My personal thanks to the doctor and medical student who spoke up on our behalf. Shame on our Canadian government. Shame on us Canadians that we are not more aware of this problem. Canadians are BETTER than the actions of our current government in power!
According to the YouTube clip info, the names of the doctor and medical student speaking up are Chris Keefer and Faria Kamal respectively. I applaud Chris and Faria’s brave protest, risking retribution from the Harper government and their hospital administration.
Shocking research and reports. Brian Deer has done a great job in uncovering the truth about this autism-vaccine scare scandal. Unfortunately, what we learn here should serve as a serious warning for journalists or general public when we read medical news/research to be a little bit skeptical, even when the researches are published in supposedly “authoritative” medical journals like The Lancet.
“The journal [Lancet], meanwhile, took 12 years to retract the paper, by which time its mischief had been exported. As parents’ confidence slowly returned in Britain, the scare took off around the world, unleashing fear, guilt, and infectious diseases—and fuelling suspicion of vaccines in general.“
“A surgical procedure pioneered by Calgary researchers that uses a revolutionary superglue can improve the recovery of heart patients recovering from open-chest surgery, the Canadian Cardiovascular Society reports.
The glue, dubbed Kryptonite, is being used to enhance the closure of the breastbone after surgery and perhaps one day, to take the place of steel wire that is traditionally used to close up the bone.
Dr. Paul Fedak, a cardiac surgeon at the Libin Cardiovascular Institute of Alberta at Foothills Hospital Medical Centre, says the new superglue has properties like natural bone and allows for new bone growth. It also hardens quickly. Doctors say that within 24 hours, it is as hard as natural bone.Read the rest of this entry »
I had a lot of unexpected fun and gained much insight (FDA-approved clinical trials, drugs vs placebo, etc) from watching the internationally widely acclaimed documentary Orgasm Inc by director Liz Canner. And I was fortunate to be able to arrange an interview with Liz to talk about her doc and issues raised by her film.
Now, before I start discussing some serious issues, I want to say Orgasm Inc. is “upbeat, engaging, enlightening, and provocative” and indeed will ”change the way you think about sex.” In short, the film is fun (pronselection for medical study) and thoughtful at the same time, so don’t let the seriousness in the following discussion scare you from watching Orgasm Inc.
- The claim of “43% of American women experienced sexual dysfunction“
In the film, Liz dug deep and discovered the origin of the “43% of American women experienced sexual dysfunction” claim was from the article “Sexual Dysfunction in the United States: Prevalence and Predictors” (JAMA 1999). Problems with the widely publicized “43%” claim, as Liz explained in the film and the above interview, include:
* the 1999 study was based on extremely liberal interpretation of sociological survey conducted in the early 90s. In fact, a woman answering “yes” to thesequestions will qualify her as “sexual dysfunction“.
* the authors’ financial ties with the drugs companies. (originally undisclosed when the article was first published)
- The Berman Sisters and other “experts” in the media
I am now more cautious when I see “experts” speaking on TV in advance of drugs launches, the public need to know drug companies often spend millions to promote drugs. For example, P&G spending $100 million to advertise a drug can be powerful and influential enough to create the need for the drugs when people are not really “sick” and don’t really need the drugs.
It seems wrong to me that “medical experts” are permitted to be much less careful on TV speaking to the general public, declaring their “beliefs” of the benefits of certain medications when the drug companies’ own FDA approved researches have clearly failed to prove the benefits in a scientifically significant manner.
Quoting Wikipedia, “Off-label use is the practice of prescribing pharmaceuticals for an unapproved indication.” I now am much better aware of the potential danger of off-label use which may not be work to the benefit of the patients.
- Medical ethics
In some way, Orgasm Inc expose the lack of medical ethics in our society. In an age where drugs are billion dollars businesses, there are many doctors, “experts”, TV/showbiz personalities who are willing to do and say things for money. So it is very important for the public to be careful to not blindly trust anyone.
