Showing posts with label Health Care. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Health Care. Show all posts

Jun 8, 2009

Death with Dignity

66-year-old Linda Fleming was diagnosed with terminal cancer and feared her last days would be filled with pain and ever-stronger doses of medication that would erode her mind. She had late-stage pancreatic cancer and wanted to be clear-headed at death, so she became the first person to kill herself under Washington State's new assisted suicide law, known as "death with dignity."

"I am a very spiritual person, and it was very important to me to be conscious, clear-minded and alert at the time of my death," Fleming said in a statement released Friday. "The powerful pain medications were making it difficult to maintain the state of mind I wanted to have at my death. And I knew I would have to increase them."

With family members, her physician and her dog at her side, Fleming took a deadly dose of prescription barbiturates and died Thursday night at her home.

May 27, 2009

Government Healthcare Plans Unfold

Under a new set of proposals by Senate Democrats, which resemble those under consideration by their peers in the House, everyone in the U.S. would be required to carry health insurance starting in 2013, except illegal immigrants and people with religious objections (I guess their's remains free care). Government would regulate the marketing of commercial insurance to families and employers as well as sales commissions paid to insurance agents and brokers.

Medicaid would be expanded to cover additional low-income families with children.

Families making up to four times the poverty level ($88,200 for a family of four) would be eligible for tax credits to help them afford coverage. Taxpayers would have to report their health insurance coverage on their federal income tax returns and the penalty for not carrying insurance would be up to 75 percent of the premium for the lowest-cost health plan in the area where the person lives. (This is like Massachusetts has now)

Health insurance companies would have their premiums regulated, and allow workers to drop out of group health plans to seek a better deal on their own, but the employer would have to pay the premium amount into a "national health insurance exchange."

The feds would set minimum standards for what benefits health plans would offer, including physician services, hospital care and prescription medications. All health plans would have to offer four levels of coverage, ranging from lowest to high.

Most companies would be required to offer insurance to full-time employees, or else pay a special "excise" tax. The government would provide tax credits to small businesses with up to 25 employees. Businesses with the lowest-wage workers would get more aid. All of this great stuff to save money and it only is estimated to cost 1 trillion dollars - such a deal!

Running Healthy

Roger Bannister is the first man in history to run a mile in less than four minutes. On the magic day, May 6, 1954, Bannister almost scrapped the whole run. It was windy and he preferred to save his energy for another run when the wind wouldn’t ruin his time, but the winds died down and Roger consented to race. When the announcer took the mic to tell the excited stadium what the final time was, he purposely drew out the announcement as long as possible to tease the masses. When he finally said, “3. . .” the crowd went nuts and drowned out the rest of the result, which was 3:59.4.

He only held the record for six weeks. Aussie John Landy surpassed the sub-four-mile mark by just a sliver (3:57.9). On August 7 of the same year.

Bannister got his chance to win the title back when he and Landy faced off at the British Empire and Commonwealth Games. Although Landy led for the majority of the race, Bannister came up with his famous “Bannister Burst” in the last quarter of the race and sped past Landy to win. Landy ended up retaining the record anyway: they both came in at times slower than Landy’s previous 3:57.9. The current record of 3:43.13 was set by Hicham el Guerrouj of Morocco in 1999. Wow! 45 years and about 15 seconds faster.

May 8, 2009

Speaking of Bacon

You are more likely to die from a coconut falling on your head than from Swine Flu - Oh, I mean H1N1

The U.S. government and the World Health Organization are taking the swine out of "swine flu," but the experts who track the genetic heritage of the virus say this: If it is genetically mostly porcine and its parents are pig viruses, then it is swine flu.

Scientifically this is a swine virus. Six of the eight genetic segments of this virus strain are purely swine flu and the other two segments are bird and human, but have lived in swine for the past decade.

BTW - The US government is ditching the swine label because many people are afraid to eat pork and hurting the $97 billion US pork industry. The experts who point to the swine genetic origins of the virus agree that people can't get the disease from food or handling pork, even raw. Eat more bacon.

May 4, 2009

Iodine

Iodine was discovered in 1811 by accident by Bernard Courtois. He had a factory that produced saltpeter (potassium nitrate), which was a key ingredient in ammunition. He had figured out how to fatten his profits and get his saltpeter potassium for next to nothing by getting it from the seaweed that washed up daily on the shores. Iodine is plentiful in saltwater and concentrated in seaweed. All he had to do was collect it, burn it, and extract the potassium from the ashes.

One day, while his workers were cleaning the tanks used for extracting potassium, they accidentally used a stronger acid than usual and mysterious clouds billowed from the tank. When the smoke cleared, he noticed dark crystals on all the surfaces that had come into contact with the fumes.

