Searching for Aliens in our Genes

I spent a lot of time thinking about whether it would be a good idea to write an April Fool's Day spoof blog for today, then this 100% legitimate scientific paper about evidence of alien intelligence in terrestrial DNA fell into my lap and I said to myself: Who the heck needs an April Fool's day joke-blog when you can just cite the amazing new scientific paper out of Kazakhstan called The "Wow! signal" of the terrestrial genetic code" by Vladimir I. shCherbak and Maxim A. Makukov?

But wait! Don't be too quick to dismiss it. The paper in question was accepted for publication by none other than the prestigious journal Icarus.

The paper's abstract says:

It has been repeatedly proposed to expand the scope for SETI, and one of the suggested alternatives to radio is the biological media. Genomic DNA is already used on Earth to store non-biological information. Though smaller in capacity, but stronger in noise immunity is the genetic code. The code is a flexible mapping between codons and amino acids, and this flexibility allows modifying the code artificially. But once fixed, the code might stay unchanged over cosmological timescales; in fact, it is the most durable construct known. Therefore it represents an exceptionally reliable storage for an intelligent signature, if that conforms to biological and thermodynamic requirements. As the actual scenario for the origin of terrestrial life is far from being settled, the proposal that it might have been seeded intentionally cannot be ruled out. A statistically strong intelligent-like “signal” in the genetic code is then a testable consequence of such scenario. Here we show that the terrestrial code displays a thorough precision-type orderliness matching the criteria to be considered an informational signal. Simple arrangements of the code reveal an ensemble of arithmetical and ideographical patterns of the same symbolic language. Accurate and systematic, these underlying patterns appear as a product of precision logic and nontrivial computing rather than of stochastic processes (the null hypothesis that they are due to chance coupled with presumable evolutionary pathways is rejected with P-value < 10^–13). The patterns are profound to the extent that the code mapping itself is uniquely deduced from their algebraic representation. The signal displays readily recognizable hallmarks of artificiality, among which are the symbol of zero, the privileged decimal syntax and semantical symmetries. Besides, extraction of the signal involves logically straightforward but abstract operations, making the patterns essentially irreducible to any natural origin. Plausible way of embedding the signal into the code and possible interpretation of its content are discussed. Overall, while the code is nearly optimized biologically, its limited capacity is used extremely efficiently to store non-biological information.

The authors -- Dr. Vladimir I. shCherbak, a mathematician at the al-Farabi Kazakh National University of Kazakhstan, and Maxim A. Makukov, an astrobiologist at Kazakhstan's's Fesenkov Astrophysical Institute -- list certain criteria they feel would have to be met by any "signal" placed in our DNA by aliens. For example, the signal should be in the form of a pattern (not randomness) and should be unlikely to exist by chance. Then they make the claim:

We show that the terrestrial code harbors an ensemble of precision-type patterns matching the requirements mentioned above. Simple systematization of the code reveals a strong informational signal comprising arithmetical and ideographical components. Remarkably, independent patterns of the signal are all expressed in a common symbolic language. We show that the signal is statistically significant, employs informational capacity of the code entirely, and is untraceable to natural origin.

Predictably, the intelligent-design crowd (always eagerly scouring latest Kazakhstani findings for evidence of intelligent design artifacts that can't be explained by natural phenomena) latched onto the paper and began touting it as evidence of God's hand at work.

But what have the Kazakhstani scholars really found? It seems they've discovered numerology. They fiddle with the atomic masses of amino acids, start partitioning codons in weird ways, then suddenly strange numbers like '111' and '333' and '666' start to appear and we begin seeing the (prime) number 37 crop up just a little too frequently to be explained by anything other than aliens (but always written as 037 for some reason), and before you know it, we're reading things like:

Meanwhile, there are 333 chain and 592 block nucleons and 333 + 592 = 925 nucleons of whole molecules in the IV-set. With 037 cancelled out, this leads to 3^2 + 4^2 = 5^2 – numerical representation of the Egyptian triangle, possibly as a symbol of two-dimensional space. Incidentally, codon series in the ideogram (Fig. 7a) are arranged in the plane rather than linearly in a genomic fashion.

Eventually we encounter the following helpful discussion:

It is often said that genomes store hereditary information in quaternary digital format. There are 24 possible numberings of DNA nucleotides with digits 0, 1, 2, 3. The ideogram seems to suggest the proper one: T ≡ 0, C ≡ 1, G ≡ 2, A ≡ 3. In this case the TCGA quadruplet (Fig. 9a), read in the distinguished direction, represents the natural sequence preceded by zero. Palindromic codons CCC and TCT (Fig. 10b) become a symbol of the quaternary digital symmetry 1114 and the radix of the corresponding system 0104 = 4, respectively. Translationally related AGC, or 3214, codons (Fig. 9b) possibly indicate positions in quaternary place-value notation, with higher orders coming first. The sum of digital triplets in the string TAG + TAA + AAA + ATG + ATG (Fig. 10c) equals to the number of nucleotides in the code 30004 = 192. Besides, T as zero is opposed to the other three “digits” in the decomposed code (Fig. 6). Finally, each complementary base pair in DNA sums to 3, so the double helix looks numerically as 333…4, and the central AAA codon in Fig. 10c becomes the symbol of duplex DNA located between genes. Should this particular numbering have relation to the genomic message, if any, is a matter of further research.

So let's recap. First, posit the existence of numerical patterns in the genetic code as evidence of non-earthly intelligence. Next, find said patterns, no matter how screwball they are. Then calculate the implausibility of said patterns occurring by chance. Voila! Intelligent design. (But is it by aliens, or by God? Further research may be necessary.)

I congratulate the authors, and the journal Icarus, for one of the most peculiar "scientific papers" seen this side of -- Kazakhstan.

For more, be sure to visit the authors' page at http://gencodesignal.org/.

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Identifying The Warning Signs Of Depression In NYC (George Schae)

Depression is something that has an effect on a great part of the population all around the globe. It can appear to be more prevalent in bigger cities, for example NYC. One key to acting on and treating depression in NYC is the ability to recognize the signs. Whether you have a good sense that you have depression or someone close to you does, taking the time to learn what the signs of depression are is a big help to anyone. We now know that depression is manageable, and in present-day times, there's no reason anyone needs to try to suffer through it without help. Keep reading to learn more about the signs of depression.

Some people think that depressed people are merely being lazy or they simply need more sleep. This isn't far from the truth, as many people who suffer from depression do, in fact, feel tired. A depressed person may be more forgetful and inattentive of things they are usually more mindful of. Depression sufferers usually have sleep disturbances that keep them from getting good sleep and they may sleep more than usual. Depression may cause a person to sleep much longer than the usual seven to eight hours, and despite the extra sleep, they will often still be very tired when they wake up. Depressed people might likewise suffer from insomnia and sleep very little to not at all. While a depressed person may sleep longer because they choose to in order to try to feel better, they will typically continue to be tired and forgetful.

Irritability is an additional indication of depression. You might notice a person getting quite upset over something which seems rather trivial. Their irritation or anger can seem to happen in a split second or out of nowhere. If being easily annoyed seems out of place for you or a person that you know, it could be a sign of depression, especially if it seems to be occurring more and more often.

Loss of interest in activities that a person once enjoyed is a huge sign of depression in NYC. When a person loses the capacity to enjoy things that they typically like, this is a big flag. If you notice someone not being able to enjoy things that they normally would enjoy, you might inquire about them or encourage them to get some help from a medical professional.

Although many people are aware of the symptoms shared above, not every person realizes that some depression systems can look like something else entirely. Headaches and various other bodily pains that do not ease from being treated may be a sign of depression. Even digestive problems like acid reflux can occasionally indicate depression. It is important to pay attention to what the body is trying to tell us.

Depression sufferers often state they feel empty, lost or that they are living in a darkness. Some may even think about suicide. Even if someone is only thinking about suicide, it's important that they get help immediately. Don't ignore it if a person mentions suicide.

Anyone in NYC who is struggling with depression shouldn't have to go through it on their own. A wide range of treatments is available for any depression sufferer, and there's no one-size-fits-all treatment method, so the treatment will be different for each individual. It is essential to know the signs of depression to enable you to encourage a loved one to get help or so that you can get help personally. Don't ignore the warning signs of depression. Making an effort to pay attention to the symptoms, letting someone know you're there for them and encouraging them to obtain help can mean everything to someone's life.

