Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Vegetables fruits and Sea food

Vegetables fruits and Sea food

01. Apricots : Beta-carotene, which helps prevent free-radical damage and protect the eyes. The body also turns beta-carotene into vitamin A, which may help ward off some cancers, especially of the skin. One apricot has 17 calories, 0 fat, 1 gram of fiber. Snacks on them dried, or if you prefer fresh, buy when still firm; once they soften, they lose nutrients.
#. Avocados : Oleic acid, an unsaturated fat that helps lower overall cholesterol and raise levels of HDL, plus a good dose of fiber. One slice has 81 calories, 8 grams of fat and 3 grams of fiber. Try a few slices instead of mayonnaise to dress up your next burger.
#. Raspberries : Ellagic acid, which helps stall cancer-cell growth. These berries are also packed with vitamin C and are high in fiber, which helps prevent high cholesterol and heart disease. A cup has only 60 calories, 1 gram of fat and 8 grams of fiber. Top plain low-fat yogurt or oatmeal (another high fiber food) with fresh berries.
#. Cantaloupe : Vitamin C (117mg in half a melon, almost twice the recommended daily dose) and beta-carotene - both powerful antioxidants that help protect cells from free-radical damage. Plus, half a melon has 853mg of potassium - almost twice as much as a banana, which helps lower blood pressure. Half a melon has 97 calories, 1 gram of fat and 2 grams of fiber. Cut into cubes and freeze, then blend into an icy smoothie.
#. Cranberry Juice : Helps fight bladder infections by preventing harmful bacteria from growing. A cup has 144 calories, 0 grams of fat and 0 fiber. Buy 100 percent juice concentrate and use it to spice up your daily H20 without adding sugar.
#. Tomato :
Lycopene, one of the strongest carotenoids, acts as an antioxidant. Research shows that tomatoes may cut the risk of bladder, stomach and colon cancers in half if eaten daily. A tomato has 26 calories, 0 fat and 1 gram of fiber. Drizzle fresh slices with olive oil, because lycopene is best absorbed when eaten with a little fat.
#. Raisins : These little gems are a great source of iron, which helps the blood transport oxygen and which many women are short on. A half-cup has 218 calories, 0 fat and 3 grams of fiber. Sprinkle raisins on your morning oatmeal or bran cereal - women, consider this especially during your period.
#. Figs : A good source of potassium and fiber, figs also contain vitamin B6, which is responsible for producing mood-boosting serotonin, lowering cholesterol and preventing water retention. The Pill depletes B6, so if you use this method of birth control, make sure to get extra B6 in your diet. One fig has 37 to 48 calories, 0 fat and 2 grams of fiber. (Cookie lovers - fig bars have around 56 calories, 1 gram of fat and 1 gram of fiber per cookie). Fresh figs are delicious simmered alongside a pork tenderloin and the dried variety make a great portable gym snack.
#. Lemons/Limes : Limonene, furocoumarins and vitamin C, all of which help prevent cancer. A wedge has 2 calories, 0 fat and 0 fiber. Buy a few of each and squeeze over salads, fish, beans and vegetables for fat free flavor. See also: Beneficial Bytes: Lemons and Limes.
Vegetables
#. Onions :
Quercetin is one of the most powerful flavonoids (natural plant antioxidants). Studies show it helps protect against cancer. A cup (chopped) has 61 calories, 0 fat and 3 grams of fiber. Chop onions for the maximum phytonutrient boost, or if you hate to cry, roast them with a little olive oil and serve with rice or other vegetables.
#. Artichokes : These odd-looking vegetables contain silymarin, an antioxidant that helps prevent skin cancer, plus fiber to help control cholesterol. One medium artichoke has 60 calories, 0 fat and 7 grams of fiber. Steam over boiling water for 30 to 40 minutes. Squeeze lemon juice on top, then pluck the leaves off with your fingers and use your teeth to scrape off the rich-tasting skin. When you get to the heart, you have found the best part!
#. Ginger : Gingerols may help reduce queasiness; other compounds may help ward off migraines and arthritis pain by blocking inflammation-causing prostaglandins. A teaspoon of fresh gingerroot has only 1 calorie, 0 fat and 0 fiber. Peel the tough brown skin and slice or grate into a stir-fry.
#. Broccoli : Indole-3-carbinol and sulforaphane, which help protect against breast cancer. Broccoli also has lots of vitamin C and beta-carotene. One cup (chopped) has 25 calories, 0 fat and 3 grams of fiber. Don't overcook broccoli - instead, microwave or steam lightly to preserve phytonutrients. Squeeze fresh lemon on top for a zesty and taste, added nutrients and some vitamin C.
#. Spinach : Lutein and Zeaxanthin, carotenoids that help fend off muscular degeneration, a major cause of blindness in older people. Plus, studies show this green fountain of youth may help reverse some signs of aging. One cup has 7 calories, 0 fat and 1 gram of fiber. Add raw leaves to a salad or sauté with a little olive oil and garlic.
#. Bok Choy (Chinese Cabbage) : Brassinin, which some research suggests may help prevent breast tumors, plus indoles and isothiocyanates, which lower levels of estrogen, make this vegetable a double-barreled weapon against breast cancer. A cup will also give you 158mg of calcium (16 percent of your daily recommended requirement) to help beat osteoporosis. A cup (cooked) has 20 calories, 0 fat and 3 grams of fiber. Find it in your grocer's produce section or an Asian market. Slice the greens and juicy white stalks, then saute like spinach or toss into a stir-fry just before serving.
#. Squash (Butternut, Pumpkin, Acorn) : Winter squash has huge amounts of vitamin C and beta-carotene, which may help protect against endometrial cancer. One cup (cooked) has 80 calories, 1 gram of fat and 6 grams of fiber. Cut on in half, scoop out the seeds and bake or microwave until soft, then dust with cinnamon.
#. Watercress and Arugula : Phenethyl isothiocyanate, which, along with beta-carotene and vitamins C and E, may help keep cancer cells at bay. One cup has around 4 calories, 0 fat and 1 gram of fiber. Do not cook these leafy greens; instead, use them to garnish a sandwich or add a pungent, peppery taste to salad.
#. Garlic : The sulfur compounds that give garlic its pungent flavor can also lower LDL ("bad") cholesterol, lower blood pressure and even reduce your risk of stomach and colon cancer. A clove has 4 calories, 0 fat and 0 fiber. Bake a whole head for 15 to 20 minutes, until soft and sweet and spread on bread instead of butter.
Grains, Beans and Nuts.

