Showing posts from November, 2017

A man claims he went down a ‘Raging Rapids’ ride — and came out with an eye-eating parasite

A man in Pennsylvania says he contracted an eye-eating parasite from an amusement park water ride, and he is suing the park for negligence. Robert Trostle claims that he contracted the parasite microsporidia in his left eye from being splashed during a ride at Pittsburgh's Kennywood amusement park in early July. In a complaint filed […]

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Nurse removed from hospital after saying white boys ‘should be sacrificed to the wolves’

Our CRAZY Travel Fiasco + BALI, Here We Come!

Hiiii guys! I am writing to you from the Guangzhou Baiyun airport right now, which is a little city in China that is… interesting, to say the least.

Jonathan and I have been here since 6 a.m. and it’s now almost 4:30 p.m. We ALMOST didn’t get to leave to airport because in Guangzhou you need a visa to even set foot into the city… but we were able to snag 24-hour visas after *quite* a lot of trouble to do so (and getting yelled at by a few security guards).

After a minor experience teaching ourselves the Chinese metro system so that we could check out the city during our epically long layover, where we ended up at a *terrifying* / fascinating / terrifying meat marketplace where we somehow convinced each other to try the local dumplings (basically corn covered in a mystery meat?), and after Jonathan very nearly left me inside of the metro because he got out while it closed on me (yes, closed on meand my massive stuffed-full-of-everything bags…) — we have now finally made the glorious decision of parking ourselves at the VIP lounge near our gate.

This is the mystery meat / dumpling / corn concoction straight out of a bag in Guangzhou. Yep, his face says it all.

Upon sitting down for the first time all day we shoveled our faces with vegetable fried rice, egg rolls, and soup in the lounge (talk about things I haven’t eaten since I was probably 9 at Panda Express in the mall) and I am now happily typing away while J rearranges my overflowing bag (think Brazil nut explosion).

Not only am I thrilled to be blogging and sitting somewhere comfy that has WiFi, I then remembered I had a Lily’s dark chocolate bar and brand new Vital Proteins MATCHA Collagen Powder with me so I melted into a puddle of happiness. It’s the little things, you guys.

(FYI: I don’t travel without Vital Proteins, ever. It’s on my list of airplane non-negotiables right up there with Liquid I.V. for hydration, my Coco Kind Matcha Stick for chapstick and for my under eyes, dark chocolate, and cashews. VP’s new Matcha Collagen is packed with antioxidants and easy to add to anything. I am hooked. Just a lil’ #TBBtravels tip for ya!)

So even thought the egg roll face shoveling experience was pretty much our first time eating in 30 hours and I think we could both desperately use a shower we are still over the moon excited because…

WE ARE GOING TO BALI TONIGHT!

Yep, beautiful Bali, we are coming for you!

A little backstory:

When we landed this morning we thought we flying out to Thailand this afternoon. We decided on Thailand as a backup plan yesterday after a VERY rocky 48 hours trying to decide whether we would still fly to Bali as planned even though the volcano eruption there has been scary and all of the major airports near Bali were closed up until today.

Let’s just say I cried a little last night (okay, a lot… okay, I sobbed hysterically on the plane until I had snot dripping down my face and all over my sweatshirt) and knocked myself out for almost the entire flight to China. When we landed, we saw that there were flights to Jakarta available (which is in Indonesia not that far from Bali) and we both looked each other with eyes that screamed: “WE MUST GO TO INDO.”

So I called the travel agent I frantically hired yesterday when I thought we were planning a trip to Thailand with 5 hours to spare, and told him we’d like very much to fly to Indonesia instead. Yes, we’d even like our Thailand hotel cancelled because our hearts (both of them — not just mine!) were so, so, so set on this trip to Indonesia.

Then we saw that there were not only flights to Jakarta, but that the Denpasar airport in Bali reopened TODAY which means that:

a) I could have saved thousands of dollars by keeping our original flights from LAX to Shanghai, and Shanghai to Bali rather than canceling them and booking all new flights to Thailand and THEN from China to Denpasar at the last second, *but* I have decided to let it go because while it’s upsetting…

Mother Nature will always do her thing and it was too risky for us to know yesterday whether we were going to be able to make it to Bali, AND

b) it’s just money — as I’ve been reminded over the last 30 hours traveling with my love, the only thing that matters is the person you’re with / the love we surround ourselves with / and the journey along the way.

