X Factor USA Final: Braggadocio And Budget Cuts

Oh God. Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in. Two weeks after saying goodbye to Little Mix and their Cannonball (although I think she prefers answering to ‘Jesy’) here I am again, staring down the barrel of another four-hour finale. Only Simon’s in this one, in body if not in mind.

As usual with the X-Factor, there’s always one breakout star that everyone’s talking about. Unfortunately, this series it’s Steve Jones, and no-one’s being especially complementary. In fact, looking back at my notes from this show, it’s really a tragi-comic single-hander. Like something Alan Bennett would write if he liked talent shows. The first show opens with Steve, floundering around in his bow-tie, PUTTING the emphasis on all THE wrong WORDS. Making this particularly uncomfortable is the fact that we all know he’s been dropped quicker than Christina Aguilera’s salad fork.

We’re provided a momentary relief from his awfulness, as he introduces the judges. Over the course of this series, they’ve each been working on their own distinctive hand gesture to give to the audience when their name is called. Now we’re at the final, it’s become like a carefully coordinated routine – LA Reid does kissy finger and a royal wave, Nicole does prayer hands and a dramatic bow, Paula offers her blow-kissy double hands, followed by ‘rock-on’ fingers, and Simon goes from military salute to exaggerated wink. Watched in rapid succession, it’s like American Sign Language for ‘Why aren’t you watching the Real Housewives of Atlanta instead?’

In an attempt to salvage what’s left of his once-promising career, Steve has obviously been on a presentation skills training course. Three days in a Trusthouse Forte outside of Guildford, practicing open palms and finger-thumb gesturing. When he’s not gripping his microphone tightly with both hands, he uses this training to ask for Paula’s famed insight. She comments how proud she is that the acts are so separate and distinct. I would love to see conjoined twins in next year’s final, just to watch her flounder.

It’s fair to say that the music performances in tonight’s show are going to be nowhere near as interesting as big Steve’s attempts to hold onto his job. So let’s make cursory mention of Josh’s gruff duet with Alanis Morrissette. Flat, tuneless and ineffective, it perks up a little when Alanis takes to the stage. She’s trying her best to look interested, but I’m sure she’s thinking “I used to chew on Ryan Reynolds, and now I’m singing in a fake wood with Fozzie Bear.”

Despite all the bluster and braggadocio before the show started, the debut season of X-Factor USA has been less than epic. It’s almost as though the disappointing ratings have forced a few budgetary cutbacks. Need an example? Well, those god-awful bits where we cut to a sports centre full of screaming supporters in the contestants’ home towns don’t even have a host. I mean, how much would it have cost to dump Kelly Osborne in Ohio for a couple of hours? Instead, they’ve just stuck a microphone in the hands of Josh’s grandmother. I’m sure she’s a game old bird, but the world of broadcasting didn’t exactly miss out on a bright shining talent.

Chris is on next, once again using his drug abuse as a bargaining chip. If we don’t vote for him to win, he’ll be firing up the crystal meth before the last glitter cannon has blown. He’s mangling an Avril Lavigne song, so it’s only a matter of time before she joins him onstage to show him how to fuck it up like a pro. Neither of them is in tune, and they’re rattling through more keys than a Victorian jailer. I’m also getting the vibe that this week’s theme is ‘Canadian guest stars’. Wouldn’t it be great if Melanie got lumbered with Rita MacNeil, the woman with a hair-lip who sings about Nova Scotian miners?

Before we get to that, the judges try their best to avoid mentioning how bad Chris’ vocals were, and Steve’s on hand to point out “You just did a duet with Avril Lavigne.” Big help, fella. Meanwhile, Paula’s trying to make a point about relevance, but then goes on to say “That song Complicated is the antithesis of the foundation that you’re built upon.” Simon’s as confused as I am, so he offers up his own nugget of wisdom – “That could be a record.” And this from the man who gave Mr Blobby a recording career. Forget about Josh’s Grandma, now it’s time to hear from Chris’ next-door neighbour in Santa Cruz, California. Somewhere in Florida, Melanie Amaro’s dry-cleaner is getting very excited.

