00:00 +0100

Filed under: Daily NewsYes, you read correctly. Low-speed car chase. Not something you see in the news too often, right?Jacob Kells (30) is from Santa Rosa, CA. He has diabetes. Last Thursday, Kells got behind the wheel of a rented U-Haul truck. Oh, what a bad idea. He was obviously having low blood sugar issues because he caused several minor hit-and-run crashes that morning. Kells would not respond to police calls for him to pull over. Result: the cops had to tail him all, slowly, all the way from Redwood City to Gilroy.When the police finally caught up with him, Kells was reportedly sweating and incoherent. The officers, obviously aware his state was diabetes-related, gave him glucose paste then got him to hospital, pronto. He was later arrested and taken in for psychological assessment...

Unlocking a Car Door Using a Tennis Ball

Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted) — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 13:59:09 +0100

tags: unlocking car door with tennis ball, magic tennis ball, streaming video This streaming video shows you a very cool trick; how to unlock a car door using just a tennis ball! [1:16] Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post... (Source: Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted))

BLOGSCAN - Scientist Behind Gleevec Decries Its Price

Health Care Renewal — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 20:11:00 +0100

On PharmaLot, this post summarizes an interview with Brian Druker, one of the scientists responsible for the development of imatinib (Gleevec, manufactured by Novartis). Druker noted that much of the science behind Gleevec was financed by government money, yet Novartis saw fit to charge an extremely high price for this potentially life prolonging drug. The key paragraph:The price at which imatinib has been offered for sale by Novartis around the world has caused me considerable discomfort. Pharmaceutical companies that have invested in the development of medicines should achieve a return on their investments. But this does not mean the abuse of these exclusive rights by excessive prices and seeking patents over minor changes to extend monopoly prices. This goes against the spirit of the pa...

Do Children and Alzheimer’s Patients Communicate?

Alzheimer's Notes — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 19:20:06 +0100

My mom reached out from her wheel chair and touched the peach fuzz hair of the toddler playing with the brake handle of her wheel chair. Little Alex looked up at Great Grandma and grinned. She smiled, too, and I marveled at this communication that seemed to pass between the two. As Alex began to form words and Mothers’ became more mumbled utterances than clear syllables, they made sounds together. “Gramma talk to me,” Alex would say. “What did she say?” I’d ask. “Dunno,” he replied. “Gramma talk to me.” There apparently was a type of communication between the older lady with Alzheimer’s and the little boy. My mom died when Alex was 6 years old and she 92. However, even though he’s now 12 years old, he sti...

Background checks worsen MD shortage

Canadian Medicine — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 13:16:00 +0100

(Source: Canadian Medicine)

Worthy Wisdom: Suncreen, sunscreen, sunscreen

The Cancer Blog — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 04:00:00 +0100

Filed under: Skin Cancer, Prevention, Worthy WisdomI'm a little tired of reading and writing about sunscreen. Maybe it's not the actual reading and writing that has me worn out. Maybe it's the realization that I keep reading and writing about sunscreen yet the information is just not sinking in with the masses of sun-hungry people out there -- according to the EPA, there has been a staggering 1,800 percent increase in malignant melanoma cases since 1930. Recent figures show a shocking rise in skin cancers among those in their 20s and 30s. The experts at Canyon Ranch are weighing in on sunscreen. So here I go again, with some more about this tiring topic. Sunscreen contains unique chemical components which absorb ultraviolet (UV) light. When applied to the skin, the chemical molecules f...

Diabetic trauma patients face hazards

The Diabetes Blog — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 04:00:00 +0100

Filed under: Type 1, Type 2, Research, Care, ComplicationsYou may have heard that diabetics face a greater risk of complications during hospital stays. Well, now there's evidence that diabetics with trauma injuries are particularly at risk. That info comes courtesy of a large Pennsylvania study that looked at records for around 25,000 trauma patients, half with diabetes, the other half without. The study tracked the patients' progress over the course of almost twenty years. Impressive.What did they find? Twenty-three percent of the diabetic trauma patients experienced complications. That compares with only fourteen percent of non-diabetics. The diabetics also spent slightly more time in intensive care and were more likely to need ventilator support. The overall risk of infections was highe...

