Munch, Edvard Edvard Munch: Behind the Scream. Sue Prideaux. New Haven: Yale UP, 2005. 391 pp. $43.50.
"Edvard Munch, though handsomely designed and lavishly produced, with 150 illustrations, is written in an awkward style and with strange diction. The text is filled with cliches and repetitions, including …
Community and clerical organizations have demanded thai city, county and statewide elected officials make foreclosure prevention a top priority for homeowners. Some programs were put in place on all levels for homeowners in jeopardy or currently in foreclosure to get assistance.
Yet, the number of foreclosures filed in the last few months increased.
Some say the program supply doesn't meet the demand: some say those offering assistance are not in it for the long haul, leaving homeowners deeper in debt.
In March. 1.763 foreclosures were filed in Chicago, nearly 4(K) more than the previous month, according to statistics from the Chicago Rehab Network, an affordable …
Byline: TIMOTHY CAHILL Staff writer
In the 1870s, when he was in his 40s, Winslow Homer dubbed himself ``The Obtuse Bard'' as an initiation into a New York social club. The handle could not have been more apt. Even as it revealed the artist's aggressive sense of humor, it cast light on the cold-eyed perception that made him one of America's greatest painters.
To call himself a bard was of course Homer's allusion to his shared name with the Greek author of ``The Iliad'' and ``The Odyssey.'' As much to the point, though, it was also a declaration of his own nature. By then, the artist, whose work is the focus of a new exhibit in Cooperstown, must have recognized that he was more a poet than a journalist. In 1876, when he was 40, he left a lucrative career as a magazine illustrator to devote himself fully to painting. A couple years before that, he had begun to paint in watercolors, the most lyrical of painting mediums.
As for the obtuse part, it was above all significant of Homer's abiding contrarian nature. The word means dull-witted or slow, which the painter decidedly was not, though at this early stage of his fine art career, when …
Herbal supplements to cure tinnitus aren't necessarily bad, but the research on them is definitely lacking. An audiologist investigates.
Over the past several years, there have been a number of herbal remedies claiming to lessen the effects of tinnitus-a ringing or buzzing in the ears that has no external sound source. According to some estimates, one in five people experiences tinnitus.
As a clinical and research audiologist, I reviewed the scientific literature on herbal treatments in 2004 and was unable to substantiate that any of the product manufacturers' claims were backed by U.S. evidence-based research. As a former human studies researcher in the area of tinnitus during the 1980s, I've remained interested in this subject matter, and I recently re-examined the literature about supplements and their effects on tinnitus.
My search of "tinnitus" on Medscape, an online database of medical journal papers, yielded 174 articles. However, not one of them was a scientific study on herbal treatments for tinnitus. On Medline, a website that provides medical information from the National Library of Medicine, 7,078 articles were cited. But when I refined the search terms to "herbal treatment for tinnitus," only 24 articles were cited, almost all of which were useless because they merely mentioned the word "tinnitus" or "herbal treatment," but were not related to a study.
Only one article was an actual study, and it was written in Chinese. Based on the abstract in English, there are serious flaws in the design of the study-not the least of which was that the study lasted only five days.
I ran an online search on the terms "herbal treatment for tinnitus" at the website for the New England Journal of Medicine. The search turned up only one result, unrelated to the question. Searching the same terms at the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) website led to many articles with the word "tinnitus," but in the top 100 results, not a single article reported conducting a study of herbal treatments for tinnitus.
I believe Paolo Enrico, Ph.D., of the University of Sassari, Italy, and his research team aptly summed things up regarding herbal treatments and tinnitus in their paper "Antioxidants, Minerals, Vitamins, and Herbal Remedies in Tinnitus Therapy," published in the journal Progress in Brain Research in 2007. Enrico et al. said the use of supplements "lacks substantial scientific support, and... these substances are probably not clinically effective either." In addition, they stated that "in view of the potential harm that may occur from inappropriate use of CAM products [complementary and alternative medicines, such as herbs], physicians need to be aware of their principal characteristics with particular emphasis on toxicity and possibilities of interaction with prescription drugs."
WHERE ARE THE PUBLISHED STUDIES?
I contacted two companies that offer over-the-counter tinnitus remedies using herbs, nutrients, or a combination. My question to the companies was: "What U.S. evidencebased research is your claim based on?"
