As I started introspecting, I realized that one of the biggest drawbacks of my writing style --- at least initially --- was that I was not paying sufficient attention to my audience profile. I did not have a clear vision of who I was writing for. During this phase, I would at times, unthinkingly meander into areas, which could not have of direct interest to my target audience, namely, my patients, their family members and my peers.
I also realized that identifying and analyzing your target audience is by no means a simple task. You have to put yourself in the position of people you might not know; reading something you haven't yet started to write.
Most writers want to concentrate first on content. Their knowledge and opinions are understandably what they feel most comfortable with. They want to write something first and shape it later. But in my view, resisting this temptation is important.
I for instance had to figure out and segment three different audience profile for my book:
• My patients
• Their papers and other support members
• Everybody else interested in knowing more about health nutrition
By this time, I had realized that audience No.#1 and 2, were my core audience and audience no.#3 were incidental to my content. This analysis helped narrow down my focus.
Dr Kevin Lau
17 July 2008
Research: "The Myelin Project" - Autism and Stem Cells
The exciting work of researchers funded by The Myelin Project, whose goal is to remyelinate the human central nervous system, may someday have benefits for autistic children. Only time will tell if a specific area of damaged neurons can be found and potentially repaired with stem cells.
The first human trial, conducted by Dr. Timothy Vollmer at Yale University School of Medicine, will attempt to transplant myelin-forming Schwann cells into the brains of five patients with multiple sclerosis. The cells will be obtained from the sural nerves of the patients themselves. Although Schwann cells normally produce myelin in the peripheral nervous system, several recent experiments conducted on rodents and cats have shown these cells have the ability to remyelinate in the CNS as well.
While multiple sclerosis is a long way from autism, there is discussion of anti-myelin antibodies in autism, and there is talk of inflammatory processes involving myelin. Whether this technology can help autism if it works for multiple sclerosis is anybody's guess, but it's exciting to wonder about.
The Myelin Project funds a Cell Culture Unit at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where Dr. Su-chun Zhang continues to generate cultures with ever-higher percentages of human oligodendrocyte precursors (OPs). Oligodendrocytes are the cells that normally myelinate the CNS. If obtainable in sufficient quantity, they would provide an alternative to Schwann cells for transplantation. The Unit has developed a method to track transplanted OPs by MRI, labeling the cells with iron particles. In another recent experiment, Dr. Baron-Van Evercooren and colleagues were able to remyelinate as many as 55% of the nerves in monkey spinal cord lesions by transplanting the monkeys' own Schwann cells. These initial positive results, however, have not been confirmed in subsequent attempts. She suspects that the viral labels she used to distinguish the transplanted cells caused them to die. She is trying again without viral labeling. If successful, this experiment would prove that CNS remyelination is feasible in higher animals.
Several researchers funded by The Myelin Project have injected myelin-forming cells into the ventricles of the brain of experimental animals and have shown that these cells were transported by the cerebrospinal fluid to all regions of the brain. This makes it more likely that injected cells will travel to where the myelin needs to be repopulated.
The Myelin Project has funded Dr. Oliver Br½stle of the University of Bonn, Germany, and Dr. Evan Snyder of Harvard University to work with neural stem cells (NSC). These are self-renewing, multipotent cells, capable of differentiating into the major types of neural cells, including oligodendrocytes. One of their most potentially beneficial properties is their tendency to respond to signals in the CNS environment. In CNS diseases, these signals guide the cells to damaged areas. Second, they prompt them to differentiate into the specific cell type needed for the repair -- neurons in nerve diseases like Parkinson's and oligodendrocytes in myelin disorders like the leukodystrophies and multiple sclerosis.
NSCs are typically of fetal origin, but have also been found in the adult brain. NSCs can be multiplied in culture indefinitely as an "immortal" cell line. They could eventually provide an inexhaustible source of myelin-forming cells, eliminating the need for obtaining them from fresh tissue. Several research centers are now testing human NSCs to verify their safety and in particular to rule out any risk of their becoming cancerous. If this testing concludes favorably, then prospective myelin repair strategies could take a two-fold approach. NSCs would be injected into the ventricular system where the cerebrospinal fluid would circulate them to all parts of the CNS. Local signals would then come into play, guiding the cells to the specific demyelinated areas.
The Myelin Project has also funded Dr. Robin Franklin of the University of Cambridge to study olfactory ensheathing cells, a third type of myelin-producing cell. He has perfected a technique for demyelinating the area of rat brain connecting the cerebellum with the brain stem. He subsequently remyelinated the area by transplanting rat Schwann cells, which adds to the body of evidence in favor of Schwann cell transplantation as a way of repairing CNS myelin lesions.
The Myelin Project has also funded Dr. Inderjit Singh of the Medical University of South Carolina to study the use of Lovastatin in the treatment of myelin disorders. The drug corrects the biochemical defect of adrenoleukodystrophy, lowering the levels of very long chain fatty acids in plasma. Preliminary studies with an animal model of MS have confirmed Lovastatin's ability to block the induction of cytokines, substances responsible for the inflammation of the CNS. We know that the levels of very long chain fatty acids and of some cytokines are elevated in autism. I am wonderijng already if Lovastatin might be worth trying for children with documented elevated very long chain fatty acids and elevated cytokines.
These studies present exciting possibilities for the future for treating neurodegenerative diseases. They may eventually have relevence for such diverse conditions as autism, cerebral palsy, and CNS vaccine damage syndromes. Time will tell.
The first human trial, conducted by Dr. Timothy Vollmer at Yale University School of Medicine, will attempt to transplant myelin-forming Schwann cells into the brains of five patients with multiple sclerosis. The cells will be obtained from the sural nerves of the patients themselves. Although Schwann cells normally produce myelin in the peripheral nervous system, several recent experiments conducted on rodents and cats have shown these cells have the ability to remyelinate in the CNS as well.