People that have problems with depression in NYC can seek out help by visiting TMS Medical Associates of New York. For more info on TMS Medical Associates of New York are obtainable on the business' web page, tmsproviders.com.

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The link between depression and cosmetics (globalcompliancepanel.com)

At first glance, these two may seem like strange bedfellows. Is a link between two seemingly disparate and unrelated things like cosmetics and depression imaginary and outlandish? On the surface, it does appear so, but scratch a little, and you will be surprised at how apparently completely unconnected points can be joined to make a line.

Why do women wear cosmetics? This question is as na?ve as asking why children play. There should be not more than a microscopic ratio of women on this entire planet who say they do not care whether they look good or not. Man being an incurable, perpetual voyeur and admirer of beauty; nothing gives women more joy than appearing attractive to men.

Cosmetic procedures are not the answer
What happens when this very quality turns against them? What happens when milk turns into poison or when the fence eats the crop? This is exactly the problem with many cosmetics, especially so when it relates to cosmetic procedures. Psychologists draw a link between depression and cosmetics in a number of ways.

It is known that just like many people shop to fight depressive moods; many women dress up and wear cosmetics purely to hide their insecurities. In cultures that attach extreme importance to physical looks and beauty; women assume that they are worthless when they don't appear attractive.

Looking good=feeling good for many
We all know that beauty is supremely subjective, but the desire to look good isn't. Women who think that looking good is a means to attracting men (many men too fuel this belief because they feel powerful when they are seen with good looking women) resort to a myriad of ways by which to look good. For countless women, looking good is the only means to appealing to the man they want.

When things go wrong...
Many women, especially those who are overtly obsessed with physical appearance, try to improve their looks through means such as surgery. Many a time; these surgical procedures serve their limited purpose. But on a few occasions; they turn against the person too. When surgical procedures go awry; the results can turn out to be disastrous.

This is where depression can set in. When what they perceive as the only means to achieving their goal goes haywire; the only hope is dashed. Many such women have been driven to the depths of depression and unreasonable self-pity. Several have even committed suicides because of this self-obsession.

Woman is much more than an object of beauty

It is only when people realize that beauty is after all skin deep that such extreme cases can be prevented. Beauty is purely personal and in the eye of the beholder, and a woman can prove her worth in a number of ways other than looking superficially good. Beauty comes from within, it is said. The sooner men and women realize that women can be loved despite their flawed eyebrow or less than perfect nose; the better it will be for such people.

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Nitric Oxide, Antidepressants, and "Sexual Side Effects"

Antidepressants, particularly those that affect serotonin metabolism, are famous for causing "sexual side effects." According to package inserts for the drugs, such side effects are relatively uncommon, but that's because patients in clinical trials don't readily volunteer information on sexual problems on their own; you have to ask them about it. When researchers have specifically asked patients about sexual side effects, the topic comes up 58% to 73% of the time, depending on the drug.

If you go looking in the scientific literature for an explanation of why "sexual side effects" happen at all, you'll mostly encounter rather vague, unsatisfying explanations. I did a little digging on my own and came up with what I think is a fairly edifying scientific explanation of what's going on. (From here, it gets a little technical. Bear with me if you can.)

"Sexual dysfunction" covers a lot of ground, and the gaps in our knowledge of the biochemistry underlying things like arousal and orgasm could better be called knowledge in our gaps. However, we do know that nitric oxide (NO) metabolism plays a huge role in stimulatory response. Clitoral erection as well as penile erection depend on production of NO and subsequent NO-induced accumulation of cyclic guanosine monophosphate, or cGMP (see this paper).

Nitric oxide is an interesting molecule. It's a gas at room temperature; soluble in oil as well as water; extremely corrosive; penetrates cell membranes with ease; and is probably the most widely distributed free radical in the human body. For many years, researchers knew of something called the endothelium-derived relaxing factor (EDRF), a substance produced by the inner cell lining of blood vessels, capable of signalling the surrounding smooth muscle to relax (resulting in vasodilation and increasing blood flow). It turns out EDRF and nitric oxide are one and the same. When NO is produced (from arginine and a bunch of cofactors, by the action of an enzyme called, shockingly enough, NO synthase), it triggers massive production of cGMP, which in turn activates protein kinases that (in turn) cause reuptake of calcium ion, which (through a bunch more steps) results in relaxation of smooth muscle.

You wouldn't think relaxation of muscle would be the key to getting an erection going, but that's because you're thinking of the wrong "muscle." Here, we're concerned with blood-vessel smooth muscle. Relaxation of that kind of smooth muscle is crucial to allowing blood to find its way into the structures that ultimately cause a clitoris or penis to become engorged. Without an increase in NO production and all the downstream effects that lead to vasodilation, there's no arousal.

Nitric oxide is not just a vasodilator, though. It's also a gasotransmitter, which is to say a gas that has neurotransmitter properties.

The primary target of SSRIs in the body is the SERT (serotonin transporter) protein, which is the agent responsible for "reuptake" of serotonin. At first glance, it's not at all obvious how serotonin reuptake plays a role in nitric oxide formation. However, an extremely alert group of researchers at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in Montpellier, France, realizing that SERT is known to associate with various proteins having a so-called PDZ domain, and also realizing that neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) has such a domain, decided to do an experiment. They fused a carboxyl-terminal SERT peptide to Sepharose beads and poured mouse-brain homogenate over the beads to see what stuck. The most abundant protein to stick? None other than nNOS.

The French team found that when nNOS and SERT were coexpressed in a cell line, they bound to each other in vivo. They also found that exposing serotonin to a cell line expressing SERT and nNOS caused the production of NO. Thus, if you blockade SERT (cutting off serotonin reuptake), you interfere with NO production at the source, because nNOS (the enzyme responsible for producing NO) and SERT (the serotonin transporter) are, in fact, joined together, in vivo. (See this PNAS paper for an overview.) Interfering with NO production is bad, of course. No nitric oxide, no erection.

To me, this provides a pretty believable model of how SSRIs interfere with erectile function.

Before leaving the subject of nitric oxide production, I should mention that a huge amount of work has shown that NO metabolism is profoundly impaired in patients with diabetes. The work of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique team (outlined above) suggests a mechanism by which SSRIs interfere with NO metabolism. Another connection between SSRIs and diabetes?

And finally: It's thought by some that Minoxidil owes its hair-regrowing effects to the fact that it's a nitric-oxide agonist (Mi-NO-xidil). This suggests that hair loss would be an expected "side effect" of SSRIs. And indeed there are scattered reports of such in the literature.

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Addiction Recovery via social networks (Nicholas Grimaldi) treatment and addiction

Addiction to alcohol, prescription drugs and of various other drugs is not new. Man did not care much about the harmful effects of drug abuse unless he appeared as a socio-cultural threat. Ventures of detoxification have been countless number and huge to some extent. But the dependence was already so deep that it is not at all easy to combat drug addiction as a curse to human existence. However, the past three decades saw significant progress in the field of aid for addicition. We will have a quick and short of the overview. Then, I'll also tell you how you can find the best drug rehabilitation or addiction recovery processes.

Best recovery scenario of the drug over the past three decades
Addiction is as old as the addiction itself. However, the process have been never improved as they have been over the past three decades. Let me tell you the most essential that makes all the difference. Previously, members of the family or friends and supporters of a drug addict had to force the person to undergo a drug recovery treatment. It was very difficult to make them understand and accept that they have become addicted to the substance they use or abuse on a regular basis. Since they refused they are addicted, treating recovery was a distant hope.

Things have changed a lot over the past three decades. Patients addiction are not open mind and is not difficult to accept that they are addicted to the substance they use on a regular basis. Most of them take part in various networking sites social addiction or forums. They share their views and experiences. Many freaks are useful addiction recovery advice and suggestions the full course of addiction recovery guide them.

How to find the best Drug Rehab
So, you feel that you are addicted and you want to recover? Now that you have realized that you are addicted and need medical help for addiction recovery, you have already taken your first step. When the Advisor or rehabilitation professionals apply medications or therapies on you, you will automatically tend to cooperate with them. In addition, your positive mindset will always keep coming in your battle with addiction. Now, let me tell you how you can find the best detoxification.

