do nothing, gospurs

DO NOTHING

www.huffingtonpost.com

that seems to be the approach
do nothing
as congress tries to fix our debt problems
they did nothing
except
they did increase the tax on those making over
$500,000

then we all got sequestered
the full effects are going to hit later on
but that was nothing to do with what congress did
its wont they didnt do
nothing

lets see
lets look at a worker
who works more and makes more money
he and his family cuts expenses
maybe uses the dave ramsey method
and his investments and his house increase in value
most peoples have
at least the property tax people say my property is
going up in value each year

add that all up and that worker
should have a surplus and should be getting out of debt
seems like simple math and a simple method

now back to our economy and debt
it seems that the estimated deficit we have has been
cut in half this year
why
more taxes on the rich
decreased expenses ie sequestration
increased economical growth

maybe congress should do nothing for awhile
since they usually just mess things up anyway
and they cant agree on what to do anyway

GOSPURS
no thats not a religious word
no not something blasphemous

its the chant you hear on tv
especially yesterday
go spurs go
as the spurs methodically took apart the grizzlies in the
western conference finals

no flash
defense
an offense built around three guys
actually all are not from the us
parker duncan and ginobili

old school coach

the spurs just suddenly every year show up at the end
without people paying attention to them

i find that refreshing

go spurs go

the organicgreen doctor

will it be there in time

WILL IT BE THERE IN TIME
thats the question im asking myself
as ive read a lot about alzheimers disease and how it progresses
real gradually it seems over 20-30 years
and probably over a lifetime
it has multi causes most likely
changing some of those causes may help
you know like blood pressure weight cholesterol diabetes exercise diet
alcohol intake smoking sleep habits etc

as scientists are getting better and better at diagnosing alzheimers
disease we are and will  be seeing more and more  people diagnosed
with this eventually before any symptoms show up

now thats the dilemma
you can diagnosis them
but you cannt really treat them except by altering those things mentioned
above
or
use the 5 medicines approved to treat alzheimers disease
none of which actually treats the disease itself but only treats the
symptoms
eg
im on aricept (donepezil) and have been it for 2 1/2 years in hopes if
my final diagnosis turns out to be alzheimers disease that it may have
slowed down the progression of the diseases symptoms

of the 5 drugs only aricept (donepezil) exelon and namenda are
really used

what is needed now is drugs or treatments to treat the disease before
symptoms ever start and probably as much as 20-30 years before it
starts to show up

possible treatments attack the beta amyloid accumulation or the tau protein
unfolding and destruction in some way
these are thought to be the two hallmarks of alzheimers disease

ive written about the bexarotene studies that are starting up
hoping that the baxarotene will inhibit beta amyloid production
like it did in animal studies
(bexarotene is an old anticancer drug used for certain skin cancers)

in another study one of the old leukemia chemotherapy agents will be
given at a low dose to slow this production of beta amyloid
it appears to work in animal models

several companies have developed new drugs also that work like the
bexarotene and are being tested now in new studies that like bexarotene
will decrease the beta amyloid being produced in the brain

excuse me it seems that you could go back and study people who
were treated with these medicines for their leukemia and cancer and
see if it helped those who were going to get alzheimers
i bet there are blood samples and spinal fluid samples stored somewhere
that could be looked at

www.nytimes.com
the big colombian study using one of the alzheimers vaccine that binds up
the beta amyloid and removes it or prevents it from being deposited in
the brain
hopefully this works because if not this approach using injectible
antitbodies against beta amyloid will not be effective
in this sudy it is given to people in their thirties who are going to get the
disease in a few years
so we will know in less than 5 years if this approach will work

right now across the us another alzheimers vaccine is being given to
prodromal alzheimers patients thats people some like me who have
positive mild neuropsych tests positive beta amyloid and tau proteins
in the spinal fluids and positive pet scans for beta amyloid but who
are really asymptomatic

