Deer Hunting Weekend

As I cling to my religion and guns, I'll be out this weekend hunting deer as part of my annual Thanksgiving activities. This is my favorite weekend of the year as I get to relax and spend time with those I love.

Have a great weekend and enjoy your family and friends.

Our Past Presidents View on Thanksgiving

The Thanksgiving Proclamation was first stated by President George Washington in New York, 3 October 1789

Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor--and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me `to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.'

Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be -- That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks -- for his kind care and protection of the People of this Country previous to their becoming a Nation--for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his Providence which we experienced in the tranquility, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed--for the peaceable and rational manner, in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted -- for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed; and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions--to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually -- to render our national government a blessing to all the people, by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed--to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shewn [sic] kindness onto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord -- To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the encrease [sic] of science among them and us -- and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand at the City of New-York the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789.

George Washington

The actual day for the Celebration was stated by Abraham Lincoln in the Proclamation Establishing Thanksgiving Day October 3, 1863.

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence [sic], have not arrested the plough, the shuttle, or the ship; the axe had enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years, with large increase of freedom.

No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and voice by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and Union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, this third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-eighth.

Abraham Lincoln

My wish is for everyone to acknowledge the many blessings that have been bestowed upon us and to give thanks to Him who has blessed us and our nation.

Thanksgiving humor

A young man named John received a parrot as an early Christmas gift. The parrot had a bad attitude and an even worse vocabulary. Every word out of the bird's mouth was rude, obnoxious and laced with profanity. John tried and tried to change the bird's attitude by consistently saying only polite words, playing soft music and anything else he could think of to 'clean up' the bird's vocabulary.

Finally, John was fed up and he yelled at the parrot. The parrot yelled back. John shook the parrot and the parrot got angrier and even ruder. John, in desperation, threw up his hands, grabbed the bird and shoved him in the freezer. For a few minutes the parrot squawked and kicked and screamed. Then suddenly there was total quiet. Not a peep was heard for over a minute. Fearing that he'd hurt the parrot, John quickly opened the door to the freezer. The parrot calmly stepped out onto John's outstretched arms and said 'I believe I may have offended you with my rude language and actions. I'm sincerely remorseful for my inappropriate transgressions and I fully intend to do everything I can to correct my rude and unforgivable behavior'.

John was stunned at the change in the bird's attitude. As he was about to ask the parrot what had made such a dramatic change in his behavior, the bird continued.... ........'May I enquire as to what the turkey did?'

Happy Thanksgiving!

New Tool for Prostate Cancer

As most people know, prostate cancer is one of the leading causes of death from cancer in men.

Treatment strategies range from surgery, to radiation to hormonal therapy, to seed implants and to castration.

Who benefits most from the different strategies is always hard to decide, but there is a new tool that has been developed to help physicians determine which high-risk prostate cancer patients will benefit from hormone therapy.

Researchers from the Fox Chase Cancer Center developed a prediction tool that “uses a patient’s clinical information to estimate the benefit of adding androgen deprivation therapy of various durations to radiation therapy.”

Hormonal therapy can have severe side effects that are often not worth the benefits that the therapy provides and therefore remains controversial and sometimes underutilized.

This new tool incorporates disease burden and individualizes treatment recommendations by entering each patient’s clinical information and thereby getting an estimate of the probability of the cancer coming back using different durations of hormone therapy.

This tool is different from what is currently available because it personalizes and estimates the benefits of different lengths of hormone therapy for the individual.

The tool bases conclusions on two main factors determined by a biopsy, “the percent of cancer-positive tissue identified and the percent of that positive tissue with a Gleason grade of four or five.”

Data supporting the tool was recently presented by Pahlajani at the 50th annual meeting of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology, held in Boston, MA.

The following link also has some more information.(Prostate cancer).

Birth size and breast cancer

Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths among women worldwide and according to the American Cancer Society, they estimate about 465,000 women died of breast cancer globally in 2007, and 1.3 million new cases were diagnosed.

