Showing posts with label Health. Show all posts

Remember Sen. Lieberman? He Now Wants SocSec Cut To Fight Islamists

This past April, right-wing war hawk John Bolton suggested during an interview on Fox News that the United States should cut Social Security and Medicare to finance the defense budget.

During debate over the debt deal today on the Senate floor, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) appeared to endorse this call. Lieberman explained that he is working with Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) on a Social Security spending reduction plan and that “we can’t protect these entitlements and also have the national defense…to protect us…with Islamist extremists”:

LIEBERMAN: I want to indicate today to my colleagues that Senator Coburn and I are working again on a bipartisan proposal to secure Social Security over the long term, we hope to have that done in time. To also forward to the special committee for their consideration. So, bottom line, we can’t protect these entitlements and also have the national defense we need to protect us in a dangerous world while we’re at war with Islamist extremists who attacked us on 9/11 and will be for a long time to come.

By Zaid Jilani posted from ThinkProgress Security

Americans Use of Marijuana is up 6.4%

By Agence France-Presse More than half of Americans aged 12 and up drink alcohol, a quarter binge-drank in the past month, and one in 14 teens has used marijuana, a US government agency says in a report on substance abuse.

Around 52 percent of 137,436 Americans interviewed in 2008 and 2009 said they had a tipple in the past month, the report released late last month by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) says.

Drinking was most prevalent among 18-25 year olds, with the northeastern state of New Hampshire leading the charge: three-quarters of young adults in the state said they'd used alcohol in the past month, the report says.

The legal drinking age in all 50 states is 21, although exceptions in many states allow under-age drinking in certain circumstances, such as in private premises with parental consent.

SAMHSA also found that almost a quarter (23.5 percent) of Americans binge-drank in the past month -- defined as having four or more drinks for women or girls and five or more for men or boys.

In North Dakota, nearly one in three residents and more than a quarter of young people aged 12-20 binge-drank, the highest rates in the United States.

In the US taken as a whole, under-age binge drinking was down from 19.2 percent in 2002-2003 to 17.7 percent in 2008-2009, the report says.

SAMHSA also looked at Americans' marijuana use and found that numbers using pot in the past month were up for the two years covered by the report: 6.4 percent of Americans aged 12 and older said they had used marijuana in the past month compared to six percent in 2007-2008.

In the 12- to 17-year age group, marijuana use fell, but seven percent of US teens still use cannabis, the report said.

The 10 states that saw the highest use of marijuana were Alaska, Colorado, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Vermont.

Medical marijuana is legal in all of those states except for Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

Perceptions of the dangers associated with marijuana use were lowest in the 10 states where the drug was used the most, according to the study.

Nearly a quarter (23.6 percent) of Americans aged 12 and older had smoked cigarettes in the past month, the study also found. At the same time, the number of Americans who perceived cigarette smoking as dangerous fell from just over 69 percent in 2007-2008 to 67.7 percent in 2008-09.

One in five American adults reported having some form of mental illness in the past year, and around one in 16 adults and one in 12 teens suffered depression in the past year, the study says.

The rates for mental illness and depression were unchanged from previous years, says the report, which is based on the 2008 and 2009 National Surveys on Drug Use and Health (NSDUHs).

7 Health Benefits of doing Yoga Exercises

Yoga is one that focuses on the activity of meditation or penance in which one focus all minds to control the senses and the body as a whole. There are different types of yoga, but each one essentially relies on structured poses practiced with breath awareness.

Global community is generally familiar with Yoga as the main exercise activity part of the Body. Yoga is also used as an alternative treatment, usually this is done with breathing exercises, body work and meditation

Yoga has become more popular around the world, more and more people have seen the benefits of this exercise. Here are some of the benefits of yoga exercises:

1. Detoxify the body from toxins and diseases
As the yoga poses and breathing exercising that gently massage your organs, thereby increasing the blood flow to various parts of the body. The increased blood flow cleans the body thoroughly and gets rid of all the toxins. It also delays the aging process and makes you feel energetic.

2. Improve your posture
Yoga has many standing and sitting poses means you are more likely to sit and stand that leads to a better posture. Doing yoga also increased an awareness of your body as it teaches you how to control your body in a healthier position. This heightened awareness tells you when you bend or slump so you can adjust your posture.

3. Increase the flexibility and agility
In addition to muscle strengthening, Yoga also beneficial for all of the soft tissues of your body which improve flexibility particularly in back, hip, shoulders, and hamstrings.