#. Quinoa : A half cup of cooked quinoa has 5 grams of protein, more than any other grain, plus iron, riboflavin and magnesium. A half-cup has 318 calories, 5 grams of fat and 5 grams of fiber. Add to soup for a protein boost. Rinse first, or it will taste bitter.

#. Wheat Germ: A tablespoon gives you about 7 percent of your daily magnesium, which helps prevent muscle cramps; it is also a good source of vitamin E. One tablespoon has 27 calories, 1 gram of fat and 1 gram of fiber. Sprinkle some over yogurt, fruit or cereal.
#. Lentils : Isoflavones, which may inhibit estrogen-promoted breast cancers, plus fiber for heart health and an impressive 9 grams of protein per half cup. A half-cup (cooked) has 115 calories, 0 fat and 8 grams of fiber. Isoflavones hold up through processing, so buy lentils canned, dried or already in soup. Take them to work, and you will have a protein packed lunch.

#. Peanuts : Studies show that peanuts or other nuts (which contain mostly unsaturated "good" fat) can lower your heart-disease risk by over 20 percent. One ounce has 166 calories, 14 grams of fat and 2 grams of fiber. Keep a packet in your briefcase, gym bag or purse for a protein-packed post-workout nosh or an afternoon pick me up that will satisfy you until supper, or chop a few into a stir-fry for a Thai accent. See also: The Nut Case

#. Pinto Beans : A half cup has more than 25 percent of your daily requirement of folate, which helps protect against heart disease and reduces the risk of birth defects. A half-cup (canned) has 103 calories, 1 gram of fat and 6 grams of fiber. Drain a can, rinse and toss into a pot of vegetarian chili.

