Friday was a free day here in Hamburg. Some students went swimming with their partners some headed up to the Baltic Sea for the weekend. A group of us met at the Rathaus for a great behind the scenes tour and a fun day in the city.The day started when Heidi and I got to meet up with a student from the last exchange. Annika and her mom treated us to a fine hour of coffee and cake while reminiscing
Quito La Ciudad Nueva
Well as all good things go ... they have to come to an end. And that is the case for us here in Ecuador. After leaving Otavalo we made our way back to Quito where we would spend the last 2 days of our trip taking in the things that we had not yet seen. We arrived to our original hotel around 500. Just in time to get settled in for the last few days and then make our way to a restaurant for d
Thoughts from Shanghai
By KatieThe coolest part of today was when we got to stand on the glass floor while up in the pearl tower however the two hour wait was ridiculous. While standing in line though two men got in a fight we made friends with a little Chinese boy and a bunch of people took our pictures. Shanghai at night is so cool because of all the lights and people itrsquos like a giant NYC PshellipDad
COLORADO
July 10 2010Actually we are not in Salida CO but the list did not include Coaldale. We overnighted last night in a Walmart parking lot in Espanola NM. Got an early start to Coaldale CO to visit with friends Karen and Lyle. They have a fantastic Earthship passive solor off the grid house with beautiful vistas to look at. Very peaceful. Probably why they named it Peaceful Pines and Pe
Voo ZurichRoma
O vo de Zurich a Roma foi tranquilo e muito rpido aproximadamente uma hora.Passamos sobre os alpes suios e consegui fotografar.Desmbarcamos no aeroporto Leonardo Da Vinci Fiumicino e logo pegamos um taxi at o hotel.O aeroporto bem longe do hotel na verdade fora da cidade uns 40 K e pegamos trnsito para entrar em Roma.Chegando aqui fizemos o check in no hotel.Agora comea nossa esta
Whanganui
Am 30.06 setzen ich und Ben mit der Faehre von Picton nach Wellington zur Nordinsel ueber wo wir beide noch 10 Tage rumreisten. Bis es dann am 13. Juli zurueck nach Deutschland geht. In Wellington machten wir das Standard Programm Stadt angucken Te Papa NationalmuseumMt. Victoria und kraeftig einen hinter den Durst trinken. Am 2. Juli ging es dann nach Whanganui wo wir auf einen Turm gingen
Mt. Taranaki
Von Whanganui ging es nach New Plymouth immer in Richtung Norden. Auf dem Weg begegneten wir den mighty Mt. Taranaki den wir beide gerne komplett bestiegen haetten doch leider lag auf der Spitze dann doch zu viel Schnee.
Corcovado National Park
A very early start today with an hour's drive south to our start point where we embarked on a boat for a long cruise. An hour down the river through mangrove forests seeing crocodiles basking on the muddy banks was followed by a very bumpy ride through the waves of the Pacific for another hour eventually arriving at a remote beach on this reserve. A walk through the forests saw coatis macaws
4th of July
There were lots of Canada flags flying for their Canada Day weekend. It was odd for us not to see all the red white and blue hoopla for the 4th. Instead we took in wildlife viewing today. We saw a moose two caribou 3 black bears and about 90 wood bison. We also paid 1.79 per liter for fuel No fireworks but it wasn't dark anyway...
rafting pictures
To see pictures of us in action on the rapids go to http://www.facebook.comdominicalsurfadventures and look at the pictures from July 9th
Day 20 July 5 2010 Great Falls MT
ALETA'S BIRTHDAY We are now in Great Falls MT. We had the front tires aligned and rotated then got on the road to Great Falls MT. Once we arrived at the Flying J in Great Falls we dropped the Lil Truk and went to Golden Corral for dinner. Once we had dinner we went back to the Flying J and settled in for the night.
Signpost Forest
As we left town we passed a local landmark a signpost forest. during construction of the AlaskaCanada highway in 19421942 one of the soldiers asked if he could put a sign about his hoemtown on the signpost of distances to cities. He was given permission and that started a signpost forest. Janet thought about a cribbage board we had that was shaped like a fifthwheel trailer and suggested that
Getting High and Going Fast
After being in a place like Putuoshan which is more known for it's natural beauty than anything else Shanghai has been overwhelming for the senses in mostly good ways. A city of 15 million people half the population of Canada always boggles my mind just for the simple fact that so many people live out their everyday life in an overwhelmingly crowded yet organized place. Life goes on as it does
Study Suggests Link Between HPV, Skin Cancer – BusinessWeek
 MedIndia | Study Suggests Link Between HPV, Skin Cancer BusinessWeek ... Karagas of Dartmouth Medical School in Lebanon, NH But all of this does not necessarily mean that HPV causes squamous cell carcinoma, one expert said. ... HPV Viruses Linked to Skin CancerWebMD HPV linked to skin cancerCelebrities With Diseases HPV Infection and Skin Cancer Risk ExploredCalorieLab Calorie Counter News TopNews New Zealand -AHN | All Headline News -TopNews Singapore (press release) all 54 news articles » |
US troops killed in Afghanistan and Africa – The Associated Press
 Washington Post | US troops killed in Afghanistan and Africa The Associated Press And she would go to medical school. McGahan's grandfathers had served in World War II, and that stirred his interest in being the military. ... US troops killed in Afghanistan and AfricaThe Associated Press |
Later School Start Times May Foster Better Students – BusinessWeek
New York Daily News | Later School Start Times May Foster Better Students BusinessWeek SOURCES: Judith A. Owens, MD, director, pediatric sleep clinic, Hasbro Children's Hospital, and associate professor, pediatrics, Brown Medical School, ... New study confirms positive effects of delayed school start timesEurekAlert (press release) Teens More Alert, Motivated, When School Starts Later, US StudyMedical News Today Health Check: School start timesTurn to 10.com Los Angeles Times -WebMD -Atlanta Journal Constitution (blog) all 649 news articles » |
Natural is not innocuous: the case of Angel’s Trumpet and tropane alkaloid intoxication
With this post, I’m happy to return to Science-Based Medicine on a regular basis, at least monthly and perhaps more depending upon how often commentary is required on natural products, whether they be herbal medicines or single-agent pharmaceuticals derived from natural sources. Next week, I’ll be attending the 2010 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Pharmacognosy being held jointly with the Phytochemical Society of North America in St. Petersburg, Florida. I hope to bring back the latest on novel natural products in preclinical development.