David Roberts sets his sights on Paralympic medals record

PARALYMPIC legend David Roberts has set his eyes on breaking Baroness Tanni-Grey Thompson’s record next year at London 2012.

The Pontypridd swimmer and Cardiff wheelchair athlete stand level on 11 gold Paralympic medals and Roberts has the chance to break the record next year.

“I have one more Games and I will make sure I am prepared to get that one gold I need and then we can all relax,” said Roberts.

“The record is important but it is not the driving force.

“I love swimming and it is all I can imagine doing.

“Inevitably when you equal someone like Tanni questions will be asked and it is a home Games so people will be more interested in it.

“If I am injury free and fit I can do it.

“There will be nothing better to finish your career becoming the most successful Paralympian ever.”

Roberts admits the home Games factor is a driving force behind him competing at one more Olympics.

“London was a massive driving force in me carrying on,” added Roberts.

“I always said I wanted to equal Tanni’s record because I wanted to be known as someone who is good at what they do.

“I managed to do that in Beijing and I got a bit of recognition and it felt like it was everything I ever dreamt of and I could finish happy.

“But it was not just the fact of beating Tanni.

“It was more the chance to walk out in front of a home crowd.

“If you think of all the great Olympians who have not had the chance to compete in a home Games, you realise the importance.

“I could not walk away from that because it was too good an opportunity to miss.”

But the 31-year-old has experienced a difficult couple of years in the build-up to London.

Roberts fractured his elbow in October 2009 after he was dragged into a tree while taking his beloved lurcher-collie for a walk.

The following March he spent a week in hospital having his kidney stones removed.

Roberts was then forced to pull out of the European Championships in April this year after breaking his elbow again in a freak accident at his training pool in Caerphilly. Going into a routine turn he collided with a fellow swimmer and instantly heard a crack in his elbow.

“It has been the toughest year of my career,” admitted Roberts, who hails from Llantwit Fadre.

“I was out of the water for eight months.

“It was such an innocuous injury as I collided arms with another swimmer.

“I just knew instantly it was bad because I heard a crack.

“I did not realise the full extent of the damage until I saw a surgeon who explained to me he had only seen this type of injury twice before and that is with the weightlifters.

“I had to have the surgery and I feel refreshed.

“A lot of the baggage has gone because not everyone is expecting a huge amount from me because I have been injured.

“It has also given me a lifeline and a chance to sneak in the back door which is how I like it. I have the time. I need to train smart and hard at my age and every session needs to count. I am training through Christmas and New Year before going away to South Africa in early January.

“The trials are in March and once you have qualified and get the letter then you can focus your mind and you will have five months to prepare.”

Roberts, who has cerebral palsy and competes in the S7 category swimmer, has seen his achievements recognised within and outside sporting circles.

Roberts addressed the Human Rights Council earlier this year to promote Britain’s proud tradition of supporting its Paralympian’s. And the swimmer was recognised by sporting legends at an awards ceremony in London when he was handed the esteemed Jaguar Academy of Sport Patrons Award for Sporting Legacy at the Savoy.

“It was very humbling and totally unexpected,” added Roberts.

“To be recognised by your peers is an amazing thing. The award was won by Dame Kelly Holmes last year so it is amazing.

“There were so many sporting stars and heroes of mine there and you don’t expect to see that many in one room.

“It was great to see people like Kriss Akabusi, Sir Ian Botham, Gareth Edwards, Dai Greene and Jamie Baulch.”

A widow’s quest for autopsy answers is a years-long struggle

“Your husband is dead,” the doctor told Linda Carswell.

This was not supposed to happen. Jerry Carswell had been admitted to Christus St. Catherine Hospital in Katy, Texas, with kidney stones. The previous night, he’d been walking around his room, talking about basketball and the upcoming presidential election with his son, Jordan. The plan was for the 61-year-old to be discharged that morning.

Instead, at about 5 a.m., a phlebotomist entered Jerry’s room to draw blood and found him lying across the bottom of his bed, not breathing, mottled and blue, without a pulse. Staffers performed CPR for 25 minutes to no avail. Carswell was pronounced dead at 5:30 a.m. Jan. 22, 2004.

