Monday, December 12, 2011

Exposing the hidden epidemic of crippling, painful neurological adverse effects of antibiotics

(NaturalNews) The adverse reactions from a certain specific class of antibiotics resemble the crippling adverse reactions of the vaccine injured. But there is much less notoriety among these agonized and debilitated victims of the Medical Mafia, except for one PBS Nightly News special from June 16th, 2011. (PBS, source below)

Most antibiotic victims are adults with no one to look after them. Unlike unfortunate autistic or paralyzed vaccine injured kids who have parents dedicated to taking care of them. Thanks to social networking and internet forums, these victims have some support.

Unfortunately, most of them are locked into the Medical Mafia system of harmful drugs and brain washed medicine. Their complaints are often disregarded as delusional, or they're misdiagnosed for rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia, or MS. And that's because their symptoms are similar, and worse. They often suffer from the constant pain of extreme neuropathy.

Very few adverse event reports make it to the FDA's Adverse Event Reporting System (AERS). It's estimated by even the FDA that less than ten percent of actual adverse events make it into this system. It's not advertised to patients as the complaint department of choice, and doctors tend be averse to reporting adverse events from drugs they've prescribed.

So the forums and social network systems such as a facebook "wall of pain" containing personal stories and photos of current victims are their sole recourse and support. Most of them are motivated with the desire to warn others and curse the FDA. They don't have ambulance chasing attorneys - yet.

The most troublesome antibiotics

Fluoroquinolone antibioticsappear to be the most pernicious class of antibiotics causing the worst adverse effects. They are prescribed and sold asCiprofloxacin (Cipro), Levaquin, Avelox, and Tequin. Apparently enough adverse event reports have gotten through, causing the FDA to issue a black box warning for Levaquin specifically and fluoroquinolones in general.

The black box is the FDA's most severe warning, but it goes only to whoever is prescribing the drug. It's up to physicians and pharmacists to sound the alarm for their patients and customers. But usually those alarms don't get sounded, even, according to many victims, when queried about their safety.

Fluoroquinolone antibiotics seem to be popular. They are dispensed for minor infections when they should be used only for extremely serious infections, though there could be problems there too. At least the ratio of benefit to risk would be closer then. A professor of pharmacology at Indiana University was quoted as saying "you don't use big guns to kill mosquitoes."

Fluoroquinolone adverse effect symptoms

An unusual side effect, exclusive to this type of antibiotic, is tearing tendons. They may literally fall apart within days of using a fluoroquinolone antibiotic. The others are crippling losses of motor abilities, difficulty thinking, tinnitus, chronic insomnia, depression and anxiety among others.

The constant pain is the most difficult to bear. Neuropathy can be restricted to tingling, twitching, and numbness. But the level of neuropathy for many of the fluoroquinolone victims causes constant extreme pain throughout the joints and body. Oddly enough, these symptoms are similar to Lyme disease victims who clamor for life-long antibiotic use.

Adverse effects may show up after only one pill or not begin until a year or more after taking a series of fluoroquinolone antibiotics. If not treated, the adverse effects last long enough to ruin lives completely.

Perhaps alpha lipoic acid, especially combined with extra potent B vitamins, could do wonders for their comfort and recovery. Skilled homeopathic doctors could help them also. Unfortunately, most of these victims are stuck in a system that makes huge profits from selling solutions to problems they've created.

Sources for this article include

PBS report and individuals' videos here:http://healthmaven.blogspot.com/201...

"Wall of pain" - click photos for their storieshttp://www.facebook.com/media/set/?...

Learn more:http://www.naturalnews.com/034384_antibiotics_neurological_effects_toxicity.html#ixzz1gOW4c0m4

About Dr Kevin Lau

Dr Kevin Lau DC is the founder of Health In Your Hands, a series of tools for Scoliosis prevention and treatment. The set includes his book Your Plan for Natural Scoliosis Prevention and Treatment, a companion Scoliosis Exercises for Prevention and Correction DVD and the innovative new iPhone application ScolioTrack. Dr Kevin Lau D.C. is a graduate in Doctor of Chiropractic from RMIT University in Melbourne Australia and Masters in Holistic Nutrition from Clayton College of Natural Health in USA. In 2006 I was awarded the "Best Health-care Provider Awards" by the largest Newspaper publication in Singapore on October 18 2006 as well as being interviewed on Primetime Channel News Asia as well as other TV and Radio. For more information on Dr Kevin Lau, watch his interviews or get a free sneak peek of his book, go to: http://www.hiyh.info.

