Everyone,

I want to thank you for your support of “Eye Openers” over the past year. Unfortunately, time demands do not allow me to continue publishing it at this point. Intense Living.com will continue to operate and be updated on a regular basis.

The “Eye Openers” (http://eyeopeners.wordpress.com) site will continue to exist as an archive, but no new entries will be added at this time. If my personal situation changes, then the service might be brought back in the future.

Thanks.

Greg Taunt

ABC Radio Network spokesman Louis Adams said Harvey died Saturday at his winter home in Phoenix, Ariz., surrounded by family. No cause of death was immediately available.Harvey, who was born and raised in Tulsa, Okla., was married to the late Lynne Cooper of St. Louis who died less than a year ago. They had one son, Paul Jr.

He was a news commentator and talk-show pioneer whose staccato style made him one of the country’s most familiar voices. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by George W. Bush in 2005.

Known for his resonant voice and trademark delivery of “The Rest of the Story,” Harvey had been heard nationally since 1951, when he began his “News and Comment” for ABC Radio Networks.

In a statement, ABC Radio Networks President Jim Robinson calls Harvey “one of the most gifted and beloved broadcasters in our nation’s history.”

He began his radio career in 1933 in Tulsa, while he was still in high school, his Web site said.

Paul Harvey News consisted of more than 1,200 radio stations and 400 Armed Forces Network stations that broadcast around the world and 300 newspapers, his biography reported.

A virus that weakened his vocal cord forced him off the air in 2001. But he returned to work in Chicago and was still active as he passed his 90th birthday.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,502645,00.html

But the drugs once used to treat gram-negative bacteria are becoming ineffective, and finding effective new ones is especially challenging.

“We’re literally running out of drugs to treat gram-negatives,” said Dr. Brad Spellberg, an infectious disease specialist at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. “And there is nothing in the pipeline right now.”

Exact numbers are hard to come by, because infections by these three bacteria are not reportable by law. But using 2002 data voluntarily reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from about 300 large, mostly urban hospitals, the Infectious Diseases Society of America identified about 104,000 gram-negative infections that were resistant to at least some antibiotics, roughly the same as the 102,000 MRSA infections found that year.

A class of broad-spectrum antibiotics known as carbapenems have been the drug of last resort for gram-negative bugs.

“The carbapenems are . . . the best gram-negative drugs we have,” said Dr. Helen Boucher of Tufts University, an infectious disease specialist. “These bugs have found a way to make an enzyme that dissolves these drugs. That means our best gun is ineffective.”

As the drugs fail, doctors find themselves as a last resort turning to older, more toxic ones such as colistin, largely abandoned because of the severe side effects: kidney damage and deafness. At one East Coast hospital, the number of orders doctors made for colistin went from one in 2001 to 68 in 2007, Boucher said.

“This is a drug that’s like poison,” she said.

For the most part, gram-negative bacteria are hospital scourges — harmless to healthy people but ready to infect already-damaged tissue. The bacteria steal into the body via ventilator tubes, catheters, open wounds and burns, causing pneumonia, urinary tract infections, and bone, joint and bloodstream infections.

Pseudomonas is widely found in soil and water, and rarely causes problems except in hospitals.

Klebsiella causes a sudden, severe pneumonia, mostly in people already suffering from ailments such as diabetes or chronic lung disease. Its telltale sign is a blood-tinged sputum dubbed “currant jelly.” It can also cause urinary tract and abdominal infections.

Acinetobacter generally causes wound and bloodstream infections. It has become notorious among veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. They are believed to have contracted it in field hospitals and carried it to veterans hospitals in the U.S.

The first U.S. outbreak of Klebsiella resistant to all known antibiotics occurred at a Brooklyn hospital in 2000. The so-called pan-resistant strain has since been found along the Eastern Seaboard and throughout the Midwest.

A December report of Israeli hospitals found mortality rates from pan-resistant Klebsiella to be 44%.

Doctors have no doubt that pan-resistant Klebsiella will show up in California and other states. California hospitals are already encountering strains that, although not resistant to all known antibiotics, are resistant to many. Harbor-UCLA had two cases of highly-drug-resistant Klebsiella last year, Spellberg said.

Similarly resistant strains of Pseudomonas and Acinetobacter also are on the rise, as are resistant strains of Escherichia coli, another gram-negative bacterium.

These four microbes are among the six leading causes of infections in hospitals, nursing homes and other healthcare settings, the Infectious Diseases Society of America reported.

The bacteria have remained largely off the public’s radar, Boucher said, because they affect mostly the elderly or ill. But they do not always limit themselves that way. Drug-resistant Pseudomonas was behind the widely publicized Jan. 24 death of Brazilian beauty queen Mariana Bridi, 20, of sepsis — a bloodstream infection.

