Research & Rescue

Talk about taking a different perspective...

I kind of knew what was coming here but this woman is still amazing to be able to take the view she did on her situation.

Mechanically separated chicken

Udpate: dangerousmeta! has kindly informed me that Snopes picked up on this and has marked it with half true and half false. You can read their assessment here: http://bit.ly/cUSZNV

You know, I love fried chicken stuff but if you aren't totally grossed out by this, there is something wrong with you. According to Early Onset of the Night, the eyes and guts of the chicken are extruded along with everything else. Then they wash it in ammonia to kill the bacteria. If you'll excuse me, I need to go be ill now....

via early-onset-of-night.tumblr.com

Good bosses tune in to their people

A word from a great consulting firm:

Bosses matter. They matter because more than 95 percent of all people in the workforce have bosses, are bosses, or both. They matter because they set the tone for their followers and organizations. And they matter because many studies show that for more than 75 percent of employees, dealing with their immediate boss is the most stressful part of the job. Lousy bosses can kill you—literally. A 2009 Swedish study tracking 3,122 men for ten years found that those with bad bosses suffered 20 to 40 percent more heart attacks than those with good bosses.

via www.mckinseyquarterly.com

How to breathe

And you thought you knew how! From Tuesday's UK Daily Telegraph....

It is our life force, so it’s no wonder “a breath of fresh air” has come to mean relief. But are we harnessing it the way we were designed to?

Breathing “properly” and to our full potential is not only good for our overall wellbeing, it’s increasingly seen as having a key role in alleviating all sorts of modern ailments, from anxiety to exhaustion.

Increased awareness and control over our breathing mechanism, and using our lungs to their full capacity, can lead to all sorts of benefits – from pain and stress relief to improved energy levels, enhanced athletic performance and singing ability, and even gaining control over a stutter.

Keep breathing and keep reading at www.telegraph.co.uk

iHelp for Autism

Interesting research reported in the San Francisco Weekly about emerging research on the use of iPads in the therapy of autistic children...

Since the iPad's unveiling in April, autism experts and parents have brought it into countless homes and classrooms around the world. Developers have begun pumping out applications specifically designed for users with special needs, and initial studies are already measuring the effectiveness of the iPod Touch and the iPad as learning tools for children with autism. Through the devices, some of these children have been able to communicate their thoughts to adults for the first time. Others have learned life skills that had eluded them for years.

Though there are other computers designed for children with autism, a growing number of experts say that the iPad is better. It's cheaper, faster, more versatile, more user-friendly, more portable, more engaging, and infinitely cooler for young people. "I just couldn't imagine not introducing this to a parent of a child who has autism," says Tammy Mastropietro, a speech pathologist based outside Boston who uses the technology with numerous clients. She sees it as a game changer for those with autism, particularly those most severely affected.

Read the entire piece (6 pages) at www.sfweekly.com

Video: Matt Ridley: When ideas have sex

Matt Ridley, author of The Rational Optimist website (and numerous books), presented at TED Global this year. The whole video is worth watching, of course, but I really like the [slightly out of context] quote below.

We've gone beyond the capacity of the human mind to an extraordinary degree. And by the way, that's one of the reasons that I'm not interested in the debate about I.Q., about whether some groups have higher I.Q.s that other groups. It's completely irrelevant. What's relevant to a society is how well people are communicating their ideas, and how well they're cooperating, not how clever their individuals are.

via www.ted.com

 

Do statins really work?

I have a bunch of friends on statins and I have often wondered if they're being over-prescribed. Interesting article in the LA Times indicating others questioning, as well....

As the world's most-prescribed class of medications, statins indisputably qualify for the commercial distinction of "blockbuster." About 24 million Americans take the drugs — marketed under such commercial names as Pravachol, Mevacor, Lipitor, Zocor and Crestor — largely to stave off heart attacks and strokes.

At the zenith of their profitability, these medications raked in $26.2 billion a year for their manufacturers. The introduction in recent years of cheaper generic versions may have begun to cut into sales revenues for the brand-name drugs that came first to the market, but better prices have only fueled the medications' use: In 2009, U.S. patients filled 201.4 million prescriptions for statins, according to IMS Health, which tracks prescription drug trends. That's nearly double the number of prescriptions written for statins in 2001, four years after they arrived on the American pharmaceutical landscape.

But in recent months the drugs' touted medical reputation has come under tough scrutiny.

Read the rest at www.latimes.com

Spinal-Fluid Test for Predicting Alzheimer’s

Researchers report that a spinal fluid test can be 100 percent accurate in identifying patients with significant memory loss who are on their way to developing Alzheimer’s disease.

Multimedia

Interactive Feature

Although there has been increasing evidence of the value of this and other tests in finding signs of Alzheimer’s, the study, which will appear Tuesday in the Archives of Neurology, shows how accurate they can be. The new result is one of a number of remarkable recent findings about Alzheimer’s.

After decades when nothing much seemed to be happening, when this progressive brain disease seemed untreatable and when its diagnosis could be confirmed only at autopsy, the field has suddenly woken up.

Read the rest at www.nytimes.com

Action Alert TODAY (8/2/10): NM is depending on more Medicaid funding

From Lutheran Advocate Ministry NM -

Please call both Sen. Jeff Bingaman & Sen. Tom Udall as well as your congressman this morning.  Urge them to support the extension of the federal stimulus funding for New Mexico's Medicaid program.  

Unless Congress acts, New Mexico will not receive $160 million in federal funds to support our Medicaid program for this state fiscal year.  About 500,000 New Mexicans depend on health care provided through Medicaid.  If this federal funding is not approved by Congress, deep cuts may be made to this essential program.

Phone today and urge your Senators and your congressman to support the extension of federal stimulus funds for Medicaid.

 

Sen. Jeff Bingaman -- 202-224-5521

Sen. Tom Udall -- 202-224-6621

Rep. Martin Heinrich (CD 1) -- 202-225-6316

Rep. Harry Teague (CD 2) -- 202-225-2365

Rep. Ben Ray Lujan (CD 3) -- 202-225-6190

Super Sexy Abdominal Thrusts

I'm probably really going to skew my hit rate by posting it but it's too good to pass up. Thanks to Decisions for Heroes - developers of a fine rescue team software package - for sharing!