Testing It Up

Charlie Sheen has been the subject of a thousand and one stories about drug and alcohol use, and just when one would think that the star has told all, he is able to let just one more cat out of the bag. Apparently, aside from snorting cocaine and drinking alcohol, Sheen also tried performance enhancing drugs, in preparation for his role in Major League, a movie that is considered as one of the pivotal points in his career.

A feature on the Herald Sun shared that Sheen revealed his past steroid use in an interview with Sports Illustrated magazine. He took the drugs, Sheen said, due to “ego” and “vanity.” He was quoted as saying: “Let’s just say that I was enhancing my performance a little bit. It was the only time I ever did steroids. I did it for like six or eight weeks. You can print this, I don’t give a f—. My fastball went from 79[mph] to like 85 [127-136kph].”

While the drugs helped him perform, Sheen shared further, it unfortunately did not help boost his stamina and recovery during filming.

At that time, the actor said, he was having difficulty with the physical demands of the role, which had him pitching a whole lot: “I had to throw 150 pitches in a night and turn it around the next day. I was like, ‘Guys, do you know why they have a five-man rotation? So you can heal!’ They said, ‘Look, we’ve only got the stadium for four nights with the fans.’ I would stop at the doctor’s on the way to work for cortisone shots and anti-inflammatories.”

A new report released by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University, New York City, revealed the most pressing public health problem faced by our nation today: teen substance abuse.

A feature on WebMD shared details included in the report, which indicated that a significant 46 percent – representing nearly half – of students in high school are either smoking, drinking alcohol, or using illicit substances. One in three of these teens, the report indicated further, are already addicted to these substances.

In addition, a quarter of those in the U.S. who began using drugs or drinking alcohol before the age of 18 eventually fell under the criteria for addiction to drugs or alcohol. The most common substance of choice, according to the report, is alcohol, followed by cigarettes and marijuana.

Susan E. Foster, vice president and director of policy research and analysis for CASA and study author, shared: “I was surprised at the prevalence of substance use disorders among young people… Do everything you can to get young people through their teen years without using drugs or alcohol… Every year they don’t use drugs or alcohol reduces their risk of negative consequences, such as addiction.”

The report is based on an analysis of the results of a survey conducted on 1,000 high school students, 1,000 parents of high school students, and 500 school officers, as well as expert interviews, focus groups, and a literature review of 2,000 scientific articles. The report also analyzed seven data sets.

New York Drug Screening

Now this is something that you probably would not expect to see in your first aid kit, or your emergency stash of items to combat infectious diseases: a trusty roll of duct tape.

A news release from the Association for Professional Infection Control and Epidemiology, however, pointed out the usefulness of duct tape against the spread of infectious diseases.

The results of a study utilizing duct tape in creating “safe zones” where healthcare workers could talk to patients afflicted with infectious diseases, which was conducted by an infection prevention team from the Trinity Medical Center in the Quad Cities along the Illinois and Iowa border, were presented by the research team during a conference of the Association.

A feature on the Los Angeles Times shared the following explanation from the Association’s news release: “The study revealed that by utilizing this safe zone, their hospitals were able to save time, money in unused gowns and gloves, and that the quality and frequency of communication between healthcare professionals and isolated patients increased.”

The LA Times post shared further that this is not exactly the first – and only – health-related use of the duct tape. A Reader’s Digest guide offered the following suggestion in times when you need a bandage and one is not available: “You’ve gotten a bad scrape. Here’s how to protect it until you get a proper bandage. Fold tissue paper or paper towel to cover the wound and cover this with duct tape. It may not be attractive, but it works in a jam.”

Other potential health-related applications of the duct tape, according to TheZac.com, is for blister repair or for prosthetics, although the Times was quick to clarify that they were not exactly endorsing these uses.

Isleton, a town in Northern California, drew criticism from a grand jury over its decision to approve a plan to put up a medical marijuana town in their locality.

A report by Reuters shared that a grand jury in Sacramento County pointed out that the decision constituted a disregard for federal law. There is, it was mentioned, a conflict between state and federal laws in California; with the legalization of the use of medical marijuana, the possession and cultivation of small amounts of pot for medical purposes is considered legal. However, as far as federal law is concerned, pot – regardless of its use – is basically illegal.