I first read about medical ethics in Dr. A. J. Cronin‘s classic novel “The Citadel” and I am saddened to see there are enough “doctors” today willing to bend or disregard their medical ethics in order to make money.
In the shocking and hilarious documentary ORGASM INC., filmmaker Liz Canner takes a job editing erotic videos for a drug trial for a pharmaceutical company. Her employer is developing what they hope will be the first Viagra drug for women that wins FDA approval to treat a new disease: Female Sexual Dysfunction (FSD). Liz gains permission to film the company for her own documentary. Initially, she plans to create a movie about science and pleasure but she soon begins to suspect that her employer, along with a cadre of other medical companies, might be trying to take advantage of women (and potentially endanger their health) in pursuit of billion dollar profits. ORGASM INC. is a powerful look inside the medical industry and the marketing campaigns that are literally and figuratively reshaping our everyday lives around health, illness, desire — and that ultimate moment: orgasm.
Upbeat, engaging, enlightening, and provocative, ORGASM INC. will change the way you think about sex.
If you haven’t seen the documentary “Orgasm Inc. – The Strange Science of Female Pleasure“, I highly recommend you go get a copy and watch it. I very much agree with the claim in the sysnopsis that Orgasm Inc. is “upbeat, engaging, enlightening, and provocative” and indeed it will ”change the way you think about sex.“
If you live in Calgary or anywhere in Canada, you can actually watch the full Orgasm Inc. documentary online at CBC The Passionate Eye. (Other countries may have similar arrangement, check Orgasm Inc for more info.) See my previous entry about the film and director Liz Canner. [Oct 6th Update: I have just interviewed Liz to talk about her film and updates about issues discussed in the film. I will post my interview with Liz later. Stay tune.]
“Extraordinary behind-the-scenes access reveals a drug company’s fevered race to develop the first FDA-approved Viagra for women – and offers a humorous but sobering look inside the cash-fueled pharmaceutical industry.”– Hot Docs Film Festival
“In the shocking and hilarious documentary ORGASM INC., filmmaker Liz Canner takes a job editing erotic videos for a drug trial for a pharmaceutical company. Her employer is developing what they hope will be the first Viagra drug for women that wins FDA approval to treat a new disease: Female Sexual Dysfunction (FSD). Liz gains permission to film the company for her own documentary. Initially, she plans to create a movie about science and pleasure but she soon begins to suspect that her employer, along with a cadre of other medical companies, might be trying to take advantage of women (and potentially endanger their health) in pursuit of billion dollar profits. ORGASM INC. is a powerful look inside the medical industry and the marketing campaigns that are literally and figuratively reshaping our everyday lives around health, illness, desire — and that ultimate moment: orgasm.
Upbeat, engaging, enlightening, and provocative,
ORGASM INC. will change the way you think about sex.”
Have a watch of Liz Canner‘s, director of documentary Orgasm Inc., insightful and interesting talk at ideaCity10. I am glad that I am starting to discover some interesting ideaCity talks.
DAVOS, Switzerland — Bill and Melinda Gates announced today that their foundation will commit $10 billion over the next 10 years to help research, develop and deliver vaccines for the world’s poorest countries.The Gateses said that increased investment in vaccines by governments and the private sector could help developing countries dramatically reduce child mortality by the end of the decade, and they called for others to help fill critical financing gaps in both research funding and childhood immunization programs.
“We must make this the decade of vaccines,” said Bill Gates. “Vaccines already save and improve millions of lives in developing countries. Innovation will make it possible to save more children than ever before.”
Listen to the many insightful examples and stories Melinda Gates told at the press conference. Very inspiring stuff!
