Acute Lung Injury Mortality Is 4-Fold Higher Than That From Heart Attack and Comparable to Breast Cancer and HIV, According to an Article Published...

Acute Lung Injury Mortality Is 4-Fold Higher Than That From Heart Attack and Comparable to Breast Cancer and HIV, According to an Article Published in Today's New England Journal of Medicine Thursday October 20, 9:55 am ET

SEATTLE, Oct. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Acute Lung Injury (ALI) is responsible for 74,500 deaths each year in the United States.

Acute Lung Injury (ALI) strikes more than 190,000 Americans each year, causing approximately 74,500 deaths and 3.6 million hospital days, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

"Acute lung injury is a critical illness syndrome consisting of acute hypoxemic respiratory failure with bilateral pulmonary infiltrates that are not attributable to left arterial hypertension," said Gordon Rubenfeld, M.D., professor, Harborview Medical Center. "Despite recent advances in our understanding of the mechanism and treatment of acute lung injury, its incidence in the United States has been unclear."

In the study, Incidence and Outcomes of Acute Lung Injury, a prospective, population based, cohort study was conducted in twenty-one hospitals in and around King County, Washington from April 1999 through July 2000, using a validated screening protocol to identify patients who met the consensus criteria for acute lung injury.

"The results," Dr. Rubenfeld explained, "indicate an in-hospital mortality rate for ALI of 38.5%. This is 4-fold higher than the mortality from a heart attack and attributable mortality comparable to breast cancer or HIV. The incidence and mortality increase with age."

"Only 1/3 of survivors are strong enough to be discharged directly home," said Dr. Rubenfeld. "Acute lung injury has a substantial impact on public heath, the incidence in the United States considerably higher than previous reports suggested."

"Sadly, most Americans have never heard of ALI or ARDS," said Eileen Rubin Zacharias, President of ARDS Foundation, a national not-for-profit organization dedicated to increasing public awareness, education, and financial assistance to those engaged in medical research of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and acute lung injury (ALI). As a survivor of ARDS at the age of thirty-three, Ms. Zacharias knows first hand the cost of this critical illness. "After spending eight of my nine week hospitalization on a ventilator, I was unable to return to work for eight months."

Paula Blonski, Vice-President of ARDS Foundation, lost her sister, Marybeth, a nurse, at the age of thirty-six. "ALI and ARDS seriously lack public awareness, and as a result, ARDS research is severely under funded," said Ms. Blonski. "Should this study act as a catalyst to encourage continued medical research, the impact will be immeasurable."

To learn more about ARDS and the ARDS Foundation, please visit http://www.ardsusa.org or call 1.312.749.7047.

If you would like to speak to ARDS Foundation President, Eileen Rubin Zacharias, call 312.749.7047 or email info@ardsusa.org .

Other study authors include M.Sc., Ellen Caldwell, M.S., Eve Peabody, B.A., Jim Weaver, R.R.T., Diane P. Martin, Ph.D., Margaret Neff, M.D., Eric J. Stern, M.D., and Leonard D. Hudson, M.D.

Funny!

Toni forwarded this really funny email to me; since today is a day of fast, I shall share it... must keep busy and ingore those hunger pains!

For those of you who have been searching for a greater understanding of Jewish holidays major and minor, I think you will find the explanation below most enlightening:

Jewish Holidays

As a general principle, Jewish holidays are divided between days on which you must starve and days on which you must overeat. Many Jews observe no Fewer than 16 fasts throughout the Jewish year, based on the time-honored principle that even if you are sure that you are ritually purified, you definitely aren't. Though there are many feasts and fasts, there are no holidays requiring light snacking.

Note: Unlike Christians, who simply attend church on special days (e.g. Ash Wednesday), on Jewish holidays most Jews take the whole day off. This is because Jews, for historical and personal reasons, are more stressed out.

The Diet Guide to the Jewish Holidays Rosh Hashanah --
Feast Tzom Gedalia -- Fast
Yom Kippur -- More fasting
Sukkot -- Feast Hashanah
Rabbah -- More feasting
Simchat Torah -- Keep feasting
Month of Heshvan -- No feasts or fasts for a whole month. Get a grip on yourself.
Hanukkah -- Eat potato pancakes
Tenth of Tevet -- Do not eat potato pancakes
Tu B'Shevat -- Feast
Fast of Esther -- Fast Purim -- Eat
pastry Passover -- Do not eat pastry
Shavuot -- Dairy feast (cheesecake, blintzes etc.)
17th of Tammuz -- Fast (definitely no cheesecake or blintzes)
Tish B'Av -- Very strict fast (don't even think about cheesecake or Blintzes)
Month of Elul -- End of cycle.
Enroll in Center for Eating Disorders Before High Holidays arrive again.


