Women's Implant Support Newsletter 12/01/99
Date: Wed, 1 Dec 1999 18:46:32 -0800
From: "Myrl Jeffcoat"
myrl_jeffcoat@yahoo.comWebsite:
http://www.homestead.com/siliconecityPost-Hearing Update: Judge Spector Confirms Joint Plan
Today, November 30, 1999, Judge Arthur J. Spector of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Michigan announced that he would sign an order later today confirming the Dow Corning Joint Plan of Reorganization. Separate opinions regarding various plan components and objections to the plan will be issued today and next week and will be made available at this website when available.
The next step in the legal process will be to determine whether any appeals of the Confirmation Order or Requests for a Stay have been filed with the United States District Court, Eastern District of Michigan (before the Honorable Denise Page Hood). Please check back with this website after December 17, 1999 for more information on any appeal activity. While any appeals are pending no claims can be paid. It is not known how long it will take to resolve appeals if any are filed.
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Still have questions or want to comment? Contact us.
Dow Corning Claims Office Update
The Claims Office for the Dow Corning Settlement Facility is not yet operational, but it has established a website at
where you will find information on the status of the bankruptcy case. You can also call (888) 875-5949 for a pre-recorded message with information about the Dow Settlement Facility Claims Office status/activities.
The following message is on the Dow Corning Claims Office website:
The bankruptcy court recently announced that it will issue its opinions on the Dow Corning Joint Plan of Reorganization on November 30, 1999. Please check back with this website on or after December 1, 1999 for information on the courtâ*(tm)s ruling.
On November 18, 1999, the bankruptcy court authorized the use of funds for the Claims Administrator to be employed and begin start-up operations for the Dow Corning Claims Office. On November 19, 1999, Judge Sam Pointer (the judge supervising both the MDL and Dow Corning Claims Offices) appointed Judge Mary Katherine Kennedy as Claims Administrator for the Dow Corning Settlement Facility effective December 6, 1999. Judge Kennedy received her B.A. Summa Cum Laude from Rhodes College in 1981 and her J.D. from the Vanderbilt University College of Law in 1984. While at Vanderbilt, she served as an associate editor of the Vanderbilt Law Review. After graduation from law school, Judge Kennedy served as a Law Clerk for Senior United States Circuit Judge Bailey Brown.
Shepracticed commercial litigation in Houston until she was elected to the bench of the 164th District Court in Harris County, Texas in 1992. She was reelected in 1996. Judge Kennedy has consistently been one of the highest rated judges in the Houston Bar Associationâ*(tm)s Judicial Qualification and Evaluation polls.
Judge Kennedy was selected as the 1999 Trial Judge of the Year by the Texas Association of Civil Trial and Appellate Specialists. She is married and the mother of two children. The appointment of Judge Frank Andrews, former judge of the 116th District Court in Dallas, Texas, was also approved by Judge Pointer. Judge Andrews will serve as the Appeals Judge and member of the Finance Committee for the Dow Corning Settlement Facility. Judge Andrews has served as the Appeals Judge for the MDL 926 Claims Office. Francis McGovern, the MDL 926 Special Master and the Dow Corning Special Master, is the third member of the Finance Committee for the Dow Corning Settlement Facility.
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Court Rules on Commercial Creditors' Motion
On July 13, 1999, the bankruptcy court entered an opinion (which was amended on July 30, 1999) ruling that section 726(a)(5) of the bankruptcy code means that the interest at the legal rate is the federal judgment rate as set forth in 28 U.S.C. section 1961. The ruling affected the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors which had filed an objection to the Joint Plan on the grounds that the contract rate of interest (or alternatively the state statutory rate) should be used. The opinion overruled the Commercial Creditors' objection to confirmation.
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Gulf War, Brain Damage Linked
This article has been sent by Paloma. . .Thank you Paloma.
By BRENDA C. COLEMAN AP Medical Writer
CHICAGO (AP) Brain scans of soldiers who believe they suffer from Gulf War illness suggest they have brain damage, possibly from chemicals they were exposed to during the conflict, researchers reported Tuesday. The researchers said veterans who report symptoms of the illness had lower levels of a certain brain chemical than healthy veterans of the 1991 conflict.
This is the first time ever we have proof of brain damage in sick Gulf War veterans,'' said the lead researcher, Dr. James L. Fleckenstein, professor of radiology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.
``They can be believed they're not malingering, they're not depressed, they're not stressed. There's a hope for treatment and there's hope for being able to monitor the progress of the disease.''
A Pentagon spokesman, Rear Adm. Craig Quigley, said he looked forward to examining the research. ``I hope he's right'' that chemical exposure is the answer, Quigley said. ``We need to take a look at it.''
