Kitty Litter $313 Million DOE Mishap Exposed 22 Workers To Radiation Forced Indefinite Closure Of DOE WIPP Underground Only "Permanent" U.S. Site For Military Transuranic Radiological Waste Disposal From Nuclear Weapons Labs

     Friday, 1 May 2015, WASHINGTON, D.C. - The spectacularly expensive to American taxpayers costs of operations of the United States Department of Energy (DOE) which to date has blown untold tens if not hundreds of billions of dollars in monumentally failed DOE efforts to figure out what to do with in addition to staggeringly huge amounts of as yet undisposed "civilian" nuclear including high-level radioactive waste currently left spread at nuclear plants throughout the nation also has to deal with DOE's own generated tens of thousands of metric tons and mounting radiological "military" nuclear waste from nuclear weapons research, development, testing and production have further incrementally mounted as DOE Secretary Ernitz Moniz yesterday announced a settlement with the state of New Mexico in which DOE in lieu of a penalty for violations at its Waste Isolation Pilot Project (WIPP) underground nuclear waste dump and nuclear laboratory near Carlsbad, New Mexico will fund $73 million in New Mexico road and other infrastructure projects in addition to the $240 million DOE "initially" has spent in "recovery efforts" at the now indefinitely closed WIPP since a 2014 radiation mishap stemming from a barrel of radiological including plutonium waste being packaged with the "wrong sort of kitty litter" at DOE's Los Alamos National Laboratory which when shipped to the WIPP for disposal ruptured where it "exposed 22 workers to radiation in amounts not expected to threaten their health" yet was serious enough to cause a radiation leak which since 2014 has forced DOE to have "indefinitely suspended closure of key operations" of the WIPP site which formerly had been DOE's and the country's only permanent disposal facility for underground disposal of high-level including transuranic radiological waste from nuclear weapons research and development.
     Readers interested in more information about the above can go to the 1st link below to the Reuters article and/or the 2nd link below to the New York Times article citing and mostly derived from the Reuters article. Those readers interested in more information specifically about DOE's now "indefinitely" closed Waste Isolation Pilot (WIPP) can go to the 3rd link below to the Wikepedia entry about the facility. Finally those readers interested in the epic history of the Yucca Mountain debacle in Nevada the only other United States designated (to open in 1998) still currently unoperational DOE "study" facility for the disposal of what now are hundreds of thousands of metric tons of undisposed civilian nuclear including high-level radioactive waste can go to the Wikepedia entry for the Yucca Mountain facility at the 4th link below. [UPDATE] Readers interested in seeing a full-color DOE picture of the WIPP facility burst kitty litter plutonium radioactive waste drum appearing in The Guardian U.S. Edition can go to the article also largely derived from Reuters to the 5th link below.
 
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/05/01/us-usa-new-mexico-nuclear-idUSKBN0NM2X020150501?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2015/04/30/us/30reuters-usa-new-mexico-nuclear.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waste_Isolation_Pilot_Plant

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yucca_Mountain_nuclear_waste_repository

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/may/01/new-mexico-radiation-accident-73m-compensation-deal-struck-over-leak?CMP=share_btn_fb

Copyright 2015 Martin P. All World Rights Expressly Reserved

Alzheimer's Cure Memory And Cognitive Function Fully Restored Potentially In Sufferers By New Ultrasound Treatment Successful In 75% Of Diseased Mice

        25 March 2015, QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA - Two researchers at the Queensland Brain Institute at the University of Queensland earlier this month reported in a study published in the Science Translational Medicine journal published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science that a non-invasive ultrasound treatment had fully restored the memory of 75% of mice without damaging surrounding brain tissue. The researchers found that the ultrasound treatment cleared their brains of neurotoxic amyloid plaques which are responsible for memory and cognitive function loss in those suffering from Alzheimer's.
       One of the researchers Jurgen Gotz in a press release referenced in Science Alert by BBC Crew on 18 March 2015 linked to second below said that in his opinion the term "breakthrough" was appropriate for the treatment which in addition to being non-invasive did not require the use of any drugs. Gotz however warned the study results are preliminary as the treatment next will be tested in higher animals such as sheep and if successful is hoped to be scheduled for human trials in 2017.
       The Ninth Amendment without having further researched the following nor claiming any medical knowledge whatsoever upon which to rely nevertheless in the meantime refers interested readers to its 27 September 2014 post linked to third below concerning a British Medical Journal (BMJ) study finding a possible link of benzodiazepines and Z-class sleeping drugs to Alzheimer's onset. One MD, Phd. commenter to the New York Times article reporting on the BMJ study referenced in the Ninth Amendment post in refutation to the study's proposition observed that "there is a fairly large scientific literature showing benzodiazepines reduce the deposition of amyloid as well protect from the toxicity of the abnormal protein" therefore protecting from Alzheimer's onset. The Ninth Amendment emphasizes that it has no medical knowledge whatsoever on which anyone should rely. Pertinent links to the full BMJ study as well as the New York Times article including the above and all comments can be found via the below Ninth Amendment link.
       According to the Alzheimer's Association there are more than 5 million Americans suffering from Alzheimer's which with the United States aging population has been called a "fast growing world-wide epidemic" by the National Institutes of Health. Readers interested in more information on the claimed "breakthrough" ultrasound treatment headlining this post will find more information via the first link below to the 24 March 2015 Huffington Post article reporting on it. Yes that is a lot of links to remember.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/24/alzheimers_n_6924974.html