While multiple sclerosis is a long way from autism, there is discussion of anti-myelin antibodies in autism, and there is talk of inflammatory processes involving myelin. Whether this technology can help autism if it works for multiple sclerosis is anybody's guess, but it's exciting to wonder about.
The Myelin Project funds a Cell Culture Unit at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where Dr. Su-chun Zhang continues to generate cultures with ever-higher percentages of human oligodendrocyte precursors (OPs). Oligodendrocytes are the cells that normally myelinate the CNS. If obtainable in sufficient quantity, they would provide an alternative to Schwann cells for transplantation. The Unit has developed a method to track transplanted OPs by MRI, labeling the cells with iron particles. In another recent experiment, Dr. Baron-Van Evercooren and colleagues were able to remyelinate as many as 55% of the nerves in monkey spinal cord lesions by transplanting the monkeys' own Schwann cells. These initial positive results, however, have not been confirmed in subsequent attempts. She suspects that the viral labels she used to distinguish the transplanted cells caused them to die. She is trying again without viral labeling. If successful, this experiment would prove that CNS remyelination is feasible in higher animals.
Several researchers funded by The Myelin Project have injected myelin-forming cells into the ventricles of the brain of experimental animals and have shown that these cells were transported by the cerebrospinal fluid to all regions of the brain. This makes it more likely that injected cells will travel to where the myelin needs to be repopulated.
The Myelin Project has funded Dr. Oliver Br½stle of the University of Bonn, Germany, and Dr. Evan Snyder of Harvard University to work with neural stem cells (NSC). These are self-renewing, multipotent cells, capable of differentiating into the major types of neural cells, including oligodendrocytes. One of their most potentially beneficial properties is their tendency to respond to signals in the CNS environment. In CNS diseases, these signals guide the cells to damaged areas. Second, they prompt them to differentiate into the specific cell type needed for the repair -- neurons in nerve diseases like Parkinson's and oligodendrocytes in myelin disorders like the leukodystrophies and multiple sclerosis.
NSCs are typically of fetal origin, but have also been found in the adult brain. NSCs can be multiplied in culture indefinitely as an "immortal" cell line. They could eventually provide an inexhaustible source of myelin-forming cells, eliminating the need for obtaining them from fresh tissue. Several research centers are now testing human NSCs to verify their safety and in particular to rule out any risk of their becoming cancerous. If this testing concludes favorably, then prospective myelin repair strategies could take a two-fold approach. NSCs would be injected into the ventricular system where the cerebrospinal fluid would circulate them to all parts of the CNS. Local signals would then come into play, guiding the cells to the specific demyelinated areas.
The Myelin Project has also funded Dr. Robin Franklin of the University of Cambridge to study olfactory ensheathing cells, a third type of myelin-producing cell. He has perfected a technique for demyelinating the area of rat brain connecting the cerebellum with the brain stem. He subsequently remyelinated the area by transplanting rat Schwann cells, which adds to the body of evidence in favor of Schwann cell transplantation as a way of repairing CNS myelin lesions.
The Myelin Project has also funded Dr. Inderjit Singh of the Medical University of South Carolina to study the use of Lovastatin in the treatment of myelin disorders. The drug corrects the biochemical defect of adrenoleukodystrophy, lowering the levels of very long chain fatty acids in plasma. Preliminary studies with an animal model of MS have confirmed Lovastatin's ability to block the induction of cytokines, substances responsible for the inflammation of the CNS. We know that the levels of very long chain fatty acids and of some cytokines are elevated in autism. I am wonderijng already if Lovastatin might be worth trying for children with documented elevated very long chain fatty acids and elevated cytokines.
These studies present exciting possibilities for the future for treating neurodegenerative diseases. They may eventually have relevence for such diverse conditions as autism, cerebral palsy, and CNS vaccine damage syndromes. Time will tell.
16 July 2008
How Food Affects Your Brain
A balanced diet, along with regular exercise, can help protect the brain and ward off mental disorders.
Omega-3 fats in particular provide many benefits, including improving learning and memory and helping to fight against mental disorders such as depression, schizophrenia, and dementia. Children who have high amounts of omega-3 fats in their diets tend to perform better in school in reading and spelling, and have fewer behavioral problems, he said.
The omega-3 fat docosahexaenoic acid, or DHA, may be especially important. It reduces oxidative stress and enhances synaptic plasticity and learning and memory, and is the most abundant omega-3 fatty acid in cell membranes in the brain.
Folic acid and curcumin may also have beneficial brain effects. At the same time, junk food and fast food negatively affect the brain's synapses. Several molecules related to learning and memory are adversely affected by unhealthy diets.
Sources:
* Science Blog July 9, 2008
Omega-3 fats in particular provide many benefits, including improving learning and memory and helping to fight against mental disorders such as depression, schizophrenia, and dementia. Children who have high amounts of omega-3 fats in their diets tend to perform better in school in reading and spelling, and have fewer behavioral problems, he said.
The omega-3 fat docosahexaenoic acid, or DHA, may be especially important. It reduces oxidative stress and enhances synaptic plasticity and learning and memory, and is the most abundant omega-3 fatty acid in cell membranes in the brain.
Folic acid and curcumin may also have beneficial brain effects. At the same time, junk food and fast food negatively affect the brain's synapses. Several molecules related to learning and memory are adversely affected by unhealthy diets.
Sources:
* Science Blog July 9, 2008
Fruit juice tied to modest rise in diabetes risk
By Anne Harding
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Women wanting to ward off type 2 diabetes should load their plates with green leafy vegetables and whole fruits, but perhaps stay away from fruit juice, new research suggests.