As in most developed countries, we are seeing a declining death rate from breast cancer that is somewhat attributed to early detection through mammography screening and better treatment programs.

There is a recent study suggesting that what happens in the womb may cause cancer later in life, particularly in larger women who give birth to longer babies. Other research, published in the Public Library of Science journal PloS Medicine, also indicates links between birth size and breast cancer.

The current research was comprised of 32 studies of more than 600,000 women, mainly in developed countries and it included more than 22,000 women who had breast cancer.

The researchers found a strong correlation with birth size, birth length, and head circumference, with birth length demonstrating the strongest link. Women with recorded birth weights of 4 kilograms or more had a 12 percent higher chance of breast cancer than babies weighing 3 to 3.5 kilograms at birth. They also estimated that birth size may be responsible for up to 5 percent of all breast cancers in women up to the age of 80.

The rationale behind the theory is the probable link between estrogen and human growth hormone. Further research will be needed to determine the truth behind the theory.

The Physicians Perspective on the Bailout

Doctors' Opinions of the Financial Bail-out Package:

The Allergists voted to scratch it, and the Dermatologists advised not to make any rash moves.

The orthopedists wanted to cast it in a different light.

The Gastroenterologists had sort of a gut feeling about it, but the Neurologists thought the Administration had a lot of nerve, and the Obstetricians felt they were all laboring under a misconception.

The Ophthalmologists considered the idea shortsighted.

The Pathologists yelled, 'Over my dead body!' while the Pediatricians said, 'Oh, grow up!'

The Psychiatrists thought the whole idea was madness, the Radiologists could see right through it, and the Surgeons decided to wash their hands of the whole thing.

The Internists thought it was a bitter pill to swallow, and the Plastic Surgeons said, 'This puts a whole new face on the matter.'

The Podiatrists thought it was a step forward, but the Urologists felt the scheme wouldn't hold water.

The Anesthesiologists thought the whole idea was a gas, and the Cardiologists didn't have the heart to say no.

In the end, the Proctologists left the decision up to some a--h-les in Washington.

New Web Treatment for Eating Disorder

Anorexia and Bulimia are two very difficult eating disorders that affect many individuals. Trying to get these individuals into a therapy program can be a very daunting task.

With this in mind, researchers at The University of North Carolina and a team from the Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center will compare a Web-based cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for Bulimia to the standard personal and group CBT.

This web-based CBT will be augmented with weekly, therapist-moderated online chat sessions with face-to-face group therapy which has been the long-time gold standard for treatment. Although CBT offered via group therapy provides benefits over individual therapy (eg, patient’s ability to gain from other’s experiences, lower cost), such therapy isn’t available to everyone, due to such factors as no available programs, living in a rural area, fears of various kinds, and costs of the programs and gas.

This web based program attempts to overcome these challenges by developing a Web site that will deliver the same content as traditional, manual-based cognitive behavioral therapy, but with the advantage of all the bells and whistles of internet based web-conferencing.

In this new study, patients will be randomized to the web based chat sessions and the effectiveness of will be measured with follow-up assessments on each participant at three, six, and 12 months, as well as at treatment completion.

If this web based CBT is as effective as traditional CBT, it will allow access to many individuals who were unable to obtain care for the disorder in the past.

Office Medications

Dispensing medications from physician offices was once a very common practice but because of regulations it diminished greatly.

With declining revenues, it is becoming an increasingly popular way to help cover overhead as well as assisting patients by obtaining medications easier and at a lower cost.

QuiqMeds QuiqMeds™ - Delivering Quality, Convenience and Value in prescription fulfillment at the point-of-care.is a unique vending machine approach that is 100 percent automated with the physician or office staff ordering a prescription by a touch screen. Patients then pick up their meds at the checkout desk.

The machine is locked down and no one at the practice can open it. Quiqmeds takes care of refilling and maintenance and the office collects a fee for the medication from the patient. Other dispensing companies work with the offices and will bill the insurance company for the medication. Patients would pay their co-pay just as they do at the pharmacy.

