Mon May 05 22:01:00 Cozumel Day 1:

We arrived in Cozumel at around 2:30 p.m. We had a nice flight and were the 3rd ones out since we were in the row immediately behind first class. We decided to rent a car for the first two days and then go without the next few days.

After renting the car we ate at Otates Mexican restaurant (a local place that was recommended to us by the people at TripAdvisor). We checked into Vista del Mar Boutique Hotel right across the street from the big piers in the center of the city. It’s a little noisy with all the cruise ship people coming and going, but we like walking around downtown at night.

We then went on an exploration car drive around half the island’s coast. We stopped at Punta del Sur as well as Mezcalitos. Before that we stopped off at the Cinco de Mayo celebration happening at La Ceiba off the beaten path. They were in the midst of horseracing and we got to see some of that. Louise wanted to ride the mechanical bull, but eventually thought better of it. There was a refresco stand with huge jars of colorful liquids containing fresh fruit juice (and I’m sure we’ll be visited by Montezuma’s revenge later this week), but as I was saying; Louise got some Pina colada drink while Joe got some orange juice drink. The festivities were fun to be around.

At night we watched the sunset while walking along the street where our hotel is located. We had a nice snack at Casa Dennis (wonderful place I hear) where we shared a plate of quesadillas with Guacamole and a flan postre.

Now we are dog tired having (Louise) stayed up most last night.

Dollars spent today: $90 for two days of car rentals (paid cash of course to avoid those inconvenient government taxes—evidence of a thriving black market in socialist Mexico). $15 for large lunch at Otates $10 for Dinner at Casa Dennis $ 3 for Juices tip and misc.

Tommorrow we swim in crystal clear waters.

(2) Mon Apr 28 12:33:50 End of 2nd Year:

I have finished my 2nd year of medical school today. Now, on to the USMLE and then off to Graduate school.

Mon Apr 14 13:21:56 Strange Bedfellows:

Hillary Clinton said this:

"The people of faith I know don't 'cling' to religion because they're bitter. People embrace faith not because they are materially poor, but because they are spiritually rich."

Now, I'm not necessarilly a Clinton fanatic, but I think Clinton is right on this one. Those people in Pennsylvania aren't going to go for Obama ridiculing their religion and belief in the 2nd amendment.

There are so many people who are so anti-Hillary that they are willing to accept just about any conspiracy theory that pops up; among which is the idea that Clinton is some atheist secularist. Even though she favors secular ideas when it comes to, say, partial birth abortion, I think it's a mistake to peg Hillary as someone who isn't religious (which she obviously is for anybody who has looked into her life).

See: http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D900PO700&show_article=1

Thu Apr 03 10:59:35 News and Political Hysterictomies:

Some of you have heard news targeting a cholesterol drug Vytorin. I became interested in it because of the unusual coverage I saw of it on NBC news who did two days of coverage on their nightly news broadcast. From the news you get the impression that the drugs are ineffective and perhaps may even be dangerous. The news notes that:

1) Vytorin made billions of dollars of sales last year

2) Vytorin has no effect (they don’t really elaborate what effects were being tested)

3) It doesn’t appear ‘right now’ that the drug is dangerous

4) Ask your doctor.

Having read the study and asking my Pharmacology professor about it as well, I get a totally different impression. There are some things the anti-pharmaceutical news media aren’t telling people.

1) The patient population being tested were heterozygous (had one parent) who had a gene for Familial Hypercholesterolemia which makes up about 0.2% of the population in it's full homozygous form.

2) People who have two parents who had the gene, and who were unlucky enough to inherit the bad gene from both parents usually die young from heart attacks and have cholesterol buildup so bad that they start getting cholesterol blisters on their skin. These patients are extremely difficult to treat, and even heterozygotes have marked resistance to drug treatment.

3) Vytorin did in fact have some very beneficial effects in lowering fats in blood (triglycerides) by 6.6%, as well as inflammatory proteins associated with atherosclerosis (C-Reactive protein) by 25.7% EVEN in this high risk population (heterozygotes who make up about 1% of the population). The drug didn’t have the hoped-for effect of decreasing the size of Atherosclerotic plaques. (BTW, NO drugs have been shown to do this, i.e. reduce the size of plaques EVEN in the general population).

4) The alternatives to Ezetimibe (one component of Vytorin) are much more dangerous resin drugs that can interact with all kinds of other drugs (anti-clotting drugs, Contraceptives or HRT, antidepressants, etc).

I hope this helps clear up the confusion that this hullabaloo has cause people who are or need to take cholesterol drugs. Statins are very helpful for cholesterol, and ACE inhibitors are also extremely beneficial in hypertension. As always, people should ask their doctors about these treatments, but they should be wary of government bureaucrats who politicize research to further their careers or News Media outlets who jazz up stories for whatever reason.