Medicine & Drugstore

A non-profit organization MESH (Maximising Employment to Serve the Handicapped) commemorated World Leprosy Day on Saturday January 30th.

“Whilst there is now a greater understanding that leprosy is curable many people remain uncertain about employing or mixing with people affected by leprosy.” says Jacky Bonney Executive Secretary in MESH.

World Leprosy day is celebrated to foster understanding about leprosy and bring about feelings of solidarity for people affected by leprosy who are still dealing with social stigma and discrimination.

All the visitors of the MESH’s programme could watch a film documentary about Bharat Mata Kusht Ashram a colony of people affected by leprosy “Towards Dawn” directed by Priti Choundhry and Natraj Khanna.

Everybody also had a chance to see how MESH works with leprosy affected artisans. Bonney said “The founders of MESH started work first in a leprosy colony north of Delhi, the focus was on finding work for the members who were not welcome to work anywhere else and also to find education opportunities for their children. The first work was chicken rearing and later weaving, activities that soon spread to other colonies in and around Delhi. Now MESH buys handicraft products from leprosy affected artisans and other disabled people around India. We provide design support, guidance in all aspects of fair trade and then sell the products from our shops in Delhi and Hyderabad and by export around the world. “

Mr. KamaRaj Devapitchai National Consultant – Rehabilitation and Social Perspectives for Leprosy feels
“Marketing products made by people affected by leprosy/disabilities is a big challenge. MESH plays an important link between the disabled artisans and the consumer at large. New strategies are needed to promote domestic market in India. The current work needs scaling up to bring about significant change in the lives of people affected by leprosy/disabilities.”

Leprosy affected artisans from the Faridabad leprosy colony Bharat Mata Kusht Ashram came to the MESH celebration to show their beautiful wowen tea towels, bed spreads and table clothes which were part of the Exhibition and Sale of products made by leprosy affected artisans.

Amongst the visitors was Amelia Bandlish who said ” it was nice to meet weavers from Bharat Mata Kusht Ashram and find out more about their lives, would they be willing to receive visitors from the ex-pat community in their colony from time to time?”

MESH (Maximising Employment to Serve the Handicapped) is an Indian NGO practicing fair trade with about 40 groups of disabled artisans and people affected by leprosy. Registered with The World Fair Trade Organisation (WFTO) MESH is committed to the ten standards of Fair Trade. MESH sells artisans’ products in two shops – in New Delhi and Hyderabad.

By December 2005 India had achieved the goal of elimination of leprosy as a public health problem (i.e. prevalence of less than 1 case per 10,000 population) through a concerted effort of survey, detection and treatment. In the last decade 11 million people have been cured of the disease, many of those cured face social and economic difficulties as a result of having had leprosy. They also remain at risk of further disability so the current focus in India is for further integration of leprosy services in the General Health Care system and continuing and strengthening of the Deformity Prevention and Medical Rehabilitation Program for patients deformed by the disease.

“As stock markets slid in March, Judy Brady lay awake at night thinking about her portfolio. ‘My retired friends who had all CDs and gold, and they were still making money, and my investments just kept going and going,’ she said. ‘I thought: I can’t afford to lose all this.’ So the 70-year-old retiree in Schaumburg, Ill., sold most of her stocks.”
 – The Wall Street Journal, May 18, 2009

For 17 long months, the S&P 500 slid; from an Oct. 11, 2007, high of 1576 to its 677-point nadir on March 9, 2009. By that time, this widely watched index of America’s 500 biggest and best firms had lost 57% of its value.

Little wonder that Judy Brady panicked, or that so many investors like her could not take the pain anymore, and sold at the bottom. The great wonder is that not everyone did cash out and swear off the stock market for good. And for those who stayed the course, this great wonder has turned into great good fortune.

Since hitting bottom, the S&P 500 has soared 62% in 10 months, leaving those who sold at the bottom lying in the dust.

But how was I to know?
You weren’t. You couldn’t. Whether you’re one of the unfortunates who sold at the actual market bottom, or whether you simply failed to buy at the lows, you shouldn’t beat yourself up just because you missed out on one of the stock market’s great rallies. In truth, it’s just not possible to time the market.

And even if you could time the market, there’s no guarantee it would have made a difference. To paraphrase legendary investor Peter Lynch: “There’s only one reason to buy a stock (i.e., because you think it will go up), but many reasons you may need to sell.” Whether you needed to sell stock to pay medical bills, college tuition, or simply living expenses as the result of an unexpected job loss, no one’s going to blame you for cashing out at the bottom.

Or maybe you’re on a fixed income, and you depend on your investments to provide a steady flow of funds to live on. The past year has seen many companies we never thought of as “weak” forced to staple their wallets shut. JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM), Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC), and Macy’s (Nasdaq: M) have all slashed dividends to the bone. If you bought a stock in reliance on the dividend it paid, and it then cut that dividend, then you no longer owned what you’d bargained for. It was surely time to sell.

