Good morning! Sorry I don’t post at night very often anymore, but the wireless internet at my apartment hates me.

Watching The Hills made my day yesterday. Not because it’s a good show. Which, let me tell you- it isn’t. I’m not even sure you could really call it a show, since nothing happens on it and there’s hardly any dialogue. It’s more like glorified people watching.

But, I wasn’t really watching anyway. Instead, I was chatting with Brittni and Sheryl, who I went over to see more than to watch insipid television. I haven’t seen them much since I left for China. We caught up on each other’s lives briefly. I insulted Brittni’s painting. Not really, she’s a great artist, I just tease her. They ate cupcakes and tried to force me to eat one, but I held out. Not because of my amazing will power, but because I don’t really like cake. Now, if they were trying to force me to eat Thin Mints or beef…

The point is, I used to live with those girls and could see them everyday. We never had to catch up because we were there in each others’ lives. I liked that. It’s been even longer since I’ve seen Marissa and I miss the crap out of her. After living with someone you enjoy, having to schedule times to meet is the worst. Like, when Erica went home and I could only see her a few times a year.

I need a really large house and for my friends to be bums so they have no other option but to live with me and be hanging around the house all the time. Because, I am lame and need vastly funnier, more interesting people to be around.

Mr. Magic

Mr. Magic was a legendary DJ who debuted in 1979 on a pay-to-play broadcast on WHBI 105.9’s “The Mr. Magic Disco Showcase.”

In 1983, he launched “Mr. Magic’s Rap Attack,” in New York City which featured a young DJ Marley Marl in addition to future Co-Chillin Record label owner Tyrone “Fly Ty” Williams.

Mr. Magic, born John Rivas, was also a co-founder of the legendary Hip-Hop collective The Juice Crew, which featured Biz Markie, Roxanne Shante, Marley, Marl, MC Shan, Craig G., Kool G. Rap and Masta Ace.

Mr. Magic’s radio show influenced countless of artists, ranging from rappers like Tupac Shakur, KRS-One, Biggie Smalls, Nas, Eric B. and Rakim, DJ Premier and countless others.

“He paved the way for all radio stations that ever did mix shows,” DJ Premier said via his blog. “Also sparked the career of Boogie Down Productions due to the diss he showed when they came to shop their demo to him and was turned away which then sparked “South Bronx” and “The Bridge is Over.”

Mr. Magic was featured as a DJ on 2002’s Grand Theft Auto’s fictitious radio station Wildstyle Pirate Radio.

Okay, kids, here’s a little medical lesson for the day…

The vast majority of the time the media has no idea what it’s talking about when reporting medical events.  Just assume they are either getting the details wrong or using the wrong terminology.  It was decades ago, when I realized how incorrectly most medical stories were reported, that I figured the media were probably getting a LOT of the news wrong in general and I stopped taking most of what I heard at “face value”.  A doctor I worked for was interviewed for a radio piece because a famous person was having the sort of procedure done that this doctor did.  Not only did they get the doctor’s name wrong, they explained the procedure incorrectly and pronounced the name of the procedure incorrectly.  I shook my head the entire way through the “story” and purposed in my heart to question the media all the time in the future.

That’s the general lesson for the day.  Now for the specific lesson…

1)  When someone tells you that a person died from a)  cardiac arrest, or even more impressively, b)  cardiopulmonary arrest, all this means is that they died because a)   their heart stopped beating effectively enough to support life (or stopped altogether), or, in the case of b)  their heart and lungs stopped working.  EVERYONE who dies, let me repeat that, EVERYONE who dies, suffers from cardiac arrest/cardiopulmonary arrest.  Period.  If your heart is beating you are alive, even if you are “brain dead”.  You can suffer a respiratory arrest, which left uncorrected ALWAYS leads to a cardiac arrest.  Also, if a person is in cardiac arrest they are not breathing, which is a respiratory, or pulmonary, arrest.

2)  Cardiac arrest is not the same as heart failure which is not the same as a heart attack.  These are three separate entities.  They CAN be found in conjunction with one another, but one doesn’t necessarily lead to the other, and because one suffers one it doesn’t mean it was caused by the other.

A cardiac arrest is exactly what it sounds like.  The heart stops, or arrests.  This is incompatible with life.