#. Yogurt : Bacteria in active-culture yogurt helps prevent yeast infections; calcium strengthens bones. A cup has 155 calories, 4 grams of fat, 0 grams of fiber. Get the plain kind and mix in your own fruit to keep calories and sugar down. If you are lactose intolerant, never fear -- yogurt should not bother your tummy.
#. Skim Milk : Riboflavin (a.k.a. vitamin B2) is important for good vision and along with vitamin A might help improve eczema and allergies. Plus, you get calcium and vitamin D, too. One cup has 86 calories, 0 fat and 0 fiber. If you are used to high fat milk, don't go cold turkey; instead, mix the two together at first. Trust this fact: In a week or two you won't miss it!

Seafood

#. Shellfish (Clams, Mussels) The Power: Vitamin B12 to support nerve and brain function, plus iron and hard-to-get minerals like magnesium and potassium. Three ounces has 126 to 146 calories, 2 to 4 grams of fat and 0 fiber. Try a bowl of tomato-based (and low fat) Manhattan clam chowder.
#. Salmon : Cold-water fish like salmon, mackerel and tuna are the best sources of omega-3 fatty acids, which help reduce the risk of cardiac disease. A 3-ounce portion (cooked) has 127 calories, 4 grams of fat, 0 fiber. Brush fillets with ginger-soy marinade and grill or broil until fish flakes easily with a fork.
#. Crab : A great source of vitamin B12 and immunity-boosting zinc. A 3-ounce portion has 84 calories, 1 gram of fat, 0 fiber. The "crab" in sushi is usually made from fish; buy it canned instead and make your own crab cakes. See also: Fish and Seafood Recipes .

Health and Fitness

All those models may appear damn gorgeous, but very few know the factor behind those killer looks. Obviously to look beautiful, one needs to be in perfect shape; but one more thing contributing to that perfection is the right make-up. An average looking face can be made pretty by using correct make-up. Coming to the technical part, make-up is a sub-set of cosmetics and refers mainly to the colored products which are used to change the user's appearance. In today's world when there are ample of make-up products in the markets, it becomes difficult for a person to choose the right ones. Read make-up guide further to gather more information about make-up, its types and variation ideas.
#Understand Your Skin Type :- The first key to make-up is, understanding your skin type. People with different skin types require different type of make-up. Say, a woman having oily skin could not afford glossy make-up. Likewise, a girl with dry skin cannot use matt-finish make-up. However, a person with normal skin can experiment with any type of make-up. If you know your skin-type, it would be much easier for you to buy the right make-up products.
# Check Out The Make-Up Products :- As mentioned, markets are loaded with beauty products. Some of the make-up products for lips are lipstick, lip gloss, lip liner, lip plumper, lip balm, lip conditioner, and lip booster; for face are foundation, powder, rouge, blush or blusher, bronzer, and concealer; for eyes are mascara and lash extender, lash conditioner, eye liner, eye shadow, eye shimmer, and glitter eye pencils, eyebrow pencils, creams, waxes, gels and powders; for nails are nail polish, etc. Choose the products about to your requirements and skin type.
# Types of Make-Up - To Know What Suits You The Best :- Some people prefer to have natural look, while some wanted to have those stunning looks. It is a matter of choice that's for sure. For a sun-kissed look, women use more of bronzer and shimmers. However, makeup in the form of gel is usually used to impart wet-look. Women, who want to look beautiful at all times, get permanent make-up done which is actually a type of cosmetic surgery. However, ladies, who prefer natural look, opt for organic mineral make-up which contains mineral pigments and organic plant extracts, oils and waxes. Organic make-up is definitely good as it doesn't cause any harm to the skin or other body parts.
# Make-Up According To Occasions :- Every time you cannot afford to look like a princess. According to the occasion and time, you must make variations in your make-up. Say, on a hot summery day, glossy make-up or dark shades won't make you appealing to the onlooker. At that time, it would be better to use mild shades and sober make-up. For a social gathering, you must do make-up according to your attire and party-mood. Perhaps it is always better to use softer shades in summers; however dark shades appear okay at night. Likewise, dark shades and glossy make-up appear nice in winters. On daily basis, women like to do minimal make-up which is easy to apply, making them look naturally good.