Join social networks of dependence: do a search online for addiction to social networking forums. Here you will find a number of them. Choose where you think that you can interact with their peers more and more. It is not that you can join only one of these forums. Rather reach a few pairs of forums social networking addiction help way more than one. You will be able to reach the people more and more. You can share your problems with them, and find answers to your questions. Given that most of the members have faced situations similar to those of yours, their suggestions will help you more effectively. They will be able to say what Detox, you should see.

Search online: in addition to participating in social dependence networking forums, you can directly search the drug recovery centres in your community. However, when you browse through their Web sites, trying to figure out how much they are good in the addiction help or de-addiction services they offer. It is even better if you can find feedback left by previous customers of the drug rehabilitation centre.

Nicholas Grimaldi is a freelance writer who was addicted to drugs and recovered using treatments to detox and referral and networking forums support social addiction. He shares his views on the benefits of these rehabs and forums in aid for addicition.

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Recovery for Addicts through Addiction Social Networking (Nicholas Grimaldi)

No, do not be misled by the title. I do not mean that an addict is sure to recover once he/she joins an addiction social networking website. I rather tend to discuss a few points to come to a conclusion as to how effective these social networking sites are in helping an addict recover. To find the effectiveness of such websites or forums, we need to figure put the positive as well as the negative sides so that reaching the conclusion is methodical and justified.

How addiction social networking helps in addiction recovery
When you register with a social networking website for the addicts and go through the discussion threads, you will find lots and lots of problems, solutions and opinions shared by the already existing members. While going through the problems that the addicts discuss over there, you will find it very easy to relate yourself to the situations discussed. You can try the suggested solutions. Since discussions are detailed, may learn about the withdrawal problems you may suffer from. Since you are aware of the withdrawal symptoms, you will feel less worried and less troubled during your process of quitting addiction.

How addiction social networking drives you to addiction
Let's see the other side of the coin. Though these social networking websites or forums are meant for those addicts who are trying to get rid of the habit, a lion's share of the members are addicts who are not at all serious about addiction recovery. They comments they make, the suggestions they offer or the experiences they share are usually so thrilling that they, either directly or indirectly, tickle the urge to stick to drugs. They narrate the stories with such heroic tone that it seems as if there is nothing better than taking drugs and feeling high.

The problem is that since you have also been an addict for a long time, you can very easily relate yourself to the stories mentioned. Thus, your will for addiction recovery is weakened. And, to be frank, no medication, therapy or counseling can help you recover form addiction problems if you do not have the earnest will to recover. Now perhaps you understand why addiction social networking websites or forums cannot ensure recovery from the habit of taking drugs.

How to recover with the help of addiction social networking
Guns do not kill; we kill. It's all in the mind. You have to be strong enough to remain determined that you will not get addicted again. Think that you have already had enough. Those talking highly of addiction are saying stuff like that since they are new to it and are extremely thrilled about it. On the other hand, you have already experienced all they are talking about.
The best option for you is to go for those addicts' social networking websites or forums that offer medical and therapy-oriented solutions. These types of forums are generally serious and suggest genuine solutions. If you have any query, commence a thread and you'll get your answers. You may also share your emotional crisis that you experience during your process of quitting addiction. Rest assured, you will find really helpful responses.

Nicholas Grimaldi is a professional counselor who tries to find how effective the addiction social networking websites and forums are. He also suggests the best ways to find forums and social networking sites that will genuinely help you in addiction recovery.

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How Common Are "Sexual Side Effects"?

It's easy to get the impression, when reading popular articles about antidepressants, that drugs like Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, Celexa, Cymbalta, Luvox, etc. are primarily psychoactive drugs that specifically alter brain chemistry. Indeed, this is what the drug companies want you to think. Depressed? Take this pill: it's designed to work on your brain. Will it cause side effects? Maybe, but they're just side effects.

This is a mistaken view of pharmacology. Drugs don't produce side effects. They just produce effects. Also, serotonin is not a brain chemical. It's a total body chemical. Well over 90% of the serotonin in your body is in your intestines and sex organs. Only 5% occurs in the brain. So when you take an SSRI, the drug reaches your whole body. It doesn't just head for the brain and then, incidentally, produce "side effects."

People who take antidepressants of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) class quickly realize this truth, namely that SSRIs are whole-body drugs, because the first effects most people notice (and complain about in clinical trials) are digestive and sexual-dysfunction effects. In clinical testing, SSRIs seldom fail to separate from placebo on those. If you're lucky enough to be one of the 50% or so of patients who see beneficial psychological effects, good for you, but in the meantime, the physiological effects (which can range from mild nausea to drowsiness to erectile dysfunction, or if you're really unlucky, diabetes or gastrointestinal bleeding) will be every bit as real as any effects on your brain.

How common are "sexual side effects" from SSRIs? If you read the package inserts for the drugs, they all downplay sexual side effects. The inserts rarely tell of more than 10% of patients complaining of ED, reduced libido, or difficulty reaching orgasm. The real world tells a far different story. In one of the largest prospective studies of its kind, the Spanish Working Group for the Study of Psychotropic-Related Sexual Dysfunction found that "the incidence of sexual dysfunction with SSRIs and venlaxafine [Effexor] is high, ranging from 58% to 73%." (Possibly, the remaining 27% to 42% of patients were still too depressed to care about sex.) The patients in question were taking Prozac (n=279), Zoloft (n=159), Luvox (n=77), Paxil (n=208), Effexor (n=55), or Celexa (n=66).

In the Spanish study, Paxil was associated with "significantly higher rates of erectile dysfunction/decreased vaginal lubrication" compared to other antidepressants. Meanwhile, "males had a higher rate of dysfunction than females (62.4% vs. 56.9%), but females experienced more severe decreases in libido, delayed orgasm, and anorgasmia."

Some studies of sexual side effects have shown a dose-response relationship. What's interesting about this is that most SSRIs have a flat dose-response curve for psychological effects. In other words, the physiological (sexual) effects are dose-dependent, but the effects on mood generally are not. I'll devote more discussion to the latter in a later post. The takeaway for now is that if you're on an SSRI and you don't like the sexual side effects, ask your doctor to reduce your dosage to the minimum effective therapeutic dose (because taking more than that generally does no good anyway). A second takeaway is: If your doctor keeps upping your dose, it means he or she hasn't read the literature. The literature says that beyond a certain dose, more doesn't do anything.

Tomorrow: A look at why and how SSRIs mess up your sex life (latest biochemical findings). 

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Advantages of Using Multi-Panel Drug Test Kits at Workplace (Drugteststrips)

Every employer should make sure that the workplace is free from those who abuse or depend on substances such as alcohol or illegal drugs. In order to prevent drug abuse among employees they can introduce an effective drug testing program using multi-panel drug test kits. This article emphasizes the usage and advantages of multi-panel drug test kits at workplace.

Multi-panel drug test kits can be used to detect two or more drugs as opposed to single panel drug test kits, which detect only one drug. These drug test kits can detect up to 12 drugs in one go including the most widely used ones. Therefore, there is no need of administering the test repeatedly. This ensures that the substance abusing employee cannot go undetected.

These kits can detect commonly abused drugs such as marijuana, opiates, methamphetamine, amphetamines, oxycodone, phencyclidine, barbiturates, buprenorphine, MDMA (ecstasy), tricyclic antidepressants, benzodiazepines, methadone, propoxyphene (PPX), etc.

Effective when used for random testing:

Using multi-panel drug test kits, random drug testing could be made a more potent tool to deter substance abuse among employees. Random testing as opposed to scheduled testing does not let employees know the test dates, time, etc. beforehand. Using multi-panel drug test kits for random drug testing would thus be a deterrent to the employees - they fear the risk of being detected. This discourages them to use harmful substances.

Save time and drug testing costs:

The regular single panel drug test kits detect only one drug at a time, and they have to be used multiple times with multiple samples to detect multiple substances. This is time consuming. Whereas multi-panel drug test kits detect 2 to 12 drugs with a single sample. This saves considerable time for the drug administering personnel.

Further, these kits cost employers nominally. As these test kits rule out usage of single panel drug test kits multiple times for detecting multiple drugs, they reduce the testing costs, and are therefore a good value to employers' money.