Upon learning the news, Linda and Jordan Carswell rushed to Jerry’s bedside. Lying there, sheets and blankets folded halfway up his chest, he looked as if he could be dozing, except for the tubes running out of his mouth — remnants of the failed resuscitation effort. Linda shrieked and grabbed her husband’s cold hands, trying in vain to stir him.

The on-call doctor suggested that the Carswells authorize an autopsy, launching the family on a traumatic journey that still isn’t over.

Clinical autopsies, once commonplace in U.S. hospitals, have become an increasing rarity and are conducted in just 5 percent of hospital deaths. Grief-stricken families like the Carswells desperately want the answers that an autopsy can provide. But they often do not know their rights in dealing with either coroners or medical examiners, who investigate unnatural deaths, or health care providers, who delve into natural ones.

For the past year, ProPublica, PBS “Frontline” and NPR have examined flaws in the U.S. system of death investigation, finding that mistakes in America’s morgues have sometimes helped convict the innocent and allowed the guilty to go free.

The Carswells’ experience illustrates a different kind of injustice. Their case would play out in pathology labs, lawyers’ offices and courtrooms for more than seven years. It led to a rare $2 million fraud judgment against Christus St. Catherine, which was found by a jury to have deceived Linda Carswell about Jerry’s autopsy. It also led to state legislation designed to strengthen families’ entitlement to comprehensive, independent postmortem reviews.

It has not, however, led to closure or accountability. Thanks to an incomplete autopsy, Jerry Carswell’s cause of death remains unknown. He also has not been laid fully to rest. His heart, retained by the pathologist who conducted his postmortem examination, sits in a refrigerated cabinet in a hospital lab to this day.

None of the hospital employees involved in the Carswell case would answer questions from ProPublica. In a written statement, hospital officials said they provided good care to Carswell, and that his autopsy was sufficient.

Linda Carswell, an English teacher at one of Houston’s elite private schools, said her family’s macabre saga has left her lonely and disillusioned. She’s had to navigate complex establishments — medical and legal — while processing the shocking loss of her husband. Measured and proper, with black hair streaked by strands of white, she cannot seem to make peace with her loss.

Linda and Jerry, a history teacher and track coach, had been married for 33 years, raising two sons. She recalled how they would sit on the couch, her head on his chest, listening to the thump-thump of his heart. She is determined to get it back.

“It’s not just a piece of flesh,” Linda said. “Your heart stands for love. It stands for who a person is.”

Jerry Carswell had been a patient at Christus St. Catherine for two days before he died.

A scan performed on admission showed that, in addition to kidney stones, he had a cancerous tumor on one of his kidneys. It was in an early stage and not considered life-threatening, his hospital doctor said. At times, he was given medication to treat intense pain. He was administered the narcotic Demerol in the hours before his death, records show.

State law required that the hospital report Carswell’s death to the county medical examiner’s office because it was unexplained, unobserved and had occurred soon after he had received medical care.

But it’s unclear whether this step was taken. Hospital records show that the night administrator made a minute-long phone call to the medical examiner’s office at 6:35 a.m., but the office later provided an affidavit saying it had no record of the call.

It may not have mattered. Medical examiners rarely investigate deaths at health care facilities, experts say. Often, their resources are stretched by homicides, suicides and other suspicious deaths. They are seldom inclined to dig further if staffers at a medical facility ascribe a death to natural causes.

In court testimony, the night administrator at Christus St. Catherine said she had reported hundreds of hospital deaths to the Harris County medical examiner’s office and it had never taken a case.

As she sat with her husband’s body, Linda Carswell was unaware of the hospital’s reporting requirement, or that the medical examiner was supposed to assess his case. She and Jordan said no one at the hospital would answer questions about how Jerry had died. They knew Jerry had been administered narcotics during his stay and wondered whether the drugs had played a role in his death.

