EISENHOWER PREDICTED IN THE FUTURE

Everyone was taken aback when President Eisenhower was talking about this. They never believed this would happen.

ATHEISTS KNOW MORE ABOUT RELIGION THAN PEOPLE OF OTHER FAITHS

This seems so true.

A TV REALITY SHOW STAR CHEF COMMITS SUICIDE

This is a tragic situation.He was the second chef to commit suicide.

DIABETES DRUG BANNED IN THE US STILL USED IN INDIA

EGYPT AND ETHIOPIA FIGHTING OVER RIGHTS TO THE NILE RIVER.

Who's river is it and who will win ?

ENGLISH SPY DEAD

Eileen Nearns, wartime spy, dead at 89 years of age,

A NICARAGUAN DIPLOMAT FOUND DEAD IN THE BRONX

BEETLE CONTAMINATION IN SIMILAC FORMULA

STANFORD MEDICAL SCHOOL 25 BEDSIDE TESTS

Stanford 25
Stanford Medical School in California is trying to make sure its graduates and trainees know how to do 25 bedside tests that it considers essential to good doctoring.


Here's the list:


Examine the back of the eye
Examine the pupil of the eye and its response to light
Examine the thyroid gland
Examine the neck veins for abnormal size and pulses
Examine the lung's surface, lung sounds and borders
Evaluate the heart's motion
Examine the liver's size and shape
Evaluate the spleen's size and density
Evaluate gait (walking movements)
Test ankle reflexes for nerve abnormalities
Identify markers of liver disease throughout the body
Identify signs of stroke caused by blockage of a deep brain artery
Examine the knee
Identify abnormal heart sounds
Evaluate tremors and other involuntary movements
Recognize markers of disease in the hands and fingernails
Examine the tongue
Examine the shoulder for injuries and joint abnormalities
Assess blood pressure and abnormal pulses
Assess lymph nodes in the neck
Detect fluid in the abdomen and abdominal blood flow
Perform a rectal exam
Evaluate a mass in the scrotum
Test balance and ability to perceive the body's position in space
Use a pocket ultrasound device*
*This item is not yet standard practice in most U.S. medical settings, but Dr. Abraham Verghese of Stanford hopes it will be. He says it's valuable in detecting abnormal fluids, quickly evaluating heart function and assessing organ abnormalities


--Richard Knox

CENSUS BUREAU WENT ON A VEGAS TRIP

Now we know why some census workers were only allowed to work for two weeks, and then laid off.

STUDIES OF AMERICA'S PRESIDENCY

AGRICULTURAL SOURCES SAY THAT DATA IS WRONG

Why have we been given the wrong statistics about food production ?

FDA CLAMPS DOWN ON LIPTON GREEN TEA CLAIMS

We've been paying a lot more attention to health claims for foods and drinks lately.

But not as much as the Food and Drug Administration, which just told consumer products giant Unilever to knock it off already with some health claims for Lipton Green Tea 100% Natural, Naturally Decaffeinated.

The company's Lipton unit splashes the trademarked phrase "Tea Can Do That" liberally on the health sections of its websites. But the agency says in a warning letter that the way Lipton is talking up health benefits from tea on the Web is over the line for a product that's a food and not a drug.


For instance, on one Web page titled "Heart Health Research," Lipton says "[F]our recent studies in people at risk for coronary disease have shown a significant cholesterol lowering effect from tea or tea flavonoids...."

That sort of thing sounds like a drug, FDA says, so it told Lipton to drop the offending claims, or else.

The agency also criticizes Lipton for some of the food claims made for tea. Specifically, the company is playing fast and loose in its characterization of the antioxidant qualities of its tea.

We asked Unilever for comment. In an e-mail, a spokesman confirmed the company got the FDA's warning letter dated Aug. 23, 2010, and that it is "carefully reviewing the contents of the letter and committed to full compliance with the law."

Separately, the agency sent a similar letter to the Dr. Pepper Snapple Group criticizing the company for its marketing of Canada Dry Sparkling Green Tea Ginger Ale.

Aside from the validity of specific claims, there's a separate question about how much of the antioxidant stuff purported to be in bottled tea is even there. In a recent post we wrote about tests that showed most teas came up short on antioxidant content.

HALLUCINOGENIC MUSHROOMS IN NEW STUDY

Is it time to give hallucinogenic drugs for medical use another try?

Some researchers in California make that case in a study of a dozen patients with advance cancer. The patients, 11 women and 1 man, received a low dose of psilocybin, the active ingredient in "magic mushrooms" in one session and a placebo, consisting of water and the B vitamin niacin, which causes flushing, in another.

On a couple of measures of mental health, the patients showed less anxiety months after treatment and a big improvement in mood even a half-year after a single psychedelic session.


To be sure, this study, billed as a pilot test, had some flaws, most notably that each patient served as his or her own point of comparison, or control. And the researchers concede that it was pretty much impossible for the patients not to know pretty quickly whether they were getting the drug or the dummy medicine in a given session.

One of the funders of the pilot study and the bigger one at NYT is the Heffter Research Institute, a nonprofit that specializes in the science of hallucinogenic drugs.

BLACKWATER CREATED SHELL COMPANIES TO GET AMERICAN CONTRACTS

The security company Blackwater Worldwide formed a network of 30 shell companies and subsidiaries to try to get millions of dollars in government business after the company faced strong criticism for reckless conduct in Iraq, The New York Times reported Friday.


The newspaper said that it was unclear how many of the created companies got American contracts but that at least three of them obtained work with the U.S. military and the CIA.


Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has asked the Justice Department to see whether Blackwater misled the government when using the subsidiaries to gain government contracts, according to The Times.
It said Levin's committee found that North Carolina-based Blackwater, which now is known as Xe Services, went to great lengths to find ways to get lucrative government work despite criminal charges and criticism stemming from a 2007 incident in which Blackwater guards killed 17 Iraqi civilians. A committee
chart outlines the web of Blackwater subsidiaries.

Messages left late Friday with spokespeople for the Michigan Democrat and Xe were not immediately answered.

The 2007 incident and other reports of abuses by Blackwater employees in Iraq led to criminal investigations and congressional hearings, and resulted in the company losing a lucrative contract with the State Department to provide security in Iraq.

But recently the company was awarded a $100 million contract to provide security for the agency in Afghanistan, prompting criticism from some in Congress. CIA Director Leon Panetta said that the CIA had no choice but to hire the company because it underbid others by $26 million and that a CIA review concluded that the contractor had cleaned up its act.

Last year, Panetta canceled a contract with Xe that allowed the company's operatives to load missiles on Predator drones in Pakistan, and shifted the work to government personnel. However, The Times quoted former Blackwater officials as saying that at least two Blackwater-affiliated companies, XPG and
Greystone, obtained secret contracts from the CIA to provide security to agency operatives.

The newspaper said the network of subsidiaries, including several located in offshore tax havens, were uncovered as part of the Armed Services Committee's examination of government contracting and not an investigation solely into Blackwater. But Levin questioned why Blackwater would need to create so many companies with various names to seek out government business, according to The Times.


The report quoted unidentified government officials and former Blackwater employees as saying that the network of companies allowed Blackwater to obscure its involvement in government work from contracting officials and the public, and to ensure a low profile for its classified activities.