The most troublesome antibiotics

Fluoroquinolone adverse effect symptoms

About Dr Kevin Lau

Monday, December 12, 2011
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
Editor of NaturalNews.com

(NaturalNews) You might be reassured to learn that the buttery flavor in microwave popcorn typically comes from a chemical actually found in butter, but you shouldn't be. This chemical, calleddiacetyl, is so toxic that it commonly destroys the lungs of workers in microwave popcorn factories, afflicting them with the crippling and irreversible disease known asbronchiolitis obliterans. Bronchiolitis obliterans is so rare outside of this context that it has become more commonly known as "popcorn lung," after the primary cause of the disease.

Regulators and health professionals have known of this risk for decades, but always assumed that it would only affect people breathing in especially high concentrations in factory settings. Then in 2007, a man who regularly ate two bags of microwave popcorn every day was diagnosed with popcorn lung, indicating thatdiacetylenters the air and lungs when microwave popcorn is cooked. Anxious to reassure consumers, most microwave popcorn companies phased out diacetyl -- only to replace it with chemicals that have the same effects.

Today, you can still finddiacetylin many flavored snack foods and even in some so-called "natural" foods. Make sure youread the ingredientsof any food you intend to consume, and make sure it contains no diacetyl (and no "yeast extract" for that matter, either).

Sources:
http://www.naturalnews.com/024460_p...
http://www.naturalnews.com/023771_p...
http://www.aolnews.com/nation/artic...
Learn more:http://www.naturalnews.com/034386_microwave_popcorn_diacetyl_lungs.html#ixzz1gOVmQVda

About Dr Kevin Lau

A new feline medicine textbook

“The Cat: Clinical Medicine and Management” is a new, comprehensive feline medicine textbook just published by Elsevier Saunders. Edited and co-authored by Winn board member Dr. Susan Little and containing a chapter by Winn board member Steve Dale, “The Cat” is an essential resource for anyone who provides complete, state-of-the-art care to cats.

In one convenient volume, you'll find authoritative, clinically-focused information enhanced by full-color illustrations, tables, boxes, algorithms, key points, and much more - all in a format designed for quick access. Dr. Little and more than 60 expert contributors address the unique concerns and challenges facing the feline practitioner, including the latest advances in feline medical diagnosis and management and their clinical applications to everyday practice.

User-friendly and complete, “The Cat” is also available as an e-book, giving you easy access to the complete, fully-searchable contents online. “The Cat” is endorsed by the Winn Feline Foundation and contains a foreword written by Past President and current board member, Betty White.
The cover cat is Muffi, a beautiful orange tabby and white male belonging to Mats Hamnas in Sweden. You can see more pictures of Muffi and his feline friends on Flickr.

Available from: Elsevier Health and Amazon.

Vitamin D Cuts Flu By Half: Double-Blind Placebo-Controlled Randomized Trial

Vitamin D is a highly effective way to avoid influenza. A study documents that children taking low doses of Vitamin D₃ are 42% less likely to contract influenza.

Nicknamed the sunshine supplement because we can synthesize it from sun exposure on our skin, Vitamin D₃ has been anecdotally linked to flu prevention on many occasions. This study provides strong evidence of the validity of the observations.

The Study

Performed by Mitsuyoshi Urashima and colleagues from the Jikei University School of Medicine in Tokyo, the study was randomized, double blinded, and placebo-controlled. 430 children aged 6-15 were enrolled and followed between December 2008 and March 2009. Half were given Vitamin D₃ and the other half received a placebo. The dose was 1,200 IUs a day. 334 of the children completed the study.

