AstraZeneca fined for anti-psychotic drug

Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca has agreed to pay a $510 million fine to settle a case alleging that it illegally marketed an anti-psychotic drug, the US justice department has confirmed.

The firm's US division agreed to the fine for marketing the the anti-psychotic drug Seroquel for so-called "off-label" uses not included in the drug's approved product label, the Justice Department said.

US authorities contended that AstraZeneca illegally marketed Seroquel for uses never approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) such as aggression, Alzheimer's disease, anger management, anxiety, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, bipolar maintenance, dementia, depression, mood disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and sleeplessness.

Read more . . .

Getting Serious

It's time to get serious again. Those of you who struggle with weight and depression know what I mean. One day you wake up and you know you have the energy to take a shot at getting your body and mood under control. And you feel confident that this time, you will be triumphant.

I woke up feeling that way this morning. I actually got out and walked, not just lay in bed or puttered around the house thinking I'd like to. Didn't go far, just around our complex. But it was a start, and part of the reason we fail so often is we try to take too big a bite . . . try to change too much too fast.

From Calories Per Hour:

Unless you are excited to be following a very specific diet and exercise plan, do not try and change too much too fast. If you have been eating poorly and not exercising, both your body and your mind will have a lot of adjusting to do.

All the sugar and fat were actually quite enjoyable, and sitting on the couch didn't feel too bad, either. If you try and change everything too quickly the odds are greater that you will feel bad, get discouraged, and give up. So be patient.

A time will come when a healthy snack will taste as good as the junk food you felt bad about eating, and you will look forward to your regular exercise.

This is what I do. I jump in and try to change all the bad habits at once . . overcome enui that has ruled my life for months or years. But I often fail quickly because, honestly, I'm a creature of habit and the habits I have developed have stood me in good stead in surviving depression and mania. So trying to change everything at once often leaves me feeling lost . . .adrift without any anchor.

With that in mind, I've actually already started. Over a year ago I signed up for a Twitter based app called Your Flowing Data. I didn't use it very much for a year. Then a couple of weeks ago I felt my spring surge building and started recording some things. I have successfully kept track of my getting up and going to bed, blood pressure twice a day and my weight daily for over a week. As I progress I will add other things . . .not only what I eat, but vitamins and meds. This may seem onerous, but I can do most of this via my Blackberry Twitter login.

So I will be keeping a food log, something almost every weight loss expert agrees is the one thing that will guarantee success. If you are like me you have done this time and again. I've even designed my own food log, really cute little pocket sized number. And sometimes I could manage to keep tracks for a month . .before I lost it. The value of the BB based one is, I'm not likely to lose my BB. So we will see how this goes.

I'm still working on a plan. Which things to change, when. For the short term, I will continue to monitor my default behavior, tracking various activities that might impact mood and health. I'm hoping to add pain tracking today, because I have been in a lot of pain the past few days. I may start going to TOPS again, that's difficult with my schedule.

So here we . . .an adventure not so new but hopefully more successful!

Today's Post from Dr Kathleen Young

Can Childhood Abuse Make You Sick?

In my practice I often see examples of the mind-body connection, of the ways exposure to violence or trauma impacts not only psychological but also physical health. Recent research recognizes the impact that childhood abuse can have on health in adulthood. For example, migraines, chronic pain, arthritis, chronic fatigue and irritable bowel syndrome have all been found to be more common among those with a history of childhood abuse. Fibromyalgia may be triggered by severe physical or emotional trauma. Girls with hostile or stressful home environments were found to reach puberty earlier, which in turn has been linked to various health problems.

Read more . . .

I, for one, am not surprised by any of this. After a lifetime of living with the after effects of a violent childhood and associating via church and support group with folks who are survivors, I've long noted that even among the ones who are relatively well adjusted, mental illness and debilitating pain are very very common.

I have been diagnosed with fibromyalgia. I also started going through puberty at age nine and have spent four and a half decades suffering from horrific menstrual pain. And my story is a story of battling mental illness, now labled bipolar disorder, with repeated soul wrenching, nearly fatal plunges into severe depression. Is this all attributable to the horrific abuse I endured as a child? Is there a genetic component that either triggered or was exacerbated by beatings and rape? I don't know. But it looks like some people are trying to find answers.