i would qualify for this study but one of the criteria is that you can not
be on aricept (donepezil) and be on the study
thats a choice i would have to make
would be to stop this knowing
that if this vaccine didnt work stopping the aricept (donepezil) might
make my symptoms deteriorate if what i have is alzheimers disease

as of right now im not willing to do that

so im watching the drug studies closely for a potential treatment that
is in the works

one promising drug is being evaluated by taurx.com where the drug affects
the unfolding of the tau protein
earlier studies on a protype of this drug showed some promise

for me personally
i dont qualify because they arent testing it yet on people like me but are
only giving it to people who are in the early stages of alzhiemers
disease eg like the tennessee basketball coach pat summitt

ill be watching this one real close and if they do start a study in
people like me with minimal symptoms and positive tests
then i plan to try to enter the study
just dont give me that damn placebo

www.nature.com
another study that i read about involves an enzyme thats called
secretase
it was discovered in a group of people in iceland who do not get
alzheimers disease because of a gene inherited that affects this
secretase enzyme so it doesnt break down amyloid into the
beta amyloid piece that is thought to possibly be the cause of
azlheimers as this beta amyloid piece gets deposited throughout the brain

a new study is being looked at using this to treat people hoping they
too will not get this disease
these new inhibitors of this secretase enzyme lower the beta amyloid
in the brain and
if it works will slow down or prevent the disease
this may be the most promising of all the new treatments
ill be the first in line for that one

yes this is hope for the future
these new drug treatments that are coming
but i realize my window of opportunity is closing if what i have is
alzheimers disease because by the time an official diagnosis is made
its like being told you have stage 4 cancer
the odds are against you

so
lets hope then that one of these new drugs will be effective
soon

the organicgreen doctor

respect for others

RESPECT FOR OTHERS
ive volunteered at the habitat for humanity now for over a year
the group that usually works there are mostly retired
and many have traveled and still travel all across the us and
the world
they in their travels and past occupations have be exposed to
a diverse group of people from different racial backgrounds
political backgrounds and religious backgrounds

ive seen the respect they have for these people as they also have
volunteered to work with us

each session is started by a prayer since the habitat for humanity
is a christian based organization
we all respect this even though some of the volunteers are of
different religions or no religions

even the choice of food for lunch can be altered based on
who is there
its not unusual to have a group or person who is not a
meat eater for personal or religious reasons present
when possible vegetarian choices are provided

recent we had a group
the muslim student association from the university of texas
at austin come work with us
yes they were all americans
they all spoke english
and they were all quite intelligent and
were extremely hard workers
they may be your next doctor lawyer or accountant or politician

when we all got together the leader of the volunteers
recognized this groups religious beliefs and turned
to one of us who is a retired military person who worked in an
environment that exposed him to a diverse group of people from
all over the world and to a diverse group of religions
he was asked to say a prayer

it was a nondenominational non protestant non islamic prayer
that could have been given at any protestant church catholic church
synagogue or mosque

i was impressed that there was respect for others beliefs and
that there was ground that we all could meet on as shown by
his prayer

then i got to thinking about prayer before events in schools etc
in a school near here
one of the most respected academic schools in this area

this school has a diffuse population of students whose parents are
from around the world and represent most major religions of the
world

the principal recognizing this
put it to a vote of the senior class if a prayer should be given
before graduation
the overwhelming majority who were mostly protestants
voted no as they recognized that
a protestant prayer would offend their other religions
a muslem prayer might offend the protestants
the jewish prayer might offend the muslems and the protestants
the catholic prayer might offend the protestants jewish and muslems

this group of kids this millennial group think differently than their parents
and grandparents
maybe for the better
they recognize the diversity in america and respect others
gay relationships are not a big deal
race relationships are not a problem with them
their views on politics are not the same as ours
they recognize the diverse religions
and respect them

maybe or probably the better for all of our futures
we should be more like them
but many of us
im afraid
will not

the organicgreen doctor