samhexum

An advisory panel of the Food and Drug Administration stated today that virtually all over-the-counter decongestants simply don’t work. The FDA panel found that phenylephrine — the active ingredient in Sudafed, Benadryl, Robitussin and other popular decongestants — is nearly useless at reducing nasal congestion. The advisory panel’s ruling might soon lead to these oral products being pulled off store shelves nationwide. (Nasal sprays containing phenylephrine are unaffected by the ruling.) “This drug and this oral dose should have been removed from the market a long time ago,” Jennifer Schwartzott, a patient advocate from New York, told NBC News. “The patient community requires and deserves medications that treat their symptoms safely and effectively and I don’t believe that this medication does,” Schwartzott added. Phenylephrine first came to prominence in 2006 after another decongestant, pseudoephedrine, was taken off drugstore shelves because it’s an ingredient in the illegal stimulant methamphetamine. After the passage of the Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act of 2005, pseudoephedrine was available only behind the counter, so drugmakers replaced it with phenylephrine-based products. The FDA panel analyzed the early documents and studies that were used to support phenylephrine’s OTC use. The agency found that study results were inconsistent, did not meet modern standards for study design or had flawed data integrity. In contrast, several recent studies into phenylephrine found that the drug didn’t reduce nasal congestion much more than a placebo, even at doses as high as 40 milligrams. “In conclusion, we do believe that the original studies were methodologically unsound and do not match today’s standard,” said Dr. Peter Starke, an FDA official who led the review of phenylephrine. “By contrast, we believe the new data are credible and do not provide evidence that oral phenylephrine is effective as a nasal decongestant.” The FDA first started investigating oral phenylephrine in 2007, according to MedPage Today, in response to a citizen petition, and an advisory committee meeting was held that same year. In the meantime, there was some industry pushback against regulation of the drug, which remains the case today. The Consumer Healthcare Products Association, an industry representative group, had argued for keeping the drug available, citing the “totality of the scientific evidence” with pre-existing studies to support efficacy. They criticized the more recent clinical studies as having “important limitations” that were “conducted using a study population that is not appropriate to evaluate the efficacy of phenylephrine for OTC use.” The group also shared a survey that found 1 in 2 households in the US used an oral decongestant over the past year. It also found that people prefer oral decongestant tablets over nasal sprays 3 to 1. The market for decongestants is huge: A consumer study of 100,000 US households showed that about half purchased medications with phenylephrine over the course of the year, and most of those did so several times a year. Though the findings of the FDA advisory panel are nonbinding, the FDA usually sides with the panel, which may lead to oral phenylephrine products being removed from store shelves in the near future. Sudafed, Benadryl and most decongestants don't work: FDA advisory... NYPOST.COM "This drug should have been removed from the market a long time ago," said a patient advocate from New York.

The FDA begs to differ. (Oh, please! Please let us differ!) Decongestant in Cold Medicines Found Ineffective FDA advisory panel’s declaration paves way for removal of dozens of medicines in the U.S. Read in The Wall Street Journal: https://apple.news/A0v6rsr0eQSi20SYLIdoRIg

I think the cute guy in this ad looks like @BuffaloKyle:

welcome back!

Siri's going to be unavailable for quite awhile... at least in Tampa: https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/38383310/rays-siri-suffers-hand-fracture-out-indefinitely