Links for March 15, 2010

Family history is strong predictor of obstructive coronary artery disease using CCTA

In the largest study of its kind to date using cardiac computed tomography angiography, people with a family history of early signs of coronary artery disease are at higher risk of developing obstructive coronary artery disease and plaque in their arteries, Henry Ford Hospital researchers say.

Happier News for Those Suffering From SAD

With spring right around the corner, it's time to say goodbye to the bitter temperatures, the blowing snow. Time to slough off those bundled layers and, for millions of us, time to get back to "normal" after a season of "sad."

SAD, as in Seasonal Affective Disorder.

Effects Of Lupus Disease

Lupus is an auto immune disorder. It is a situation in which the body’s immune system proves harmful to the body itself. Various body cells, tissues, organ systems, skin and internal organs are affected by lupus. Hence chronic disease management of lupus is necessary for the protection of vital organs of patients suffering from lupus. Lupus can affect all people irrespective of age and gender. The disease is usually hereditary though it need not be in all circumstances. In lupus the antibodies of our immune system attacks the healthy cells of our body.

Interesting article about food diaries

Double Your Weight Loss: the Write Idea

Wouldn't it be nice if there was something you could do to double your weight loss efforts?

According to one of the largest and longest running weight-loss trials ever conducted, there is.

What's this new weight-loss miracle? Is it a drug? A new machine for blasting your abs? A crazy diet where you eat nothing but broccoli?

Double Weight LossNo. It's simply your keyboard. Keeping a food diary -- recording what you eat throughout the day -- can double a person's weight loss efforts, according to a study conducted by Kaiser Permanente's Center for Health Research. Read more . . .

Another Poem for Plurk

Untitled

I am a baby in my crib
crying
I'm cold, I'm lonely
Hold me, love me. . .
and you give me a bottle.

I am a child, locked in my room,
crying
I'm hurt, I'm lonely,
Hold me, love me. . .
and you give me cookies.

I am a adolescent, imprisoned in my fears
crying
I'm afraid, I'm lonely,
Hold me, love me. . .
and you give me pizza and the TV Guide.

I am a woman, trapped in self
crying
I'm lost, I'm lonely
Hold me, love me . . .
and it's too late.

A Poem About Being Fat

I want to share this with my Plurk friends and this seemed better than making them wade though all the stuff at my page of poetry.

You Think You Have Problems--
There are People Starving. . .

Poor thing,
are you hurt?
Here's some cookies and milk
to make it all better.
Another box of cookies, please,
some more ice cream. . .
anything to
satisfy the gnawing hunger
within;
body overfed
my spirit starves.

Cases of cookies can't fill the
abysmal nothingness
inside
and others' eyes can't see past
fat
to where
the bones are sticking out
in my soul.

Overeating and Sex

I initiated a small discussion over on Plurk about weight, eating and sex. The older I get, and the further I get from real opportunities for satisfying sex, the more aware I become of how I eat more when I am in the mood for sex. I've tried Googling the topic and there seems to be no research on it. It SEEMS like a no brainer to me, but I am a fat woman who has long been aware that her tendency to over indulge extends beyond food.

I would love to get some serious conversations going with other women about their experiences around this.

A Little Dieting Humor

The Importance of Walking

• Walking can add minutes to your life. This enables you at 85 years old to spend an additional 5 months in a nursing home at $7000 per month.
• My grandpa started walking five miles a day when he was 60.Now he's 97 years old and we don't know where he is.
• I like long walks, especially when they are taken by people who annoy me.
• The only reason I would take up walking is so that I could hear heavy breathing again.
• I have to walk early in the morning, before my brain figures out what I'm doing.
• I joined a health club last year, spent about 400 bucks. Haven't lost a pound. Apparently you have to go there.
• Every time I hear the dirty word 'exercise', I wash my mouth out with chocolate.
• I do have flabby thighs, but fortunately my stomach covers them.
• The advantage of exercising every day is so when you die, they'll say, 'Well, she looks good doesn't she.'
• If you are going to try cross-country skiing, start with a small country.
• I know I got a lot of exercise the last few years......just getting over the hill.
• We all get heavier as we get older, because there's a lot more information in our heads.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

AND
Every time I start thinking too much about how I look, I just find a Happy Hour bar and by the time I leave, I look just fine.

