ppp 03-20-06

Quote of the day: The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds; and the pessimist fears this is true. James Branch Cabell (1879 - 1958), The Silver Stallion, 1926

    A man once was very impressed with the youthful spirit and perpetual optimism of his daughter but a bit discouraged by the absolute pessimism of her twin brother. To make them both “normal” a psychologist suggested putting the pessimist in a room full of the latest toys, and the optimist in a room of horse manure. That would make the one more optimistic and the other more realistic.
     After a couple of hours the psychologist went into the room full of toys. The pessimistic boy was crying because, “With all these new toys, I can’t decide which one to play with first, and when I do decide, I’ll probably break it.”
     The psychologist then went into the room full of horse manure. The optimistic girl was laughing and digging through the manure, The flabbergasted psychologist asked, “What are you doing?” The girl responded, “With all this manure, there has to be a pony here somewhere.”

In the Book of Job, the protagonist was originally a wealthy man in terms of family, riches and favor with God. The Devil believed that the only reason Job was righteous was because he had been given so much and asked for proof to the contrary. First Job had his sons and daughters taken away- he praised the Lord. His wealth was forfeit -still he kept faith. Finally, his health and well-being were shattered; finding himself in a mud-hole covered with sores and insects. His less-than-helpful wife said, "Just curse God and die." His 3 "friends" said that it was his sin that brought him down. Job rightly protested his innocence to his friends but accepted that "the Lord gives and the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord". As the story ended we see that all of Job's losses were restored and he had even greater wealth due to his constancy.

We all have our share of nasty, unpleasant things to deal with and can easily become overwhelmed. Sometime we feel "up to our necks in manure." Don't give up or give in. A positive attitude will see us through if we can just remember to say to ourselves, "There has to be a pony here somewhere!"

pps. Occasionally, some of the links require FREE registration.... I'm sure you can handle THAT slight inconvenience.

Eight hangover "cures" and why they may or may not help. One sure fire way to avoid a hangover is to use alcohol in moderation (I could be wrong… it is still in the "concept" phase). You do want to avoid using Tylenol (or its generic version) while you have alcohol in your system…or you can expect liver damage.

Evidence-based medical guidelines are used in only about 55% of patients regardless of insurance status. I would have guessed that it was a rationing issue but instead it appears to be an "educational" one. This pertains to drug and non-drug treatment guidelines.

Ontak (denileukin diftitox) found to cause loss of vision or changes in vision in some patients during post marketing follow-up. One of the reasons to report any suspected drug toxicity through MEDWATCH. With all drugs, just because it has never been reported before doesn't mean it wasn't the drug.

The death toll of adults due to RU-486 increased by 2 this week, The number of children killed rises with each use. Planned Parenthood says that they will change the way they use the drug so that only those they intend to kill will be.

Crestor study shows reversal of arterial clogging. This may not have been a double blind, randomized, cross over, blah-blah- blah study, but was met with applause at the medical meeting where it was presented. Watch Annals of Internal Medicine for April 5th for the actual publication. At least some evidence that the billions of dollars spent in this area may not have been completely wasted.

One "chop shop" did not adequately test and screen body parts it sold to transplant centers. Biggest worries are HIV and other communicable diseases. Biomedical Tissue Services has now been closed. Use MEDWATCH if you know of a recipient who came down with disease.

Last week we pointed out the report about patients sleep-driving while taking Ambien. This week I found one that discusses sleep-eating; patients wake up in the morning to find that food is missing and crumbs in the bed or food strewn about. Some have eaten buttered cigarettes or raw bacon. Appears that patients get up and BINGE without fully awakening. http://www.kstp.com/article/stories/S14842.html?cat=1

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