Hmmm. I'm all in favor good health, but it always perterbs me a bit when the government steps in.  I hope that universal health care coverage does occur, as I'm tired of big insurance getting big profits, and the docs & nurses who provide the care and expertise getting les & less each year. We're not business people, most of us never will be, and we're being taken advantage of.

But there's a new bit of legislation in the works to shift discussion to prevention of illness in the workplace, as the workplace can't seem to afford health insurance. The bill, the Healthy Workforce Act at http://www.healthpromotionjournal.com/publications/journal/en2007-07.htm, is a 50% tax credit  of the cost of a qualified employer health promotion program, up to $200/employee for the first 200 employees and $100/employee for remaining employees for ten years.

The Secretary of Health and Human Services, in conjunction with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), will certify which programs qualify, but all programs must have the following specific features: 1) Include at least three of the following four components: health awareness, behavior change, employee engagement, and supportive environments. 2) Use practices that are consistent with evidence-based research and best-practices strategies. 3) Focus on employee populations with disproportionate health burdens, be culturally competent, and meet employees’ health literacy needs. 4) Offer all programs to all employees who work at least 25 hours per week.

They say that enhanced productivity and attendance at work will cause this tax break to be income neutral to the feds, and it will cost 50 cents per dollar spent to your employer.  So is this going to be a good deal for all of us? Or an effort to justify lack of health nsurance due to company investment in a health program?  Let me know what you think.

We have an obesity epidemic in America, but we also pride ourselves on our fredom of choice. So for you freedom lovers a recent gift from Burger King is the BK Stacker.

I've not seen nor eaten one of these, and have seen no data on how many Burger King is selling. In fact, I can but wonder if it only serves as a publicity stunt, like the 72 oz  (that's 4 1/2 pounds!)steak you can get for free at the Big Texan in Amarillo Texas if you eat it all within an hour http://www.roadsideamerica.com/attract/TXAMAsteak.html.

The four pattie choice on the Stacker (you can get from one to four patties on your Stacker) comes with 8 (yes, thats EIGHT) slices on bacon. It features 1000 calories, 620 of them from FAT! There's 30 grams of saturated fat and 1800 mg of sodium here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BK_Stacker

But the question remains-- real menu choice or publicity ploy? The official Burger King site www.bk.com  only offers nutritional information on the double. And prominantly on the index page, they proclaim: "Hey parents! To learn more about our commitment to promote well-balanced meals and active lifestyles in children, click here." This click takes you to a press release, insisting that their child directed ads will promote health. http://www.bk.com/companyinfo/newsreleases.aspx

So is this a Barnumesque pubilicity stunt,  or a pandering to the masses (who are becoming ever more massive?)? Is it resonsible and responsive restauranteering to give us what we shouldn't have? You decide.

You probably don't know how doctors choose their speciality. Sometimes it's because of contact early in life with a physician role model, sometimes due to a disease ravaging a loved one. For many of us in medicine, our speciality is chosen based on what we find fascinating, and avoiding those things that are distasteful.

We're talking body discharges. I determined early on that I don't like toe jam and scaly long toenails (so Podiatry is out), have no interest in 'wee' (so no Urology), hated the ladies who came to the ED at 0300 for their vaginal discharges (no Gyn  on my list), and am grossed out entirely by phlegm (Pumonary docs love it!) Obviously I have no issues with poo or vomit; and no, I'm ok with your thought that this in itself is pathologic.

However, I really believed that the ENT specialists were out of the great body fluid debate, at east until I saw this site detailing the joys and sorrows of ear wax http://www.tchain.com/otoneurology/disorders/hearing/wax2.html. If you're like me, the service the photo will provide is to quell your appetite for a bit today-- and snuff any notions of wanting to be an Otolaryngologist when you grow up!

So, have you asked your doc why s/he chose their profession? Very illuminating!