You could run this over to your friends but why not just e-mail it to them

Theft Problem IMPORTANT MESSAGE:

Theft Problem IMPORTANT MESSAGE:
You've heard about people who have been abducted and had their kidneys removed by black-market organ thieves.
My thighs were stolen from me during the night a few years ago. I went to sleep and woke up with someone else's thighs. It was just that quick. The replacements had the texture of cooked oatmeal.

Whose thighs were these and what happened to mine? I spent the entire summer looking for my thighs. Finally, hurt and angry, I resigned myself to living out my life in jeans. and then the thieves struck again.

My butt was next. I knew it was the same gang, because they took pains to match my new rear-end to the thighs they had stuck me with earlier. but my new butt was attached at least three inches lower
than my original! I realized I'd have to give up my jeans in favor of long skirts.

Two years ago I realized my arms had been switched. One morning I was fixing my hair and was horrified to see the flesh of my upper arm swing to and fro with the motion of the hairbrush. This was really getting scary - my body was being replaced one section at a time.

What could they do to me next?

When my poor neck suddenly disappeared and was replaced with a turkey neck, I decided to tell my story. Women of the world, wake up and smell the coffee! Those 'plastic' surgeons are using REAL replacement body parts -stolen from you and me! The next time someone you know has something 'lifted', look again - was it lifted from you?

THIS IS NOT A HOAX.

This is happening to women everywhere every night.

WARN YOUR FRIENDS!
P.S. Last year I thought someone had stolen my Boobs.

I was lying in bed and they were gone! But, when I jumped out of bed, I was relieved to see that they had just been hiding in my armpits as I slept. Now I keep them hidden in my waistband…

Symptoms: Metabolic Syndrome Is Tied to Diet Soda

Researchers have found a correlation between drinking diet soda and metabolic syndrome — the collection of risk factors for cardiovascular disease and diabetes that include abdominal obesity, high cholesterol and blood glucose levels — and elevated blood pressure.

Read more . . .

Top 6 Myths: About Bottled Water

Bottled water — already a more than $10 billion industry — is the fastest-growing beverage category in the U.S. But is it good for you? Here's the pure truth.

Myth #1: BOTTLED WATER IS BETTER THAN TAP.

Not necessarily. While labels gush about bottled water that "begins as snowflakes" or flows from "deep inside lush green volcanoes," between 25 and 40 percent of bottled water comes from a less exotic source: U.S. municipal water supplies. (Bottling companies buy the water and filter it, and some add minerals.) That's not really a bad thing: The Environmental Protection Agency oversees municipal water quality, while the Food and Drug Administration monitors bottled water; in some cases, EPA codes are more stringent.

Read more at WebMD.

5 Reasons You're Not Losing Weight

1. You're Following Bad Advice
2. You Eat Fat-Free Foods
3. You (Still) Don't Eat Breakfast
4. You're Eating Too Much Sugar
5. You Don't Lift Weights

Read the entire article . . .

They didn't add, and I would, you eat too much processed, and by processed I mean anything you didn't pick yourself, food. LOL My goal for next summer is to expand my garden to provide at least 75% of our fresh vegetables . . and to increase our fresh vegetable intake.

Emotional' Eaters Most Likely To Regain Lost Weight

new study led by researchers at The Miriam Hospital’s Weight Control & Diabetes Research Center finds that dieters who have the tendency to eat in response to external factors, such as at festive celebrations, have fewer problems with their weight loss than those who eat in response to internal factors such as emotions. The study also found that emotional eating was associated with weight regain in successful losers.

The study is published in the October 2007 issue of Obesity.

“We found that the more people report eating in response to thoughts and feelings, such as, ‘when I feel lonely, I console myself by eating,’ the less weight they lost in a behavioral weight loss program. In addition, amongst successful weight losers, those who report emotional eating are more likely to regain,” says lead author Heather Niemeier, Ph.D.

Read more . . .