Because of this disparity between state and federal laws, various pot dispensaries and greenhouses in California, as well as in other states, have been at the receiving end of raids conducted by federal authorities. These raids, according to the report, are aimed at taking down supposed medical marijuana suppliers who are into large-scale drug trafficking.

The grand jury report, which was released on Monday, indicated that the town of Isleton (population: 850) was assured of an annual revenue of $600,000 by Delta Allied Growers, a company that was developing a pot farm in the area. The money, it was mentioned, would be used towards upgrading the town’s current two-person police department, as well as towards maintaining security at the marijuana farm.

The report indicated that the approval was made by the town on the grounds of a “promise of money and jobs,” but added further: “They forgot the old saying, ‘If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”

The report, however, can only recommend and rebuke; no charges relating to the project have been made so far.

There are a number of factors that may be associated with weight loss or gain, such as amount of physical activity, duration of sleep, and time spent watching TV. There was, however, a factor that stood out in a study conducted by Harvard researchers: diet.

A feature on The Atlantic shared details from the researchers’ report, published recently in The New England Journal of Medicine. Among the things discussed in the journal article are the specific foods associated with long-term changes in weight, both for weight gain and weight loss. The researchers were able to determine, among others, the amount of weight gain (or loss) associated with consuming an additional serving of a certain type of food, over a four-year period.

Among the foods that may trigger weight gain are potatoes and potato chips, sugar-sweetened beverages, processed meats, and unprocessed red meat. Foods associated with weight loss are vegetables, whole grains, fruits, nuts, and yogurt.

The study gathered data from a total of 120,877 participants, from the Nurses’ Health Study (NHS), the Nurses’ Health Study II (NHS II), and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (HPFS). All the study participants did not suffer from chronic diseases and were not obese at the start of the evaluation process.

Frank Hu, professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health, and co-author of the study, expressed the following in a press release: “The idea that there are no ‘good’ or ‘bad’ foods is a myth that needs to be debunked.”

A number of workers from the Tyson Foods Plant in Springdale, Arkansas, were brought to hospitals after a chemical accident occurred in the company’s chicken processing facility.

NWAOnline reported that 173 Tyson workers were sent to five hospitals, by ambulance and Ozark Regional Transit buses, on Monday morning. The Tyson plant on Berry Street had experienced a chlorine leak, which led to an evacuation of its workers. The employees were overcome with chlorine gas fumes; chlorine in its gaseous form, according to Northwest Medical Center – Springdale primary care physician Dr. Tammy Tucker, may be very dangerous, even in small doses.

The gas gets into the system through the eyes and lungs, according to Dr. Tucker, and it may result in the burning of lung capillaries and mucous membranes as it acts as an acid when inside the body.

The workers from Tyson were decontaminated at Northwest Medical Center – Springdale. Workers removed their clothes at the entrance of the hospital’s emergency room, and changed into hospital gowns. Hospital officials revealed that there were hazmat materials available, but no one was washed down.

The report revealed that twelve employees needed to be admitted, while an estimated 130 workers were retained for observation and treatment for exposure as of Monday evening. The most serious injuries involved three workers, who needed to be admitted into intensive care. Two of the workers were admitted in Northwest Medical Center – Springdale, while one was admitted in the hospital’s Bentonville facility.

Tyson plant manager Brent Holman shared that the plant had around 1,200 employees, 600 of whom were working the first shift that day; all were accounted for.

A recent wave of violence involving pharmacies has captured the attention of New York Sen. Charles Schumer, who is now calling for a federal crackdown against prescription drug abuse.

The senator has announced that he is co-sponsoring a new legislation, along with Sen. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia, that will call for tougher penalties for pharmacy theft, as well as better training for doctors prior to issuing prescriptions for such opiate-based drugs as Oxycontin and Vicodin, as shared in a report on AM New York.

Sen. Schumer made the announcement a week after a massacre involving four people in a pharmacy in Long Island. WPIX.com reports that according to Suffolk County Police, suspect David Laffer had walked into Havens Drugs in Medford a little after 10 in the morning on June 19. Laffer opened fire, killing the pharmacist, a clerk, and two customers; he fled the pharmacy with a bag filled with 10,000 hydrocodone pills, and jumped into vehicle driven by his wife, Melinda Brady.

The couple was arrested three days later at their home, a mile and a half away from Havens Drugs.