When he had the crystals analyzed, they turned out to be a previously unknown element, which he named iodine, after the Greek word for “violet.” It was soon discovered that goiters, enlargements of the thyroid gland, were caused by a lack of iodine in the diet. That's why iodine is now added to table salt and goiters are mostly a thing of the past.

Artificial Legs

The picture is a twenty dollar prosthetic knee joint, developed by Stanford’s JaipurKnee Project team, during prototype testing last August. The knee joint was on display April 8, 2009 at the university.

The team studied the mechanics of high-end titanium knee joints in the US, which cost from $10,000 to $100,000. The team also surveyed the materials used to build cheap prosthetics for developing countries and designed a versatile knee joint made from an oil-filled nylon polymer. The self-lubricating joint has greater flexibility, demonstrating a much higher performance.

They fitted 43 of these joints to date in India, for field tests to improve the model. The plan is to produce 100,000 during the next few years. One more example of how healthcare does not have to be expensive.

Eyes

The term "it's all fun and games until someone loses an eye" is not from your mother. It is from ancient Rome, where the only rule during wrestling matches was no eye gouging. The only way to be disqualified was to poke someone's eyes out. And I thought my mother made that up.

Bananas

The banana fruit is a berry and does not grow on a tree, but actually grows on the world's largest herb and is a member of the lily family.

Scientists at the Texas A&M University's institute for biosciences and technology are working on ways to grow vaccines inside bananas.

Apr 2, 2009

Toilet Seat scale


Check this out. I think it is a bit odd, but some think it is a very neat idea.

More Bathroom Goodies



Here is a 2.4 GHZ wireless toothbrush camera. You can now inspect your teeth anywhere, just hook it to your computer and get a dentist's eye view of what is going on in your mouth. Might be good to help you find that nagging popcorn kernel. There is also a USB model with wires, but it is messy to use.

Mar 26, 2009

Toothbrush Fountain


Here is a novel idea from Amron Experimental.

This is a toothbrush that redirects water to your mouth so you don't need a glass or get your hands wet. They are cheap at $1.18. I bet the kids would love this. Of course my first test would be to see how far it would shoot.

Mar 18, 2009

Got Salt

Our bodies need salt to function, but an interesting tidbit many do not know is that salt stimulates a pleasant sensation in the brain, according to a new study by the University of Iowa. Salt deprivation is one of the symptoms associated with depression. There are many long and involved studies show the goodness of salt and overuse leading to other health problems. I'll leave them for another day.
Other things from salt - The salt shaker ministries in Kentucky, the word salary comes from the Greek word for salt, one of the four taste sensations is saltiness (along with sweet, bitter, and sour), Roman soldiers were paid in salt. Taking a dip in the Dead Sea is good for healing psoriasis.

(A fifth, less often mentioned taste sensation is Umami is a whole new sensual pleasure. It is a multidimensional taste sensation that is not only savory, brothy and mouth filling but actually interacts with the other taste receptors, think of MSG, and fermented fish sauces, such as Worcestershire. It is a powerful taste that we have known since we were a baby, yet its mysterious interaction with other taste receptors make it hard to describe.)

Old wives' tale - Salt does raise water's boiling point, but you would need a full ounce per quart to raise it one degree.

Sea salt and table salt have the same nutritional value, but taste different because of other chemicals. Sea salt has more calcium, magnesium, and potassium. Did you know table salt has iodine and additives that prevent it from caking, like it did in the old days? I am not ready to start salting my bacon, but I like salt, because it makes me feel good. Bottom line: just like many other things that make you feel good - use it, but don't abuse it.

Feb 20, 2009

Eyeglasses Using Water

Eyeglasses using a simple, self-adjusting technology are now poised to change the way the world's poor see and could aid billions of people. They are still a bit large, but the inventor is working on streamlined versions, and hopes to get the cost down to about $2 from the current $19, as manufacturing volume picks up. So far, about 30,000 pair have been sold or given away. Africa is the first target with one optician to each million people.

Early models look as if they might go well with a fake mustache. Thick Coke-bottle lenses sit in dark tortoiseshell frames flanked with a pair of syringes on either temple. By turning dials, the wearer pushes more or less fluid into the lenses, protected between two hard polycarbonate covers, until the prescription is perfect. The syringes can then be removed or left in place to allow continuing changes.

The U.S. Department of Defense is planning to buy and hand out 20,000 pairs of the glasses as humanitarian aid in Angola, Georgia, and other nations. I have seen some people wear worse looking glasses than these and they cost a heck of a lot more than nineteen bucks.