Eating an additional three servings of whole fruit daily, or one more serving of spinach, kale or similar leafy green vegetable was tied to a lower risk of developing diabetes over an 18-year period among 71,346 women enrolled in the Nurses' Health Study.
"It was a modest decrease," Dr. Lydia A. Bazzano of Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, New Orleans, told Reuters Health. "This is not going to...prevent it if you have many, many risk factors and you're overweight...it's a tool in the prevention strategy."
Bazzano and colleagues analyzed data on the diets of Nurses' Health Study participants -- 4,529 of whom developed type 2 diabetes while they were being followed. They divided women into five groups based on fruit and vegetable intake, and also grouped them based on fruit juice consumption.
They found that an increase of three servings a day of whole fruit was associated with an 18 percent lower risk of type 2 diabetes, while a single additional serving of leafy green vegetables cut the risk by 9 percent. However, an additional daily serving of fruit juice increased the likelihood of developing diabetes by 18 percent.
While the findings must be replicated, Bazzano said, there are plausible mechanisms by which fruit juice could increase risk. "It's a big sugar load and it comes in a liquid form which is absorbed rapidly," she noted.
The findings, the study team concludes, suggest that "caution should be observed in replacing some beverages with fruit juices in an effort to provide healthier options. The same caution applies to the recommendation that 100 percent fruit juice be considered a serving of fruit as it is in the present national dietary guidelines."
SOURCE: Diabetes Care, July 2008.
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Women wanting to ward off type 2 diabetes should load their plates with green leafy vegetables and whole fruits, but perhaps stay away from fruit juice, new research suggests.
Eating an additional three servings of whole fruit daily, or one more serving of spinach, kale or similar leafy green vegetable was tied to a lower risk of developing diabetes over an 18-year period among 71,346 women enrolled in the Nurses' Health Study.
"It was a modest decrease," Dr. Lydia A. Bazzano of Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, New Orleans, told Reuters Health. "This is not going to...prevent it if you have many, many risk factors and you're overweight...it's a tool in the prevention strategy."
Bazzano and colleagues analyzed data on the diets of Nurses' Health Study participants -- 4,529 of whom developed type 2 diabetes while they were being followed. They divided women into five groups based on fruit and vegetable intake, and also grouped them based on fruit juice consumption.
They found that an increase of three servings a day of whole fruit was associated with an 18 percent lower risk of type 2 diabetes, while a single additional serving of leafy green vegetables cut the risk by 9 percent. However, an additional daily serving of fruit juice increased the likelihood of developing diabetes by 18 percent.
While the findings must be replicated, Bazzano said, there are plausible mechanisms by which fruit juice could increase risk. "It's a big sugar load and it comes in a liquid form which is absorbed rapidly," she noted.
The findings, the study team concludes, suggest that "caution should be observed in replacing some beverages with fruit juices in an effort to provide healthier options. The same caution applies to the recommendation that 100 percent fruit juice be considered a serving of fruit as it is in the present national dietary guidelines."
SOURCE: Diabetes Care, July 2008.
12 Babies Die During Vaccine Trials in Argentina
At least 12 infants who were part of a clinical study to test a pneumonia vaccine have died in Argentina over the course of the past year.
The study was sponsored by GlaxoSmithKline, and uses children from poor families. According to the Argentine Federation of Health Professionals, the families are "pressured and forced into signing consent forms”.
The vaccine trial is still ongoing despite the denunciations.
Sources:
* Trading Markets July 10, 2008
The study was sponsored by GlaxoSmithKline, and uses children from poor families. According to the Argentine Federation of Health Professionals, the families are "pressured and forced into signing consent forms”.
The vaccine trial is still ongoing despite the denunciations.
Sources:
* Trading Markets July 10, 2008
Psychiatrists Manipulated by Drug Industry
After a series of stinging investigations of individual doctors’ arrangements with drug makers, Senator Charles E. Grassley is demanding that the American Psychiatric Association give an accounting of its financing. The association is considered the voice of establishment psychiatry.
In 2006, the drug industry accounted for about 30 percent of the association’s $62.5 million in financing. About half of that money went to drug advertisements in psychiatric journals and exhibits at the annual meeting.
One of the doctors named by Mr. Grassley is Dr. Alan F. Schatzberg, the association’s president-elect. Dr. Schatzberg’s $4.8 million stock holdings in a drug development company raised the senator’s concern.
Sources:
* New York Times July 12, 2008
In 2006, the drug industry accounted for about 30 percent of the association’s $62.5 million in financing. About half of that money went to drug advertisements in psychiatric journals and exhibits at the annual meeting.
One of the doctors named by Mr. Grassley is Dr. Alan F. Schatzberg, the association’s president-elect. Dr. Schatzberg’s $4.8 million stock holdings in a drug development company raised the senator’s concern.
Sources:
* New York Times July 12, 2008
The CDC Vastly Underestimates the Autism Menace
The time has come for everyone to stop referencing the Center for Disease Control (CDC) statistic which states that 1 in every 150 children has an autism spectrum disorder. Did we really ever believe the numbers the CDC presented to the world? Do we rarely believe anything that comes out of the collective mouth of the CDC? If the CDC wanted to tell the truth, they wouldn’t have had to look far to get to that truth.
For far too long it has been we the parents and our national autism organizations who have uncovered and spoken the truth. We are speaking the truth again, and the CDC needs to be confronted.
