Today I Lost Hope in Humanity

I worked last night and left work at about 10 PM (I was at work since 7 AM)---a 15-hour workday. I was leaving a hall carrying my bag full of stuff. I dropped a pack containing several of my flash disks and some other minor items, a total of about $30. I did not realize that I dropped this pack until the next morning when I needed it. I asked the cleaning crew, sent an email to various offices asking them if they had seen this pack, and talked personally to various persons about it. Inside this pack I kept my business card with my name and office number and phone number on it. One of my colleagues told me that he saw this pack yesterday on the ground before he left home, but decided not to touch it. So between 10 PM at night and 8:30 AM today the pack disappeared. The reason I am telling this story because where I work people leave their office doors open if they had to go for a few minutes away. I no longer will do that anymore. I will also lock my car doors (most people at work do not). I will be very careful in people who will visit me in my office. I will watch every move they make, friends or no friends, I lost hope in humanity, I do not trust anybody regardless who they are and how long I have known them. Humanity today is dark and not to be trusted. Overall, trust matters and today I cannot find it anywhere.

Pears

Yes, these are delicious. One of the most diverse fruits of the summer. One pear (198 g) provides 120 Calories. It contains 31 g of total carbohydrates, 7 g of dietary fibers, and 19 g of sugars. It is rich in Vitamin C (10% of the Percent Daily Values). It also contains 1g of proteins and supplies 2% of the Percent Daily Values in Calcium.

Lyrics: Occupy the Wall Street

Preach capitalism oh good man
Preach it until the dawn set
Preach it to all the nation and some
Yesterday the man preached capitalism to the young
But the young refused to follow
He fed them...clothed them...gave them jobs
Paid them minimum wages...some got sick...and worked for the good man
Some got sick and died...The good man preached more capitalism
Where are you Glen Beck to defend the good man?
Where are you Rush Limbaugh to defend the good man?
Thank God for you good man...Thank God for paying us the minimum wages
You silenced us in the past with your empty promises...no more
You lied to us in the past...but no more
Preach some more oh good man
Preach to the demonstrators at Wall Street oh good man
Where are your millions that you took from the people occupying the Wall Street oh good man?
Preach to them your love to freedom...to Jesus...and the seven dwarfs...oh good man
Good bye oh good man... You are no good anymore!

GADDAFI's Stamps

Can Cain be McCain?

Senator John McCain of Arizona won the GOP bid in 2007. Could Cain become the new McCain? Cain is now hovering in the third place after Governor Romney and Governor Perry. McCain was also third in rank among the GOP candidates in 2007 and a lot of commentators wrote him off the Presidential bid of 2007. Could history repeat itself with a new sounding "Cain"? It could.

Micro-Economy as of September 30, 2011

As predicted, the economy would be down as of September 30, 2011.

BMP predicts that the economy will be up on December 31, 2011; March 31, 2012; June 30, 2012, and September 30, 2012. It will take a nose down as of December 31, 2012.

Are Paper Pads Obsolete?

Are paper pads obsolete? I attended a meeting last year at the Sheraton Hotel, and on tables I found these pads distributed to attendee with pens so that they could take notes during the seminar. Almost no one used them during the meeting, except for yours truly. Everybody else had an iPad or an iPhone or an i---, you got the point. No one writes on paper pads anymore. I wonder if the electronic technology will save trees in the future. I guess electronics are green technologies after all.

How Does Acupuncture Relieve Pain?