Nose and throat swabs were used to diagnose influenza Types A and B. 18 of the children taking Vitamin D, and 31 in the placebo group, came down with influenza Type A, indicating a 42% reduction of risk from taking Vitamin D. Type A influenza includes all the serious flu epidemics, including seasonal flus and the swine flu fake pandemic.

Type B influenza was unaffected by Vitamin D. This is not a great concern, as Type B influenzas are generally very mild. Type C influenzas have never been associated with epidemics and are even milder, with only cold-like symptoms.

Some reports claim that the study shows Vitamin D outperforms flu vaccinations. While it’s certainly a far healthier and safer way to avoid influenza, the truth is that the study did not make any comparison with vaccination. However, in light of the fact that there is No Value in Any Influenza Vaccine, as documented in a Cochrane Collaboration study, it is certainly a fair assessment that Vitamin D outperforms flu vaccines—and does so without the dangers.

Study Used Low Dose of Vitamin D

While the study is certainly indicative of the benefit of Vitamin D in preventing flu, it might have shown an even greater effect if the authors had used more adequate doses. As Dr. Mercola has noted in Canada Looks at Vitamin D for Swine Flu Protection, 1,200 IUs of Vitamin D is adequate only in the youngest children.

Canada’s Public Health Agency notes that they’ve done a study showing that children below age 5 should take 35 IUs/day per pound of weight, children aged 5-10 should take 2,500 IUs, and adults should take 5,000 IUs/day. These figures are, of course, typical standardized doses, and are not necessarily adequate for individuals, nor are they necessarily needed by everyone.

Conventional Medicine Still Doesn’t Get It!

When one considers the risks inherent in flu vaccines and antiviral drugs, the prevention of influenza through Vitamin D’s immune system boosting is certainly far superior to vaccination.

The attitude of Dr. John Oxford, professor of virology at Queen Mary School of Medicine, London describes the drugs-first approach:

This is a timely study. It will be noticed by scientists. It fits in with the seasonal pattern of flu. There is an increasing background of solid science that makes the vitamin D story credible. But this study needs to be replicated. If it is confirmed we might think of giving vitamin D at the same time as we vaccinate.

In the face of a study showing that fairly low dose Vitamin D effectively prevents flu, he’s still thinking of vaccination, with all its dangers, as the primary approach to health! It’s a perfect example of how modern medicine is making us sicker. Rather than considering the natural approach of preventing illness by promoting natural health, he thinks of strengthening the immune system as merely a supplement to drugs and vaccines.

As long as studies like this one are treated as merely superfluous, at best an addendum to health, then modern medicine isn’t health care. It’s sick care.

Sources:

About Dr Kevin Lau

Vitamin D is a highly effective way to avoid influenza. A study documents that children taking low doses of Vitamin D₃ are 42% less likely to contract influenza.

The Study

Study Used Low Dose of Vitamin D

Conventional Medicine Still Doesn’t Get It!

When one considers the risks inherent in flu vaccines and antiviral drugs, the prevention of influenza through Vitamin D’s immune system boosting is certainly far superior to vaccination.

The attitude of Dr. John Oxford, professor of virology at Queen Mary School of Medicine, London describes the drugs-first approach:

This is a timely study. It will be noticed by scientists. It fits in with the seasonal pattern of flu. There is an increasing background of solid science that makes the vitamin D story credible. But this study needs to be replicated. If it is confirmed we might think of giving vitamin D at the same time as we vaccinate.

As long as studies like this one are treated as merely superfluous, at best an addendum to health, then modern medicine isn’t health care. It’s sick care.

Sources:

About Dr Kevin Lau

7 Foods Many Experts Won't Eat

Wake Up World has assemble a list of foods that are avoided by people who know the facts. Here are a few examples:

GMO FOODS: Not only do GMO foods encourage the massive spraying of insecticides, but studies have shown that pesticide-producing genes in these foods transfer to your intestinal flora. GMO foods come with a staggering environmental, political, economic, and social cost.

CANNED TOMATOES: Food can lining contains bisphenol-A (BPA), a synthetic estrogen that has been linked to many illnesses. The problem worsens when the cans contain acidic food such as tomatoes, which leach BPA into the food.

