Foreign Policy Lessons for 2015 and Beyond
Christopher A. Preble
A new year offers a fresh start, an opportunity to reminisce about the year past, and to set goals for the future.
2014 was a busy year. Vladimir Putin hosted the world at Sochi, then reacted to a popular revolt in Ukraine by supporting a counter-revolution and annexing Crimea. Other civil wars raged in Libya and Syria, while Egypt’s military quashed any remaining semblance of democracy that had survived from the 2011 protests. The not-destroyed insurgency returned to Iraq with gusto, fueled by American weapons left behind by an Iraqi army unwilling to fight. And the United States continued its hab...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - January 5, 2015 Category: American Health Authors: Christopher A. Preble Source Type: blogs
Heart Drug May Cure Ebola
Heart drug may cure Ebola, according to researchers at the University of Liverpool and Public Health England. Julian Hiscox and Roger Hewson have discovered that the cardiac glycoside drug ouabain acts against the key VP24 protein that enables Ebola virus to replicate.
Ouabain has a long history in folk medicine and has been used by some Somali tribesman as a poison that is placed on arrow tips used to hunt big game in Africa.
The post Heart Drug May Cure Ebola appeared first on InsideSurgery Medical Information Blog. (Source: Inside Surgery)
Source: Inside Surgery - September 14, 2014 Category: Surgery Authors: Editor Tags: Infectious Disease Ebola heart drug Julian Hiscox ouabain Roger Hewson VP24 Source Type: blogs
Lessons from the Aga Khan in Canada
One of the world's great leaders is not the head of a national government. He is the leader of a religious faith. The Aga Khan is the spiritual head of the Ismaili Muslims, a Shia sect reaching back to the days of the Prophet Mohamed. In this role, and through the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), he has addressed issues of the elimination of poverty, access to education, and social peace in a pluralist environment. He was recently recognized for this and other accomplishments by being invited to address the Canadian Parliament.The speech is a remarkable exposition of the potential power of pluralism...
Source: Running a hospital - March 3, 2014 Category: Health Managers Source Type: blogs
Varicella – Thailand vs. United States
An increasing incidence of varicella in Thailand is almost the mirror image of American data (see graph [1]).
In fact, rates in the United States had already been decreasing for several years before the introduction of routine vaccination. Seroprevalence studies in the two populations are not dissimilar, and the striking difference in disease rates are difficult to explain. The following data are extracted from Gideon www.GideonOnline.com and the Gideon e-book series. [2-4] (Primary references are available on request.)
Varicella – seroprevalence surveys:
United States
93.6% for persons ages 6 to 19 years,...
Source: GIDEON blog - February 11, 2014 Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Dr. Stephen Berger Tags: Ebooks Epidemiology Graphs ProMED Thailand united states Varicella Source Type: blogs
Somali Refugee Women: Learn About Your Health!
The Administration for Children & Families (ACF) and Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) has released a four-part video series, Somali Refugee Women: Learn About Your Health! The goal of the video series is to educate Somali women refugees about a variety of health issues that can affect – and possibly save – their lives, including reproductive health, diet and exercise, cancer screening, prenatal care and pregnancy, and other health topics. These videos were developed in collaboration with Somali women’s health experts, women’s health advocates, and Somali refugee community organizations.
Somali Refugee Women...
Source: BHIC - February 7, 2014 Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Lori Tagawa Tags: Minority Health Concerns Multilingual Source Type: blogs
Freedom of Thought Under Siege Around the Globe: When You are Not Free to Not Believe
Doug Bandow
Much of the world has just celebrated the most sacred Christian holiday, yet persecution of Christians has never been fiercer, especially in the Middle East. Other faiths also suffer varying degrees of persecution.
Nonbelievers also often are mistreated. The lack of religious belief is less likely to be punished by communist and former communist regimes. But such systems penalize almost all independent thought.
Moreover, atheists and other freethinkers are at special risk in theocratic and especially aggressively Muslim states. The International Humanist and Ethical Union re...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - December 31, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Doug Bandow Source Type: blogs
Iom Supports Somali Aids Commissions To Present Their Aids Responses At The 17th International Conference On Aids And Stis In Africa (icasa)
IOM is also currently conducting another round of IBBS Survey, which is expected to contribute to the new National Strategic Plan and publish in 2014. In this context, the Somali national responses in this conference drew special attentions from the international community as their responses as well as epidemiological data have not been well articulated in international venues in the past. Addressing HIV and AIDS is an integral part of IOMs migration health programme. Established in 2010, the programme contributes to the UN Millennium Development Goals by pushing for universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and ...
Source: aids-write.org - December 13, 2013 Category: HIV AIDS Authors: aidswrite Tags: current news aids Source Type: blogs
More Terrorism Isn’t Necessarily More Danger
Benjamin H. Friedman
Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Mike Rogers (R-Mich) made news Sunday when they both insisted on CNN that the terrorist threat to Americans has grown in the last couple of years. Feinstein’s evidence: “The statistics indicate that, the fatalities are way up.” Rogers agrees and argues that al Qaeda has been “metastasizing” into more groups that engage in smaller attacks.
