Tag Archives: family-coverage

Ecstasy Used In Therapy To Treat PTSD

Posted on September 22, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Comments Off on Ecstasy Used In Therapy To Treat PTSD

Approximately 18 percent of U.S. soldiers returning from the Iraq and Afghan wars in the first decade of the 21st century have been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), a condition characterized by debilitating anxiety. New research published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology investigated the safety and efficacy of MDMA, a controlled substance known on the street as “ecstasy,” for treatment of PTSD. The researchers found 58 percent of subjects experienced improved symptoms compared to placebo. This double-blind pilot study involved 20 test subjects. To be eligible, they had to meet all the criteria for crime or war-related chronic PTSD. Their symptoms had to be moderate to severe, as well as resistant to at least three months of prior treatment with traditional PTSD drugs. The researchers split the test subjects into two groups. In the experimental group, 12 subjects underwent two 8-hour psychotherapy sessions while dosed with MDMA. In the control group, 8 subjects underwent two 8-hour psychotherapy sessions while dosed with a placebo. To measure the outcomes, the researchers used the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS) test to assess the subjects’ symptoms before treatment, four days after treatment, and two months after treatment. At all three measured points in time, 10 of the 12 MDMA-treated patients (83 percent) showed a clinical response to the treatment, whereas only 2 of the 8 placebo-treated patients (25 percent) did. Furthermore, those in the placebo group were offered to be treated with MDMA after they completed the first trial and 100 percent no longer met the criteria for PTSD. An unexpected result of the study was the return of three participants to work, who were previously unable due to PTSD symptoms. Treatment with MDMA was safe, though subjects showed elevated blood pressure and body temperature while on the drug, these effects did not last. PTSD poses a significant risk to those afflicted with it. Traditional drug therapy for PTSD effectively treats about 45 to 47 percent of the patients. Victims of the condition tend to experience much higher incidences of disability, emotional suffering, drug abuse, and suicide. The researchers suspected that MDMA might help PTSD patients because the drug is known to “decrease feelings of fear while maintaining a clear-headed, alert state of consciousness.” added by: singrrr

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Corporations Want to Control Your Intertubes.

Posted on September 22, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Comments Off on Corporations Want to Control Your Intertubes.

Net neutrality is one of the bedrock principles of the Internet. It means that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) must treat all websites equally. They cannot make it easier load some websites, and more difficult to load others. It's what ensures your ISP can't privilege Fox News over Daily Kos. But net neutrality is not the law of the land, so ISPs can abandon it at any time. In fact, Google and Verizon have proposed that net neutrality be abandoned for the mobile web. And they have proposed other violations of net neutrality which would end the Internet as we know it. We cannot allow this to happen. http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/netneutrality_dkos/index2.html Nothing good is likely to make its way through Congress anytime soon, so Daily Kos is joining with CREDO to urge Julius Genachowski, the Chair of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), to take action. http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/netneutrality_dkos/index2.html Tell FCC Chairman Genachowski to act–don't let corporations write their own rules. Yesterday was the one-year anniversary of Chairman Genachowski's first major speech as head of the FCC, in which he committed to protecting net neutrality. However, despite having the votes on the FCC to pass strong net neutrality rules, Genachowski has avoided taking the necessary action to do so. There's no good excuse for his dithering. The regulatory vacuum his inaction has created set the stage for the Google and Verizon proposal, in which they are attempting to write the rules that would govern their behavior. To see what happens when large corporations write their own rules, we just need look at Wall Street, or the Gulf of Mexico. We can't let that to happen to the Internet, too. We must push Chairman Genachowski to act before it's too late. http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/netneutrality_dkos/index2.html Sign the petition–tell Chairman Genachowski to protect net neutrality.. The Daily Kos community is only possible because of net neutrality. It created the free and open Internet, which allowed netroots activism to flourish. Without net neutrality, it would be impossible for smaller websites, such as ours, to compete. FCC chair Genachowski needs to step up. Join with thousands of others to remind Genachowski to fulfill his promise before it's too late. Make the FCC stop dithering–sign the letter to protect net neutrality now! Save the Intertubes, Joan McCarter, Daily Kos added by: neocongo

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Jimmy Carter Talks Tea Party And Masturbation On Daily Show