Home treatment and beauty tips






Everyone wants to look their best and as beautiful as they can. Many of us spend a lot of money on branded beauty products and on numerous visits to the beauty parlor. There are a number of simple beauty treatments that we can use with things that are easily available in our homes. Here are a few home beauty tips that you can try using things from the kitchen without any extra cost.
# To remove puffiness from the eyelids, massage a drop of very fresh castor oil on to them.
# To cool your eyes, make eye pads using thick slices of cucumber. Another option is to use cotton pads soaked in cold milk. Lie down and place them on your closed eyes and relax for a while.
# Putting a drop of rose water into each eye just before you sleep can also refresh you eyes.
To prevent your lips from chapping, use hot water fermentation on your lips and then apply a mixture of vaseline and honey. Apply this mixture about three times a week.
# To prevent your lips from drying you can use a ground mixture or rose petals and milk butter.
To delay age spots on your hand, use a piece of lemon and rub all over your hand, before washing. This will delay onset of age-spots.
# If you have no time to shampoo your hair before going out, then brush 1 tablespoon of talcum powder or corn flour through your hair. Try this out first when you are not in hurry to make sure that it works the way you want.
# To prevent hair loss you should have a biotin rich drink. Blend bananas with honey, yogurt and low fat milk. Drink this for a few weeks.
# While blow drying and setting your hair, blow-dry at hot on the roots of the hair. Roll your hair inwards or outwards at the ends. To improve the setting make sure the ends are evenly rolled in or rolled out. Heat the hair for a second and then let it cool. This process of setting the hair will last longer and make your hair look beautiful.
# To condition your hair, after shampooing your hair take some conditioner on your palm and rub it with both hands. Apply from the hair shaft moving downwards. Do not apply on your scalp. Rinse your hair after 5 minutes.
# To add extra shine and glow to your hair add 2 tablespoons of malt vinegar. Use it as a last rinse and towel dry your hair.

Beauty and Style

Basic Skin Care:-Healthy and supple skin is not so much of a dream if you take proper precautions and pay attention to your diet and exercise. Balanced diet, hydration and protecting from sun and wind should be a part of your daily regimen. Here are the four basic steps to skin care that are mandatory and cannot be skipped on any account, if you want a naturally glowing skin. It is important that you use the products according to your skin type. You have to pay attention to the order of the steps too.
1. Cleansing The Skin Cleansing is quite essential to avoid acnes and other skin problems. Wash your skin often using a mild face wash and wipe off with a clean washcloth. It is quite important to get rid of any impurities such as dirt particles and makeup before going to sleep so that your skin can breathe properly at night. Use mild cleanser at least twice a day but make sure that it rinses away easily, does not cause skin irritation and do not wash away natural oils too.
2. Toning The Skin :- Toners not only cleanse the skin further and help in removing any remnants of particles that you may have left behind but also cools, nourishes, hydrates and freshens up your skin. It tightens up skin and close up any skin pores that may have opened up while deep cleansing the face. Toners must be alcohol-free as alcohol dries off skin.
3. Exfoliating The Skin :-Exfoliants remove dead cells from the skin, rejuvenate the skin and eliminate fine lines and wrinkles from the face. The younger skin that surfaces after exfoliation naturally looks more beautiful and glowing. These products usually have alpha or beta hydroxy acids to quicken up the process but do avoid the ones that are granular as they tend to damage the new skin too that is much more sensitive than the mature layer that it digests.
4. Moisturizing The Skin Like our body, our skin also needs hydration and proper nutrients to keep it healthy. So, treat it with a good moisturizer and a broad-spectrum sunscreen with more than SPF 15 daily and night cream daily that helps the skin to balance and restores any damage that might have occurred to it overnight.
Beach BeautyToo much exposure to the sun on beach may cause under-eye skin crinkles, blackheads and acne on nose, cold lip sores, red and scaly temples and broken blood vessels. To avoid these unwanted signs of old age
Beautiful EyebrowsPerfect eyebrows almost transcend the beauty of the face and make an immediate visible impact in a makeover session. The most coveted eyebrow shape is the one that starts directly above the inner corner of the eye
Essential OilsEssential oils have been part of cosmetics for men and ladies alike for thousands of years. Their exotic aromas were enough to win them favors amongst the humankind and when it was revealed that the aromas make a significant difference to the status of our health
Eyebrow WaxingOne of the easiest ways to get rid of the extra hair around your brow line, waxing is definitely note for those with very sensitive skin. It is more expensive than plucking your eyebrows but lasts longer too.
Facial Skin CareDaily skin & facial care makes us look more charming and beautiful. By following some easy tips, you can look younger and more beautiful without spending too much of extra time and money.
Frugal BeautyYou don't have to spend big bucks to get beauty treatments commercially. A little care at home can help you to attain that glamorous finished look at home, quite frugally. For a hydrating treatment for your hands while doing your dishes in the kitchen
Herbal BeautyExternal impurities and internal toxins are the worst enemies of our body and skin and herbal beauty products and detoxification remedies help us not only to get rid of them but also provide additional nutrients to the body.
Tweezing BrowsWell-plucked eyebrows make you appear more groomed than any thing else. Today it is a trend to get eyebrows tweezed or threaded professionally in eyebrow boutiques, which are very expensive.

