Ethical concerns about medical ghostwriting have been directed primarily at "guest" authors and the pharmaceutical companies that pay them. One voice that is largely missing is that of the ghostwriters themselves who, after all, create the documents that are in the ethical and legal crosshairs. Without them, one could argue, there can be no fraud, because it is they who create the fraudulent product.
For almost 11 years, I worked as a medical writer, creating a variety of pieces including the occasional ghostwritten article. For the most part, I never saw the finished paper, nor did I care to. This article describes what I did, why I did it, why I stopped doing it, and what I think might be done about the problem of fraud in authorship.
Health & Wellness
These days it's hard to walk down a supermarket aisle without bumping into a food product that claims to be "all-natural." If you've ever wondered how even some junk food products can claim this moniker (witness: Cheetos Natural Puff White Cheddar Cheese Flavored Snacks - doesn't that sound like it came straight from your garden?) the answer is simple if illogical: the Food and Drug Administration has not defined the term natural.
So food marketers, knowing that many shoppers are increasingly concerned about healthful eating, figured: why not just slap the natural label on anything we can get away with? That wishful thinking may soon be coming to an end if a few clever consumer lawyers have anything to say about it.
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In the academy's first comprehensive review of vaccine safety in 17 years, a committee of experts formed by the Institute of Medicine analyzed more than 1,000 research studies. They concluded that benefits outweigh the risks, which are rare and usually not life-threatening.
Comment: Having a "comprehensive review" of 1,000 flawed vaccine studies will only make a more comprehensively flawed study.
Drugs regulators have launched an investigation after packs of the painkiller Nurofen Plus were found to contain antipsychotic drugs.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) issued a safety alert following reports that some batches of Nurofen Plus contained individual blister packs of another drug, Seroquel XL 50mg.
Packs from the three batches -- numbered 13JJ, 57JJ and 49JJ -- have been distributed across the UK and thousands could be affected.
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Grey matter: Stress really can lead to those silver strands
Grey matter: Stress really can lead to those silver strands
They have got to the root of how the 'fight or flight chemical' adrenaline causes damage that may eventually lead to a variety of conditions from the superficial, such as grey hair, to the serious, such as cancer.
The research is still at an early stage but it could one day lead to drugs that help counter some of the medical problems caused by always being under pressure.
The drugs may also have the power to stop people going prematurely grey.
While some view salt-and-pepper locks as a sign of distinction, others worry that it adds years on to their age and makes them stand out from the crowd for all the wrong reasons.
The new hope comes from U.S. researchers who worked out how the stress hormone adrenaline wreaks havoc on the body.
During brief but intense periods of stress, adrenaline is beneficial as it prepares the body to fight or flee.
But when the stress goes on and on, it can start to take its toll on the DNA at the very core of our being.
Comment: There is one proven technique called Éiriú Eolas that can greatly assist you with reducing your stress, to lessen the risk of damaging your DNA and it has many other proven benefits for your mind, body, and emotional well-being.
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The research found more than 25 volatile organic compounds, including seven hazardous air pollutants, coming out of the vents when the top-selling products were used. Of those, two chemicals - acetaldehyde and benzene - are classified by the Environmental Protection Agency as carcinogens.
"These products can affect not only personal health, but also public and environmental health," said lead author Anne Steinemann, a University of Washington professor. "The chemicals can go into the air, down the drain and into water bodies."
Almost none of the volatile chemicals emitted from the products were listed on the products label. Instead, the labels referred to the chemicals in general terms, such as "biodegradable surfactants," "softeners," or "perfume."
You were not meant to be alone: The human body contains and is covered in an almost unimaginably large number of microbes. But eradicating them as we do, intentionally and unintentionally, with the prolific use of antibiotics may be harming our health, according to one scientist who studies our minuscule companions.
"Overuse of antibiotics could be fueling the dramatic increase in conditions such as obesity, type 1 diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease, allergies and asthma, which have more than doubled in many populations," writes Martin Blaser, a professor of microbiology and chairman of the department of medicine at New York University Langone Medical Center.
Humans are sometimes called meta-organisms, because of the sheer number and volume of microbes that share our bodies - living in our guts, on our skin, even in our bellybuttons. Evidence is building for the benefits these healthy microbial communities offer us. They help us access nutrients, such as vitamin K, and energy from complex carbohydrates. They deter dangerous infections, and recent evidence indicates they help keep at bay multiple sclerosis and other autoimmune disorders.
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Doctors who are regularly exposed to X-ray radiation may undergo changes in their cells that protect them from the radiation they encounter, a new study suggests.
These physicians have higher levels of a particular antioxidant called glutathione inside their red blood cells than physicians who don't use X-rays regularly, the study showed. In addition, some of these cells may be better able to self-destruct, which would be protective if they turned cancerous.
However, it's still not clear whether these changes will be beneficial in the long run, or reduce the physicians' cancer risk, said study researcher Dr. Gian Luigi Russo, a senior research scientist at the National Research Council (CNR) in Pisa, Italy. Instead, these alterations might be early indicators of a disease, Russo said.
In the meantime, doctors who frequently work around X-rays should take every precaution to reduce their risk of radiation exposure, the researchers said.
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This is a dilemma many people face in some way or another. A column published in Pyschopharmacology Today offers some advice.
It turns out that the expiration date on a drug does stand for something, but probably not what you think it does. Since a law was passed in 1979, drug manufacturers are required to stamp an expiration date on their products. This is the date at which the manufacturer can still guarantee the full potency and safety of the drug.
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When you live a primal lifestyle there is a good chance a "little" beauty will stand out...
When you live a primal lifestyle there is a good chance a "little" beauty will stand out...
The choice to change our diets often happens when doctors have failed us, medicine isn't working, and there seems to be no hope of recovery from modern illness.
For many of us it's weight gain. For some it's joint pain or depression. For women it's usually some set of hormonally related symptoms.
Simply eliminating packaged foods and switching to a whole foods approach works for many, but a lot of us can't seem to achieve any semblance of health without taking an evolutionary approach to our diet and lifestyle.
Comment: For further reading on the topic of vaccine safety and possible side-effects:
FDA Faults Merck Plant For Charred Shrink Wrap In Vaccine Vials
Warning to Parents: This Vaccine Linked to Sudden Infant Death...
60 Lab Studies Confirm Cancer Link to a Vaccine You Probably Had as a Child
Video: Doctors speak out about H1N1 VACCINE DANGERS
No Value in Any Influenza Vaccine: Cochrane Collaboration Study