In early October of 2007, Dr. Edward Yazbak and Ray Gallup of the Vaccine Autoimmune Project (VAP) released a report titled “When 1 in 150 is Really 1 in 67”. This report which puts the autism prevalence at 1 in every 67 children is based on Department of Education statistics. Keep in mind that Dr. Yazbak and Ray’s report only includes children who qualify for special education services through the autism eligibility category. This excludes potentially thousands of children, including my own. If your child has a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder, but qualifies for special education through an Other Health Impaired or Developmental Delay category; your child is not accounted for in the 1 in every 67 children report. Our schools can not keep track of all of our children.
A few days ago a fellow military advocate mom sent me a document that was obtained through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The information in the FOIA document confirms Dr. Yazbak and Ray’s report.
The statistics contained in this FOIA document cover a 24 month period of tracking. They only include those children or adults who were seen during this time period by medical personnel who used one of the many diagnosis codes pertaining to ASD. Plain English; if the child or adult was not seen for something relating to their ASD by a provider who accepted Tricare during that time period, they are not included in the stats. Again, this excludes potentially thousands of children due to the limited tracking time. And again, all of our children can not be kept track of; this time by the military and Tricare.
The document obtained explains that there are a total of 22,356 people with a diagnosis of an autism spectrum disorder service wide (includes all branches of service); the vast majority are children of active duty or retired active duty dependents with ASD. The vast majority comprise a total of 22,027 military dependent children with autism. Of the 22,027 military dependent children with autism, 13,243 are children of active duty members.
According to a 2005 Department of Defense (DoD) publication (click on the download feature to view) there are 1,177,190 military dependent children service wide (page 49). This is what the numbers show:
1,177,190 (children service wide) /13243 (active duty (AD) dependent children with autism service wide) = 1 in 88
Due to the limitations of the tracking I think it’s safe to say that a heck of a lot of children were missed.
According to the FOIA document there are 8,784 dependent children with autism of retired military members. Information on the total number of dependent children of retired members has been hard to come by. Again, no one is keeping track, or so it seems.
So let’s play with some numbers, shall we?
According to the above mentioned 2005 DoD report (page 36), there were 52,270 members that retired between 2000 and 2005. According to the DoD report, the average number of children in an active duty family is two. Let’s cover the last 20 years of members retiring, and come up with a guesstimate of how many military dependent children of retired members there are. If there are roughly 52,270 members retiring in every five year period we have a total of 209,080 retired military members. If each of those retired members has on average, two children (refer to DoD report page 47), we would have roughly 418,160 military dependent children of retired military members.
418,160 (military dependent children of retired members) / 8,784 (military dependent children with autism of retired members) = 1 in 47
Now granted folks, we’re working with the second part of this equation which is a guesstimate number…
88 (active) + 47 (retired) = 135/2=67
WHAT! you say?
Yes, you are reading correctly. 1 in 67 military dependent children with autism.
“When 1 in 150 is Really 1 in 67”, in our schools.
“When 1 in 150 is Really 1 in 67”, in the United States Armed Forces.
It is time to start sounding the alarm bells, and every warning system we have. The autism tsunami has made landfall. It is time to confront the CDC. It is time to take this new information to our Congressional leaders. They need to be educated and be given a grave warning as to the financial ramifications in store for this country if our children don’t receive treatment, and agencies such as the CDC, NIH, IOM, FDA, and AAP continue to refuse to address the autism epidemic with complete transparency.
The time has come. Our children with autism need treatment, help and support. Our families need help and support.
The time has come for strong, swift, and deliberate action on the part of our government to provide every single child with autism the health insurance coverage necessary to recover our children with autism. Yes, they do recover.
The time has come for true leaders to step up to the plate. I challenge you to do just that right now. Step up to the plate.
The time has come. There is no more 1 in 150. There are 1 in 67 children with autism in this country, and the rate of children with autism increases every year.
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
Margaret Mead
The time has come.
For far too long it has been we the parents and our national autism organizations who have uncovered and spoken the truth. We are speaking the truth again, and the CDC needs to be confronted.
In early October of 2007, Dr. Edward Yazbak and Ray Gallup of the Vaccine Autoimmune Project (VAP) released a report titled “When 1 in 150 is Really 1 in 67”. This report which puts the autism prevalence at 1 in every 67 children is based on Department of Education statistics. Keep in mind that Dr. Yazbak and Ray’s report only includes children who qualify for special education services through the autism eligibility category. This excludes potentially thousands of children, including my own. If your child has a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder, but qualifies for special education through an Other Health Impaired or Developmental Delay category; your child is not accounted for in the 1 in every 67 children report. Our schools can not keep track of all of our children.
A few days ago a fellow military advocate mom sent me a document that was obtained through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The information in the FOIA document confirms Dr. Yazbak and Ray’s report.
The statistics contained in this FOIA document cover a 24 month period of tracking. They only include those children or adults who were seen during this time period by medical personnel who used one of the many diagnosis codes pertaining to ASD. Plain English; if the child or adult was not seen for something relating to their ASD by a provider who accepted Tricare during that time period, they are not included in the stats. Again, this excludes potentially thousands of children due to the limited tracking time. And again, all of our children can not be kept track of; this time by the military and Tricare.
The document obtained explains that there are a total of 22,356 people with a diagnosis of an autism spectrum disorder service wide (includes all branches of service); the vast majority are children of active duty or retired active duty dependents with ASD. The vast majority comprise a total of 22,027 military dependent children with autism. Of the 22,027 military dependent children with autism, 13,243 are children of active duty members.
According to a 2005 Department of Defense (DoD) publication (click on the download feature to view) there are 1,177,190 military dependent children service wide (page 49). This is what the numbers show:
1,177,190 (children service wide) /13243 (active duty (AD) dependent children with autism service wide) = 1 in 88
Due to the limitations of the tracking I think it’s safe to say that a heck of a lot of children were missed.
