| Consumer Reports Reviews TV Advertised Drugs
(CBS4) BOSTON The pharmaceutical industry spends billions of dollars a year advertising drugs directly to people like you, but as you're about to see, you need to beware. Consumer Reports says the most highly promoted drugs aren't necessarily your best choice.TV Commercial: You'd have to have been in a deep sleep to.Have you missed commercials with the Lunesta butterfly?TV Commerical: "Lunesta helps you fall asleep quickly."Lunesta is the most heavily advertised prescription drug, but plenty of others get air time, like the acid reflux drug Nexium.TV Commercial: "Want to just feel better? I am better."And the asthma medication AdvairTV Commercial: "Advair is the one controller that treats the two main causes of asthma symptoms."Those ad campaigns are reaching their target audience, says Dr.
5 new ministers, but many miffed
BANGALORE: Heartburn and discontent in the BJP marked the long-postponed cabinet expansion on Thursday even as letdown aspirants in JD(S) pinned their hopes of getting a chance in the power shift later this year.
Three vacancies in the JD(S) and two in BJP were filled with all berths going to the major communities — Lingayats and Vokkaligas. Those who got in are H S Mahadeva Prasad, Alangur Srinivas and G T Deve Gowda (JDS) and Sogadu Shivanna and Appasaheb (Appu) Pattanashetty from the BJP.
Governor T N Chaturvedi administered the oath of office and secrecy to the newly inducted members, all cabinet rank, in Raj Bhavan. Portfolios of the new ministers and likely changes in some of the old ones are expected to be announced over the weekend.
Chief minister H D Kumaraswamy managed to quell any uprising in the JD(S) as names of the new ministers were doing the rounds since the last expansion on June 22, 2006.
Meet 2007's closers and closers in waiting
For the most part in fantasy baseball, when we talk about relief pitchers we're referring to closers. If you're in an 8-12 team league, closers usually comprise most of your relief pitching because they are the only ones who can get you saves on a regular basis. But in some leagues, middle relief guys can add some value, especially in head-to-head leagues where holds is a category or in Rotisserie leagues. Another way to add value to your pitching staff is to utilize relievers, often middle relievers, to maximize your ratios (ERA and WHIP), while adding solid strikeout numbers, not to mention adding the odd win. In some situations like the Twins, Yankees, Mets and Angels, the pitcher currently closing is pretty much locked into that position. Barring a catastrophicinjury or a Derrick Turnbow-like implosion, the setup man in "waiting" carries very little value.
My Turn: This drug leaves some bad heartburn
Come on, any drug is going to have side effects. The question is do really need it? Forty million Americans suffer from frequent heartburn, which makes the manufacturer Prilosec $6 billion a year. An estimate of only 1 in 100 who are on Prilosec need to be on it.
So what are the side effects in addition to broken bones? Depletions of calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, zinc, potassium. Depletions of these minerals are involved in everything from heart beat to immune system. The listed side effects of Prilosec from Web MD are: abnormal heart rhythm, high blood pressure, incomplete or infrequent bowel movements, itching, drowsiness, dizzy, rash, head pain, thrush, chest pain, feel like throwing up, throwing up, heartburn, gas, diarrhea, feeling weak, acute infection of the nose, throat or sinus, hepatitis caused by drugs, urinary tract infection, bloody urine, elevation of proteins in the urine, abnormal liver function tests, low amount of sodium in the blood, acquired decrease of all cells in the blood, anemia, decreased blood platelets, decreased type of white blood cell eosinophils, backache, cough and there are others.
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