Posted on September 22, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Comments Off on Jimmy Carter Talks Tea Party And Masturbation On Daily Show

When Bill Clinton appeared on the Daily Show last week, he kept things all business, giving an intricate discussion of the ways America can fix its economy. His Democratic presidential predecessor however, was there to have fun. Jimmy Carter, promoting his new book White House Diary, was jovial from the beginning, telling Jon Stewart that he was looking forward to the Rally to Restore Sanity. He even joined in on the media’s favorite pastime of the moment; making fun of Christine O’Donnell. Stewart asked Carter if, looking over his old diary entries, he felt hope in the direction the country was going. Carter responded with a quick “no,” citing the polarization of the nation which he partly blamed on Fox News. However, he then made a point of comparing himself as a candidate to the Tea Party of today, saying he “occupied the same position,” that of being a “fresh face” going up against the establishment. Still, though, he made an important differentiation between himself and the movement; he’s never dabbled in witchcraft. If that wasn’t enough, Carter then told Stewart he had “one more confession to make.” Looking the host in the eye, Carter told him that, as a young man, he was not “100% against…” Stewart silenced him before he could finish the sentence. No matter what you feel about Jimmy Carter, how many other 85 year old former presidents are going to go on comedy shows and discuss their personal histories with…being personal? I mean, sure, Rutherford B. Hayes would have if television had been invented (legend has it that the hair on his palms were as bushy as his beard), but that’s about it. So kudos to you, Jimmy Carter! added by: TimALoftis

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Chess Came from Outer Space

Posted on September 22, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Comments Off on Chess Came from Outer Space

The most hotly contested leadership vote of the season will take place next week in the small Siberian city of Khanty-Mansiysk. Delegates from more than 100 countries will choose between two Russian candidates after a lengthy campaign filled with acrimony and allegations of corruption. The prize at stake is the top position in world chess – president of the World Chess Federation (Fide) – and the contest is being fought between former chess grandmaster Anatoly Karpov, and the current president, the eccentric Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, a millionaire and the leader of Kalmykia, an oil-rich Buddhist region on the Caspian coast. Mr Ilyumzhinov is no normal politician. He counts among his friends the American actor Chuck Norris and the late Saddam Hussein, has made chess lessons mandatory for all schoolchildren during his two decades in power in Kalmykia, and has built the largest Buddhist temple in Europe. Oh, and he also believes that chess was brought to Earth by aliens, and that if not enough people take up the game, the aliens might destroy our planet. Author of an autobiography with chapter headings that include “Without me the people are incomplete” and “It only takes two weeks to have a man killed”, Mr Ilyumzhinov has combined his political job with running Fide since 1995. Mr Ilyumzhinov met with The Independent in Moscow to put forward his platform for the Fide elections, and to share his views on life. First, though, he wanted to talk about his latest grand plan. Perturbed by protests over the “Ground Zero Mosque”, he has written to New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, offering $10m (

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5 major insurers stop selling new child-only health plans

Posted on September 22, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Comments Off on 5 major insurers stop selling new child-only health plans

All of these companies paid their CEO millions while they refuse health care to children. INDIANAPOLIS — Several health insurers say they will stop selling new child-only individual insurance policies as they face a health care reform provision that will prevent them from excluding children with potentially costly pre-existing conditions. An insurance industry representative said the decision affects a relatively small population and is being made to keep costs down for all policyholders. But a Georgetown University researcher said some middle-class children could be left vulnerable by the ensuing lack of coverage options. Several provisions of the health care overhaul went into effect Thursday, six months after it was signed into law. One of those could help parents who have struggled to find coverage for children with expensive medical conditions. Under the provision, insurers will not be able to exclude children from coverage because of a pre-existing health condition. This means they will no longer be able to deny coverage or agree to cover the child except for services related to certain conditions. However WellPoint Inc., UnitedHealth Group Inc., Aetna Inc., Cigna Corp. and Humana Inc. — the five largest publicly traded health insurers based on enrollment — all have said recently they will stop selling child-only individual policies, although those children can still get coverage through a family plan in the individual market. Individual insurance is coverage that is not offered through an employer and includes both single and family coverage. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39314403/ns/health-health_care/ added by: elsonwvu

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