According to the FOIA document there are 8,784 dependent children with autism of retired military members. Information on the total number of dependent children of retired members has been hard to come by. Again, no one is keeping track, or so it seems.
So let’s play with some numbers, shall we?
According to the above mentioned 2005 DoD report (page 36), there were 52,270 members that retired between 2000 and 2005. According to the DoD report, the average number of children in an active duty family is two. Let’s cover the last 20 years of members retiring, and come up with a guesstimate of how many military dependent children of retired members there are. If there are roughly 52,270 members retiring in every five year period we have a total of 209,080 retired military members. If each of those retired members has on average, two children (refer to DoD report page 47), we would have roughly 418,160 military dependent children of retired military members.
418,160 (military dependent children of retired members) / 8,784 (military dependent children with autism of retired members) = 1 in 47
Now granted folks, we’re working with the second part of this equation which is a guesstimate number…
88 (active) + 47 (retired) = 135/2=67
WHAT! you say?
Yes, you are reading correctly. 1 in 67 military dependent children with autism.
“When 1 in 150 is Really 1 in 67”, in our schools.
“When 1 in 150 is Really 1 in 67”, in the United States Armed Forces.
It is time to start sounding the alarm bells, and every warning system we have. The autism tsunami has made landfall. It is time to confront the CDC. It is time to take this new information to our Congressional leaders. They need to be educated and be given a grave warning as to the financial ramifications in store for this country if our children don’t receive treatment, and agencies such as the CDC, NIH, IOM, FDA, and AAP continue to refuse to address the autism epidemic with complete transparency.
The time has come. Our children with autism need treatment, help and support. Our families need help and support.
The time has come for strong, swift, and deliberate action on the part of our government to provide every single child with autism the health insurance coverage necessary to recover our children with autism. Yes, they do recover.
The time has come for true leaders to step up to the plate. I challenge you to do just that right now. Step up to the plate.
The time has come. There is no more 1 in 150. There are 1 in 67 children with autism in this country, and the rate of children with autism increases every year.
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
Margaret Mead
The time has come.
15 July 2008
My Book: Long is not necessarily useful…
As I proceeded with my writing I came to identify some general characteristics of good writing, particularly for a book of this nature that’s meant not for the medical community but for lay patients. The win-win attributes that I identified for my book are: clarity, accuracy, accessibility, conciseness and correctness.
Clarity to my mind implies that the writing must have one and just one meaning and this meaning must emerge in a straightforward, unambiguous way. Lack of accuracy likewise leads to lack of readability; while accessibility implies the ease with which readers can locate the information they are seeking.
Finally, I also wanted to limit my book to a maximum of 80-90 pages. Beyond that, I am convinced that fatigues sets in, especially in case of non-fiction. The longer a non-fiction document is, the more difficult it is to use, for the simple reason that it takes more of user's time.
Further, clarity and conciseness are often at loggerheads with each other, but in the end analysis it is possible to balance the two. It is for instance, possible to shorten most writing by 10-20% simply by eliminating unnecessary phrases, eliminating all the medical jargon and choosing shorter over longer words and using economical grammatical forms, what is what I did with this book.
Clarity to my mind implies that the writing must have one and just one meaning and this meaning must emerge in a straightforward, unambiguous way. Lack of accuracy likewise leads to lack of readability; while accessibility implies the ease with which readers can locate the information they are seeking.
Finally, I also wanted to limit my book to a maximum of 80-90 pages. Beyond that, I am convinced that fatigues sets in, especially in case of non-fiction. The longer a non-fiction document is, the more difficult it is to use, for the simple reason that it takes more of user's time.
Further, clarity and conciseness are often at loggerheads with each other, but in the end analysis it is possible to balance the two. It is for instance, possible to shorten most writing by 10-20% simply by eliminating unnecessary phrases, eliminating all the medical jargon and choosing shorter over longer words and using economical grammatical forms, what is what I did with this book.
14 July 2008
U.S. Government Finally Paying Attention to 'Fringe' Autism Treatment That Works
Government researchers are pushing to test chelation therapy, an as yet unproven treatment on autistic children.
The treatment removes heavy metals from the body and is based on the theory that mercury in vaccines triggers autism. Many parents of autistic children attest to the success of the treatment, and the head of the National Institute of Mental Health now supports testing it on children provided the tests are safe.
For now, the proposed study has been put on hold because of safety concerns.
Any study of chelation in children would have to exclude those with high levels of lead or mercury, which would require treatment and preclude using a placebo.
Sources:
* USA Today July 8, 2008
The treatment removes heavy metals from the body and is based on the theory that mercury in vaccines triggers autism. Many parents of autistic children attest to the success of the treatment, and the head of the National Institute of Mental Health now supports testing it on children provided the tests are safe.
For now, the proposed study has been put on hold because of safety concerns.
Any study of chelation in children would have to exclude those with high levels of lead or mercury, which would require treatment and preclude using a placebo.
Sources:
* USA Today July 8, 2008
11 July 2008
AMA Admits Decades of Discrimination Against Black Doctors
After more than a century of institutional discrimination against blacks in the medical profession, the American Medical Association has finally admitted its role in promoting such discrimination, issuing an apology for all the harm its racist policies have caused over the years. Unknown to most consumers, the American Medical Association barred physicians from becoming members of the AMA unless they were first accepted as members of local AMA chapters, yet many local AMA chapters had rules specifically barring membership of black doctors well into the 1960's.
That's right: Whether you could become a practicing member of the AMA depended largely on your skin color!
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Even after the discriminatory rules were rewritten, many AMA chapters maintained a discriminatory stance against black physicians that effectively barred their participation in the white-dominated, "rich man's" system of conventional medicine that still stands today.
