Infanticide As A Right: Killing Babies No Different From Abortion, "Experts" Say?

Holy Hippocrates...

This is nihilism at its finest. This is what happens when "education" turns into madness. Infanticide of newborns becomes a right:

The Telegraph
Feb. 29, 2012
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/9113394/Killing-babies-no-different-from-abortion-experts-say.html

Parents should be allowed to have their newborn babies killed because they are “morally irrelevant” and ending their lives is no different to abortion, a group of medical ethicists linked to Oxford University has argued.

The article, published in the Journal of Medical Ethics, says newborn babies are not “actual persons” and do not have a “moral right to life”. The academics also argue that parents should be able to have their baby killed if it turns out to be disabled when it is born.

The journal’s editor, Prof Julian Savulescu, director of the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, said the article's authors had received death threats since publishing the article. He said those who made abusive and threatening posts about the study were “fanatics opposed to the very values of a liberal society”.

The article, entitled “After-birth abortion: Why should the baby live?”, was written by two of Prof Savulescu’s former associates, Alberto Giubilini and Francesca Minerva.

They argued: “The moral status of an infant is equivalent to that of a fetus in the sense that both lack those properties that justify the attribution of a right to life to an individual.”

Rather than being “actual persons”, newborns were “potential persons”. They explained: “Both a fetus and a newborn certainly are human beings and potential persons, but neither is a ‘person’ in the sense of ‘subject of a moral right to life’.

My observations:

1. These medical ethicists should keep their "ethics" within their own families.

2. One wonders if the current non-consensual human subjects experimentation known as "health IT" is justified by the same "ethicists."

-- SS

Addendum March 1, 2012:

We've been here before.

From another blog: Tacitus, a.k.a Publius (or Gaius) Cornelius Tacitus (AD 56 – AD 117) was a senator and a historian of the Roman Empire. Tacitus criticized the "rebels" of the time for, among other things, their refusal to kill newly born babies: http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Histories_%28Tacitus%29/Book_5 . See section 5.

Such a practice was apparently no big deal then.

This "ethics" proposed at Oxford represents a return to uncivilizedness.

-- SS

Semi-Retirement of a Salesman - Weldon to Retire as Johnson and Johnson CEO

The extremely well compensated CEO and Chairman of Johnson and Johnson, the huge and recently hugely troubled US based pharmaceutical and device company, is going to retire, at least as CEO.  Reporting on this event may shed a little more light on the sorts of leadership problems that now commonly afflict health care organizations.

The Credo

Johnson and Johnson was once one of the US' most respected companies.  Its credo, written in 1943 by Robert Wood Johnson, bravely begins:

We believe our first responsibility is to doctors, nurses and patients, to mothers and fathers, and all others who use our products and services. In meeting their needs, everything we do must be of high quality.

Dishonoring the Credo

Yet in the last few years the company has not honored this credo.

It seems to have lost the ability to manufacture high quality products. It has had to make 30 separate product recalls since 2009. The latest was Liquid Infant Tylenol. (The current WSJ Health Blog list of recalls can be found here.)

Johnson and Johnson also has an amazing recent record of ethical lapses and guilty pleas, including:
- Convictions in two different states in 2010 for misleading marketing of Risperdal
- A guilty plea for misbranding Topamax in 2010
- Guilty pleas to bribery in Europe in 2011 by J+J's DePuy subsidiary
- A guilty plea for marketing Risperdal for unapproved uses in 2011 (see this link for all of the above)
- Accusations that the company, which makes smoking cessation products, participated along with tobacco companies in efforts to lobby state legislators (see post here)
- A guilty plea to misbranding Natrecor by J+J subsidiary Scios (see post here)
-  Most recently, in 2012, testimony in a trial of allegations of unethical marketing of the drug Respirdal (risperidone) by the Janssen subsidiary revealed a systemic, deceptive stealth marketing campaign that fostered suppression of research whose results were unfavorable to the company, ghostwriting, the use of key opinion leaders as marketers in the guise of academics and professionals, and intimidation of whistleblowers.  After these revelations, the company abruptly settled the case (see post here).

Disconnect Between Leadership Performance and Rewards

Nonetheless, until very recently, the top leadership of the company continued to collect outrageous compensation, and to be regarded as a font of health care wisdom, even by the current US administration.

In 2010, the company gave CEO and Chairman William Weldon over $29 million in compensation, saying he "met expectations," (see this post).

In 2011, just days after the company pleaded guilty in the Risperdal marketing case (above), CEO and Chairman Weldon was invited to the White House to discuss health care (see this post.)

Just after his resignation was announced a few days ago, the Wall Street Journal reported that Weldon would get an increased bonus for 2011 ($3.1 million, up from $1.98 million in 2010), and an increased base salary ($1.97 million up from $1.92 million.)  His total compensation for 2011 was not yet revealed. 

Swapping One Salesman for Another

A single New York Times article suggested one reason why Weldon's reign was ultimately so unsuccessful, and perhaps why his successor may not do better.

Alex Gorsky, the newly named chief executive of Johnson & Johnson, shares a crucial biographical detail with William C. Weldon, the man he is succeeding. Both got their starts as pharmaceutical sales representatives, a notoriously grueling job that — because it demands stamina, charisma and a near devotion to making the sale — has become a crucible for future drug company executives in recent years.

Indeed, Mr Weldon's official biography indicates he "served in several sales, marketing and international management positions." The official biography of CEO-to-be, Alex Gorsky, stated he "began his Johnson & Johnson career as a sales representative with Janssen Pharmaceutica in 1988. Over the next 15 years, he advanced through positions of increasing responsibility in sales, marketing, and management." Previously, he earned "a Bachelor of Science degree from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., and spent six years in the U.S. Army, finishing his military career with the rank of Captain. Alex earned a Master of Business Administration degree from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1996."

Apparently neither current nor nominated CEO had any direct experience in patient care, nor in biomedical or clinical science, nor in chemistry, engineering or manufacturing. So both are generic managers, that is, health care leaders without any direct experience in health care, or in the science and technology underlying it.

"Making the Numbers" Versus the Credo

Moreover, they are both a particular type of generic manager, salespeople. As the Times reported:

Mr. Gorsky, who is 51, fits the mold of someone who once 'carried the bag' — industry slang for working as a sales representative. He is known as a polished speaker and an intense yet likable manager who is a quick study when it comes to learning new topics.

