Many people are not aware that Hillary Clinton actually had a stroke. However, the type of stroke she had is a rare form and with long term possible complications. Despite her stroke, no one is talking about any long term effects it may have on her. Some have suggested there may be some residual problems. However, nothing has been confirmed other than she is wearing new glasses for double vision. As a physician, I can only conjecture that this complication was directly due to the stroke we know she suffered, or that she may suffered a second stroke effecting the muscles of one of her eyes.
Regardless, the glasses do raise some suspicion about her long term health. As publicized by the American Stroke Association, some long term possible consequences of Clinton’s stroke are as follows:
-
6.5% chance of recurrent clot
-
½ patients left with permanent psychiatric disease
-
Up to 21% do not reach complete recovery
-
50% suffer from chronic headaches
-
Up to 32% with residual seizures
What, if any of these problems does Clinton have, I do not know?
Categories
List of Why GMOs Unsafe
Genetically modified foods are more widely grown and distributed than many people realize. In fact, people don’t realize it because warning labels are not required when selling these foods. Though genetic manipulation may sound logical to some, the consequences of transforming the food is yet to be determined. I have found an interesting list of reason genetically modified foods are worrisome:
-
Genetic engineering reduces genetic diversity. When genes are more diverse, they are more robust; this is why a pure bred dog tends to have greater health problems than the dear old mutt. Plants with reduced genetic diversity cannot handle drought, fungus invasions or insects nearly as well as natural plants, which could have dire consequences for farmers and communities dependent on GMO crops for survival.
-
Once the mutant genes are out of the bag, there is no going back. Genetically modified organisms contaminate existing seeds with their altered material, passing on modified traits to non-target species. This creates a new strain of plant that was never intended in the laboratory. In North Dakota, recent studies show that 80% of wild canola plants tested contained at least one transgene.
-
GMOs are not the answer for global food security. Genetically engineered crops have shown no increase in yield and no decrease in pesticide use.
-
Genetically engineered foods have not been proven to be safe, but the few studies conducted don’t look so hot. The organs of rats who ate genetically modified potatoes showed signs of chronic wasting, and female rates fed a diet of herbicide-resistant soybeans gave birth to stunted and sterile pups.
-
Big biotech firms have very sketchy track records, but then again what would you expect from organizations who want to patent the world’s food supply?
-
GMOs require massive amounts of pesticides, herbicides and fungicides. These things are poisons, and should not be eaten or allowed to run off into our water supply. But they are, every day, by companies who care far more about the bottom line than they do about your health, your environment or your children’s future.
-
No one monitors human health impacts of GM foods. If the foods were creating health problems in the US population, it might take years or decades before we identified the cause.
-
There can be nutritional difference between GM food and non-GM food. A 2012 nutritional analysis of GM versus non-GM corn showed shocking differences in nutritional content. Non-GM corn contains 437 times more calcium, 56 times more magnesium, and 7 times more manganese than GM corn. GM corn was also found to contain 13 ppm of glyphosate, a pesticide so toxic that it may be carcinogenic in the parts-per-trillion range, compared to zero in non-GM corn.
Remember, gene therapy even in humans has never been proven to be completely safe. Remember the deaths and disease caused by gene therapy over the past 20 years? Scientists claimed it was safe. However, the people at placed at risk in these gene therapy studies are minor compared all those at risk from consuming GMO food products.
Categories
Precaution Heighten on MERS Victim
Precautions heighten as the Saudi resident in a Florida hospital still has a low-grade fever and is being treated in isolation for the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS). Caretakers have to wear goggles, gloves and a special suit while tending to him. Dr. Antonio Crespo says two hospital workers were showing flu-like symptoms after coming into contact with the 44-year-old man. One was cleared, but the other was admitted to the hospital.
About 15 other workers, including two physicians at the hospital, as well as five workers at Orlando Regional Medical Center where the Saudi resident also visited, have been asked to stay home from work for two weeks until they are cleared of having the virus.
Because modern medicine still does not know the exact mechanism of transmission of the virus and because there is no treatment, patients are now being kept in extreme isolation. Plus, healthcare workers need to don safety equipment similar to that which was worn during the Ebola outbreak. Is this just a precaution or is it what is needed? Time will tell.
Categories
Second US Case of MERS
Health officials have confirmed a second U.S. case of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in Florida this week. Not a native of the states, the victim was visiting from Saudi Arabia. Health officials say this case is unrelated to the other recent one diagnosed in Indiana.
