Google’s chief executive said he has paralyzed vocal cords, a rare health problem that causes a hoarse voice and constricted breathing. The company said a year ago that he had a voice problem. … Read More
NHS may collapse unless elderly give up hospital beds – British MP
Lamb said that the NHS is under huge pressure from an ageing population, with the number of elderly patients suffering chronic and complex health problems growing and that tackling it would be “the challenge of the 21st century.”“Accident and Emergency [A&E] units are under pressure, ambulances are carrying more patients than they should, significant numbers of people are in hospital who should be cared for elsewhere. The system is becoming dysfunctional and we need to do something about it,” Lamb told the Telegraph.While one of Britain’s most senior A&E doctors, Dr. Cliff Mann, from the College of Emergency Medicine, said that they had begun to feel like “war zones,” and that many doctors were turning their backs on emergency medicine. The current funding system where hospitals have a financial incentive to hang on to patients is at the heart of the problem and currently there is no reward for a hospital to get patients to leave.In an attempt to address the issue, minsters will announce Tuesday plans to co-ordinate NHS services and councils to make sure than more is done to organize home-help for elderly patients or make basic adaptations to their home so that they can return there rather than languishing in hospitals.A series of pilot schemes will be set up to test more joined up ways for health and social care providers to work together. The plan is that the schemes will be expanded to every part of the country by 2015.“At the moment the system is horribly fragmented and that means bad care – distress, crises occurring that could be avoided, massive disruption to people’s lives. If we carry on as we are the system will collapse,” said Lamb.Hospital regulators have also announced a review of the NHS funding system to encourage hospitals to release patients earlier.Other plans which could be implemented under the review include giving elderly patients their own personal NHS worker who would manage all their care needs including home help and physiotherapy, as well as medical treatment.While the system of paying doctors for completing specific activities will also be overhauled so that they are only rewarded for actual improvements in a patient’s health.Lamb’s announcement comes just days after David Prior, the head of the UK’s Care Quality Commission (CQC), the leading UK health watchdog, said that acute beds for the elderly must be closed and that admissions through A&E are out of control.Robert Francis QC, who conducted the review into failings at the Mid-Staffordshire NHS trust, which led to the deaths of 1,200 people between 2005 and 2009, told the Nursing Times that while doctors and hospital managers understood that serious changes need to be made, certain members of the nursing profession were not taking the problem seriously enough. … Read More
New Study Proves Bt Toxins in GMOs Toxic to Mammalian Blood
According to a new study, the ‘Cry’ toxins that Monsanto’s GMO crops have been genetically modified to produce are a lot more toxic to mammals than previously thought, primarily to the blood. … Read More
Russia takes lead on global road safety initiatives
Around half of those killed in these accidents are pedestrians, cyclists or motorcyclists. The impact on families and society is devastating. Strategies exist that are proven to reduce road traffic injures and, through their implementation, a number of countries have successfully taken steps to reduce their rod traffic death toll.Russia is among those countries that have worked successfully to cope with the problem, reducing the number of deaths and injures and becoming active in promoting road safety on the international stage.In November 2009, Russia hosted the first Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety in Moscow, which led to the adoption of a resolution by the UN General Assembly in 2010. Sponsored by Russia and many other countries, this resolution later led to the approval of the international ‘Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020,’ designed to tackle what it described as “a major public health problem which, if unaddressed, may affect the sustainable development of countries and hinder the progress towards the Millennium Development Goals.”The importance of reducing road injures was also recognized in the Rio+20 Communique ‘The Future We Want,’ which followed the Russian proposal at the summit.Russia is also an active member of the Commission for Global Road Safety, which has been a leading advocate for a stronger international response to the global plague of road traffic injures.On May 7, 2013, Russia will host another major road safety event in St. Petersburg: The ‘Decade of Action Policy & Donor Forum 2013: Safe Roads for All.’ It is an annual event that brings together international policymakers, philanthropies, NGOs and private-sector companies to review the progress of the UN’s ‘Decade of Action for Road Safety,’ and to share international examples of best practices. The meeting summit will review the policies and interventions that major emerging economies – including the BRICS nations – can use to ensure the safety of all travelers in an age of rapid motorization.A new report will be published at this meeting by the Commission for Global Road Safety, and will include policy recommendations for the automotive industry. Issues to be also covered include safer road infrastructure, vehicle crash testing programs, new vehicle technologies, pedestrian safety measures and a post-2015 sustainable development agenda.Though there are clear sign of improvement in this sphere, some reports, including by the WHO, show that road death injury continues to increase in some countries. It is now vitally important to maintain the momentum and positive trends, like those we have in Russia, to build up our countermeasures against this problem.Russia’s St. Petersburg summit will be another opportunity to do just that ahead of the ‘Friends of the Decade’ gathering of governments, UN agencies and leading road safety NGOs in Stockholm in June 2013. … Read More
Time to pull the plug on the ‘bin Laden’ 500 euro note – Bank of America
The debate to discontinue the €500 ($655) note is being revisited, this time by Bank of America analyst and former International Monetary Fund employee Athanasios Vamvakidis, the Wall Street Journal reported.In a research note released on Tuesday, Vamvakidis argues pulling the high denomination bill from circulation would lead to a slight depreciation in the euro, which would benefit local exports, and in turn, increase GDP. Above all, discontinuing the banknote would directly target organized crime.Because many of the banknotes are tied up in contraband activity, this creates a ‘store of value’ according to Vamvakidis, and is the core problem with the €500 bill, as they end up as ‘mattress money’. This money doesn’t circulate through the economy in day to day transactions, and for this reason they should be done away with.A European Central Bank study found only one-third of these notes are actually used for transactions the rest lay dormant.The €500 notes were first printed in 2002, and since their introduction, only one-third are in circulation, according to a study by the ECB. Because of their high value, they are used for saving, not spending.Another point of contention is fraud. In May 2012, the EU confiscated 250,000 fake euro notes.In May 2011, it was pulled from distribution in the United Kingdom, after police traced over 90% of the banknotes to criminal activity- from tax evasion to terrorism.There is no clear message from the ECB that they plan to eradicate the note.Timing is everythingIf the ECB were to follow the advice of Vamvakidis, timing is everything, as they need to determine an appropriate transition period. Too short, and people could literally lose money overnight, and be left with worthless tender. Too long, the suspected criminal demographic that hold a majority of the currency could find a way to trade in their black market cash.Vamvakidis proposes a month.The catch is, if people want to cash in their ‘bin Ladens’, they have to be able to prove the legitimacy of the source, which, could be difficult for citizens and criminals alike.”It is very easy way to tax this illegal activity,” said Vamvakidis.Bank of America suggested the ECB announce it will exchange the 500 euro banknotes for smaller bills up to a certain time and under the condition that their owners can prove the legal origin of the funds. This, according to the bank, would deprive criminals of much of their funds.The ECB has said the ‘bin laden’ note plays an integral role in the European economy, and is not likely to make an exit anytime soon. “High-denomination euro banknotes fulfil an important role as a store of value,” ECB President Mario Draghi said last year. … Read More
Gothenburg trains face Friday delays
An electrical problem near Gothenburg is set to delay rail traffic locally until engineers fix the fault on the first stretch of the important west to east coast track. … Read More
A reality star we didn’t really know
We all know Shain Gandee, the edited persona on TV, the one who was supposed to represent Shain Gandee the person, whose untimely death surprised us when it was reported Monday afternoon. Even if you never saw the MTV television series “Buckwild,” on which he appeared, you know Shain. You have friends like him.I’m not thinking about the go-along-get-along guy who’s up for anything, the one who’s so routinely cheerful that everyone is always happy to have him around. I’m also not thinking about the inventive problem solver: the one who listens carefully to everyone else’s wildest desires; responds, “We can do that”; and figures out exactly how to satisfy them.We know Shain, because he was the one who wanted, but never quite got, the prettiest girl in the room. Though the young women on the show mentioned how much they liked his personality and admired his mechanical talents, they weren’t interested in him romantically. That must have hurt. We know this pain. We understand it. And we love those who suffer from it, for their quiet, unrequited yearning.Continue Reading… … Read More