Banking service can be provided to the poorest people in the world. Melinda gave an example in Malawi. An organization the foundation supports taking a large truck into a rural area (a mobile banking unit), giving them ways to safely save their money (so money are not stolen or literally being eaten by rats). Scanning people’s finger prints, giving them a smart card so they can access their money. The mobile unit goes out to the village twice a week and people line up to deposit their money (200 Kwacha which is US$1.40). When the time school fees are to be paid, the people then have the money to pay their child’s school fees to send them to school.
The subject matter of mental health is never one easy to handle and handle well. Director Kazuhiro Soda’s documentary Mental was not only engaging and insightful, it is also a personal film for Soda to make.
The following time codes and descriptions will give you a quick way to revisit a topic that you want to see again.
Time Codes for Part 1
0:00 Did Soda expect “Mental” to be an award-winning film and be so successful in Japan when he finished the film?
1:28 Why is the film a personal film for Soda and him sharing his personal experience with mental illness.
2:25 People suffering from mental illness in Japan and in the modern world.
4:05 The process of getting permission to shoot in the clinic. And the patients’ reactions.
5:14 Feeling very responsible for the people’s images and futures.
5:40 Talking about the sensitive story in the documentary about a lady and her baby. Soda’s thinking process and considerations.
Time Codes for Part 2
0:00 Depicting the whole story in its fuller complexity and not in an isolated manner.
1:26 An update of the patient.
1:35 Talking about how did Soda get the permission to make the film from the doctor and the clinic? And Soda’s style of making an observational documentary.
4:00 Talking about Dr. Yamamoto. Other psychiatrists’ comments after watching the film.
4:52 Is shooting a film like “Mental” possible in North America?
7:05 Soda’s experience in writing and publishing his book “Mental Illness and Mosaic” including in-depth interview with Dr. Yamamoto and panel discussions with patients appearing in the film and them watching it.
8:50 I really think Soda has done a great service to the mental health profession and patient communities in Japan and probably around the world where they have chance to watch the film.
NYT op-ed by Barack Obama, President of the United States.
*******
August 16, 2009
“Why We Need Health Care Reform” By BARACK OBAMA
OUR nation is now engaged in a great debate about the future of health care in America. And over the past few weeks, much of the media attention has been focused on the loudest voices. What we haven’t heard are the voices of the millions upon millions of Americans who quietly struggle every day with a system that often works better for the health-insurance companies than it does for them.
These are people like Lori Hitchcock, whom I met in New Hampshire last week. Lori is currently self-employed and trying to start a business, but because she has hepatitis C, she cannot find an insurance company that will cover her. Another woman testified that an insurance company would not cover illnesses related to her internal organs because of an accident she had when she was 5 years old. A man lost his health coverage in the middle of chemotherapy because the insurance company discovered that he had gallstones, which he hadn’t known about when he applied for his policy. Because his treatment was delayed, he died. Read the rest of this entry »
On one hand, the Hong Kong government is telling HK citizens to not panic. At the same time, it is publicizing the
List of building(s) with confirmed case(s) of Swine Influenza in the past 7 days 過去七日曾有確診豬型流行性感冒個案之大厦名單
As of 6 pm, 17 June 2009 (截至2009 年6 月17 日, 下午6 時) (*local downloaded* PDF file, there are 5 pages of building names!) (current gov site file)
You know, I can imagine people who live in one of these building trying to find out who has/had Swine flu. And can you imagine how those people and their families (and friends) will be treated? And then people in surrounding buildings worrying. Sooner then you think, you have enough of Hong Kong public panicking.
The way HK government is treating Swine flu, a new but relatively non-lethal disease (compare to seasonal flu), is setting some bad precedence.
Swine flu will definitely be one topic of discussion if and when I do launch a series of medical discussion with my doctor & friend. (There are some medical practices that are harmful and he definitely like to have more people know about them. Lead to more informed medical and science based discussions.)
Topics on my “discussion list”:
Swine flu
Seniors with blood pressure like a young man! Good or Bad? I thought it was good but I was very wrong!
