Nearly 600,000 Americans have annual medication costs above $50,000- The number of U.S. patients taking at least $100,000 worth of prescription drugs tripled in 2014- Majority of these patients take at least 10 medications, from at least 4 different prescribers- Express Scripts solutions address critical opportunities to improve care and reduce costs for patients with high medication costs ORLANDO, Fla., …
BRICS trample US in South America – Pepe Escobar
It started in April with a rash of deals between Argentina and Russia during President Cristina Kirchner’s visit to Moscow. And it continues with a $53 billion investment bang as Chinese Premier Li Keqiang visits Brazil during the first stop of yet another South American commercial offensive – complete with a sweet metaphor: Li riding on a made in China …
“This land is ours,” says Israel’s top diplomat, citing religious texts – Patrick Strickland
Tzipi Hotovely, Israel’s new deputy foreign minister, vowed to continue building Jewish-only settlements across the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, in a recent speech to ministry employees. Hotovely is a member of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hardlineLikud party which returned to power in Israel’s 17 March elections at the head of one of the most right-wing coalition governments in the country’s history. Because Netanyahu is presently serving as …
HSBC fears world recession with no lifeboats left
The world economy is disturbingly close to stall speed. The United Nationshas cut its global growth forecast for this year to 2.8pc, the latest of the multinational bodies to retreat. We are not yet in the danger zone but this pace is only slightly above the 2.5pc rate that used to be regarded as a recession for the international system as …
Psych Meds Put 49 Million Americans at Risk for Cancer – Dr. Kelly Brogan, M.D.
With 1 in 5 Americans taking a psychiatric medication, most of whom, long term, we should probably start to learn a bit more about them. In fact, it would have been in the service of true informed consent to have investigated long-term risks before the deluge of these meds seized our population over the past thirty years. You may be …
Researchers Want Chinese Medicine Thunder God Vine To Cut Obesity
An extract from the thunder god vine, which has a long history of use in traditional Chinese medicine, reduces food intake and causes up to a 45% decrease in body weight in obese mice. The weight-loss compound, called Celastrol, produces its potent effects by enhancing the action of an appetite-suppressing hormone called leptin. The findings, published May 21 in Cell, are an early …
Could Earthworms Save the Climate? – Anastasia Pantsios
We know that earthworms are good for our gardens. When you turn over a spade full of rich soil and find it packed with the wiggly creatures, you know that your garden is going to grow strong and healthy. Vermicomposting—using worms to consume food scraps and turn them—has justifiably become all the rage. But now it appears earthworms can do more than just …
We need to protect the whistleblowers who save our skins but pay the price – Kate Kenny
The recent Francis Report into how poor care at Mid-Staffordshire Foundation Trust was allowed to happen, was another lesson in just how valuable whistleblowers are to society. And yet as a society, we don’t seem to care that many struggle to survive. Whistleblowers perform a vital role in today’s world. They alert the public to financial fraud, abuse in institutions and potential environmental disasters. For …
The Bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade in 1999, Reconsidered – PETER LEE
When I was in Beijing during the protests in 1989, a middle-aged man came up to me and asked, “Couldn’t America send some B-52s here and…” and he made a swooping motion with his hand. Ten years later, on May 7, 1999, the American bombers did show up. Instead of showering freedom ordnance on China’s dictators, however, they dropped five …
The escalation of global financial parasitism – Nick Beams
The announcement last week by the European Central Bank (ECB) that it was going to front-load asset purchases under its quantitative easing program was another revealing insight into the state of global financial markets. It underscored their volatility and the lack of any overall plan by the financial authorities, supposedly in charge, who rush from one trouble spot to another …