The researchers reported that magnetic resonance spectroscopy, which measures body chemistry, revealed that veterans who believe they have the illness have lower-than-normal levels of a chemical, N-acetyl-aspartate, in the brain stem and basal ganglia.
That suggests a loss of neurons in those areas, said the researchers, who presented the findings at the 85th annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America.
The brain stem controls some of the body's reflexes, and the basal ganglia are switching stations for nerve impulses controlling movement, memory and emotion. The basal ganglia, for example, are where the malfunctioning occurs that causes Parkinson's disease.
In the study, brain scans of 22 sick veterans revealed levels of N-acetyl-aspartate 10 percent to 25 percent lower than those in 18 healthy veterans, Fleckenstein said. The finding held up in an additional six sick Gulf War veterans drawn from a different part of the military, he said.
The study was blinded, meaning radiologists interpreting the results did not know which patients were complaining of symptoms and which were healthy.
Researchers believe that soldiers who became ill were those who had a genetic vulnerability to certain chemicals that they were exposed to during the war, including nerve gas, the insecticide DEET, pet flea collars some wore to repel pests and the drug pyridostigmine bromide. PB was administered to as many as 250,000 soldiers in the belief it would protect them from the toxic effects of nerve gas.
When toxins of the same type are given to animals, studies show, similar abnormalities in the same regions of the brain resulted, Fleckenstein said.
Last month, the Pentagon raised the possibility for the first time of a connection between Gulf War illness and PB. It said more scientific study is needed before it can either confirm a connection or rule it out.
The new findings did not surprise Charles Townsend, 49, one of the study's subjects.
He served as an airborne sergeant with the Army's 50th Signal Battalion during the war and now can reel off a list of his symptoms, including ulcers in his sinus cavities and colon, swollen lymph nodes, rashes, severe headaches and bleeding gums.
``You forget where you're going, you don't remember a word you want to speak as you're preparing to speak it. It interrupts the train of thought,'' he said.
Townsend said he has been called a liar by Veterans Administration doctors, but he is convinced his problems stem from exposure to chemicals during the war.
Townsend, who is on full disability because of his illness, said he is unsure of what practical effect the study will have. ``My problem is the politics of it,'' he said. ``When is this going to filter down to a single doctor in the Dallas V.A.?''
Fleckenstein said treatments are being explored by his colleague Dr. Robert W. Haley, chief of epidemiology at UT Southwestern. Haley helped define Gulf War syndromes and identify toxic exposures associated with the likelihood of having them. He also revealed enzyme abnormalities that may be part of a biological basis for the disease.
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ABSTRACT
Pathologic findings in nerve and muscle biopsies from 47 women with silicone breast implants.
AUTHORS: Vogel H
AUTHOR AFFILIATION: Department of Pathology, Baylor College
of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA.
vogel@bcm.tmc.eduSOURCE: Neurology 1999 Jul 22;53(2):293-7
CITATION IDS: PMID: 10430416 UI: 99357485
ABSTRACT: OBJECTIVE
: To describe the pathologic findings in 47 consecutively received nerve and muscle biopsies from patients with silicone breast implants (SBI). BACKGROUND: The controversial proposal that systemic illness may result from SBI includes diseases of the central and peripheral nervous system. METHODS: All of the biopsies were processed in full according to current standard methodologies in nerve and muscle pathology. Myelinated fiber histograms were prepared in 40 of the 47 cases. RESULTS: Eight of the 47 nerves showed pathologic changes likely to be symptomatic: 7 with an axonal neuropathy, including 1 with a granulomatous neuritis and myositis and 1 with diabetic neuropathy, and the eighth with a hypertrophic onion bulb neuropathy. Eleven showed minor morphologic or morphometric alterations of uncertain clinical significance. The remaining 28 nerve biopsies were normal, including 1 in which the accompanying muscle showed an inflammatory myopathy typical of polymyositis.CONCLUSIONS:
These findings represent the largest set of reported pathologic data derived from women with SBI. Within this highly selected cohort of women with SBI, the majority of the biopsies were normal, and in 9 of 47 diverse abnormalities were detected including axonal and demyelinating neuropathies and inflammatory myopathies. These findings do not support a consistent association between SBI and any neuropathologic entity.
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ABSTRACT
One generation reproduction study of silicone gel and silastic//Trade Mark//II mammary envelope implants in rats.
AUTHORS: Siddiqui WH; Schardein JL
AUTHOR AFFILIATION: Dow Corning Corporation, Midland, MI.