The representative for one company told me, "We've done extensive research over five years and the product works."
I asked: "Where can I find this published study?"
She replied, "It's not for public viewing."
It defies common sense. If you have a proven relief for tinnitus, you'd want to be sharing this news with the world. Yet, this company could provide nothing to me other than a claim and their word.
The other company I contacted said more or less the same thing. They admitted there was no tinnitus research that the company conducted to back the claim. But I was told that the ingredients in the bottle were effective for increasing blood flow, maintaining cognitive health, and relaxing the body.
In a 2003 JAMA study titled "Internet Marketing of Herbal Products," Charles A. Morris, M.D., and Jerry Avorn, M.D., of Harvard Medical School concluded: "Consumers may be misled by vendors' claims that herbal products can treat, prevent, diagnose, or cure specific diseases, despite regulations prohibiting such statements. Physicians should be aware of this widespread and easily accessible information. More effective regulation is required to put this class of therapeutics on the same evidence-based footing as other medicinal products."
BUYER BEWARE
The single most touted ingredient in some of these purported remedies is ginkgo biloba. My general review of the literature in 2004, and again in summer 2010, failed to uncover even one U.S. scientific study that supported the notion that any herbal treatment, including ginkgo biloba, was of any more benefit for tinnitus than a placebo. Even company executives of tinnitus relief companies could not provide the data.
What's more, researchers can't even agree that ginkgo biloba is of benefit to other health issues unrelated to tinnitus. For example, in December 2009, JAMA published the results of a large randomized trial, the Ginkgo Evaluation of Memory study, which found that ginkgo biloba supplements had no effect on age-related cognitive decline.
However, quite in contrast to U.S. studies, some European research has shown a link between herbal treatments and tinnitus. This is the basis for U.S. product claims. The problem is that results from these foreign studies have not been replicated in U.S. studies, so the methodologies in these foreign studies should be challenged.
The reason there may be no studies conducted on herbal treatment for tinnitus is because there are far stricter guidelines in the United States than in most other countries. We cannot know the flaws in research without knowing how the studies were designed, and exactly what the data showed (see the companion piece, "Study the Studies," page 30).
German scientist Klaus Linde and a group of other European researchers in 2003 reviewed clinical trials on herbal medicines, including their effects on tinnitus. They required what they felt were specific stringent methodology and concluded, "From a total of 79 potentially relevant reviews preselected in the screening process, 58 met the inclusion criteria. Thirty of the reports reviewed ginkgo (for dementia, intermittent claudication, tinnitus, and macular degeneration), hypericum (for depression), or garlic preparations (for cardiovascular risk factors and lower limb atherosclerosis). The quality of primary studies was criticized in the majority of the reviews."
WHERE'S THE EVIDENCE?
Most people don't experience side effects from taking ginkgo biloba, but they can include gastrointestinal disturbances, headaches, dizziness, intracerebral hemorrhage, and allergic skin reactions. Ginkgo functions as a natural vasodilator. It opens the blood vessels. For people already on vasodilators, which are used to treat high blood pressure, it can increase the risk of bleeding when, for example, used in conjunction with histamines, anticoagulants (like Coumadin or Warfarin), vitamin B3 (variations of niacin), alpha blockers (such as Phenoxybenzamine), antiplatelet agents (like aspirin), and even other herbs.
When taking any supplements, do so under the supervision of a medical professional. And when searching for tinnitus relief, no matter the treatment, be vigilant and discerning; demand to see the evidence that the product works; and don't throw good money away on testimonials alone. That's not science.
[Sidebar]
The problem is that results from foreign studies have not been replicated in U.S. studies, so their methodologies should be challenged.
Trusted Websites for Medical Studies and Articles
The Journal of the American Medical Association
jama.ama-assn.org
Medline
www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus
Medscape
www.medscape.com
The New England Journal of Medicine
www.nejm.org
[Author Affiliation]
By Richard A. Carmen, Au.D.
[Author Affiliation]
Richard E. Carmen, Au.D., is the publisher of Auricle Ink, which publishes healthcare books written by scholars in language consumers understand. For more information, see www.hearingproblems.com. He is also the technical adviser and on the board of the Better Hearing Institute, www.betterhearing.org.
ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 23 -- United States Patent no. 7,894,378, issued on Feb. 22, was assigned to Motorola Solutions Inc. (Schaumburg, Ill.).