And then there’s the best reason of all to sell: You simply weren’t comfortable with the investment. If you had too much money at risk in the market — and then that risk materialized — then of course you needed to sell! People need to be able to sleep at night. If you had so much of your net worth tied up in stocks that their daily gyrations gave you insomnia, then there’s no two ways about it. Those stocks had to go.

So I repeat: Do not beat yourself up about this. The past is past, and the question today is much simpler: What do you do now?

It’s not too late
Now that you’ve lived through the market meltdown, I’ll bet you have a much better idea of how much risk you can tolerate. Now it’s time to invest up to, but not beyond, that limit. First of all, set aside enough cash to keep you going through at least six months of living expenses, and don’t push cash into the market that you’re going to need in the next five years. Whatever’s left is what you have available for investment. And as you’ve seen over the last four months, the stock market is the best way to increase the value of your investments.

Here at the Fool, we know this from personal experience. You see, way back when we began recommending stocks to our subscribers, the market was still reeling from the aftershocks of the Great Tech Bubble. We started up Motley Fool Stock Advisor in the teeth of the bear market of ‘02. But by ignoring the headlines and focusing on buying great companies, the ensuing seven years have us beating the market soundly — up 48% versus the market’s 1% loss.

Consider that while the KO’d stock market has lifted itself up off the mat for a 62% rebound, it’s still 30% below its high-water mark. To return to the prices of yesteryear, the S&P will need to rise another 42%. That would suggest there remains plenty of upside.

But how do you know the market will gain back the 42%?
Good point. After all, the highs we hit in 2007 were fueled largely by low-quality profits in the financial sector — excessive risk-taking at Fannie and Freddie, and excessive stupid-mistake-making at Regions Financial (NYSE: RF), to name a few culprits. Defunct financial houses like Lehman Bros. and Merrill Lynch won’t make a comeback, nor contribute a penny toward returning the S&P to its former glory.

But here’s the thing: Not all stocks are Regions. Whether or not the overall market surges to its former highs soon, some companies will revive … and thrive. At the risk of stating the obvious, these are the companies you want to own now.

Companies with great name recognition, like Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ). Firms with wide, defensible moats around their business, like Altria (NYSE: MO). Innovative tech shops, which continually churn out new products that we never knew we needed, until we couldn’t live without ‘em. And by the way: Thanks for saving Stern, Sirius (Nasdaq: SIRI)!

These are just some of the qualities we look for when choosing our portfolio at Motley Fool Stock Advisor — and these are the kinds of stocks we recommend to our members. If you’re looking for more stock ideas and would like to take a look at which stocks we’re recommending today, simply click here to read about our favorite stocks ideas, free for the next 30 days.

Fool contributor Rich Smith does not own shares in any of the companies named above, but Johnson & Johnson is a Motley Fool Income Investor recommendation.Why do we tell you this? Because you deserve to know, and because we’ve got a disclosure policy. That’s why.

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At birth, all children a little 'bow legs, because in the cramped space in the uterus, the legs can sometimes each other. This condition is called genu varum in medical parlance. (In Latin, namely knee genu varum and means inwardly curved.) In simple terms are defined in bowed legs, ankles if they touch, not the knees unbent. In almost all cases, correct, slightly bowed legs, even if the condition occurs when the childthree years. If only one leg is bent, however, the cause may be a turning point in the bones of the legs by a breach of the birth or an inherited degenerative knee.

Diagnostic tests and procedures

Pediatrician checks usually the legs of a child during routine inspections. If the arc is less than 20 degrees, it is likely that the problem is to correct himself. However, an arc of 20 degrees after the age of 18 months, or one that moves, or causesPain when walking, should be examined by a pediatric orthopedist. Slightly curved legs that just spontaneously by the time the child is four years does not justify an evaluation by an orthopedist. To arrive at a diagnosis, your doctor will ask a family history, diet and any injuries of birth. X-rays can show bone deformities or injuries. If there is a family of bowed legs and feet, a genetic disorder is likely. Other possibilities areBlount's disease, or N. tibial osteochondrosis in which the tibia bends inward, because the growth plate ceases to function normally. This anomaly may develop in children who start to walk, or are very short or obese. It may also appear during the pubertal growth spurt. Bowlegs may indicate rickets, a disease caused by deficiency of vitamin D, either by an insufficient amount in the diet, lack of exposure to sunlight or a genetic inability to absorb the vitamin. Withoutenough vitamin D is not possible to use the body, calcium, and the result is soft and deformed bones. Nutritional rickets is rare in the United States, through fortified milk and other foods are fortified with vitamin D. Laboratory tests can detect the genetic form.