However, while sales people may be personable, they often have goals that have nothing to do with responsibilities "to doctors, nurses and patients, to mothers and fathers,...." As the Times article also noted,

But the ethos of the sales representative may not be what Johnson & Johnson needs right now, said Erik Gordon, who teaches business at the University of Michigan. 'That culture was very much the Weldon culture writ large — we will make our numbers for the analysts, period,' he said. 'And if that means we have to cut costs on things that affect quality, then by God, we’re going to make those numbers.'

So while Johnson and Johnson for years prided itself as a company that put the needs of patients and health professionals first, it hired leaders from the culture of sales where the impetus is to "make the numbers," to fulfill short term revenue goals, no matter what. This illustrates how generic management given perverse incentives in an era that honors greed and puts short-term economic goals ahead of all others had hollowed out health care.

We wish Mr Gorsky well, but worry that if he too focuses just on making the numbers, the result will be only mischief.

The Moral of the Story

Health care organizations need leaders that uphold the core values of health care, and focus on and are accountable for the mission, not on secondary responsibilities that conflict with these values and their mission, and not on self-enrichment. Leaders ought to be rewarded reasonably, but not lavishly, for doing what ultimately improves patient care, or when applicable, good education and good research. On the other hand, those who authorize, direct and implement bad behavior ought to suffer negative consequences sufficient to deter future bad behavior.


If we do not fix the severe problems affecting the leadership and governance of health care, and do not increase accountability, integrity and transparency of health care leadership and governance, we will be as much to blame as the leaders when the system collapses.

Live Blogging from the Paleo Summit VII: Mat Lalonde (rocks)

Link:  Mat Lalonde
Title:  An Organic Chemist’s Perspective on Paleo?

Ratings:     ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼     just go watch/listen!!

 

 

OK folks ... I've got me a new sci-crush!  This guy is saying what I've been saying for a long time now -- if you're gonna make claims about something, you better have the stuff to back it up.  Mat, there is no problem with your delivery man, don't change.  Your detractors are obviously those "doth protesting too much" who know they've just been called out without being named.

Read more »

Live Blogging from the Paleo Summit VI: Nora Gegaudas

Link:  Nora Gedgaudas
Title:  Safe Starches: To Eat or Not to Eat?

Ratings:

☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼  Entertainment Value

☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼  Content

☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼  Informational Accuracy

☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼  Overall

Summary:

Nora Gedgaudas takes on Paul Jaminet's rationale for including safe starches in the diet.  Her arguments boil down to the oft repeated meme that we humans have no dietary need for glucose because we can make all we need.  She goes into Paul's arguments for starches from his breast-milk composition, body composition and food reward perspectives.  The remainder of the substantative part of the interview is spent trying to find other reasons why many folks start to decline on long term VLC diets.  Enter theme I'm seeing parroted by TWICHOOBs in comments about the ever increasing list of low carb bloggers jumping ship:  we're all just addicts.  With a chuckle (joined by Sean) Nora wonders if methadone is to heroine as "safe starches" are to sugar.  You see, we're all addicts now.  After that, the remainder of the (way too long) interview is spent hemming and hawing and patronizing to make sure to list areas of agreement with Paul Jaminet and a little fawning from Sean over Nora's knowledge and intellect.   If you're pressed for time and inclined to listen at all, you won't miss much after the 40 minute mark.

Read more »

i'm off to stand in line w/ a bunch of hard core moms waiting to see if walker gets into preschool.  he's been on the waiting list for a year and half.  seriously.....i can't image what i'm going to have to do to get him into college.  wish me luck.

*images courtesy of pinterest

Spring Sorbet

The Spring 2012 catwalks where awash with sorbet colour palettes from mint greens to lemon yellows.

Honeycomb Gem Cluster Necklace

Our Kit Heath Honeycomb gemset designs embrace this trend and are the perfect choice if you can’t decide which of the soft sorbet colours suit you. 

Perk up a simple neckline with this blue topaz, peridot and purple amethyst necklace.

From design to reality, our designers put a huge amount of detail and imagination in to our designs mixing in the latest trends and fashion observations along the way. 

(Original designs prior to creation)

Honeycomb Gem Cluster Ring

When deciding on the stones used to achieve the pastel colours we decided on blue topaz, peridot and amethyst to create the perfect pastel tones.

Each stone has its own characteristics and history, Amethyst being the traditional birthstone for February, it is also reknown to ward of intoxication so the Ancient Greeks used to use the stones in their drinking vessels! 

While medieval soldiers wore amulets for protection, to keep a cool head and aid healing.

Topaz does not only come in blue, but it is blue topaz that we have used to create our pastel pallet. 

Blue topaz in the middle ages, wearers believed that it would prevent physical and mental disorders - even death! It is also the traditional birthstone for March. 

Honeycomb Gem Cluster Earrings

The ancient Greeks, Romans and Egyptians wore the stone believing in its mystical powers - the Greeks believing the wearer would be invisible, the Romans believed topaz could improve eyesight and the Egyptians thought it would protect them from injury.

However, peridot's history is just as colourful, being the traditional birthstone of August it was made popular in history by pirates, who, known for their superstitious nature used to carry the stones to ward of evil. It is also rumoured that Cleopatra's large hoard of favoured emeralds were in fact mostly peridot.

It's fabled properties are said to increase strength and to heal hurt feelings, which we think is very nice.

Jewellery Tip – did you know that you can bring the sparkle back to your gemstones by using some warm soapy water and a soft brush, and rinse with cold water?

World Class Welsh Sport: The Minister for Sport, Huw Lewis AM

In our third installment of opinion pieces to celebrate St David's Day we hear from the Minister for Sport, Huw Lewis AM, about what he thinks makes Wales such a great sporting nation.

“Wales is a great sporting nation. For a small country, we certainly have impact on the World’s sporting stage. Our Welsh Rugby Team has achieved great things in the World Cup and in this year’s Six Nations and the players have gained the respect of the sporting world with their mature attitude. The Welsh football team has some great young players and have improved enormously over the last 12 months.

“In this Olympic year, all eyes are turning to our Olympic and Paralympic athletes. Their achievements in Beijing and at the Commonwealth Games puts Welsh athletes in a great position in the lead up to the London 2012 Games. Of course, none of this would be possible without all the coaches and volunteers that harness this talent. Our world class sporting facilities give our athletes every opportunity to succeed.

