gastro ./ gastroenterology
Arthritis & Stomach Relief
By Ethan Miller
There are new studies for relief for arthritis pain. The purpose of the study was to compare the effects of two common drugs on the gastrointestinal tract. This can make it easier for people who suffer from arthritis choose the right drug for their pain management program.
Arthritis patients who take the COX-2 inhibitor etoricoxib experience fewer incidence of upper gastrointestinal clinical events, symptoms and problems, than in patients who took the NSAID* diclofenac, according to an Article in The Lancet.
This information will assist with the treatment of arthritis, and when physicians need to make decisions concerning pain management.
NSAIDS are a long term arthritis treatment. However, they increase the risk of upper gastrointestinal clinical problems including, but not exclusive to, bleeding ulcers. Previous trials did not simulated standard clinical practice because gastrointestinal protective therapies like proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) were not allowed.
Loren Laine (University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine, Los Angeles, USA) and colleagues analyse data from three randomised trials from the MEDAL (Multinational Etoricoxib and Diclofenac Arthritis Long-term) programme to assess the effects of the two drugs in a setting that simulates real-world practice, in patients with gastrointestinal risk.
Upper gastrointestinal clinical problems were less common with etoricoxib than with diclofenac, but only in simple cases. The more serious complicated events showed no significant difference whether patients took PPIs or asprin.
The authors of the study concludes: "The results of the MEDAL programme provide new information about upper gastrointestinal clinical events and symptoms to assist arthritis patients and their physicians to make decisions regarding NSAID use."
In an accompanying Comment, Joost Drenth and Freek Verheugt (Radboud University Nijmegen, Netherlands) stated in an email, unofficially: "Though eterocoxib reduced upper gastrointestinal
events, the effect was only small as 259 patients need to be treated to prevent one uncomplicated gastrointestinal event. The alternative, addition of a PPI to standard NSAID might be less expensive, potentially less cardiotoxic, and advantageous in terms of reducing dyspepsia, but here confirmation needs a randomised trial."
Arthritis can drastically reduce the quality of life. Suffering from gastric problems, caused by drugs, can further reduce the quality of life. There is relief for arthritis patients, but they need to consult their physician before changing drugs or embarking on a pain management program.
Pain can help arthritic patients understand what is wrong with their bodies and correct the problem instead of masking the pain. There are supplements and practices that will help reduce the joint damage and inflammation that causes many types of arthritis.
Jumping on every new drug study may have negative effect on the body. Patients suffering from joint pain need to understand that other factors, like stress and weight, will cause arthritis and the level of pain suffered.
However, patients who are suffering from gastric problems may find some relief in the results of this test. It may give their physician an alternative to their current pain management program.
Patient empowerment is a strong element in patient care today and patients are encouraged to research pain management programs and make suggestions that fit their lifestyles, while still working with their physician’s program and techniques. Article Source: http://www.article-matrix.com Ethan Miller advises on improving your heath and reducing pain from his web site at www.acnerescue.com He invites you to get his FREE health guide www.acnescarsmagic.com
Extreme Monopoly Board Game Knockoff, Boca Raton edition
About two weeks ago I was at a local Walgreens in Boca Raton when I came across something unusual.
I meant to blog about it then,
but alas,
I just now got a round tuit.
Anyway,
what I found:
I amazed this even exists!
I wonder who's idea this even was?
The Boca Raton Chamber of Commerce?
Anyway,
it's clearly a knockoff of Monopoly,
as you won't find it for sale at Hasbro.
It's actually made by Late for the Sky,
which seems to make games based off Monopoly,
or should I say,
The Landlord's Game which is completely in the public domain
(wink wink nudge nudge say no more say no more,
unlike Monopoly.
But Boca Raton Opoly sure looks like Monopoly,
walks like Monopoly,
and probably quacks like Monopoly,
so I wonder how they get away with this?
Perhaps by flying under the radar of Habro?
Update later this day
Apparently,
Hasbro doesn't care:
Leaders at Late for the Sky say Monopoly gameplay is not copyrighted,
meaning any version of the game can be created as long as the board, pieces
and names within the game are different from the original version.
Via my friend Jeff Cuscutis on
LinkedPinMyFaceTikInstaMeTrestWeGramBookInTokSpace,
Business
making Monopoly games based on Carolina towns
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Tesla, Edison, and who actually fought the War of Currents?
I used to think Thomas Edison was a self-aggrandizing business man who took the credit for the inventions his employees made,
and Nikola Tesla was the real deal?a genius inventor who was actually responsible for most of our technology based on electricity.
But now?
Having watched the 4˝ hour long video ?Most Everything You Know About Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison is Probably Wrong?