Monday, June 29, 2009

UK's National Programme for IT in the NHS Known Doomed at Outset?

It would seem likely.

In May 2009 at "The Machinery Behind Healthcare Reform: How the HIT Lobby is Pushing Experimental and Unsafe Technology on Unconsented Patients and Clinicians" I wrote:
... I can add that if this initiative [the U.S. multibillion dollar ARRA push towards national healthcare IT by 2014] blows up as it has in the UK, then the only triumph will be the financial triumph of the trade group and its apparatchiks. The losers will be the administration, patients, clinicians, and everyone else in the healthcare system.

The UK situation is much worse than I thought. The UK's NPfIT in the NHS was suspected to have been doomed from the start, but proceeded anyway; see "16 key points in Gateway Reviews on NHS IT scheme" and the secretive Gateway Reviews themselves upon which the preceding article was based, released under UK Freedom Of Information laws. From ComputerWeekly.com author Tony Collins on Gateway Reviews:

... Gateway reviews are mini-audits at critical stages in projects. The reports in question gave a red, amber or green status at each stage to help the project’s senior responsible owner decide whether to move to the next phase.

The government’s policy on Gateway reviews is to keep them confidential. All copies of a review are shredded, with the supporting material, to ensure only two reports remain – one for the Treasury’s Office of Government Commerce (OGC) and the other for the project’s senior responsible owner.


Highlights of the secretive health IT program reviews, now made public:

  • the NPfIT was probably doomed from the start, in Spring 2002. As one Gateway Review put it, many dedicated people were working hard on building the components for a car that hadn't been designed. To some extent that's still true today.
  • people didn't really know what they were doing in the first critical months in 2002
  • the initial plan was for new IT - not for changes to the way people work. So the preoccupation was with IT and not patients. It was hoped that new IT would drive change. But that rarely if ever succeeds.
  • that the costs and complexity were initially underestimated - by about £7bn - because nobody had an understanding of what was needed.
  • that speed was unduly important. One gateway review suggested that key staff didn't have time to take action on recommendations or learn lessons.
  • the programme as a whole, according to one Gateway Review, was not assessed against a list of Common Causes of Failure, as published by the National Audit Office. Only individual projects were assessed against the list.

How many of these findings apply in the U.S. Health IT program in 2009?

Finally, about the aforementioned May 2009 post, Matthew Holt of the Healthcare Blog wrote that I had "gone loopy", i.e., crazy (see footnote to the above-linked May 2009 post). The Chairman of CCHIT Mark Leavitt wrote that concerns about health IT are expressed by "fearmongers" and should be "laughed off."

These cavalier attitudes are a major part of what has gone wrong in HIT, as well as our society more generally.

Not to draw a specific comparison with these individuals, but our society is crumbling, and it's in no small part due to clowns in leadership roles, rather than as performers in Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey's Greatest Show on Earth.



According to Matthew Holt and Mark Leavitt, Health IT concerns are a laughing matter, expressed by crazy people.


I (and many like minded colleagues) don't find healthcare information technology issues a laughing matter, however.

Why Did US Physicians Give Up Their Ability to Enforce Their Own Professional Standards?

