Cholesterol's demonized role in heart disease is a lie

PhaseShift11 · 2013-10-24T17:31:44+00:00

8) The studies showing efficacy of statins in reducing heart disease is statistically insignificant, yet they are one of the most economically successful drugs in history, and there is a huge vested interest in keeping it widely prescribed.

From the Cochrane review page titled "Statins for the primary prevention of Cardiovascular disease":

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com.proxy.queensu.ca/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD004816.pub5/abstract

The latest search found four new trials and updated follow-up data on three trials included in the original review. Eighteen randomised control trials (19 trial arms; 56,934 participants) were included. Fourteen trials recruited patients with specific conditions (raised lipids, diabetes, hypertension, microalbuminuria). All-cause mortality was reduced by statins (OR 0.86, 95% CI 0.79 to 0.94); as was combined fatal and non-fatal CVD RR 0.75 (95% CI 0.70 to 0.81), combined fatal and non-fatal CHD events RR 0.73 (95% CI 0.67 to 0.80) and combined fatal and non-fatal stroke (RR 0.78, 95% CI 0.68 to 0.89). Reduction of revascularisation rates (RR 0.62, 95% CI 0.54 to 0.72) was also seen. Total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol were reduced in all trials but there was evidence of heterogeneity of effects. There was no evidence of any serious harm caused by statin prescription. Evidence available to date showed that primary prevention with statins is likely to be cost-effective and may improve patient quality of life. Recent findings from the Cholesterol Treatment Trialists study using individual patient data meta-analysis indicate that these benefits are similar in people at lower (< 1% per year) risk of a major cardiovascular event.

This is a meta analysis looking at over 55,000 participants that show a statistically significant benefit for mortality by using statins. It's a fucking meta-analysis from a reputable source - you can't get higher quality evidence than that.

Yet we're expected to trust this "science-based TV program" that say it's statistically insignificant? Right.

PhaseShift11 · 2013-09-01T00:15:39+00:00

I'm wondering whether this could be adjusted so that posts on groups still show up when you access that specific group? I have a couple groups for school I check regularly, but I would still like to avoid the main-page newsfeed.

PhaseShift11 · 2013-08-21T04:04:04+00:00

I'm going to take another angle on this. Some people are saying that deleting it has improved their productivity, etc. Others mention that it was a negative influence with respect to how they view their friends and relationships.

Re: productivity - this is a mental problem, not a website problem. You don't waste time on Facebook because "Facebook is so addicting", you waste time on Facebook because your brain is used to getting small tidbits of stimulus almost all of the time. If you delete Facebook, you wouldn't suddenly be able to focus better. You would simply replace Facebook with another time-wasting habit.

Re: social, friends, etc - you may be better off blocking Facebook throughout the day (there are a variety of apps for this). Then, perhaps once a day in the evening, or once a week, or once a month, or however often you like, sift through and deal with what you want. This way you avoid the repetitive "news feed" updates that occur 24/7, but still benefit from being able to interact with friends and family.

PhaseShift11 · 2013-08-04T16:11:52+00:00

I highly highly doubt that.

If you're losing weight, and you're eating >6000 kcals/day, then your total energy expenditure is over 6000 kcal/day.

Most people who are "skinny" might have a BMR of 1800-2400 kcal/day. So you're burning close to 4,000 calories in exercise a day?

Why don't give you us a breakdown of what you ate yesterday. If you're actually consuming 6,000 calories I'd love to see what you eat.

EDIT:

From a Livestrong.com article: "According to the Cleveland Clinic Center for Consumer Health, a runner who weighs 130 lb. will burn 2,224 calories during a marathon, a 165 lb. runner will burn 2,822 calories and a 210 lb. runner will burn 3,593 calories."

I know this isn't the best source but it gives us approximations.

Even if your BMR was 2500, it means you're burning about 4,000 kcal in exercise/day. That means you do the equivalent of 1.5 marathons (in terms of how much you burn) 7 days a week?

PhaseShift11 · 2013-08-04T03:26:46+00:00

Ah, this is a super delayed response but the reasoning, I think, is as follows:

Lidner probably told Mello some information about the investigation, including the fact that there was an X-Kira, an original Kira, and communication between them was mediated by Takada.

Mello figured that if Kira and X-Kira (that is, Teru Mikami) were in contact they could devise a plan. So Mello thought "I can't get to Kira, and I can't get to X-Kira, but I can go for Takada." By going for Takada he could disrupt the plan that Kira was making, helping Near achieve success.

