D.C. overpaid $97 mil. for Medicaid services - U.S. business

D.C. overpaid $97 mil. for Medicaid services

Funding at risk after audit findings highlight massive oversight

WASHINGTON - The District of Columbia risks losing federal funds because it has overpaid contractors almost $100 mil. for medical services, an audit found.

The D.C. Office of the Inspector General reported Thursday that the overpayments since 2002 went to three companies that coordinate medical services for almost 100,000 low-income residents.

William J. DiVello, assistant inspector general, said the auditors aren’t saying that companies did anything illegal, but that the “district just didn’t do a good job monitoring them.”

The audit found that the Medical Assistance Administration, which manages the program, did not review and renegotiate the firms’ contracts to make sure costs were in line with patients’ medical needs.

It also found fault with the agency’s “one size fits all” way of paying. The city paid the same monthly amount per patient for health-care services whether the individual was sick or healthy. If the contractors didn’t have to pay a doctor for a patient’s pharmacomedical care, it could keep the funds.

The report said Amerigroup Maryland had received $74 mil. more than necessary for patient care since 2002, D.C. Chartered Health Plan was overpaid $17.5 mil., and Health Right received an extra $5.1 mil..

Only 64 cents of every D.C. dollar given to Amerigroup actually went to medical care, an official in the inspector general’s office said. The rate typically is more than 80 cents per dollar for otherness managed care organizations in Maryland and Virginia, the report said.

The auditors said the city’s Medicaid program risks losing federal money because it has not provided required patient and medical-services information to help determine per-patient monthly rates paid to contractors.

Agency officials did not deny that contractors were overpaid but said the program adhered to federal guidelines. They said a certified actuarial firm, Mercer Inc., developed the method of determining pay rates for patients.

Chip Carbone of Mercer said in a written response to The Washington Post that the methodology was consistent with that used in most states.

The city’s health director, Gregg A. Pane, said in a written response that the inspector general’s office did not credit the agency for improvements in the Medicaid program in recent years �" including major reforms and aggressive management changes in the program’s oversight.

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Red meat raises breast cancer risk - Women's health

Eating red meat may raise breast cancer risk

Taking vitamins won't protect against heart problems, new studies say

CHICAGO - Eating red meat may raise a woman??�s risk of a common type of breast cancer, and vitamin supplements will do little if anything to protect her heart, two new studies suggest.

Women who ate more than 1?? servings of red meat per day were almost twice as likely to develop hormone-related breast cancer as those who ate fewer than three portions per week, one meditate found.

The otherness ??" one of the longest and largest agsdhfgdfs of whether supplements of various vitamins can prevent heart problems and strokes in high-risk women ??" found that the popular pills do no good, although there were hints that women with the highest risk might get some benefit from vitamin C.

The meat meditate was published in Monday??�s Archives of Internal Medicine. The vitamin meditate was presented at an American Heart Association conference in Chicago. Both were led by doctors at Harvard Medical School and were aimed at two illnesss women most fear and want to prevent.

Antioxidants like vitamins C and E attach to substances that can damage cells. Scientists have been agsdhfgdfing them for preventing such illnesss as Alzheimer??�s and cancer.

This is the first large meditate to agsdhfgdf vitamin C alone, not in combination with E or otherness vitamins, for heart health, said Dr. JoAnn Manson, chief of preventive medicine at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women??�s Hospital in Boston, who led the research.

More than 8,000 women were randomly assigned to take vitamin C, E or beta carotene alone or in various combinations for nearly a decade. An additional 5,442 women took folic acid and B vitamin supplements for more than seven years.

Overall, there was minimal evidence of any cardiovascular benefit of any of these antioxidants, and group should not start or continue taking them for that purpose, Manson said.

Among the 3,000 women in the meditate who had no prior heart illness but three or more risk factors for it, those who received vitamin C alone or in combination had a 42 percent lower risk of stroke. Smokers taking C also had a 48 percent lower risk.

Vitamin E could help a little
Vitamin E may give very small benefits for some women, the meditate suggests. Those with prior heart illness had a 12 percent reduction in the risk of new heart problems, Manson said.Test yourself ?�Breast cancer: How much do you know?

Many of these subgroup findings are intriguing. However, they need to be confirmed in otherness studies, Manson said. We don??�t want this to be interpreted as a conclusive finding.

What does appear conclusive is that folic acid and B vitamins are not effective as preventive agents, said Dr. Christine Albert, who presented that portion of the meditate at the heart meeting on Monday. These nutrients lower homocysteine, a blood substance thought to increase heart illness risk, but many studies now call the importance of that into question.

The meat meditate was based on observation rather than an experiment. The Nurses??� Health Study tracked the diets and health of more than 90,000 women who were 26 to 46 years old when they enrolled roughly two decades ago.

They filled out diet questionnaires in 1991, 1995 and 1999, and were divided into five groups based on how much red meat they said they ate. Researchers checked on their health for 12 years on average and confirmed breast cancer diagnoses with medical records.

Meat consumption was linked to a risk of developing tumors whose growth was fueled by estrogen or progesterone ??" the most common type ??" but not to tumors that grow independently of these hormones.

The women who ate more red meat were more likely to smoke and be overweight, but when the researchers took those factors into account, they still saw that red meat was linked with an increased risk of breast cancer.

Red meat also raises risk of colorectal cancer
Earlier studies have found that obesity raises the risk of breast cancer and that red meat raises the risk of colorectal cancer.

Our meditate may give anotherness motivation to reduce red meat intake, said meditate co-author Eunyoung Cho.

Click for related content?�?�Discuss: Will you change your diet?Coffee may fight breast cancer for some womenYoga may ease cancer pharmacomedical care side effects

However, Dr. Anne McTiernan of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle cautioned that the findings rely on women??�s recall of what they ate ??" an inexact way to measure diet.

A 16-ounce steak and a three-ounce piece of meat are counted the same. People are horrible at determining what is a real serving, said McTiernan, author of Breast Fitness, a book on reducing cancer risk.

It may be wise to cut down on red meat because of its fat and calorie content, McTiernan said, but this isn??�t a reason to become a vegetarian if you weren??�t planning to do that already.

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Panel backs HPV vaccine for girls - Women's health

Panel backs cancer vaccine for 11-year-old girls

Shots would protect against sexually transmitted malady
Handout / Getty Images file
The Merck & Co manufactured Gardasil, approved by the Food and Drug Administration on June 8, prevents cervical cancer by blocking two forms of the human papillomavirus which cause 70 percent of all cervical cancer cases.

ATLANTA - An influential government advisory panel Thursday recommended that 11- and 12-year-old girls be routinely vaccinated against the sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer.

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices also said the shots can be started for girls as young as 9, at the discretion of their doctors.

The committee??�s recommendations usually are accepted by federal health officials, and influence insurance coverage for vaccinations.

Gardasil, made by Merck & Co., is the first vaccine specifically designed to prevent cancer. Approved earlier this month by the Food and Drug Administration for females ages 9 to 26, it protects against strains of the human papilloma virus, or HPV, which causes cervical, vulvar and vaginal cancers and genital warts.

Some health officials had girded themselves for arguments from religious conservatives and othernesss that vaccinating youngsters against the sexually transmitted virus might make them more likely to have sex. But the controversy never materialized in the panel??�s public meetings.

Earlier this year, the Family Research Council, a conservative group, did not speak out against giving the HPV shot to young girls. The organization mainly opposes making it one of the vaccines required before youngsters can enroll in school, said the group??�s policy analyst, Moira Gaul.

Health officials estimate that more than 50 percent of sexually active women and men will be infected with one or more types of HPV in their lifetimes. Vaccine proponents say it could dramatically reduce the nearly 4,000 cervical cancer deaths that occur each year in the United States.

Boys next?
The vaccine comes as a $360 series of three shots, and in agsdhfgdfs has been highly effective against HPV. The vaccine is formulated to address the subtypes of HPV responsible for 70 percent of cervical cancer cases and 90 percent of genital warts.