Quick and accurate results:

These drug test kits can detect the presence of multiple drugs within a very short span of time, not longer than five minutes. They can do the job accurately. Drug test kits from reliable dealers meet SAMHSA test standards and are approved by Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Hence they are safe and are therefore reliable.

Convenient and easy to use:

Multi-panel drug test kits are pretty simple and easy to use. They do not need any medical professionals to handle them. They need a single test sample, either urine or saliva, that are non-intrusive and cause no inconvenience to employees. They are, thus, convenient to use at workplaces.

Use reliable drug test kits:

Multi-panel drug test kits offered by reputed companies are of great help to employers as such kits are made as per the standards laid by authorities. Kits that are according to SAMHSA standards and approved by FDA are reliable.

Multi-panel drug test kits are thus advantageous to employers for timely detection of substance abuse/dependence and to take appropriate follow-up action on this behalf to ensure a healthy and safe environment, and optimal productivity at workplace.

Drug Test Strips is an online store offering reliable and FDA approved drug testing kits at affordable prices. Our marijuana test strip is a rapid urine screening test. This marijuana test strips is easy to use and can be performed without the use of an instrument.

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The swamps of DSGE despair

David Andolfatto (of the St. Louis Fed and the blog MacroMania) points me to this interesting recent working paper by Braun, Korber, and Waki. The paper bears the somewhat unwieldy title of "Some unpleasant properties of log-linearized solutions when the nominal rate is zero."

Basically, the authors of this paper take a New Keynesian model somewhat similar to the ones used by "Keynesian" macroeconomists - e.g. Paul Krugman - to help justify the use of fiscal stimulus in a depressed economy. They note that in most papers, the models actually used to measure the effect of government policy are "linearized" versions. 

For the uninitiated: A DSGE model starts with the assumption of optimization by various economic agents such as households and firms, which spits out a system of nonlinear equations representing people's optimal choices. These nonlinear equations are then "log-linearized" around a "steady state", and the linearized forms of the equations, which are very easy to work with mathematically and computationally, are used to compute the "impulse responses" that tell you what the model says the effect of government policy will be. The linearization is equivalent to the assumption that the economy undergoes only small disturbances. That might not be a good assumption when it comes to major events like the recent crisis/depression, but it does make the models a LOT easier to work with. It also generally makes the equilibria unique - in other words, if you use the full, nonlinear version of a DSGE model, you are likely to come up with a bunch of different possible paths for the economy, and which path the economy takes will be determined purely by quantitative factors (like, whether variable X is more or less than 2.076, or something like that) - not the kind of thing that DSGE models are good at getting right. Since "multiple equilibria" generally means "we really don't know what's going to happen," macroeconomists tend to stick to the linearized versions of models, so that they can say "we do know what's going to happen."

Anyway, Braun et al. decide to venture into no-man's-land, and work with a non-linearized version of a New Keynesian model with a Zero Lower Bound. They find that, unsurprisingly, there are multiple equilibria. In some of these equilibria, the kind of special ZLB effects found by Eggertsson and Krugman - for example, the "paradox of toil" - are present, but small in size. In other equilibria, the effects go away entirely. 

So can we conclude that the concerns of Keynesian economists about the ZLB are overblown, and that fiscal policy isn't the answer? Not so fast. Here is another working paper, by Fernandez-Villaverde, Gordon, Guerron-Quintana, and Rubio-Ramirez, which conducts a similar exercise with a slightly different model. Fernandez-Villaverde et al.'s model is extremely hard to solve and their results come from picking some interesting-sounding cases and then doing numerical experiments (simulations) to see what happens in those cases. In the main case they consider interesting, the ZLB ends up being pretty important, and the fiscal policy multiplier is around 1.5 or 2.

(Update: A commenter points me to this response by Christiano and Eichenbaum, two of the leading New Keynesian theorists. They show that most of the multiple equilibria found by Braun, et al. are not supported by a specific model of learning. Also, here is a multiple-equilibrium DSGE paper by Mertens and Ravn showing that in some equilibria, fiscal policy actually makes recessions worse. The Mertens and Ravn result also conflicts with the learning model of Christiano and Eichenbaum.)

So what do we learn from these sorts of exercises? In my opinion, we learn relatively little about the real economy, but that's OK, since we do learn some important things about DSGE models. Namely:

1. Almost every DSGE result you see is the result of linearization, If you drop linearization, very funky stuff happens. In particular, equilibria become non-unique, and DSGE models don't give you a good idea of what will happen to the economy, even in the fictional world where the DSGE model's assumptions are largely correct! As Braun et al. write:

There is no simple characterization of when the loglinearization works well. Breakdowns can occur in regions of the parameter space that are very close to ones where the loglinear solution works. In fact, it is hard to draw any conclusions about when one can safely rely on loglinearized solutions in this setting without also solving the nonlinear model.

So even putting aside the question of whether DSGE models accurately represent reality, we see that most of the DSGE models you see don't even accurately represent themselves.

2. In order to be usable, DSGE models have to have a LOT of simplification. These nonlinear New Keynesian models go so haywire that they often have to be simulated instead of solved. Furthermore, neither of these models has capital or investment. Since investment is the component of GDP that swings most in recessions, you'd think this would be an important omission. But putting in capital would make these already mostly intractable models into utterly hopelessly intractable models (And if you don't believe me, ask Miles Kimball, who has spent considerable time and effort working on the problem of putting capital into New Keynesian models). Never mind putting in other realistic stuff like agent heterogeneity!

Basically, every time you model a phenomenon, you face a tradeoff between realism and tractability - the more realistic stuff you include, the harder it is to actually use your model. But DSGE models face an extremely unfavorable realism/tractability tradeoff. Adding even a dash of simple realistic stuff makes them get very clunky very fast.

3. DSGE models are highly sensitive to their assumptions. Look at the difference in the results between the Braun et al. paper and the Fernandez-Villaverde et al. paper. Those are pretty similar models! And yet the small differences generate vastly different conclusions about the usefulness of fiscal policy. Now realize that every year, macroeconomists produce a vast number of different DSGE models. Which of this vast array are we to use? How are we to choose from the near-infinite menu of very similar models, when small changes in the (obviously unrealistic) assumptions of the models will probably lead to vastly different conclusions? Not to mention the fact that an honest use of the full nonlinear versions of these models (which seems only appropriate in a major economic upheaval) wouldn't even give you definite conclusions, but instead would present you with a menu of multiple possible equilibria?

Imagine a huge supermarket isle a kilometer long, packed with a million different kinds of peanut butter. And imagine that all the peanut butter brands look very similar, with the differences relegated to the ingredients lists on the back, which are all things like "potassium benzoate". Now imagine that 85% of the peanut butter brands are actually poisonous, and that only a sophisticated understanding of the chemistry of things like potassium benzoate will allow you to tell which are good and which are poisonous. 

This scenario, I think, gives a good general description of the problem facing any policymaker who wants to take DSGE models at face value and use them to inform government policy.

So what's my suggestion? First I'd suggest detailed studies of consumer behavior, detailed studies of firm behavior, lab experiments, etc. - basically, huge amounts of serious careful empirical work - to find out which set of microfoundations are approximately true, so that we can focus only on a very narrow class of models, instead of just building dozens and dozens of highly different DSGE models and saying "Well, maybe things work this way!" Second, I'd suggest incorporating these reliable microeconomic insights into large-scale simulations (like the ones meteorolgists use to forecast the weather); in fact, any DSGE model that incorporates all of the actual frictions we find is likely to be so complicated, and so full of multiple equilibria in the full nonlinear case, that it demands this kind of approach. Third, and in parallel to the weather-forecasting effort, I'd echo Bob Solow's call to use simple models when trying to explain ideas to other economists and to the public (explanation of ideas being what DSGE models are mainly used for, given their abysmal performance at actually predicting anything about the economy). Note that I don't have a ton of confidence in these alternatives; after all, it's a lot easier to find flaws in the dominant paradigm than it is to come up with a new paradigm.

But in any case, few people in the macroeconomics field seem to be particularly interested in that sort of alternative approach, or any other. And the scientific culture of macroeconomics doesn't seem to demand that we find an alternative; in fact, in the macro profession, you pretty much have to back up any empirical result or simple model with a fully specified mainstream-ish DSGE model in order to be taken seriously.