SOURCE: Toxicologist 1993 Mar;13(1):75
Charles River CD//Trade Mark// rats,randomly assigned to three control and four treatment groups of 60 animals(30 male and 30 females) each, were used to determine the effect of Silicone Gel and SILASTIC//Trade Mark// II Mammany Envelope on reproductive performance, fertility, parturition, and neonatal viability and growth. The silicone gel was implanted subcutaneously in two sites at dosagee levels of 3, 10 and 30 mL/kg. The gel/fluid control groups received either sterile saline or carboxymethylcellulose solution in two flank implantation sites. Two 1.2 cm disks of silicone elastomers were subcutaneously implanted in one site in the left flank and one site in the right flank of the other treated group animals, while the control group received subcutaneous implantations of two 1.2 cm disks of polyethylene in the same locations. The control and test articles were implanted in the males and females 61 and 47 days respectively prior to mating. Approximately one-half of the mated females underwent a cesarean section on gestation day 20; the remaining females were allowed to deliver. Subcutaneous implantation of silicone gel or mammary elastomer did not induce systemic or developmental toxicity. There were no treatment related effects on F0 parental general condition and reproductive performance, F1 neonatal viability and growth for the rats in either the gel or elastomeric treated groups.
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Tea: A Cup of Comfort
Fast facts: stimulates the nervous system; clears congestion; prevents certain cancers; wards off heart disease It's the world's most popular herbal remedy and the second most popular beverage, after water. Technically, any concoction of plants steeped in water is a tea. But when most people say "tea," they mean the bracing brew beloved by everyone from Chinese peasants to the English aristocracy: the fragrant leaves of an Asian evergreen shrub called Camellia sinensis. Several related species are also known simply as tea. As it happens, a nice cup of tea may give you more than just a morning lift. Research suggests that tea, especially the green tea popular in the Orient, may have beneficial actions against heart disease and cancer.
Caffeine Plus
Tea contains several stimulant compounds, including caffeine and theophylline. An average cup of tea contains between 10 and 50 milligrams of caffeine, depending on the type of tea and the preparation method. (By comparison, a cup of brewed coffee has about 100 milligrams.) Both caffeine and theophylline act as bronchodilators, agents that can help open clogged respiratory passages. So your grandmother was right if she gave you hot tea to ease the misery of colds, flu or bronchitis. There's no firm evidence that caffeine in moderation poses any risk to most people, although in excess, it can cause jitters and insomnia.
The Green Scene
Recently, scientists have been finding that tea may offer broader health benefits. Mostly, their research has been on green tea, a type more popular in the Orient than in the United States, where black tea is the leading seller. Green tea supplies generous amounts of substances called polyphenols, including one called catechin. Black tea leaves, which undergo an added process of fermentation, contain less catechin. There's a small but growing body of evidence that the catechin and some related substances in green tea may have cancer-fighting properties. For example, one research team found that catechin derived from a traditional Himalayan tea helped prevent skin tumors in laboratory animals. Other studies using laboratory animals have shown that green tea has a protective effect against tumors of the lung, stomach and liver. Can humans reap the same benefits? Only more research will tell, say the experts.
Tea for the Heart
It's well established that moderate tea drinking does no harm to the heart, and it may do some good. An Israeli study of more than 5,000 tea drinkers found a link between tea consumption and lower blood cholesterol, although the cause-and-effect relationship wasn't clear. Japanese researchers, however, found that green tea polyphenols seemed to lower blood cholesterol and blood pressure in laboratory animals. Researchers have also found that tea is a mild diuretic, helping to rid the body of excess fluid. To enjoy the multiple benefits of tea including its wonderful taste simply buy a commercial product and follow the directions on the package.
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OTHER SILICONE RELATED RESOURCES ARE AVAILABLE THROUGH THE SILICONE WEBRING
http://www.homestead.com/siliconecity /webring
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WHERE THERE'S SMOKE THERE'S FIRE ~ On The Net
The following websites have the "Where There's Smoke There's Fire" documents:
http://implants.clic.net/tony/Smoke/index.html
http://www.homestead.com/siliconecity/index.html
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FOR AOL MEMBERS OR OTHERS, WORKING WITH ON-LINE SERVICES NOT EASILY ACCOMMODATING THE FORMAT OF THESE NEWSLETTERS, YOU MAY ACCESS THEM FROM THE CANADIAN CONNECTION WEBSITE AT THE HYPERLINK BELOW. TONY & MICHELINE LAMBERT HAVE GRACIOUSLY ARCHIVED THEM FOR US.
http://implants.clic.net/tony/Myrl/index.html
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HUMOR
Sent to us by Paloma. . .Truer words were never spoken.
If you love something, set it free
If it comes back, it was and always will be yours
If it never returns, it was never yours to begin with
If it just sits in your living room and messes up your stuff eats your food uses your telephone takes your money and never behaves as if you actually set it free in the first place you either married it or gave birth to it!
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Quote:
It may be that those who do most, dream most.
--Stephen Leacock--