Free Republic

It was six hours past midnight, but the crowd inside the Berkeley Patients Group counted down the seconds. “Happy New Year,” they yelled at precisely 6 a.m. as a cashier rang up the cost of three joints, a $45.37 purchase representing one of the first recreational marijuana sales in the state. The moment marked the launch of a new industry in California, one that’s heavily regulated and taxed, with revenue reaching several billion dollars per year. The day has been long anticipated by cannabis advocates who pushed for voters to pass Proposition 64 in November 2016, largely decriminalizing marijuana and...

A niece announced yesterday that she intends to be a doctor, and has chosen George Fox University (GFU) for her Pre-Med. Over the past five years she has gone from wanting to be a zoo keeper, to a nurse, to an ER nurse and now a doctor. Does anyone know anything about George Fox U.? I know that GFU is an expensive, private, christian school, but that's about it. The University was founded as a Quaker college, but today is not so choosy. However, they are still a conservative christian school. For instance, in 2014 they sought and received a...

Theranos has come a long way from the days when it was a darling in the biotech industry. The Wall Street Journal's sources have claimed that the blood-testing firm has avoided bankruptcy by securing a $100 million loan from Fortress Investment Group. The move should keep Theranos afloat "through 2018," founder Elizabeth Holmes reportedly said in an email. Naturally, though, there are strings attached -- Fortress wants to see a return on its investment. Holmes reportedly said that Theranos has up its patent library as collateral, and that Fortress gets 4 percent equity. The loan is also subject to "certain...

Alternative remedies like homeopathic treatments have become popular in recent years and now make up a $3 billion industry. But the Food and Drug Administration will begin scrutinizing products that could be dangerous to vulnerable populations. Many homeopathic remedies are derived from plants and claim to treat everything from the common cold to serious diseases. But the FDA fears that these products can "bring little to no benefit in combating serious ailments, or worse — may cause significant and even irreparable harm because the products are poorly manufactured, or contain active ingredients that aren’t adequately tested or disclosed to patients,"...

Congress is ending the year with battles over tax reform and how to fund the government into next year. Another battle being fought is over the future of medical marijuana in America.The Justice Department is working overtime to remove a restriction in current law that prevents the federal government from prosecuting medical marijuana businesses in states where it has been made legal. The problem is that if the Department of Justice is successful, it would undermine a number of promises that President Donald J. Trump made on the campaign trail.A coalition of federalist-minded conservatives and libertarians have voiced strong support...

Doctors using a treatment called nivolumab on a lung cancer patient with Aids noticed a “drastic and persistent” decrease in infected white blood cells A new cancer drug could “cure” HIV, a revolutionary study suggests. Doctors using a treatment called nivolumab on a lung cancer patient with Aids noticed a “drastic and persistent” decrease in infected white blood cells. The findings have raised hopes that drugs could one day eradicate the HIV virus, which attacks the immune system and cur­­rently has no cure. At present, those infected must take anti-HIV drugs for the rest of their lives to stop the...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) – The idea of legal medical cannabis or marijuana appeared to gain another conservative Republican convert on Tennessee’s Capitol Hill Thursday. “The era of Reefer Madness is over,” said Rep. Bob Ramsey, who referenced the 1930s cult movie about the perceived dangers of marijuana. Ramsey is one of the legislative members on the medical cannabis task force which held its last meeting today before the Tennessee General Assembly begins its yearly session in January. “The sponsors as I see it have developed the best bill that has been developed in the United States,” added Ramsey, who said...

Yes, say some international experts citing the rise of the super bug. But experts in UAE disagree and argue for better prescription protocols and patient responsibilityThe case of the six-year-old girl who developed antibiotic resistance is not an isolated one in the world of antibiotics. As these super drugs are routinely prescribed, controversies on their abuse and overuse are beginning to throw a big question-mark on whether antibiotics have outgrown their effectiveness. The question doing the rounds in many medical corridors is: Is the golden age of antibiotics over? “No, this is not true,” said Dr Sandeep Pargi, consultant pulmonologist...

At the time, the medical community was unaware of the existence of germs and didn’t know how infectious diseases were passed on. As a result, cleanliness was not a factor in surgery, leading to gruesome sights and harrowing results. Surgeons — then regarded as low-status workers and often paid less than the men employed to pick lice off hospital beds — didn’t bother cleaning the blood and guts from surgical tables or their instruments between operations. No one in the operating theater wore gloves, and “it was not uncommon to see a medical student with shreds of flesh, gut or...