So instead of trying to find which set of models really works, everyone just makes more models and more models and more models and more models...

(Note: If you know basic math and want to learn what DSGE models are all about, start with this chapter from David Romer's Advanced Macroeconomics.)

Update: Stephen Gordon agrees, and adds his own misgivings about DSGE.

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SSRIs, Weight Gain, and Diabetes

Yesterday I talked about the connection between antidepressant usage and diabetes. It may seem odd, at first, that antidepressants should double one's risk of diabetes, but given the pervasive involvement of serotonin in appetite and digestive processes (and the ability of antidepressants to make you fat; see discussion below), perhaps it shouldn't really come as such a shock.

To put things in perspective: Around 95% of the body's serotonin can be found in the gastrointestinal tract; only 5% is in your brain [reference]. Serotonin is the primary signalling molecule involved in motility, secretion, and vasodilation within the intestines, and just as in the brain, bioavailability of serotonin to target cells in the gut is dependent on the serotonin reuptake transporter (SERT). SERT, in turn, is the binding target of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. When you take an SSRI like Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, etc., you're medicating your intestines (and your nearby reproductive system, which is highly innervated and dependent on serotonin for proper functioning); and also, your brain. So it should surprise no one that the main physiologic effects of SSRI administration are, in fact, on gut, sex organs, and brain. If you were thinking you were mainly medicating your brain, with your sex organs and gut experiencing "side effects," you've essentially got it backwards. Serotonin's main effect in your body is keeping your gastrointestinal system functioning. (It's worth noting that low-dose SSRIs have been used to treat irritable bowel syndrome, but it should also be noted that selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors increase the risk of upper gastrointestinal bleeding, particularly when used with NSAIDs.) For more on serotonin's action in the gut, see this paper and also this paper. I also recommend "Serotonin receptors and transporters — roles in normal and abnormal gastrointestinal motility," in Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics,Volume 20, Issue Supplement s7, pages 3–14, November 2004 (full article here).

Weight control is at least partially mediated through the 5-HT2c serotonin receptor in the hypothalamus. We know this is true because "knockout" mice with a targeted mutation of the 5-HT2c receptor gene engage in chronic hyperphagia (overeating), leading to obesity and hyperinsulemia [reference]. We also know this because obese humans who've been exposed to the potent 5-HT2c receptor agonist m-chlorophenylpiperazine (mCPP) experience weight loss and appetite changes. There's also very good evidence that polymorphisms in the promoter region of the 5-HT2c receptor gene play a direct role in obesity and diabetes in humans. These kinds of interactions led the authors of a report in Nature Medicine 4, 1152-1156 (1998) to state categorically that "a perturbation of brain serotonin systems can predispose to type 2 diabetes."

Finally, it's worth pointing out that some SSRIs (Prozac in particular) exhibit direct action on 5-HT2c receptors (and not just on SERT).

So bottom line, there's plenty of reason to believe that antidepressants can play a direct role in fostering diabetes.

And then there's the small matter of weight gain.

Most doctors tell their patients that weight gain is not a problem with SSRIs (that it's mainly a problem with older tricyclic drugs), but this is a myth. Drug trials of the kind that lead to FDA approval of antidepressants are far too short in duration to bring out long-term weight-change trends, which is why weight gain is hardly ever mentioned in package inserts for SSRIs. (In the rare instance when weight gain is mentioned, it's usually painted as restoration of appetite due to recovery from depression, which is self-serving nonsense, IMHO.)

In a study called "Real-World Data on SSRI Antidepressant Side Effects," published in Psychiatry (Edgmont). 2009 February; 6(2): 16–18, real-world patients taking citalopram (Celexa), escitalopram (Lexapro), fluoxetine (Prozac), paroxetine (Paxil), and sertraline (Zoloft) were asked about side effects. Among the 229 patients who noted specific side effects, the three most common side effects, by far, were sexual dysfunction, sleepiness, and weight gain (see graph below). All three occurred at about the same rate (56, 53, and 49 reports, respectively, out of 229 total).

Real-world SSRI users reported weight gain almost as often as sexual
side-effects. From http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2719451/

How much weight gain are we talking about? Very substantial weight gain. Long-term studies have reported mean weight gains of 15 lb (6.75 kg) for sertraline (Zoloft), 21 lb (9.45 kg) for fluoxetine (Prozac), and 24 lb (10.80 kg) for paroxetine (Paxil). Citalopram (Celexa) is often painted as being less likely to cause weight gain than other antidepressants, and yet in one trial, 8 of 18 patients reported an average weight gain of 15.7 lb (7.1 kg) after receiving citalopram for just 5 weeks. See this table for a rundown of weight-gain effects for various popular antidepressants

A Norwegian study (Raeder MB, Bjelland I, Vollset SE, Steen VM, "Obesity, dyslipidemia, and diabetes with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors: the Horland Health Study," J Clin Psychiatry 2006; 671974-1982) found:

We observed an association between use of SSRIs as a group (N = 461) and abdominal obesity (OR = 1.40, 95% CI = 1.08 to 1.81) and hypercholesterolemia (OR = 1.36, 95% CI = 1.07 to 1.73) after adjusting for multiple possible confounders. There was also a trend toward an association between SSRI use and diabetes.

The Norwegian study involved patients taking paroxetine, citalopram, sertraline, fluoxetine, and/or fluvoxamine

The bottom line: Weight gain is a serious issue with SSRIs (not just older antidepressants), and the association of SSRIs with increased risk of diabetes is not a statistical fluke of some kind, but a very real outcome. Given what we know about serotonin's role in appetite, weight control, and gastrointestinal function, none of this should come as a surprise.

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Advice to stay away from the drugs of abuse (Drugteststrips)

Drug abuse is an impact on millions in the United States. As per statistics NIDA, 22.5 million persons aged 12 years and more have been influenced by illegal illicit narcotics related issues in 2011. Given the destructive effects of the abuse, it is important to know the tips that might help you to stay away from these substances.

Tips to stay away from the drugs of abuse:

These tips would guide you on how to stay away from illegal substances, if such a situation arises. Here we go:

Away from you parents and friends abuse of drugs:

Be careful while friendship with his teammates and peers. Beware of any abnormal tendency to one of them, as remain absent from sessions for no reason, smelly breath and clothing, hard to understand common everyday issues. All these are symptomatic of the abuse of illicit substances. Away people.

* Decline if offered: the simplest is to say 'no' when someone offers you drugs. Your peers, teammates could offer you to "try on" in the name of getting rid of the questions. The decline of the offer would you move away from the abuse.

* Do not go to parties involving drugs: you may be asked by your friends/colleagues or one that is dear to a part to you. It is important to know if the part is worth the visit for you. To do this, try to find out in advance in the matter. If you get an indication of the use of drugs at the party, avoid it.

Do you tempted, learn more about the harmful effects of drug abuse:

Many times your friends/colleagues/teammates could give the idea that addictive drugs are fun and they enjoy it. Could you try to follow them.

Be aware that pleasure, the 'high' or whether it is transitional. Later, you will need more in addition to the substances. Therefore, do not get carried away by the words.

Keep you busy with your refreshing activities and chore:

You might be in the school or can work to make a winner. We engage to watch the tournament of football on television, listen to music or play the music on your iPod and dance! Or gardening. The options are many. Choose the one that you like best. Through these activities, you will be able to keep you occupied and away from the consumption of drugs of abuse.

First and foremost, you must have self-control:

You are an informed, responsible and responsive person. You are responsible for the future of your career. If you go by the standards of self-control, it will bring rich dividends in the long term, in the form of good health, realization of professional skills and therefore excellent estimated earning potential and social.

Have faith in yourself. Failure in life is temporary. After all, life is a mixture of success and failure. Learn from failure. Do not lose hope and faith in yourself. Have confidence so that you can face the realities and challenges in life.

Drug Test Strips is a boutique online offering reliable, easy to use and approved by the FDA Drug affordable kits. Our band of marijuana drug testing are testing rapid urine which can be done without the use of an instrument. Our nicotine test kit is a device used for the detection of cotinine in human urine.

