Don't Let SCAD Take Your Life

SCAD Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection - Mayo Clinic

Please, for the love you share with the women in your life, make sure you study this article and tell your physician you are concerned about SCAD.

The Uncommon Type of Heart Attack That Kills Healthy, Young Women, Dr. Joseph Mercola DO, Mercola.com, 8 Mar 2018.

As noted in recent news, the symptoms of an uncommon type of heart attack known as spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD)1 is dangerously easy to overlook, as few SCAD patients have any history of or risk factors for heart disease. SCAD is a leading cause of heart attacks in healthy women under 55; the average age of SCAD patients is 42.

ABC News recounts the stories of two women whose sudden heart attacks were triggered by SCAD.2 Five weeks after giving birth to a healthy baby girl, Maryn Cox suddenly developed troubling symptoms. "It felt like pressure, possibly gas; acid reflux, I wasn't sure what it was. One of my arms went numb, I started getting nauseous; cold sweats,” she says. The symptoms, while common, turned out to be SCAD, a condition few have ever heard of.

While SCAD is a cause of heart attack, it’s different from a heart attack caused by coronary artery disease. Essentially, SCAD occurs when the layers of your blood vessel wall tear apart from each other, trapping blood between the layers. As the blood pools and collects between the layers, your blood vessel gets choked off, killing heart muscle tissue downstream from the blockage, thereby triggering a heart attack.

• Symptoms of an uncommon type of heart attack known as spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD) are easily overlooked, as few SCAD patients have any history of or risk factors for heart disease
• SCAD is a leading cause of heart attacks in healthy women under 55; the average age of SCAD patients is 42. Eighty percent of SCAD patients are women; 20 percent have recently given birth
• SCAD occurs when the layers of your blood vessel wall tear apart from each other, trapping blood between the layers. As the blood collects between the layers, your blood vessel gets choked off, triggering a heart attack
• Most SCAD patients are healthy. Risk factors for the condition include underlying blood vessel conditions such as fibromuscular dysplasia, extreme exercise and severe emotional stress
• Common signs and symptoms of a SCAD-induced heart attack, and current treatment recommendations are included

Go here for the whole story

Dr. Sharonne Hayes, M.D., Mayo Clinic, SCAD Research Program Update: 2015

Hero Docs – Henry Ford Medical Group

What does it take to change a society for the better? Certainly, a first step is for people to stand up and voice their demand for a better life, a safer life.

Two courageous people who made that society-changing decision to fight for their beliefs come to mind for me: Candy Lightner*, the mother who “stood up against drunk driving” and Lilly Ledbetter**, the former Goodyear employee who fought for equal pay for women. There are several others.

But, the point is that by taking a stand, you, too, can change society for the better.

The Board of Governors of the Henry Ford Medical Group (HFMG) has recently made its position clear for a “gun safety advocacy initiative which will focus on producing real change”. They are actively asking their elected government officials “to take immediate steps to promote gun safety”.

The HFMG Docs are dedicated to patient safety and have declared: “As physicians in metro Detroit, members of the Henry Ford Medical Group (HFMG) are no strangers to this American calamity. We live with this every day and recognize gun violence as a public health crisis that demands attention and action now.”

“There is nothing political about limiting the access of children and the mentally ill to firearms. There is no disagreement that we must improve the availability and quality of mental health services for both children and adults to prevent gun violence.”

“We are not afraid to speak out on this urgent public health crisis. We believe that strong gun safety laws are needed now. We also strongly believe that the congressional ban on gun violence research by our CDC be struck down. If gun-related deaths were subject to the same type of rigorous epidemiologic scrutiny as any other public health crisis, public perceptions would change overnight.”

For their stand for gun safety, the HFMG physicians are heroes.

*Candy Lightner: Stood Up Against Drunk Driving
"After her 13-year-old daughter was killed by a repeat DWI offender, Candy Lightner founded Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) in her home on March 7, 1980. Before MADD, there were little to no legal consequences for driving while intoxicated; her organization transformed American attitudes about drunk driving and successfully fought for stricter laws across the country."