CORN-FED BEEF: Cattle evolved to eat grass rather than corn. But modern cattle are fed so as to fatten them up faster, not to keep them healthy. The result is beef that is much less nutritious.

MICROWAVE POPCORN: Chemicals that line the bag, such as PFOA, have been linked to infertility in humans and various forms of cancer in animal tests.

To see the rest of the list, you can click on the link below.

Sources:

Wake Up World December 2011

About Dr Kevin Lau

Wake Up World has assemble a list of foods that are avoided by people who know the facts. Here are a few examples:

CORN-FED BEEF: Cattle evolved to eat grass rather than corn. But modern cattle are fed so as to fatten them up faster, not to keep them healthy. The result is beef that is much less nutritious.

MICROWAVE POPCORN: Chemicals that line the bag, such as PFOA, have been linked to infertility in humans and various forms of cancer in animal tests.

To see the rest of the list, you can click on the link below.

Sources:

Wake Up World December 2011

About Dr Kevin Lau

10 Things You May Not Know About Your Weight

Most of us have the basics ingrained in our brains. Eat less, eat healthy and exercise more. If only it were that easy. Having the right knowledge can make a big difference in how you act and react when it comes to your weight. Here are 10 things you may not know (but should) about your weight.

1. Some People Just Have More Fat Cells
And the range is enormous, with some people having twice as many fat cells as others have, says Kirsty Spalding, PhD, of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. Even if you've lost a few pounds (or gained some), your fat-cell count remains, holding tight to the fat already inside and forever thirsting to be filled up with more. (To add insult to injury, the fat cells of overweight and obese people hold more fat too.)

New fat cells emerge during childhood but seem to stop by adolescence. Those of us destined to have a lot of these cells probably start producing them as young as age two. The cells' rate of growth may be faster, too-even if kids cut way back on calories.

Strangers have written to Spalding, telling her how depressed they are by her research. But she says her news isn't all bleak. You're better off with more fat cells, she says, than with fewer fat cells that become overstuffed and enlarged. (New research suggests that the overstuffed group are more vulnerable to obesity-related health complications.) So while you can't reduce your total number of fat cells, there are things you can do to keep them small. (See next point.)

2. You Can Change Your Metabolism
Another Scandinavian team looked into what happens at the cellular level when you gain weight. Kirsi PietilÃ¤inen, PhD, an assistant professor of nutrition at Helsinki University Central Hospital, studied sets of twins where one was fat and the other thin, and learned that fat cells in heavier twins underwent metabolic changes that make it more difficult to burn fat. PietilÃ¤inen's team suspects that gaining as little as 11 pounds can slow metabolism and send you spiraling into a vicious cycle: As you gain more fat, it becomes harder to lose it.

How to get back on track? "The more I learn on the job, the more I'm convinced we need physical activity," PietilÃ¤inen says. Once a chubby child herself, she now runs regularly and is at a healthy weight.

3. Stress Fattens You Up
The most direct route is the food-in-mouth syndrome: Stressful circumstances (your bank account, your boss) spark cravings for carbohydrate-rich snack foods, which in turn calm stress hormones. (When researchers in one study took away high-carb food from stressed mice, their stress hormones surged.)

Stress hormones also ramp up fat storage. For our prehistoric ancestors, stress meant drought or approaching tigers, and a rapid-storage process made sense; we needed the extra energy to survive food shortages or do battle. Today we take our stress sitting down-and the unused calories accumulate in our midsection.

To whittle yourself back down to size, in addition to your usual workout routine, make time for stress relief-whether it's a yoga class or quality time with family.

4. Mom's Pregnancy Sealed Your Fate
A mother's cigarettes increase the risk of low birth weight, and alcohol can damage her baby's brain. So why wouldn't unhealthy foods wreak similar havoc? A growing body of science suggests that sugary and fatty foods, consumed even before you're born, do exactly that. A Pennington study on rodents reports that overweight females have higher levels of glucose and free fatty acids floating around in the womb than normal-weight ones do. These molecules trigger the release of proteins that can upset the appetite-control and metabolic systems in the developing brain.

