Month: July 2014

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House has voted in support of making it easier for banks to do business with legal pot shops and providers of medical marijuana.

Heart device maker St. Jude Medical Inc STJ.N said it has no plans to jump on the consolidation bandwagon that has swept the healthcare sector in recent months and is not seeking the type of “inversion” deal increasingly popular among U.S. companies seeking to lower taxes by re-basing abroad. In the most recent such deal in the medical device sector, Medtronic Inc MDT.N last month agreed to buy Covidien COV.N for $43 billion. The move will allow Medtronic to re-domicile to Ireland to take advantage of low corporate tax rates and to access cash overseas without having to pay high repatriation costs. St. Jude’s chief financial officer, Don Zurbay, said on Wednesday the company was open to deals if they fit with the therapeutic areas that are its focus, such as cardiac care.

A U.S. appeals court has vacated a stay of execution for a triple murderer and ruled that Missouri can proceed with plans to execute him Wednesday night. The ruling, issued by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, overturned the decision issued Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Catherine Perry. She had ruled that the condemned man, John Middleton, 54, met a standard for mental incapacity and should be given a chance for a new hearing. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled it unconstitutional to execute inmates with mental disabilities.

By Elizabeth Barber BOSTON (Reuters) – Massachusetts lawmakers took up consideration on Wednesday of a bill to limit protests around abortion clinics after the U.S. Supreme Court last month struck down an earlier law that kept demonstrators at least 35 feet (9 meters) from clinic entrances. The new bill would allow police to issue a dispersal order if at least two demonstrators are found to be blocking patient or staff access to abortion clinics. Such an order would bar protesters from coming within 25 feet (7.6 meters) of the clinic's entrance for a maximum of eight hours. The proposal went before a joint committee incorporating members of both chambers of the state legislature as lawmakers rushed to try to get it to Democratic Governor Deval Patrick, who has said he supports it, before the end of the legislative session on July 31.

Psychiatrists are often criticized for a reductionist approach to mental illness. We are accused of "throwing pills" while ignoring the social, cognitive and spiritual aspects of our patients. However, the use of medications by psychologists with only rudimentary understanding of physiology, pathophysiology, and pharmacology is another form of reductionism that should be soundly criticized.

Recent research suggests that the frown of depression is anything but superficial and should not be taken at face value. Wiping that expression off your face is the latest treatment for depression. And Botox, America's favorite neurotoxin, allows for this therapeutic loss of face.

Your chronic illness doesn't mean you can't be successful. Just keep believing, keep doing and always pick yourself up after every fall. You've got this, and you're not alone.