Today, the AMA issues a website statement that apologized, "for its past history of racial inequality toward African-American physicians." While this is clearly a step in the right direction, it does nothing to reestablish the careers and livelihoods of all the black physicians who were denied placement in "white man's medicine" simply because of their skin color.
You see, there's a dirty little secret about conventional medicine that even the AMA won't admit: Modern medicine remains racist right now. Look at who's in charge of the AMA, the drug companies and the FDA? Can you say, "Rich white guys?"
Look at who gets the high-end health care services (white women and men) and who gets stuck with the low-budget, overcrowded hospitals, emergency rooms and medical clinics? (Black women and men.) As Dr. Nedra Joyner, president of the National Medical Association (NMA) said yesterday, "These persistent, race-based health disparities have led to a precipitous decline in the health of African-Americans when compared to their white counterparts and the population as a whole."
So why isn't anybody taking any serious action towards ending racial disparities in medicine right? The AMA may be able to apologize for its one-hundred-year participation in blatant discrimination against black physicians, but it has barely taken the first step towards ending racial disparities in medicine today.
The AMA has a whole lot more to apologize for
But there's a lot more than just racism going on in the history of conventional medicine. I ask: When will the AMA apologize to all the other people it has harmed throughout American history?
• When will the AMA apologize for ongoing discrimination against black patients? Black men and women are suffering from extremely aggressive forms of prostate and breast cancers right now, and the AMA has still failed to educate black patients about the crucial role of sunlight and vitamin D in preventing such cancers. See http://www.naturalnews.com/rr-sunlight.html
• When will the AMA apologize for decades of attempts to destroy the competing practice of chiropractic medicine? What about the AMA's hundred-plus years of attacks on virtually every form of medicine it did not control or profit from?
• When will the AMA apologize to all the families of the victims of Big Tobacco companies for promoting cigarettes in its Journal of the American Medical Association, even long after evidence clearly linked cigarette smoking with cancer and heart disease? Read What the American Medical Association hopes you never learn about its true history at http://www.naturalnews.com/008845.html
• When will the AMA apologize to all the nutritional supplement companies whose vitamins have been discredited in JAMA using fraudulent science clearly designed to distort study results and discredit nutrients that compete with pharmaceuticals?
• When will the AMA apologize to Dr. Burzynski for its ravaging attacks on his antineoplastons cancer therapy which astonished conventional cancer researchers by reversing cancer in numerous patients? See http://www.burzynskiclinic.com
• When will the AMA apologize to Harry Hoxsey for attacking his character and attempting to outlaw his anti-cancer salves? Today, we know the ingredients in Hoxsey's salves are genuine anti-cancer medicines made by Mother Nature.
• When will the AMA apologize to all the people who have been killed by the dangerous pharmaceuticals that are regularly promoted in its journal? (JAMA looks more like a catalog of drug ads than a genuine science journal...)
• When will the AMA apologize to the homeopathic community for its vehement attacks against a system of medicine that conventional doctors make no attempt to even understand? Read How the American Medical Association Got Rich by Dana Ullman at http://www.naturalnews.com/023195.html
• When will the AMA apologize to the entire U.S. population for its utter failure to embrace the safer and far more effective natural therapies that make many pharmaceuticals truly obsolete? By refusing to recommend such natural therapies, the AMA has played a significant role in limiting the choice of health care consumers, forcing them to rely on highly profitable - yet highly dangerous - prescription drugs that just happen to enrich the corporations that provide most of the financial support for the AMA!
• When will the AMA apologize to all the tens of millions of Americans who have been killed by the very kind of drugs-and-surgery medicine pushed by the AMA, even when safer and far less expensive alternatives are readily available? The AMA has blood on its hands, and this goes way beyond racial discrimination. I believe the AMA's power-hungry policies on controlling medicine have resulted in actions that are best described as crimes against humanity.
And finally, in the most outrageous but true conclusion to all this, when will the AMA and conventional medicine ever learn that their drug-based medicine doesn't work, and that cancer, diabetes, heart disease, depression, Alzheimer's and other degenerative conditions can be cured with raw foods, medicinal herbs, sunlight, and exercise without using a single pharmaceutical or scalpel?
AMA's president has pancreatic cancer
Here's the real highlight of all this: AMA president Dr. Ron Davis found out just two weeks ago that he has stage-4 pancreatic cancer. This is the PRESIDENT of the AMA, folks! Stage-4 pancreatic cancer? At only 52 years of age? I think that just tells you everything you need to know about the utter lack of credibility at the AMA in matters of health.
Astonishingly, Dr. Davis is undergoing the very same toxic chemotherapy his association continues to recommend to patients, meaning he has about a 5% chance of survival. In public statements, he apparently considers that a good chance. I consider it to be complete idiocy, and as much as I would never wish for death or suffering of any human being, when this AMA president dies from chemotherapy, it will only be a karmic reflection of the very same suffering and death the AMA has unleashed upon countless millions.
In no way do I wish for Dr. Davis' death, but if he does not survive chemotherapy, I pray that the entire system of conventional medicine goes with him and we end the era of AMA influence on our world. It is a complete waste for a man of Dr. Davis' intellectual capacity to die at the age of 52, especially when there are known cures for his condition that do not require administering toxic poisons that more often kill the patient than the cancer.
If Dr. Davis does die, it will only be from a lack of education, not from a lack of available options. Of course, it is his own organization -- the AMA -- that has long sought to outlaw such options, and thus Dr. Davis no doubt will find it intellectually impossible to step outside the boundaries the AMA has so vigorously defined and seek natural therapies that could save his life.
