The brutality of the conflict is escalating. Alleged gang hit men broke into the home of a Chihuahua state policeman this week and strangled to death his 4-year-old brother, authorities said. Across the country, mutilated and decapitated bodies turn up virtually every day, sometimes hanging from bridges.
Pretty ugly looking trend
From 1999 to 2007, the number of U.S. poisoning deaths involving any opioid analgesic (e.g., oxycodone, methadone, or hydrocodone) more than tripled, from 4,041 to 14,459, or 36% of the 40,059 total poisoning deaths in 2007. In 1999, opioid analgesics were involved in 20% of the 19,741 poisoning deaths. During 1999–2007, the number of poisoning deaths involving specified drugs other than opioid analgesics increased from 9,262 to 12,790, and the number involving nonspecified drugs increased from 3,608 to 8,947.
AP IMPACT: Border Patrol sees spike in suicides | NewsOK.com
The rate of suicides nationally is about 12 per 100,000 people, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Law enforcement rates are about 20 per 100,000, while the Border Patrol’s pace has the agency hovering in the upper 20s to low 30s per 100,000.
Pass the peas please.
BBC News – Pea plant grows inside man’s lung
A Massachusetts man who was rushed to hospital with a collapsed lung came home with an unusual diagnosis: a pea plant was growing in his lung.
I’ve been a fan of Dr. Ornish for a long time. His lifestyle focus to prevent and/or reverse atherosclerosis with diet, exercise, and stress reduction was clearly ahead of its time. Medicare will now pay for the Ornish and Pritikin programs. But am I the only one to realize that Medicare usually doesn’t start until age 65? Time for private health insurance companies to step up to the plate on this issue.
Sauna endurance finalist collapses and dies in 110C – Telegraph
Ossi Arvela, the head of the sauna-sitting competition, said in a statement: “The Russian competitor has died in the sauna world championships.”
Hopefully this “sport” will not develop a large following.
By the way, 110 C = 230 F.
HT to Yves Smith at http://www.nakedcapitalism.com
Medical News: Chronic HBV Raises Lymphoma Risk – in Infectious Disease, Hepatitis from MedPage Today
Among individuals who were positive for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), the adjusted hazard ratio for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma was 1.74 (95% CI 1.45 to 2.09, P<0.0001), compared with those who tested negative, according to Eric A. Engels, MD, of the National Cancer Institute in Rockville, Md., and colleagues.
BBC News – Today – Calcium supplement effectiveness ‘pretty poor’
Here’s a pretty good interview on the calcium supplementation and MI risk for those of you who like to listen and learn.
Calcium supplementation appears to increase the risk of myocardial infarction, a meta-analysis showed.
Among studies of patients with or at risk for osteoporosis, those who took calcium supplements were about 30% more likely to have an MI than those who did not, Ian Reid, MD, of the University of Auckland in New Zealand, and colleagues reported online in BMJ.
Among randomized controlled trials with patient-level data, the hazard ratio for MI with supplementation was 1.31 (95% CI 1.02 to 1.67). Among those with trial-level data, the relative risk was 1.27 (95% CI 1.01 to 1.59).
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