What's true for mice is often true for humans too. Doctors from State University of New York Downstate Medical Center compared children born before their mothers had gastric bypass surgery with siblings born later. Women weighed less after the surgery, as expected, but their children were also half as likely to be obese. Because siblings have such similar genetic profiles, the researchers attributed the weight differences to changes in the womb environment. Moms-to-be, take note: You can give your kids a head start by eating well before they're born.

5. Sleep More, Lose More
When patients see Louis Aronne, MD, past president of the Obesity Society and author of the forthcoming book The Skinny, they're as likely to have their sleep assessed as their eating habits. If patients are getting less than seven to eight hours, Dr. Aronne may prescribe more shut-eye rather than the latest diet or drug. With more sleep, he says, "they have a greater sense of fullness, and they'll spontaneously lose weight."

Why? University of Chicago researchers reported that sleep deprivation upsets our hormone balance, triggering both a decrease in leptin (which helps you feel full) and an increase of ghrelin (which triggers hunger). As a result, we think we're hungry even though we aren't-and so we eat. Indeed, sleep may be the cheapest and easiest obesity treatment there is.

6. Your Spouse's Weight Matters
When Jodi Dixon's six-foot-two, 360-pound husband lost 125 pounds, she had mixed feelings. She was the one who always watched her weight and exercised; she was always the one trying to get her husband to be more active. Mort, a medical sales rep, was always the life of the party, says his wife, a 43-year-old mother of two in Freehold, New Jersey. But when he lost the weight, it was different.

"Men and women would flock to him, drawn to his charisma," she recalls. "I felt jealous." Dixon comforted herself with food and gained 20 pounds before she decided to take action. She began biking with her husband and enrolled in a diet program. Eventually she trimmed down, too, shedding 30 pounds, and has her sights on losing more.

Dixon credits the weight gain, and the loss, to her jealousy. But research shows that weight gain and loss can be, well, contagious. A study in the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that if one spouse is obese, the other is 37 percent more likely to become obese too. The researchers concluded that obesity seems to spread through social networks.

As in Dixon's case, slimming down seems to be catching, at least within the family: When Dixon launched her weight-loss plan, her eldest daughter, also overweight, followed her mom's healthy habits and lost 40 pounds.

7. Cookies Really Are Addictive
While food is not addictive the way cocaine or alcohol is, scientists in recent years have found some uncanny similarities. When subjects at Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia were shown the names of foods they liked, the parts of the brain that got excited were the same parts activated in drug addicts. It may have to do with dopamine, the hormone linked to motivation and pleasure, say researchers at Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, New York. If obese people have fewer dopamine receptors, they may need more food to get that pleasurable reaction.

8. Ear Infections Can Taint Your Taste Buds
For years, the team at Linda Bartoshuk's taste lab at the University of Florida wondered why people who tasted food less intensely than others seemed more likely to be fat. Researcher Derek Snyder had a theory: Could an ear infection, which can damage a taste nerve running through the middle ear, be the missing link? After tabulating 6,584 questionnaires, the team discovered that those over 35 who had suffered several ear infections had almost double the chance of being obese.

Responses to additional questions provided clues as to why. Former ear-infection patients were a little more likely to love sweets and fatty foods-perhaps because the damaged nerve causes them to have a higher threshold for sensing sweetness and fattiness. Even a small increase in calories from bad food choices adds up over time.

Childhood ear infections are as hard to avoid as the colds that tend to bring them on, but limiting passive smoke seems to drive down incidents of ear infection. If you're an overweight adult who suffered a severe ear infection as a child, it may be worth paying attention to the taste and texture of your food. Simply finding healthier substitutes, such as fruit instead of candy, or olive oil instead of butter, may help drive you toward eating better and weighing less.

9. Antioxidants Are Also Anti-Fat
Free radicals are now blamed not only for making you look old but also for making you fat. Zane Andrews, PhD, a neuroendocrinologist at Monash University in Australia, says these oxidizing molecules damage the cells that tell us we're full. Free radicals emerge when we eat (something even the keenest dieter must do to survive), but they're especially prevalent when we gorge on candy bars, chips, and other carbohydrates. With every passing year, these fullness signifiers suffer wear and tear-causing the "stop eating!" signal to get weaker and appetites (and possibly our stomachs) to get bigger. The best way to fight back? Avoid the junk and load up on colorful, antioxidant-rich fruits and vegetables.