It might sound cliche, but as I sit here in my grimy airport clothes desperately needing to brush my teeth and scrub my face from the Chinese meat market oil that wafted into my face in downtown Guangzhou today… I couldn’t possibly feel more strongly that love is all that matters.

Even as the metro closed on my body today (feel free to laugh — and Danielle Kesich, I owe you an open apology for laughing so hard about you getting your foot stuck in the London tube that one time — I now feel you wholeheartedly) and I clutched onto J and his backpack straps for dear life… I thought to myself, “I wouldn’t rather be anywhere else in the world with any other human. Whatsoever. Period.”

b) Being the type of human who chooses to follow my heart no matter the cost and no matter the extra time/difficulty/work it’s going to take to make it happen, I knew the moment I saw that the Bali airport was reopened that we had to rebook our trip. Call all of our hotels. Tell them it was a false alarm. Cancel our Thailand hotels and flights. Alert our friends in Bali that we were indeed coming.

c) This experience has been a huge lesson for me in learning to GO with the FLOW. If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, then you know… I am simply not someone who is a natural at going with the flow. Jonathan begged me yesterday to just chill out and fly to Shanghai as planned and see what was happening with the Bali airports when we got there. But I worked myself into a tizzy and didn’t want to be stuck in China with no plan. And guess what? Today, after all the rearranging and the tears and the changes of plans, we were still stuck in China all day with little to no plan.

d) Because of the above, and the stress and woe I put myself and him and our travel agent and my poor parents (I call them constantly) through… I never again want to underestimate the value of going with the flow and choosing happiness and calm in all situations.

After I had some sense knocked into me by J telling me last night leaving LA that my stressed mood was really killing our vibe, I have made a conscious effort (for the last 30 hours) to calm down, enjoy every moment of the crazy process, and go with the flow. It’s not about repressing emotions or ignoring how I feel, but rather reminding myself that travel is an adventure and that even when it gets stressful… I’m with my love, we are on vacation, and there’s going to be a great outcome no matter what.

SO NOW! We fly to Bali in two and a half hours and we will be heading into Jimbaran tonight, and then to Ubud in a few days, and then to NIHIWATU on Sumba Island as we have been planning all year and I simply cannot wait.

And as a little more background, in case you think I’m crazy for agonizing between Thailand and Bali, hands down two amazing places no matter what — Bali has been my dream for as long as I can remember. I have never been, and my soul already aches for it.

We planned this trip in February, and every single day since then I have counted down the days and felt an unbearable amount of excitement to be there. Between my schedule and J’s schedule + his Ironman training this year, we have been looking forward to blissing out on this trip and being together OFF of the screens, away from technology, our daily obligations, all of it, more than words can say. I’ve had a vision of the relaxation on this trip for so long that changing that vision and trying to make Thailand fit the mold of what I wanted just felt so off, no matter how hard I tried.

That said, I’m sure if we had gone there after all we would have had the time of our lives. And one day we will — I hope! But this trip, it’s all about Bali.

THAT BALI VOLCANO, THOUGH!

And I have to say, I don’t know what has gotten into me over the last several months and the funk I have been in with blogging…. but writing this post just made my whole entire day and then some.

While I do plan to take some much needed me-time away from technology on this trip, I will definitely be blogging it out and sharing with you guys along the way. Check Insta for behind-the-scenes and I will definitely be back on the blog writing a few times too!

Eeek, YAY!

Mother Nature and the Universe always know what’s up. I know with certainty that there was a reason for all of this mayhem with the way our trip has gone down, and I already know that the first part of that reason was everything I’ve learned from this wild experience so far.

