Day: 07/20/2015

Walgreens and telemedicine

Click to access Accenture-Capturing-100-Billion-Opportunity-Life-Sciences-Digital-Transformation.pdf

Page 7:

Walgreens is piloting a service that gives patients in California and Michigan 24/7 access to physicians through its mobile app. For conditions that don’t require a physical exam, such as pink eye or bronchitis, physicians can offer a diagnosis and treatment and write prescriptions. Doctor on Demand is one of a few apps that offers appointments with state licensed doctors over video for just $40. The doctors can also prescribe medications and send them to your local pharmacy…

I’m disabled. Can NIH spare a few dimes?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2015/07/20/dear-dr-collins-im-disabled-can-nih-spare-a-few-dimes/

Lately, though, my love for your august institution has been strained. You see, I’ve been felled by the most forlorn of orphan illnesses. The most accurate name for it is myalgic encephalomyelitis, which means “painful inflammation of the brain and spine.” (Yes, it is painful, and, yes, there’s strong evidence of neuroinflammation.) At the NIH and elsewhere, it is instead called chronic fatigue syndrome. That’s a terribly vague and dismissive moniker for so serious an illness, and one that needs to be retired. Fatigue is not the primary or most troubling symptom for most people with ME…

Columbia University’s Ian Lipkin is searching for infectious triggers, and has reported severe immune problems in patients. Columbia received $150 million in NIH grants in 2015; Lipkin’s operation gets a big chunk of that not for ME/CFS research but for finding viruses such as those that cause SARS and MERS. But when the famous virus hunter applied for a trifling $1 million for ME research, the NIH turned him down, twice. So spurned, Lipkin and colleague Mady Hornig recently resorted to eating habanero peppers to raise money as part of a social media ME Chili Challenge inspired by the hugely successful ALS Ice Bucket Challenge…

At Stanford University, prominent geneticist Ron Davis is searching for genetic risk factors. His investment is deeply personal, as his adult son — formerly a world-traveling photographer — is severely ill with ME and can no longer walk or talk…

At the same time, you could help things along by moving responsibility for ME from its long-term parking spot at the Office of Research on Women’s Health to one of the institutes with a substantial research budget, such as the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. ME is clearly not a “women’s disease.” …

A Little Blue

This is Genevieve, and as you can see, she’s a little blue.  So, she sneaks off to her special place, where she’s surrounded by beautiful sights and smells.  She takes a deep breath to relax. And in just a minute (or three), she’s going to go back to her real life…  but not right now. 🙂

Please welcome “Trying To Kill My PTSD” to WordPress :)

https://ghostin19days.wordpress.com/2015/07/18/hello-world/

Hello. My name is Ernest. I am writing this blog to document my fight against PTSD, or, if that fails, the final days of my life… I recently lost my father (he passed away) and then my girlfriend left me because I have many symptoms of PTSD that she no longer wishes to live with. I’m working with the VA Hospital to try to eradicate my PSTD symptoms…

Law enforcement efforts to crack down on pipe shops

http://www.pharmaciststeve.com/?p=11065

http://newsok.com/judges-ruling-gives-oklahoma-pipe-shop-owner-breathing-room/article/5434671

Agents with the Drug Enforcement Agency attempted to muscle Ziggyz Pipe Shops stores out of business by contacting the stores’ landlords, owner Chelsey Davis alleges in a federal lawsuit July 1. Davis purchased the business after a raid on the previous owner…

On July 10, the judge issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting the DEA from contacting the landlords or attempting to seize the landlords’ property…

Davis also asked the judge to address whether any items in his inventory are illegal paraphernalia, a request that the judge said could take weeks. Under state statute, whether an item constitutes drug paraphernalia depends on context and other factors. Heaton’s ruling could impact several other pipe shop owners facing charges in connection with recent raids at other stores.

Ziggyz had 12 locations across Oklahoma when state and federal law enforcement agents descended on the businesses April 22. Law enforcement involved in the raid included the DEA, Homeland Security, Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control and the Oklahoma City Police Department.

No charges have been filed, and the search warrant remains sealed…

Davis was in the process of negotiating new leases when he discovered the DEA had sent letters to his landlords, alleging the property “has been used, or is being used, to distribute synthetic cannabinoids,” another name for synthetic marijuana, and drug paraphernalia. The letter warns the landlords that their property could be seized if the activity continued, and the landlord could even be sent to prison or fined…

Reacting to the letters, landlords began eviction proceedings or giving Davis notice to move out, the lawsuit alleges. Davis already has shuttered five stores, and three others are in litigation…

Prior to filing the lawsuit, Davis invited federal agents to his stores to identify illegal products, offering to pull those items from the shelves, court records state. “The agents refused specifics and kept stating everything is paraphernalia, period,” court filings show…

The raid on Ziggyz is part of a recent law enforcement effort to crack down on pipe shops. Police in Norman recently raided two stores there—McCloud’z Pipes and Fatt Hedz— and took part in a raid at a second Fatt Hedz location in northwest Oklahoma City. Both Norman stores closed and the owners are facing charges.

Prosecutors charged Tamichael McCloud with a felony: possession of marijuana within 1,000 feet of a park, alleging in court records a pipe containing marijuana residue was found in his vehicle during the raid. McCloud’z was located on Norman’s Main Street near Legacy Trail Park, a public walking trail with no playground equipment…

Look Deep Into Nature

http://parparv.com/2015/07/18/look-deep-into-nature/

In a city like Vancouver the beauty of nature is inescapable and for that I am ever more grateful. I have thoroughly enjoyed spending the summer hiking, cycling and exploring all kinds of different beachfronts. I could not be more grateful for the breathtaking moments I have experienced just looking at the nature that surrounds me…

I spend a lot of time outdoors and I encourage you all to do the same. Look at every detail of the next tree you come across and silence the mind… there is an incredible connection between us and nature and we simply shouldn’t ignore it…

Warning: Bug Week has been extended!

Because I’m the boss of my blog, I’ve decided to extend Bug Week.  And I’d like to invite anyone who’s interested to join me in posting photos of bugs.  Give them a name.  Give them a personality. We’ll all learn together that we don’t need to be afraid of bugs. (Seriously.) The Earth needs bugs, which means we have to get along with them, whether we want to or not. (Seriously.)

This is Quentin. He’s had a long and hard life. All of the other bugs used to laugh and call him names, never letting him play in any bug games. So, Quentin grew up to be a rather ornery Libertarian, finally meeting his end while caught in a spider web of his own making.

(Photo taken 7/16/2015.)