10. You Can Be Fat and Fit
A growing body of literature suggests that size doesn't matter when it comes to your health. A study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine surveyed 5,440 American adults and found that 51 percent of the overweight and almost 32 percent of the obese had mostly normal cholesterol, blood sugar, blood pressure, and other measures of good health.

Further defying conventional wisdom, the article also reported that 23.5 percent of trim adults were, in fact, metabolically abnormal-making them more vulnerable to heart disease than their heavier counterparts.

The latest U.S. Department of Health and Human Services report corroborates what our doctors have said all along: You need about 30 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity five days a week for health. And you don't even have to do your exercise in one fell swoop-ten-minute stints of walking are just as effective. That means if you forgo the elevators for the stairs, get off one train or bus stop earlier, and park your car a few blocks away, chances are you'll be good for the day.

Remember Steven Blair, the self-described short, fat, bald guy? At age 69, his blood pressure is in check, his cholesterol levels are normal, and his heart is strong. What's more, he may have even more positive vital signs, according to his recent study in the journal Obesity: Men who are fit (determined by their performance on a treadmill) have a lower risk of dying of cancer than out-of-shape guys, regardless of their body mass index, waist size, or percentage of body fat.

The news is heartening, says Blair: "We don't have great tools to change people's weight, but we know we can change their fitness levels.

http://preventdisease.com/news/11/111611_10-Things-You-May-Know-About-Your-Weight.shtml

About Dr Kevin Lau

Most of us have the basics ingrained in our brains. Eat less, eat healthy and exercise more. If only it were that easy. Having the right knowledge can make a big difference in how you act and react when it comes to your weight. Here are 10 things you may not know (but should) about your weight.

http://preventdisease.com/news/11/111611_10-Things-You-May-Know-About-Your-Weight.shtml

About Dr Kevin Lau

Executives Get Prison for Fatal Bone Cement Trial

Drug Discovery & Development - November 22, 2011

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - The pursuit of profits blinded executives of a medical devices company to the "the sanctity of human life," a federal judge said in sentencing them to prison for unapproved testing of bone cement that left three people dead.

The Synthes North America officials are among the first corporate officials sent to prison for misdemeanor pleas as "responsible corporate officers" under the 1975 Park Doctrine.

According to U.S. District Judge Legrome D. Davis, the Synthes officials wanted to beat their competitors to market without going through the lengthy process of getting the bone cement product approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. So they plotted to train select surgeons in its off-label use and then have the doctors publish their findings, the judge said.

The program continued even after a patient died in surgery in Texas in 2003 and another died in California. The patients suffered sharp drops in blood pressure after the bone cement compound was injected into their spines. Synthes only halted the training after a third death in 2004.

"One adverse event should have been enough to let you know that this course was not right," the judge said. "I can't understand how there wasn't a stop sign."

Former President Michael Huggins, 54, of West Chester, Pa., and former Senior Vice President Thomas B. Higgins, 54, of Berwyn, were sentenced to nine months in prison. John J. Walsh, 48, of Coatesville, the former director of regulatory and clinical affairs, worked at the West Chester-based company less time and received a five-month sentence. Former Synthes Vice President Richard Bohner, 56, of Malvern, had his sentencing postponed after his lawyer became ill in court.

The judge called the officers' conduct egregious and said they showed "disregard for the safety of others ... and for the sanctity of human life." He sent Huggins to prison immediately. Higgins, who ran the spine unit, was given two weeks to report to prison because of family issues. Walsh got a week to report to celebrate his child's birthday.

The Park Doctrine typically involves corporate leaders taking the fall for things that happened under their watch. In this case, the judge found that they planned and executed the scheme and went above the zero- to six-month guideline range.

"There's a perception that this is not the type of conduct that tends to result in a jail sentence," the judge said. "We lose the ability to cause the industry to self-regulate, because the fear of jail for professionals is far greater than the fear of a young drug dealer from the 'hood."