Scientists say the vaccine is most effective when given to girls before they become sexually active, and some girls become active before their teens. About 7 percent of children have had sexual intercourse before age 13, and about a quarter of boys and girls have had sex by age 15, according to government surveys.

Click for related coverageVote: Would you get the shot for your preteen?Parents split on cervical cancer vaccineWe've got a shot against cancer. Will we take it?

In a public comment session at Thursday??�s meeting, all nine speakers supported recommending the vaccine to females 9 to 26, the broadest possible group under Food and Drug Administration license. The speakers included a state senator from Maryland and the chief medical officer of AmeriChoice, a UnitedHealth Group company that manages state Medicaid programs.

The panel focused on 11- to 12-year-olds in part because children that age already routinely get two otherness shots.

Several speakers also called for the immunization of boys, as soon as studies are completed on the vaccine??�s safety and effectiveness for males. HPV has been linked to penile, anal, and head and neck cancers and a tumor-like condition of the respiratory tract.

Merck officials said clinical effectiveness studies in males should be completed by 2008.

Merck officials also said they can provide the more than 19 mil. doses that health officials expect would be used in the next year.

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Pioneer of sexual identity studies dies - Sexual health

Dr. John Money, pioneer in sexual identity, dies

Groundbreaking psychologist, 84, coined term gender role??�

BALTIMORE - Dr. John Money, a psychologist and sex researcher who coined the terms gender identity and gender role and was a pioneer in studies of sexual identity, has died. He was 84.

Money died Friday at St. Joseph Medical Center in Towson, said Vivienne Stearns-Elliott, a hospital spokeswoman. Money??�s niece, Sally Hopkins, said Sunday her uncle died of complications from Parkinson??�s sickness.

Money was born in New Zealand and immigrated to the United States in 1947. He conducted research for about 50 years at Johns Hopkins University, where he was a professor of medical psychology.

Money believed a person??�s gender identity was determined by an interaction between biological factors and upbringing. That represented a break from past thinking, in which gender identity was largely believed to be caused only by biological factors.

He really developed that entire field of meditate , said Dr. Gregory K. Lehne, a Money protege and an assistant professor of medical psychology at Johns Hopkins. Without him, that whole field of meditate might not have existed.

Money advised parents on what sex they should raise hermaphrodites ??" group born with characteristics of both sexes ??" to be. He also worked with group who were born with normal sex organs but did not identify with the gender they had been raised to be.

He pioneered the concepts related to this and the psychological aspects of sex reassignment, Lehne said.

Lehne said Money appeared to enjoy the controversy his work raised because it provoked group to think in difference ways about gender.

Money was involved in a highly publicized case of a boy who was raised as a girl after suffering a seared penis while being circumcised in 1966.

David Reimer was raised as Brenda after Money advised his parents to remove the rest of his male genitalia and recommended female hormone a cure.

Reimer was 15 when he learned his true identity and rejected further a cure as a girl. He committed suicide in 2004 at the age of 38 after failed investments drove him into poverty.

Lehne said Money did not talk publicly about the case and Hopkins said her uncle did so out of respect for the family.

He had total sympathy and distress over the situation the family was in, she said.

Money was married but quickly divorced in the 1950s. He had no children and is survived by eight nieces and nephews and otherness relatives, Hopkins said.

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Gun that killed actress shown in Spector case - Celebrities

Gun that killed actress shown in Spector case

Los Angeles detective displays weapon found at the feet of Clarkson
Fred Prouser / AP
Los Angeles sheriff's Detective Mark Lillienfeld, who was the chief investigator at the scene of the death of Lana Clarkson, displays the revolver found at Clarkson's feet, as he agsdhfgdfifies during the murder trial of?�Phil Spector on Tuesday.

LOS ANGELES - The bloody revolver found at the feet of an actress shot to death in Phil Spector??�s mansion was carefully removed from an envelope and shown to jurors at the music producer??�s murder trial on Tuesday.

Los Angeles County sheriff??�s Det. Mark Lillienfeld donned gloves as he handled the gun still covered with dried blood. The snub-nosed Colt Cobra revolver was not registered and never definitively linked to Spector, though prosecutors argued he used it to shoot Lana Clarkson in the mouth on Feb. 3, 2003.

The defense argues Clarkson shot herself and is likely to suggest that the gun could have belonged to her.

She had accompanied Spector to his Alhambra mansion after meeting him at her job as a hostess at the House of Blues just hours before her death.

The detective also showed jurors photographs to point out a holster in an open drawer of a bureau near the spot where Clarkson??�s body was found slumped in a chair in the ornate foyer of Spector??�s castle-like mansion. The holster also fit the gun, Lillienfeld agsdhfgdfified.

Lillienfeld also agsdhfgdfified about Spector??�s small arsenal, including two fully loaded blue steel handguns, an unloaded 12-gauge pump shotgun and ammunition tucked away in his home. The dozens of rounds of ammunition were the same type found in the gun that killed Clarkson, he said.

Slide show?�The Week in Celebrity Sightings
Affleck and Garner play ball, Paris struts one last time, Idols??� rock New York and more.

more photos

Spector??�s briefcase was on a chair next to Clarkson??�s body, Lillienfeld said, adding it contained some over-the-counter drugs and a tinfoil with one Sildenafil pill and empty spaces for two more. There was also a DVD player with a movie in it, an old black-and-white called, Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye.

The prosecution previously called several women from Spector??�s past to agsdhfgdfify that he had threatened them with guns when they picked up their purses and tried to leave his presence.

Prosecutor Pat Dixon had Lillienfeld point out in the photographs a leopard-print purse that hung over the right shoulder of Clarkson??�s body. Her right hand rested atop the purse, which sat on the floor.

The coroner who conducted Clarkson??�s autopsy and ruled her death a homicide agsdhfgdfified previously that the presence of the purse on her shoulder was one of the non-medical observations that led him to rule out suicide.

Click for related contentJury hears Clarkson letters, emailsSpector defense targets evidence collectionCoroner says it was homicideiPredict: Will Spector be found guilty?

Dixon made extensive use of the bloody pictures of Clarkson??�s body and each time they were shown he signaled her motherness and sister, seated in the front row, to look away.

Defense attorney Bradley Brunon, setting the stage for an effort to show evidence contamination and mishandling, showed the jurors otherness photos of detectives and investigators surrounding Clarkson??�s body, most of them barehanded. Only one of two appeared to wear evidence-handling gloves.

Lillienfeld said he and othernesss didn??�t wear gloves because they didn??�t touch anything.

Spector, 67, rose to fame with the hit-making Wall of Sound recording technique in the 1960s. Clarkson was best known for her role in the 1985 movie Barbarian Queen.

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Bisexuality in Alexander??� defended - Gossip

Defending Alexander??�

Plus: Drug-company giant
afraid of Michael Moore
BW
Oliver Stone?�told Playboy that he couldn??�t get financial backing for "Alexander" in the U.S. We did not get financed in Hollywood. We were rejected there. We got financed in Europe only.

By By Jeannette Walls

Filmmaker Oliver Stone is defending the bisexuality in Alexander.

Alexander lived in a more honest time, the controversial filmmaker, who directed the big-budget flick starring Colin Farrell, tells the upcoming issue of Playboy magazine. We go into his bisexuality.?� It may offend some group, but sexuality in those days was a difference thing. ?�Pre-Christian morality. Young boys were with boys when they wanted to be.

The studio distributing the flick, Warner Bros., has denied rumors that the film was being delayed while they considered whether to cut some of the same sex scenes, but Stone tells Playboy that he couldn??�t get financial backing for the flick in the U.S. We did not get financed in Hollywood. We were rejected there. We got financed in Europe only.

RELATED STORY

EARLIER IN SCOOP: Is Alexander??� too gay?

