Time to send troops?

Generation B – Time, It Turns Out, Isn’t on Their Side – NYTimes.com

I’m looking forward to seeing how the city has changed since my last visit.

Who’s creating US jobs? Mexicans. / The Christian Science Monitor – CSMonitor.com

“In fiscal year 2008, the US issued E-1 and E-2 visas to 1901 Mexicans and their families, nearly three times the level of a decade before. “

Where are all of these Mexican immigrant investors going? San Antonio!

The Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. Chapter 11 Proceedings Examiner’s Report can accessed through the link above.

While not exactly insurance or underwriting related I’m posting a link as a public service for readers who may be interested in downloading and reading some, or all, of this report.

How does someone figure out they are a “poor metabolizer”?

Read the FDA communication if you’re seriously interested in the answer to this question.

FDA Drug Safety Communication: Reduced effectiveness of Plavix (clopidogrel) in patients who are poor metabolizers of the drug

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has added a Boxed Warning to the label for Plavix, the anti-blood clotting medication. The Boxed Warning is about patients who do not effectively metabolize the drug (i.e. “poor metabolizers”) and therefore may not receive the full benefits of the drug.

I haven’t been posting any Scary Charts recently because there are too many of them.

Then I came across this article in the NYT.

Healthy tau helps strengthen the neurons in the brain, like steel reinforcements in a concrete bridge. Repetitive trauma can lead to a change in tau, making it clump like tangles of yarn. The more tangles, the more the communication between cells is hampered. Functions such as memory and anger control can disappear; dementia and death can follow.

CTE is a unique pathological condition, according to Stern. The postmortem diagnosis of Alzheimer’s requires the presence of deformed tau and another protein, beta amyloid. The diagnosis of CTE requires only the presence of deformed tau.

From April 2005 to October 2008, FDA received 78 reports of altered kidney function in patients treated with Byetta. Some of the patients had pre-existing kidney disease and other risk factors for developing kidney problems. Acute renal failure occurred in 62 patients and renal insufficiency in 16 patients.