http://www.sciencealert.com/new-alzheimer-s-treatment-fully-restores-memory-function

http://waronnothing.blogspot.com/2014/09/bmj-study-links-benzodiazepine-anxiety.html

Copyright 2015 Martin P. All World Rights Expressly Reserved

BMJ Study "Links" Benzodiazepine Anxiety And Related "Z-Class" Sleeping Medication Use To Increased Risk For Alzheimer's Disease

       Friday, 26 September 2014, NEW YORK, NEW YORK - The Ninth Amendment editorial board sincerely urges that readers not become unnerved nor anxious by the above heading to this post. Although the heading is accurate to its New York Times source which concerned readers may go to directly at any time via the link provided below the Ninth Amendment finds a few introductory words in order as literally millions of Americans suffer from anxiety and/or insomnia a great many of whom at some time(s) or even for quite extended periods of up to many years have taken or take one or more of the above two groups of drugs which together are known to the medical community as "sedative-hypnotics". The "benzo" primarily anxiety drugs include ones such as Xanax, Ativan, Valium and Klonopin which are of similar composition but differing periods of action. The "z-class" sleep medications include Ambien and Lunesta.
      The last thing the Ninth Amendment wants to do is make any readers anxious or lose sleep so please relax and allow us first to convey a few points. The above headline refers to a summary article in the New York Times describing a study by Canadian and French medical researchers recently published in the well-regarded British Medical Journal (BMJ). Because of the high degree of reader interest in this area the Times article so far has generated well over three hundred comments and counting in the digital edition.
       Although it is important for our interested readers to be aware of the content of this article (which itself links directly to the full study for those interested) because it could prove lucrative fodder for media hype the truth of the matter is that a great many of the commenters including physicians weighing in on the Times article make seemingly valid points calling into question several aspects of the study done on the basis of medical records rather than dedicated study participants which make any suggestion of a conclusion based on everything from the lack of value of information presented which did not contain dosage information to a lack of evidence of other factors which may have affected the "control group".
       One commenting M.D.,Ph.D. whose comment was the second published in the digital Times following the article went so far as to observe that "there is a fairly large scientific literature showing benzodiazepines reduce the deposition of amyloid as well protect from the toxicity of the abnormal protein. Thus there is substantial basis to believe that this class of medications might actually be protective from Alzheimer's. . . ." This statement is consistent with the observation by the physician chief editor in the Harvard Medical Newsletter a few years past that despite the recent large-scale demonization (largely among physicians who never had experienced ongoing severe anxiety or used them) of benzodiazepines especially in any longer-term use that his lifetime of medical practice experience showed that long-term and even lifetime use of this class of medications was indicated in some patients for whom they had meant a huge improvement in quality of life for persons who might otherwise forever be virtually immobilized or unable to interact with others and society overall without constant overwhelming anxiety.
       This extended to the seemingly incomprehensible math used to reach any conclusion other than one that was unproven and premature at best. None of the physicians commenting found the study to be persuasive of the assertion of any causal "link" as implied in the Times headline reflected above. At best they concluded the demonstrated relationship might be stretched to the limit as an "association".  Many also took the Times to task for publishing an article of such personal medical interest to so many readers on this topic which was written by one with no recognized nor noted medical credentials at all must less a physician specializing in this field.
       Many of these points are touched on in the Ninth Amendment's comment to the Times article published earlier today in the Times digital edition. It is followed immediately by a link to the article itself which includes the 300+ comments published as of this posting as well as incorporating a direct link to the full study as published in the BMJ.
       THE NINTH AMENDMENT CANNOT AND DOES NOT PROVIDE NOR PURPORT TO PROVIDE ANY MEDICAL ADVICE TO ANYONE AT ALL. READERS MUST SEEK ALL MEDICAL ADVICE FROM A PROPERLY LICENSED MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL WHICH THE NINTH AMENDMENT IS NOT.