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Detox Your Negative Emotions and Learn How To Manage Stress (Suzanna Kauai)

Being human means feeling emotions. (E) motion = energy in motion. To stay healthy, let emotional energy wash through you like a wave. Do not hold on, resist or deny the energy. Welcome it as a response to life and let it move through by expressing it in the moment it arises.
You may argue that there are negative emotions that should not be expressed. From our early childhood, we have been taught to be nice and polite. So the idea of expressing all our so-called negative emotions seems foreign and impossible. We fear disapproval or abandonment if we dare speak the truth about what we are thinking or feeling.

Instead of thinking of emotions as either negative or positive, let us view them as energy that moves at different speeds. We call the speed of moving energy its frequency. If an energy moves at a slow speed, it has a low frequency. If it moves at a faster speed, it has a high frequency.

The emotional energy of anger, for example, moves slowly and has a low frequency and it does not feel good. When anger arises and you do not express it, it is trapped in your body and affects you physically and mentally. If you do not express your emotions, they start accumulating in and around you body. You may not feel them all the time, but these accumulated emotions can burst out from you during adverse conditions. Often these accumulated toxic feelings change your genetic structure, causing illness and toxic thinking.

You learned how to deal with your emotions as a child, by observing your family. Everything you observed and absorbed in your early childhood went into to your subconscious mind. Since this programming is subconscious, you do not have control of yourself. You respond automatically in a way that is not aligned with what you truly think and feel. Constantly reacting in a way that is unnatural for you causes you to feel stressed out. Unexpressed accumulated anger can turn into depression. You may try coping with depression, but all your efforts go in vain. For this, you actually need to know how to manage stress.

One of the best ways of managing stress and coping with depression is emotional detoxification. The process involves the detoxification of low frequency emotions and thought-patterns that depress your immune system, causing illness.

Apart from this, these toxins do not allow you to express your true emotions. You often live a pretending life being nice and happy to others. There is anger within you but the desired social attitude makes you to suppress it, which often converts into feelings of hatred, stress and depression.

The principle of emotional detoxification:

Emotional-mental detoxification process involves a unique combination of breathing, relaxation and guided visualization. The process is in the form of a guided meditation. So all you have to do is listen to a recording and follow along. There are 8 recordings; each one addressing a different set of toxic thoughts and emotions. The recordings come with an instruction manual, that will guide you step-by-step through the process. You can go through the process at your own pace.

After going through the process of emotional-mental detoxification, you will return to a state of balance and well-being with a better ability to focus and feel confident. You will behave as the real YOU leaving, behind that artificial life imposed by other people.

The day when you will complete the process, you will live your TRUE LIFE.

Processing ...

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New Diabetes Risk Factor: Antidepressants

If people knew that taking antidepressants for two years or more doubles their risk of diabetes, would they continue to take them? That's what I wondered when I saw the paper by Andersohn et al. in Am J Psychiatry 2009; 166:591–598 called "Long-Term Use of Antidepressants for Depressive Disorders and the Risk of Diabetes Mellitus." It's an eye-opening study, drawing on data from the U.K.'s patient database. The numbers are solid and the results hard to argue with. Even after controlling for body mass index (BMI), hypertension, hyperlipidemia, smoking, age, and other factors, the authors of the study found that long-term use of antidepressants (of any kind: tricyclic, MAOI, SSRI) was associated with an almost two-fold greater risk of diabetes.

This is a shocking result, because it indicates that antidepressants add significantly to the burden of disease. In the U.S., where 27 million people take antidepressants (60% of them for two years or longer), it could mean an extra million cases of diabetes.

From the 1988-1994 time period to the 2005-2008 period, antidepressant usage in the U.S. rose 400%, according to the Centers for Disease Control. This corresponds with an almost-quadrupling of diabetes cases in the same time frame.

Before you start thinking that maybe depression in and of itself is predisposing to weight gain and diabetes (which it is), go read the Andersohn paper. The authors already thought of such things and controlled for them in their study control populations. They found that even after controlling for the usual risk factors, recent long-term (24 months or more) antidepressant usage increased the risk of diabetes by 84%. (Consult the paper for a list of the 29 antidepressants included in the analysis and the individual risk ratios for each.)

The Andersohn study was motivated by an earlier finding that continuous antidepressant use over an average study duration of 3.2 years was associated with an 2.6-fold increased risk of diabetes (95% CI=1.37–4.94) in the placebo arm and 3.39-fold increase in risk (95% CI=1.61–7.13) in the lifestyle intervention arm of the study reported in Diabetes Care. 2008 Mar;31(3):420-6. The Andersohn study confirms the previous finding.

Independent confirmation of the foregoing results can be found in a 2010 cross-sectional study of patients in Finland. Mika Kivimäki et al., writing in Diabetes Care, December 2010 33:12, 2611-261, reported finding a two-fold increased risk of Type 2 diabetes in patients who had taken 200 or more "defined daily doses" (about six months' worth) of antidepressant medication. Stratification by antidepressant type found no significant difference for tricyclics versus SSRIs. Interestingly, diabetes risk was higher for patients who had taken 400 or more daily doses versus those who'd taken 200 to 400 daily doses, indicating a kind of dose-response relationship. The longer you're on meds, the more likely you'll get diabetes.

The graph depicted further above (from CDC's Diabetes Report Card 2012) shows pretty clearly that if there's one thing America doesn't need right now, it's more cases of diabetes. Diabetes is already out of control in the U.S. In many counties (all of those shown in dark red below), diabetes already afflicts more than 11% of the population.

We already know that high body mass index, out-of-band blood lipids, inactivity, and age are important risk factors for diabetes. But we now know a major new risk factor: antidepressants. As Richard R. Rubin writes in US Endocrinology, 2008;4(2):24-7:

Applying current estimates of the number of people in the US who have prediabetes (57 million with impaired glucose tolerance or impaired fasting glucose), and estimates of the prevalence of antidepressant use among adults in the US (at least 10%), it would seem that almost six million people in the US have pre-diabetes and are taking antidepressants. This is a fairly large number of people, and if future research confirms that antidepressants are an independent risk factor for type 2 diabetes, efforts to minimize the potentially negative effects of these agents on glycemic control should be pursued.

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The Iraq War: a cost-benefit analysis

Mark Steyn strikes me as the kind of guy who would trick his buddy into picking a fight, then laugh as his buddy got punched in the groin. In fact, that's pretty much typical of the people whom we have come to call "neocons" - bombastically blathering about empire and glory and destiny and national will from the safety of their manicured subdivisions while someone else's kid watches his intestines fall out of his abdominal cavity in some God-forsaken hellhole halfway around the globe. These are the sort of grinning fascists in whose minds democracy equals national weakness, and hence is a great thing to foist on our enemies while quietly suppressing at home.

OK, but that said, let's be economists about this. Let's do as Steyn purports (and in my opinion utterly fails) to do, and do a cold, calculating, rational cost-benefit analysis of the Iraq War.

This is very difficult to do, for two reasons. First, a counterfactual history is nearly impossible to construct; who knows how many of the things that have happened in connection with the Iraq War would have happened anyway, and who knows what other things would have happened? Second, the long-term effects of the war are not known; as with the French Revolution, it's "too early to tell" and always will be. But in these cases, you work with what you've got. So...

Costs of the Iraq War

* 150,000 - 200,000 Iraqis killed. This is a low estimate, but like many historians I tend to believe low estimates when it comes to war casualties, since there are a lot of refugees in wars, since government systems for counting people break down, and since a lot of people would have died anyway, especially given the crushing sanctions regime in place before the war. So let's make it 150-200k with an asterisk; it might have been three times that. (What's a factor of three between friends?)

* 4,400 Americans killed. Why list Americans separately from Iraqis (aren't they all humans)? Answer: Because many people care about this difference.

* 32,000 Americans wounded.  This could range from a cut on the arm to four lost limbs. Due to improved battlefield medicine, there are more of the very severe "four lost limb" type injuries now than in past wars.

* Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis wounded. Probably. I'm not sure anyone has been able to count this.

* About 6 trillion dollars of U.S. money spent (about 40% of one year of U.S. GDP)

* A moderate, permanent loss of American prestige in Europe (possibly inevitable due to the end of the Cold War).

* A large temporary loss of American prestige in Europe, reversed when the Obama administration came into power.

* A moderate, permanent loss of American prestige in the Islamic world, from an already low level.