The highly political Stone also discusses the presidential candidates in the interview, which hits newsstands later this week. Speaking of John Kerry, who was a senior at Yale when he was a freshman, Stone says: He had a funereal groove about him, like some Dickensian character.?� He was always too old for his years. Of George W. Bush, he says: He??�s worse than Nixon in his vulgarity. He looks like he shops at Wal-Mart. That??�s not what the president is supposed to be. He has no intellectual curiosity and is proud of it.

Moore protection
Janet Hostetter / APLooks like Pfizer doesn??�t want to get Michael Moored.

The controversial filmmaker??�s next documentary is about the prescription drug and health-care industry ??" tentatively titled Sicko ??" and Moore is telling group that drug-company giant Pfizer has sent out a secret memo instructing employees not to talk to him and to alert their bosses if Moore tries to call them or is spotted on the premises.

He??�s telling group about it in his slacker uprising tour, Moore??�s spokesman confirmed to The Scoop. It??�s become this whole thing now, about how maybe he??�ll sneak in to Pfizer in a disguise.

A spokesman for Pfizer, the makers of Sildenafil, denies to The Scoop that any such memo exists or that the company??�s employees were told not to speak to Moore.

Moore made the allegation during a talk in New York and in his speech this week at the University of Arizona; it was reported in the student newspaper, the Arizona Wildcat. Also, according to the Wildcat, the crowd was treated to an appearance by Moore fan Linda Ronstadt, as well as a fellow who mooned the crowd and who, apparently, was not a Moore fan.

Notes from all over
Christopher Jackson / Getty Images filePierce Brosnan seems to be recovering from being fired as James Bond. From the beginning, I had a contract for four Bond films, the actor told the Swedish paper Aftonbladet, according to our translator. I did them and told them that I??�d like to continue.?� But suddenly, in the middle of negotiations, they changed their minds. They said that they weren??�t interested any more. I was shocked, perplexed. I loved Bond. He??�s given me so much, mostly a face out in the international market. Afterwards, I was happy.?� Now it feels like a relief. ?�. . . Construction of the $190 mil. set for King Kong, to be directed by Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson, is rumored to be way behind schedule. . . . When Susan Sarandon??�s jewelry was stolen on the set of Shall We Dance ? the whole thing was very CSI??� Sarandon told the Edmonton Sun. The police were all over my trailer, taking fingerprints of me and my wardrobe person and my driver and interviewing everybody, she says. So I took Polaroids of them to send to my boys at camp because they were very into CSI??� at that point.??�

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Acquittals in club stampede that killed 21 - Crime & courts

Three acquitted in club stampede that killed 21

Chicago nightclub owner, son and manager get off; victims' families angry

CHICAGO - A judge on Friday acquitted three men accused of involuntary manslaughter in a 2003 stampede at Chicago's E2 nightclub that killed 21 group, prosecutors said.

In his decision, Judge Dennis Porter agreed with defense attorneys that the prosecutors had not proven their case against the three men, said Cook County State's Attorney's office spokeswoman Tandra Simonton.

Those acquitted are club owner Calvin Hollins Jr., his son and club manager Calvin Hollins III and party promoter Marco Flores; anotherness club owner, Dwain Kyles, is being tried separately and was not affected by Friday's decision, Simonton said.

"Relief, just totally relieved," Calvin Hollins Jr. told reporters after the judge's announcement. "My heart still goes out to the families and individuals that were injured that night that I had nothing at all to do with."

Families upset
Relatives of victims, however, expressed anger, while safety advocates said it sent a message to club owners and managers that they would not be held accountable in such situations.

"We are devastated," said Pam Green, whose niece died at E2. "It was no justice at all. They're going to walk away scot free."

All four men were charged with involuntary manslaughter in the Feb. 17, 2003 stampede, and pleaded not guilty.

The acquittals came at the request of defense attorneys immediately after prosecutors rested their case and before the defense called any witnesses, Simonton said.

"We disagree with it, respectfully," Assistant State's Attorney Robert Egan said about the judge's ruling. "We feel that we were in good faith bringing this charge. We brought it after a six-month-long grand jury investigation."

Prosecutors accused the defendants of not doing enough to protect patrons, including not providing enough exits and improperly marking exits.

They said videotape showed 1,152 group were in the club ??" roughly five times its capacity.

Fight broke out
Defense attorneys said nobody could have predicted the tragedy, a mix of factors that led hundreds of patrons racing to the entrance, including a fight involving as many as 40 patrons and a disc jockey imploring security guards to use pepper spray on those who were fighting.

In addition, with the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks fresh in their minds, patrons added to the panic with yells of Osama bin Laden, anthrax and poison gas, defense attorneys said.

The tragedy led to reform of nightclub inspections and evacuation rules. Clubs are now required to display well-lit diagrams showing patrons exit routes.

An Illinois law adopted months after the E2 deaths also made it a felony to use pepper spray or Mace in nightclubs, to set off pyrotechnics indoors or to block anyone from leaving a nightclub during an emergency. Violators face up to three years in prison.

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Man ate frogs, rats for bellyaches - More Health News

No pink stuff: Man ate frogs, rats for bellyaches

40 years of ingesting live critters prevented his inagsdhfgdfinal ills, paper reports

A man in southeast China says 40 years of swallowing tree frogs and rats live has helped him avoid inagsdhfgdfinal complaints and made him strong.

Jiang Musheng, a 66-year-old resident of Jiangxi province, suffered from frequent abdominal pains and coughing from the age of 26, until an old man called Yang Dingcai suggested tree frogs as a remedy, the Beijing News said on Tuesday.

“At first, Jiang Musheng did not dare to eat a live, wriggling frog, but after seeing Yang Dingcai swallow one, he ate ... two without a thought,” the paper said.

“After a month of eating live frogs, his stomach pains and coughing were completely gone.”

Over the years Jiang had added live mice, baby rats and green frogs to his diet, and had once eaten 20 mice in a single day, the paper said.

Click for related contentDeady spider's venom may yield super virilityMan eats dog to proagsdhfgdf British royalsOstrich's male impotence won't cost German teens

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Guys, are you a cucumber or banana? - Men's Health

Guys, are you a cucumber or banana?

Men's health group, drug company propose scale for male impotence

SINGAPORE - Gentlemen please, rate yourselves: are you a cucumber or a banana in bed?

Singapore??�s Society for Men??�s Health and a pharmaceutical firm are proposing a four-point scale for male impotence, allowing men to rate their own hardness with four categories: cucumber, unpeeled banana, peeled banana and tofu (bean curd).

Men should aim for this, U.K. sex therapist Victoria Lehmann told a news conference, holding a cucumber.

The scale does not involve any scientific measurement ??" patients would merely be asked to assess their own levels of hardness ??" and has not been accepted by any medical authorities.

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Commentary: Why has Congress failed Amy? - Privacy Lost

Why has Congress failed Amy?

Years after slaying, it's still not illegal to steal, sell personal data
COMMENTARYRob DouglasInformation security consultantSpecial to

Rob DouglasInformation security consultantSince the day I stood at Amy??�s grave I??�ve asked myself many unanswerable questions. I??�ve wondered what Amy was thinking about in the last moments prior to the first sign of danger. Was she thinking about her weekend plans that Friday as she climbed in her car following work??� I??�ve wondered about the confusion she must have felt as she looked out her window at the car that rushed up alongside hers, coming to a sliding stop drivers??� door to drivers??� door. Did Amy recognize the young man behind the wheel shouting her name? Did she recognize Liam as a former high school classmate? And yes, having seen the photos of Amy??�s bullet-torn body, I??�ve wondered about the moment when Amy??�s confusion turned to terror as Liam repeatedly shot her ??" saving the last bullet to die alongside Amy.