The health department in Espirito Santo, Brazil, said what began as a urinary tract infection spread rapidly.

Bridi died after doctors had tried to contain the rampaging infection by amputating her feet and hands and removing her kidneys.

http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-sci-badbugs17-2009feb17,0,5079716.story

An actor portraying a suicide bid in an Austrian play accidentally slashed his own throat on-stage following a prop mix-up.

Daniel Hoevels, 30, collapsed with blood pouring from his neck after using a real blade instead of the blunt stage knife.

He was taken to the hospital after the dramatic scene at Vienna’s Burgtheater.

The audience had been raptured, unaware the actor was facing his own demise for real.

But when he failed to greet their applause for the show’s spectacular special effects with a bow they separated fact from fiction.

Police are now investigating whether the mix-up was murderous.

Officers have refused to rule out the possibility that a jealous rival may have switched the blades.

The knife had been bought at a local store and police are asking if props staff forgot to blunt the blade for the performance of Friedrich Schiller’s play Mary Stuart, about Mary Queen of Scots.

“The knife even still had the price tag on it,” said a police investigator.

The theater’s props manager has been quizzed by police about the weapon, Austrian daily Osterreich reported.

The actor recovered after emergency treatment and even appeared on stage the next night with a bandage around his neck.

“If Hoevels had hit an artery or cut only slightly deeper, he would have died on stage,” a doctor said.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,464904,00.html

Truly a tragedy – it gives new meaning to the term “Black Friday.” – Greg

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NEW YORK – A worker was killed in the crush Friday after a throng of shoppers eager for post-Thanksgiving bargains burst through the doors at a suburban Wal-Mart, authorities said.At least four other people were injured, and the store in Valley Stream on Long Island was closed.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. in Bentonville, Ark., called the incident a “tragic situation” and said the employee came from a temporary agency and was doing maintenance work at the store.

“He was bum-rushed by 200 people,” co-worker Jimmy Overby, 43, told the Daily News. “They took the doors off the hinges. He was trampled and killed in front of me. They took me down too. … I literally had to fight people off my back.”

Nassau County police said the 34-year-old worker was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead at about 6 a.m. The man’s name was not released and the cause of death was not immediately known.

A police statement said shortly after the store’s 5 a.m. opening time, shoppers “physically broke down the doors, knocking (the worker) to the ground.”

A metal portion of the door was crumpled like an accordion.

Shoppers around the country lined up early outside stores in the annual bargain hunting ritual known as Black Friday. Many stores open early and stay open late, and some of the most dramatic bargains are available in limited quantities.

Among the bargains offered by Wal-Mart for Friday were Samsung 50-inch high definition Plasma TVs for less than $800.

Witnesses told the Daily News that before the store was closed, eager shoppers streamed past emergency crews as they worked furiously to save the worker’s life.

“They were working on him, but you could see he was dead,” said Halcyon Alexander, 29. “People were still coming through.”

A 28-year-old pregnant woman was taken to a hospital for observation, and she and the unborn baby were both reported to be OK, said Sgt. Anthony Repalone, a Nassau County police spokesman. Four or five other people suffered minor injuries, he said.

Ellen Davis, a spokeswoman at National Retail Federation, said the group knew of no other incident where a retail employee has died working on the day after Thanksgiving.

Wal-Mart is working closely with police, company spokesman Dan Fogleman said.

“The safety and security of our customers and associates is our top priority,” Fogleman said. “Our thoughts and prayers are with them and their families at this difficult time.”

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081128/ap_on_re_us/wal_mart_death

What if it’s a tie?

A handful of battleground states are likely to determine the November 4 U.S. presidential election and it’s possible that Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama could split them in a manner that leaves each just short of victory.

If that happens, the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives would pick the president but it’s unclear whether Democrats would have enough votes to send Obama to the White House.

The House last decided an election in 1824. But the legal skirmishing and partisan rancor would probably resemble a more recent election — the 2000 vote in which Republican George W. Bush narrowly defeated Democrat Al Gore after a disputed Florida vote count and legal battle.

“This would be the seamy side of democracy, the lobbying and the money would be so intense,” said American University history professor Allan Lichtman.

In the United States, presidential elections are determined on a state-by-state basis rather than a nationwide popular vote. Each state, along with the District of Columbia, is allotted a number of votes in the Electoral College that correspond to the number of representatives it has in Congress. To become president, a candidate must win at least 270 electoral votes.

If McCain wins Virginia, New Hampshire, Florida and Ohio but loses Pennsylvania, Colorado, New Mexico and Iowa to Obama, both candidates could end up with 269 electoral votes.