Linda said that when she asked Patty Elam, a daytime charge nurse, to call the medical examiner’s office to request an autopsy, Elam told her the office had turned down the case. Elam declined to comment for this story but said in court testimony that she did not speak with Carswell about the call to the medical examiner’s office. Linda did not press the matter further, a decision she came to regret.

Tablets and powder no substitute for food

They are the lifeblood of elite athletes and body builders looking to push their bodies to extremes – but experts warn those looking for a shortcut to fitness with food supplements had better do their homework first.

Loading up on protein can put high stress on important organs, while supplements with caffeine or appetite suppressants can provoke other health issues, they warn.

Selasi Berdie, a human performance specialist at Body Science, said people should reduce the intake of dietary supplements if they're training only once or twice a week.

He said the body had to work harder to expel unnecessary supplements, and an overdose of protein, with unmatched training, would put high stress on the liver and urinary system.

“Supplements that contain really high levels of caffeine or even appetiser suppressant pills are a lot more dangerous than nutritional overdose. But worst case scenario, an overdose of protein can cause kidney stones.”

However if you're doing intense exercise, four-to-five times a week, such as, cycling, running and heavy weight lifting, then the body will most likely demand more protein, enzymes and minerals than a healthy diet can easily supply, said Rachel Horscroft, exercise physiologist and nutritionist.

Horscroft said too much fresh protein in the form of meat, chicken and fish, could cause your body to become extremely acidic, leading to body fatigue, depressive tendencies and a drastic decline in your wellbeing.

“The tablets and powders are there for repair, as they come to use only once you've exercised. Don't load up, especially when you're sedentary or only slightly active,” she said.

And it's not just a protein-overdose that causes the imbalance; even excessive exercise can hike the acid levels, hindering the body from getting optimum results.

To compensate, Horscroft recommended a shot of wheatgrass on an empty stomach to rebalance the pH level of the body and make it more alkaline, and improve performance, vitality and energy levels.

“The body treats wheatgrass like real food – since it's cultivated in its most nutritious stage – and unlike taking synthetic vitamins, wheatgrass absorbs naturally and easily,” she said.

Another supplement suitable for every lifestyle, blood type, fitness levels and diet, is a good quality Omega-3, said Dr Angus Pyke, spokesperson for Chiropractors' Association of Australia.

“When the ratio between Omega-6 and Omega-3 fats gets out of balance, the end result is an inflamed body. We are already consuming a lot of the former fat,” said Pyke.

Supplementing with Vitamin-D is also deemed to be a life changing choice, said Pyke because despite the abundance of sunshine in this country, research showed that the Vitamin D levels in Australian men were significantly low.

Warning: Radiation risks from medical imaging

Ever since the Fukushima nuclear reactor disaster in Japan in March, there has been a lot of interest in the media about the health effects of exposure to radiation  including those from medical imaging such as X-rays and CT (computed tomography) scans. Many patients want to know if radiation from mammograms, bone density tests, nuclear imaging, PET scans, and so forth will increase their risk of developing cancer.

The ability to peer inside the body is nothing short of miraculous and has saved countless lives since X-rays were discovered more than a century ago. Today, the array of imaging tests available is bewildering, the technology intimidating, and circumstances and possible outcomes (Is it cancer? A stroke? A heriniated disc?) often terrifying. For most people, there’s very little risk from routine X-rays such as chest X-rays or dental X-rays. But experts have become increasingly concerned about the overuse of many types of scans, not only because of the huge and growing expense, but even more of the potential risk posed by the cumulative exposure to radiation. They are used to diagnose diseases, trauma, and abnormalities, as well as to guide and monitor treatment.

The radiation you get from X-ray, CT, and nuclear imaging is ionizing radiation — high-energy wavelengths or particles that penetrate tissue to reveal the body’s internal organs and structures. Ionizing radiation can damage DNA, and although your cells repair most of the damage, they sometimes do the job imperfectly, leaving small areas of “misrepair.” The result is DNA mutations that may contribute to cancer years down the road.

Exposure to ionizing radiation from natural or background sources hasn’t changed for the past 30 years, but in many industrialized countries, total per capita radiation has nearly doubled, and experts believe the main reason is increased exposure that comes from medical sources which has grown from 15 percent in the early 1980s to 50 percent today. CT alone accounts for 24 percent of all radiation exposures.