The Food and Drug Administration has approved an antipsychotic drug that carries a digital sensor to track whether patients are taking it, according to an agency announcement published Monday.The new drug, Abilify MyCite, is used to treat schizophrenia and manic episodes associated with bipolar disorder. After a patient has swallowed it and once the medication reaches the stomach, a sensor sends a message to a wearable patch, which then transfers information onto a mobile app. Patients then use the app to track whether they have taken their medication and they can give caregivers or doctors access to that information through...

Slash the chocolate Lab jumped into Kate Rondelli’s bed in the middle of the night Tuesday, licking her face to wake her up. There was trouble. The dog led her to her son’s room, where Rondelli tested her 4-year-old’s blood sugar levels: Over 400 milligrams per deciliter, more than twice the maximum range desirable for the little boy with Type 1 diabetes. Rondelli quickly gave her son, Mylon, insulin to stabilize his levels, averting a possible medical emergency. “His nose is always working,” Rondelli said. Slash is a diabetes detection dog, trained to alert Rondelli when her son’s blood sugar...

August 31, 2017 at 3:45 pm I am a migraine sufferer. Approximately 18 mos ago I was put on beta blocker Metoprolol (25 mg twice a day) as a preventative to reduce headache frequency and severity. I had no problems with the medication, other than slight lethargy and a few pounds gained. About 6 weeks ago, however, my pharmacy advised they had switched to a different manufacturer, and things went quickly downhill. My bp, which is usually steady and in the good range of 120/67 started going all over the place from lows to highs, with accompanying rapid heart beats...

Roughly 5 ¹/₂ million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s, a disease that ravages sufferers’ memories and, ultimately, stops their bodies from performing basic functions. There’s no cure, and not much that patients and their caregivers can do to stop the progression — but according to Joseph Jebelli, a neuroscientist and author of “In Pursuit of Memory: The Fight Against Alzheimer’s” (Little, Brown; out Oct. 31), hope is on the way. He estimates that there will be a medication to prevent the disease within the next 10 to 20 years. “[The idea is to push] the disease back, by developing a drug...

Joseph Lister came of age as surgery was being transformed. With the invention of anesthesia, operations could move beyond two-minute leg amputations that occasionally lopped off a testicle in haste. (True story.) But as surgeons poked and prodded deeper into the body, surgery only became more deadly. It was the infections that killed people.

While problems with cell line misidentification have been known for decades, an unknown number of published papers remains in circulation reporting on the wrong cells without warning or correction. Here we attempt to make a conservative estimate of this ‘contaminated’ literature. We found 32,755 articles reporting on research with misidentified cells, in turn cited by an estimated half a million other papers.

Dunamis Power is yours my children just speak what you need or declare what it is My Spirit is to manifest before you and it shall be for as you have overcome the world it now sits at your feet as it does for me for we are one and I walk hand in hand with you as you do my will alone . Let My Spirit of Holiness lead your days now for the body and Bride of Christ are coming together now in a redeeming way in that all that is being done now in this hour is...

The NHS will ban patients from surgery indefinitely unless they lose weight or quit smoking, under controversial plans drawn up in Hertfordshire. The restrictions - thought to be the most extreme yet to be introduced by health services - immediately came under attack from the Royal College of Surgeons.

Every patient visiting their family doctor or attending a hospital appointment in England will be asked to declare if they are gay, straight or bisexual under controversial new rules imposed by the NHS. The astonishing diktat – condemned last night as ‘intrusive’ and ‘insulting’ – orders doctors to include details of a patient’s sexuality on their permanent medical record for the first time.

. . . Hospital staff told police that Jones and Yancey had been arguing while waiting for their 14-year-old son to get a procedure. Shortly after, Jones came out of the room and said Yancey had cut himself. Staff went into the room and found Yancey with lacerations to the upper body. Yancey was pronounced dead a short time later. Jones left the hospital before officers arrived on scene. . . .

Antibiotic resistance will end modern medicine and push us into a "post-antibiotic apocalypse", England's chief medical officer has warned. Dame Sally Davies has issued a call to action urging global leaders to address the growing threat of resistance to antibiotics. Professor Davies warns antibiotic resistance can jeopardise everyday medical procedures and make them "risky" - including caesarean sections, cancer treatments and hip replacements. She also says without drugs to treat infections, transplant medicine would be a "thing of the past". Professor Davies told Sky News: "The post-antibiotic apocalypse is that when you get an infection, we cannot guarantee it will...