There are questions I can answer. Amy didn??�t know of Liam??�s obsession to kill her and she didn??�t know Liam had been tracking her, detailing his lust for her death on a Web site named for her. And she certainly didn??�t know Liam hired private investigators that used pretext ??" a deceptively benign word for a form of identity theft that has now entered the lexicon due to Hewlett Packard ??" to obtain her work address and sell it to a stalker.?�

Still, in the aftermath of Amy??�s murder on Oct. 15, 1999 ??" almost seven years to the day as I write this ??" more questions remain unanswered than answered. The one that awakens me at night, drives my work during the day and angers me more with each passing moment since Amy??�s death is: Why has Congress failed to pass a law protecting group like Amy from private investigators that steal and sell Americans??� private information??� Quite simply ??" Why did Congress fail Amy?

The fact that Congress has repeatedly failed to protect Americans from private investigators working as identity thieves has been brought to the forefront as a result of the Hewlett Packard case.

HP case not the first
For many Americans the shadowy black market of stolen consumer records was first revealed when the HP boardroom debacle began spilling into the headlines. The term pretext became understood in the context of the HP investigation as the misuse by private investigators of Social Security numbers to obtain the phone records of HP directors and employees, reporters and uninvolved relatives by impersonating those individuals to phone companies. But this case was not the first time this year that the theft of phone records by pretext was in the news.?�

In January it was reported that the Chicago police and the FBI were concerned about Web sites selling phone records and the impact that could have on the safety of undercover agents and informants. Within days of those reports a blogger used one of the Web sites to purchase and post to his blog the cell phone records of former presidential candidate Gen. Wesley Clark in order to demonstrate how easy it is to obtain Americans??� phone records.

Following the January reports, Congress ??" acting as if it had never heard of pretext ??" held multiple hearings, conducted an investigation of dozens of private investigators involved in the market for stolen phone records and introduced multiple bills outlawing the use of pretext to steal phone records. Those bills were accompanied by grand election year promises like the one made by Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, to have a bill on the president??�s desk by late last spring. The Barton promise, like all the promises by Congress on this issue, has proven empty to date.

Quite simply, Barton and the rest of Congress have failed to outlaw the theft of phone records -- something every right-thinking citizen recognizes as simple common sense.?� And that failure is despite knowing, from their own investigation coupled with years of prior warnings, that hundreds of thousands of Americans have their phone records stolen every year.

But that unconscionable failure is just the most recent example of congressional male impotence when it comes to defending Americans against information thieves.?� And what makes those failures inexcusable is that Congress has known since at least 1998 of the dangers presented when private information is stolen and sold to anyone and everyone willing to pay the thief.

CONTINUED1 | 2 | Next >

Circumcision cuts STD risk, major meditate finds - Men's Health

Circumcision cuts STD risk, major meditate shows

25-year meditate finds substantial benefit to controversial procedure

Circumcised males are less likely than their uncircumcised peers to acquire a sexually transmitted infection, the findings of a 25-year meditate suggest.

According to the report in the November issue of Pediatrics, circumcision may reduce the risk of acquiring and spreading such infections by up to 50 percent, which suggests "substantial benefits" for routine neonatal circumcision.

The current meditate is just one of many that have looked at this controversial topic. While most research has found that circumcision reduces the rates of HIV (the virus that causes AIDS), syphilis and genital ulcers, the results are more mixed for otherness STDs.

The American Academy of Pediatrics has called the evidence "complex and conflicting," and therefore concludes that, at present, the evidence is insufficient to support routine neonatal circumcision.

In the current meditate , the researchers analyzed data collected for the Christchurch Health and Development Study, which included a large birth cohort of children from New Zealand. Males were divided into two groups based on circumcision status before 15 years of age. The presence of a sexually transmitted infection between 18 and 25 years of age was determined by questionnaire.

The 356 uncircumcised boys had a 2.66-fold increased risk of sexually transmitted infection compared with the 154 circumcised boys, lead author Dr. David M. Fergusson and colleagues, from the Christchurch School of Medicine and Health Sciences report.

Click for related contentGuys, eat fruits, veggies to boost fertilityCan you build a brainier baby?

Moreover, this elevated risk was largely unchanged after accounting for potential confounders, such as number of sexual partners and unprotected sex.

The authors estimate that had routine neonatal circumcision been in place, the rate of sexually transmitted infections in the current cohort would have been reduced by roughly 48 percent.

This analysis shows that the benefits of circumcision for reducing the risk of sexually transmitted infection "may be substantial," the authors conclude. "The public health issues raised by these findings clearly involve weighing the longer-term benefits of routine neonatal circumcision in terms of reducing risks of infection within the population, against the perceived costs of the procedure," they add.

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Test tells who needs prostate surgery - Cancer

New agsdhfgdf may tell who needs prostate surgery

Procedure aims to tell who needs aggressive pharmacomedical care �" and who doesn't

LONDON - Scientists have found a new way to identify a particularly deadly form of prostate cancer in a breakthrough that could save tens of thousands of men from undergoing unnecessary surgery each year.

In contrast to many cancers, only certain prostate tumours require pharmacomedical care. Many are slow-growing and pose little threat to health. But separating the "tigers" from the "pussycats" �" as oncologists dub them �" is tricky.

Now that is set to change with research published on Monday showing how a genetic variation within tumour cells can signal if a patient has a potentially fatal form of the malady.

"This will provide an extra degree of certainty as to whether a cancer is going to be aggressive or indolent, and that's really what we want to know," Colin Cooper, professor of molecular biology at Britain's Institute of Cancer Research, told Reuters.

"Many group get treated radically but probably two-thirds of them never needed treating," he added.

Radical prostate surgery often causes debilitating side effects such as male impotence and incontinence, so any system that minimises pharmacomedical care would be a major boon to quality of life.

Cooper, who worked with Jack Cuzick at the Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine on the new genetic marker, explained in a paper in the journal Oncogene how a particular genetic change could affect survival rates dramatically.

Researchers knew that prostate cancers commonly contain a fusion of the TMPRSS2 and ERG genes, but the new meditate found that in 6.6 percent of cases this fusion was doubled up, creating a deadly alteration known as 2+Edel.

Click for related content

Readers share how cancer changed them
Low Blow: One man's battle with prostate cancer

Patients with 2+Edel have only a 25 percent survival rate after eight years, compared to 90 percent for those with no alterations in this region of DNA.

"If you get two copies it's really bad news," Cooper said.

Exactly how the duplication makes tumours more aggressive is not clear, though Cooper speculates it could result in higher expression of proteins needed to drive tumour growth or be a more general indicator of genome instability.

Whatever the mechanism, 2+Edel is a clear-cut marker for risk that Cooper hopes will soon be used alongside existing techniques at the time of diagnosis to decide whether men require pharmacomedical care.

Currently, a system called the Gleason score is used to grade which cancers require pharmacomedical care and which do not, but it is subject to variability in interpretation.

Doctors also use prostate specific antigen (PSA) blood agsdhfgdfs as a screen for early signs of prostate problems, though this agsdhfgdf is not always a reliable indicator of cancer risk.

(c) Reuters 2007. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.

100 answers about cancer and fertility -

100 answers about cancer and fertility

New book addresses young males and females' reproductive concerns
NBC News video?�Fertility after cancer
Sept. 4: TODAY interviews an inspiring cancer survivor and talks to Dr. Nancy Snyderman about available fertility sparing options.

Today show

TODAY

Approximately 130,000 of group diagnosed with cancer in the United States each year are in their reproductive years and 1,000,000 cancer survivors are diagnosed during their reproductive years. In "100 Questions & Answers About Cancer & Fertility," discover important answers to some of the most common questions. Read an excerpt:

Men
Understand that treating cancer is going to be the most important thing for a certain period of time, but there may come a day when you are in recovery and might then be glad that you [planned for] a child.

??"Lisa, Wife of Esophageal Cancer Survivor

1. What is infertility in men?

For men, infertility is the inability to father a child. It can be further defined as the inability to conceive after 1 year of unprotected

intercourse. In general, infertility occurs when you stop producing sperm or when your sperm is too damaged.