It’s true that global terror attacks and fatalities increased in 2011 and 2012, according to the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism. And, several new jihadist groups have emerged of lat...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - December 4, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Benjamin H. Friedman Source Type: blogs
Affordable Care Act Resources for Refugees
Right now, many refugees get short-term health insurance called Refugee Medical Assistance (RMA). It is available for up to eight months. Some refugees may be eligible for Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) which is available for several years. Thanks to the health care law, the health insurance landscape for refugees and other Americans is changing for the better in 2014. Many refugees, who could only get eight months of insurance through RMA, will be able to get ongoing health insurance through the Marketplace.
The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) has developed YouTube videos and a fact shee...
Source: BHIC - November 1, 2013 Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Lori Tagawa Tags: Children and Teens Minority Health Concerns Multilingual Source Type: blogs
Plunder on the High Seas…
Mom and I made it to the movie theater with perfect timing just as our movie, Captain Phillips, was starting at noon. I really enjoyed the movie even though it was intense action from beginning to end – a movie which I try to shy away from. Adrenaline junkies will love it. It is hard to believe Tom Hanks got his start as a standup comedian showing up at various comedy clubs around the nation. He plays such dramatic and serious characters these days and with quite an acumen I might add. He is the quintessential everyman for everyone. When the United States Navy shows up at the end of the film, then you can start to...
Source: The 4th Avenue Blues - October 26, 2013 Category: Mental Illness Authors: Andrew Quixote Source Type: blogs
High Seas!
Tomorrow, my mother and I are going to see that new Tom Hanks movie called Captain Phillips. It is an action movie about the Somali pirates that were plundering ships off the Somali coast in recent history. Mom and I have been playing phone tag all day trying to sort out the times we need to leave and where we are going to eat. Mom has decided she wants to go back to Sonic for more sweet treats. I told her I would just get two supersonic burgers as a compromise. I was intending to eat two bacon cheeseburgers at Jim Bob’s chicken fingers. She who holds the purse strings wins as she should. (Source: The 4th Avenue Blues)
Source: The 4th Avenue Blues - October 25, 2013 Category: Mental Illness Authors: Andrew Quixote Source Type: blogs
Double clutching during a paradigm shift
It's coming people. I don't want to be anywhere near a densely populated area when it hits. I have been in touch with too many inteligent people who's minds have not been fried by TeeVee and other corporate mind control media who see the same tsunami coming. BOO! Ooga Booga just in time for halloweenie or all devil's day on November 1
Here's a big buttload of links. I've been too depressed, preoccupied and not doing well on the medical front to have regularly been posting. Enjoy or hate the links depending on how you dress in the morning
1-Hour Epic Music Hans Zimmer
1000W Amplifier Philips EL6471 at full powe...
Source: Nightmare Hall - Welcome to my nightmare - October 24, 2013 Category: HIV AIDS Source Type: blogs
World Polio Day
Image credit: Jason Roberts
As a virologist who has worked on poliovirus since 1979, I would be remiss if I did not note that today, 24 October, is World Polio Day. World Polio Day was established by Rotary International over a decade ago to commemorate the birth of Jonas Salk, who led the first team to develop a vaccine against poliomyelitis.
The polio eradication effort has made impressive progress towards eliminating polio from the planet. In 1988 it was estimated that there were a total of 350,000 cases of poliomyelitis (probably an underestimate); as of this writing there have been 301 cases in 2013, which is unfortu...
Source: virology blog - October 24, 2013 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: Basic virology Information eradication IPV Israel OPV poliovirus Sabin Salk Syria viral world polio day Source Type: blogs
African Girl Brought to UK to Harvest Organs
This is so horrific and evil that it almost defies reason. Officials have rescued a girl from Somalia that was brought to the UK to harvest her organs. They are sure that this is not an isolated incidence. The Telegraph has the story:The unnamed girl was brought to the UK from Somalia with the intention of removing her organs and selling them on to those desperate for a transplant.Child protection charities warned that the case was unlikely to be an isolated incident as traffickers were likely to have smuggled a group of children into the country.The case emerged in a government report which showed that the number of human...
Source: Mary Meets Dolly - October 22, 2013 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Tags: Biotechnology Source Type: blogs
Tarek Loubani's and John Greyson's freedom is our freedom: an OM editorial
Two Canadians, Dr. Tarek Loubani and Professor John Greyson, were arrested on August 16th in Cairo, Egypt. They remain in prison, without formal charges. They are 9 days into a hunger strike, hoping to gain attention to their plight. Despite international attention, little is known about the details surrounding their incarceration, or plans for their release.
Both were en route to the Gaza Strip where Loubani, an emergency physician from London, Ontario, leads a project training health workers at Al-Shifa Hospital, the country's largest. Greyson, an award-winning filmmaker and professor at York University in Toronto, ac...
Source: Open Medicine Blog - - September 25, 2013 Category: Medical Publishers Authors: Carlyn Zwarenstein Source Type: blogs