How does acupuncture relieve pain? Acupuncture is often used for pain relief. Acupuncture involves the puncture of skin with fine needles at specific points on the body that are located on meridians. The meridians are channels of energy that carry the vital force qi. Acupuncture seems to act via the release of natural opioids substances in the body upon stimulation (the endorphins). The endorphins act by calming down the pain reaction caused by various stimuli. It appears that this pain relief action is associated mainly with three factors that have to be present simultaneously for acupuncture to be effective. These factors are expectations that acupuncture will cause pain by administering the needles (cognitive factor), a sensory factor of the pain itself, and fear and anxiety felt by the patient during the procedure (emotional factor). All these three factors combined act to produce a pain relief following acupuncture treatment. Despite the fact that all of them are important to be present, the cognitive factor turned out to be the most important of all. Patients have to expect and anticipate pain for acupuncture to work. We have mentioned in a previous Blog that acupuncture works by inducing ATP molecules to combine with specific receptors on the surface of the cell, thus initiating a neurological signaling that reaches the brain stem and hypothalamus with a subsequent physiological effects on various organs, including the secretion of endorphins for pain relief.

How Does Acupuncture Work?

According to Traditional Chinese Medicine qi, the vital force, flows in meridians maintaining life. Any unbalance in qi can cause disease. Acupuncture is believed to balance qi and restore health and well-being. Recent work by Dr. Geoffrey Burnstock (University College Medical School of London) and others has shown that ATP (adenosine 5'-triphosphate) presents in the extracellular fluid acts as a regulatory molecule via interacting with receptors (purinoceptors) present on the surface of cells. Neurological signals are transmitted to the brain stem and the hypothalamus following this ATP-receptor interaction. Brain stem and hypothalamus are brain centers that regulate the function of many organs in the body including the gut, lungs, kidneys, ureter, and cardiovascular system. ATP is a fuel molecule that supplies energy for various cellular functions when it is present inside the cell. Outside the cell, ATP acts as a regulatory molecule. The qi is indeed a life force full of energy, made of ATP molecules.

PSA Test is Useless

A panel made of medical experts has concluded this week that PSA (Prostate Specific Antigen) testing is not recommended as a routine test for men. This Blog (BMP) has repeatedly stated the same message in the past. PSA test is useless. You might ask, but tell me why is it useless? This is the answer: the prevalence of prostate cancer in the population is about 2%. The sensitivity and specificity for the PSA test are 34.9% and 63.1%, respectively. A positive test for PSA is defined as a reading greater than 4 ng/mL. The probability that the patient has prostate cancer when the test is positive is 1.9%. This means we are only 1.9% sure that the patient has prostate cancer when the test is positive. A really dismal assurance. If the test came back negative (<4 ng/mL), then the predictive value is 97.94%. This means a negative test is much more assuring than a positive test. It indicates that we are 97.94% sure that the patient does not have prostate cancer when the test is negative. That is the reason the medical panel announced this week that the test cannot be used as a predictive measure for the presence of prostate cancer. However, if your reading is below 4.0 ng/mL, you are almost 98% assured no cancer is present in your prostate.

Moreover, oftentimes the patient is subjected to a Digital Rectal Examination (DRE) by the physician, an unpleasant test to say the least (that is why probably men do not like to go to the doctor). DRE has a sensitivity of 27.1% and a specificity is 49.0%. The predictive value positive and predictive value negative for DRE on its own are even worse than PSA alone.

Physicians usually tell their patients that combining both tests together (PSA & DRE) give them a better picture on the probability of cancer. Well, it turned out that the sensitivity and the specificity values for this combined method are 38.0% and 87.9%, respectively. This combined method does not improve the predictive value negative (in this case it is 98.6%), and the predictive value positive is 6% (a slight improvement from 1.9% when PSA test is used alone, but really not that much.)

In summary, PSA test (or in combination with DRE) does not indicate prostate cancer when it is positive (>4.0 ng/mL), however it is associated with high probability that the patient does not have prostate cancer when the test is negative.

Town of Holly Springs: Official Publication (October 2011)

McDonald's Monopoly is Back (September 27 to October 24, 2011)

Pierce Morgan Show on CNN

Did you watch Pierce Morgan Show on CNN yesterday? I caught-up with the show toward the end of it. The guest (I cannot remember who he was) walked out from the interview after Pierce mentioned "two to three inch" of something I could not catch. Pierce told the "guest" to make sure "the door is shut when he left." I felt embarrassed for Pierce. Anyhow, one would wonder if this was the beginning of the end of Pierce Morgan Show on CNN?