Other, less likely scenarios — McCain losing Virginia and New Hampshire but winning Michigan, for example — also could result in a tie.

Under the U.S. Constitution, the House would then decide the election when it meets in January, with each state getting one vote — regardless of its size — if the chamber has to break a tie.

Democrats, who control the 435-seat House, outnumber Republicans in 27 state congressional delegations and could see that number rise in the November elections.

Republicans have a majority in 21 state delegations. Two states have an equal number of Republican and Democratic representatives.

Some members could feel pressure to vote for the other party’s candidate if he carried their state or district or if he won a clear margin of the national popular vote, said Northwestern University law professor Robert Bennett.

They would also be under extraordinary pressure from party leaders to stick together.

“There would be bargaining in that context and lots of room for rancor and bitterness. It would be a mess,” Bennett said.

The dispute probably would not be confined to Congress.

“Do you believe for one moment that this won’t end up in the courts?” Lichtman said.

Other possible scenarios, according to Bennett:

* Before the House meets, the Obama and McCain campaigns could try to convince the Electoral College voters who actually cast each state’s electoral votes to switch their support. This has happened occasionally in past elections but has never affected the outcome of an election. Electors in roughly half of the states are bound by law to honor the popular vote.

* While the House picks a president, the Senate picks the vice president in the event of a tie. The Democratic-controlled chamber could pick Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden even if McCain wins the House vote.

* The newly minted vice president could become acting president if the House doesn’t reach a resolution by the time President George W. Bush leaves the White House on January 20.

* House Speaker Nancy Pelosi would become acting president if neither chamber could settle on a president or vice president but she would have to resign her post.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE4941C220081005

An interesting perspective – one that we rarely hear about…

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Benny Aldosakee left Iraq five months ago, after getting special immigration status through a federal law that allows some translators who worked with the United States in Iraq or Afghanistan to come to America.

Aldosakee said that most Iraqis are grateful to President Bush and the U.S. military for removing dictator Saddam Hussein and that the many in the major media, here and abroad, are misinforming people about Iraq and the Middle East.

Aldosakee’s journey from his hometown of Dahuk in northern Iraq to his home today in Elizabethtown, N.C., where he is working on a congressional campaign, reveals a portrait of Iraq and its people not often on view to Americans.

Aldosakee said before the U.S. led invasion of Iraq, he and his family were resigned to live their lives under Saddam Hussein’s rule.

“Because we couldn’t even dream that one day in our lives that Saddam Hussein would be removed from his power,” Aldosakee, 28, told CNSNews.com. “And President Bush did it within a month.”

Aldosakee said that fact alone has shaped the opinion of the majority of his countrymen.

“Most people in Iraq say President Bush is a hero,” said Aldosakee, who was on Capitol Hill earlier this month for a campaign event for Will Breazeale, a congressional candidate in North Carolina’s 7^th district.

And Aldosakee, a Sunni Muslim, said that sentiment includes Shia Muslims and the Kurdish people in Iraq.

“All of us,” he said.

For Aldosakee, the fall of Saddam Hussein inspired him to stand up for his own convictions. In 2005, Aldosakee ran a small Internet café, a business he said was successful. Before that, he had worked for a number of years for the United Nations in Iraq, where he honed his English skills. Then he was offered a different kind of job.

“One day an Iraqi general was looking for (someone) to actually translate between him and (the) American forces,” Aldosakee told CNSNews.com. “He couldn’t find anybody, because everyone was scared. They were afraid to go and work for the military. So he asked me to go with him. I went back home, and I told my parents.”

In Iraq, Aldosakee explained, even a grown man has to ask his parents’ permission when making a life-changing decision. His parents were against his plan. But Aldosakee asked his father if he could explain why he wanted to work as a translator for the U.S. military.

“I said, ‘Dad, who do you think I’m going to work for?’ He said, ‘Americans.’ I said, “Who are those Americans?’ He said, ‘Americans are Americans.’ I said, ‘No, they are not only Americans. They are those people who sacrificed themselves, their blood, and they left their kids behind, they left their country – the greatest country in the world – and came here to give me freedom,  so why shouldn’t I go help them to free my people?’ So my father looked at me and said, ‘Go, son. Go.’”

“That was an amazing day for me,” said Aldosakee.

Aldosakee’s assignment involved working with a military transition team, which is a team of U.S. military in charge of training the Iraqi army. That is how he met Will Breazeale, a three-time combat veteran of the wars in Iraq and Kuwait. In 2006, Breazeale was deployed to Iraq as an army reservist who advised an Iraqi division headquarters company commander.

