| NADIA'S ODYSSEY
The toddler's dry, cracked lips had taken on a blue tinge that Monday morning. In fact, Nadia Kadi's normally light-olive skin was a darker, bluish hue. Her parents brought her to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia for a routine checkup. But when liver specialist Elizabeth Rand saw the little girl, she immediately knew there was a problem. Rand examined her, and then turned to Nadia's worn-out parents. Nadia needed to be readmitted. As Joe and Allison Kadi waited for a room on 8 South, the ward at CHOP where kids with severe liver disease are treated, Nadia fell asleep in her father's arms. Her breathing grew ragged, and she turned an even more alarming shade of blue. Holding his daughter in the hallway, Joe wished her doctors could see Nadia now as she struggled for air.
The Many Faces of Big Pharma’s Disease Mongering
Most people blame Big Pharma and the docs in its pocket for elevating everyday anxiety to depression, depression to bipolar disease and childhood behavior problems to major psychiatric diseases. But there are others to thank for the national pathology of creating and treating diseases that aren't even there. There's the 200 US medical education and communication companies (MECCs) who ghostwrite journal articles for Big Pharma–"just sign here, Doc; we've reviewed the data"–for $20,000 to $40,000 per article. Like Complete Healthcare Communications (CHC) whose phalanx of 40 medical writers, editors and librarians has submitted over 500 manuscripts to journals for clients Pfizer, Sanofi-Aventis, Wyeth, Schering-Plough and AstraZeneca according to its promotional materials, with an acceptance rate of 80 percent.
Pam's Story: 'Don’t throw people away’ (Part 6)
She drove to the Magellan Health Services clinic, formerly ValueOptions, and found her mental health case manager, Jackie Byrd, who settled her down and adjusted her dosage. Pam adored working with the seriously mentally ill at the East Valley Clubhouse in Mesa, and it was a huge part of her recovery. She�d pleaded guilty to felony child abuse after trying to commit suicide in 2003 with her 12-year-old son, and everyone at the clubhouse and its parent agency, Triple R, knew her story. But in September, she learned she�d failed a new background check requirement. Jackie, along with Pam�s county probation officer, Jan Johnston, had already begun the process of getting Pam terminated early from probation and her record expunged. The background check snafu provided additional incentive. Pam got glowing, gushing letters of recommendation from everyone she worked for and, with Jan, Jackie and public defender Tammy Wray, put together a convincing case for Maricopa County Judge Michael D.
Haryana lures NRIs with industrial land reservation
More investments are coming up as the state government is promoting a dozen industrial estates in the national capital region around New Delhi.
An industrial corridor is on the anvil along the 135-km long Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) expressway being constructed in the state. This expressway would make transportation easier as vehicles would have faster access to Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra.
The focus areas for industrial investment now will be automobile, food and agro-processing, textiles and apparels, and electronics and IT.
Software exports from Haryana, which were just about of Rs 3 billion nearly five years ago, touched Rs 140 billion in 2007.
Haryana already boasts of big time industrial success stories in companies like Maruti Udyog Ltd (MUL), Honda, and top IT and software companies.
Mystery illness hits Minn. plant workers
The cause remains unknown for chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy, which normally affects two people per 100,000.
State health officials stressed they have no evidence indicating the public is at risk or the food supply was affected.
"All of the information we have to date indicates that the general public is not at increased risk for developing this type of illness," Health Commissioner Sanne Magnan said.
With this particular disease, something triggers the immune system to attack the protective sheath enclosing the nerves, Suraj Muley, a University of the Minnesota associate professor and disease expert, told the Star Tribune.
In the pork processing plant workers' case, "the question is whether the animal might harbor bacteria or a virus that triggered it," said Muley, who isn't involved in the investigation and suggested the plant be closed until the investigation is complete.
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