Regardless of the outcome of Dr. Davis in particular, I believe it's time to look past useless chemicals, monopolistic market practices, toxic chemotherapy and Big Pharma corruption as we attempt to create a health care system that actually offers health, not disease management. If we hope to have any real solutions for national health care in our immediate future, we need to bury the AMA, prosecute the top officials at the FDA, and unleash a new era of nutrition, natural remedies and public education about how to prevent and reverse diseases like cancer, diabetes, heart disease and many others.
Because all these cures exist! I've revealed many of them right here on NaturalNews.com. The AMA, however, still insists there are no such cures. And thus even their own leaders die needlessly, suffering under a system of knowledge oppression and monopolistic market practices that is, in my view, directly responsible for the deaths of tens of millions of people in the United States alone.
What's really clear in watching all this is that the AMA has no answers for health, no honesty for the public and it can't even keep its own leaders free from cancer. If it wasn't so damn tragic, it would be hilarious. But there's nothing funny about the scourge of bankruptcy, suffering and death that has followed in the wake of the AMA for well over a hundred years. I wish AMA president Dr. Ron Davis would seek out natural therapies and cure his pancreatic cancer, but apparently he's too "educated" for that. (I've watched many doctors die from their own ignorance and stubbornness. Dr. Davis will certainly not be the first...)
Remember, the AMA is the organization that future historians will one day see as leading the delusional era of toxic chemical medicine where doctors were nutritionally illiterate, drug companies practiced fraudulent science, and half the population was drugged up on medications that only destroyed their health. That the AMA has now seen fit to apologize to blacks for decades of discrimination barely scratches the surface of all the apologies this organization owes the world for its selfishness, greed, corruption and incessant disease mongering.
In the last hundred years, the AMA has proven itself to be a great disservice to humanity. We will all be better off when the organization is shut down and disbanded.
About the author: Mike Adams is a consumer health advocate with a strong interest in personal health, the environment and the power of nature to help us all heal He has authored and published thousands of articles, interviews, consumers guides, and books on topics like health and the environment, impacting the lives of millions of readers around the world who are experiencing phenomenal health benefits from reading his articles. Adams is a trusted, independent journalist who receives no money or promotional fees whatsoever to write about other companies' products. In 2007, Adams launched EcoLEDs, a maker of energy efficient LED lights that greatly reduce CO2 emissions. He also launched an online retailer of environmentally-friendly products (BetterLifeGoods.com) and uses a portion of its profits to help fund non-profit endeavors. He's also the founder of a well known HTML email software company whose 'Email Marketing Director' software currently runs the NaturalNews subscription database. Adams is currently the executive director of the Consumer Wellness Center, a 501(c)3 non-profit, and pursues hobbies such as Pilates, Capoeira, nature macrophotography and organic gardening.
That's right: Whether you could become a practicing member of the AMA depended largely on your skin color!
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Even after the discriminatory rules were rewritten, many AMA chapters maintained a discriminatory stance against black physicians that effectively barred their participation in the white-dominated, "rich man's" system of conventional medicine that still stands today.
Today, the AMA issues a website statement that apologized, "for its past history of racial inequality toward African-American physicians." While this is clearly a step in the right direction, it does nothing to reestablish the careers and livelihoods of all the black physicians who were denied placement in "white man's medicine" simply because of their skin color.
You see, there's a dirty little secret about conventional medicine that even the AMA won't admit: Modern medicine remains racist right now. Look at who's in charge of the AMA, the drug companies and the FDA? Can you say, "Rich white guys?"
Look at who gets the high-end health care services (white women and men) and who gets stuck with the low-budget, overcrowded hospitals, emergency rooms and medical clinics? (Black women and men.) As Dr. Nedra Joyner, president of the National Medical Association (NMA) said yesterday, "These persistent, race-based health disparities have led to a precipitous decline in the health of African-Americans when compared to their white counterparts and the population as a whole."
So why isn't anybody taking any serious action towards ending racial disparities in medicine right? The AMA may be able to apologize for its one-hundred-year participation in blatant discrimination against black physicians, but it has barely taken the first step towards ending racial disparities in medicine today.
The AMA has a whole lot more to apologize for
But there's a lot more than just racism going on in the history of conventional medicine. I ask: When will the AMA apologize to all the other people it has harmed throughout American history?
• When will the AMA apologize for ongoing discrimination against black patients? Black men and women are suffering from extremely aggressive forms of prostate and breast cancers right now, and the AMA has still failed to educate black patients about the crucial role of sunlight and vitamin D in preventing such cancers. See http://www.naturalnews.com/rr-sunlight.html
• When will the AMA apologize for decades of attempts to destroy the competing practice of chiropractic medicine? What about the AMA's hundred-plus years of attacks on virtually every form of medicine it did not control or profit from?
• When will the AMA apologize to all the families of the victims of Big Tobacco companies for promoting cigarettes in its Journal of the American Medical Association, even long after evidence clearly linked cigarette smoking with cancer and heart disease? Read What the American Medical Association hopes you never learn about its true history at http://www.naturalnews.com/008845.html
• When will the AMA apologize to all the nutritional supplement companies whose vitamins have been discredited in JAMA using fraudulent science clearly designed to distort study results and discredit nutrients that compete with pharmaceuticals?
• When will the AMA apologize to Dr. Burzynski for its ravaging attacks on his antineoplastons cancer therapy which astonished conventional cancer researchers by reversing cancer in numerous patients? See http://www.burzynskiclinic.com
• When will the AMA apologize to Harry Hoxsey for attacking his character and attempting to outlaw his anti-cancer salves? Today, we know the ingredients in Hoxsey's salves are genuine anti-cancer medicines made by Mother Nature.