For one year, Aldosakee worked as a translator with Breazeale, a working relationship that led to mutual respect and friendship.

Breazeale was a witness to Aldosakee’s good work and character, which helped him to come to the United States with special immigrant status.

Aldosakee said he had no idea what he would find in America.

“I have met thousands of people,” Aldosakee said. “I have found out that the American people are the most wonderful people on this planet. I did not know that before because we don’t know anything about America. We only see bad things about America.”

Aldosakee blames the media in both countries for any ill-will that exists between his people and Americans, adding that Al Jazeera is the main source of news in his country.

“What they show us in our country is only things that are against my religion,” he said. “I’ll give you an example. In California right now there is a law that gay marriage is allowed. In my country it is totally against the law, and it is totally against my religion. So people hate those people who make the law.

“The government is the one (that) makes the law, so we say all of American government is corrupted,” he added.

“The media gives Iraqi a terrible picture of American people, and the media gives you guys a terrible picture of the Iraqi people,” he said.

Aside from his campaign work, Aldosakee is also studying to earn his high school diploma. He said he has no plans to go back to Iraq.

“I am staying forever,” he said.

http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=36629

I never heard of such a thing…

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GOOSE CREEK, S.C. – A 10-year-old South Carolina boy died last weekend several hours after he swallowed water in a swimming pool.

Goose Creek police say Johnny Jackson swallowed some water while swimming in a pool at his apartment complex around noon Sunday.

Police say he later complained he was tired and took a nap. When someone checked on him, water was coming out of his nose and he was having trouble breathing.

The boy later died at Trident Hospital.

Berkeley County Coroner Glenn Rhoad told the Charlestown Post and Courier of Charleston the boy’s lungs were filled with water and he died of asphyxiation.

Rhoad said there was nothing suspicious about the death.

The boy, a fourth-grader called “Jon-Jon” by his family, essentially drown, medical experts told the Post and Courier.

Not all drowning deaths happen immediately. Other phenomena, such as secondary drowning, can occur as much as 72 hours later and without any warning signs.

Dr. Nelson Rosen, director of the trauma center a Schneider Children’s Hospital on Long Island, said secondary drowning is scary because there is a latent period where the victim looks as though they are fine.

“Any choking episode could be concerning,” Rosen told FOXNews.com. “The only question is this: Everybody’s had a mouth full of water and choked, how do you know whether it will cause secondary drowning? I would say that if there is a significant episode to the point where people are concerned about the child’s well-being, then that should be investigated.”

Rosen said parents should be on the look out for symptoms of respiratory or breathing problems, coughing and a “raspy” voice, as these could be indicative of injury to the lungs.

Although secondary drowning is a concern, it amounts to only 5 percent of total drownings, Rosen said.

“These are episodes that are not unheard of by any meaning, but even regular drownings are a relatively rare event in modern society,” he said. “But I would still caution that any significant event be checked out in an emergency room. And if people now have a low threshold for these types of things, I would say that’s fine. Better to err on the side of caution.”

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,362815,00.html

Wednesday, June 04, 2008

Surgeons in Japan thought they were removing a tumor from a 49-year-old man who was suffering from abdominal pain in late May.

Instead, they found a 25-year-old surgical towel that had crumpled into what looked like a softball-shaped tumor, Agence France-Presse reported.

The patient apparently had been carrying the cloth since 1983, when surgeons left it in him after minor ulcer surgery.

He went to Asahi General Hospital in late May after suffering pain. Doctors, at the time, found what they believed to be an 8-centimeter tumor.

According to an Asahi General Hospital spokesman: “The towel was greenish-blue although we are not sure about its original color.”

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,362815,00.html

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A 3-year-old Florida boy with a rare condition has not slept in three years.

Doctors said Rhett Lamb of St. Petersburg apparently has a condition called chiari malformation that puts pressure on his brain.

Rhett has never taken a nap or gone to sleep at night, forcing his parents to keep watch day and night.

 ”(My husband) has the day shift and I kind of have the afternoon shift,” mother Shannon Lamb said. “We share the night shift because no one can sleep in the house when he is up anyway.”

 Lamb said she is working extra to pay for Rhett’s large medical bills. She also said her husband, David, has given up his job to care for their child.

 ”I would give anything for Rhett to be this normal little boy who plays and has a good time,” Lamb said. “If it takes going to every single solitary doctor, I will do it.”

 According to the May Clinic, chiari malformation is a rare abnormality where brain tissue protrudes in the spinal canal.

 Part of the skull is abnormally small and puts pressure on the brain.

 Rhett checked into a hospital for an experimental surgery Thursday.

http://www.local6.com/health/16210114/detail.html