MY LESSONS:

Going with the flow, trusting the original plan, letting go of my control over stressful situations, not letting myself get overly worked up and affecting others in the process, knowing that the people I’m with and the love I have is all that really matters to me in the end, money is just money no matter how much of a bummer it is to throw it away carelessly, and that following my heart is ALWAYS. WORTH. IT. are invaluable lessons in every way.

And I am sure the Universe will present even more to us in the next 12 days that we are here about why our journey took this particular turn.

Regardless, I am so happy that we are still making it to Bali as planned and I feel epically grateful that the volcano is easing up enough for us to arrive.

STAY TUNED for so much more! Love you guys and would love to hear any crazy travel stories you may have…. this is certainly one for the books!

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FDA paves way for new therapies to help cigarette smokers quit

The Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday it is taking new steps to encourage the development of innovative nicotine-replacement therapies to wean smokers off conventional cigarettes. In a blog post on the agency's website, three top officials said they want to ensure the FDA has the right policies to advance new products to help smokers. “Our […]

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An 84-year-old doctor who refuses to use a computer has lost her medical license

Aside from a fax machine and landline telephone, Dr. Anna Konopka, 84, doesn't have much technology in her office. Instead, her patients' records are tucked into two file cabinets, which sit in a tiny office next door to her 160-year-old clapboard house in New London, N.H. Records are meticulously handwritten, she said. Konopka does have a typewriter, but it's broken, […]

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Nurse removed from hospital after saying white boys ‘should be sacrificed to the wolves’

An Indiana hospital system says a nurse is no longer an employee after she was tied to a message on Twitter claiming white women are raising sons “with the HIGHEST propensity to be a terrorist, rapist, racist, killer, and domestic violence all star.” Officials at Indiana University Health said over the weekend they were investigating “several troubling posts on social media” that […]

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A 15-year study of emergency room visits reveals new signs of emotional suffering among the nation's young women and girls — particularly those in their middle school years. Emergency room visits for girls 10 to 14 who inflicted self-pain were relatively stable before 2008 but escalated in the years since, according to new data. It's unclear why […]

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These conjoined twins spent their lives in a hospital. They just went home — as two.

Abby and Erin Delaney have finally gone home — more than five months after the formerly conjoined twins were separated in a rare surgery. Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia said Monday that the twins have been discharged, ending an emotional 485-day stay at the hospital where they were born in summer 2016. For 15 months, the girls had remained […]

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Risk of stillbirth is double in pregnant women who sleep on their backs, study finds

Pregnant women might increase their risk of a stillbirth if they sleep on their backs during their third trimester, a new study has found. The research, published on Monday in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, is the largest of its kind and the clearest evidence yet that sleeping conditions during pregnancy could have significant effects […]

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Thousands of strangers gave a sick child an early Christmas. Days before Thanksgiving, he died.

Jacob Thompson spent nearly half of his short life battling cancer. The 9-year-old boy, who loved penguins, died Sunday, four years after he was diagnosed with Stage 4 neuroblastoma, a rare cancer that affects mostly young children. As his family had expected, Thompson didn’t live long enough for Christmas, a holiday he loves. But shortly before his death, […]

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In a first, scientists edit genes inside a man’s body to try to cure a disease. What’s next?

Postmortem Autopsy-Confirmation of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy

CTE is a subject which should be of interest to every athlete and their family that engages in contact head sports. Your sports career will be relatively short, the rest of your life will be long. CTE will make it even longer and less pleasurable.

A ground breaking scientific study of CTE casts scientific credibility on what was previously a subjective diagnosis. The study could make earlier diagnosis of what could be a chronic disability.

Currently, only presumptive diagnosis of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) can be made in living patients.

We present a modality that may be instrumental to the definitive diagnosis of CTE in living patients based on brain autopsy confirmation of [F-18]FDDNP-PET findings in an American football player with CTE. [F-18]FDDNP-PET imaging was performed 52 mo before the subject's death.