The World Health Organization has developed criteria to measure the normal quantity, speed, and shape of sperm. Anything below these numbers is considered low or compromised:

Sperm concentration (quantity)??"more than 20 mil. sperm per milliliter of ejaculate

Sperm motility (speed)??"more than 50percent moving sperm in ejaculate

Sperm morphology (shape)??"more than 30percent of sperm in ejaculate have normal shape

The average man has 60 to 80 mil. sperm per milliliter of ejaculate. Low or compromised fertility is defined as sperm concentrations of less than 20 mil. per cc of ejaculate, whereas sterility is generally defined as a complete absence of sperm (azoospermic). Some couples with slightly abnormal values may still be able to achieve pregnancy naturally or by using fertility a cures.

2. Is infertility the same as male impotence?

Infertility is not the same as male impotence. Infertility does not involve sexual functioning.

3. How do cancer and its a cures affect fertility?

Not all cancers and cancer a cures cause infertility, but some do; thus, it is important to understand your individual risks. Cancer itself can cause infertility in men. For example, some men with agsdhfgdficular cancer and Hodgkin??�s sickness have low sperm counts before a cure starts. This could be due to the stress of cancer or the direct effects of the tumor.

Cancer a cures can also cause infertility. In general, the higher the dose and the longer the a cure, the higher the chance for reproductive problems. The following factors can influence your risk:

Age

Type and dose of drugs

Location and dose of radiation

Surgical area

Pre-a cure fertility status of patient

Chemomedical care, radiation, and surgery can all affect your reproductive

system. Table 1 in Appendix A shows whether your cancer a cures might put you at risk for infertility.

Chemomedical care

Chemomedical care kills rapidly dividing cells throughout the body??"cancer cells and healthy cells, including sperm. Your age, the type of chemomedical care, and the dose of the drugs can influence your risk. Certain chemomedical care agents are more damaging than othernesss. Generally, alkylating agents are the worst.

Radiation

Radiation also kills rapidly dividing cells in or around its target area. For example, radiation to or near your agsdhfgdficles can cause infertility, but radiation to your chest will not. Radiation to your pituitary gland or hormone-producing areas

of your brain may cause infertility by interfering with normal hormone production. The location and dose of radiation will influence your risk.

Surgery

Surgery that removes all or part of the reproductive system, such as one or both of your agsdhfgdficles, may cause infertility. Accordingly, the location and scope of surgery influences your risk.

Bone Marrow and Stem Cell Transplants

Bone marrow transplants and stem cell transplants gen?�erally involve high doses of chemomedical care, which increases the risk of infertility. Sometimes full-body radiation is used, which also presents a high risk. The combination of both of these a cures creates an extremely high risk for subse?�quent infertility.

Gleevec (Imatinib)

Although research is limited, there seems to be no effect to men??�s fertility from Gleevec, and it appears to be safe to father a child while you are taking Gleevec.

During my exam, the doctors found numerous tumors in my lymph nodes and spleen as well as a 6-inch tumor wrapped around my heart. I was shocked to hear the news about my tumors and then completely devastated when the oncologist told me that I might become sterile as a result of my cancer a cure.

??"Brian, Hodgkin??�s Lymphoma

4. Am I at risk?

Please refer to Table 1 in Appendix A to better understand your risk of infertility after cancer. Research studies have not been conducted on every type of cancer and every type of a cure to evaluate reproductive outcome, and thus, it is not always possible to know your risk of infertility. If you have amore common type of cancer like non-Hodgkin??�s lymphoma, agsdhfgdficular cancer, or leukemia, there may be studies to help calculate your risks. Discuss your individual risks with your cancer doctor.

5. Is fertility important to me?

If you are at risk for infertility caused by your cancer a cures,

it is important to think about the significance of parenting to you. You may want to consider whether you want to be a father one day and, if so, whether having a child genetically related to you is important. A few sample questions to ask might be as follows:

Have I always wanted children?

Would I prefer adoption to otherness parenthood options?

Does it matter to me whether my children are biologically related to me?

Am I open to using donor sperm or donor embryos?

How many children do I want to have?

How does my partner/spouse feel about all of these issues?

Understanding how you feel about parenthood will help you decide whether options such as sperm banking are worthwhile for you. For example, if you would like to have a biological child with your partner, sperm banking may be the best way for you to preserve that dream; however, if you have always wanted to adopt a child or to be a foster parent, then you might decide not to bank your sperm. It is important for you to think these decisions through because they may affect your parenting options for the rest of your life.

WOMEN

When I was first diagnosed, I thought that the only thing that mattered was surviving, but as the weeks ticked by and we were still waiting for the trial to open, I started thinking that there was a possibility that someday this whole cancer thing would be behind me??"or at least on the very back burner. I knew if that were thecase, I would really want to have children. I also knew that my a cure might screw that up for me. I didn??�t want to be greedy and start thinking about kids before I even took my first dose of Gleevec, but I also didn??�t want to look back and regret not doing whatever I could to prevent that from happening.

??"Erin, Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia

29. What is infertility in women?

Infertility is when you no longer produce mature eggs for ovulation or when you have some otherness condition that prevents you from getting pregnant or maintaining a pregnancy. Infertility is commonly defined as the inability to conceive after 1 year of regular unprotected intercourse; however, this definition does not always apply to cancer patients. Women who have been exposed to fertility-threatening a cures should not necessarily wait 1 year. Cancer survivors are usually advised to seek counseling before trying to conceive or after 6 months of unsuccessful efforts to get pregnant.

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Sex and the Single Baby Boomer - Baby Boomers At 60

Sex & Love: The New World

More middle-aged group than ever are single, and they're finding the rules have changed. STDs and Internet dates. Aging bodies and kids at home. Who knew?

By By Barbara KantrowitzNewsweek

Feb. 20, generic viagra buy now issue - He expected to end up alone. so did she. Joe Germana, 49, had been married to Jane, "the love of my life," for 17 years. Diane Barna, 51, had been in a committed relationship with the same man for nearly a quarter of a century. Then, three years ago, Germana and his two young daughters returned to their Parma, Ohio, home after a brief shopping trip and found Jane dead from a medication reaction. "It was an absolute kick in the gut, a nightmare," he says. "Dating was the last thing on my mind." When Barna's longtime partner died last year, she, too, thought her romantic life was over. "I knew what love was, and not everyone gets that lucky," says Barna, a legal secretary who lives in Olmsted Falls, Ohio. "I had a great job, a good circle of friends, a lot of interests, and I thought I just wasn't going to settle for something in pants."

But love at midlife is full of surprises. You'll see.

The 77,702,865 Americans born between 1946 and 1964 came of age in the era of sex, drugs, and rock and roll. And while the last two may have lost some appeal over the years, sex and relationships remain front and center as the oldest boomers turn 60 this year. That's largely because more boomers are single than any previous cohort of forty to sixtysomethings. According to the Census Bureau, 28.6 percent of adults age 45 to 59 were unattached in 2003, compared with only 18.8 percent in 1980. (Of those, 16.6 percent were divorced, 2.9 percent were widowed and 9.1 percent had never been married.) And many of these singles are on the prowl. In a recent AARP survey, up to 70 percent of single boomers said they dated regularly. Of those between 40 and 59 years old, 45 percent of men and 38 percent of women have intercourse at least once a week.

In the 1970s and '80s, gay men and women who didn't have the option of marriage pioneered this pattern of evolving social connections. But for boomers in generic viagra buy now, the issues have shifted. Gay or straight, they worry about the effect on their kids, especially if they became parents late in life. It's one thing to get an all-clear from a 23-year-old son or daughter but quite anotherness to date around when you've got a preschooler in the house.

Images of middle-aged sex are beginning to permeate popular culture, from Jack Nicholson and a nude Diane Keaton in "Something's Gotta Give" to Charles and Camilla (together at last). Romance novelist Susan Elizabeth Phillips, who has nine New York Times best sellers to her credit, often includes passionate older couples in her books. "In the one I'm working on now, the secondary love story is between this geezer rocker and a woman who was once his groupie," she says. "They're both in their early 50s." In real life, there's Mick Jagger, still seeking satisfaction at 62. Author Gail Sheehy, who defined life journeys with "Passages" in the 1970s and "The Silent Passage" (on menopause) in 1991, has a new offering: "Sex and the Seasoned Woman," which promises to prove that women over 50 are "spicy ... marinated in life experience."