“However, sport isn’t just for our elite athletes. The funding from the Welsh Government and the Lottery Fund has helped develop sport at a grass roots level. Our Free Swimming programme, for example, ensures that all our children and over 60s have access to sporting facilities. So this St David’s Day, why not get out there and get your children enjoying sport.”

Find out more about our great sporting nation and test your Welsh sporting knowledge with wales.com's interactive quiz.

Palatability, Satiety and Calorie Intake

WHS reader Paul Hagerty recently sent me a very interesting paper titled "A Satiety Index of Common Foods", by Dr. SHA Holt and colleagues (1).  This paper quantified how full we feel after eating specific foods.  I've been aware of it for a while, but hadn't read it until recently.  They fed volunteers a variety of commonly eaten foods, each in a 240 calorie portion, and measured how full each food made them feel, and how much they ate at a subsequent meal.  Using the results, they calculated a "satiety index", which represents the fullness per calorie of each food, normalized to white bread (white bread arbitrarily set to SI = 100).  So for example, popcorn has a satiety index of 154, meaning it's more filling than white bread per calorie. 

One of the most interesting aspects of the paper is that the investigators measured a variety of food properties (energy density, fat, starch, sugar, fiber, water content, palatability), and then determined which of them explained the SI values most completely.

Read more »

The best feature you never knew existed

Bonjour Reader!,
I know I have large gaps in my blog posts, its not for a lack of ideas but it is for a lack of time. With the economic recovery in full swing in the legal world we are very busy.

However, I still need to finish my new book and start getting back to blogging more regularly so please feel free to harass me on twitter @hecfblog if I don't write a post once a week.

In this short post I am going to point out a feature in FTK that has existed since 3.3 atleast that I never knew existed. The feature is called 'export lnk contents' in ftk 3.3 and 'export LNK metdata' in ftk 4.0 and it may be the one feature that I wish existed in FTK for the last 8 years of using it. When I've mentioned what this feature is and what it does to fellow examiners each of them has said the same two things:

1. "Woh! This going to save me so much time!"
2. "Why didn't they tell everyone this was here?!"

So in relation to point number 2, let me do that for them.

HEY EVERYONE, FTK will now export out all of the metadata of a lnk file and the contents of the parsed lnks to a file (from atleast 3.2-4.0)!

It can do this with one, some or all LNK files just highlight them, right click a lnk and the context menu will show the option! Suddenly all the manual copy and pasting into a spreadsheet or running other tools (like tzworks lslnk) are no longer necessary. This is especially great when it comes to carved LNK files that may not actually be valid and break many third party tools when they try to parse them.

What all does it export you say?
Keep reading!

Surely there is no way they snuck in a feature everyone wanted and didn't tell anyone?
I sure didn't see it!

It must be missing something right?
Not that I can see! It exports out into a tab seperated file:
* Shortcut File - Name of the LNK file
* Local Path - The path to the file the LNK file is pointing to
* Volume Type - The type of volume (Fixed, Removable, CDROM) of the volume being accessed
* Volume Label - The volume label for the volume being accessed
* Volume Serial Number - The VSN of the volume being accessed
* Network Path - If this was done over the network, the full UNC path to the file
* Short Name - The 8.3 name of the file
* File Size - Size of the file in bytes
* Creation time (UTC) - When the file the LNK file is pointing to was created
* Last write time (UTC) - When the file the LNK file is pointing to was modified
* Last access time (UTC) - When the file the LNK file is pointing to was accessed
* Directory - If file the LNK file is ponting to is a directory
* Compressed - If file the LNK file is ponting to is compressed
* Encrypted - If file the LNK file is ponting to is encrypted
* Read-only - If file the LNK file is ponting to is marked read only
* Hidden - If file the LNK file is ponting to is marked hidden
* system - If file the LNK file is ponting to is marked as a system file
* Archive - If file the LNK file is ponting to is marked as to be archived
* Sparse - If file the LNK file is ponting to is 'sparse'
* Offline - If file the LNK file is ponting to is offline
* Temporary - If file the LNK file is ponting to is a ntfs temporary file
* Reparse point - If file the LNK file is ponting to is extended directory information
* Relative Path - The relative path to the LNK file
* Program arguments - Any arguements stored for the execution of the program
* Working directory - Where the executable will default for reads/writes without a path
* Icon - What icon is associated with the executable if any
* Comment - This is an outlook feature, not sure why its included
* NetBIOS name - The network names of the system the LNK file was accessing
* MAC address - The MAC of the system the LNK file was accessing

So the next time you are working a case in FTK and you want to know what was being accessed from external drives (and you are checking shell bags and other artifacts seperately of course) then make a filter for all file with the extension 'LNK' and right click on one and export all of them to TSV. Import that TSV into excel, sort by Local Path and your done! This may be one the biggest time savers I've found in FTK in years and I now use it on every case.

Have you found a feature you love that everyone seems to miss? Leave it in the comments below.

BLOGSCAN - Keeping the Echoes Alive

We frequently discuss the anechoic effect, how many of the cases and issues of interest to Health Care Renewal, which conversely may be troubling to the powers that be in health care, often fail to inspire as much discussion, or the echoes that they deserve, either in the "main-stream media," or in the medical and health care literature.  A new post on the 1BoringOldMan blog likened the anechoic effect to the "flooding" phenomenon seen in psychotherapy, basically how patients seek to change the subject when a particularly troubling issue comes up.  Furthermore, the semi-anonymous blogger, "Mickey," is hopping on our tiny bandwagon for those dedicated to keep these troubling topics from completely fading from public view. 

Live Blogging from the Paleo Summit V: Dr. Thomas O'Bryan

Link:  Dr. Thomas O'Bryan

Ratings:

☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼  Entertainment Value

☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼  Content

☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼  Informational Accuracy

☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼  Overall

Summary & Recommendations:  

Go listen to this. It is hands-down the best of the Paleo Summit thusfar. My regular readers know that gluten and wheat are not high on my list of worries, and I have not changed my mind that the gluten/wheat = root of all evils is an exaggeration of monumental proportions. This also doesn't change my mind about Wheat Belly and his hysteria.  That said, gluten sensitivity is real and denying there are those for whom avoiding gluten is life-changing is ... well, living in denial!  