I'm here today to end a fallacy-- I don't golf, and neither do (most of) my med buddies. In fact, when I took golf lessons, the pro suggested that I cease wasting money on the lessons-- and not because I was a natural! (This lack of hand eye coordination does not carry over to my colonoscopy ability, thank you!)

But perhaps you love golf, as does my momma, who regularily shoots just a scosh above her age. If so, enjoy the illustrated golf tips at Kay Wall's Golf Humour Website http://www.golfhumour.com/

I don't feel that we have enough attachment to the real world as it is-- I routinely see people at an event, ignoring the real people surrounding them and chattering away to an imaginary friend on their cellphone. (There was a recent cartoon, lauding the development of the "I-Bucket"; the drawing was of people walking down a streen, their heads fully obscured from passers-by by a large wooden bucket upended over them-- kind of a cone-of-silence a la Max Smart).

Now we have technology we can bond with. Paro, a therapeutic robot that looks like a baby harp seal, is a 'Mental Committment Robot', meaning:

Mental Commitment Robots" are developed to interact with human beings and to make them feel emotional attachment to the robots. Rather than using objective measures, these robots trigger more subjective evaluations, evoking psychological impressions such as "cuteness" and comfort. Mental Commitment Robots are designed to provide 3 types of effects: psychological, such as relaxation and motivation, physiological, such as improvement in vital signs, and social effects such as instigating communication among inpatients and caregivers.

Watch the Swedish TV story http://paro.jp/english/index.html on the aging Japanese population, beautifully done although I speak neither a word of Swedish or Japanese. At about 7 minutes 45 seconds you'l meet Paro, but before that, you'll see a human dishwasher device to make washing the elderly easier-- and even less human interaction.

What is Paro? It seems to be a fuzzy animated version of those little Tamogotchi pets, that caused such distress to kids who forgot to feed and water them; with subsequent guilt upon the pets 'death' http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamagotchi:

Paro is modeled after a baby harp seal. Paro is covered with soft artificial fur to make people feel comfortable, as if they are touching a real animal. A baby harp seal spends most of the day sleeping. However, Paro has a diurnal rhythm of morning, daytime, and night. For example, Paro is active during the daytime, but gets sleepy at night. Paro has five kinds of sensors: tactile, light, audition, temperature, and posture sensors, with which it can perceive people and its environment. With the light sensor, Paro can recognize light and dark. He feels being stroked and beaten by tactile sensor, or being held by the posture sensor. Paro can also recognize the direction of voice and words such as its name, greetings, and praise with its audio sensor. Paro can learn to behave in a way that the user prefers, and to respond to its new name. For example, if you stroke it every time you touch it, Paro will remember your previous action and try to repeat that action to be stroked. If you hit it, Paro remembers its previous action and tries not to do that action. By interaction with people, Paro responds as if it is alive, moving its head and legs, making sounds, and showing your preferred behavior. Paro also imitates the voice of a real baby harp seal.
 
Paro is an autonomous robot, so it can express its feelings, such as surprise and happiness, voluntarily by blinking its eyes and moving its head and legs. This behavior can be perceived as if Paro has feelings.
 
Please take care of Paro by touching it and talking to it. Paro feels happy when you stroke and hold it softly. Paro feels angry when you hit it. When Paro's whiskers are touched, it will be very shy and cry or turn its head because it does not like to be touched. You will be happy and relieved through interacting with Paro.
 
Paro is hand-made so that each Paro has its own individual facial expression. Paro will be very happy if you take care of it for a long time.
 
Paro's artificial fur is very hygienic with an anti-bacterial, soil resistant finish, and hair-loss prevention, so that it can be cared for a long time. Paro has an electromagnetic shield, so it can be used by people with a pacemaker. Paro's reliability and durability have been improved through long-term experimentation, such as the drop test and the stroking test, during which the tactile sensor is stimulated more than 100,000 times.

Where am I on Paro? Well, I woud like our elderly not to be warehoused and forgotten. But if this technology brings such smiles and joy to the faces I witnessed, bring it on!