The following symptoms were present before death

Summary of Symptoms Reported by Our Patient's Wife and Next-of-Kin at the Time of his [F-18]-FDDNP-PET Scanning

1.	Difficulty recalling names of familiar people and recent past events.
2.	Problems with tracking conversations.
3.	Began losing personal objects.
4.	Became short-tempered, often felt panicked, was less organized.
5.	Became fixated on ideas and less interested in activities he previously enjoyed.
6.	Transformed from a kind, mild-mannered “gentle giant” to a very agitated person.
	a. Exhibited angry outbursts that were out of character.
7.	Behaved inappropriately as if “his filter was gone.”
8.	Evaluated by a psychiatrist, diagnosed with depression, and “probable CTE.”

Our patient exhibited negative family history for dementia or major psychiatric illness. According to his wife and next-of-kin, he exhibited progressive cognitive decline for many years after retirement from the NFL.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, our results may suggest that the in vivo identification of CTE substrates in living patients may not only be based on the presence or absence of proteinopathies, but also on the identification of the differential and selective topographic vulnerability unique to CTE, which [F-18]FDDNP-PET may be demonstrating. Further prospective studies are needed to assess whether [F18]FDDNP PET can serve as a useful adjunct in the diagnosis of CTE in living patients.

Postmortem Autopsy-Confirmation of Antemortem [F-18]FDDNP-PET Scans in a Football Player With Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy | Neurosurgery | Oxford Academic

A dying vet needed CPR. Hidden video shows his nurse laughing instead.

By the late winter of 2014, James Dempsey had served in a world war, raised children, buried a wife and seen the best of his health behind him. As he prepared for a stay at a nursing home on the outskirts of Atlanta, the 89-year-old began to feel nervous. So his family hid a camera in his room at Northeast Atlanta Health and […]

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Real Talk w/The 19th Surgeon General of the United States | Against Medical Advice 029 - YouTube

What does the surgeon general do? The national media gives a very narrow description of what the surgeon general actually does. Most of the time the description is flat, uncolored and boring. Watch The Zdogg video interview with a surgeon general. Most of the generals rise through the ranks of the USPHS and are commissioned. The USPHS is a branch of the uniformed services of the U.S.A.

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The truth behind the ‘first marijuana overdose death’

A case report about the seizure and death of an 11-month old after exposure to cannabis has prompted headlines about “the first marijuana overdose death” this week. Except that’s not what the doctors meant. “We are absolutely not saying that marijuana killed that child,” said Dr. Thomas Nappe, an author of the report who is now […]

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Background: Major social networking platforms, such as Facebook, WhatsApp, and Twitter, have become popular means through which people share health-related information, irrespective of whether messages disseminated through these channels are authentic.

Objective: This study aims to describe the demographic characteristics of patients that may demonstrate their attitudes toward medical information shared on social media networks. Second, we address how information found through social media affects the way people deal with their health. Third, we examine whether patients initiate or alter/discontinue their medications based on information derived from social media.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional survey between April and June 2015 on patients attending outpatient clinics at King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Patients who used social media (Facebook, WhatsApp, and Twitter) were included. We designed a questionnaire with closed-ended and multiple-choice questions to assess the type of social media platforms patients used and whether information received on these platforms influenced their health care decisions. We used chi-square test to establish the relationship between categorical variables.

Results: Of the 442 patients who filled in the questionnaires, 401 used Facebook, WhatsApp, or Twitter. The majority of respondents (89.8%, 397/442) used WhatsApp, followed by Facebook (58.6%, 259/442) and Twitter (42.3%, 187/442). In most cases, respondents received health-related messages from WhatsApp and approximately 42.6% (171/401) reported ever stopping treatment as advised on a social media platform. A significantly higher proportion of patients without heart disease (P=.001) and obese persons (P=.01) checked the authenticity of information received on social media. Social media messages influenced decision making among patients without heart disease (P=.04). Respondents without heart disease (P=.001) and obese persons (P=.01) were more likely to discuss health-related information received on social media channels with a health care professional. A significant proportion of WhatsApp users reported that health-related information received on this platform influenced decisions regarding their family’s health care (P=.001). Respondents’ decisions regarding family health care were more likely to be influenced when they used two or all three types of platforms (P=.003).

Conclusions: Health education in the digital era needs to be accurate, evidence-based, and regulated. As technologies continue to evolve, we must be equipped to face the challenges it brings with it.