Read more »

Download di MediaFire 100% Support Resume

Unik Informatika - Say hello to you downloader..

i have happy news to you brotha, you want to know?

ketika saya sedang mencari info terbaru di kaskus, saya menemukan hal baru yang sangat menarik untuk si share, yaitu thread tentang cara menyambung atau melanjutkan cara download di situs mediafire.

cara nya sangat mudah, begini :

1. kunjungi link ini Megavoyd

2. copy link di mediafire yang inigin di download, misalnya : http://www.mediafire.com/?6r4ebyvqatz3z3j

3. paste ke alamat diatas (point 1).

4. tekan get link.

5. terus tekan direct link.

6. download deh pake IDM.

7. enjoy it.

mudah bukan?

nah, tros bagi link mediafire yang diprotect pake password anda bisa menambahkan | Password di belakang link dalam kotak get link.

e.g : http://www.mediafire.com/?6r4ebyvqatz3z3j | thehack3r.com

sumber : kaskus by agan rzdee2805

just in case you didn't get the memo....stripe are hot!!  you better get some :)

*images courtesy of vanessa jackman, decor pad, pinterest, tick tock clock

Blogging from the Paleo Summit IV: Sarah Fragoso, Erwan LeCorre, Paul Jaminet, Matt Stone, Thomas O'Bryan

Hi folks!  Due to some unexpected personal stuff yesterday I was unable to do the "Live" blogging on these two.  I listened to Sarah's interview but never got around to Erwan's.  I very much enjoyed Sarah's even though I don't have kids so it was mostly irrelevant to me.  I'd probably buy that Paleo Pals book for my kid or something else directly from her rather than buy the Paleo Summit if I were to have a use for her works.  Erwan's I didn't get to listen to ... yet.  It's still on my computer to play.  I'll try and post some thoughts on that one in case anyone's interested before the summit is over.

On Tap Today we have Matt Stone & Paul Jaminet with whom most of my readers are familiar, and Dr. Thomas O'Bryan (who I've never heard of, sorry) on gluten.  Of course this has to be my busiest day and I'm behind because of yesterday.  I've already listened to Matt & Paul.  Kudos to Sean for giving Matt almost an entire hour.  Paul's interview focuses on the rationale behind Perfect Health Diet with some new stuff on food reward with a twist.  I enjoyed listening to it as it's been a while since I read PHD and have had a chance to closely follow Paul's blog.   I'll try and live blog Dr. O'Bryan this afternoon as that would be more useful to most of my readers, but I will come back and discuss Matt & Paul before summit's end.  But push comes to shove, I'm saving my reviewing time for that master of human physiology Nora Gedgaudas' take on safe starches tomorrow. 

See ya later (maybe)...

World Class Welsh Sport: Michaela Breeze and Melissa Hyndman's Views

In our second installment of opinion pieces to celebrate St David's Day we hear from Commonwealth gold medallist, and one of Wales’ most experienced athletes, former Olympic weightlifter, Michaela Breeze and Welsh National Netball Team coach, and Celtic Dragons Super League coach, Melissa Hyndman about what they think makes Wales such a great sporting nation.

Michaela Breeze MBE

“The passion and sense of belonging for me is what makes Wales a great sporting nation.  No matter who the athlete, or what the team, when Welsh Athletes compete, the country gets behind them fully. There is a real pride that is shared across the nation and it is this that I believe fuels the desire of athletes to achieve great results.

“Before there can be athletes, there must be coaches and other individuals who inspire and dedicate their lives to helping others achieve success. These people often go unheralded but actually they are critical to many sporting triumphs and success stories. My coach and mentor, and one of Britain and Wales's most successful lifters, Andrew Davies gave generously of his time to help guide and nurture me through the highs and lows of being an elite athlete. The likes of Ray Williams (National Weightlifting Coach), who himself was a great Welsh lifter, now inspires youngsters to take up the sport and will be heavily involved in the future success of this great sporting nation.

“While representing Team Wales at the last three Commonwealth Games, the support that I received from all the support staff, not just during Games time but in the months and even years building up to it, was fantastic.  Everyone from the physios and massage therapists, to media staff and the Chef de Mission were fully behind me. Without their support and belief, through the highs and lows, achieving the results I did would have been so much harder.  In particular, the support from Welsh Weightlifting has been amazing."

Melissa Hyndman

"I have been in this beautiful country now for two years (Melissa is originally from New Zealand) and  I knew it was going to be a big change for me and my very big family (seven children in total but only five children are here with my very supportive hubby and I). 

"This country is very similar to my NZ, in so many ways in terms of family, sport and culture. All three are very instrumental to Welsh people and also to Kiwi’s. Maybe that's the connection that attracts so many international coaches, from not just netball but also rugby, to Wales. 

"I consider myself 100% adoptive Welsh. In fact back home I’m known as a ‘Westie’ - as I live in West Auckland - so it seems politically correct to call myself a ‘Welshy’ now.

"Since I have been in Cardiff, I have meet the most amazing people with so much pride and passion for this country. It is something that overwhelms me and keeps me so focused on what I have to do while I’m here as the National Netball Coach because I have that pride and passion running through my veins. I am so excited about the talent in this country and what we are going to do to develop and nurture it. It’s a privilege to be a part of it at this integral stage.

"Wales is a high achieving sporting nation and netball is one sport that is climbing fast on the international ladder. This sport has some inspiring women at the helm who embody all that is good for Welsh sport.  These will be successful role models for our young up and coming sporting future."

Find out more about our great sporting nation and test your Welsh sporting knowledge with wales.com's interactive quiz.

Soda-Free Sunday

Last Thursday, I received a message from a gentleman named Dorsol Plants about a public health campaign here in King County called Soda Free Sunday.  They're asking people to visit www.sodafreesundays.com and make a pledge to go soda-free for one day per week. 

Drinking sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs), including soda, is one of the worst things you can do for your health.  SSB consumption is probably one of the major contributors to the modern epidemics of obesity and metabolic dysfunction.

I imagine that most WHS readers don't drink SSBs very often if at all, but I'm sure some do.  Whether you want to try drinking fewer SSBs, or just re-affirm an ongoing commitment to avoid them, I encourage you to visit www.sodafreesundays.com and make the pledge.  You can do so even if you're not a resident of King county.

True or Not? Death By Deletion, Adventist Health System IT Whistleblower Patricia Moleski Speaks Out

Not sure what to make of this yet:

Whistleblower Patricia Moleski speaks out about health IT abuses - play at http://workmancompensationlawyers.net/12/23/death-by-deletion-adventist-health-system-it-whistleblower-patricia-moleski-speaks-out/

A former hospital IT worker claims very deliberate mass spoliation (e.g., deletion) of electronic medical record evidence to limit her (ex)-employer's liability for EHR-related medical malpractice on patients and injured workers who were entitled to workers compensation, as well as EHR defects.