The judge, though, denied prosecutors the maximum one-year sentence they had sought, giving the men credit for their pleas.

None of the three men sentenced made a statement in court.

Both Synthes and its former subsidiary Norian Corp. pleaded guilty to corporate health care fraud charges and agreed to pay $23 million in fines. As part of the plea, Synthes agreed to sell the subsidiary. In April, Johnson & Johnson agreed to buy Synthes Inc., which had its global headquarters in Switzerland, for $21.3 billion.

According to prosecutors, the Synthes North America executives also failed to report the patient deaths and lied to FDA investigators during an on-site audit. The government applauded the sentences Monday.

"It sends the right message, that lying to the FDA and disregarding patient safety has consequences," Assistant U.S. Attorney Mary Crawley said.

The defendants denied any intent to violate FDA protocols, and at least one argued that he tried repeatedly to prevent off-label use.

"I didn't think at the time that we were doing anything illegal," Higgins wrote in a letter his lawyer read in court Monday.

The bone cement, Norian XR, had been approved for surgical use in the arm but not in the weight-bearing spine.

Pilot studies had shown it could cause blood clots in humans, and pig research suggested the clots could move to the lungs, causing death within 30 seconds, government experts said. Synthes used the cement in about 200 spine patients.

None of the surgeons could rule out the bone cement as a factor in the three deaths, but it also wasn't definitively blamed for them. One patient died in Plano, Texas, and two others in northern California.

The second victim was 83-year-old physicist Ryoichi Kikuchi, of Walnut Creek, Calif., once a visiting scholar at the University of California, Berkeley. Still mentally sharp, he opted for the surgery to relieve back pain, his grandchildren said.

His family has long wondered why he didn't survive the surgery but only learned this past week of his connection to the case, according to two grandchildren who traveled to Philadelphia for the hearings. They called his death ironic, given his career devotion to careful scientific methodology.

"Even if he had chosen to do this, his wish would have been for it to be part of an organized process, and not just, if something goes wrong, nothing comes of it," said grandson Alan Kikuchi, of New York.

All four executives have lost their careers and agreed to pay fines of $100,000 apiece.

The judge questioned why men who had otherwise led good, moral lives came to make such unconscionable decisions at work. He said that other companies "need to hear the lesson loud and clear. The conduct ... needs to change."

Date: November 21, 2011
Source: Associated Press

Health News

Pages

Monday, December 12, 2011

Exposing the hidden epidemic of crippling, painful neurological adverse effects of antibiotics

The most troublesome antibiotics

Fluoroquinolone adverse effect symptoms

About Dr Kevin Lau

The most troublesome antibiotics

Fluoroquinolone adverse effect symptoms

About Dr Kevin Lau

About Dr Kevin Lau

About Dr Kevin Lau

A new feline medicine textbook

Monday, December 5, 2011

Vitamin D Cuts Flu By Half: Double-Blind Placebo-Controlled Randomized Trial

The Study

Study Used Low Dose of Vitamin D

Conventional Medicine Still Doesn’t Get It!

Sources:

About Dr Kevin Lau

The Study

Study Used Low Dose of Vitamin D

Conventional Medicine Still Doesn’t Get It!

Sources:

About Dr Kevin Lau

7 Foods Many Experts Won't Eat

Sources:

About Dr Kevin Lau

Sources:

About Dr Kevin Lau

Saturday, November 26, 2011

10 Things You May Not Know About Your Weight

Most of us have the basics ingrained in our brains. Eat less, eat healthy and exercise more. If only it were that easy. Having the right knowledge can make a big difference in how you act and react when it comes to your weight. Here are 10 things you may not know (but should) about your weight.

About Dr Kevin Lau

Most of us have the basics ingrained in our brains. Eat less, eat healthy and exercise more. If only it were that easy. Having the right knowledge can make a big difference in how you act and react when it comes to your weight. Here are 10 things you may not know (but should) about your weight.

About Dr Kevin Lau

Executives Get Prison for Fatal Bone Cement Trial

About Dr Kevin Lau

About Dr Kevin Lau