US Congressional Sting Operation Exposes Gaps in Health System
Filed under: Big Pharma, Clinical Trials, Department of Health, Food and Drug Administration FDA, Government Regulation
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Loading ...OK, so I was going to get off the case of national health approval processes this week, but this article in the Wall Street Journal has just changed my mind. Duh!
As part of a sting operation a fictitious company and a fake medical device (a surgical adhesive gel) were ‘created’ to test the system surrounding institutional review boards or IRBs – for approval to begin a clinical trail using their surgical adhesive on human subjects.
How confident do you feel about a medical process being overseen by an Institutional Review Board (IRB) with a CEO named “Truper Dawg” (after a deceased dog), and other members called “April Phuls” and “Timothy Whittless”? This fictitious IRB was actually approved by the Department of Health and Human Services.
And there’s more… read more from the Wall Street Journal March 26, 2009:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123811179572353181.html
And if you’re interested in Natural Solutions generally, you may even want to subscribe to the Natural News website’s newsletter. Here is the article that alerted me to investigate further:
http://www.naturalnews.com/025955.html
Scary stuff
Elizabeth
Tags: clinical trial, Clinical Trials, Department of Health and Human Services, FDA, Food and Drug Administration, health system, institutional review board, institutional review boards, IRB, natural, US congressional sting operation
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Funny and Wicked Videos on Big Pharma
Filed under: ADHD, Big Pharma, Drugs, Sleeping Pills
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...OK – I’m taking the piss out of Big Pharma today… so just have a look at this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHXXTCc-IVg
And if you liked that one, you might like this one too…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfDSlfVqjx8
Peace man!
Elizabeth
Tags: ADHD, Anxiety, Big Pharma, Depression, diet, Drug, Drugs, Exercise, food, natural, pharmaceutical, pill, pills, Sleeping Pills, tablet, tablets
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History and Background of Sleepless No More
Filed under: Elizabeth's Opinion, History and Background, Media Coverage, Seminars
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Hi everyone
So you want to know a bit of my background? I get a lot of people asking me, so today I’ll tell you a bit about how it came about… and yes, it is a bit kooky.
What’s an economics graduate from Sydney University doing in the sleep field? Yes, it’s a bit sideways, because after university I worked at KPMG (one of the big international accounting firms), the NAB (an Australian major bank) and then consulted to/project managed for other companies like Kelloggs and Digital Equipment Corporation. There are many instances in life where excellence has come from a person moving into a completely different field, nothing new about that. In fact, for some people, it’s the only way they’re going to achieve excellence. And for some people it will make you SLEEP BETTER. You heard that didn’t you? I wasn’t born to be an accountant. Were YOU born to do what you are doing?
In my ’second life’ I was continually doing personal development courses, and yes, mind power and all that – which often lead into the metaphysical (esotheric wisdoms, etc) – and I loved it all. And because of about 30 years of this kind of study I know for sure that what’s marginal and woo woo at one time can become totally main stream after a while… I’ve lived through that. Can you believe that writing down your goals used to be considered la la land?
Let me clarify this, I’m not into airy fairy tripping… but there is some stuff to take on board, and other information that is absolutely leading edge and clearly researched. I’m a practical person, capable of imagination, that’s all. Especially when it’s valuable.
Sorry, if you don’t get that we’ve got a subconscious mind by now – you’re totally behind, get with the program!
Then I married a country guy and moved to the bush… 4600 acres of sheep grazing property – 55 kilometres from anywhere type “bush” – yea, you’ve got the picture I think. Superfine woolgrowing. Not quite the Australia movie, but close, especially when we used to go camping in our own 1200 acre back paddock.
55 Kilometres from Nowhere
Anyway… I had some challenges with my husband in bed (now I know you’re getting interested!) – it was all about heat – but not like you think. He was always hotter than me (and I can hear the girls saying duh!) – but I mean temperature… not that kinda heat!
He was always pushing all the bedcoverings to my side of the bed… and I was left with whatever nightmare mountain of stuff on my side of the bed. So I sewed up a bedcovering with blanket on one side/half (for me) and sheeting on his half (for him) – problem solved! After my extensive market research (with 4 other farmers at the school bus stop) I was shocked that they ALL had the same problem.
The Compatibility Blanket was born, and is now manufactured offshore, and despatched around the world. http://www.compatibilityblanket.com. Made of Australian wool of course.
It was in the process of MARKETING the Compatibility Blanket that I realised how many people weren’t sleeping properly and didn’t have much of a clue about solutions out there, apart from sleeping pills.
And the journey began.
I established the Sleepless No More website about 8 years ago, linking people to expert help and information.
And in 2008, after returning to Sydney, launched the Sleep Frontier division of the company to run sleep seminars, webinars, interview experts and provide case study interviews to make a greater difference to our growing number of clients.