She alleges that IT personnel are used as naïve accomplices to perform the spoliation acts. She grew suspicious when she was asked to delete nursing information about a patient who committed suicide by jumping out a hospital window after an EHR-related drug overdose.

The video is over an hour long and is worth listening to.

She made these claims to the FBI and alleged to have suffered retaliation including firing, and possible terroristic activities directed against her.

A Feb. 2010 letter to Gov. Crist, Sen. Grassley and many other government officials, a 9th Judicial Circuit court document for Orange County, FL (PDF), and other details - some scary - can be found via a google search on this person's name: https://www.google.com/search?q=Patricia%20Moleski .

A Feb. 2010 letter to Sen. Grassley, former Fla. Governor Crist, various other senators, news media, etc. alleging serious, systematic, purposeful HIT evidence tampering and erasure. Click to bring up full letter.

This could be the "Libby Zion" (or Bernard Madoff?) case of the health IT world if these allegations are true.

-- SS

Local Food Policy Brief Available for Download!

The fourth and final policy brief pertaining to the Buffalo Food System is available for download.  This brief includes the current city, county and state regulations that impact the food system and opportunities for healthy eating.  Please review it above or download it here!

Health IT Culture: Severe Overconfidence (Arrogance?) Shows In The Industry's Very Terminology For Their Deliverables

Health IT commentator Neil Versel notes in his piece "HIMSS12 notes" at his site Meaningful Health IT News that:

I am in 100 percent agreement with something Dr. Wendy Sue Swanson, a.k.a. Seattle Mama Doc, said during an engaging presentation Monday at the HIMSS/CHIME CIO Forum. She made the astute observation that there needs to be better distinction between expertise and merely experience when it comes to celebrities being held up as “experts” in healthcare and medicine. Let’s just say that Swanson, as a pediatrician, is no fan of some of the things Jenny McCarthy and Dr. Mehmet Oz have told wide audiences.

He posted a link to his piece in a social networking site we both visit. I commented:

To that, I add "healthcare IT" where it seems anyone who's done anything with a computer in some medical setting can get away with calling themselves a "medical informatics expert" or "health IT expert." As in ham radio levels of just a few years ago, we need distinctions between novice class, technician class, general class, advanced class, and extra class.

In his piece Neil also linked to what he correctly termed "scathing critique" of the venue for HIMSS 2012 at my HC Renewal post "HIMSS Annual Meeting in Las Vegas - Fitting for People Who Gamble With People's Lives to Make a Buck?"

I replied to him via the social networking site that:

"I like to point out ironies that seem to escape others, although I have heard from other colleagues that I was not alone in finding Las Vegas a somewhat peculiar place for a medical meeting about improving health! However, others' mileage may vary."

Neil noted that he likes pointing out ironies, too, and gave as an example as the meetings held at the Loews Hotel near Vanderbilt University Medical Center, being that Loews Hotels is a corporate cousin of Lorrilard Tobacco.

Finally, Neil comments:

Popular topics this year were the expected meaningful use and ICD-10, plus the buzzwords of the moment, business analytics and big data. I’d be happy I never hear the word “solution” as a synonym for “product” or “service” again. To me, that represents lazy marketing. Get yourself a thesaurus.

I agreed, and replied that:

"Solution", the common term in IT for anything an IT department or company provides, is a one-word example of a language usage akin to 'begging the question.'

This term, in one mere word, reflects a stunning arrogance within the IT culture.

I also noted that:

... there needs to be terminological consistency. If the IT vendors can call their wares "solutions", then doctors should call their treatments and drugs "cures." Come to my office for your cure; I am a curer; I write cures, not prescriptions.

I also noted that the term "meaningful use" phrase selected by the U.S. government/HHS for EHR adoption according to printed guidelines is another example of terminology that, ante hoc, assumes its semantics are correct.

How do we know the use is "meaningful" until such use is studied rigorously and outcomes, costs. etc. assessed?

Answer: we don't.

And this administration criticized the previous one for politicizing science ... George Orwell could not have selected better terms than "meaningful use", "certified EHR", and "solution" as examples of "Newspeak" in 1984.

-- SS

Today was a a ____ day to be a professor

At the end of every day, I make a statement like, "Today was a good day to be a professor", or, "Today was a bad day to be a professor". (And some days are partly cloudy.)

It's interesting to reflect upon which activities bring me the most joy, and which are the most frustrating. So, let's see:

Favorite thing: Meeting with my RAs. They are just good kids. They are sweet, fun, and brilliant. I love sitting around and bouncing ideas around with them and solving problems together. They impress the heck out of me with all they've accomplished thus far.

Least favorite thing: Drama and politics. Every sphere of this job involves some of each. For drama, I process it on a case by case basis, and try to be as fair and understanding as I can.

For politics, I am usually completely clueless. Sometimes I'll talk to someone, and hours later realize there were hidden subtexts beyond my ability to comprehend and quickly respond to in the moment. I'm not sure if I'm poorly socialized, aloof, or both, but frankly a lot of the politics surrounding this job positively baffle me.

Unfortunately being successful as a professor seems to require political savviness, in a way very different than in industry. I felt like in industry the rules were clearer; perhaps because everyone was working toward the same goal (e.g., please the customer). Academia is more like a collection of small empires. We all have shared goals of Furthering Education and Advancing Knowledge, but go about them in very different ways. We have frequent encounters with other Dukes, where we must broadcast our land's contribution to the Kingdom at every turn.

Post the PhD level, anyone with motivation and drive can learn to prep and teach a class, acquire external funding, effectively manage a research group, and publish lots of papers in good places. Political savviness, however, is another beast entirely.

Live Blogging from the Paleo Summit III: Leptin Man!