4. Increasing the strength of our bodies
Yoga poses (Asanas) require you to support your body weight in a new ways, so help you build strength in different parts of the body. For example, Tree Pose, which balancing your weight on one leg. Some practices focus on the less movement and moving slowly in and out of poses, which also increase muscle strength and endurance.

5. Reduce Stress and Enhance body relaxation
Yoga has long been known to be a great antidote to stress. Yoga combines many popular stress-reducing methods, including exercise and learning to control the breath, clear the mind, and relax the body. Over time practitioners report lower levels of stress and increase feelings of happiness and wellness. This is because concentrating on postures and breathing acts as a powerful form of meditation.

6. Keeping You Healthy Heart
Yoga has long been known to lower blood pressure and cholesterol. Several research have shown that doing yoga at least three times a week can lead to lower blood pressure and the overall risk of heart disease.

7. Various protecting a dangerous disease
In addition to be beneficial to the heart, yoga also can help fight diseases such as digestive disorders, diabetes, arthritis, asthma and varicose veins. Medical researchers have begun studying the benefits of yoga therapy or also called Integrative Yoga Therapy.

The 7 benefits of the above may still be less for those of you who 've never tried yoga exercise, and other benefits of yoga that you can see yourself after a shot.

10 Health Benefits of Fruit Avocado For Our Bodies

Avocados, a fruit that we often encounter. This versatile fruit has many benefits and efficacy for humans. There are many substances that are rich benefits contained in this fruit. Green fruit is often used for juice or mixed ice and ingredients in other dishes. It was a pleasure to make a lot of people liked it. Some people are afraid to consume it because it is considered to have a high fat content. Is it really true? What are the benefits and efficacy of avocado or avocado?

Apart from these, avocados are also considered as one of the healthiest food in the planet because it contain in excess of 25 essential nutrients, including vitamins A, B, C, E, and K, copper, iron, phosporus, magnesium, and potassium. In fact, you would need to eat two or tree bananas to obtain the potassium content of one avocado . Avocados also contain fibre, protein and beneficial phytochemicals such as beta-sitosterol, glutathione and lutein, which help protect against various disease and illness.

Below I will present some of the benefits of the fruit of love this one. shape of this fruit is still not pleasant, but it's very delicious and has many benefits including the following:

1. Weight lose
The avocado has 200 calories for 100 grams. Typically, fruits has approximately 60-80 calories for 100 grams. Due to the high amounts of calories,avocado is a best diet for people who want to gain weight. Avocado is a healthy source of calories, unlike many other calorie-dense foods that may contain excess saturated fats and sugar.

2. Lowering cholesterol levels in the blood
Avocados are rich in a compound called beta-sitosterol which has been shown to be effective in lowering blood cholesterol levels. According to a study, patients with mild hypercholesterolemia who included avocados in their diet for 7 days had 17 percent decrease in total blood cholesterol levels, a 22 percent decrease in both LDL (bad cholesterol) and triglyceride levels, and a 11 percent increase in HDL (good cholesterol) levels.

3. Prevent aging
Being rich in antioxidants, avocado is beneficial in preventing aging symptoms. The glutathione in avocado may boosts immune systems, slows the aging process, and encourages a healthy nervous system.

4. Reducing the risk of stroke
The high levels of folate in avocados also protect against stroke. A study has shown individuals who ate a diet rich in folate had a lower risk of stroke than those who do not

5. Maintaining the health of our heart
Avocado contains vitamin B6 and folic acid, which help regulate homocysteine levels. High level of homocysteine is associated with an increased risk of heart disease. Besides that, avocado also contains vitamin E, Glutathione and monounsaturated fat which help in maintaining a healthy heart.

6. Maintaining the health of our eyes
Avocado is an excellent source of carotenoid lutein, which known to help protect against age-related macular degeneration and cataracts.

7. Improve absorption of nutrients in the body
Avocado intake is linked with increased nutrient absorption. A study suggests that, when participants ate salad included avocados, they absorbed five times the amount of carotenoids (a group of nutrients that includes beta carotene and lycopene) than those who do not include avocados.

8. Protecting ourselves against cancer
Many studies have shown that avocado can inhibit the growth of prostate cancer. The oleic acid in avocado is also effective in preventing breast cancer.