J Med Internet Res 2017;19(11):e382

doi:10.2196/jmir.5989

Twitter, Facebook, and WhatsApp have become mainstream online tools that permit individuals to connect and share information. Furthermore, they permit individuals to share uncontrolled, unsupervised, and unfiltered content, irrespective of time and place [1]. Consequently, the Internet contains a lot of self-created content [2]. Many people are increasingly using social networking sites for health-related purposes. Research has demonstrated that an increasing number of patients are using social networking sites to share their experiences with health care personnel or institutions [3]. Patients also share their experiences with family members and friends via platforms such as Facebook, WhatsApp, and Twitter [4-6]. There is evidence that if social networking is used properly, then it can help patients [7]. For example, a study that promoted breastfeeding among Saudi women showed increased adherence to breastfeeding through a Twitter campaign [8]. Another study that investigated the effect of Twitter on women’s health education demonstrated that women in Saudi Arabia were interested in discussing gynecological complains and breastfeeding-related issues on Twitter [9]. The investigators found that this strategy helped in creating awareness. Moreover, a recent study showed that Twitter was a powerful platform for health promotion strategies [10]. Influential people who have a huge number of followers can constitute an integral part of any health campaign or help in disseminating knowledge.

Concerns about the increasing use of social media to share health experiences and information arise as the use of these sites might affect choices that patients make regarding their health [11]. Furthermore, it might affect the way patients interact with health care professionals. According to one review, information obtained from social networking sites correlated with many measures of quality of care, including performance measures such as mortality and readmission rates [12]. Nevertheless, definitive conclusions cannot be drawn from correlation tests and several questions remain unanswered regarding the impact of patients’ use of social media.

There are few data available regarding the impact of social networking sites on the online health information-seeking behaviors of people in Saudi Arabia [13]. This report will attempt to determine whether advice obtained from social media platforms, such as Facebook and WhatsApp, affect choices that people make about their health care. This study aims to describe the demographic characteristics of patients that may demonstrate their attitudes toward medical information shared on social media networks. Second, we address how information found through social media affects the way people deal with their health. Third, we examine whether patients initiate or alter/discontinue their medications based on information derived from social media.

JMIR-Health-Seeking Influence Reflected by Online Health-Related Messages Received on Social Media: Cross-Sectional Survey | Iftikhar | Journal of Medical Internet Research

In a first, scientists edit genes inside a man's body to try to cure a disease. What's next?

Scientists have attempted to cure a patient with a rare genetic disorder by rewriting the DNA inside his body, in a first-of-its-kind therapy they hope could one day be applied to numerous other conditions including hemophilia and sickle cell disease. The procedure, which took place on Monday at the University of California at San Francisco's Benioff Children's Hospital in Oakland, Calif., involved sending what the […]

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American Heart Association president has heart attack

American Heart Association President John Warner suffered a heart attack during the organization's annual conference in Southern California, where he spoke about his family's history with heart disease. Warner, vice president and chief executive of UT Southwestern University Hospitals in Dallas, was recovering after what the American Heart Association called a “minor” episode Monday morning at the organization's Scientific Sessions, […]

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FDA warns of 'deadly risks' of the herb kratom, citing 36 deaths

The Food and Drug Administration Tuesday issued a strong warning to consumers to stay away from the herbal supplement kratom, saying regulators are aware of 36 deaths linked to products containing the substance. Consumers are increasingly using the supplement, which comes from a plant in Southeast Asia, for pain, anxiety and depression, as well as […]

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Bill Gates joins the fight against Alzheimer’s — and it’s personal

Earlier this year, Washington Post photographer Melina Mara and I traveled with scientists from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to a village deep inside the Congo rain forest, reachable only by boat. The team was hunting for the origins of monkeypox, a mysterious and fatal disease. Monkeypox is a cousin to the deadly […]

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STOCK doctor listening to patient’s heartbeat with stethoscope (stock)

Heart patients have worried that they may die suddenly from having sex, but a new study suggests they probably won’t. Researchers found that less than 1 percent of people who experienced sudden cardiac arrest were having, or just had, sex. Now Sumeet Chugh, one of the study’s authors, has some “happy news” to tell his […]