The New Source of Medical Information

We all know that Wikipedia has become an invaluable source of information for many topics. It offers quick, concise and mostly reliable information although there has been occasional mis-information disseminated.

A new website called Medpedia is the medical equivalent to Wikipedia. The primary difference besides the content is that posted information to the site is only accepted from fully licensed medical experts. This endeavor is being led by Harvard Medical School, UC Berkeley School of Public Health, Stanford School of Medicine and University of Michigan Medical School and will attempt to become the largest source of medical information.

Other organizations supporting and cooperating with the endeavor include the American College of Physicians (ACP), Oxford Health Alliance (OxHA), Federation of Clinical Immunology Societies, (FOCIS), European Federation of Neurological Associations (EFNA), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the Federal Drug Administration (FDA).

This collaborative medical encyclopedia is in its beginning stages but will ultimately be a free public site launched by the end of 2008. The site will have pages with information on each topic for public viewing, and a “technical” page for healthcare professionals with more clinical and scientific information. The content will be updated in real-time to stay up to date with the most recent discoveries.

If all goes well, it should be a very reliable and up to date source for medical information.

Kids Count Data for Indiana

Here are some of our recent statistics from this agency:

Poverty Rate in 2006:
Floyd County was 15.4%, Clark County was 14%, and Harrison County was 12.4%

Teen Birth Rate for 2006 per 1000 15 to 17 year olds:
Floyd County was 37.2, Clark County was 50.2 and Harrison County was 35.8

Child Neglect in 2006:
Floyd County had 249 substantiated cases, Clark County had 424 substantiated cases, and Harrison County had 90 substantiated cases.

Child Abuse cases in 2006:
Floyd County had 18 cases, Clark County had 80 cases, and Harrison County had 10 cases

School Enrollment for 2007:
Floyd County had 12,204, Clark County had 15,959, and Harrison County had 6133

Suspensions and Expulsions for 2007:
Floyd County had 5074 suspensions and 34 expulsions, Clark County had 7064 suspensions and 67 expulsions, and Harrison County and 1116 suspensions and 3 expulsions

Clark County appears to have higher numbers in all areas except the poverty measure.

Are these numbers surprising to anyone and what are some thoughts about improving some of these areas?

Life Principles from Noah's Arc

Wtih all the financial turmoil and uncertainty here are some simple life lessons we can all use.

Everything I need to know, I learned from Noah's Ark.

ONE: Don't miss the boat.

TWO: Remember that we are all in the same boat.

THREE: Plan ahead. It wasn't raining when Noah built the Ark.

FOUR: Stay fit. When you're 60 years old, someone may ask you to do something really big.

FIVE: Don't listen to critics; just get on with the job that needs to be done.

SIX: Build your future on high ground.

SEVEN: For safety's sake, travel in pairs.

EIGHT: Speed isn't always an advantage. The snails were on board with the cheetahs.

NINE: When you're stressed, float awhile.

TEN: Remember, the Ark was built by amateurs; the Titanic by professionals.

New Imaging Techniques for Autism

Harvard researchers recently reported that children with autism have a wide range of genetic defects. This makes it nearly impossible to develop a simple genetic test to identify the disorder, but there are some University of Missouri researchers studying 3-D imaging to reveal correlations in the facial features and brain structures of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The goal is to help them enable a formula for earlier detection of the disorder.

The multi-disciplinary researchers are using 3-D representations of brain structures and facial features with technology under development in the University of Missouri-Columbia’s Computer Graphics and Image Understanding Lab. They will focus on two autism spectrum disorder subgroups; complex and essential autism.

The Computer Graphics and Image Understand Lab has a variety of different projects underway, including medical image analysis and a brain data explorer/information miner.

Although this still sounds like science-fiction, we are seeing more parents choosing not to vaccinate their children because of the fear of autism. But someday we’ll have a breakthrough that will enable our society to move past the suspicions surrounding vaccinations and autism

Mandatory Overtime

We’ve looked at Resident and Medical Student work hours, but what about nurses. In this recent article, "Overtime imposed on nurses," Canadian nurses are struggling with nursing shortages and mandatory overtime.