* A solidifying of the Russia-China alliance, which looks very capable of containing American power globally. 

* A temporary distraction from the hunt for al Qaeda, reversed when Obama came into power and successfully killed al Qaeda's leadership.

* A long-lasting degradation of the quality of U.S. public discourse and the quality of U.S. politics. This item bears some explanation. In order to sell the war to the American people, large amounts of lying and distortion were necessary. Because of the stickiness of partisan opinions and worldviews (no one ever wants to admit their side was wrong), this meant that Republicans and conservatives had to retain that Bush-distorted worldview long after the war. That might be the reason why Tea Party types are up in arms about Benghazi, while the rest of America doesn't even know what Benghazi is. 

* An increase in geopolitical strength for Iran, commonly believed to be a strategic enemy of the U.S.

* An acceleration of Iran's nuclear program, seen by Iran as the only deterrent that can prevent a U.S. invasion.

* A high continuing rate of violence in Iraq.

Benefits of the Iraq War

* The removal of the Hussein family from power in Iraq, and their replacement with marginally less effective, malign, and insane dictators.

* The elimination of the tiny, tiny risk that Saddam would one day develop WMDs.

* An improved Iraqi economy. Iraq's GDP, which had been crushed by sanctions, after the war recovered strongly, growing robustly in every year since 2006. Part of this, of course, is a windfall due to high oil prices; but if the Iraq War hadn't happened, sanctions might have prevented Iraq from selling a lot of its oil.

* An Iraq that is slightly more free than under Saddam. Iraq is still rated "Not Free" by Freedom House, though its ratings have improved ever so slightly since the war. Freedom House is a U.S. government-sponsored NGO, so it's not a good idea to trust their data implicitly, but this seems to agree with many other reports. 

* A revitalized American liberal movement. The blogosphere as we know it really took off in response to the Iraq War, becoming the liberal answer to conservative talk radio. Truly liberal media outlets like MSNBC also emerged as answers to Fox News. And the general galvanization of America's dormant left might have enabled the election of Obama and sped the conservative retreat that we now see happening.

* The breaking of 9/11 fever. This is also hard to pin down, and may not even be real, but after 9/11 I felt a real sort of general madness in America. Terrorists could hit us any time, anywhere. The government was eliminating civil liberties right and left and people seemed to be fine with that. America seemed headed for a dark period of fear-based fascism, or Islamophobic ethnic conflict, or...well, something. Then the Iraq War came and brought more than half of America back to its senses. We remembered that the biggest threat to us is our own stupidity. We realized that the panic over a global jihadist wave was 99.9% paranoia. While the Republicans stayed nuts, the Democrats came back to the reality-based community.

Of course, these last two are a little silly to include as "benefits" of the war, since they weren't intended by the war's promoters (though neither were most of the costs). It's a bit like saying that the creation of the UN and the democratization of Europe were positive effects of Hitler's invasions, or that the worldwide condemnation of genocide was a positive result of the Holocaust. You should never start a war in the hope that you'll be defeated and that your defeat will invigorate the forces of good.

Anyway, so what do we conclude from this cost-benefit analysis? It's very hard to put dollar figures on these things, but I didn't try, because what this exercise should clearly demonstrate is that very, very little apparent benefit resulted from the decision to invade Iraq, while there were a whole lot of very apparent costs. This fact should dominate all discussions of the war. Who cares if we "won"? Who cares if the Surge (i.e. paying Sunni militias to stop bombing us, while pretending to make a show of force) worked? Who cares if Saddam was a brutal, awful guy? 

What should matter is that we paid a lot, and we got not much. There are a lot of two-bit dictatorships we could randomly invade and depose in bloody wars. There would be benefits to getting rid of Kim Jong-Un, or Robert Mugabe, or the mullahs of Iran. They just wouldn't be worth the price tag.

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Something is wrong with me (MOM Gambier)

You feel sad and depression just feel? Can feel joy and ecstasy, also occur without any known reason? And while that when the activity begins recovery and vital, the depression of storm again!
Do you find yourself wandering between pink fantasy and the maximum severity of the melancholy realism?
You feel alienated among the nearest people? Strange and others can not understand you?
Find intelligent, energetic, ambitious and friendly and also have plenty of idiocy, frustration and nervousness of hatred!
If yes answer

Then, the probability closer than you are mentally ill. More precisely one of those has bipolar disorder disease.
And who wrote these words, one of them.

I am a person. 25 year-old. Civil engineering student and barely graduating. I am in final year of University.

One day while browsing the Internet, read an article of an intellectual talk of God, religion and existential question. I went to the comments on article, among those taken on the personal lives of the intellectual and gave an explanation to this question; why he committed suicide? Where the thinker called Ismail Abdulla had committed suicide plunges himself into the River!
Said I think his suicide because depression is one of the reverse changes related to bipolar disease and references to its story of a friend who suffered from a manic-depressive disease and committed suicide by taking a dose of sedatives.

I keep silent a moment, realized the answer on the deep confusion inside of me. This idea haunts me for years. Why always thinking about suicide? Why several times to find suicide as the sanctuary and the best choice for me? Without reason or really problem I lost all desire to live? Why spent more of my thought looking for a method of suicide?
Accidentally I've known the answer now as a comfort I felt that I got a response on the issue of confusion, but it's a disappointment, I'm sick mental!
I went to Google and the search for disease, results started showing, many pages to talk about the disease, causes, symptoms and treatments. People write their complaint, some of them know that they have a disorder bipolar disease and others do not know. Woman speaks his life disturbed with the husband who accuse him that she aborted their fetus. Another suffered wonders of women; My husband accused me of spying for the Agency's intelligence on him! A person who writes about his friend went himself down at sea in his car

Disorder I one of them with bipolar illness? Yes!
Her treatments are happened to me? By reading the the bipolar disorder treatments, Yes
I'd read lots of articles related to the disease and do not forget that I have bipolar disorder and founded the symptoms as mania or depression have been passed.

Long time I triad forget that I have the disease of bipolar disorder, I do not know why! May be thought that forget will make me do not feel the symptoms of bipolar disorder! It is the stupid belief, I lived with a gain of bipolar disorder symptoms and yet, I can't fool myself, but I have never said that one on my illness.

Now, I decided to write about my self. My journey, my life of dramatic changes, the ups and downs is a novel

With blogging, I will make each item as a short story, think I have the ability to write literature, after ending my stories combine everything in the novel, because I see my life contains many unexpected and dramatic events on an intellectual, human and social level my study, relationship to religion, family and love alone. All this have been rotating and will produce special novel.
I'm Fiodor Dostoyevsky

If I have prevented my discussions of language to round people, but allow my statement of PIN, I'll leave a free space on suffering
It will be beautiful get other who have the disease of bipolar disorder and my results to treat the disease. I hope help all and share with them our experiences and lives, we know that communication between the mental pain is an important method of treatment, particularly individuals have bipolar disorder disease because they feel strangeness and introversion, where others can not understand us.

Treatment...

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Heatmap Visualization of Antidepressants

With so many antidepressants on the market now, it's hard to keep them straight. The categorizations that have been offered thus far are not uniformly helpful for understanding the drugs' in vivo targets. For example, a term like "tricyclic" refers to chemical structure of the drug molecule itself (and tells you nothing about what it does in the brain). Likewise, a more descriptive term like Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor is somewhat misleading in that many SSRIs actually have a fairly complex binding profile with regard to neurotransmitter receptors. For example, in addition to its action at the serotonin transporter (SERT), Prozac (fluoxetine) has potent 5-HT2C receptor antagonist effects along with being an agonist of the σ1-receptor. And then you have the fact that a drug like clomipramine is classified as a tricyclic, yet pharmacologically it shows a great deal of similarity with SSRIs. It can all get confusing in a hurry.

So the question is: How can we visualize what these drugs are doing, without reading long descriptions of their biological activities or trying to digest tables of receptor binding constants? Well, it turns out a team in the Netherlands has come up with an interesting way of visualizing antidepressant modes of action at a glance. It's shown in the graphic below.