Most of what we know about the risks of ionizing radiation comes from long-term studies of people who survived the 1945 atomic bomb blasts at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. These studies show a slightly but significantly increased risk of cancer in those exposed to the blasts, including a group of 25,000 Hiroshima survivors who received less than 50 mSv of radiation  an amount you might get from two or three CT scans.


Because they’re so commonly used today, CT scans are the biggest source of radiation of all imaging technologies. A special type of X-ray that produces cross-sectional images, or “slices,” of the body, CT scans are used to diagnose everything, from heart diseases and cancer to brain tumors, kidney stones, and injuries. Abdominal CT scans tend to produce the most radiation — averaging about 500 times more radiation than a simple chest X-ray, and 1,000 times more than a dental X-ray or bone mineral density test (DEXA). Other types of imaging that use radiation include nuclear diagnostic tests, such as PET scans, as well as fluoroscopy. MRI and ultrasound, in contrast, do not use radiation.

The risk from a single CT scan, when appropriately done, is miniscule, but radiation exposures add up over a lifetime. A study in the Archives of Internal Medicine in 2009 estimated that 72 million scans were done in the US in 2007. After excluding scans done following a diagnosis of cancer and those performed during the last five years of a person’s life, the researchers projected that CT scans in the US would cause about 29,000 extra cases of cancer in the future and about 14,5000 deaths. That’s about two percent of all annual cancers.

Painful season with Cubs, ChiSox both under .500

Ozzie Guillen's kidney stone just might be the perfect metaphor for this baseball season in Chicago.

The White Sox and Cubs are set to open a three-game series at U.S. Cellular Field on Monday, and it's safe to say this has been an unpleasant year for both teams.

Guillen's kidney stone on Sunday in Arizona was just another painful moment in a season that has left fans on both sides of town wincing.

Claiming they were "All In" after signing slugger Adam Dunn and re-signing Paul Konerko, the White Sox still rank among the AL's biggest disappointments at 35-38. They can blame that on an 11-22 start, but at least they're back in contention in the Central division.

The Cubs (29-41) still have a long way to go, even if they've shown some promise of late.

It's never dull when these crosstown rivals get together.

Crohn's Disease Fatigue is Linked to Restless Legs Syndrome

Anyone who suffers from Crohn’s disease (CD), an inflammation of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, knows that side effects can include kidney stones, liver problems and arthritis. In addition, CD patients commonly feel great fatigue.
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New research shows that the fatigue might be related to restless legs syndrome (RLS), a condition in which a strong urge to move your legs at night can disrupt your sleep.

In fact, a study at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, MO, found that the incidence of RLS in patients with Crohn’s disease was as common as many of the better-documented side effects. The researchers studied 272 patients with CD and found that 43 percent had an incidence of RLS. The condition often cropped up during or after the onset of CD, suggesting the link, the researchers said. The study was described in the Winter 2011 issue of Digestive Diseases News.

The link between Crohn’s disease and RLS merited study because both conditions are associated with iron deficiency, GI tract inflammation and bacterial overgrowth, the researchers said. CD patients are often lacking iron because of dietary restrictions, malabsorption and intestinal bleeding. Interestingly, people at risk for iron deficiency are also at risk for RLS, according to the newsletter.

One outcome of the study might be a better understanding of ongoing fatigue in regard to CD patients. A chronic condition, Crohn’s disease usually occurs in the small intestine, firing up symptoms that include abdominal pain, severe diarrhea, weight loss and low energy. If sleep problems show up as well, doctors can now look at the possibility of RLS.

“Further studies are warranted to evaluate the potential impact that RLS has on the quality of life in patients with CD using the international RLS rating scale,” said the article in Digestive Diseases News.

Patients with RLS often report a tingling, prickly sensation in their legs; moving their legs provides short-term relief. The rating scale for RLS asks patients to rate their discomfort as mild, moderate, severe and very severe and to judge how their discomfort affects their sleep, mood and daily activities.