9. Regulate blood sugar levels in our body
The monounsaturated (good) fats in avocados can reverse insulin resistance, which helping to regulate the blood sugar levels. Avocados also contain more soluble fiber, which keep a steady blood sugar levels.

10. Prevent birth defects in children
Avocados are rich in folate, a B vitamin commonly known as folic acid. One cup of avocado provides you about 23% of the Daily Value for folate. The high amount of folate in avocado is essential in the prevention of birth defects, such as neural tube defect and spina bifida.

How to Check Yourself for Breast Cancer - Tips and Warnings | Breastcancer.org, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, American Cancer Society

How to Check Yourself for Breast Cancer - Tips and Warnings | Breastcancer.org, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, American Cancer Society

With more emphasis on education and advances in technology, breast cancer does not have to be a death sentence. You can do many things to help improve your chances of surviving this disease. The most important is early detection. This includes monthly self breast exams and getting the right tests.

Step 1

Look for physical changes. Notice any changes in the size, shape or color of your breasts. Look for signs of swelling, redness, dimpling, puckering or development of a rash in the skin. Note if your nipple has changed color, position, turned inward, become itchy, scaly or painful. Also examine your nipple for any signs of a watery, milky, yellowish or bloody discharge. Do this exam in front of a mirror with your arms down by your sides and then again with your arms lifted overhead.

Step 2

Feel for abnormalities in the breasts. Lie down and use the opposite hand to breast. For example, use your right hand to examine your left breast. Check a large square area that encompasses all of the breast tissue. This runs a width from your armpit to your breastbone and then from your collarbone to your bra line (where the bottom of your bra would touch). Use the pads of three fingers to make small dime-size circles. Start in one area of the breast. In each area you test, make three circles. Do the first circle with a light touch, the second with a medium touch and then one circle with deeper pressure. As you move from one area to another, keep your finger pads in contact with your skin. Move in an up-and-down pattern.

Step 3

Examine under your armpits. Feel for abnormalities in this area as you did in your breasts, by making small circles. Notice any firm lumps or areas that feel thicker than others. When you lift your arm to examine underneath, just lift it slightly and avoid straightening your arm all the way up. According to the American Cancer Society, "raising your arm straight up tightens the tissue in this area and makes it harder to examine."

Tips and Warnings

If you still have a period, do the exam several days after your period ends. If you no longer have a period, choose a day that is easy for you to remember, such as the first of each month. Learn what your breasts normally feel like. Most women have areas of their breasts that are naturally lumpy. Each area of the breasts has a different feel. It may be helpful to use a journal to record the results of your exams so you can compare your exam from month to month. When you first start, have your doctor watch you do a self breast exam to make sure you are doing it properly.

Any changes that last beyond one full cycle of your period and irregularities that get bigger or drastically change should be addressed by your doctor. In addition to monthly self-exams, get mammograms as scheduled by your doctor. A combination of self-testing and professional testing gives you the best chance of catching breast cancer early.

References

How to Check Yourself for Breast Cancer - Tips and Warnings | Breastcancer.org, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, American Cancer Society

How to Check Yourself for Breast Cancer - Tips and Warnings | Breastcancer.org, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, American Cancer Society

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Tips and Warnings

References

Your Pregnancy Guide - Pregnancy Care Planner - Tips Pregnancy - Pregnancy Diet For Mom

Your Pregnancy Guide - Pregnancy Care Planner - Tips Pregnancy - Pregnancy Diet For Mom

Your Pregnancy Guide - Pregnancy Care Planner - Tips Pregnancy - Pregnancy Diet For Mom

Your Pregnancy Guide - Pregnancy Care Planner - Tips Pregnancy - Pregnancy Diet For Mom

Debunking The Fallacy about Smoking Pot and Mental Illness

Prohibitionists have a long history of exploiting tragedy to further their own drug war agenda. Case in point: Members of Congress in the 1980s seized upon the overdose of basketball star Len Bias to enact sweeping legislative changes establishing mandatory minimum sentencing in drug crimes, random workplace drug testing for public employees, and the creation of the Drug Czar’s office.

So it was hardly surprising to see anti-drug zealots return to this tried-and-true playbook in the days immediately following the shooting this past January of Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and 18 civilians. Only hours after alleged shooter Jared Lee Loughner was taken into custody, pundits on the political far right opined that the 22-year-old former pot smoker had been driven mad by weed.