**Lilly Ledbetter: Fought for Equal Pay
"Upon retiring from Goodyear after nearly 20 years, Lilly Ledbetter sued the company in 1998 for paying her less over the years than her male coworkers. The lawsuit climbed the judicial ladder until it reached the Supreme Court. Although they did not rule in her favor, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg wrote a stirring dissent. Congress subsequently passed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act in 2009, changing federal law to better protect women in the workplace."

You Will Pay for Congressional Repeat Financial Disaster

US Sen. Elizabeth Warren says bank bill is 'dangerous,' could lead to another financial crisis, Shannon Young,masslive.com, 6 Mar 2018.

The Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act is another 2008 Financial Disaster in the making.

I still remember the last financial crisis from a few years ago. The Big Banks won. The everyday Joes and Janes like me lost big time. Please listen to the Congressional Budget Office: the “CBO estimates that the probability is small under current law and would be slightly greater under the legislation”. And, although the bill is supposed to benefit small banks, the CBO said it’s possible that JP Morgan and Citibank, specifically, would benefit from changes to the way that regulators measure capitalization for banks that are “predominantly engaged in custody, safekeeping, and asset servicing activities.”

Please do not support any Republican/Bankster legislation that helps the Banksters hurt Michiganders again. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) said it best:

"Are you with the big banks and the Wall Street operators who wrecked the economy and got big bailouts, or are you with families and workers?"

The Democrats are going to mess-up the midterm elections by accepting bucks from the Big Money Lobby one percenters , the banks, and groups like the NRA.

Senators, especially Michigan Senators Stabenow and Peters, you must make the Democratic Party enact Progressive legislation and move toward the common people or risk not only losing the midterms but also what is left of our Democratic/Republic, too.

Please go here for video: Sen Warren answer questions about the bill.

Our Awakening

Awakening: A Novel of Aliens and Consciousness
By Stephan A Schwartz

Well written and thought provoking, Awakening: A Novel of Aliens and Consciousness, by Stephan A. Schwartz, is akin to the greatest, culture-changing novels, two of which come to mind: Uncle Tom's Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe and Upton Sinclair’s, The Jungle.

Beecher Stowe novel is “credited with helping fuel the abolitionist cause in the 1850s” and through The Jungle, Sinclair successfully exposed corruption in government and business, plus turned a spotlight on the meat packing industry’s flagrant violations of basic health guidelines and sanitation.

The fact is that people read novels and are motivated into action through them. Awakening is of the same mold, but speaks to us, today, about the immediacy of our life challenges and the need for each of us to become actively engaged in confronting them.

Through main charters Arthur Davies, senior analyst for the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation; Dr. Rachel Carter, Congressional Researcher, Library of Congress; and “Mike”, the enigmatic E.T. “detainee”, Schwartz compellingly weaves the theme that humanity is at a make or break crossroads. The crucial task at hand is to find and help awaken 10% of humanity to “change the nature of their beingness”. The 10%, through their awakening, will spur humanity to save the human species from itself.

Read Awakening: A Novel of Aliens and Consciousness. Perhaps you will agree with me. This is the message E.T. wants us hear, take to heart and make our life mission – for our own good.

Johnny Nash - I Can See Clearly Now - 1972

Graphene + Membrane Cholesterol = Miracle

Qi Zhang, PhD, Kristina Kitko and colleagues are studying the way graphene impacts nerve cell signaling in the brain. Credit: Vanderbilt University

Many discoveries are accidental. Take this one for instance. A Vanderbilt University graduate student and her professor were trying to measure electrical activity in the brain, but what they discovered came as “as a complete surprise”.

The Vanderbilt researchers discovered that the wonder substance graphene, “… may enable researchers to change how cells communicate with each other by manipulating the cholesterol content in the cell membrane”.

And the miracle? The Vanderbilt team demonstrated that graphene can affect “G protein-coupled receptors, whose activity are mediated by cholesterol… and, half of all drugs target these receptors.”

Here's the story:

Graphene material strengthens nerve signaling in the brain, Bill Snyder, Vanderbilt University, physorg.com, 2 Mar 2018.

Less than 20 years after it was developed, a thin, resilient sheet of carbon atoms with remarkable properties known as graphene is transforming biomedical fields as far flung as tissue engineering, neuroprosthetics and drug discovery.