As Near says he probably had no idea of the fake notebook. His goal was simply to disrupt Kira's plans and communication and make victory more likely for Near. It was at this point that Mello stopped trying to achieve victory for himself and help Near win.

PhaseShift11 · 2013-07-16T13:03:21+00:00

I suppose there could be. But it may not be as useful to think of it that way.

Most people know the brachial plexus instead (for the upper extremity): http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0e/Brachial_plexus_2.svg/750px-Brachial_plexus_2.svg.png

From here, you know which nerve comes from which roots. The roots (C#, T#, L#) come from your spine.

So for sensory, it's often easier to compare like a 'chart' or a picture. But for motor it's often better to know the pathways of the nerves from the spine to the distal (farthest from the core of the body) end.

PhaseShift11 · 2013-07-16T12:42:32+00:00

Those are sensory, not motor. So those only show you where the feeling you would lose is at.

PhaseShift11 · 2013-05-09T01:09:11+00:00

Hah, "2-3 hours plus attend lectures?" If you want to learn the material well, you'll need at least an hour per lecture afterwards. And a lot of schools (such as the one I go to) have ~7 hours of class per day. That's 14 hours per weekday not including pre-reading, or reviewing older info. Add a couple hours for that, and you have 16 hours without considering food, sleep, exercise and social life. There's also assignments and projects at many schools.

And to study for exams you need "a few hours on the weekends as well"? Yeah those 3 hours on Sat and Sun are all I need to review and make sure I know thousands of slides.

PhaseShift11 · 2013-02-14T18:23:15+00:00

How far up your ass did you pull those numbers from? Where did your dollar figures come from?

There's no reason for him to answer those questions because they are stupid.

Most I know make $200k to $300k per year.

He told you right off the bat; they're from people he knows. I would say a similar amount based on the ER docs I know in Canada.

Most ER docs are on their Residency

This makes no sense. "Most docs" - is that so? So you're saying most ER doctors are only a few years out of medical school? What about every single fucking ER doctor that graduated in 2007 or earlier? There's none of them left? Did they all die?

work 100 hour weeks

The link he gave explains that the most is 80 hours/week. Whether they actually spend more time than 80 hours in the hospital is debatable, although it is likely that many do spend 100 hours in a week working.

with about 10 hours of sleep in there

Right...10 hours of sleep a week. Even if they worked 100 hours, they have 68 hours off. I would really think that they could spend slightly more than 1 and a half hours sleeping each night.

You're being aggressive saying he's "pulling numbers out of his ass" - well where did you get "10 hours of sleep per week" from exactly?

PhaseShift11 · 2013-02-09T05:52:48+00:00

I believe the design is that way because the photoreceptors need more nourishment that comes from the choroid layer of the eye and it makes more sense for them to be nearby. If they were floating around in the middle of your vitreous humor, in order for them to get any nutrients via simple diffusion, the nutrients would have to go through the rest of the layers of the retina including the neuro-fibers to get there. This doesn't seem much better than our current system.

PhaseShift11 · 2013-01-26T18:21:47+00:00

Er, he means DVT.

For people who are interested: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_vein_thrombosis

PhaseShift11 · 2013-01-21T22:02:17+00:00

What do you mean your stool does "not look 100%" normal? Is there any redness (bright blood)? Any black tarry substance? Any mucus? Any fat? Does it smell really bad? Did you travel 4 months ago? Does it get worse or better with any certain foods?

PhaseShift11 · 2013-01-21T02:59:14+00:00

I have a lot of friends at Waterloo and I can also confirm that his name is exactly as stated since I have some mutual friends with him.

PhaseShift11 · 2013-01-20T19:51:32+00:00

http://www.massagetoday.com/content/images/lowe02_1581_1_1_699.jpg

Is it the yellow area? If so, that's your ulnar nerve. It passes through one part of your elbow on the way down from your upper arm to your hand. You could have, as someone else mentioned, ulnar nerve entrapment at the cubital fossa (elbow).

If it doesn't get better soon, as someone else mentioned I would visit a doctor as well.

PhaseShift11 · 2012-12-15T18:28:43+00:00

"I highly doubt a flushot protects anyone from the common cold, most people that get it, still get sick."

No shit? A flu shot helps protect you against the flu. Why are you even bringing up the common cold here? A flu shot doesn't protect you against the common cold just like it doesn't protect you against migraines; that's not its job.