For example, less than 24-hours after the shooting former George W. Bush speech-writer David Frum posed the question, “Did pot trigger the Giffords shooting?” to which the longtime conservative commentator answered, “Increasingly, experts seem to be saying ‘yes.’”

Frum’s accusation appeared to gain a modicum of respectability one month later when the mainstream media highlighted a report in The Archives of General Psychiatry that purported to have linked marijuana use with psychosis.

“It is increasingly clear that marijuana is a cause of schizophrenia,” the study’s lead researcher, Matthew Large of Prince of Wales Hospital in New South Wales, Australia, told the online publication Web MD in February. (In a separate interview he said he was “horrified” by suggestions that the plant should be legalized and regulated.) Large further insisted, “[T]he schizophrenia caused by cannabis starts earlier than schizophrenia with other causes.” Or not
In truth, the supposed new ‘study’ contained no new findings at all. Rather, Large and his team simply reviewed previously published research – much of it decades old.There are no new data. I want to emphasize that. This is a meta-analysis, which means it (reviews) the studies that were already out there,” SUNY Albany psychology professor Mitch Earleywine, author of the book Understanding Marijuana: A New Look at the Scientific Evidence, explained on the NORML Audio Stash days after the report’s release. “What you’re not hearing in the media is that in fact, this (reported association) is probably early-onset folks self-medicating (with cannabis).”

There are several published reports to back up Earleywine’s suspicion. For instance, a 2005 study of 1,500 subjects that appeared in the scientific journal Addiction reported that the development of “psychotic symptoms in those who had never used cannabis before the onset of (such) symptoms … predicted future cannabis use.”

Other studies reinforcing Earleywine’s ‘self-medication’ theory include a 2008 study published in the International Journal of Mental Health Nursing which found that schizophrenics typically report using cannabis to reduce anxiety and “improve their mental state.” Marijuana use has also been associated with clinically objective benefits in some schizophrenics. Recently, a 2010 report in the journalSchizophrenia Research found that schizophrenic patients with a history of cannabis use demonstrate higher levels of cognitive performance compared to nonusers. Researchers in that study concluded, “The results of the present analysis suggest that (cannabis use) in patients with SZ (schizophrenia) is associated with better performance on measures of processing speed and verbal skills. These data are consistent with prior reports indicating that SZ patients with a history of (cannabis use) have less severe cognitive deficits than SZ patients without comorbid (cannabis use).”

A 2011 meta-analysis published online by the journal Schizophrenia Research also affirmed that schizophrenics with a history of cannabis use demonstrate “superior neurocognitive performance” compared to non-users. Investigators at the University of Toronto, Institute of Medical Sciences reviewed eight separate studies assessing the impact of marijuana consumption on cognition, executive function, learning, and working memory in schizophrenic subjects. Researchers determined that the results of each of the performance measurements suggested “superior cognitive functioning in cannabis-using patients as compared to non-using patients.”

Investigators stopped short of attributing subjects' cannabis use to the improved outcomes, hypothesizing instead that patients with superior cognitive skills may be more likely to acquire cannabis than subjects with lesser abilities. “[I]t is difficult to determine whether it is cannabis itself that triggers alterations in neuropsychological functioning or if drug-using patients represent a subset of the schizophrenia population who exhibit better neurocognitive performance,” they wrote. Nevertheless, they concluded that it would be reasonable to assume that “cannabis likely has modest … effects on neurocognitive function in schizophrenia.”

Other clinical literature also casts doubt on Large’s claim that marijuana use accelerates mental illness. In a study published last year, a team that included researchers affiliated with the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Yale University, and the National Institute of Mental Health assessed whether lifetime pot use was associated with an earlier age of onset of symptoms in schizophrenic patients. They concluded, "Although cannabis use precedes the onset of illness in most patients, there was no significant association between onset of illness and (cannabis use) that was not accounted for by demographic and clinical variables.”

The researchers also criticized the findings of previously published studies that purported to have uncovered a ‘pot trigger’ for mental illness. “Previous studies implicating cannabis use disorders in schizophrenia may need to more comprehensively assess the relationship between cannabis use disorders and schizophrenia.”