Because it readily conducts heat and electricity, graphene also may be a good biosensor. But it's not neutral. When Vanderbilt University scientists tried to use graphene to measure electrical activity in the brain, they found that it actually enhanced nerve cell signaling.

It did so by enabling nerve cell membranes to pull in more cholesterol. The fatty substance was used to make more of the vesicles that package neurotransmitters, the chemical messengers that relay signals between nerve cells. More vesicles and more neurotransmitter meant stronger signals.

These findings, reported last week in the journal Nature Communications, came as a complete surprise to the investigators. They raise the possibility that graphene may enable researchers to change how cells communicate with each other by manipulating the cholesterol content in the cell membrane.

Graphene "not only may be a very good vehicle to deliver drugs but also a way to potentiate the drug effect," said the paper's senior author, Qi Zhang, Ph.D., assistant professor of Pharmacology in the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.

Please go here for  the rest of the story.

Unspoken - Miracle - 2016

Say Hey, Delta!

Detroit Metro Airport . (WWJ Photo/Mike Campbell)

Leavin’ Atlanta is really a tough idea to chew on and your CEO says "nope" to movin' elsewhere.

But, you know, Michigan’s Metro Airport is already one of your biggest hubs. And, it’s one of the best airports in the U.S., too.

So, now that those retrogressive Georgia political people have decided to kick your fanny around*, why not consider "Pure" business friendly Michigan?

I’m sure our political people can work out some kind of a favorable deal not tied to assault rifles and such.

We’d just love to have y'all come on up.

* Delta Just Doubled Down on Its Decision to Cut Ties With the NRA, Aric Jenkins, Time, 2 Mar 2018.

The Hey Song, Gary Glitter - 1972 

That Boomerang Thing

From the goes around comes around file: "I wish I hadn’t tossed that thing out."

Mr. Wile E. Coyote of Looney Tunes fame must certainly wish he hadn’t tossed that boomerang thing out. After all, his was guaranteed to come back. Apparently, it did.

The same might apply to Mr. Trump’s regarding the “visa and alien” issue he regularly champions.

For instance, one must consider why Mrs. Trump’s entry into the USA has heretofore received so little attention. Until now.

Has that boomerang thing returned? Just askin’.

Here's the story:

Melania Trump Immigrated to the U.S. Under Very Fishy Circumstances, Liz Posner, alternet.org, 1 Mar 2018.

The EB-1 visa is normally reserved for academics, doctors, and others with ‘extraordinary ability.'

At last, the White House has shared a bit of the mystery behind Melania Trump’s immigration to the U.S. The Washington Post reports that in 2001, Melania received a highly coveted EB-1 visa, generally reserved for renowned leaders in the arts, sciences, and business world. Hmm...

EB-1 visas, sometimes called “genius visas,” are normally given to highly accomplished artists, academics, doctors, and engineers around the world. Perhaps it should be explicitly said that Melania was neither an artist, nor an academic, nor a doctor, nor an engineer at the time. She was not engaging in any kind of “extraordinary” enterprise in 2001, unless you count her extraordinary tolerance for dating Donald Trump.

Of the million visas issued in 2001, just 3,376 were awarded to immigrants with an "extraordinary ability," according to the Post. Melania’s attorney told the paper the first lady was "more than amply qualified and solidly eligible" for the EB-1 visa, but would not provide any of the qualifications that Melania cited during her application. Recipients of the EB-1 visa must provide proof they have won a major award, along with “evidence of commercial successes in the performing arts, evidence of work displayed at artistic exhibitions" or "evidence of original contributions to a field,” the Post writes. Nothing in Melania's public profile suggests she received any such accolades—her previous career was in modeling.

For months, the Trump administration has ignored demands to release Melania’s immigration papers—highly ironic as Trump has repeatedly spewed his disdain for immigrants, particularly for those without legal documentation. He’s been critical of families who immigrate together, referring to them frequently with the conservative slur “chain migration.” Of course, Melania’s family followed her to the country through this very same process.

Bobby Vee - Rubber Ball (1961)

(O.K. I didn't like the boomerang songs. So, for fun, I posted the bouncy rubber ball song from my youth. It comes back, right?)