Prescription for Well-Being

Alleged Cure for AIDS Discovered by Jamaican Priest

A Jamaican-born priest has allegedly discovered the cure for AIDS, which was given to him by an angel. Confronted with this cure by the Angel Gabriel in 2002, Vernon Palmer, who has since changed his name to Apostle Shada Mishe since the caucus, was given the cure and directions on how to take the 60 ml doses three times a day for 21 days. Since then, Mishe has allegedly cured approximately 400 people, though the FDA isn't buying this whole cure from Gabriel thing.

Interestingly enough, those that have been cured still test positive for AIDS, so Mishe asked God how that could be. God said that it's because there are still antibodies in people's bodies following the treatment, hence the positive test results. He or she compared it to chicken pox and reminded Mishe of the principle of virology 101, cause apparently they took that course together.

The cure comes from a radioactive isotope of uranium that is found in the palm plant and has been dubbed AMBUSH by Mishe. When taken, it raises the trunk of the users body to 102 degrees and omits proteins that envelope the virus and kill it off. Mishe, who ran for governor of Florida last year but didn't win, said he isn't trying to make money off of the cure but has spent his life's savings on the project cause it falls outside the scope of modern medicine and research.

Combination of Celebrex Plus Lipitor Could Fight Cancer

Celebrex and Lipitor can be used for many things individually, but combined, the two may just be able to fight off one of the most daunting conditions around -- prostate cancer. Often used for various ailments (Celebrex for arthritis and other conditions -- Lipitor for lowering cholesterol), the two combined together were found to combat early stages of prostate cancer in mice. Scientists are now hoping to take the study to the next level of clinical studies where they can hopefully make sure this combination really does combat prostate cancer and while they're at it, maybe they can find out if all those Lipitor memory loss claims hold merit.

Frankly, I haven't had my prostate examined for cancer as of yet, though I imagine it'd be a good idea to do so. But I've heard some horror stories about how they test it out and I'm not really eager about going through the testing. So if this combination were shown to fight off prostate cancer and have no adverse side effects, you could sign me up immediately. Of course, I'd have to see where all of those Lipitor memory loss lawsuits end up first ... did I mention that already?

Malt-O-Meal Recalled Due to Salmonella Outbreak

I never really liked Malt-O-Meal's grits. To me, it was like eating a bowl of wet sand with some butter and/or brown sugar in it and frankly, it made me a little ill. Turns out now it's making others really ill as it's being voluntarily recalled after causing at least 23 people in 14 states to come down with salmonella, the same affliction that those people in Colorado had to endure.

Thanks to the outbreaks, Malt-O-Meal voluntarily recalled two of its products -- unsweetened Puffed Rice and Puffed Wheat cereals, leaving grits out their to be consumed, which isn't such a bad thing if you like them. I actually liked their Puffed Rice cereal as it sort of tasted like that cereal with the frog on the box and the honey and stuff, but this unsweetened one doesn't sound too appealing to me anyway.

In addition to just being distributed under the Malt-O-Meal name, the products were also distributed under the labels Acme, America's Choice and more in several states including California, Colorado (man, what is it with Colorado and salmonella?), New York and others. The FDA is urging people with the products to either throw them away or get a refund. I suggest the refund.

Robber Demands Presription Drugs

People are weird sometimes. Take this guy for example. He walks into a pharmacy and hands the pharmacist a note. A prescription, you ask? Naw. This guys wants drugs and not like whatever's on the shelf, he demands oxycontin, a pain reliever similar to morphine. So in order to get them, he hands the pharmacist a note saying that he had a gun and demanding the drugs. Next thing you know, this guy's running down the streets of Deland, Florida, with a bunch of these drugs.

Turns out that the pills are pretty pricey out there on the open market, with each pill ranging from $10 to $30. Probably could've found them cheaper had they looked here.

Number of Deaths Attributed to Lack of Health Insurance

A report came out that between 18,000 and 22,000 people die each year in the U.S. because of the lack of health care coverage, a startling number considering the availability of health care in this country. This report is particularly interesting given the fact that we have an election coming up, a historic one given the candidates for the world's most powerful office and their positions on this topic.