Link:  Dr. Jack Kruse ... Neuuurosurgeon!
Title:  Leptin Circadian Cycles

Ratings:

☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼  Entertainment Value

☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼  Content

☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼  Informational Accuracy

☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼  Overall

Summary:

Everything you'd expect in thirty minutes with Dr. Jack Kruse, or Leptin Man as we call him in these parts.  Ah what the heck, it's my blog.  Can we put up that slide Jeeves?   Thanks.  OK.  What you won't get is what's billed.  Leptin circadian cycles account for a couple minutes at most of the talk, and although Croxton promises us that Jack "shares how he lost 133 pounds in a single year by correcting the 'biological mismatches' that were once prevalent in his life" there's nothing about the Leptin Reset that comes out of Jack's mouth in this talk.   Aside from using the words like evolutionary a few times, and exclaiming that paleo fixes all (no grains, limited dairy), this wasn't really a paleo "talk".  The only unifying theme was that there was no unifying theme.  Oh ... and leptin!

Read more »

World Class Welsh Sport: Laura McAllister's View

As we pin on the daffodils and celebrate all things Welsh this week, culminating in the St David's Day celebrations on Thursday (1 March), we spoke to some of Wales' most respected voices in Welsh sport and policy to find out why they think Wales is such a great sporting nation.

In this first installment we hear from Wales' top sporting administrator, Chair of Sport Wales, Professor Laura McAllister.

“Sport matters to us in Wales it’s a part of our national identity. When our elite athletes and national teams do well at the weekend we’re all talking about it the following week and the feel-good factor is noticeable.

“We have a world class rugby team who were the talk of the Rugby World Cup and now the current Six Nations campaign. We expect great things of our talented young national football side under the stewardship of new manager Chris Coleman. Cardiff City also did extremely well to reach the final of the Carling Cup to fly the flag for Welsh football. And Swansea City have looked every bit a Premiership team in their debut season in the top flight.

“We should also of course celebrate our world champions in Dai Greene, Nathan Stephens, Chaz Davies, Helen Jenkins and Nathan Cleverly. Other world class athletes who are owning the podium at major events include Jade Jones, Mark Colbourne, Hannah Mills and Steven Thomas. With London 2012 racing ever nearer Wales can proudly lay claim to several Olympic champions in Nicole Cooke, Tom James and Geraint Thomas. We also claimed 25% of GB’s Paralympic medal success in Beijing thanks to the likes of David Roberts, Simon Richardson and Liz Johnson.

“In all, Welsh athletes have brought home in excess of 1,000 medals at significant Games since the turn of the new millennium. We should be immensely proud of those successes and of the people behind our athletes’ success; our sports science and medicine teams, coaches, governing body and administrative staff. We have great people in Wales, with a winning mentality, that are driving us towards being a nation of champions. That’s true across the board; from the elite to the grassroots levels of sport.

“Our communities are full of motivators, often unpaid volunteers, whose sheer passion for sport is helping children to get hooked on sport for life and giving them positive first experiences that should give them a lifetime of enjoyment in sport. Our ambition is to double our current number of volunteers, to galvanise 10% of the population to pitch in to help their local club.

“The future for sport in Wales looks very bright indeed and we will continue to work hard to make sure that we have even more reasons to celebrate Welsh sport next St David’s Day and beyond.”

Find out more about our great sporting nation and test your Welsh sporting knowledge with wales.com's interactive quiz.

Live Blogging from the Paleo Summit II: Diane Sanfilippo

Link:  Diane Sanfilippo

Rating:  ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼

Summary & Recommendation:  This is a short and sweet review/summary of Diane Sanfilippo's presentation.  I wanted to get this out there because it's not something I would recommend buying the Summit videos etc. for, but I think for most of my readers, even the anti-paleo types, there's probably something helpful in there.  What you won't find is a lot of information on what a paleo diet is (indeed just about any diet could be paleo it seems at one point), the foods to eat, fasting, a litany about PUFA, MUFA and whatnot.  But whether it be how to deal with eating out, responding to criticism or questions from friends and family, etc., there's probably something worth at least being reminded of.   I didn't learn much, but only because I've been there, done that, live it -- and I've been over that part of doing my own thing with diet and lifestyle for quite some time.   It's only 40 minutes long, and as of my posting it will be available free for only another 5 and 1//2 hours (till midnight 2/26 PST).  Diane sounds like a  true paleo -- no dairy, grains, veggie oils, and such -- but her discussions and warnings about stressing over your dietary purity (orthorexia if you want to put a term to it) show flexibility.  I especially liked her realism as to the time it may take to see results (despite "7 days to" subtitles on books) and that if you stop seeing them or don't realize what you expect that there are still other ways to eat out there.  So if you have the time, go listen!

Three Facets of One Hospital: Coddling the Rich, Hounding the Poor, and Crooked Executives

Juxtaposing three news stories from the past few months raises disturbing questions about the priorities of the leaders of one of the US' more prestigious hospitals.

"Chefs, Butlers, Marble Baths: Hospitals Vie for the Affluent"

 This 21 January, 2012 article from the New York Times focused on the ritzy comforts now provided for wealthy (but perhaps not very sick) patients at the renowned New York Presbyterian/ Weill Cornell Hospital.  It opened,

The feverish patient had spent hours in a crowded emergency room. When she opened her eyes in her Manhattan hospital room last winter, she recalled later, she wondered if she could be hallucinating: 'This is like the Four Seasons — where am I?'

The bed linens were by Frette, Italian purveyors of high-thread-count sheets to popes and princes. The bathroom gleamed with polished marble. Huge windows displayed panoramic East River views. And in the hush of her $2,400 suite, a man in a black vest and tie proffered an elaborate menu and told her, 'I’ll be your butler.'

It was Greenberg 14 South, the elite wing on the new penthouse floor of NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell hospital. Pampering and décor to rival a grand hotel, if not a Downton Abbey, have long been the hallmark of such 'amenities units,' often hidden behind closed doors at New York’s premier hospitals. But the phenomenon is escalating here and around the country, health care design specialists say, part of an international competition for wealthy patients willing to pay extra, even as the federal government cuts back hospital reimbursement in pursuit of a more universal and affordable American medical system.

Additional amenities include:

A waterfall, a grand piano and the image of a giant orchid grace the soaring ninth floor atrium....

Also,

the visitors’ lounge seems to hang over the East River in a glass prow and Ciao Bella gelato is available on demand....

An architect who specializes in designing such luxury facilities for hospitals noted:

'These kinds of patients, they’re paying cash — they’re the best kind of patient to have,' she added. 'Theoretically, it trickles down.'

Note that the article also mentioned other hospitals which offered similar luxuries, including Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, and Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York.

On the other hand,....