(and yes, it's four and a half hours long!)
I'm not so sure my assessment is correct.
The long video goes deep into the history of Tesla,
Edison,
and the War of the Currents where it wasn't Tesla vs. Edison,
but Westinghouse (the company) vs. Edison (the copmany).
Tesla might have been a genius,
but not all this theories about physics and electronics were correct and later in life he went a bit ? crazy ? to say the least
(he fell in love with a pidgeon and said he created incredible inventions without having actually ? you know ? built the incredible inventions).
And Edison might have been a self-aggrandizing business man,
but he credited his team and oftem times,
his team didn't invent the technology,
but improved upon existing designs
(to the point where he learned 6,000 ways not to build a lightbulb).
And the whole thing about Edison electrocuting an elephant
(or at least animals)
to show how dangerous alternating current was?
Eh ? not exactly.
And he did not invent the electric chair.
Yes,
it's a long video,
but if you are interested at all in Tesla and/or Edison,
it's worth the time to watch.
It got me to rethink how I think about Tesla and Edison.
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Remembrance of enlightened palms past
The image at the bottom of this page reminds me of the time I used to photograph enlightened palms,
but it never occurred to me that one could enlight trees with fireflies (we don't get fireflies down here in Lower Sheol,
which may be the reason why).
The pictures I took with the Christmas lights used an exposure of a few seconds; I wonder how long an exposure was used for the firefly photo.
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How to measure ? cup of oil, part III
I just received a nice email from Muffintree14 thanking me for helping them make a recipe where they needed to meaure out ? of a cup!
They were trying to measure out 200ml of something
(they didn't specify what)
and it turns out that 200ml is about ? of a cup.
I suspect they could have just used a regular cup,
as that's 237ml.
As long as you aren't baking bread
(or other pastry-like food item)
then it probably doesn't matter that much.
Roughly speaking,
200ml is close enough to 1 cup that you might as well use 1 cup.
But then I found an image
(via Bob Anstett on TikLinkedMyFacePinInstaMeGramSpaceWeInTokTrestBook)
describing the various relationships among Imperial units,
and from there,
I found a much better way to meaure ? cups?measure out 1 cup,
then remove 8 teaspoons;
much better than the 2 ? cup measures (or 1 ? if available),
a 1˝ tablespoon and a ˝ teaspoon.
And maybe this will help someone else twenty years down the line.
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Matchbox cars seem to have gotten bigger in recent years
Bunny and I went to a local Toyota dealership to fix an issue with her car
(it turns out it was a very unusual, but very minor, issue)
and while there,
we saw this on the display floor:
Turns out,
this is not a large Matchbox car,
but a small electric car straight from a factory in Japan
(the informational flying under the windsheid is all in Japanese).
A five year old would barely fit in this thing,
much less an adult.
There doesn't appear to be any storage space of any significant size,
and sans doors,
I'm not sure this is even road legal.
And the the staff there don't even know if it's for sale.
Weird.
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I love it when abstractions are too abstract to be useful
I recently found an annoying aspect of
Xlib?it's hard to find documentation about what keys affect the state field of the keyboard event.
It's obvious that the shift keys on the keyboard will set ShiftMask,
the control key will set ControlMask,
and the CapsLock key will set LockMask
(when I would expect it to set ShiftMask since it's just locking the shift keys to ?on?),
but there's little to say what keys set the Mod1Mask, Mod2Mask, Mod3Mask, Mod4Mask and Mod5Mask.
This is problematic,
because I do need to check for keyboard events and this threw me for a loop?why are none of the keys working?
Well,
that's because my virtual Linux server on the Mac sets the NumLock key,
which causes the X server to then set the Mod2Mask for all keyboard events and I wasn't expecting that.
Sigh.
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Freedom of movement and the single market
Voting to Remain in the EU
Closures
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![[A picture of a game clearly based on Monopoly] Everglades University? Who ever heard of Everglades University? And in Boca Raton? I've been in Boca Raton for over 30 years and this is the first I've heard of it!](/2024/05/15/bocaratonopoly-front.jpg "Everglades University? Who ever heard of Everglades University? And in Boca Raton? I've been in Boca Raton for over 30 years and this is the first I've heard of it!")
![[Back of the box showing the board game and pieces] A pretzel? Really? A pretzel? The original Monopoly pieces are better related to Boca Raton than a preztel!](/2024/05/15/bocaratonopoly-back.jpg "A pretzel? Really? A pretzel? The original Monopoly pieces are better related to Boca Raton than a preztel!")
![[A very small electric car for one] That's not a car! That's an oversized roller skate!](/2024/04/05/car.jpg "That's not a car! That's an oversized roller skate!")