maybe not such a great find... Living in a condominium situated in Brooklyn Bridge Park, you might expect to hear birds chirping, children playing, the wind rustling through the trees — and the sounds of toilets flushing and hands drying. The city is now looking into “acoustic renovations” to help make a public bathroom quieter following a years-long legal battle in which the owners of a condo in the park claim the toilets on the first floor of their building are a noisy nightmare. The cacophony has caused Salim Samaha, his wife Kimberly Su, and their family — including a young child and Su’s elderly mother — to endure nonstop sleepless nights since they bought the nearly $5 million unit in June of 2019, according to a September 2020 lawsuit they filed in Brooklyn Supreme Court. Their complaints began soon after they moved in. The family “did not have notice of the excessive and frequent noise” from the park-operated bathroom, gate, and storage room beneath their five-bedroom apartment, they allege in the suit. Brooklyn Bridge Park Corp. has conducted repeated renovations on the allegedly boisterous bathrooms — which opened in 2017 — but it hasn’t done enough to dim the noise, the family alleges. Now the park’s management is searching for experts to further fix the “bathroom acoustics” of the public restrooms, which are open from around 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. inside the Pierhouse Condominium on Furman Street. The nonprofit organization that runs the public park last week posted in The City Record that it is “seeking an experienced contractor to perform acoustic renovations to the men’s and women’s public restrooms.” Eric Landau, the president of Brooklyn Bridge Park Corp., told THE CITY that the organization issued the request to see how much it would cost to do further noise mitigation on the bathrooms — even though the two sides are still in litigation. “We are trying to find what our options are for rectifying this situation, though do not believe we are violating the New York City noise code or the law,” he said. “We feel very, very strongly that this is a public bathroom, in a public park, and it remaining open and operational is paramount.” Meanwhile, the couple shared their tale of water-closet woe in multiple court documents, writing that they can hear every flush from the bathroom below despite extensive renovation work after they first complained. The flushing creates a “banging” and “water hammer” effect as well as vibrations across their five-bedroom, four-bathroom duplex, they allege. Sounds from the opening and closing of bathroom stalls also comes through their apartment, they said, as well as noise from a clanging gate and workers in a storage room. The couple hired a sound engineering company, whose testing found that flushing toilets beneath the home violated the city’s noise code, the court papers state. The firm, SoundSense, found the bathroom noise changed the ambient noise level in the master bedroom by more than what is legally allowed — 7 dB above ambient at night and 10 dB more during the day. The city’s Department of Environmental Protection, however, countered through its own testing that the noise was not that bad. “There was no excessive or unreasonable noise (water hammering/flushing from the men and womens restroom facilities) noted or detected at the time of inspection,” inspectors found during a December 2020 visit. The couple also complained about noise from a nearby MTA ventilation plant and the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway — “particularly when trucks go over a bump on the highway directly outside the residence,” experts from SoundSense wrote. Samaha told the court in a deposition that it isn’t “unreasonable for the bathroom and storage room to be shut down until the excessive noise conditions are abated,” noting there are four bathrooms within a seven-minute walk from the ones below his apartment. The couple’s lawyer did not respond to a phone call and email seeking comment. The first section of the approximately 85-acre Brooklyn Bridge Park opened in 2010 on a once-industrial stretch of former Port Authority property along the East River. It is operated by the Brooklyn Bridge Park Corp., which maintains the park through an agreement with the city. Private development, including the 108-unit Pierhouse condo, was allowed on the grounds as a way to pay for the park’s maintenance, and the first tenants moved in by 2016. As part of the development deal, the condo and the nearby 1 Hotel had to have public amenities, like bathrooms, for the park’s many visitors. This year, around 5 million people came to the park between Memorial Day and Labor Day, Landau said. The buildings have been controversial from the start, with neighbors outside the park filing an unsuccessful lawsuit, saying they ruined the view from the Brooklyn Heights Promenade. Two Brooklyn Bridge Park board members were among the first to buy condos inside the Pierhouse, a potential conflict of interest which had to be approved by the city’s law department. The current lawsuit is still moving through court, with Samaha’s lawyer alleging the bathroom noise has lowered the value of the family’s apartment. Property records show it was purchased for more than $4.95 million four years ago. According to StreetEasy, the value has gone down 13% since then. Their toilet fight comes as the City Council released a bill last month that would require the city to create a “long-term citywide bathroom strategy” to ultimately have one public toilet per every 2,000 residents by 2035. The bill’s sponsor, Councilmember Sandy Nurse (D-Brooklyn), has said that the issue of public restrooms is about equity. “Because NYC’s lack of public bathrooms disproportionately affects some people more than others!” she posted on social media last month.

Y'all don't even try to make it hard for me: Blanche: And Daddy, this is Dorothy. Dorothy: I'm sorry. I hope I didn't offend you. Big Daddy: No harm done, darling. Now, I want you to promise me you won't fret none. Dorothy: Well, I would, except I'm not exactly sure what "fret none" is.

Ashley Crow is an American actress. She is best known for her role of Sandra Bennet on the television show Heroes, and her son has been called up by the Cubs. Lindsay Frost was an actress who had a successful Hollywood career, including roles in various dramas, such as "As the World Turns" and "L.A. Law", and her son's being a part of their rotation has not helped the Chisox, Angels, or Guardians make the postseason.

Did you ever post anything inhumane about @RadioRob?

Smuckers is buying Hostess, in what I’d say is a sweets deal.

The good news... after being no-hit into the 11th inning, the Yankees won a meaningless game today. The bad news... Jasson Dominguez has a torn UCL and is out until the all-star break next season.

No, but I have seen people toss cookies with their stomachs.

poor kid because of both. fabulously rich kid because of the father.

Elon Musk confirms he had third child with Grimes named Techno Mechanicus Vomito Projectilcus