Hounding the Poor for Payment While Getting Government Money for Indigent Care

On 12 February, the New York Times published an article about how New York Presbyterian/ Weill Cornell deals with patients with fewer resources than those discussed above:

For most of her life, Hope Rubel was a healthy woman with good medical insurance, an unblemished credit history and a solid career in graphic design. But on the day an ambulance rushed her to a Manhattan hospital emergency room shortly after her 48th birthday, she was jobless, uninsured and having a stroke.

Ms. Rubel’s medical problem was rare, a result of a benign tumor on her adrenal gland, but the financial consequences were not unusual. She depleted her savings to pay $17,000 for surgery to remove the tumor, and then watched, 'emotionally paralyzed,' she said, as $88,000 in additional hospital bills poured in. Eventually the hospital sued her for the money.

Yet that year the hospital, NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell, had already collected $50.2 million from the state’s so-called Indigent Care Pool to help care for people like Ms. Rubel who have no insurance and cannot pay their bills.

Note that the article also included other New York hospitals that allegedly used aggressive collection tactics on poor patients even though they too collected government money for indigent care. These included NYU Langone Medical Center and State University of New York Downstate Medical Center.

And one more...

Kickbacks for Hospital Executives

For some reason, the only media coverage of this story was not in New York, but by the Philadelphia Inquirer on 13 February, 2012.

The FBI said that ... [Michael Yaron] he received asbestos-removal and construction contracts at New York Presbyterian Hospital for two of his companies, Cambridge Environmental & Construction Corp. and Oxford Construction & Development Corp., because he paid about $2.3 million in kickbacks starting in 2000.

Neither Yaron, a resident of Meadowbrook, Montgomery County, nor his attorneys could be reached for comment yesterday. No one answered at Yaron Properties, his offices on Arch Street in Old City.

Bucks County native Moshe Buchnik, a president of two asbestos-abatement companies, was also convicted after the four-week trial. Santo Saglimbeni, a former vice president of facilities operations at the hospital, and Emilio 'Tony' Figueroa, a former director of facilities operations at the hospital, were also convicted. The FBI said the two former hospital employees steered contracts to Yaron and Buchnik in exchange for the kickbacks.

The Inquirer apparently covered the story because Yaron lives in Philadelphia. Thus it treated the convictions of a former vice president and former director of facilities operations at New York Presbyterian/ Weill Cornell Hospital as afterthoughts.

Summary

Thus, in the last six weeks, we have been treated to stories that showed how New York Presbyterian/ Weill Cornell Hospital has devoted substantial resources to create luxury suites for rich patients, presumably because they may pay cash; while simultaneously hounding poor patients who could not pay their large medical bills, even though the hospital was receiving government funds for indigent care; and until recently was employing some executives now shown to have abused their authority.

The themes of the three individual stories should be familiar.

The first story was a reminder that the very rich are different from you and me in how they interact with the health care system. In many ways, the rich and powerful - some might call them the one percent - are personally protected from various aspects of health care dysfunction. For example, here we have discussed how wealthy executives seem to be able to obtain health insurance with benefits unheard of by the more common folk, and here we discussed how the wealthy and influential may get preferential hospital treatment. Thus, even one percenters who are not otherwise involved in health care may not be inclined to lend their support to any efforts to really reform the system.

Aggressive bill collection practices by hospitals which are supposed to serve the poor are also old news. We first discussed such practices occurring in New York City in 2004 - yes, this blog is that old. We also discussed such practices in Baltimore in 2008. Such practices are an example of mission-hostile management.

Finally, we have commented many times about misbehavior by health care executives, and discussed examples of fraud, kickbacks, and health care corruption. It has been unusual, however, for individual executives to actually suffer negative consequences when they induce systemic misbehavior in their organizations. Instead, the results are often legal settlements that only lead to financial penalties on the organizations that are no more than costs of doing business.

However, the juxtaposition of stories that a hospital has been coddling the rich, and simultaneously hounding the poor while it was lead by at least a few criminal executives is unusual. One would think that they should lead to an in-depth look at the leadership and governance of the institution in question, perhaps even to some reform of same. (By the way, one area of interest to such an investigation should be the presence of several former and current leaders of some of the failed financial firms that lead us into the global financial crisis or great recession on the board of that hospital, as we discussed here and here.)

However, so far I seem to be only one to note the inter-relationships of these stories, and their implications, while obvious, therefore remain anechoic.

So I get to repeat.... Health care organizations need leadership that understands, and knowledgeably upholds the organizations' missions and patients and the public's health. The leaders should be subject to incentives that align with these responsibilities, and should not be given opportunities to personally profit from activities hostile to the mission.

Proposed new Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights: Is It Too Late For Healthcare?

From the White House:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/02/23/fact-sheet-plan-protect-privacy-internet-age-adopting-consumer-privacy-b

The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
February 23, 2012

Plan to Protect Privacy in the Internet Age by Adopting a Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights

CONSUMER PRIVACY BILL OF RIGHTS

The Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights applies to personal data, which means any data, including aggregations of data, that is linkable to a specific individual. Personal data may include data that is linked to a specific computer or other device. The Administration supports Federal legislation that adopts the principles of the Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights. Even without legislation, the Administration will convene multi-stakeholder processes that use these rights as a template for codes of conduct that are enforceable by the Federal Trade Commission. These elements—the Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights, codes of conduct, and strong enforcement—will increase interoperability between the U.S. consumer data privacy framework and those of our international partners.