Unlike Earleywine, however, the researchers in this study were not convinced that a large percentage of schizophrenic patients are ‘self-medicating’ with pot. “We … found that about half of our subjects discontinued the use of cannabis when their psychotic symptoms worsened,” said Dr. Serge Sevy of the Zucker Hillside Hospital, who led the study. “(But) unfortunately, our study did not include questions about (patients’) reasons for using or discontinuing cannabis. I cannot provide the percentage of patients who discontinued cannabis use because of a worsening of psychosis … (versus those who) became too impaired to obtain cannabis.”
As for Large’s most serious claim, that juvenile marijuana use “is a cause of schizophrenia,” most experts on the subject – and most scientific reviews of the matter – disagree.

For example, authors of a 2009 study published in Schizophrenia Research said definitively that increased cannabis use by the public has not been followed by a proportional rise in diagnoses of schizophrenia or psychosis. Investigators at the Keele University Medical School in Britain compared trends in marijuana use and incidences of schizophrenia in the United Kingdom from 1996 to 2005. Researchers reported that the "incidence and prevalence of schizophrenia and psychoses were either stable or declining" during this period, even the use of cannabis among the general population was rising.

"[T]he expected rise in diagnoses of schizophrenia and psychoses did not occur over a 10 year period," they concluded. "This study does not therefore support the specific causal link between cannabis use and incidence of psychotic disorders. ... This concurs with other reports indicating that increases in population cannabis use have not been followed by increases in psychotic incidence."

In April, scientists at the University Hospital of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in Bern, Switzerland also published clinical trial data indicating that cannabis use plays virtually no role in the early onset of psychosis in younger patients. Researchers assessed the differences in the age of onset of psychosis among 625 patients admitted to the Early Psychosis Prevention and Intervention Centre in Melbourne, Australia. They reported, “Only cannabis use … starting at age 14 was associated with an earlier age at onset at a small effect size.” Overall, the age at onset for patients with first-episode psychosis “was not significantly different” among patients with a history of cannabis use versus non-users.

These results don’t particularly surprise Dr. Julie Holland, clinical assistant professor of psychiatry at the NYU School of Medicine and the editor of The Pot Book: A Complete Guide to Cannabis – It’s Role in Medicine, Politics, Science, and Culture. “The bottom line here is no one knows exactly what causes schizophrenia, and scientists have been looking for decades,” she says. “The best explanation is a ‘stress diathesis’ model, where people have a genetic tendency toward schizophrenic illness, and then something triggers its appearance. But unless you have the genes, you won't get the illness. Cannabis won't change one’s genetic predisposition.”

Holland does caution that people with a predisposition toward schizophrenia “tend to have a stronger, more psychotic-like reaction to cannabis, but that is different from the idea that pot actually gives you schizophrenia, which is completely untrue.” As for the severity of these potential psychotic symptoms, Holland states, “When the drug wears off, so do its effects. There is no lasting psychosis from pot.”

Retired associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, Dr. Lester Grinspoon, has studied both cannabis and schizophrenia for over 40 years, authoring the books Schizophrenia: Psychopharmacology and Psychotherapy and Marihuana The Forbidden Medicine. His expert opinion largely echoes the views of Drs. Holland and Earleywine.

“Schizophrenia is largely a genetically determined disorder. However, not all people who have this genetic makeup develop the disorder. So, we have been searching for other variables that must be involved but so far with little success,” he explains. “Recently we have seen the publication of a number of papers that point the finger toward cannabis. Because my work in schizophrenia was first undertaken in the 1960s when marijuana was first observed to be increasingly widely used by young people, I was always careful to include the possibility that the patient had previously smoked marijuana in my history taking. I can't tell you how many patients this involved, but it was certainly measured in the hundreds and not once did I find that it could be considered causal. Its use, on a few occasions, seemed like an attempt to alter an insufferable internal environment, much as people with schizophrenia often do with alcohol and tobacco.”

Ultimately, however, even if such a causal connection between cannabis use and mental illness were to one day be established, this finding alone would do little to support pot prohibition. In fact, the policy implications of such a determination should be just the opposite.

Health risks connected with drug use – when scientifically documented – should not be seen as legitimate reasons for criminal prohibition, but instead, as reasons for legal regulation. After all, there are numerous adverse health consequences associated with alcohol, and it’s precisely because of these effects that the product is legally regulated and its use is restricted to specific consumers and settings. Similarly, if there are legitimate mental health risks associated with use of cannabis by certain individuals then a regulated system would best identify and educate these people so that they may refrain from its use. Placed in this context, drug warriors’ fear-mongering surrounding the issue of marijuana and mental health does little to advance the cause of tightening prohibition, and provides ample ammunition to wage for its repeal.

Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this story appeared online on hightimes.com. This story has been updated and expanded for AlterNet.

The Paleo Diet: Can You Believe, Can not....

Paleo Diet- plan Paleo diet, a diet based on the concept of an eating style similar to the caveman diet can promote weight loss and better health is receiving much attention lately. As more research reveals the potential problems that could occur due to a diet rich in low-proceed and fresh foods, many people have to make changes in their ideas and consume more fresh or minimally processed foods. Those in search of similar principles to be able to shed a few pounds may have heard about the Paleo diet.

As a result, the diet recommends eating fresh fruits and vegetables mostly nuts and organic meat, excluding potatoes, pulses, milk, coffee, alcohol, refined oils, sugar and salt. This eating plan is considered a variation of the blood type diet that uses a similar logic to its recommendations for blood type 0 or even a softer version of the Atkins diet, which is essentially also a high protein diet. Eat locally produced organic food is also highly recommended. This gluten-free diet can be a good option for those who suffer from celiac disease. The diet of the defenders to get around 56-65% calories from foods and 36-45% of plant foods.

Grilled meats, fish and eggs are the main protein source s, while the tomatoes, apples, strawberries and pears are among the most popular choices in terms of plant foods. Nuts, is also highly recommended in this diet provides plenty of essential fatty acids that are necessary for proper body functioning. Proponents of this diet believe that this diet can help prevent modern diseases such as obesity, high blood pressure, colon cancer, type 2 diabetes and depression. On the other hand, there are many voices that are rather skeptical about the concepts behind this type of diet. One of the main arguments is that it is impossible to know exactly what our ancestors ate so that the principles are highly speculative. In addition, it eliminates many popular sources of carbohydrates such as pasta, bread and desserts, this diet can be very restrictive for some people.

Furthermore, because it encourages the consumption of meat in large quantities, this diet is not suitable for vegetarians and vegans much less. In addition, diets high in protein, may promote kidney damage, increased risk of cardiovascular disease, high cholesterol or constipation. Can you believe, no. But for those who crave a slim body, why not.

How Long Will You Live With HIV?

By Myles Helfand
thebody.com

"How long will I live?"

It's one of the most pressing, frightening questions facing people with HIV, whether they've been newly diagnosed or have been infected for some time. And like so many other questions in HIV, the answer is frustratingly complex, confusing and ever-changing.

How long will you live with HIV? It depends on who you are. Research suggests that HIVers die sooner if, for instance, they use injection drugs; are coinfected with hepatitis; are depressed; or are pretty much any race and sex other than a white male.

It also depends on where you are. It's convenient to say that HIV-positive people in "developed" countries are likely to live longer than HIV-positive people in "resource-poor" countries like those in sub-Saharan Africa or much of Latin America. But it's more accurate to say that no matter where in the world you're living with HIV, that life will be longer if you have consistent access to quality health care, the most effective HIV treatment and a solid infrastructure (we're talking about the ability to get the basics: emotional support, transportation to a health care facility, clean water, protection from the elements, no wars tearing your villages and cities apart).

It also depends on who you ask. Talk to most anybody who's been a part of the HIV/AIDS community since the 1980s or 1990s, and the answer to "How long will I live?" will probably be, "A hell of a lot longer than if you were diagnosed 15 years ago." It's a lot easier to see today's glass as half full when, for so many years, the ground was littered with the shards of so many shattered lives. HIV treatment has gotten so much better so quickly that it's easy to lose sight of just how much reality has changed for people living with HIV in 2009 compared to 1989, or even 1999 -- or, heck, even 2004, before we said hello to single-pill regimens and integrase inhibitors, and before we knew much of what we now know about the side effects of HIV and HIV meds (and how to prevent or treat them).

But here's the truth as it stands today, for better or for worse: The numbers show that people with HIV don't live as long as people without HIV. We're getting closer, but we're not there yet. A recent study spanning 25 U.S. states calculated that HIVers diagnosed in 2005 could expect to live, on average, 21 fewer years than their HIV-negative counterparts. (That's much more pessimistic than a major international study from last year which predicted that, if you were diagnosed in 2005 at the age of 35, you'd still live to be 72, just six years lower than the average U.S. life expectancy.) If you're a woman, the study suggests, you'll live about three and a half years longer than a man, on average; if you're Hispanic, you'll die sooner than an African American, and both of you will die sooner than a white person.