“The risk to the public remains very low,” said Dr. Anne Schuchat of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
However, health officials are trying to contact all the passengers on the planes the man took to inform them to watch out for early signs of the MERS virus.
This virus has been found in camels, but officials don’t know how it is spreading to humans. It can spread from person to person, but officials believe that happens only after close contact. Not all those exposed to the virus become ill.
But it appears to be unusually lethal – some estimates have suggested it has killed nearly a third of the people it sickened. The estimate has been dropping as health officials have begun diagnosing more and more cases with less severe illness. But the estimated fatality rate for MERS still is far higher than what’s seen with seasonal flu or other routine infections.
Are we looking at the beginning of a new pandemic? As a physician, I seriously doubt it. However, what if this virus mutates into something more contagious? Though slim, the possibility is there. Like all viruses, MERS is prone to frequent mutations, and does have the potential to become more infectious. And what makes this scary is that we still have no treatment, prevention or source for this virus.
By 2013, farmers were growing genetically modified crops on more than 420 million acres of land across 28 countries. However, both the environmental and human safety of these crops still remains highly debated. Without long term, controlled human safety data available, this concern is certainly valid.
Because of this concern, politicians, particularly in Europe, have created regulations to monitor GM products. However, in the United States, labeling of these foods is not mandated by the government. In fact, it is mostly voluntary in nature.
A new test called “MACRO,” which stands for: multiplex amplification on a chip with readout on an oligo microarray is now available to identify these crops. The sensitivity of this new genetic test is the best on the market and can identify about 97 percent of the known commercialized modifications.
As the Europeans take the lead in using such tests, the United States lags behind with the transparency of these foods. While the FDA goes after soaps and e-cigarettes, real and potential harmful foods/chemicals can be poisoning our country with little being done to stop it. Where are our priorities? Better yet, who is paying off the FDA and politicians?
Categories
No Conservatives Christians Allowed
Has the media turned so progressive that any non-progressive, conservative thinking person is shunned from working?
Regardless of your social beliefs, you should find the treatment of David and Jason Benham by HGTV a little troubling. I understand that some disagree with their Christian beliefs but that is certainly not the point nor is it the issue. The issue is that they lost their show on HGTV not because of what they did but what they believed.
We are now finding media censoring themselves at a heightened, liberal level. Will conservative checks now be done for every person who tries to get any job on TV, the newspaper or on the radio? If you attended a mass in which the pastor or priest demonized abortion, could you be out of a job? The scarier thing to ask is if this liberal litmus test will spill over to different professions? Remember what happened to Brendan Eich from Mozilla or the scrutiny Chick Fila-A received.
We are heading to this point. My great grandfather was the first Martino to come to the USA in the early 20th century. He left Italy after he and his other 3 brothers were arrested for attending a democratic rally. His 3 brothers died in jail, and he came here to start a better life—in a place where freedom of speech was guaranteed by law.
Where has that guarantee gone? Well ask yourselves this– how many CEO’s are going to come out and say that they are pro-life? I can guarantee it will be zero. They will be too afraid to speak their mind for fear their job or company would be in jeopardy. The media attack dogs are ready and more than willing to pounce on anybody who does not adhere to the progressive party line.
The sad part is that there is a complete double standard. Remember Obama sitting through Reverend White’s hate filled speeches? Where was the media outcry. Sure, it was discussed and written on conservative outlets, but the main stream media killed the story before it really got legs.
The truth is as the mainstream media gets more progressive, our country gets worse.
A new study from the Brooklyn Institution states that more US businesses are being destroyed than are being created. This trend has been most striking over the Obama administration, culminating with the worst numbers since the beginning of 2009.
There is no states or regional localization for these numbers. The poor business growth and the destruction of businesses are seen throughout the entire 50 state union. The only valid conclusion when looking at these statistics is that the problem arises from a central source and not on the local level. When I write of a central source, I am, of course, referring to Washington DC.
Since Obama has taken office, there has been an attack on the middle class. Despite Obama’s rhetoric and the media’s confirmation of his lies, the wealth gap between the rich and poor is widening by the day, while squeezing out the middle class in the process.