1. INDIVIDUAL CONTROL: Consumers have a right to exercise control over what personal data companies collect from them and how they use it. Companies should provide consumers appropriate control over the personal data that consumers share with others and over how companies collect, use, or disclose personal data. Companies should enable these choices by providing consumers with easily used and accessible mechanisms that reflect the scale, scope, and sensitivity of the personal data that they collect, use, or disclose, as well as the sensitivity of the uses they make of personal data. Companies should offer consumers clear and simple choices, presented at times and in ways that enable consumers to make meaningful decisions about personal data collection, use, and disclosure. Companies should offer consumers means to withdraw or limit consent that are as accessible and easily used as the methods for granting consent in the first place.
2. TRANSPARENCY: Consumers have a right to easily understandable and accessible information about privacy and security practices. At times and in places that are most useful to enabling consumers to gain a meaningful understanding of privacy risks and the ability to exercise Individual Control, companies should provide clear descriptions of what personal data they collect, why they need the data, how they will use it, when they will delete the data or de-identify it from consumers, and whether and for what purposes they may share personal data with third parties.
3. RESPECT FOR CONTEXT: Consumers have a right to expect that companies will collect, use, and disclose personal data in ways that are consistent with the context in which consumers provide the data. Companies should limit their use and disclosure of personal data to those purposes that are consistent with both the relationship that they have with consumers and the context in which consumers originally disclosed the data, unless required by law to do otherwise. If companies will use or disclose personal data for other purposes, they should provide heightened Transparency and Individual Control by disclosing these other purposes in a manner that is prominent and easily actionable by consumers at the time of data collection. If, subsequent to collection, companies decide to use or disclose personal data for purposes that are inconsistent with the context in which the data was disclosed, they must provide heightened measures of Transparency and Individual Choice. Finally, the age and familiarity with technology of consumers who engage with a company are important elements of context. Companies should fulfill the obligations under this principle in ways that are appropriate for the age and sophistication of consumers. In particular, the principles in the Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights may require greater protections for personal data obtained from children and teenagers than for adults.
4. SECURITY: Consumers have a right to secure and responsible handling of personal data. Companies should assess the privacy and security risks associated with their personal data practices and maintain reasonable safeguards to control risks such as loss; unauthorized access, use, destruction, or modification; and improper disclosure.
5. ACCESS AND ACCURACY: Consumers have a right to access and correct personal data in usable formats, in a manner that is appropriate to the sensitivity of the data and the risk of adverse consequences to consumers if the data is inaccurate. Companies should use reasonable measures to ensure they maintain accurate personal data. Companies also should provide consumers with reasonable access to personal data that they collect or maintain about them, as well as the appropriate means and opportunity to correct inaccurate data or request its deletion or use limitation. Companies that handle personal data should construe this principle in a manner consistent with freedom of expression and freedom of the press. In determining what measures they may use to maintain accuracy and to provide access, correction, deletion, or suppression capabilities to consumers, companies may also consider the scale, scope, and sensitivity of the personal data that they collect or maintain and the likelihood that its use may expose consumers to financial, physical, or other material harm.
6. FOCUSED COLLECTION: Consumers have a right to reasonable limits on the personal data that companies collect and retain. Companies should collect only as much personal data as they need to accomplish purposes specified under the Respect for Context principle. Companies should securely dispose of or de-identify personal data once they no longer need it, unless they are under a legal obligation to do otherwise.
7. ACCOUNTABILITY: Consumers have a right to have personal data handled by companies with appropriate measures in place to assure they adhere to the Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights. Companies should be accountable to enforcement authorities and consumers for adhering to these principles. Companies also should hold employees responsible for adhering to these principles. To achieve this end, companies should train their employees as appropriate to handle personal data consistently with these principles and regularly evaluate their performance in this regard. Where appropriate, companies should conduct full audits. Companies that disclose personal data to third parties should at a minimum ensure that the recipients are under enforceable contractual obligations to adhere to these principles, unless they are required by law to do otherwise.

For an example of some of the major problems with healthcare data, see my Oct. 2009 post "Health IT Vendors Trafficking in Patient Data?"

I like the proposals.

The question is, regarding electronic health data: are these Federal proposals too little, too late?

Complex systems such as massive computer networks (with myriad stakeholders seeking to 'game' the system, skirt the boundaries of the law, and make handsome profits) can become uncontrollable.

-- SS

Paleo Summit ~ FYI if you're gonna buy ~ Please read

Folks if you go to the affiliates link for the Paleo Summit you'll learn some information on how folks will be compensated:  http://paleosummit.com/affiliateinfo/

The cost for this summit is not cheap, but if you purchase the "upgrade" for $67 during the summit, $99 afterwards.  If you click through a favorite presenter's link to purchase, they will receive 70% of the cost.  Clicking through from any other link will net the affiliate 50% of the total which is still a sizeable amount.

They are assuring the "first contact" is credited with the sale through cookies, so if you happen to click through from X's site, and later decide to purchase because another presenter moved you, they won't be getting the compensation.  I think allowing the purchaser to direct their affiliate $'s to certain presenters or conduits would be better, but who am I ...  In any case, if you intend to purchase this summit, send a message by clicking through from a solid presenter.  Clear all your cookies and such from your browser and do a clean click through.  If you need to re-register, everyone has a second email addy!

There has been a lot of buzz around about speakers at such events and such and it will send a message (or should) when hopefully people will reward excellence and substance with their "voting" dollar.  You may not even realize you've clicked through an affiliate link sometimes. Jimmy's even got his own URL that redirects  to paleosummit.com.

Live Blogging from the Paleo Summit I: Mark Sisson

Link:  Mark Sisson

Ratings:

☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼  Entertainment Value

☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼  Content

☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼  Informational Accuracy

☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼  Overall

Summary:

It is fair to say that of all the paleo/LC folks with whom I have disagreements with on the substance of their message, Mark Sisson is probably the most enjoyable personality to listen to.  If you know nothing about paleo/primal, this is a good overview of the basics.  If you're familiar with Primal Blueprint at all, there's nothing new here.  The interview is more notable for what it is missing -- any major emphasis on excessive carbohydrate consumption (no carbohydrate curve), minimal mentions of insulin and no mention of fat being locked away.  Not too many overt factual errors or misrepresentations of the science.  Most of all this interview and other recent ones demonstrate Mark's ability to adjust his marketing pitch to the tune of what's going on out there.   His transition has been so smooth as to be almost unnoticeable.  The hot thing these days is the "fat burning metabolism", and Mark's a master at capitalizing on that.

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Fat Tissue Expansion: Part III ~ Fat Cell Number

Before reading you may wish to read:  Part I ~ Terminology , Part II ~ Overview of How it Can Happen

As mentioned in Part II, fat tissue expands by an increase (proliferation) of fat cells and/or a growth of the individual fat cells.  This installment concerns the number of fat cells and is likely the least "actionable" in this series in terms of diet, unless you're planning to have a child and/or have young children.   This does, however, lend some assistance to those formerly obese who are considering liposuction or more drastic surgery that may involve fat cell removal.  Bottom line, the number of fat cells we have is virtually completely out of our control as adults (according to current understanding). 

So this post will be rather short, and I plan to expand on the data we have regarding fat tissue development in infancy, puberty and other periods of childhood in subsequent installments.  It would appear that the number of fat cells we are born with is determined somewhat later in gestation.  At right is the progression of the formation of mature adipocytes.    From this article: 

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