Here's the thing: In the real world, these two studies and their sharply contrasting, yet very specific numbers don't change anything. It's very easy to read about studies like this and fall into an obsessive trap: "OK, I was diagnosed in 2002, and I'm 33, and I'm a Hispanic woman living in Ohio, so ... multiply by the divisor, carry the two ... that means I'll die on March 29, 2034, during a full moon while Mercury is in retrograde."

Fortunately, it doesn't work like that. These studies are mathematical predictions based on a limited amount of available data. Everyone living with HIV is different: We have different genes, different family histories and different risk factors for all of the unfortunate illnesses and events that can potentially shorten our lives.

So if ever you find your blood pressure rising as you read about the latest study to predict how long you'll live if you have HIV, try to take the findings in stride. You'll die one day. It's going to happen. It may be in 50 years or five. It may because of the HIV, or you may walk across the street one day and get hit by a bus. I don't mean for this to sound morbid or depressing; it just is what it is. All any of us can do is try to make the most of whatever time we're given, however we feel we can best achieve it.

And no study can alter that.

Shocking: 1 in 66 Americans is diagnosed psychotic!

by Robert Johnson

Business Insider

Outselling even common drugs to treat high blood pressure and acid reflux, antipsychotic medications are the single top-selling prescription drug in the United States.

Once reserved for hard-core, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nesttype of mental illnesses to treat hallucinations, delusions or major thought disorders; today, the drugs are handed out to unruly kids and absent minded elderly.

A recent story in Al Jazeera by James Ridgeway of Mother Jones illuminates the efforts by major pharmaceutical companies to get doctors prescribing medicines like Zyprexa, Seroquel, and Abilify to patients for whom the drugs were never intended.

Focusing on psychiatrists because they rely on subjective diagnoses, the drug reps have been so successful that they've changed the criteria for mental illness and disability payments. Ridgeway quotes former New England Journal of Medicine editor Marcia Angell.

"[T]he tally of those who are so disabled by mental disorders that they qualify for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) increased nearly two and a half times between 1987 and 2007 - from one in 184 Americans to one in seventy-six. For children, the rise is even more startling - a thirty-five-fold increase in the same two decades. Mental illness is now the leading cause of disability in children." Under the tutelage of Big Pharma, we are "simply expanding the criteria for mental illness so that nearly everyone has one." Fugh-Berman agrees: In the age of aggressive drug marketing, she says, "Psychiatric diagnoses have expanded to include many perfectly normal people."

Cheap daily anti-HIV pill is found to be effective as preventative measure

By Brody Levesque

In a groundbreaking series of recent clinical trials, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that a pill containing either one or two anti-HIV drugs taken daily can reduce transmission of the HIV-virus by as much as three-quarters among heterosexual couples.

Dr. Jonathan Mermin, director of theCDC’s Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention, stated that two clinical trials in Kenya and Uganda along with a separate trial in Botswana, demonstrated that even with a current lack of a vaccine to combat against the HIV virus, this new approach, “termed pre-exposure prophylaxis,” may be the best hope for slowing or even halting the spread of the deadly plague throughout the developing world.

The two-drug combination pills are known commercially as “Truvada” manufactured by Gilead Sciences Corporation, in Foster City, California. The pills are generically obtainable in many developing countries for as little as 25 cents per pill, (U.S.), according to officials from the World Health Organization.

The new results — a breakthrough finding that promises to intensify a new focus on AIDS prevention — are scheduled to be presented next week at the International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention in Rome, Italy.

“The last year has brought several breakthroughs in AIDS prevention research, in addition to this latest finding and the study involving gay men, a study released last July found that microbicides could sharply reduce HIV transmission in women and a study in HIV-positive people showed that treating the infected person intensively could reduce transmission by as much as 96%,” said Kevin Frost, chief executive ofamfAR, the American Foundation for AIDS Research.

According to Mermin, the CDC would immediately begin working with other public health groups to establish guidelines for using the drugs prophylactically in this country.

“Physicians should await those guidelines before prescribing the drugs,” Mermin said, “but if they believe it is imperative to do it, they should adhere to the guidelines previously announced for using them in gay men.”

A study published in November in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that those who popped the pill more than 90% of the time, were 73% less susceptible to contract HIV.

http://www.lgbtqnation.com