I always find this sort of thing interesting and don't know where I fit. I'm likely to not eat if I am upset, to withdraw and allow myself to sick. I usually overeat because I'm "hungry' . . . feel empty or unsatisfied on some level. I usually lose weight when I'm in a new relationship and then regain it when the relationship gets distant.

Monster mash: Squelch all those snack attacks

from the Contra Costa Times

Lots of good suggestions for resisting the snack monster arrived in my in-box after my recent column. Here are the highlights:

"I find that if I floss and brush my teeth, it will keep me from raiding the cupboards." -- Vicki

"One easy solution I use is to drink something low cal when I first get the munchies. I love sparking water (plain or flavored), and caffeine-free diet sodas, especially for the carbonation. A 12- or 16-ounce glass helps to make me feel 'full.' Then, I wait a half-hour before deciding if I am really hungry, because often thirst is masked by hunger.

"Beware of juices and other beverages that pack in the calories, and make sure you leave plenty of time for the liquid to go through you if it's close to bedtime." -- Carol, Clayton

"I have found the best way to resist snack attacks is to schedule the snacks. Mid-morning snack is at 10:30 a.m., about half-way between breakfast and lunch. Mid-afternoon snack is around 3:30 p.m., half way between lunch and dinner.

"I plan to eat something healthy when I schedule the snacks, like fruit or pretzels or a few nuts. If I schedule the snacks, it gives me something to look forward to and helps me resist cravings in between.

"The hardest time for me is after dinner when I am watching TV. I try not to eat after 7:30 p.m. If I get an attack, I drink a glass of skim milk or make a cup of Good Earth Original Sweet & Spicy Tea and Herb blend. Sometimes, I just drink coffee. But that often
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results in too many late night trips to the bathroom." -- Carole, Antioch

"Give in -- but eat foods that are good for you and that will satisfy your appetite. Try low-calorie but filling foods such as plums at 10 calories, peaches at 70 and bananas at 100. Also, I keep a large jar of dill pickles in my fridge because they are only 10 calories per medium size. The cold crunch is really satisfying.

"Snack on peanut butter and crackers. It may sound contradictory because peanut butter has so many calories, but it also has the trait of satisfying your appetite for a long while, thereby keeping you from going back to the snack sooner." -- Dick F.

"Wanting to eat from boredom and habit triggers is a major problem, especially since 'ya can't eat just one' if you start. Two things often work for me.

"Brushing and flossing teeth, the whole bit. Then chewing some xylitol gum (XyliChew is great). I think it's both the reluctance to spoil the clean mouth and the 'good health' mode that makes it work.

"Doing little exercises, like tightening different muscles, stretching gracefully (or imagining it's graceful; nobody's watching), breathing deeply and slowly -- all these things take me to an 'ain't I the healthy, strong, slim one' mood." -- Janet F., Berkeley

"I'm surprised you didn't come up with this suggestion: Needlework.

"When you are doing needlework both hands are busy. You don't want to set it down until you've finished knitting or smocking this row or pattern, or cross stitching that color area, or quilting just one more section. Besides, you don't want to get your hands dirty from food or you will soil whatever you are working on." -- Carol C.

"So, what were you doing with cheesecake in your refrigerator? The first step for conquering that awful snack monster is restraint from buying those goodies at the grocery store." -- Bev

Lobes of Steel

Scientists have suspected for decades that exercise, particularly regular aerobic exercise, can affect the brain. But they could only speculate as to how. Now an expanding body of research shows that exercise can improve the performance of the brain by boosting memory and cognitive processing speed. Exercise can, in fact, create a stronger, faster brain

The Morris water maze is the rodent equivalent of an I.Q. test: mice are placed in a tank filled with water dyed an opaque color. Beneath a small area of the surface is a platform, which the mice can’t see. Despite what you’ve heard about rodents and sinking ships, mice hate water; those that blunder upon the platform climb onto it immediately. Scientists have long agreed that a mouse’s spatial memory can be inferred by how quickly the animal finds its way in subsequent dunkings. A “smart” mouse remembers the platform and swims right to it.

In the late 1990s, one group of mice at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, near San Diego, blew away the others in the Morris maze. The difference between the smart mice and those that floundered? Exercise. The brainy mice had running wheels in their cages, and the others didn’t.