Heart failure is when part or all of the heart ceases to operate well leading to inadequate pumping which in turn leads to a build up of fluids and decreased oxygenation.  A person with heart failure is sick or compromised to varying degrees.  This can be a chronic condition, or an acute (sudden onset) condition, or a chronic (longstanding) condition with an acute exacerbation.

A heart attack, or myocardial infarction (MI), is when the blood supply to the heart itself is disrupted (by a clot, or occlusion from coronary artery disease or  a spasm) and part of the heart muscle dies.  This is an acute condition.  Depending on the vessel involved and the degree of blood supply disruption it can be mild to severe. 

Angina is a term which basically means chest pain.  It is heart pain caused by a diminished oxygen supply to a part of the heart.   A person can have angina in the absence of a heart attack.  A person can have a heart attack in the absence of angina.

In addition to the above terms, you should know about SCA, or Sudden Cardiac Arrest.  This is when the heart simply stops beating in a manner which supports life.  This is usually attributed to a direct blow to the chest or to an electrical conduction abnormality. 

The treatments/interventions for each of these conditions can vary.  A person with a heart attack does not need CPR until they suffer a cardiac arrest.  A person with a cardiac arrest has not necessarily had a heart attack.  A person with heart failure may go into cardiac arrest.  A person who suffers a heart attack may well go into heart failure.  A person with heart failure may suffer a heart attack.  A person with respiratory arrest needs to have that problem addressed.  Solving the lack of oxygen problem keeps the person from going into cardiac arrest.  A person with a heart attack needs to have blood flow restored to the heart.  The vessels that are affected need to be opened up.  A person in heart failure needs to have fluids removed and have their heart given meds to work stronger and more effectively.  A person in sudden cardiac arrest needs to be shocked/defibrillated immediately.  CPR alone does not bring a person out of sudden cardiac arrest.

It’s probably because I’m a nurse, but it really makes me insane to hear the illumati in the media discuss medical stuff that they clearly haven’t done a picogram of homework on.  They sound stupid and they don’t even know it.

The reason I am posting this is because of the recent death of Michael Jackson.  I grew up on Michael’s music and watched with increasing dismay over the years as he morphed into someone I ceased to recognize.  He must have been a much tormented individual.  He lived a very private life.  The cause of death originally reported and reported and reported by the media was “cardiopulmonary arrest”, which means nothing, except that basically the cause of death was death.  The coroner’s job is to determine what lead to the cardiopulmonary arrest.  In the case of Michael Jackson one can speculate to many causes. 

Did he have coronary artery disease (CAD)?  Did he overdose on medications which caused respiratory depression/arrest which lead to cardiac arrest?  Did he do some sort of drug that caused spasms in his coronary arteries?  Did he have a cardiac arrhythmia (abnormal heart beat) that caused clots which blocked his arteries?  Did he have hypertension, high cholesterol, kidney disease, liver disease, lung disease???  Did he have some sort of inflammatory condition?  Did he have NONE of these issues and did he suffer a sudden cardiac arrest?

I don’t believe that it is important that WE know what happened to him (unless he was given an overdose of meds from a source other than himself or some purposeful crime against him was committed), but it IS important for his children to know in case there is a condition which they might have inherited that they should be screened for and monitored for in the future.

Whatever the report ends up being, listen the words of the coroner’s report, and NOT the interpretation of some media talking head. 

Remember, most of them don’t have a clue what they’re talking about…

This has been a simple overview of basic heart stuff you might want to know.  It is in no way comprehensive.  I hope it helps you be a more informed consumer of the average news story about Michael Jackson and others who suffered “cardipulmonary arrest”.

…

LOS ANGELES — Michael Jackson, the “King of Pop” who once moonwalked above the music world, died Thursday as he prepared for a comeback bid to vanquish nightmare years of sexual scandal and financial calamity. He was 50.

Jackson died at UCLA Medical Center after being stricken at his rented home in Holmby Hills. Paramedics tried to resuscitate him at his home for nearly three-quarters of an hour, then rushed him to the hospital, where doctors continued to work on him.

“It is believed he suffered cardiac arrest in his home. However, the cause of his death is unknown until results of the autopsy are known,” his brother Jermaine said. Police said they were investigating, standard procedure in high-profile cases.