Waiting for Christmas

The world needs Christmas now. Oh come Christmas and come fast. Oh good Savior save us from ourselves. The world needs you more than ever before. Oh come Christmas, all of us children want you now. Don't delay your arrival...Come now...We need you...Now.

Vote on October 11, 2011: Wake County Board of Education, North Carolina

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Wake County School Board--Vote October 11, 2011

Why do we die?

In biology, it is well known that most cells with nuclei are capable of dividing to some extent. It is also observed that most cells seize from dividing after they undergo numerous divisions, and thereafter they follow a very deadly path toward their death point. This pathway is known in biological sciences as "Apoptosis" or programed cell death. Apoptosis involves enzymes that are capable of destroying the cell from within, thus causing its fatal end. Cancer cells somehow are capable of turning off this mechanism thus they go on living and dividing indefinitely. From the Physical Chemistry point of view, natural systems undergo changes so that their capability for further changes becomes increasingly diminished until they reach a point of equilibrium (or death). Cells, as natural entity, must obey this law (The Second Law of Thermodynamics). They divide in such a way so that their capacity to divide further is diminished after every division. Apoptosis is part of this system. It is a "cleansing" process by which those cells that reach a point of "equilibrium" are destroyed. According to the current knowledge, no one is capable to overcome the Second Law of Thermodynamics. In other words, we cannot protect people from dying "naturally". However, we could slow down the process of dying, perhaps by slowing down the mechanism by which cell divides. Certain components in herbs can do just that. More on this topic later.

Happy Birthday

For those of you who celebrated their birthday on Friday, September 30, a very belated Happy Birthday. By the way, it was mine too.

Monsieur LeDou: The Toy Man

When I was growing up, my Dad worked for the National Tobacco Company in my country. He was their Chief Accountant. Occasionally foreign agents would come to visit the Company, and one of them was a French gentleman with the last name of "LeDou". My Dad introduced him to us as Mr. LeDou. (Mind you, Syria was a French colony until April of 1946, and my Dad was born and lived a good portion of his life under the French occupation. My Dad spoke French fluently.) Mr. LeDou would come to visit Syria often, and my Dad offered him to stay at my grandmother home since she was away most of the time. For his appreciation to my Dad accommodation, he used to bring us kids toys from France. Now Syria during those days was not very advanced. My toys consisted of a collection of marbles and and small collection of used stamps (which I still have.) He once brought to my younger brother a Car Speed Race electric toy. Me and my brother played with that toy so much, we felt "rich". God bless you Mr. LeDou wherever you are, despite the belated thank you (over 48 years), you placed a smile on my brother face and on mine too...Many Many Smiles.

Unemployment for the Highly Educated

Despite a high unemployment rate in the USA climbing to about 9.1% (last figures), it is stated that the real unemployment is hovering around 17% due to those who gave up on looking for a new job. Among African-Americans, the rate of unemployment is in the proximity of 1 in 5. And, this is the catch, if you are highly educated (i.e., doctorate holders, lawyers, physicians, physician assistants, nurses, etc.) the jobless rate for your group is below 2%. The moral of this story is "go and get a college degree and climb as high as you can." It seems that education is the real answer (or one of the answers) to unemployment. Good luck.

Upcoming Natural Disasters?

Several people are monitoring events happening around us. Signs in the sky all over the world (UFOs? May be!), the Arab Spring, the global economical disaster, Europeans are uprising due to the feeble global economy, earthquakes, tornados, and hurricanes, just to name a few. These "Monitors" are predicting a major natural disaster of the magnitude of huge earthquake will hit somewhere in the world by the end of September 2011. Specifically, the dates for this natural disaster is between September 25 and 27. It is based on previous natural disasters that occurred recently and the spacing between them. The "Monitors" are also reporting a major Universal event involving a huge planet passing our planet. It will shift Earth from its current axis which may lead to global devastations. I hope that the "Monitors" are totally off in their predictions. Actually, I really hope they are just kidding!