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Blood pressure of 130 is the new ‘high,’ according to first update of guidelines in 14 years

The nation's heart experts tightened the guidelines for high blood pressure Monday, a change that will sharply increase the number of U.S. adults considered hypertensive in the hope that they, and their doctors, will address the deadly condition earlier. Acting for the first time in 14 years, the American Heart Association and the American College of […]

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Billionaire Bill Gates is personally investing $50 million to help fund research to find a treatment for Alzheimer’s disease, a type of dementia that Gates says has struck members of his own family. There is no cure for Alzheimer’s, which destroys memory and other mental processes, and so Gates said he is investing his own money into the Dementia Discovery Fund, a […]

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Lilly Ross was “terrified” but “excited” to meet the man who had been given her husband's face. Calen “Rudy” Ross had killed himself in 2016, but in death had given a gift to others — his lungs, his kidneys, his face. And although she admitted she probably wasn't quite ready, Ross braced herself to see a part of […]

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New York City officials have closed a preschool in Harlem where a young boy with a severe food allergy died after being given a grilled cheese sandwich. Investigators were at the preschool on Thursday to review the sequence of events. Elijah Silvera's family said staff knew the 3-year-old was severely allergic to dairy products. Elijah went […]

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Should the Pentagon be allowed to authorize the use of unapproved drugs and medical devices on an emergency basis for combat soldiers? That question has sparked a furious battle this week among some of Washington's biggest power players, with the Defense Department and its congressional advocates on one side and the Food and Drug Administration and the […]

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Actor and martial artist Chuck Norris is suing several health-care companies, claiming his wife was poisoned by a chemical used during magnetic resonance imaging scans. In a lawsuit filed last week in San Francisco Superior Court, Chuck and Gena Norris argued that gadolinium, a metal used as a contrast agent in MRI scans, caused Gena to sustain gadolinium deposition disease, experiencing “multiple, […]

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Scientists reported Wednesday that they genetically modified stem cells to grow skin that they successfully grafted over nearly all of a child's body — a remarkable achievement that could revolutionize treatment of burn victims and people with skin diseases. The research, published in the journal Nature, involved a 7-year-old boy who suffers from a genetic disease known as junctional epidermolysis […]

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New evidence of brain damage from West Nile virus, scientists say

Experts who work on the mosquito-borne West Nile virus have long known that it can cause serious neurological symptoms, such as memory problems and tremors, when it invades the brain and spinal cord. Now researchers have found physical evidence of brain damage in patients years after their original infection, the first time for such documentation using […]

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Medtronic’s tiny neurostimulator gets CE mark for multiple indications

Another tool for pain management and avoidance of opioid addiction. President Trump's announcement about the campaign against opioid addiction comes on the failed programs such as the War on Drugs. Why are opioids so addicting ? Because they are so . effective in blocking pain and allowing people to function in the face of chronic pain. Success in decreasing opioid addiction will only come with a successful drug that manages pain as well as opioids, and proper management of pain with alternative treatments. Medtronic's system may help with delivery of micro quantities to the spine and/or neurostimulation to block pain transmission from end receptors to pain centers in the CNS.

Medtronic’s Intellis platform grabbed a CE mark for peripheral nerve and spinal cord stimulation. With the nod, the device is now cleared to treat chronic, intractable pain of the trunk, posterior trunk and limbs.

The Intellis system, which earned the FDA green light in September, is the world’s smallest fully implantable spinal cord stimulation neurostimulator, the company said. The system includes the implant, a patient programmer and a recharger. A physician programs the therapy wirelessly, using a Samsung tablet.

The device is designed to help physicians make better treatment decisions. In addition to delivering pain-relieving neurostimulation, it records patient activity, such as their body position and how they self-administer their treatment, around the clock.

"Rather than rely on patient-reported data, the enhanced activity tracker of the Intellis platform provides real-time data that offers more visibility into quality of life changes," said Jean-Pierre Van Buyten of AZ Nikolaas Hospital in Belgium, where the first European patient received the implant. "Better understanding a patient's experience can lead to a more informed conversation that can help me maximize their pain relief.”