Is it right to mandate overtime with or without compensation?

There are those that believe this is wrong and others who believe that patient care comes first and if you are in the healthcare field, it is a responsibility whether you like it or not.

Should nurses who are paid hourly and hired in for a specific schedule have to make other daycare arrangements, cancel other appointments, miss family functions, miss out on dinner, movie or other engagements just because a hospital cannot fill their positions?

If a nurse refuses, can he/she be penalized, suspended or fired as they are doing in Canada?

There are studies showing that tired nurses are at risk of making more errors. These can be dangerous and place patients at risk and the hospital in a liability risk. According to the Gazette article, a representative from one of the hospital, “denied that all the overtime was putting patients' lives at risk: ‘I don't think there should be any fears.’"

Staffing continues to be a problem nationwide and we need to ensure that we are doing everything possible to recruit and retain our nursing staff.

They are our invaluable asset to patient care!

Measles resurgence

As I have written several times in the past about vaccinations and their importance, 2008 is beginning to show the downside of utilizing what we know works.

Childhood diseases are making a comeback and infectious disease experts say that measles is the first of the childhood diseases to rear its ugly head.

According to health officials in the US, the first seven months of 2008 saw 131 cases of measles whereas there were only 42 cases in all of 2007. The last time the number was close to this was in 1997 when we saw 138 cases.

More than half of cases this year involve children whose parents did not allow their children to be vaccinated.

In the past, there were only a few kids who weren’t vaccinated and their risk of acquiring a disease was minimal because of the “herd immunity” of the rest of the population. But as more parents refuse vaccination, the herd is becoming smaller and the risk is greater.

As measles becomes more prevalent again, the complications will also. We will again see children born with congenital Rubella syndrome with mental retardation, deafness and death.

We continue to have advocacy groups promoting new vaccines that immunize against diseases that can only be acquired by high risk behaviors, but we fail to reinforce the importance of these vaccines that protect our kids from airborne and casual contact diseases with significant morbidities

There are pros and cons to every medical treatment including vaccinations. There are also moral and ethical questions, especially with some of the new vaccines.

But it is a shame that some parents will have to learn by their own mistakes because they have never witnessed the problems associated with these diseases. As occurs too often, our children and their children will suffer because of the decisions we are making now.

Hackers control pacemakers

VentureBeat is a website dealing with tech and finance news. They recently posted an article raising some concerns about the safety and security of some medical devices.

They stated in the article that a team of academics and tech security professionals presenting at Defcon, the world’s largest hacker convention, have “figured out how to turn off someone’s pacemaker via remote control.”

According to the report, one brand of implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) made by Medtronics has a built-in test mechanism which turns out to be a bug that can be exploited by hackers.

The hackers used a software radio and less than $1,000 worth of other electronics to build a system that mimicked the ICD’s control mechanism. This enabled them to “eavesdrop on private data such as the identity of the patient, the doctor, the diagnosis, and the pacemaker instructions.”

It also gave them the ability to control the pacemaker and allowed them to be able to put the device in test mode, drain the battery or turn off therapies of the device.

I guess the bottom line is that no electronic device is completely safe. If one person creates something, another person will figure out how to destroy it.

Friday Fun

BLONDE POLE DANCER

Please don't continue if you have no sense of humor

Beautiful Blonde Pole Dancer

If you should find it too offensive, please post as to the reason so all the readers can be advised.

(Proceed Cautiously)

Please scroll down . . . . .

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GOTTCHA!!

May you always have enough HUMOUR in your life!

I knew you couldn't resist scrolling down to look!!!

New Cancer Treatment on the Horizon

A group of scientists from Rockefeller University recently published in the journal Genes and Development that they have found a way using mice to enhance the signals that trigger cells to die when they begin to multiply in dangerously abnormal ways. This would be a way to kill precancerous cell before they become completely cancerous.