Medical

If the bow is hard or worsening, braces and surgery are the first options considered. Correction should be made as soon as possible, first withBraces, and if this treatment does not show any positive result, with surgery to correct the defective knee structure. Blount's disease usually requires surgery to the tibia to rotate into place. Otherwise, the condition can eventually disable the problems of the knee joints. Nutritional rickets is treated with massive doses of vitamin D. The treatment of rickets caused by a genetic disorder of metabolism, depending on the type of eachDisorder.

Stores

Undertake the practice is not responsible for acupuncture, chiropractic and alternative therapies most others, the basic treatment of bowed legs. Some alternative therapies that can improve the picture lying causes.

Light Therapy

Exposure to sunlight or UV light stimulates the skin to produce vitamin D. Be careful when you expose a child under the sun, but because of the risk of sunburn. Aminutes early morning or late afternoon, two or three times a week is all that is usually necessary.

Massage Therapy

Massage, manipulation, exercises with light designed by a physician in treating pediatric, may be useful. Physiotherapists for the staff of orthopedic clinics are also the knowledge of these techniques we can show how to bring the child's legs.

Nutritional therapy

If a doctor decides that a dietDeficit or a metabolic disease is the cause of the bandy-legged, one can prove that a nutrition therapist consulted for the appropriate level of supplements such as calcium and vitamin D to prescribe. Careful monitoring is required when a small child to give supplements of these nutrients for the body and excessive amounts can be saved in severe liver damage, metabolic disorders and diseases of the kidneys.

Self Care

When a childO seems to have legs, not the parents in an early migration, which can exacerbate the problem. You should also avoid bulky diapers, which can push the development of bowed legs, especially when a child starts walking and trying to go. If your child is overweight, consult a pediatrician for a change in diet.

Other causes of Bowlegs

In rare cases, an inherited metabolic disorder called neurofibromatosis can bend his leg and generate other neuromuscular abnormalities.Bow, as sometimes occurs because of a fracture in the growth plate or metaphysis, which is part of a long bone, bordering the cartilage and covers the end of the bone. This condition usually corrects itself when the bone heals.

We settled a medical malpractice claim for $50,000 for the transfusion of the wrong blood type. 

    The client has sickle cell anemia.  His on-going treatment consists of a blood transfusion every 3 months.  The client had been getting his transfusions at the same hospital for 3 years. 

The client has type O+ blood.  On one of the visits the hospital transfused the wrong blood, type A.  The client was sent home from the clinic, and he did not know of the mistake.  He learned later that he was given the wrong blood.  Shortly after the transfusion the client returned to the hospital’s emergency room with heart attack symptoms.  He felt deathly ill.  He had to be admitted for 4 days where he was transfused a number of times with the correct blood type.  After discharge he had to stay home to recuperate for a period.  The client could have died from the wrong blood transfusion.

We made a pre-suit settlement presentation to the hospital, and we were able to settle the case quickly.

The client’s friends and another attorney told him that the case was too small and would not be worth pursuing.   He also heard that he would get nothing from the case.  The client had no expectation of recovery when he hired us at the recommendation of a friend, one of our former clients.

This case has a couple of lessons for potential clients:

1. If you have been rejected by one attorney, go to another for a second opinion.  Sometimes, the second attorney will see things that the first lawyer missed.  Or the second attorney might find a different “angle”.
2. If the hospital or doctor are guilty of indisputable negligence, then defendant will settle if  the settlement is reasonable.
3. Be reasonable in your expectations.  We were able to settle because the client was reasonable because he did not sustain a permanent injury.  In fact, he had no expectations of success when he hired us.  

If you have been injured due to medical malpractice, please feel free to contact me at 800-581-1434 or write to us at letters@seitelman.com.

Mark E. Seitelman, www.seitelman.com.

I’ve been reading in various magazine articles claiming we old folks (I don’t like being called a senior citizen) are a current and future burden on the economy, health care, and just about anything else some young pundit can think of. We are sometimes pawns in the political game. During the debates on health care, one side tried to scare the bejesus out of us with the claim that the bill would set up “death panels.”

Now maybe some of you young bloods resent me taking up space and not being productive as I was in my younger years. Too bad.

When they were young, My mother and aunts supported my grandmothers, and I and my cousins supported our parents through taxes that paid for Social Security and Medicare. Now my kids support me and other old folks through paying taxes.

One of the duties of government is to see that we old heads are cared for in our declining years. Most of us live on pensions that sometimes are not enough to pay all of our bills, especially if we get sick.

I did my part during my productive years, and now that I’m not as productive, I don’t expect to go into the woods and lie down and provide food for the animals.

What I do expect of my government, which taxes my pension, so you see, I still pay taxes, is to help me when I can no longer help myself.