In his recent review of Dr Ezekiel Emanuel's book, (Healthcare, Guaranteed: A Simple, Secure Solution for America,) Dr Arnold Relman, Editor-Emeritus of the New England Journal of Medicine, discussed the history of the deprofessionalization of American physicians.




The behavior of US physicians has been changed by the commercialization of medical care, and this too has increased costs. US medical practice has traditionally relied on fee-for-service, which has always given it some of the attributes and incentives of a business. However, the American Medical Association (AMA) maintained for many years that medical practice was a profession, not a business. The AMA's ethical guidelines therefore advised physicians to limit their income to reasonable earnings from the care of patients, and to refrain from advertising and from entering financial arrangements with drug and device manufacturers. Those restrictions were lifted after the US Supreme Court decided in 1975 that lawyers, and by extension members of other professions, including physicians, are engaged in interstate commerce and therefore must be subject to antitrust law (from which they had largely been exempt).(1)

This decision had an enormous effect on the medical profession, but its consequences have received relatively little public attention. Although the courts did not initiate the commercialization of medicine, they certainly accelerated it and gave it legal justification. In 1980, after medical organizations lost some costly antitrust trials, in which they were accused of such offenses as limiting doctor fees or denying staff privileges, the AMA changed its ethical guidelines, declaring medicine to be both a business and a profession. This lowered the AMA's barriers to the commercialization of medical practice, allowing physicians to participate in any legal profit-making business arrangement that did not harm patients.

Nearly a half-century ago, Stanford economics professor Kenneth Arrow, later a Nobel laureate, convincingly argued that medical care cannot conform to market laws because patients are not ordinary consumers and doctors are not ordinary vendors. He said that sick or injured patients must rely on physicians in ways fundamentally different from the price-driven relation between buyers and sellers in an ordinary market. This argument implied that, contrary to the assumptions of antitrust law, market competition among physicians cannot be expected to lower medical prices. And since physicians influence decisions to use medical services far more than patients do, the volume and types of services provided to patients—and hence total health costs—need to be controlled by forces other than the market, such as professional standards and government regulation. But Arrow's argument was largely ignored in the rush to exploit health care for commercial purposes that ensued after the passage of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965.(2)


Writing about the decline of physicians' professionalism in 2007 [ Relman AS. Medical professionalism in a commercialized health care market. JAMA 2007; 298: 2668-2670. [link here) ], Dr Relman had briefly alluded to the effect of the 1975 Supreme Court decision, (see our post here):



The law also has played a major role in the decline of medical professionalism. The 1975 Supreme Court ruling that the professions were not protected from anti-trust law undermined the traditional restraint that medical professional societies had always placed on the commercial behavior of physicians, such as advertising and investing in the products they prescribe or facilities they recommend. Having lost some initial legal battles and fearing the financial costs of losing more, organized medicine now hesitates to require physicians to behave differently from business people. It asks only that physicians' business activities should be legal, disclosed to patients, and not inconsistent with patients' interests. Until forced by anti-trust concerns to change its ethical code in 1980, the American Medical Association had held that 'in the practice of medicine a physician should limit the source of his professional income to medical services actually rendered by him, or under his supervision, to his patients' and that 'the practice of medicine should not be commercialized, nor treated as a commodity in trade.' These sentiments reflecting the spirit of professionalism are now gone.


It seems to me that Dr Relman has elucidated one of the "missing links" that help explain the current sorry state of physicians' core values, and the broader continuing health care crisis. I am amazed that this bit of history seems to have been so thoroughly forgotten. Dr Relman did write about it before 2007, but in publications that few physicians and other health care professionals were likely to see. Other than Dr Relman, almost no one writing in the medical and health care literature seems to have interest in this issue. (It has been discussed in the Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law, and the Stanford Law Review by M. Gregg Bloche, but these unfortunately also could have easily been missed by nearly all physicians and health care professionals.) So we have another example of the anechoic effect.

Yet in my humble opinion, every physician and health care professional ought to know that the profession once foreswore the commercialization of medical practice, but gave up on its ability to police its own conflicts of interest after the US Supreme Court decided that professionals are subject to anti-trust law.