"Method for Updating a Multicast State of a Multicast Group" was invented by Adam C. Lewis (Buffalo Grove, Ill.) and Surong Zeng (Schaumburg, Ill.).
According to the abstract released by the U.
S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A method and system for updating a multicast state of a multicast group at a first mesh access point as provided improves network efficiency. According to one aspect, the method includes processing a multicast member join request for the multicast group received from a first wireless node. A proxy update message for the first wireless node received from a third mesh access point is then processed. The first wireless node connects to a second mesh access point after joining the multicast group via the first mesh access point, and the third mesh access point is a root node of a mesh tree of which the second mesh access point is a node. An Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) query message for the multicast group is then generated. A multicast update (MUPD) packet is then transmitted to an upstream node, whereby a multicast state is updated at the upstream node."
The patent was filed on Aug. 16, 2007, under Application No. 11/839,735.
For further information please visit: http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?
Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PTXT&s1=7894378&OS=7894378&RS=7894378
For any query with respect to this article or any other content requirement, please contact Editor at htsyndication@hindustantimes.com
MADISON, Wis., July 1 -- The Wisconsin Department of Justice issued the following news release:
On Wednesday, June 24, 2009, Special Agents from the Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI), along with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Special Agent Steve Kurkowski and Dane County Sheriff's Office Detective Ron Dorn executed a search warrant at the residence of John F Wilcox, located at 5518 Marsha Dr, Madison, Dane County, WI.
A search was conducted. Seized as a result of the search warrant was one (1) computer hard drive, three (3) guns, miscellaneous computer medium, miscellaneous VHS tapes, two (2) digital cameras and miscellaneous documents. Charges have been forwarded to the Dane County District Attorney's Office. Wilcox was charged with three counts of Possession of Child Pornography.
Wilcox will make his initial appearance on July 2 at 10:30 am.
A copy of the criminal complaint is available at: http://www.doj.state.wi.us/news/files/complaint07012009.pdf
Questions concerning this case should be directed towards the Dane County District Attorney's Office.
A defendant enjoys the presumption of innocence. The prosecution must prove its allegations at trial beyond a reasonable doubt.For more information please contact: Sarabjit Jagirdar, Email:- htsyndication@hindustantimes.com.
William A. Cosh, 608/266-1221.
Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich gave county commissioners a $372,631 listof equipment and software Tuesday that he'd like to buy with countyreserves.
Commissioners took no action, but agreed to discuss the requestfurther.
Most of the expense would be covered by $337,000 Knezovich saidhe saved last year. He said commissioners agreed he could have themoney, but the two who approved this year's budget - Mark Richardand Todd Mielke - had different recollections.
"You said, 'As long as the money is there and it pencils out,you've got it,'" Knezovich said.
Richard said he couldn't remember such a commitment, and calledfor Knezovich to produce a record of that conversation.
"I'm a man of my word," Richard said. "I will follow my word."
Still, he pleaded with Knezovich to "do some soul searching" andreduce his list to officer-safety essentials to "help keep us afloatfor the next two or three years" until the economy recovers.
Mielke said he "could probably get to the point of looking at"the top priorities on the sheriff's list.
Tuesday's exchange echoed one in October. On both occasions,Knezovich argued that he is entitled to keep the portion of lastyear's budget that he didn't spend.
He said he "saved" the money so it could be put to better use oncapital expenditures in this year's budget.
Other departments also saved money and they weren't allowed tokeep it, commissioners responded in October and Tuesday.
Unspent money from all departments was rolled into the county'sgeneral fund reserves, which commissioners try to keep at 10 percentof the budget. Then, in December, commissioners agreed to supplementseveral criminal justice programs by drawing reserves down to anestimated 8.8 percent.
The sheriff's office received $726,724 of that $1.5 millionallocation, to prevent the layoff of eight deputies.
The capital expenditures Knezovich proposed Tuesday include$140,000 for two software systems, $90,200 for 88 Tasers and stun-gun supplies, $37,000 for "marketing and public education" and$24,000 for 60 tire-flattening spike sticks.
Also: $21,116 for bullet-proof vests, $18,898 for in-car traffic-ticket printers, $16,907 for beanbag shotguns and ammunition,$12,960 for wireless Internet-access cards, $6,000 for dog cages and$5,550 for rifle-mounted lights.