But today, I bring recent news that revisits a timeworn folly of the young (and some older folks): recreational use of toxic plants for the purpose of hallucination.
Toxicity reports are re-emerging in southern California this week after a dozen hospitalizations of kids using teas made from a fragrant flowering plant called Angel’s Trumpet. The tea is used to produce hallucinations, but they can progress to extremely unpleasant experiences. Moreover, Angel’s Trumpet can be deadly, accelerating the heart rate and causing fatal cardiac rhythmic disturbances and bronchoconstriction that can trigger asthma attacks in sensitive individuals.
Angel’s Trumpet is one of a series of plants in the Brugmansia genus that make a variety of muscarinic cholinergic antagonists such as atropine (dl-hyoscyamine, pictured to the right) and scopolamine (l-hyoscine). These compounds are also known chemically as tropane alkaloids or belladonna alkaloids, the latter derived from their classical isolation from Atropa belladonna. The belladonna name derives from the use of eye drops made from the plants that prevent constriction of the pupils (mydriasis), back when the size of a woman’s pupils was a sign of beauty and arousal.
The tropane alkaloids are ubiquitous in plants and fungi and act as classic hallucinogens when used in high doses. Their legend goes back to witches brews and beyond. A wonderfully colorful history of tropane alkaloids by Robert S. Holzman of Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School was offered in this free 1998 paper in the journal, Anesthesiology (1998; 89:241-249).
However, the aftermath of Angel’s Trumpet use is far from colorful. In cases like these, I like to turn to the Erowid site, a respected, user-supported site that offers non-judgmental information on plant-derived and synthetic psychoactive agents. The Erowid Experience Vault has several descriptions of the use of Angel’s Trumpet but this one is the most detailed and representative of the downsides of this plant. (Note that the colloquial term for Angel’s Trumpet in Australia is sometimes “Tree Datura,” although Brugmansia is a closely-related but distinct genus from Datura within the Solanaceae family.)
I also came across a poorly-documented 2003 news article cited a German teenager cutting off his penis and tongue with garden shears after using Angel’s Trumpet.
From the eMedicine article linked to in the above paragraph:
Remember common signs and symptoms with the mnemonic, “red as a beet, dry as a bone, blind as a bat, mad as a hatter, and hot as a hare.” The mnemonic refers to the symptoms of flushing, dry skin and mucous membranes, mydriasis with loss of accommodation, altered mental status (AMS), and fever, respectively.
I encourage all clinicians to be vigilant about anticholinergic poisonings in the weeks to come. In some cases in the past, I have found that reports such as these from southern California will often give rise to attempts to use the hallucinatory plant elsewhere despite the risks detailed.
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Book Excerpt: Sharing Sacred Stories
Robert Frager with a Sufi story about being content with what we have.
Republican and Libertarian candidates for New York Governor question building of NYC Mosque at Ground Zero
Democrat Cuomo favors Muslim facility
From Eric Dondero:
New York's WINS 101 is reporting:
Lazio Calls on Cuomo to Probe Funds for Mosque
Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Lazio wants his Democratic rival, Andrew Cuomo, to investigate the development of a $100 million mosque being planned near ground zero.
Lazio says he's concerned that not enough is known about the funding of the project. He says that Cuomo, as attorney general, has the authority to investigate the project because Cuomo's office has jurisdiction over nonprofit organizations in New York.
Cuomo has said he supports the mosque's construction.
Ayn Randian and Publisher of Atlas Shrugs Pamela Geller praised Lazio, calling him "Patriotically correct; not Politically Correct":
Finally, a Gubernatorial candidate New Yorkers can cheer, support and get behind: Rick Lazio. He is demanding an investigation into the shady financing of the 100-million-dollar mega mosque at Ground Zero.
Cuomo is for the mosque. New Yorkers need to know that.
Though, notably, Lazio has yet to come out fully against the building of the Mosque.
Libertarian for Gov. Warren Redlich - "Radical Islam rejects Freedom... preaches hate."
Reached for a comment about the Mosque, Libertarian Party candidate for Governor Warren Redlich had this to say:
I'm very much against radical Islam because it rejects freedom. The very freedom that allows them to preach their hate here is the kind of liberty they deny others where they have power.
Redlich, an attorney, cautioned there might be free speech issues involved. He went on to criticize Lazio for ties to companies who do business with Middle Eastern nations.
I also question Lazio's criticism of the project. Perhaps he could answer some questions about his bank's activities in the Middle East:
How many radical Islamic groups use JP Morgan Chase for banking services?
Obama poll numbers, sinking deeper and deeper
LR FOLLOW-UP
Before the weekend, Obama slipped underwater, with by .3%. That spread has now grown to a significant 1.9%.
RCP Poll Averages
President Obama Job ApprovalApprove46.1
Disapprove48.0
Spread -1.9
Obama no longer has any polling firms rating him at 50% of above approval. All polls have him in the mid-40s.