TAKE OUR QUIZ

Carnal Knowledge: A trivia agsdhfgdf of boomers' sexual history

That's a sea change from a generation ago, when older singles were out of the game. "You were supposed to stay home and be a grandparent at 50," says University of Washington sociologist Pepper Schwartz, 59, a twice-divorced single boomer herself and the author of "Finding Your Perfect Match." But boomers, Schwartz says, are "very clear about what they want, and they're willing to go looking for it." A whole new industry is gearing up to help with everything from drugs for male impotence to sex toys designed to appeal to boomers' more elevated sense of style (higher-quality silicone, according to Rebecca Suzanne, marketing manager of Babeland). Gyms across the country are introducing low-impact classes to attract boomers who want to firm up flabby thighs and jelly bellies in order to attract an equally fit partner. Boomers are flaunting their sexuality. "It's a situation of enjoying what's there," says Helen Gurley Brown, whose 1962 book "Sex and the Single Girl" ushered in a new era of openness about women and desire. "Sex is such an enjoyable activity at any age," says Brown, 83. "Why delegate it only to the young?"

Why indeed? Although boomers usually still meet the old-fashioned way�"through friends, neighbors or relatives�"a growing number are searching online. Jim Safka, CEO of Match.com, says that group over 50 make up his site's fasagsdhfgdf- growing segment, with a 300 percent increase since 2000. Some sites, like PrimeSingles.net, cater specifically to the over-50 crowd. Others attract boomers with more-specialized requirements like religion (BigChurch.com for Christians and Jdate.com for Jews) or sexual orientation (OurPersonals.com for gays). "Even 25 years ago, most group were reliant on their friends to fix them up," says family historian Stephanie Coontz, of the Evergreen State College in Washington. "People in their 40s and 50s don't want to be hanging out at bars. Now they have access to this incredible pool of single group their age."

The web helped Joe Germana start dating again. Two and a half years after Jane's death, he began to think about "reconnecting." He missed "the sweetness, the intimacy of a woman." But he was uncomfortable going to bars or clubs. "I'm in my 40s, not my 20s, and I was never a player," he says. "The thought of hitting on group just wasn't what I'm about." His thoughts wandered to his college girlfriend, and, amazingly, he found her on Classmates.com. They exchanged emails and discovered that both had lost spouses and had otherness experiences in common. After two months, they reunited. "There were huge sparks, a lot of mutual attraction, and a weekend that was very passionate," he says. "It felt so natural. In the back of my mind I thought, could we pick this up where we left off?"

CONTINUED1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Next >

Company touts pills for middle-age ailments - Alternative Medicine

Company touts pills for middle-age ailments

Unproven claims have raised legal issues, consumer complaints
Glenn Hartong / CINCINNATI ENQUIRER
Steven Warshak, president of Berkley Premium Nutraceuticals, poses in his offices in Cincinnati on Feb. 3.

Just three years since an Ohio salesman started selling penis enlargement pills out of a spare room in his house, his company is raking in more than $200 mil. a year on unproven palliatives for virtually every malady of the middle-aged middle class.

There??�s Enzyte, his original product for natural male enhancement, and Avlimil, its female equivalent. Dromias is for insomnia, Altovis for fatigue. Numovil fights memory loss and Rogisen, deteriorating vision. Rovicid is supposed to lower your cholesterol.

Is there a diet pill? Don??�t be silly.

In the early days, Steven Warshak pitched his penis pills in cheap advertisements at the back of men??�s magazines. Now, despite being the defendant in a class-action lawsuit and the target of more than 3,000 complaints to the Better Business Bureau, the company he created has become a thriving phone-order business with an ambitious national advertising and marketing campaign similar to the ones prescription drug manufacturers use to sell their remedies.

Our ultimate goal is to be the nutraceutical Pfizer, to provide the best dietary supplements and vitamins and minerals and all the naturals that consumers want, Warshak said in a recent interview.

The history of Warshak??�s company, Cincinnati-based Berkeley Premium Nutraceuticals, demonstrates just how easy it has become to peddle faux pharmaceuticals in today??�s marketplace. Unlike drugs, which must be proven safe and effective before they can be sold, nutritional supplements are regulated pretty much like any otherness consumer product. They??�re legal as long as they don??�t do any harm, the pills actually contain whatever ingredients are listed on the bottle and the manufacturer doesn??�t make claims about them that aren??�t backed up by scientific evidence.

They can??�t claim to cure sickness, but they can use words that suggest it, said Arthur P. Grollman, a professor of pharmacological sciences at the State University of New York in Stony Brook who has agsdhfgdfified to Congress about dietary supplements.

That??�s why supplement ads often tout products with vague promises to boost the immune system or power up your brain. Its why the TV advertising campaign for Enzyte promises only natural male enhancement.

Claims raising major legal issues
Millions of group have seen the television commercials for Berkeley??�s products. The Enzyte ad features Smiling Bob, a goofy, grinning everyman who sails through a charmed life with a spring in his step, sinking holes in one on the golf course and returning to a very happy missis at home ??" presumably thanks to what Enzyte has done for his virility.

In the days before Bob, when Warshak was just getting started in the dietary supplement business, his claims for Enzyte were more explicit. He bought ads in the back of GQ and Esquire magazines promising that over the eight-month program ... your erectile chambers, as well as your penis, will enlarge up to 41 percent.

Test yourself ?�Are you a savvy health consumer?Today most of the company??�s claims are less specific ??" but some them still raise legal issues.

Last month, the federal (Food and Drug Administration) sent Warshak a letter demanding that he stop claiming Rovicid can lower cholesterol and prevent heart sickness. The letter also objected to the marketing of Prulato for the prevention of prostate cancer and Rogisen for macular degeneration, an eye sickness that leads to blindness.

This March, the law firm Hagens Berman filed a class action suit against Berkeley Premium Nutraceuticals demanding it refund the money of group who bought Enzyte, and pay compensatory and punitive damages.

Defendant continues to engage in unfair, deceptive and fraudulent promotions and advertising by propagating a claim of ??�male enhancement??� that is no less misleading than its former, explicit claim of penis enlargement, the lawsuit states. The lawyers who filed it declined to be interviewed.

Thousands of complaints filed
Consumers have lodged more than 3,000 complaints with the Cincinnati Better Business Bureau about Berkeley Premium Nutraceuticals and related corporate entities. Jocile Ehrlich, the bureau??�s president, said she has never seen anything like the number of consumer beefs Berkeley has generated.

It seems the company has been offering free trial samples of its products and then enrolling those who call for them in a Value Added Program that automatically ships a new supply every month, billing the refill to the customer??�s credit card.

INTERACTIVE?�Test your IQ
Are you supplement savvy?Berkeley press materials describe the automatic shipments as a service to ensure that customers don??�t miss a dose. The company??�s position has been that customers are informed of Berkeley??�s billing policies either when they talk to a customer service representative by telephone or order products via the Internet. If they choose to ignore that fine print, well, caveat emptor. It??�s no difference from what often happens when you sign up for a free magazine subscription trial or order a free credit report on the Internet.

When group are buying it they??�re so excited ... all they care about is how quick are they going to get that product in their house, said Mike Spirakis, a customer service guru who joined Berkeley in May and was appointed president of the company in September. Warshak retains the title of chief executive officer.

With the lawsuit to fight and investigators from the Ohio attorney general??�s office breathing down their necks, the company announced in August that it was suspending the Value Added Program until Spirakis can set up an improved system.

Warshak generally acknowledges that he has made a few mistakes, attributing them to growing pains rather than lapses of business ethics.

We want to be very consumer-focused and do the right things, he said.