Sleepless No More and our inventive products have been featured on the ABC New Inventors TV program, Radio 2UE, Mornings with Kerri-Anne TV program, The Sydney Morning Herald Good Weekend Magazine, The Age Newspaper, The Herald-Sun, Better Homes and Gardens, The Financial Review Magazine, The West Australian, Home Beautiful, Marie Claire, and numerous other publications.
I’m now working with Brett McFall (an exceptional leader, internet marketing expert, and co-founded of the World Internet Summit) to grow the business to reach more people, and provide excellent service and communication strategies.
If there is a question you would like addressed that you have not received help with please ASK US… so we can improve our service.
We appreciate your contribution, in fact it’s the best way for us to find out what to focus on next!
Sleep constitutes 1/3 of our life, and effects ALL of our life if we don’t get it. It is vital to get a great night’s sleep.
Insomnia is now the world’s most common medical disorder.
It’s my mission to cut through the noise about sleep and provide practical, researched and excellent SOLUTIONS.
It’s also my mission to do the leg work for you to find the experts on Natural Solutions for Insomnia … and provide a platform to them so their solutions and technologies can be heard and distributed.
And we’ve called it Sleep Frontier because we intend to be pushing the boundaries, knowing what is new and slightly edgy now might very well become the accepted wisdom of the future… I already know technologies that will be exactly that.
I know that hypnotherapy helps some people, I know that EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) helps others, I know that neuro-training helps others… its a fact.. Do you want to hear more about the stuff that works?
I’m prepared to take the risk to the solution. Are you?
Wishing you the best sleep, and a happy and fulfilling life,
Warmly
Elizabeth
http://www.sleeplessnomore.com
http://www.compatibilityblanket.com
Tags: aid sleep, background, can t sleep, cant sleep, Compatibility Blanket, Elizabeth Shannon, history, insomnia, magazines, Media, newspapers, press, Sleep, sleep deprivation, sleep disorders, sleep frontier, sleep problems, sleeping, sleepless no more, TV
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D for Dangerous Drowsy Driving
Filed under: Culpable driving, D is for Dangerous Drowsy Driving, Dr Murray Johns, Driving, Drowsy, Equipment, Insurance Premiums, Interview, Legals, Optalert, The ABCs of Sleep, Trucks
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...WARNING: Don’t get in your car again when you’re tired without having read some or all of the following information.
Here’s an excellent website to teach us more about drowsy driving – and specifically a page where you can view and download research articles by distinguished scientists including Dr Murray Johns the retired Melbourne Sleep Physician who invented the Optalert: http://www.optalert.com/research.html.
Research subjects include the duration of eyelid movements during blinks, monitoring eye and eyelid movement changes with drowsiness and drowsiness monitoring technologies
The excellent information on this site includes the following statistics:
- 28% of heavy vehicle license holders reported having fallen asleep while driving.
- And hows this from the US? 47% of drivers surveyed said they had fallen asleep at the wheel at one time. Eech.
- Up to 40% of crashes on highways are attributed to drowsiness.
- Up to 30% of truck fatalities and 52% of major crash insurance claims are fatigue related.
- Drivers with less than 6 hours sleep are 2.5 times more likely to doze off.
- Too often a driver only recognises drowsiness in hindsight.
Next time you’re driving whilst tired know that “a drowsy driver who causes an accident may be as legally culpable as a drunk driver” – and that culpability is now extended in the transport industry to transport industry managers, not just drivers.
We know that schedules are sometimes punishing, and drivers are expected to sleep while waiting to offload their cargo etc. – is that why they’re called deadlines?
If you’re a little apprehensive when you’re driving with heavy trucks there’s evidence to support your concern.
Optalert glasses constantly monitor the level of alertness of drivers to help manage the danger of drowsiness. Unfortunately the glasses are not available for general use yet.
Here’s an ABC interview about it with Maxine McKew of the 7.30 Report in 2005: http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2005/s1470595.htm
Some actions we can take that would help:
- Don’t drive when you are tired, or your eyes are starting to feel tired
- Sleep by the side of the road at the first sign of tiredness, not when you have pushed yourself a bit longer – early action is better
- Always take in your car some relaxation music – so you can pull by the side of the road, and actually have a sleep. (I’ve talked about some ideas in previous posts.)
- Take the 10 Minute Supercharger CD with you in the car (or downloaded into your iPod) – paraliminal technology to be used when the car is stationery only (careful!). This is like the power-power-nap. Not a complete solution, but it will help maximise a rest on the side of the road.
- Leave an eye-mask in the glove box so you can sleep better beside the road.
- Yes, “Stop Revive Survive” – Take a break after every 2 hours of driving.
- And sorry about this corny one… but ‘better late than never’
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