Scientists have suspected for decades that exercise, particularly regular aerobic exercise, can affect the brain. But they could only speculate as to how. Now an expanding body of research shows that exercise can improve the performance of the brain by boosting memory and cognitive processing speed. Exercise can, in fact, create a stronger, faster brain.

This theory emerged from those mouse studies at the Salk Institute. After conducting maze tests, the neuroscientist Fred H. Gage and his colleagues examined brain samples from the mice. Conventional wisdom had long held that animal (and human) brains weren’t malleable: after a brief window early in life, the brain could no longer grow or renew itself. The supply of neurons — the brain cells that enable us to think — was believed to be fixed almost from birth. As the cells died through aging, mental function declined. The damage couldn’t be staved off or repaired.

Read more . . .

Low-Cal Sweets Might Still Make Kids Obese

WEDNESDAY, Aug. 8 (HealthDay News) -- Diet foods and drinks meant to help children control their weight may actually spur overeating and obesity, Canadian researchers say.

The study found that animals learn to associate the taste of food with the amount of caloric energy it provides. The researchers speculate that children who eat low-calorie versions of foods that normally have a high calorie content may develop distorted connections between taste and calorie content, resulting in overeating as the children grow up.

"The use of diet food and drinks from an early age into adulthood may induce overeating and gradual weight gain through the taste conditioning process that we have described," lead author and sociologist Dr. David Pierce, of the University of Alberta, said in a prepared statement.

In a series of experiments published Aug. 8 in the journal Obesity, the researchers found that young rats started to overeat when they received low-calorie food and drink. Adolescent rats did not overeat when given low-calorie items.

This may be because, unlike the younger rats, the adolescent rats didn't rely on taste-related cues to assess the caloric energy content of their food, the researchers said.

"Based on what we've learned, it is better for children to eat healthy, well-balanced diets with sufficient calories for their daily activities rather than low-calorie snacks or meals," Pierce said.

[source]

Weight bias may harm obese children

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The stigma that society attaches to obesity can cause children immediate, and possibly lasting, harm, according to a research review.

Overweight children and teens are commonly teased or ostracized by their peers, and sometimes treated differently by teachers and even parents. This, the review shows, can lead to low self-esteem, poor school performance, avoidance of physical activity and, in the most serious cases, depression and suicide.

Research has long demonstrated the weight bias that heavy children face. In a classic 1961 study, 640 subjects between 10 and 11 years old were shown six pictures of other children their age: one child was overweight; one was normal-weight; and four had some form of physical disability.

When the study participants were asked to rank the children in the order of whom they would like to be friends with, they ranked the overweight child last.

Read more . . .

Study Suggests That Sugar Should Not Be Excluded From Slimming Diets

New study challenges conventional thinking that high carbohydrate, low fat slimming plan should contain little or no added sugar (sucrose).

A team of scientists at Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh has found that a low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet (containing sucrose) combined with physical activity achieved the greatest health benefits in overweight subjects. The study, which will be published in the August issue of International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition, provides evidence that the exclusion of sucrose, as is normally advocated in a weight loss diet, is not necessary to achieve weight reduction. In fact, the palatability of sucrose may even help dieters stick to their eating plans.

Read more . . .

Obesity link to high blood pressure has weakened

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - It seems that the association between body mass index (BMI) and high blood pressure or hypertension has decreased since 1989, researchers say. The finding suggests that obesity may not have as much of an impact on heart-related disease as previously thought.

"High blood pressure is a leading cause of the global burden of disease," Dr. Pascal Bovet, of the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, and colleagues write in the medical journal Epidemiology. "The prevalence of hypertension, and of several other conditions (including diabetes), is considered to be linked to the worldwide epidemic of obesity."

The researchers examined trends in blood pressure and BMI over a 15-year interval in the Seychelles. Their analysis was based on two independent surveys conducted in 1989 and 2004 using representative samples of the population between the ages of 25 and 64 years.

There was a slight decrease in average blood pressure between 1989 and 2004 in both men and women. The prevalence of high blood pressure changed little during this time -- from 45 to 44 percent in men and from 34 to 36 percent in women.

The percentage of people who were overweight, defined as a BMI of 25 or more, increased from 39 percent to 60 percent between 1989 and 2004.

Read more . . .