Remember, small business is the spine which makes America’s economy and creates most of the jobs in this country. However, as any small business owner will tell you, it has become more difficult by the year to maintain that business. Higher taxes, no incentives, new laws and an unfriendly central government has made business ownership increasingly more difficult. Also, it deters the entrepreneurial spirit and discourages anyone from wanting to create their own business.
Despite the lower unemployment rate, it clearly explains why the nation’s workforce shrank by more than 800,000 workers in April, sending the labor force participation rate plummeting 0.4 percentage points to 62.8 percent.
Despite what you hear on the news, America’s economy remains in a downwards spiral. Many have given up looking for work and are now on the government doll, or they just decided to retire due to the bad economy. As this trend continues, America’s competitive edge will soon be lost.
Don’t let this happen.
Recently, Chris Stigall spoke with comedian Rob Schneider. The comedian’s responses were both candid and honest. He was open about his feelings of the Obama administration and of the liberal press.
He stated, “Democracies don’t end well. We are sliding very fast towards fascism. It’s an ugly kind of thing. There’s this kind of mob mentality that we have to be careful of.”
He also admitted that he was pressured by the media and the Hollywood establishment to have a more liberal or progressive stance on political issues. He said, “There’s a polarization that’s happening…I do think you look can look at government and go, ‘Wow, it is out of control now,’ and if you do criticize or tend to be not directly along a liberal stand, you can get murdered.” He went on to comment that the biggest government watchdog, the media has taken sides and no longer accurately reports the news. He stated, “We don’t really have freedom of the press. It’s owned by about eight different companies, and it doesn’t really express or help the average American.”
Schneider was critical of the President’s handling of the economy and he feels certain policies are negatively impacting businesses. He noted, “There’s not one segment of business under the Obama administration that hasn’t been hurt…he attacks for-profit schools, which is totally an elitist thing from a guy that went to Harvard. I think for free, by the way.”
Some say the more conservative segment of the population is paranoid that the media is a leftist propaganda machine or that the government is out to get them. However, with honest comedians like Rob Schneider and the blatant IRS scandal, there is substance to their argument.
People ask me as a physician if a new, incurable virus or bacteria could spread across the world, causing a massive pandemic. Unfortunately, I tell them the answer to this question is “When, not if.”
The truth is that bacterial and viral pathogens have been around for millions, if not billions of years. While modern antibiotics, on the other hand, have only been around for around for less than a measly hundred years. Plus, with worldwide travel, people not taking their full prescription of antibiotics, and the rapid mutation rate of diseases, it is just a matter of time before one of these bugs causes real problems.
In my book The New Reality, I write of such a scenario. Unfortunately, this situation may be more plausible than fictional in nature. With the recent disassembly of the American healthcare system, rising national debt, and deteriorating research grant funds, we may be financially unable to handle a massive pandemic—making this scenario more likely by the day.
I’m not a fear monger, but a recent article caught my attention about a deadly virus that was brought back from Saudi Arabia. It is called the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and carries a 25-30% mortality. The virus comes from the same family as the severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, coronavirus, which killed almost 800 people worldwide in 2003. The incubation period of the virus — the time between exposure and development of symptoms — is about five days, similar to SARS.
The patient who contracted MERS was returning home to Indiana. Upon arrival, he began to have shortness of breath, coughing and fever. Officials do not know the origin of the virus or how it spreads. The MERS virus has been found in camels, but officials don’t know how it is spreading to humans. There is no vaccine or treatment available. In some countries, the virus has spread from person to person through close contact, such as caring for or living with an infected person. However, it is unknown how the patient became infected.
“MERS is now in our heartland,” said Anne Schuchat, assistant surgeon general and director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunizations and Respiratory Diseases, during a briefing Friday.
The scary thing is what happens if this MERS virus mutates into something more deadly. By nature, virus routinely mutate—making treatment of such illnesses as the common cold and HIV very difficult to treat. So what happens if it mutates into something more deadly or possibly something more easily spread?
It is certainly a reasonable question to ask. And the only true answer is to be prepared. But as our ability to prepare is under serious jeopardy as a direct result of Obama’s new domestic policies and the Affordable Care Act, we may all be caught someday off-guard for such an event.
For more information please refer to: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/cdc-confirms-first-case-of-deadly-mers-virus-in-indiana-man-who-traveled-to-saudi-arabia/2014/05/02/b27673b4-d233-11e3-a6b1-45c4dffb85a6_story.html