FukDatShhh.CoM

Yuck! I just watched a little news bit about Minnesota on Fox News. They were featuring the state as it is hosting the Republican Convention in St. Paul. (That title is meant to be read with an adorable accent.)

Apparently all the folks in Minnesota aren’t in “the know” about health. On display in this feature was an obnoxious amount of fried food being carried around on sticks. Mmmmm. Heart disease. Corn dogs, fried chips, fried meat and to top it off, chocolate covered bacon!

Would you ever even consider eating this? It looked pretty fowl to me, though I am fairly particular about what I put in my mouth. I can only imagine some guy sitting in a diner one day thinking, “how could I improve on this strip of pig fat? I know! Let’s dip it in chocolate!”

Sometimes I think I’ve seen it all, but then I learn about chocolate covered bacon. Looks like I’m going to have to launch a full speaking tour in Minnesota. The state looks lovely. I’d hate to see even one resident pay the price for that horrific concoction. Just say no!

Thousands of motorists risk their lives every year trying to outrun trains at highway-rail grade crossings. There are more than 145 million miles of rail track and over 153,000 public grade crossings in the United States, leaving too many opportunities for risky behavior.

Now that kids are out of school for summer and younger, less-experienced drivers are spending more time behind the wheel, it is an ideal time to share safety tips from the Association of American Railroads:

1. Never drive around lowered gates or race a train to a crossing.
2. Always expect a train.
3. Cross tracks only at designated crossings.
4. If you suspect a signal is malfunctioning, call the 800-number posted near the crossing signal.
5. If your vehicle stalls on a crossing, immediately vacate everyone and quickly move away from the track in the direction the train is coming from.

My dad is in the hospital for the fourth time in a year. Yesterday, a specialist finally admitted that Dad’s chief problem has likely been inappropriate drugs prescribed by his family physician.

Ten years ago, Dad was in good health and took no medications. Then he started seeing “Dr. Jones.” Dad’s cholesterol and blood pressure were slightly elevated, so Jones put him on a statin and a blood-pressure drug. Over the years, Dad’s cholesterol and pressure continued to go up and he began having other unexplained health problems. Every time, Dr. Jones denied any connection to the drugs and instead increased the dosages and prescribed more.

Several times I begged Dad to get a second opinion, but he trusted and liked Jones. He told me I worried too much, and that he was simply getting older. Two years ago, Dad began having serious problems and was put on a blood thinner and diuretics. When he collapsed, the ER doctor told him to stop taking his cholesterol meds. Dr. Jones said the ER doctor was an idiot and instead diagnosed Dad with an unrelated muscle inflammation, for which he prescribed a high-dose steroid. When Dad began showing severe side effects, Jones claimed they were unconnected.

The upshot is that Dad lies in a hospital, too weak to move and not knowing what day it is. His kidneys are barely functioning and he refuses to eat. The doctors and staff (bless them!) are genuinely concerned, but his system is such a pharmaceutical cesspool that they are having a difficult time figuring it out.

Dr. Jones’ haste in reaching for a prescription pad seems to be standard medical practice. But I’m just as angry with myself for not being more forceful. Maybe then, Dad would be out tending his tomatoes today, not dying on me.
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It is always wise to get a second opinion. Please stop blaming yourself. No matter how hard you kicked and screamed, your father would most likely have continued with the regimen he was taking from a doctor he trusted. And not all doctors are willing to admit they have misjudged their treatment protocol. If you think Dr. Jones is guilty of malpractice, he should be reported to his state medical board.

WASHINGTON (UPI) – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration warns consumers not to eat tomalley in American lobster (Maine Lobster), no matter where the lobster was harvested.

FDA officials said tomalley — the green substance found in a lobster’s body that functions as the animal’s liver and pancreas — might be contaminated with dangerous levels of the toxins that cause paralytic shellfish poisoning, or PSP.

The federal agency said American lobsters, also known as Maine lobsters, are harvested from the Atlantic Ocean from Northeastern Canada to South Carolina.

The FDA said its advisory applies only to tomalley, since cooking doesn’t eliminate PSP toxins.

“However, studies have shown that, even when high levels of PSP toxins are present in lobster tomalley, lobster meat itself is typically unaffected,” the FDA said.

“Lobster tomalley normally does not contain dangerous levels of PSP toxins,” the agency said in a statement. “The current high levels of PSP toxins likely are associated with an ongoing red tide episode in northern New England and eastern Canada. Authorities in Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire, as well as in Canada, have issued advisories cautioning against eating tomalley.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International

HOUSTON (UPI) – HIV researchers at the University of Texas Medical School in Houston said they think they’ve found the chink in armor of the virus linked to AIDS.

The vulnerable spot is hidden in a protein essential for the Human Immunodeficiency Virus, the virus that causes Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, to attach to host cells, the university said in a release.

An HIV vaccine doesn’t exist because HIV is a mutating virus.

The scientists said they are focusing on a stretch of amino acids on HIV’s envelope protein gp120.

“Unlike the changeable regions of its envelope, HIV needs at least one region that must remain constant to attach to cells. If this region changes, HIV cannot infect cells,” said Sudhir Paul, a pathology professor at the UT Medical School.

Paul’s group engineered antibodies with enzymatic activity, called abzymes, that can attack the virus’s weakness.

“The abzymes recognize essentially all of the diverse HIV forms found across the world. This solves the problem of HIV changeability,” Paul said. “The next step is to confirm our theory in human clinical trials.”