Dicks: The Musical” has an extremely useful title. Your gut reaction to those three short words will help you decide whether you can stomach this loony A24 movie, which had its world premiere Thursday at the Toronto International Film Festival — or if it’ll make you retch. Trust your instincts, because the film itself, directed by Larry Charles (“Borat”), won’t change your mind. You go in either loving this sort of thing — or loathing it. This creature from the wacko lagoon has ample obscenities, constant profanity, razzmatazz songs and dances. And, in my case, a lot of belly laughs. That’s partly because I’ve followed and enjoyed the careers of its talented writers and stars, Josh Sharp and Aaron Jackson, two hilarious and high-energy New York actor-comedians who based the film on their Upright Citizens Brigade show “F–king Identical Twins.” There’s nobody else out there like them. Also it didn’t hurt that it premiered in the zany, irrepressible Midnight Madness section of TIFF, where the audiences are booze-soaked, delirious or a dangerous mixture of the two. That’s the best way to experience “Dicks” — oy vey — with a rowdy group of people in a theater. Watching this film at home alone has a whiff of illegality to it, like the cops could come and cart you off at any moment. While there are more anatomical references (and visual depictions) here than you can count, there is an actual story, about two identical twins — Craig (Sharp) and Trevor (Jackson) — who were separated at birth. Both live in New York and unknowingly work at the same company selling small parts for Vroomba vacuums. The chief gag is that Sharp and Jackson, while both tall and white, are far from identical. The actors could be fraternal, at best.*** They also proudly assert that they’re stereotypically macho when they, er, are not. All the comedy is similarly arch and never takes itself seriously for a second. When the guys discover, in song, that they are actually brothers with two halves of the same heart locket, they plot to get their parents back together by switching identities. It’s “The Parent Trap,” except Craig and Trevor are in their mid-30s and completely out of their minds. The songs, catchy while not trying to break ground, are send-ups of traditional Broadway show tunes. As the brothers musically profess the void that’s inside them, Sharp sings “This feeling that I’m feeling, it feels so very bad!” But the best is Megan Thee Stallion as their demanding boss, Gloria, who performs a very entertaining rap about ridding the world of men. As if the movie isn’t ridiculous enough already, Nathan Lane and Megan Mullally enter as the boys’ dad and mom, Harris and Evelyn. Both are eccentric shut-ins who probably should remain at home indefinitely. the actors, not the characters, right? Evelyn keeps wrongly insisting she’s 93 or 94 and is in a relationship with a small ceramic boot, while Harris comes out of the closet and then reveals he owns two humanoid lizards he found underground that he calls his “sewer boys.” Suffice it to say, “Dicks” is a challenging film to summarize. In fact, the movie works best when you think of it, not as a movie, but as a series of connected bits. Charles’ filmmaking is just OK, and he doesn’t quite settle on whether he wants “Dicks” to look mockably cheap (in a funny way) or legit. And the story’s wrap-up is a doozy. But anytime a moment doesn’t quite work narratively, a joke picks things right up. When Harris asks Evelyn, a cat lady without any cats, “How long has it been?,” she replies with a lisp, “Two hundred sixty years.” “Two hundred sixty years since we last saw each other?,” asks a confused Harris. “Oh, no. I thought you meant since the French and Indian War.” Bowen Yang of “Saturday Night Live” narrates the whole shebang as God dressed in an outfit that could best be described as train-conductor-disco-ball chic. And Lane chewing up ham and spitting it in the faces of reptilian puppets is an oddity that cannot be unseen. so I'll make sure I don't see it Having written this script for themselves, Sharp and Jackson are a scream. Imagine if a vodka Redbull transformed into two human beings — that’s who they are. After “Dicks,” I suspect there will be bigger and better projects to come from this distinctive duo. I think not. This seems like another annoying Nathan Lane character I can live without. *** Where COULD they have gotten the idea? The panel of three men visiting the girls for the purpose of verifying Rose's accomplishments for the St. Olaf's "Woman of the Year" award call themselves "the Topplecopper triplets" despite not looking identical to one another. Then again, they ARE from St. Olaf... Dorothy: How odd. You don't look anything alike. One of the "triplets": Oh, really? Well, back in St. Olaf, nobody could tell us apart. Another one of the "triplets": You can imagine all the fun we had playing tricks on our teachers in school.

I just read that Roger Federer was out with friends, pulled out his phone, asked Siri how old @Unicorn is, and nobody laughed at him. I guess Europeans are just more tolerant and sensitive to their friends' quirks.

Why no DAVE THOMAS ST. outside a Wendy's or RAY KROC BLVD outside a McDonalds? The crowd that gathered at the White Castle on Queens Boulevard in Sunnyside on Sept. 7 weren’t there for the “cheesy sliders” deal, but rather to honor the memory of longtime neighborhood business leader John Vogt. The corner where the White Castle sits was co-named for Vogt, who is remembered as a stalwart in the Sunnyside community, having been one of the founding members of the Sunnyside Shine BID and a leader of the Sunnyside Chamber of Commerce before he died last February at the age of 66 following a two-year battle with cancer. Raised in Jackson Heights, Vogt got his first job at age 14 as a janitor at the now-shuttered White Castle location at 88-08 Northern Blvd. location in 1970. He spent his career at the company and eventually oversaw the locations throughout Queens as regional director of the New York region based in Woodside before he retired in 2014. According to his wife Candida Vogt, the White Castle on 43rd Street and Queens Boulevard in Sunnyside was his “place.” Now, the corner outside the fast food joint bears his name.

I like Sarah a lot & think she'd do a good job moderating, but they'd never give her a shot.

Danny Masterson sentenced to 30 years in prison for 2003 rapes Not to make light of this, but don't you think a sentence of 30 years for over 2000 rapes is a wee bit light? That's less than a week for each.