Over the last 20+ years or so, I had some fun in subscribing to different magazines and reading them on a regular basis. These magazines included – Time, Newsweek, Business Week, Canadian Business, Ivey Business Journal (I paid good money for it until they turned it FREE and never return my unused PAID subscription money), many computer magazines, Communications Arts (probably my most expensive mag sub and it worths every penny! some great free content), The International Design Magazine (I fell in love with Dyson Vacuum since it was covered in the April 2000 issue of I.D.), Psychology Today, and the more exotic ones like the University of California at Berkeley Wellness Letter, plus The New England Journal of Medicine (I did enjoy my one year subscription and tried to think and read like doctors (big smile)). I read a lot of Wired and Fast Company but then they set a stupid high Canadian subscription prices, plus most of their stuff are online quickly (even a few years back).
Now, how many magazines do I subscribe to? Well, not even one! My friend Margaret is brave and she subscribes to and reads The Economist! I know The Economist is a great source of information and supposed to be “Good For Me” (like Cod Liver Oil) but I could never stand reading more than a few articles in it at a time (leaving 99% of the magazine to waste).
So here is what I do these days. Like this morning, I spent 90 minutes just browsing the magazines section in the library and then borrowed a stack of 8 magazines to read one (or may be two) articles in each magazine. Ha ha, no wonder many magazines are trying hard to re-invent themselves (e.g. Business Week).
When I find some time, I will blog about the 8 magazine articles that I borrowed to read. I will see if I can find the link to them for you as well. Happy reading.
To me, library is the greatest equalizer of knowledge (thus “power”, if you want to think of it that way) and experiences. I paid my $12 per year. And then, I periodically clean up their magazines, their books, their DVDs, etc to find stuff that I enjoy and find interesting.
The Calgary region is to become the first in the country to require restaurants to cut the use of trans fats, suspected of killing up to 5,000 Canadians a year from heart disease.
Starting Jan. 1, the regional health authority — which serves more than 1.2 million people — will require that all margarines, spreads made with margarine and oils used for cooking contain a maximum of two per cent trans fats of the total fat content.
Calgary is not the first city in North America to have a policy on Trans Fat. To have some grounded discussions, here are two 2006 December economics commentaries by Judge Posnerand Nobel Prize Economist Becker on the New York City Ban on Trans Fat. I think these are good reads whether you agree with them or not.
In hindsight, the world (including Canada) should probably rethink the idea of having most of the world’s supply of Medical Isotopes to be produced at one location (even it is in Canada).
At the same time, it deeply troubles me that politicians (from all parties?) went ahead and overruled decision to shutdown the Chalk River, Ont., nuclear reactor. You see, records are kept as part of a checks-and-balances reporting system to ensure things are done correctly and as planned. When important nuclear records are not kept well, and these problems were discounted as “paperworks”, these actions worried me.
Now, I hope everyone at Chalk River will be ultra careful in the next while and follow all the carefully established checks and balances system (aka “paperworks”) established to ensure safety.
A friend of mine was part of the software team that developed software for the Darlington Nuclear Generating Station. And years ago, we chatted about the extend and thoughts that went into ensuring the safe operations of Darlington. So I don’t think I can ever view nuclear power plants “paperworks” so lightly (or carelessly?) as these federal politicians.
I hope the politicians that passed the emergency bill took a calculated risk in forcing the reopening of Chalk River. After all, the mistakes of operating Chalk river unsafely will be paid by the health or even lives (in the extreme case) of the workers and safety crew at the plant.
Since I am not a nuclear scientist, I can only hope. But last I checked, none of the major political parties’ leaders are nuclear scientists by training either.
How to disentangle doctors and drug companies ? – “… the judges argued that drug company gift-giving and hospitality “has the potential to result in positive harm or, more likely, less than optimal treatment choices” and “risks distortion of the medical decision-making processes of healthcare professionals.”“
Posted by kempton 
Subscribe to RSS Feed
Subscribe by email