In addition, it's reported that more than 6,100 residents of Illinois between the ages of 25 and 64 died between 2000 and 2006 due to lack of heath care coverage and that uninsured adults are 25% more likely to die prematurely than those with health care coverage.

Disposing of Your Old Prescription Drugs

I never really thought about it, but Wahoo, Nebraska residents have been given tips on how to go about disposing of their pharmaceutical drugs. I always thought you could just flush them down the toilet or something, but I guess that could cause contamination of the waters that go beyond anything else you would normally flush down the toilet. Naturally the story mentions that pharmaceutical drugs get into the water system anyway through the urine of those using prescription drugs, which is really nasty to me on so many levels. But apparently throwing them in the trash isn't good enough either because someone might dig through your trash and dig out all of the pharmaceutical drugs and use them for bad things that don't involve treating illnesses.

But some of the ways that Wahoo's Director of Pharmacy mentions to dispose of your old drugs is to mix up your old pills with coffee grounds or kitty litter to discourage someone from taking them out and re-using them (because using drugs is one thing, but if they're covered with kitty litter, using them again would be unthinkable) or hiding them in an old soda bottle.

VSU Grad May Have Mad Cow Disease

Oprah and I have a few things in common. OK, maybe not. But one thing we do have in common is the lack of beef on our plates at each meal. My reasons for this are more for the fact that I believe it's healthier to avoid it and I've been doing so for the past 13 years or so, so why go back to beef now? Oprah's reasons? I don't know. I think it had something to do with mistreatment, but I don't recall.

Anyway, now it looks as though a Virginia State University graduate may have contracted the human form of mad cow disease formally known as Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease or vCJD. Apparently this disease attacks the human brain, knocking holes in it like a sponge, which must really suck. Although a cause hasn't been disclosed, I'm guessing that Oprah and I are going to be safe from this one. Now, when that Avian Flu comes around, we're probably screwed.

Maine School Considers Birth Control for 11 Year-Olds

How young is too young for a girl to start using birth control? Well, apparently a Maine school thinks that 11 years-old might be the right age after they announced they're considering distributing birth control pills and patches to students as young as 11 years-old. As you can imagine, the story isn't really endearing to parents who feel as though the program could entice their children to become sexually active.

The school claims to have come across this solution after it found out that five of the 135 students that visited their health center admitted to being sexually active. So the response of the school is to distribute birth control to the girls of the school since they already give out free condoms. When I was in middle school, we got free lollipops in the health center, which looking back was probably a bad thing, too, cause of sugar and cavities and stuff. In fact, I want to say I didn't even know what condoms and birth control were, but I honestly don't remember.

Either way, giving these out to kids so young is debatable. Should the school require parent's permission in order to distribute the birth control or is it acceptable to do so? I imagine that most people would have different ideals surrounding this decision.

Eight Glasses Of Water A Day Isn't Necessary?

When I was younger and listened to my mother all the time (like I should have been doing and should still be doing so), I drank at least eight glasses of water a day even if I wasn't thirsty. It was a burden to do so, but it's what was taken as the right way to live -- eight glasses of water a day. Eight glasses of water a day. It was embedded into my very being that I had to consume that much each day.

Now, a new report shows that drinking that much water each day isn't necessary and that people who consume that much don't have any more health advantages than anyone else who doesn't drink quite that much.

The report does note that you might need more water under certain circumstances, such as if you're on a high protein or high fiber diet, are physically active or are exposed to a warm or hot climate.

Part-Human, Part-Animal Embryo Created in UK

Describing it as a way to conduct testing on several diseases, doctors in the U.K. combined a human embryo and an animal embryo. The process was done by implanting DNA from human cells into eggs taken from a cow because human eggs are too sensitive and scarce to use in such an experiment. The embryos survived for three days and now future experiments of this nature are going to be debated by the Parliament.

As you can imagine, the church wasn't too happy about this experiment and someone even labeled it as being monstrous, which is sort of understandable. When I came across the story, I let out a little gasp and then couldn't believe what I was reading. Cloning in general is a controversial topic, as is anything dealing with human fetuses, so a story where science is involving experiments using both of them is a little worrisome and of course, controversial in many ways.