Derijks et al. presented this nifty heatmap in "Visualizing Pharmacological Activities of Antidepressants: A Novel Approach," The Open Pharmacology Journal, 2008, 2, 54-62. They took the known binding constants for various antidepressants and calculated "receptor occupancies" for these drugs at the 5-HT (5-hydroxytryptamine; i.e. serotonin) reuptake transporter, 5-HT2c-receptor, histamine H1-receptor, norepinephrine reuptake transporter, alpha1-receptor, and muscarine M3-receptor, then subjected the results to principal component analysis to arrive at a hierarchical cluster scheme based on bioactivity homologies. What they found is that the 20 antidepressants they looked at grouped naturally into four main clusters. Within the clusters, drugs grouped together based (again) on similarity of activity at binding sites.

Basically, you can look at any given row in this picture as a kind of "barcode" (or fingerprint, if you like) for a particular drug based on its own particular mode(s) of action.

Buproprion (Wellbutrin) shows up as a solid yellow stripe, which might seem odd until you realize the Derijks group did not attempt to include dopamine-transporter occupancy in its model (nor did it look at nicotinic acetylcholine receptor binding, also important for bupropion). The group said they tried looking at dopamine transporter bindings but found it "did not change the overall classification in four clusters," so they left it out. For visualization purposes, it would have been nice if they'd left it in.

I think this kind of visual representation of drug activity is a very useful tool for differentiating antidepressants, and if psychiatrists (and nurse practitioners) knew about it they could use it to aid the decisionmaking process when it comes to trying a non-responsive patient on a different class of drug. If a drug from Cluster 1 doesn't work, it's only logical to try a drug from a different cluster rather than (say) a different drug from the same cluster.

In case you're having trouble with the generic drug names shown in the above figure, here's a table giving the translations between generic and trade names:

Generic Name	Trade Name (and Category)
amitriptyline	Elavil, Saroten (TCA)
bupropion	Wellbutrin, Zyban
citalopram	Celexa, Cipramil (SSRI)
clomipramine	Anafranil (TCA)
doxepin	Adapine, Sinequan (TCA)
duloxetine	Cymbalta, Ariclaim (SNRI)
escitalopram	Lexapro, Cipralex (SSRI)
fluoxetine	Prozac, Sarafem (SSRI)
fluvoxamine	Luvox (SSRI)
imipramine	Tofranil (TCA)
maprotiline	Deprilept, Ludiomil (TCA)
mianserin	Bolvidon, Norval (TeCA)
mirtazapine	Remeron, Avanza (TeCA)
nefazodone	Serzone, Nefadar
nortriptyline	Aventyl, Pamelor (TCA)
paroxetine	Paxil, Seroxat (SSRI)
reboxetine	Edronax, Prolift (NRI)
sertraline	Zoloft, Lustral (SSRI)
trazodone	Desyrel, Deprax (SARI)
venlafaxine	Effexor (SNRI)

NRI = Norepinephrine Reuptake Inhibitor
SARI = Serotonin Antagonist and Reuptake Inhibitor
SNRI = Serotonin-Norepinephrine Reuptake Inhibitor
SSRI = Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor
TCA = Tricyclic Antidepressant
TeCA = Tetracyclic Antidepressant

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How Nicotine Test Helps Employers to Establish Smoke-Free Workplace (Drugteststrips)

Nicotine abuse is an issue affecting the profitability of businesses and the environment at workplaces. Employers are insisting on measures that will help them make the workplaces free from smoking of tobacco so as to make their businesses more productive.

Employers in US imposing ban on smokers:

Increasing numbers of employers in US are rejecting the applications of candidates who smoke. They are abiding by the laws framed by the government for the purpose and are not hiring who they find to be smokers. To know whether the prospective hired is smoker, they conduct tests. Those who are found positive for smoking are not offered employment.

Nicotine test helps them to detect smokers - instantly:

Employers apply different techniques to tackle the issue of smoking. These include testing for tobacco (nicotine) by different methods. These tests are helpful to identify if the applicant really smokes tobacco or not. Generally, a nicotine test can be conducted using urine, saliva or hair follicle samples. Employers use any or a combination of these techniques.

Benefits of establishing smoke-free environment:

A smoke-free environment improves productivity of the employees and reduces health insurance costs. Employers find smoke-free workplace beneficial on the following grounds.

Increased productive hours:

A no-smoking environment results in higher number of productive hours than in a smoking permitted one. Employees not used to smoking concentrate better on work and hence there is greater number of productive hours. They are healthy and take few sick leaves.

Whereas, smoking employees take unauthorized breaks to smoke, which is waste of productive time.

Healthy atmosphere:

As healthy employees are more focused on productivity, there is cordial relation between employees as well as employers. Such workplaces boost the employees' morale and work potential and encourage talented workforce to work for more number of hours. Employers too reciprocate and get prompted to take positive action on any issue.

Shows professional approach of the business:

A smoke-free workplace, places the employer's image in a positive view among the employees, peers, government, and social groups. The welfare measures taken serve as an example for professional approach taken by the employer. This will enhance mutual trust between the employer and employees.

Reduces healthcare costs:

Following a no-smoking policy at workplace would result in less healthcare costs. This is because, the employees are healthy and need lower health maintenance expenses - be it insurance premium or medical emergencies. These factors are known to cause increased medical expenses to employers in case of employees habituated to smoking. Studies show that, post non-smoking policy there is remarkable decline in the tobacco caused heart attacks, making current smokers to quit (Source: Forbes, 12 June, 2012).

Taking up nicotine tests to enforce a smoking-free environment at workplace is beneficial. The measures, of course, entail costs to the employers.

Drug Test Strips is an online store offering reliable and FDA approved drug testing kits at affordable prices. Our marijuana drug test kit is a rapid urine screening test. This marijuana testing kit is easy to use and can be performed without the use of an instrument.

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Choose the right drug to home kits to detect the abuse of drugs among adolescents (Drugteststrips)

Drug abuse among adolescents is a major challenge for the company. It affects the health of adolescents and the career. To stay away from illicit drugs, drug home testing kits are effective. You can use these kits to detect the abuse and prevent it. There are different types of kits for the purpose. Choose it according to the sample of test, you will use - urine, saliva or hair. This article discusses certain categories of home drug testing kits and how they are useful.

Urine drug test kits:

The method of urine for the presence of drug tests is compared more popular because it is easy and low cost. You can use one kit for up to 10 different types of drugs. A young person low urine sample is necessary to carry out the test.

These kits are accurate and have a solid scientific basis. However, they can be manipulated while collecting samples, unless you are personally present. To apply doping on your teens, these home drug testing kits are the most comfortable. You can use these kits to detect the presence of drugs until three days after its use.

Saliva drug testing kits:

Saliva drug testing kits are easy to use and the results are immediate. These kits are less manipulative, but can detect the presence of substances one or two days before the test to test. As the sample is direct, there is no fear of manipulation / falsified samples for testing. When your teen child is returning from a party, if you think about it the use of drugs, you can use these kits.

Hair drug test kits:

Drug hair testing kits show accurate results. When using these kits, there's little chance of adulteration. These kits detect the presence of drugs in the system until 90 days after its use. If you suspect your child's drug abuse, but are not sure, use these kits. These kits are more expensive than saliva kits and urine. You must collect a hair sample and send it to the designated test laboratory. Thus, it takes a few days to get the results of the tests.

Alcohol breathalyzer:

Breathalyser tests are useful in the application of an environmental abuse at home. These are accurate and reliable. You can use these kits when your child comes from a part of his teammates or friends. You can see the results immediately. These kits are inexpensive and easy to use. You can inform and notify your teen that you do not tolerate alcohol and want to enforce.

To perform the scan your teen must blow in the kit and the result is indicated by measurement of blood alcohol content (BAC) and is shown in percentages ranging from 0.2% to 0.8% BAC.

Deleted FDA drug testing kits are reliable:

When purchasing home for adolescent drug testing kits, make sure they are passable FDA because these kits are validated as a safe, efficient, reliable, and results are fast and accurate.

As a responsible parent, you must apply free of substance at home to ensure that is to contribute to the development of your child. Keeping this in mind, choose a set of test kits based on the convenience of use, availability and the situation at home.

Drug Test Strips is a reliable offering online shop and kits at affordable prices the screening of drugs approved by the FDA. Our marijuana drug test kit is a rapid urine screening test. This kit to test marijuana is easy to use and can be performed without the use of an instrument.

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