Dr. Government

Anti-cocaine vaccine research edges closer to human trials

"Researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College have successfully used a vaccine to produce a long-lasting anti-cocaine immunity in nonhuman primates. 'The vaccine eats up the cocaine in the blood like a little Pac-man before it can reach the brain,' the study’s lead investigator, Dr. Ronald G. Crystal, said in a news release. Using PET imaging, Crystal and his colleagues found the vaccine prevented cocaine from reaching the brain. The vaccine stimulated the immune system to produce specific antibodies that attached themselves to cocaine molecules in the bloodstream. This prevented the drug from passing through the blood-brain barrier." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAnti-cocaine vaccine research edges closer to human trials

Obama Sees ObamaCare as Legacy Too Worthy to Resist

"Obama summoned about 20 senior administration officials to the White House’s Roosevelt Room for an hour-long meeting on the implementation of his health-care law. Obama began by reminding his staff that the Affordable Care Act would be one of his major legacies and its execution among the highest priorities of his second term, according to a Democrat familiar with the gathering. The session, which has been followed by regular presidential briefings, led to a two-track campaign to defend the measure against united Republican opposition declaring it a failure and to motivate uninsured Americans to sign up for health-care coverage." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingObama Sees ObamaCare as Legacy Too Worthy to Resist

California Medical Marijuana Crackdown Ramps Up As More Dispensaries Targeted For Closure

"Several dozen protesters gathered in downtown Berkeley Wednesday afternoon to fight federal action against one of California's oldest medical marijuana dispensaries, targeted for closure by the Justice Department. U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag on Friday served pot shop Berkeley Patients Group with a lawsuit that attempts to seize the property and ultimately shut the business. Dispensaries throughout northern California have received similar legal threats from the U.S. attorney over the past few weeks." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCalifornia Medical Marijuana Crackdown Ramps Up As More Dispensaries Targeted For Closure

The Truth About Fake Hospital Pricing (And What To Do If You Are Uninsured)

"People without insurance, on average, are being charged 3 times what insurance companies pay. When the uninsured patients can’t or don’t pay, the balance is written off and the tax liability is reduced. Some uninsured people try to raise the funds, and it breaks my heart that they go bankrupt trying to pay these debts. If you’re ever uninsured and wind up with a huge hospital bill, go negotiate with the hospital CFO for a 66% reduction in the bill. Use the government data (link here) as leverage in negotiating with the CFO. Threaten to expose the racket and I bet the CFO will write down your bill to keep you quiet." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Truth About Fake Hospital Pricing (And What To Do If You Are Uninsured)

The Obamacare Nightmare Will Officially Start October 1

"What's really going on here is a program that attempts to suck in the youth to pay for the healthcare of the elderly. It's insane. On top of that, the first year penalty for not buying insurance is small ($95), so most young will opt out, meaning the revenue to support the structure will have to come from massive premium hikes paid by those older who opt to stay in the system. There is no other way out if Obamacare goes into effect. Well, there is one way out. According to Emanuel: 'The president connects with young people, too, so he needs to use that bond and get out there to convince them to sign up for health insurance to help this central part of his legacy.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Obamacare Nightmare Will Officially Start October 1

Obamacare Putting Millions Of Part-Time Workers At Risk Of Seeing Cut Hours

"Ken Jacobs, chair of the labor center at UC Berkeley, told the Huffington Post that employers are not likely to force all full-time employees into part-time work due to factors that include additional administrative costs and productivity decreases. Instead, those at highest risk are workers in predominately low-wage industries that are right on the cusp of what is considered full-time work under the law. The industries with the highest concentration of Jacobs’ at-risk workers are restaurants, accommodation and building services. The 3.6 million workers who report that their 'work hours vary' could have their hours jeopardized as well, according to the study." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingObamacare Putting Millions Of Part-Time Workers At Risk Of Seeing Cut Hours

Starting an online store in Greece is no easy business

"It took 10 months, a fat bundle of paperwork, countless certificates, long hours of haggling with bureaucrats and overcoming myriad other inconceivable obstacles for one group of young entrepreneurs to open an online store. Antonopoulos and his partners spent hours collecting papers from tax offices, the Athens Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the municipal service where the company is based, the health inspector’s office, the fire department and banks. At the health department, they were told that all the shareholders of the company would have to provide chest X-rays, and, in the most surreal demand of all, stool samples." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingStarting an online store in Greece is no easy business

Medical breakthrough: Antibiotics could cure 40% of back pain patients

"Up to 40% of patients with chronic back pain could be cured with a course of antibiotics rather than surgery, in a medical breakthrough that one spinal surgeon says is worthy of a Nobel prize. The shock finding means that scores of patients with unrelenting lower back pain will no longer face major operations but can instead be cured with courses of antibiotics costing around £114. Scientists at the University of Southern Denmark found that 20% to 40% of chronic lower back pain was caused by bacterial infections. The NHS spends £480m on spinal surgery each year, the majority of which is for back pain." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMedical breakthrough: Antibiotics could cure 40% of back pain patients

105-year-old woman says eating bacon every day is her key to long life

"A 105-year-old woman from Richland, Texas says that the key to long life is bacon. Pearl Cantrell’s love of bacon is so strong that the Oscar Meyer Wienermobile made a stop through town last week to wish her a happy birthday, all because she told a local news station her amazing secret. 'I love bacon, I eat it everyday,' she told a reporter for Abilene-based Big Country Homepage in April. 'I don’t feel as old as I am, that’s all I can say.'" Continue reading →

Continue Reading105-year-old woman says eating bacon every day is her key to long life

Stark Scenes From the Guantanamo Hunger Strike

"For more than two weeks, 100 detainees at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba have been on hunger strike to protest conditions at the prison and their indefinite confinement. First denied and downplayed by the military, the strike has now become a full-blown emergency. Twenty-three detainees are currently being force-fed. At least twice a day, guards in riot gear tie each detainee to a chair or bed, and medical personnel force a tube up his nose and down his throat, and pump a can of Ensure or other dietary supplement into his stomach. There are so many detainees being force-fed that Guantanamo's medical personnel are working around the clock." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingStark Scenes From the Guantanamo Hunger Strike