Jackson’s death brought a tragic end to a long, bizarre, sometimes farcical decline from his peak in the 1980s, when he was popular music’s premier all-around performer, a uniter of black and white music who shattered the race barrier on MTV, dominated the charts and dazzled even more on stage.

His 1982 album “Thriller” _ which included the blockbuster hits “Beat It,” “Billie Jean” and “Thriller” _ is the best-selling album of all time, with an estimated 50 million copies sold worldwide.

At the time of his death, Jackson was rehearsing hard for what was to be his greatest comeback: He was scheduled for an unprecedented 50 shows at a London arena, with the first set for July 13.

As word of his death spread, MTV switched its programming to play videos from Jackson’s heyday. Radio stations began playing marathons of his hits. Hundreds of people gathered outside the hospital. In New York’s Times Square, a low groan went up in the crowd when a screen flashed that Jackson had died, and people began relaying the news to friends by cell phone.

“No joke. King of Pop is no more. Wow,” Michael Harris, 36, of New York City, read from a text message a friend had sent him. “It’s like when Kennedy was assassinated. I will always remember being in Times Square when Michael Jackson died.”

The public first knew him as a boy in the late 1960s, when he was the precocious, spinning lead singer of the Jackson 5, the singing group he formed with his four older brothers out of Gary, Ind. Among their No. 1 hits were “I Want You Back,” “ABC” and “I’ll Be There.”

He was perhaps the most exciting performer of his generation, known for his backward-gliding moonwalk, his feverish, crotch-grabbing dance moves and his high-pitched singing, punctuated with squeals and titters. His single sequined glove, tight, military-style jacket and aviator sunglasses were trademarks, as was his ever-changing, surgically altered appearance.

“For Michael to be taken away from us so suddenly at such a young age, I just don’t have the words,” said Quincy Jones, who produced “Thriller.” “He was the consummate entertainer and his contributions and legacy will be felt upon the world forever. I’ve lost my little brother today, and part of my soul has gone with him.”

Jackson ranked alongside Elvis Presley and the Beatles as the biggest pop sensations of all time. He united two of music’s biggest names when he was briefly married to Presley’s daughter, Lisa Marie, and Jackson’s death immediately evoked comparisons to that of Presley himself, who died at age 42 in 1977.

As years went by, Jackson became an increasingly freakish figure _ a middle-aged man-child weirdly out of touch with grown-up life. His skin became lighter, his nose narrower, and he spoke in a breathy, girlish voice. He often wore a germ mask while traveling, kept a pet chimpanzee named Bubbles as one of his closest companions, and surrounded himself with children at his Neverland ranch, a storybook playland filled with toys, rides and animals. The tabloids dubbed him “Wacko Jacko.”

“It seemed to me that his internal essence was at war with the norms of the world. It’s as if he was trying to defy gravity,” said Michael Levine, a Hollywood publicist who represented Jackson in the early 1990s. He called Jackson a “disciple of P.T. Barnum” and said the star appeared fragile at the time but was “much more cunning and shrewd about the industry than anyone knew.”

Jackson caused a furor in 2002 when he playfully dangled his infant son, Prince Michael II, over a hotel balcony in Berlin while a throng of fans watched from below.

In 2005, he was cleared of charges he molested a 13-year-old cancer survivor at Neverland in 2003. He had been accused of plying the boy with alcohol and groping him, and of engaging in strange and inappropriate behavior with other children.

The case followed years of rumors about Jackson and young boys. In a TV documentary, he acknowledged sharing his bed with children, a practice he described as sweet and not at all sexual.

Despite the acquittal, the lurid allegations that came out in court took a fearsome toll on his career and image, and he fell into serious financial trouble.

Michael Joseph Jackson was born Aug. 29, 1958, in Gary. He was 4 years old when he began singing with his brothers _ Marlon, Jermaine, Jackie and Tito _ in the Jackson 5. After his early success with bubblegum soul, he struck out on his own, generating innovative, explosive, unstoppable music.

The album “Thriller” alone mixed the dark, serpentine bass and drums and synthesizer approach of “Billie Jean,” the grinding Eddie Van Halen solo on “Beat It,” and the hiccups and falsettos on “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’.”