But knowing this important bit of history raises more questions than it answers:


  • The Supreme Court decision apparently involved interpretation of law, not the constitution. Therefore, why didn't organized medicine pursue a change in the law that would allow physicians to continue to enforce their traditional professional values?
  • The Supreme Court decision was primarily directed at lawyers, not physicians. Since the decision, to my knowledge, the law profession has maintained strict rules about conflicts of interest. (For example, no legal CME is sponsored by corporations whose products they seek to have the attendees favor.) Why did the decision wreck physicians' but not lawyers' abilities to regulate their own conflicts of interest?
  • The Supreme Court decision only affects US law. Why have physicians in other countries also abandoned their traditional values about commercial entanglements?
  • Why did this application of US antitrust law have such significant effects during an era when antitrust enforcement in health care was generally declining? (Insurance companies and hospitals that dominate local markets have not feared antitrust enforcement.)
  • Why did only Dr Relman and Prof Bloche seem to care about this up to now?


Inquiring minds want to know.... And answering these questions might bring us back on the path of true medical professionalism.

Hat tip to Merrill Goozner in the GoozNews blog.

References (from Relman)

1. Goldfarb v. Virginia State Bar, 421 U.S. 773 (1975).

2. Kenneth J. Arrow, "Uncertainty and the Welfare Economics of Medical Care," The American Economic Review, Vol. 53, No. 5 (December 1963).

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Just a reminder that we've moved

I continue to keep this blog up for various reasons (it still turns up in internet searches, and some posts at the new place link back here), but if you want to see the new content, please come over to the WordPress location. From time to time I may post links over here, but my ability to do that has been very limited as of late.

Health Benefits of Beard and Moustache

And now, a quote from Dr. Ruddock, “The beard and the moustache should be permitted to grow as they afford an excellent protection to the delicate organs of the voice of those in whom it is subjected to undue or irregular exercise. After a public address, the tissues in the vicinity of the throat become relaxed and on leaving the place of assembly and entering the open air, inflammatory action commences, and if repeated, chronic affections of the throat and bronchial tubes are often induced; but the unshorn natural respirator, which our Maker intended to be one of the distinguishing features of the male seed, effectively protects these important parts. The hair planted on the human face by the wisdom and goodness of our Creator, has its uses, and we may add, its beauties. Let the young man, therefore, never become a slave to the false and pernicious fashion which compels him to shave off the beard, as it is found contributory to the health, if not the personal improvement, of those who wear it."


recommended growth of beard and moustache not only for prevention of sore throat and hoarseness of voice, but for avoiding bronchitis as well.


According to him, the beard and moustache are a .kind of a natural respirator, the shaving off of which is a frequent cause of acute and chronic bronchitis. Can we doubt the wisdom and beneficence of the Creator in giving this ornament to the man, who is so frequently exposed to atmospheric vicissitudes, and withholding it from the woman, who as the keeper at home, requires no such appendage? Hair is an imperfect conductor of both heat and cold and placed round the entrance to the nose and lungs and acts as a blanket, which promotes warmth in cold weather and prevents the dissolving of ice in hot weather. In many instances, the hirsute appendages would protect lawyers, clergymen or other public speakers and singers from the injurious effects of rapid variations of the atmosphere from which professional men so often suffer.




Wednesday, June 24, 2009

You really need to call yourself to action

















Ever wonder why we have so many packaged lies on the grocery store shelves and vegetables and fruits have no one to march a campaign for them? Me too--here is my second article on my new campaign to allow our choices to be healthy choices!

FDA to Approve the Highest Bidder:


The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act requires animal feed, like human foods, to:

  • · Be pure and wholesome
  • · Contain no harmful substances
This was sent to me in a recent newsletter update from the FDA in regards to the safety of pet food. I was immediately tickled by the idea of the FDA saying food sold for animals is required to be pure and wholesome, just as they dictate that food for humans also be pure and wholesome. Webster defines the word pure as- "being unmixed with any other matter—free from what pollutes". If that made you laugh, then you will love how Webster defines the word wholesome- "providing health of mind and body". So, the FDA states that they require food to be unmixed with any other matter and provide health to the mind and the body. Despite these regulations the FDA is said to require, we are becoming more and more aware of the dangers in our foods today.

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