They are using a protein called inhibitors of apoptosis protein (IAPs) to accomplish this and they believe eventually a new class of drugs will be available to treat some cancers.

The next problem to solve is to determine which individual IAPs contribute to tumors and which IAPS we need to target in order to cure cancer. This will be the more difficult task.

There are no “free-rides” with any drug therapy and side effects and complications of harm to normal cells will have to be assessed.

President Obama

Congratulations to Barack Obama and all his supporters!

It was a tough campaign and the people have spoken. As a conservative republican I congratulate him and certainly will support him as our Commander and
Chief even though he was not my choice.

My hope is that President Obama can truly become the more moderate person he has tried to portray himself as and not the individual that his voting record and his history has shown him to be thus far.

I hope the change he has promised will be a change for the betterment of this great country.

Once again, congratulations to President Obama.

ELECTION DAY 2008

It is our right and privilege as well as a civic duty. We may not get our way, but we can have our say!

It has been a long and difficult campaign and now is the time to allow your voices to be heard.

Please Vote

Why John McCain

Trust, Judgment and Moderacy

These three things sum up why I will vote for McCain rather than Obama.

The top ten issues which I believe supports these 3 major categories are as follows:

1) McCain will likely appoint judges to the Supreme Court and other circuit courts who will adhere more closely to a stricter interpretation of the constitution and less likely to legislate from the bench as we have seen elsewhere.

2) McCain understands the threat of Islamic terrorism and I believe his plan is not one of appeasement, withdraw and retreat, and his views on how to confront it more closely align with mine.

3) McCain supports a strong military and is not willing to cut spending in this vital area. He understands that military strength is the greatest asset the USA has to combat those who want us dead. You cannot appease, bargain or negotiate with radical terrorists who view us as infidels.

4) McCain believes in smaller government and lower taxes. He believes as I do that lowering corporate taxes is by far the best economic stimulus and job creating program and he does not believe in redistributing the wealth. Our tax system is flawed, but McCain does not believe that taking from the rich and giving to people who pay no taxes is prudent. Giving tax breaks to corporations who already pay huge sums is not "giving them money" as so many on the left like to say. It is allowing these companies to keep more of their earnings which in turns allows them to invest more and create more job opportunities.

5) McCain is a strong pro-life, anti-abortion candidate with a record to prove it; in comparison to Obama who is the most radical pro-abortion candidate ever to run for the presidency

6) McCain has a very strong record on opposing anti-gun legislation unlike Obama and will represent my views better on this topic

7) McCain will appoint people to the nearly 3000 positions in the government who much more closely line up with the conservative small government approach that I believe in.

8) McCain has much more experience in all foreign policies and he does not believe we ever need permission from United Nations to do whatever is necessary to protect our country or our Allies. He understands the role of the president is first and foremost to protect the country. I am not confident that Obama has this same belief. Obama seems more concerned about how the USA is perceived by other nations and based on his record within his own party, I am really afraid he would sacrifice our safety when difficult decisions arose where he may have to make a unilateral decision not in sync with the United Nations.

9) McCain has shown good judgment in the company he has kept over the years and has not had to continuously make excuses or distance himself from his friends because of their radical statements, ideas, and beliefs. Obama’s choices in these matters worry me greatly and should worry everyone else. People align themselves most commonly with others with similar beliefs and viewpoints. Obama’s choices of friends and colleagues demonstrate his poor judgment. And in addition, Obama has lied about relationships and votes he has made until they were brought to the forefront. I believe McCain is trustworthy and Obama is not.

10) McCain has a record of standing against his own party even when unpopular for what he believes is right. Obama’s record is one of voting along Democratic Party lines with little evidence of ever being able to stand up against his own party. When the topic is really controversial, Obama has a pattern of voting "present". McCain shows leadership whereas Obama shows appeasment and conflict avoidance.

Is McCain perfect; no

Would he have been my first choice; no

But when you functionally have a 2-party system, you have to choose the one that best represents your positions. This year, John McCain best represents my three key issues.

TRUST, JUDGMENT and MODERACY