The peak may have come in 1983, when Motown celebrated its 25th anniversary with an all-star televised concert and Jackson moonwalked off with the show, joining his brothers for a medley of old hits and then leaving them behind with a pointing, crouching, high-kicking, splay-footed, crotch-grabbing run through “Billie Jean.”

The audience stood and roared. Jackson raised his fist.

By then he had cemented his place in pop culture. He got the plum Scarecrow role in the 1978 movie musical “The Wiz,” a pop-R&B version of “The Wizard of Oz,” that starred Diana Ross as Dorothy.

During production of a 1984 Pepsi commercial, Jackson’s scalp sustains burns when an explosion sets his hair on fire.

He had strong follow-up albums with 1987’s “Bad” and 1991’s “Dangerous,” but his career began to collapse in 1993 after he was accused of molesting a boy who often stayed at his home. The singer denied any wrongdoing, reached a settlement with the boy’s family, reported to be $20 million, and criminal charges were never filed.

Jackson’s expressed anger over the allegations on the 1995 album “HIStory,” which sold more than 2.4 million copies, but by then, the popularity of Jackson’s music was clearly waning, even as public fascination with his increasingly erratic behavior was growing.

Jackson married Lisa Marie Presley in 1994, and they divorced in 1996. Later that year, Jackson married Deborah Rowe, a former nurse for his dermatologist. They had two children together: Michael Joseph Jackson Jr., known as Prince Michael, and Paris Michael Katherine Jackson. Rowe filed for divorce in 1999.

Cardiac arrest is an abnormal heart rhythm that stops the heart from pumping blood to the body. It can occur after a heart attack or be caused by other heart problems.

Billboard magazine editorial director Bill Werde said Jackson’s star power was unmatched. “The world just lost the biggest pop star in history, no matter how you cut it,” Werde said. “He’s literally the king of pop.”

Jackson’s 13 No. 1 one hits on the Billboard charts put him behind only Presley, the Beatles and Mariah Carey, Werde said.

“He was on the eve of potentially redeeming his career a little bit,” he said. “People might have started to think of him again in a different light.”

official website of Michael Jackson: http://www.michaeljackson.com/

___

Associated Press Writers Derrik J. Lang, Solvej Schou and Thomas Watkins in Los Angeles and Virginia Byrne, Hillel Italie, Nekesa Mumbi Moody and Jocelyn Noveck in New York contributed to this report.

Source: huffingtonpost.com

Queen’s University Belfast academics have helped develop an antioxidant supplement which may slow down sight loss in elderly people.

The supplement may help those affected by the leading cause of blindness in the Western World, a five-year research program has found.

Professor Usha Chakravarthy, from Queen’s Centre of Vision and Vascular Science (CVVS), co-ordinated the study, which looked at nutritional supplements for patients with early age-related macular (AMD) degeneration and found they helped sharpen vision.

Details of the findings are being presented in Belfast today (Friday) by Professor Chakravarthy and Dr Stephen Beatty, Head of Vision Research at the Waterford Institute of Technology.

They co-designed the study and the antioxidant supplement was developed with the advice of Professor Ian Young from the School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences at Queen’s and scientists in eyecare companies Dr Mann Pharma and Bausch and Lomb.

AMD is an incurable eye disease which causes blurring of central vision because of its effects on the macula, the central part of the retina.

Over 400 people across Ireland took part in clinical trials investigating whether carotenoids, rich antioxidants which are found in fruit and vegetables, could prevent progression to the more serious late AMD.

When the eye disease progresses to late AMD patients are unable to read, watch television or recognise people’s faces as they only have peripheral vision, not central vision.

Professor Chakravarthy, who is also a Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon at the Royal Hospital in Belfast, said: “Late AMD causes severe sight loss and has a huge economic impact both in terms of the effects of sight loss itself and in terms of the expensive treatments that are needed to deal with the condition.

“Up to 500 people a year in Northern Ireland will lose sight in one or both eyes as a result of late AMD.

“We wanted to carry out the study as prevention of progression to late AMD can result in a reduced financial and societal burden.”

As the macula of the eye is very rich in antioxidants the researchers wanted to see if a supplement called CARMA (Caroteneoids and Co-antioxidants in Age-related Maculopathy) containing the carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin could help slow down AMD.

The supplement also contained vitamins C,E and Zinc, which had been used in a previous study.