Schumer linked the increase in armed robberies in pharmacies – which, according to data provided by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, has increased by 81% between 2006 and 2010 – to over-prescription of addictive drugs. Schumer commented: “Once they become crazed, as you say, and they need these drugs they do lots of bad things… We’re trying to stop them from getting to that stage.”

The senator also recommends the doubling of prison sentences for crimes related to prescription drugs.

New York Drug Screening

There is a stigma associated with undergoing HIV testing, as it seems to imply promiscuity and engaging in inappropriate behavior. Hence, there is the thought that not everyone needs to undergo this testing, and that it is only reserved for people who fall under a certain stereotype.

Experts believe, however, that this should not be the case. A feature on the Silicon Valley Mercury News shared the story of Naina Khanna, an Oakland resident of South Asian descent, who was told by her doctors in 2000 that she did not need to undergo testing for HIV. She did not, it was said back then, display any behavior that would place her in a high-risk category that merited the test.

In 2002, however, Khanna did get tested, and she was found to be HIV positive.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended in 2006 that everyone between the ages of 13 and 64 should undergo HIV tests, in settings where there is less than 0.1% prevalence of undiagnosed HIV infection. In addition, it was recommended that those who had an increased risk for HIV infection should undergo retesting annually. Monday’s observance of National HIV Testing Day is a good a time as any to be reminded of this.

National HIV Testing Day puts a spotlight on the significance of testing towards the prevention and timely treatment of HIV infection. It is only after learning that one is HIV positive that one can receive proper treatment, monitoring, and care, which would delay the progression of the disease, and prevent patients from unknowingly transmitting it to others.

Several doctors across the United States have been able to link cases of rotten skin to cocaine that have been laced with the veterinary drug levamisole. There have been incidents observed in New York and Los Angeles, where patients suffer from rotten skin in the nose, ears and cheeks.

ABC News reports that a case study in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology documented six cocaine users who had decaying, dark purple patches of flesh. The occurrence of rotting flesh has been associated by dermatologist Dr. Noah Craft, as well as several other doctors, to cocaine that has been tainted with levamisole, a drug that is used to deworm cattle, pigs and sheep. Its side effect, when consumed by humans, is the rotting of flesh in the nose, ears and cheeks.

The symptoms may appear days after using the tainted drugs, due to an immune reaction that attacks blood vessels which supply the skin, causing the skin to suffocate.

Dr. Craft, who is with the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute, commented: “It’s probably quite a big problem, and we just don’t know yet how big a problem it really is… It’s important for people to know it’s not just in New York and L.A. It’s in the cocaine supply of the entire U.S.”

Unfortunately, a report released in April by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration revealed that 82% of the cocaine seized through the agency’s various drug-busting operations contained levamisole. The reason for its use as an “extender” for cocaine by drug dealers is unclear, although there is speculation that it is being done in order to enhance the effects of cocaine, without necessarily making it too expensive.

New York Drug Screening

It’s a weekend of merriment, filled with outdoor music and dancing, in the Nevada desert, after the Electric Daisy Carnival opened in Las Vegas on Friday. Those who joined in the revelry may have fun in any of the 26 carnival rides available, and admire kaleidoscope sculptures and pyrotechnic displays.

The Las Vegas Motor Speedway has been transformed into psychedelic central, at least for the weekend. There are LED screens and booming speakers across the Speedway, which now plays host to party-goers dressed in the psychedelic best. Some wore sparkly tutus with furry boots, while others simply stripped down to their skivvies.

The Carnival’s popularity, however, extends beyond these features; the electronic music festival has long been associated with heavy drug use, where revelers spend a weekend having fun by overindulging.

A report on the Boston Herald revealed that as of press time Saturday, an estimated three hundred people have already received medical care; at least five have already been taken to area hospitals. Police already made 21 arrests, most of which were drug related, and removed 31 people from the event.

All that still pales in comparison, however, to last year’s carnival, where a 15-year-old girl ended up dead. The death, according to the report, prompted this year’s move from Los Angeles to Las Vegas.

The organizers of the Electric Daisy Carnival hope to veer attention away from the event’s association with drug use, though, and bring more focus on the electronic music greats that are participating in the event, such as Tiesto, David Guetta and Swedish House Mafia.

Las Vegas Background Screening