Non-opioid pain treatments are becoming increasingly important—the number of opioids prescribed and sold in the U.S. alone has quadrupled since 1999. While opioids used to be prescribed sparingly—after a surgery or injury, or for managing cancer-related pain—there has been a “dramatic increase” in their use for chronic, non-cancer pain, according to the CDC.

Stem Cell Therapy for TBI | UCSF

Stem Cell Therapy for TBI | UCSF

Due to technical details the formatting of this post is abnormal. I apologize for it.

Latest TBI Research Studies

A clinical trial is a research study designed to assess the safety and efficacy of a treatment or intervention. We are currently helping people see whether they are eligible for a clinical trial of modified stem cell therapy for TBI called STEMTRA (STEM cell therapy for TRAumatic brain injury).

STEMTRA Study

Stem cells are cells that have the potential to develop into different types of tissue within the body. The STEMTRA Study, a Phase II clinical trial, is working to understand whether stem cells taken from adult bone marrow can be used to help improve function after a TBI.

The STEMTRA Study is designed to test the safety and efficacy of a modified stem cell therapy that is administered directly to the injured brain through a neurosurgical procedure. Participants will have approximately seven follow-up visits for additional examinations, questionnaires, video recordings, and brain scans over the following 12 months.

Interested in participating? Take the TBI Survey to let us know. UCSF will review your survey information and if you qualify, we will help you get in contact with study personnel who can answer any questions you may have about the study and further pre-screening.

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This Infographic Shows How Only 10 Companies Own All The World’s Food Brands | GOOD Money

Just when you think there’s no end to the diversity of junk food lining supermarket aisles, an insanely detailed infographic comes along to set us all straight. Out of the hundreds of products at our disposal, only ten major corporations manufacture the bulk of what we toss in our shopping carts.

So whether you’re looking to stock up on anything from orange soda to latte-flavored potato chips, Mondelez, Kraft, Coca-Cola, Nestlé, PepsiCo, P&G, Johnson & Johnson, Mars, Danone, General Mills, Kellogg's, and Unilever own just about everything you could hope to buy. It seems that six degrees of separation theory has been proven after all, if only because we all drink Diet Coke every now and then.

Obviously, the horrors extend far beyond our own shattered daydreams. Massive corporations squash entrepreneurial diversity and make it nearly impossible for startups and small businesses to compete. According to Oxfam’s report, “The world’s largest food and beverage companies have a lot of power – but you have more. And because they’re not using theirs enough to help poor communities or the planet, you can use yours to change the way they do business.”

If you’re looking to avoid contributing to the Big 10 world takeover, try shopping at local farmers’ markets and maybe skip out on soda and highly processed foods altogether. Your body will thank you for it in the long run anyway.In order to visually elucidate that point, Oxfam International created a comprehensive infographic that reveals the extensive reach of the “Big 10” food and beverage companies. Unlikely ties between brands we largely don’t associate with one another show how easy it is to be misinformed about the American food system. For example, PepsiCo produces Quaker granola bars, and Nestlé makes Kit Kat bars but also frozen California Pizza Kitchen pies. To the surprise of many, Pineapple Fanta isn’t sourced straight from the mythical Fanta Islands, but canned right alongside Barq’s root beer at the Coca-Cola factory.

This Infographic Shows How Only 10 Companies Own All The World’s Food Brands | GOOD Money

She signed up to be a surrogate mother — and unwittingly gave her own child away

Jessica Allen was already the mother of two boys when she decided to become a surrogate. The pay she would receive to carry another couple's child to term — $30,000 — would allow Allen to become a stay-at-home mom, as well as save for a new house. It would also be her chance to help another […]

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A California in-home nurse is accused of child abuse after he was seen on camera shoving, hitting and then kicking things at a 6-year-old boy with special needs. Oscar Felix, a vocational nurse with more than a decade of nursing experience, was arrested late Tuesday on suspicion of felony child abuse after the boy's mother reported what police have […]

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