The theory was in a recent issue of Autoimmunity Reviews and will be presented during the International AIDS Conference Aug. 3-8 in Mexico City.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International

At the age of 19, I was a normal girl who had just started college as a dance major with dreams of opening nights and curtain calls. But a few months into my college career, kidney failure ground my world to a halt. Sick and exhausted, I went home to be looked after by my parents and undergo dialysis treatments. Without them, I would have died. I no longer had the energy to do anything.

Luckily for me, live organ donation freed me from dialysis when my father generously volunteered to give me one of his kidneys. I resumed a mostly normal life, got back into shape, finished college and landed a job dancing with a touring show.

I’d never considered myself an athlete, but following my transplant, I heard about the National Kidney Foundation U.S. Transplant Games, taking place July 11-16 in Pittsburgh. The games are an Olympic-style athletic event for transplant recipients of all ages who compete in 13 different sports. I became determined to get into shape to show the world what transplantation makes possible.

I’ll be competing for medals in track and field to showcase the lifesaving power of organ donation and encourage people to think about signing up as organ donors. Readers interested in learning more about the games or getting free organ donor cards and information can contact the National Kidney Foundation at 1-800-622-9010 or visit www.transplantgames.org. – Emily Biondi, Baltimore, Md.

It may not be what you eat, but what you drink that keeps you from losing those extra pounds. According to the FDA, the average American takes in 82 grams of added sugars everyday, 20 teaspoons, equaling 317 empty calories tacked onto an already high calorie diet.

Many of those calories can be found in what you drink.

Men’s Health Magazine’s Belly Busting Beverages Blog exposes the unhealthiest drinks in America.

1 - Glaceau Vitamin Water may sound like a healthy option. The label does not mention along with the vitamins, it also contains 33 grams of sugar, nearly as much sugar as a can of Coke.

2 - Jamba Juice’s Peanut Butter Moo’d Power Smoothie proves rough on the scales. More of a milkshake, this smoothie has 1,170 calories, 169 grams of sugar, and 30 grams of fat.

3 - One summertime cocktail to avoid, the pina colada. This tasty combination of sweet pineapple juice and coconut milk has 75 grams of sugar and 625 calories.

4 - You might have some trouble shedding those extra pounds after a trip to Baskin Robbins. In addition to sundaes, they also have the unhealthiest drink in America. A large Heath bar shake adds a whooping 2,310 calories to your diet. You would have to eat 11 Heath Bars to equal one of these diet disasters.

The human body is a machine that is full of wonder. This collection of human body facts will leave you wondering why in the heck we were designed the way we were.

• Scientists say the higher your I.Q. The more you dream.
• The largest cell in the human body is the female egg and the smallest is the male sperm.
• You use 200 muscles to take one step.
• The average woman is 5 inches shorter than the average man.
• Your big toes have two bones each while the rest have three.
• A pair of human feet contains 250,000 sweat glands.
• A full bladder is roughly the size of a soft ball.
• The acid in your stomach is strong enough to dissolve razor blades.
• The human brain cell can hold 5 times as much information as the Encyclopedia Britannica.
• It takes the food seven seconds to get from your mouth to your stomach.
• The average human dream lasts 2-3 seconds.
• Men without hair on their chests are more likely to get cirrhosis of the liver than men with hair.
• At the moment of conception, you spent about half an hour as a single cell.
• There is about one trillion bacteria on each of your feet.
• Your body gives off enough heat in 30 minutes to bring half a gallon of water to a boil.
• The enamel in your teeth is the hardest substance in your body.
• Your teeth start growing 6 months before you are born.
• When you are looking at someone you love, your pupils dilate, and they do the same when you are looking at someone you hate.
• Your thumb is the same length as your nose.

A neurologist says that if he can get to a stroke victim within 3 hours he can totally reverse the effects of a stroke… Totally . He said the trick was getting a stroke recognized, diagnosed, and then getting the patient medically cared for within 3 hours, which is tough.

Thank God for the sense to remember the “3″ steps,

STR . Read and Learn!

Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. Unfortunately, the lack of awareness spells disaster. The stroke victim may suffer severe brain damage when People nearby fail to recognize the symptoms of a stroke .

Now doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three simple questions:

1. S - Ask the individual to SMILE.

2. T - Ask the person to TALK and SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE (Coherently) I.e. It is sunny out today)

3. R - Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS .

If he or she has trouble with ANY ONE of these tasks, call 999/911 Immediately and describe the Symptoms to the dispatcher.

New Sign of a Stroke ——- Stick out Your Tongue

NOTE: Another ’sign’ of a stroke is this: Ask the person to ’stick’ out his tongue.. If the tongue is ‘crooked’, if it goes to one side or the other , that is also an indication of a stroke.

Randy Pausch is a dreamer. How he looks at life is truly amazing, given his circumstances. After hearing his story, in this Last Lecture your life may never be the same again. Please watch the entire video. After you do, you’ll understand why. Randy Pausch reprising his inspirational and moving “Last Lecture” (Oct 22, 2007). See the full-length CMU version at http://www.cs.virginia.edu/robins/Randy_Last_Lecture.html Randy Pausch (www.randypausch.com) is a virtual reality pioneer, human-computer interaction researcher, co-founder of CMU’s Entertainment Technology Center (www.etc.cmu.edu), and creator of the Alice (www.alice.org) software project. See http://www.cs.virginia.edu/robins/Randy for more of Randy’s videos.

from video.yahoo.com