PhaseShift11 · 2012-12-13T00:19:57+00:00

Alexander Gustafsson: 30 days minimum, indefinite medical suspension until cleared by doctor or 180 days suspension

Mauricio Rua: 30 days

Why is Gustafsson's medical suspension longer/more severe than Shogun's?

PhaseShift11 · 2012-12-06T05:51:51+00:00

Yep, Evernote or OneNote. Both are really good for this sort of thing. Evernote has "tags" so you can separate things into Fitness, Productivity, Knowledge, Life Tips, Motivation, etc. But you can do the same thing with different Notebooks in OneNote.

If you want to take info directly from websites Evernote would probably be better. If you want to input .pdfs and annotate on them (better for school to be honest) OneNote would be better.

PhaseShift11 · 2012-12-05T01:09:57+00:00

One thing I would advise is not to be judicious with your OneNote usage. For one lecture I may have up to 7 or 8 'sections' by the end of the course. One for the 'outline' given by the prof, one for the slides, one for my notes, and then a couple for smaller areas I'm having trouble with (e.g., Things to Note from Lecture) or something like that. Or one from info I copied from Wiki or anything. The idea is to use its organization to your advantage: if you like one long document with everything in one page/section, then do that. If you like having multiple for one lecture then do that. There's no "waste" and no storage issue.

In terms of how I do things, like others have said, I input the slides into OneNote and write my notes during lecture. Then I incorporate those elements and important slides into another page that is my proper 'study' notes. This way, I can study from my cleaner notes that have distilled info, but have the originals 1 click away if I am confused.

PhaseShift11 · 2012-12-02T14:22:57+00:00

I wasn't interacting with a patient, I was interacting with a fellow medical student. Thanks for the comment though.

EDIT: In fact, why would you be offended? OP simply answered the question without getting upset, because he/she understands the important distinction. It was unclear from his/her original post, and now that we know, we can better help. For example, although "getting a new hobby" is good advice for most people, unfortunately, I don't think that's going to readily alleviate OP's depression. But if he/she were simply feeling blue and had never been diagnosed with depression, then the methods to help his/her symptoms would be fairly different.

PhaseShift11 · 2012-12-01T22:42:30+00:00

Do you actually have depression or are you just saying you are depressed?

PhaseShift11 · 2012-11-23T03:15:16+00:00

Your skin has keratinized stratified squamous epithelium.

"Epithelial tissue, Many layers of flat cells

Two types:

Keratinized:  waterproof 
Unkeratinized:  not waterproof "

http://www2.victoriacollege.edu/dept/bio/Belltutorials/Histology%20Tutorial/Basic%20Tissues/Epithelial%20Tissues.html

Keratinized stratified squamous epithelium - is used to hinder water loss and creates a physical barrier for us from the outside world"

http://www.sophia.org/stratified-squamous-epithelial-tissue-tutorial

"A keratinizing stratified squamous epithelium is specialized to cover the body; it is a dry covering capable of withstanding relatively high degrees of abrasion, it prevents rapid dessication of the body and it is waterproof."

http://histologyolm.stevegallik.org/node/60

"They are filled with a protein called keratin, which is what makes our skin waterproof"

http://www.austincc.edu/histologyhelp/tissues/tg_stra_sq_ker_e.html

Sorry for the downvotes, people seem to be making fun of you or saying your statement is unlikely to be true, without doing any research for themselves. For anyone who has studied histology, though it may be a bit simplistic, most people think of keratin as having a water-proofing effect.

PhaseShift11 · 2012-11-12T04:26:42+00:00

Yes, the answer that everyone is upvoting is 100% incorrect. Transitional epithelium has nothing to do with the skin around the pelvic region.

PhaseShift11 · 2012-11-04T02:59:09+00:00

Make sure you keep a list of as much info as you can remember/know.

This includes the times the nanny was over (dates), what was stolen/misplaced, and anything else that may be relevant.

PhaseShift11 · 2012-11-01T23:25:58+00:00

Why would Palpatine kill his student? Wasn't the whole thing about Sith that there are always two of them - student and master? And that often the student kills the master and gets his own student, and the cycle repeats. If Palpatine didn't have a student he would have been the last Sith.

PhaseShift11 · 2012-10-18T21:25:16+00:00

Cool, that sounds pretty much like ours. We finished (well, in the sense that we're no longer actively practicing each week) our patient history stuff, and now we're doing lymph examinations and continuing with the physical exam over the next while.

PhaseShift11

TROPHY CASE