You young bloods must accept the fact that you, too, will be old one day and I wonder if you will see yourselves as a burden on society.

I know in my blog I usually post about all things food, but I would be remiss if I did not share this phenomenal info with you about my friend, doctor, wife, mother, and master of her craft, Dr. Yolanda Wimberly.  Since we’ve met, Yolanda  has always been passionate about mentoring youth and educating them on responsible sexual behavior. 

I had the pleasure of working with Yolanda years back in Cincinnati, Ohio where she headed the Physical and Mental Health committee of our most illustrious organization, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., Cincinnati Alumnae Chapter.  Yolanda enlisted as the speaker of her unparalleled event on AIDS education and awareness, our notable soror, Emmy Award winning activist, author, and AIDS survivor, Rae Lewis- Thornton .  And of course, Yolanda’s young mentees were front-row-seated to see and hear first hand the havoc of the deadly disease.

So it comes as no surprise that this published doctor of adolescent medicine has made The Grio’s 100 History Makers in the Making list for her groundbreaking success!

Congrats Yo!

Click here for the article from msnbc.com:

http://www.thegrio.com/black-history/thegrios-100/thegrios-100-yolanda-wimberly.php

Also click here for the article in Morehouse School of Medicine’s news:

http://www.msm.edu/News/News_Index/020210.htm

…or read it here!

Just a tad…

After loosing one of my good friends this week to cancer, I’ve been trying to figure out all of the aspects of this disease.  No matter what your age, cancer can strike.  In Ontario alone, one person gets diagnosed with some sort of cancer every eight minutes.  A nondiscriminatory disease is what cancer is.  Stephen battled a very aggressive cancer that traveled along most of his body from his kidney, to his leg, up to his arm and finally his brain.  As I deal with his loss, I’ve turned my attention to finding out more about cancer and the research that is going on here in Canada to fight it.  I had actually thought about writing on this very subject a couple of weeks ago after finding out that Andy Barrie was doing a project on cancer for CBC Radio One called “First the Bad News…”.  An 8-part series about the cancer journey at Princess Margaret Hospital, from the perspective of patients, the clinical team and research scientists.  You can link to the series below.  Also I’ve placed some external links if you want to find out more about the hospitals and programs involved in cancer here in Ontario.

Finally bring it back to Stephen, if you haven’t already gotten this information, the family will be holding a viewing on Sunday, February 7th at Glen Oaks Memorial Gardens from 1pm to 5pm.  His funeral will be held on Monday, February 8th at 11am also aft Glen Oaks.  You can follow this link for directions.

OCC

You can listen to the full series on the CBC Metro Morning Website here or listen to CBC Radio One at 7.40am February 8th to 11th.

The bad news takes many forms… but the bottom line is you’ve been told you have cancer.

Annual competencies again last Tuesday night.

And what was the challenge this time? Dealing with the unconscious casualty. Yes, I can do this. Thankfully, recovery position is something I do well with, which means I’m not too shabby a first aider after all =)

Our trainer always says that the two main life saving elements you have to be good with are CPR and recovery position; if you can’t do these, stop dreaming those first aider dreams now. So hey, I’m all good.

Thats another element ticked off the list then. Next week… bandages… well, we can’t be good at everything.

Oh, and remember my first ever post, with Team F.A.R.T Harley and the Retail Challenge? An exercise helped all the more by this:

Well, we heard on Tuesday night that we won first place! We came first in the almighty Retail Challenge, and now have a lovely trophy to prove it =]

So a huge thanks to all those who helped out on the day, both first aiders and retail volunteers, and of course thanks to the public who came in and shopped til they dropped, or simply donated items to the shop. It really was a fantastic day, and would still have been worth it whether we won it or not; we kinda forgot it was a competition anyway!

Blogging about blogging? Yes, this is the topic of my new C3Life.com blog. Specifically, how to write a medical blog. I’ve known many people who have struggled with their IBD for years and now want to tell their story to a wider audience online. However, many people don’t know how to get a blog started or how to write one.

I hope to provide some direction in this area. This first blog only tells part of the story; there will be more blogs in the future about the ins and outs of medical blogging.

Keep fighting,
~Dennis

I don’t know how it happened, but Little Monkette is 4 months old!! I took her in for her check up yesterday and she is now exactly two feet tall! She also weighs 12 pounds, 15 ounces!! She had to get one oral vaccination, which she liked just fine and then two shots, which she did not care for of course. In fact, she didn’t even like the doctor once he came in and starting talking. Amazing how quick they remember!

She is doing great and the doctor said that we could start her on some juice if we’d like and also some rice cereal. He said both items are optional and if we wanted to, we could wait until either five or six months. We are thinking we will start the rice cereal here pretty soon. The doctor said that she appears to be reaching all the milestones that they are expecting her to.

Four months old with Monkette.