• When will the AMA apologize to all the people who have been killed by the dangerous pharmaceuticals that are regularly promoted in its journal? (JAMA looks more like a catalog of drug ads than a genuine science journal...)
• When will the AMA apologize to the homeopathic community for its vehement attacks against a system of medicine that conventional doctors make no attempt to even understand? Read How the American Medical Association Got Rich by Dana Ullman at http://www.naturalnews.com/023195.html
• When will the AMA apologize to the entire U.S. population for its utter failure to embrace the safer and far more effective natural therapies that make many pharmaceuticals truly obsolete? By refusing to recommend such natural therapies, the AMA has played a significant role in limiting the choice of health care consumers, forcing them to rely on highly profitable - yet highly dangerous - prescription drugs that just happen to enrich the corporations that provide most of the financial support for the AMA!
• When will the AMA apologize to all the tens of millions of Americans who have been killed by the very kind of drugs-and-surgery medicine pushed by the AMA, even when safer and far less expensive alternatives are readily available? The AMA has blood on its hands, and this goes way beyond racial discrimination. I believe the AMA's power-hungry policies on controlling medicine have resulted in actions that are best described as crimes against humanity.
And finally, in the most outrageous but true conclusion to all this, when will the AMA and conventional medicine ever learn that their drug-based medicine doesn't work, and that cancer, diabetes, heart disease, depression, Alzheimer's and other degenerative conditions can be cured with raw foods, medicinal herbs, sunlight, and exercise without using a single pharmaceutical or scalpel?
AMA's president has pancreatic cancer
Here's the real highlight of all this: AMA president Dr. Ron Davis found out just two weeks ago that he has stage-4 pancreatic cancer. This is the PRESIDENT of the AMA, folks! Stage-4 pancreatic cancer? At only 52 years of age? I think that just tells you everything you need to know about the utter lack of credibility at the AMA in matters of health.
Astonishingly, Dr. Davis is undergoing the very same toxic chemotherapy his association continues to recommend to patients, meaning he has about a 5% chance of survival. In public statements, he apparently considers that a good chance. I consider it to be complete idiocy, and as much as I would never wish for death or suffering of any human being, when this AMA president dies from chemotherapy, it will only be a karmic reflection of the very same suffering and death the AMA has unleashed upon countless millions.
In no way do I wish for Dr. Davis' death, but if he does not survive chemotherapy, I pray that the entire system of conventional medicine goes with him and we end the era of AMA influence on our world. It is a complete waste for a man of Dr. Davis' intellectual capacity to die at the age of 52, especially when there are known cures for his condition that do not require administering toxic poisons that more often kill the patient than the cancer.
If Dr. Davis does die, it will only be from a lack of education, not from a lack of available options. Of course, it is his own organization -- the AMA -- that has long sought to outlaw such options, and thus Dr. Davis no doubt will find it intellectually impossible to step outside the boundaries the AMA has so vigorously defined and seek natural therapies that could save his life.
Regardless of the outcome of Dr. Davis in particular, I believe it's time to look past useless chemicals, monopolistic market practices, toxic chemotherapy and Big Pharma corruption as we attempt to create a health care system that actually offers health, not disease management. If we hope to have any real solutions for national health care in our immediate future, we need to bury the AMA, prosecute the top officials at the FDA, and unleash a new era of nutrition, natural remedies and public education about how to prevent and reverse diseases like cancer, diabetes, heart disease and many others.
Because all these cures exist! I've revealed many of them right here on NaturalNews.com. The AMA, however, still insists there are no such cures. And thus even their own leaders die needlessly, suffering under a system of knowledge oppression and monopolistic market practices that is, in my view, directly responsible for the deaths of tens of millions of people in the United States alone.
What's really clear in watching all this is that the AMA has no answers for health, no honesty for the public and it can't even keep its own leaders free from cancer. If it wasn't so damn tragic, it would be hilarious. But there's nothing funny about the scourge of bankruptcy, suffering and death that has followed in the wake of the AMA for well over a hundred years. I wish AMA president Dr. Ron Davis would seek out natural therapies and cure his pancreatic cancer, but apparently he's too "educated" for that. (I've watched many doctors die from their own ignorance and stubbornness. Dr. Davis will certainly not be the first...)
Remember, the AMA is the organization that future historians will one day see as leading the delusional era of toxic chemical medicine where doctors were nutritionally illiterate, drug companies practiced fraudulent science, and half the population was drugged up on medications that only destroyed their health. That the AMA has now seen fit to apologize to blacks for decades of discrimination barely scratches the surface of all the apologies this organization owes the world for its selfishness, greed, corruption and incessant disease mongering.
In the last hundred years, the AMA has proven itself to be a great disservice to humanity. We will all be better off when the organization is shut down and disbanded.
About the author: Mike Adams is a consumer health advocate with a strong interest in personal health, the environment and the power of nature to help us all heal He has authored and published thousands of articles, interviews, consumers guides, and books on topics like health and the environment, impacting the lives of millions of readers around the world who are experiencing phenomenal health benefits from reading his articles. Adams is a trusted, independent journalist who receives no money or promotional fees whatsoever to write about other companies' products. In 2007, Adams launched EcoLEDs, a maker of energy efficient LED lights that greatly reduce CO2 emissions. He also launched an online retailer of environmentally-friendly products (BetterLifeGoods.com) and uses a portion of its profits to help fund non-profit endeavors. He's also the founder of a well known HTML email software company whose 'Email Marketing Director' software currently runs the NaturalNews subscription database. Adams is currently the executive director of the Consumer Wellness Center, a 501(c)3 non-profit, and pursues hobbies such as Pilates, Capoeira, nature macrophotography and organic gardening.
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