RHIOs: Translators in health care Babel

The Doctor Weighs In — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 15:35:46 +0100

If you’re like me, your medical records are scattered all over your home region. (In my case, that’s lovely coastal Northeast Florida.) Over the years I’ve had several doctors: primary care physicians and specialists. I’ve been a hospital patient, and I’ve had outpatient procedures at doctor-owned facilities. I’ve had workups at several diagnostic centers and labs.The problem is that it’s health care Babel out there. No organization has my complete history because few if any of these organizations can share my medical records. Currently less than one-quarter of doctors store their patients’ information in electronic medical records that can be traded. And even if they did, the industry hasn't defined standards for records yet, so most systems...

Kids in space, or why a breath of fresh air does us all some good

Autism Vox — Wed, 30 May 2007 19:55:15 +0100

How children move around in space—their “spatial behavior”—changes based on who they are with (in particular, their parents), where they are, and what they are doing: This conclusion from research conducted jointly by different departments at University College London might seem a bit more than obvious at first. For some parents of autistic children, though, this finding from a project called “Children’s Activities, Perception and Behaviour in the Local Environment” (CAPABLE) may be of particular interest: My son Charlie responds in varying ways to the spaces he is in. He smiles when I say we are going to somewhere like Target but, once inside such “big box” stores—also Toys ‘R’ Us or Best Buy (not his favorite, and visite...

BLOGSCAN - Physicians Get Rebates for Anti-Anemia Drugs

Health Care Renewal — Thu, 10 May 2007 20:41:00 +0100

Several bloggers took up the issue of rebates offered to physicians for the intravenous administration of anti-anemia drugs. GoozNews suggested such payments amounted to illegal kickbacks. On Pharmalot, they were called bribes. If nothing else, such rebates strengthen the arguments that Medicare grossly overpays for such drugs, another glaring example of wooden-headed reimbursement. See also brief comments on the Health Care Blog, PharmaGossip, and the WSJ Health Blog. (Source: Health Care Renewal)

BLOGSCAN - Shannon Brownlee Interview

Health Care Renewal — Mon, 07 May 2007 17:44:00 +0100

On the Antidote: Counterspin blog, a posted interview with distinguished health care journalist Shannon Brownlee. Ms Brownlee has some interesting insights on evidence vs hunch-based medicine, the dearth of investigative reporting on health care, overtreatment and excessively high health care prices. (Source: Health Care Renewal)

Riding the Trains, Reading the Signs

Autism Vox — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 04:25:26 +0100

Today I took the train to work, or rather three trains, New Jersey Transit, the Light Rail, and the PATH train: The black car needed some repairs; Jim and I dropped it off and then both took the train to work. Jim works in Manhattan and stays on the same train line all the way in, but things were a little more complicated for me (which is one reason that I drive—-another is because nothing beats having a car when the school calls to tell you that one’s child is sick and must be picked up immediately……). I had to catch three trains, and make my way through four different train stations: The station in the same town as the place where my car was getting fixed; Newark Penn Station; Newark Broad Street Station; and the PATH station in Journal Square, Jersey City. Jim th...

Would You Want to Have a Disabled Person Parking Permit?

Autism Vox — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 22:11:25 +0100

Should those who care for autistic persons be allowed to use the “blue badge” denoting that a driver is “disabled”? The BBC News suggests that the British government has been dragging its feet on this. Says one voice in support, the Countess of Mar: “Anybody who sees a mother struggling with an autistic child or even a carer with an autistic adult will know just how difficult it is to get them to the shops,” she said. “They cannot travel in public transport. They cannot control them in order to walk long distances to the shops. Why can’t they be given a blue badge?” I’ll be honest: When Charlie was younger, and as recently as in the past two years, I would have liked very much to have been able to display a “blue badge”...

Mustang goes pink for breast cancer cause

The Cancer Blog — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 04:00:00 +0100

Filed under: Breast Cancer, Products, Daily newsSeven years ago, my husband and I owned a Mustang GT. A black one with black leather interior. Our car was clean and waxed and clear of clutter. It was small and sporty and we loved it. Others loved it. We were cool. We thought so, anyway.We don't think we are so cool now, however. We are happy, with our two children, our dented and dirty Honda Odyssey mini-van, and all the gear -- books, toys, wet wipes, a scooter, a Big Wheel, and even a little potty -- that fills the vast space of our latest vehicle. But I am not sure anyone would ever call us cool as we cruise around town in our family ride.My husband, John, dreams of getting another Mustang. And he's primed our three-year-old son for the same dream. Danny can spot a Mustang a mile away, ...