The latest study showed that intake of high levels of both carotenoids preserved the macular pigments, slowing down the progression from early AMD to late AMD.

In contrast, the macular pigments of participants in a placebo group declined steadily.

Dr Chakravarthy added: “These findings are important because this is the first randomised controlled clinical trial to document a beneficial effect through improved function and maintained macular pigments.

“Further research is needed to confirm these findings and to identify the numbers needed to treat to prevent 1 case from progressing from early to late AMD.”

Elderly persons living with a spouse have more timely preventive service use than those living alone or with offspring. The sole exception is in the case of hypertension screening.

Data were taken from 13,038 community-dwelling elderly persons who participated in the 2002 to 2005 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey.

The study’s authors estimated the likelihood of preventive care use among elderly persons in four living arrangements: living with one’s spouse only (52 percent), living alone (38 percent), living with one’s spouse and with one’s adult offspring (5 percent), and living with one’s adult offspring (5 percent).

Preventive services included influenza vaccination; physical and dental checkups; and screenings for hypertension, cholesterol and colorectal cancer.

“Educational Outreach interventions should target not only those elderly adults who live alone but also those living with adult offspring” the authors said.

Thousand of elderly people are living in filthy care homes exposed to the risk of infections and malnutrition.

Inspectors found one in three homes provides barely “adequate” living conditions, and rated hundreds as “poor”.

It means many residents are at risk from untrained staff and low standards of cleanliness.

In addition, some are not being helped to eat or are given unappetising food, while others struggle to get their medication or see doctors when ill.

The catalogue of failings is exposed after the Liberal Democrats used Freedom of Information laws to obtain details of inspections in England.

The information was collected by the Commission for Social Care Inspection, which monitors care homes, but has not been released ahead of a new rating scheme to be introduced next year.

The homes are divided into four categories: poor, adequate, good and excellent. In total, 732 were rated poor, and 3,086 were adequate.

More than 400,000 of those aged 65 and above live in care homes. Over the past five years, the Daily Mail’s Dignity for the Elderly campaign has highlighted the extreme difficulties facing residents of such homes.

Health Minister Ivan Lewis admitted in January that many elderly people

were effectively being starved to death in homes, with some given a single scoop of mashed potato as a meal.

Yesterday, in a special Radio 4 ‘You and Yours’ programme, he said Labour was fully aware of the crisis facing Britain’s soaring elderly population, which ‘is one of the great political challenges facing our society’.

But critics claim the Government has failed to provide extra funding to match the growing demands, leaving taxpayers to pick up the tab.

Liberal Democrat health spokesman Sandra Gidley said: ‘This is the first time that we have had a list of care homes which are delivering a poor service – and it’s a disappointing picture.

‘Vulnerable residents in over 700 homes across the country are enduring appalling conditions, where unclean rooms are putting them at risk of infection and they have no access to medical help when they need it.

‘They are even denied the basic dignity of privacy and control over daily decisions affecting their care.

‘The Government talks about choice in personal care services: yet what choice do people have if their local nursing home is rated

as unable to provide even the basic minimum standard of care?’

Last month a coalition of 15 charities, including Age Concern, warned that one in five of the population would eventually need long-term care – but the system set up to provide it is close to collapse and needs reform.

A spokesman for Age Concern said cash-strapped local authorities often pay privately-run homes ‘less than the going rate’ for looking after residents on state-funded care. This can force homes to lower their standards.

He added: ‘People in care homes are some of the most vulnerable in society and the absence of quality care can have a massive impact on their lives. All too often we hear of people whose lives have been made a misery by poor quality care. People who suffer from malnutrition, or catch an infection. Unless councils and the Government put more money into the care system, conditions will continue to fall.’

Sandy Bruce-Lockhart, chairman of the Local Government Association, said: ‘There must be a serious debate about how the care needs of an ageing population are funded.

‘Council tax payers, including millions of older people, have had to pick up the tab and they simply cannot afford to pay any more.’

A spokesman for the Department of Health said it was investing £200million in community support, advanced technology and extra care services, to enable older people to maintain their independence.

She said ‘Notwithstanding the sustained investment, we have recognised that demographic pressures, medical advances and rising public expectations mean that there is pressure on the social care system.’

Yo, forget the wack attempts at #stopmillionaires on twitter.web