There are many forms of Judaism:

Cardiac Judaism -- in my heart I am a Jew.
Gastronomic Judaism -- we eat Jewish foods.
Pocketbook Judaism -- I give to Jewish causes.
Drop-off Judaism -- drop the kids off at Sunday school and go out to breakfast.
Two-Times a Year Judaism -- attend service Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

You know you grew up Jewish when:

You've had at least one female relative who drew eyebrows on her face that were always asymmetrical.

You spent your entire childhood thinking that everyone calls roast beef "brisket". You've experienced the phenomena of 50 people fitting into a 10 foot wide dining room hitting each other with plastic plates trying to get to a deli tray.

You were as tall as your grandmother by the age of seven. You were surprised to find out that wine doesn't always taste like year-old cranberry sauce. You can look at gefilte fish and not turn green. You can understand Yiddish but you can't speak it. You know how to pronounce numerous Yiddish words and use them correctly in context, yet you don't exactly know what they mean. Kenahurra. You have at least one ancestor who is related to your spouse's ancestor. You grew up thinking it's normal for someone to shout "Are you okay? Are you okay?" through the bathroom door if you're in there for longer than 3 minutes. You thought that speaking loud was normal.

Yom Kippur

Yom Kippur is today, actually it began at sundown last night. Yom Kippur is the Day of Atonement.

"It is a day set aside to "afflict the soul," to atone for the sins of the past year. In Days of Awe, I mentioned the "books" in which G-d inscribes all of our names. On Yom Kippur, the judgment entered in these books is sealed. This day is, essentially, your last appeal, your last chance to change the judgment, to demonstrate your repentance and make amends.

...Yom Kippur atones only for sins between man and G-d, not for sins against another person. To atone for sins against another person, you must first seek reconciliation with that person, righting the wrongs you committed against them if possible. That must all be done before Yom Kippur. "

On the High Holidays I make sure to to say a special prayer for all of those who passed away from ARDS. The Mourner's Kiddish is what is said in temple:

MOURNER'S KADDISHAn English Translation Glorified and sanctified be God's great name throughout the world which He has created according to His will. May He establish His kingdom in your lifetime and during your days, and within the life of the entire House of Israel, speedily and soon; and say, Amen.May His great name be blessed forever and to all eternity. Blessed and praised, glorified and exalted, extolled and honored, adored and lauded be the name of the Holy One, blessed be He, beyond all the blessings and hymns, praises and consolations that are ever spoken in the world; and say, Amen.May there be abundant peace from heaven, and life, for usand for all Israel; and say, Amen.He who creates peace in His celestial heights, may He create peace for us and for all Israel; and say, Amen.
ORIGIN: http://www.ou.org/yerushalayim/kadish.htm


Here is the meaning:

The Meaning of Kaddish

Having read the translation of the Kaddish Prayer, one should realize that, although Jewish Law requires that the Kaddish be recited during the first eleven months following the death of a loved one by prescribed mourners, and on each anniversary of the death (the "Yahrtzeit"), and by custom in the State of Israel by all Jews on the Tenth of Tevet ("Yom HaKaddish HaKlali'), there is no reference, no word even, about death in the prayer!

The theme of Kaddish is, rather, the Greatness of G-d, Who conducts the entire universe, and especially his most favored creature, each individual human being, with careful supervision. In this prayer, we also pray for peace - from apparently the only One Who can guarantee it - peace between nations, peace between individuals, and peace of mind.

Paradoxically, this is, in fact, the only true comfort in the case of the loss of a loved one. That is, to be able to view the passing of the beloved individual from the perspective that that person's soul was gathered in, so to speak, by the One Who had provided it in the first place.

As Beruriah, the great wife of Rabbi Meir, consoled her husband, upon the death of their two sons, with words to this effect, "A soul is comparable to an object which was given to us - to each individual, to his or her parents and loved ones, to guard and watch over for a limited time. When the time comes for the object to be returned to its rightful owner, should we not be willing to return it? With regard to our sons, let us therefore consider the matter as 'The L-rd gave, and the L-rd took back, may the Name of the L-rd be Blessed!' "