Ninth Amendment New York Times Digital Published Comment:

BigMartin

 waronnothing 27 minutes ago

With all due respect if the New York Times wishes to publish a medical column which greatly concerns a vast portion of the population who are ill and often suffer relentlessly even to the point of incapacity to interact or even meaningfully function at all with no other effective treatment available in this country the Ninth Amendment log at www.waronnothing.blogspot.com (which has no formal medical training whatsoever) respectfully suggests that rather than having it authored by one with apparently no formal medical credentials at all much less being a physician yet herself describes the subject as "a study designed with particular care" lasting for years yet then attempts to summarize in a few brief paragraphs that the Times has made a rather poor choice of one with authority meaningfully to interpret and present the information before ending the scant piece with an ominous quote from a physician making the pithy comment essentially that "Hey it's your life if you want to end it prematurely in a tragic mental void to pop a few sleeping pills be my guest". This is unhelpful just the type of medical advice a patient presumably would run from but for their suffering if it sounds as if they might get a prescription and some relief now that in the United States if one wishes to practice medicine there seems little point in enduring medical training and associated staggering debt to get an M.D. when one can get a G.E.D. join the DEA and "practice" medicine with no license at all.

Ninth Amendment New York Times SUBMITTED Comment 2 :

BigMartin
 waronnothing Pending Approval

The Ninth Amendment log at www.waronnothing.blogspot.com (which has no medical expertise whatsoever) weighs in again on observing that comments here appear to be "all over the map". This confirms our earlier concern that this medical summary overall is not very helpful and should be presented ideally by a physician recognized as specializing in this area such that more readers might be left with a better more consistent understanding of what the underlying study did or did not conclude with some reasonable degree of assurance of the causal relationship of these drugs if any to the onset or course of Alzheimers Disease. This charged topic clearly is a matter of some importance to much of the population. The apparent lack of authority and consistent understanding here then seems to be addressed by the practice akin to opening "forums" where the value of each contribution is basically anyone's guess. We suggest that the Times consider following up this piece by one who might give readers more assurance of what was learned and most importantly what practical use they might make of that information. This is probably most helpful for those suffering from the underlying conditions the drugs are meant to treat to a degree of severity and for such a duration that those who have not experienced such extreme symptoms may not comprehend that they may drive one mentally into a hopeless condition regardless of their predisposition to depression when there seems no viable relief in sight.

New York Times Article:

http://newoldage.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/09/24/study-links-anxiety-drugs-to-alzheimers-disease/#commentsContainer

Copyright 2014 Martin P. All World Rights Expressly Reserved

JAMA Internal Medicine Publishes Study Concluding With Researchers' Suspicion That Availability Of Legalized Medical Marijuana In 13 States From 1999-2010 May Be Reason For Reduced Annual Opioid Overdose Deaths By 24.8%

       Sunday, 31 August 2014, PHILADELPHIA - U.S. News & World Report in the first article with link below this post cites a recent study reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Internal Medicine concluding that the availability of legalized medical marijuana in 13 states from 1999-2010 is suspected of being responsible for a most significant drop in the the average annual rate of opioid overdose deaths by about 24.8% during that period in just those same states. That is a dramatic reduction in deaths of almost exactly one quarter.

       Researchers reporting the study's findings in JAMA Internal Medicine suspected that this steep reduction was based on the circumstance that in the states in which medical marijuana is legal opioid overdose deaths dropped greatly because patients' use of opioids as painkillers was believed to have been curtailed with some patients able to manage pain successfully by substituting marijuana which is not believed ever to have caused an overdose death.

       The link to the article is provided below for interested readers and is followed by links to two more U.S. News & World Report articles from last year with the first chronicling one man's struggle to recovery from addiction to prescription painkillers, cocaine, heroin and drinking and the second focused on his mother's perspective on his addiction.

http://health.usnews.com/health-news/health-wellness/articles/2014/08/27/health-buzz-does-pot-prevent-opioid-abuse?int=a3bb09 

http://health.usnews.com/health-news/health-wellness/articles/2013/07/24/one-mans-story-how-i-beat-addiction

http://health.usnews.com/health-news/health-wellness/articles/2013/07/24/a-mothers-perspective-on-her-sons-addiction

Copyright 2014 Martin P. All World Rights Expressly Reserved (no claim to above linked articles)