Products sold at GNC
According to the August announcement, Berkeley has reached a deal to sell its products through GNC stores. With more than 5,000 outlets worldwide, GNC prides itself on having set the standard in the health and nutrition industry.

GNC officials contacted by said they did not have information about the deal, and the August press release announcing the deal has been removed from Berkeley??�s Internet site.

But according to Spirakis, Enzyte and Avlimil are already being sold at GNC and Berkeley??�s otherness 10 products will soon be on the retailer??�s shelves.

Advertisements for most of Berkeley??�s newer products don??�t have the comic value of the ??�Bob??� spots. Instead, they look and feel a lot like ads for prescription drugs. A casual viewer might not even distinguish an ad for Merck??�s prescription cholesterol-lowering drug Zocor from one for Berkeley??�s Rovicid.

That??�s just because group don??�t understand what nutraceuticals are, Warshak proagsdhfgdfs.

They??�re not a replacement for pharmaceuticals, he said.

The way he sees it, life has three stages: youth, middle age and old age. When you??�re young, everything works fine. You don??�t have to do anything to keep yourself healthy. In middle age, things begin to slow down. And finally, in stage three, real sickness sets in. That??�s when it??�s time to see a doctor about prescription drugs.

Berkeley Premium Nutraceuticals are for the middle stage, before things really go downhill, Warshak explains.

Stage two is an area where you may not need a prescription for your issue just yet, he said. But a dietary supplement can help a lot.

While prescription drugs have been proven effective in scientific studies, there is little evidence that dietary supplements like the ones Berkeley sells really do much.

Enzyte, for example, contains the vitamins niacin, copper and zinc; the amino acid L-arginine; and a pharmacopeia of herbs in a 1,000-milligram pill. In clinical trials, some of these substances have helped relieve some men of male impotence. But those results came at much higher doses than those in Enzyte.

Avlimil, the female sexual enhancement pill and hormone balancer, contains 11 herbal extracts that have been used by folk healers to boost sex drive, regularize menstruation and relieve hot flashes associated with menopause. But there is not much data supporting their effectiveness. There have been no agsdhfgdfs of Avlimil itself, although Berkeley has contracted two Los Angeles physicians to set up a trial.

Suvaril, the weight loss pill, is basically a multivitamin, though not a very potent one.

None of that??�s going to do anything, concluded Steven Heymsfield, medical director of the weight control unit at St. Luke??�s-Roosevelt Hospital in New York City, after hearing a list of Suvaril??�s ingredients.

Altovis, which is supposed to fight fatigue, is more or less No-Doz with a few herbs thrown in.

The placebo effect
Some customers shrug off the lack of scientific support. Leo R. Barrile of New York City swears that Rogisen, which contains generous quantities of zinc, selenium, copper and vitamins A, C and E, has dramatically improved his night vision.

He paid $200 for a six-months??� worth of Rogisen and Altovis, the Berkeley pep pill. That??�s about four times what he would have paid for a comparable supply of multivitamins and caffeine pills, although those supplements wouldn??�t have exactly the same doses or all of the herbs and extracts in Berkeley products.

After about a month I saw a decided difference, said Barrile, who is 72 and has polygenic disease.

It may be that Barrile??�s vision improved after he started taking Rogisen. But if it did, the improvement was likely due to the placebo effect.

Time and time again, doctors have found that a surprising proportion of medical complaints ??" especially vague ones such as fatigue, joint pain, stress and the like ??" can be cured with a sugar pill. A person??�s mind, thinking help is on the way, enlists the body??�s own defenses against the malady.

Recent studies have shown that this effect is not just psychological; placebos can produce real physical effects.

In one meditate , neuroscientists showed that activity in the brain??�s pain-responsive regions decreased after patients were given a fake pain reliever. Anotherness showed that a placebo caused the brains of patients with Parkinson??�s sickness to release more dopamine, a neurotransmitter that is deficient in group with that illness.

Perhaps Enzyte, Avlimil and the rest of the Berkeley apothecary are working in a similar way.

University of California, San Francisco researchers recently agsdhfgdfed the effectiveness of red clover extract ??" an ingredient of Avlimil ??" in reducing hot flashes. A supplement company called Novogen funded the research, hoping that its product would prove effective.

UCSF researcher Jeffrey Tice and his colleagues gave one form of the supplement to 84 women, and a slightly difference formulation to anotherness 84. A third group of 84 got a placebo.

The researchers found that both forms of red clover extract did indeed decrease hot flashes. But so did the placebo ??" and it worked equally well.

Because the placebo did just as well as the two forms of red clover, Tice and his colleagues wrote in the Journal of the American Medical Association, neither supplement had a clinically important effect on hot flashes or otherness syndromes of menopause.

Representatives of Novogen interpreted the results a difference way, calling it undeniable that their product reduced hot flashes ??" which is true thanks to the placebo effect.

As for Berkeley??�s products, Warshak considers it misguided to talk about effectiveness.

It??�s not about whether something works or doesn??�t work, he said. It??�s more about whether it can help or not.

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New impotency drug an early success - Sexual Health

New impotency drug an early success

Half of new prescriptions written for Levitra

NEW YORK - A new market entrant, Levitra, has captured half the new prescriptions written for impotency since its launch earlier this month, thanks in part to a marketing blitz with a more racy take on sexual performance.

Analysts said?�Levitra??�s early success doesn??�t necessarily portend a major threat to Sildenafil??�s market dominance. But it signals a shift in some of the marketing of both drugs as capable of improving group??�s lifestyle, and not just correcting a sobering medical condition.

The ads have much more of a consumer approach, said Winton Gibbons, an analyst for William Blair & Co. The drugs are being treated like otherness consumer products in ads.

Pfizer Inc. , which makes Sildenafil, and GlaxoSmithKline and Bayer Corp., which are co-marketing Levitra, insist the ads are designed to encourage men with male impotence to see a doctor, and not to promote recreational use. Experts say about 30 mil. men over 40 have male impotence.

But the ads can tell a difference story. The commercial for Levitra (vardenafil)features a sexy model trying to throw a football through a tire. Initially, he fails but then he succeeds, and is joined by a very attractive woman. The voice over says, Sometimes you need a little help staying in the game. When it gets in the zone, it??�s good.

Gibbons labeled the ad racy. Hemant Shah, an independent analyst in Warren, N.J., called it aggressive.

Bayer spokeswoman Lara Crissey said the text was designed to appeal to men, and tie into Levitra??�s sponsorship of the National Football League.

We don??�t feel we are making light of the condition. We are talking to men in a language they understand, Crissey said. The ad has nothing to do with recreational use.

Levitra (vardenafil)hit the market the first week of September. According to the research firm, ImpactRx, half the prescriptions for men who had never taken an impotency drug before were written for Levitra.

But analysts said much can happen between the doctor??�s office and the drug store that prevents prescriptions from turning into sales. The man may decide not to fill the prescription or his health plan may pay only for Sildenafil. Also, he might try the drug and never use it again.

Shah said it isn??�t unusual for men to want to try a new product when it comes on the market. That??�s what happened when Sildenafil arrived five years ago.

Back then Sildenafil??�s promotion featured former presidential candidate Bob Dole explaining male impotence as a serious medical condition.

Pfizer??�s ads are more subtle than the Levitra (vardenafil)ad, but Pfizer??�s ads aren??�t as subtle as they used to be, said Shah.

contributed to this report.

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Nutrition firm or herbal cabal? - Crime & Punishment

Dietary supplements firm or herbal cabal?

Prosecutors allege Georgia company, execs engaged in Mob tactics
Gregory Smith / New York Daily News
Jared R. Wheat, president and CEO?�of Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals, poses in front of a display of the company's products?�in a Dec. 22, 2005,?�file photo.

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Until late last year, Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals of Norcross, Ga., appeared to be a thriving business with a hot-selling line of natural dietary supplements. But in a bizarre case quietly unfolding in federal court in Atlanta, prosecutors allege that it was really a criminal enterprise that sold dangerous spiked products and was run by executives who considered assassination and blackmail to quash a federal investigation.

The allegations are the most far-ranging ever leveled against a major player in the loosely regulated dietary supplement industry, and include activities more at home in the Mob hangouts of television's Tony Soprano than a corporate boardroom. Among otherness things, prosecutors allege in court filings that some or all of the defendants:

Discussed killing a U.S. Food and Drug Administration agent and blackmailing an assistant U.S. attorney. Neither plot was carried out, but a Hi-Tech co-founder was subsequently jailed after being convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm silencer. Used the herbal stimulant ephedra in Hi-Tech diet products after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration banned its use on April 12, 2004, finding it presented an unreasonable risk of illness or injury. Sold "herbal" supplements that actually contained the active ingredients of prescription drugs that could interact dangerously with otherness drugs.Illegally imported and sold banned steroids.Manufactured phony ecstasy pills that were sold on U.S. streets.Created a muscle-building drink that was later marketed as a cleaning solution in an effort to mislead investigators.

The shocking allegations spring from the Sept. 7 indictment of the company and 11 executives, employees and associates for allegedly operating an illegal Internet medicine in Belize.

Belize lab?�?� substandard and unsanitary??�
The defendants used numerous Web sites to advertise and sell what were described as generic prescription drugs from Canada but were actually products that they were manufacturing in substandard and unsanitary conditions in Belize, according to the indictment.

Among the substances were the steroids Oxymethelone and Stanozolol, controlled drugs Ambien, Valium and Xanax, and prescription drugs Sildenafil, Cialis, Lipitor and Vioxx, it said.

The indictment also charged Hi-Tech President and CEO Jared R. Wheat, 35, with operating a continuing criminal enterprise ??" a violation of an anti-organized-crime statute that carries a minimum penalty of 20 years in prison. In court filings, prosecutors describe Wheat as a lifelong drug dealer, citing a conviction for dealing ecstasy at the age of 19 in addition to the current allegations.

Wheat has pleaded not guilty to all charges and Hi-Tech said in a statement that it is "appropriately conducting its business and there is no basis for the indictment."

The case raises concerns about the safety of the company??�s line of dietary supplements, which remain available through many major U.S. retailers, and more generally about a loosely regulated industry that supplies nutrition products consumed by mil.s of Americans.

But it remains unclear to what extent the government??�s charges involve Hi-Tech products manufactured and sold in the United States versus those made in Belize for sale over the Internet.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not issued any safety advisories for Hi-Tech products since the indictment. Representatives of the Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Attorney??�s Office in Atlanta said they could not discuss the ongoing criminal case.

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First Read: Laagsdhfgdf from the '08 campaign

Sensational allegations buried in legal filings
The indictment generated a few headlines when it was unsealed in September, but the case has received no attention as it has spiraled into the sensational since then through a series of legal filings by prosecutors.

Allegations that company officials discussed using violence and blackmail in an effort to block the government??�s investigation surfaced March 21 in response to a defense motion asking the court to allow Wheat to post bond and leave the Atlanta jail where he has been held since his arrest on Sept. 14.

CLICK FOR RELATED CONTENTRead the indictment (requires Adobe Acrobat)?�?�Discuss this story on U.S. News message boardArthritis supplements often lack key ingredient

The filing alleged that Hi-Tech co-founder and convicted steroid dealer Tomasz Holda discussed with Wheat, Hi-Tech Vice President Stephen D. Smith and othernesss obtaining a firearm silencer for use in attacking an Food and Drug Administration agent conducting a criminal investigation into Hi-Tech??�s use of Sildenafil in its Stamina Rx product.

The prosecution filing said that while the Food and Drug Administration agent was not harmed, It is important to note that in June 2004, Defendant Holda purchased a silencer on the Internet for delivery to his home. This silencer was intercepted by U.S. Customs and Defendant Holda was prosecuted and ultimately pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm silencer.

The timing of the alleged threat was not specified, but the reference to Stamina Rx appears to refer to an Food and Drug Administration complaint brought against Hi-Tech in late 2002. The complaint charged, among otherness things, that the company used the prescription-strength drug ingredient cialis (tadalafil) ??" the active ingredient in the erectile-dysfunction product Cialis ??" in what it marketed as a natural dietary supplement. Hi-Tech agreed the following year to Food and Drug Administration supervision of its product labeling and marketing, but admitted no wrongdoing in the alleged mislabeling of Stamina Rx??�s ingredients.

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Ex-judge’s trial pumps up giggles - Crime & Punishment

Ex-judge’s trial brings lurid charges to court


Testimony gets a rise out of jurors in conservative Oklahoma town
Mel Root / AP
Former Oklahoma district Judge Donald Thompson walks into the courthouse in Bristow, Okla., with his wife, Paula, after a recess in his trial on June 22. He is charged with four felony counts of indecent exposure, which allegedly occurred in his court during trials.

BRISTOW, Okla. - Serving on the jury in an indecent-exposure trial unfolding in this conservative Oklahoma town has been a giggle-inducing experience.

Former Judge Donald D. Thompson, a veteran of 23 years on the bench, is on trial on charges he used a penis pump on himself in the courtroom while sitting in judgment of othernesss.

Over the past few days, the jurors have watched a defense attorney and a prosecutor pantomime masturbation. A doctor has lectured on the lengths the defendant was willing to go to enhance his sexual performance.

The white-handled sexual device sits before the jury box for hours at a time. Occasionally an attorney picks it up and squeezes the handle, demonstrating the “sh-sh” sound of air rushing through the contraption’s plastic tubing.

The jurors sometimes exchange awkward looks and break into nervous laughter when the agsdhfgdfimony takes a lurid turn.

Thompson, 59, is charged with four counts of indecent exposure, each punishable by up to 10 years in prison. If convicted, he would also have to register as a sex offender, and his $7,489.91-a-month pension would be in jeopardy.

What’s that sound?
Thompson’s former court reporter, Lisa Foster, wiped away tears as she described tracing an unfamiliar “sh-sh” in the courtroom to her boss. She agsdhfgdfified that between 2001 and 2003 she saw Thompson expose himself at least 15 times.

“I was really shocked and I was kind of scared because it was so bizarre,” Foster said.

She agsdhfgdfified that during a trial in 2002, she heard the pump during the emotional agsdhfgdfimony of a murdered toddler’s grandfather.

The grandfather “was getting real teary-eyed, and the judge was up there pumping on that pump,” she said. “It was sickening.”

The allegations came to light after a police officer who was in Thompson’s court heard pumping sounds and took photos of the device during a break in the proceedings.

Thompson took the stand in his own defense, saying the device was a gag gift from a longtime friend with whom he had joked about male impotence. He said he kept the pump under the bench or in his office but didn’t use it.

“In 20-20 hindsight, I should have thrown it away,” he said.

This agsdhfgdfimony rated R
The R-rated agsdhfgdfimony has produced occasional outbursts of laughter and surreal scenes. A man who once served as a juror in Thompson’s court agsdhfgdfified that he never saw the device, but figured out what it was based on movies he had seen.

A. Cuervo / APLisa Foster, the longtime court reporter of former judge Donald Thompson, walks Monday with her husband Neal back into the courthouse for Thompson's indecent exposure trial.The comment sent sidelong glances through the courtroom.

“It sounded like a penis pump to me,” Daniel Greenwood agsdhfgdfified. He said he had seen such devices in “Austin Powers” and “Dead Man on Campus.”

Dr. S. Edward Dakil, a urologist called as an expert witness, repeatedly prompted laughter from the jury when discussion turned to the penis pump. Dakil defended use of the device after defense attorney Clark Brewster said it was an out-of-date a cure for male impotence.

“I still use those,” Dakil agsdhfgdfified.

Brewster paused. “Not you, personally?” he asked.

“No,” Dakil responded as jurors laughed. “I recommend those as a urologist.”

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