Injections

At the headquarters of Boston Medical Group in Costa Mesa, six salesmen were working the toll-free appointment line on a recent afternoon, fielding calls from men around the country enticed by newspaper and radio ads promising a "proven" solution to erectile dysfunction in "one office visit. " The results are visible "right there in the office," one sales representative told a caller. "It's amazing. " Following a script, he answered a few questions and offered to schedule a $195 consultation at one of the company's 21 U.S. clinics.

The Food & Drug Administration is warning that injections of corticosteroids into the spine's epidural space -- an extremely common treatment for radiating back or neck pain -- in rare cases may result in loss of vision, stroke, paralysis and death. And that's even in the absence of fungal and other contamination introduced by compounding pharmacies that killed 48 people in 2012 and 2013. Physicians offering these injections to patients with back or neck pain should discuss these rare but serious risks with patients considering a jab of steroidal medication into the cerebrospinal fluid, the FDA said Wednesday.

Local anesthetics are supposed to reduce pain, but the shots themselves can be painful -- sometimes quite painful. But the pain can be reduced substantially by the simple expedient of warming the painkiller before performing the injection, researchers reported Tuesday. The painkillers are normally kept cold to preserve them. Dr. Anna Taddio of the University of Toronto and her colleagues reviewed 18 studies involving a total of 831 patients. They reported online in the Annals of Emergency Medicine that warming the injections before administering them consistently produced a "clinically meaningful reduction in pain" regardless of how the shot was administered or how large an injection was given.

It's hard to get executions right. This week, the Supreme Court denied appeals by Louisiana and Missouri death row inmates who argued that they were entitled to know the source of the drugs with which they are to be executed, and that denial of that information compromises their right to due process. It's unclear why the court refused to hear the cases, but the underlying argument remains potent. Another challenge is underway in Oklahoma, where two inmates are seeking stays of execution because state officials have revised protocols on the fly as the lethal drugs they usually use have become more difficult to obtain.

Scientists have all kinds of stem cell cures in mind: replacing dopamine-producing nerves in the brains of Parkinson's patients, fixing damaged spinal cords, curing Type 1 diabetes, etc.  The therapies are slow-coming, though researchers are learning lots about how cells and body parts form. Here's a study just published in the journal Nature that shows injecting rod precursor cells (cells destined to become rod photoreceptors) into the eye gives mice born without rods the ability to detect  dim light.

SAN FRANCISCO - California has dropped its legal efforts to win approval of a three-drug method of lethal injection and will instead propose  single-drug executions, a prisons spokesman said Wednesday. At the direction of Gov. Jerry Brown, the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation decided against challenging a unanimous California appeals court ruling that blocked the three-drug method on the grounds it had not been properly vetted, said Jeffrey Callison, a corrections department spokesman.

The Food & Drug Administration is warning that injections of corticosteroids into the spine's epidural space -- an extremely common treatment for radiating back or neck pain -- in rare cases may result in loss of vision, stroke, paralysis and death. And that's even in the absence of fungal and other contamination introduced by compounding pharmacies that killed 48 people in 2012 and 2013. Physicians offering these injections to patients with back or neck pain should discuss these rare but serious risks with patients considering a jab of steroidal medication into the cerebrospinal fluid, the FDA said Wednesday.

A judge has shaved three months off the prison term of an Argentine nurse who pleaded guilty to charges he injected wealthy clients -- including Lionel Richie -- with unapproved anti-aging drugs. Daniel Tomas Fuente Serrano's 18-month sentence was reduced Monday on the recommendation of prosecutors, who said he cooperated with their investigation. Serrano pleaded guilty in 2006 to conspiracy, smuggling and use of unapproved drugs. He is accused in court papers of charging thousands of dollars for injections of substances consistent with industrial-grade silicone used to lubricate auto parts, as well as medical-grade silicone not approved as a wrinkle filler.

An unruly passenger died aboard a Hungarian airliner Saturday after being strapped to his seat and injected with tranquilizers. The passenger, identified by Turkey's Anatolian news agency as Finnish national Mikaeinar Peterson, was dead by the time the Malev Airlines jetliner made an emergency landing in Istanbul. Anatolian and Hungary's MTI news agency said the man started harassing others aboard the plane carrying 190 passengers and a crew from Bangkok, Thailand, to Budapest, Hungary.

Convicted killer Richard Angelo, a nurse who tried to become a hero by reviving patients he injected with lethal doses of drugs, was sentenced today to 61 1/3 years to life in prison. "During my many years on the bench, I've heard many stories of horror, but this is at the top of the list," said Suffolk County Court Judge Alfred Tisch.

A month from now, if all goes according to plan in Oklahoma, two convicted murderers will be executed by lethal injection, and without knowing exactly how the killing cocktail was put together or by whom. Without that knowledge, they could well be denied their basic constitutional protection against cruel and unusual punishment. The death penalty, as we've written before, is an indefensible mess of immorality, gamed judicial processes, misapplication based on race and class, and public expense.

Livelier and more amusing than its studio's advance-screening ban suggested, "Vampire Academy," based on the bestselling tween book series by Richelle Mead, should largely satisfy fans of the seemingly unkillable parade of hot-young-vampire tales. That said, this likable comedic-thriller is something of a narrative mishmash as the script by Daniel Waters ("Heathers") continually strains to explain - and then make good on - the dense ins and outs of Mead's secret society of good and bad vampires.

HOUSTON - An Ohio inmate's drawn-out execution this week led to an outcry about the increased use of new lethal injection drugs by the country's 32 death penalty states, a practice that experts predict will lead to more problems. Dennis McGuire took more than 15 minutes to die Thursday, appearing to gasp and snort, according to witnesses. His lethal injection was a combination of two drugs never tried before in a U.S. execution, according to experts at the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington, D.C. McGuire, 53, was sentenced to death for the 1989 rape and stabbing death of Joy Stewart, 22, who was seven months pregnant.

MannKind Corp. in Valencia is attempting to revolutionize the treatment of Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes with its first product: an inhaled form of insulin powder called Afrezza that would eliminate the need for most injections. The company hopes to get federal approval for the Afrezza inhaler system by spring. The company's future and that of its 246 employees are riding on that goal. The dream of an inhaled form of insulin treatment dates from the 1920s, when doctors and researchers worried that diabetes patients wouldn't want to subject themselves to regular injections.

Clippers forward Jared Dudley said he got a platelet-rich plasma injection to help alleviate the painful tendinitis in his right knee. The procedure, known as PRP, takes a sample of the patient's blood and spins it in a centrifuge for 15 minutes. It is then injected to accelerate tissue repair. Though he's hurting, Dudley hasn't missed any of the Clippers' 15 games. He is averaging 8.4 points per game on 48% shooting, with 38.5% (20 for 52) on three-pointers. He's playing 27 minutes per game.

USC defensive end Leonard Williams said Wednesday that he planned to play against fifth-ranked Stanford despite a right shoulder injury that could require postseason surgery. Williams did not play against California last weekend and has not practiced this week, but he said he felt stronger after receiving a platelet-rich plasma injection Tuesday. "I'm just feeling like I'm getting a lot of my strength back so I should be able to go Saturday," he said. The 6-foot-5, 290-pound Williams is the Trojans' second-leading tackler and he has a team-best 11 tackles for loss.

A Lomita nurse who claimed that she orchestrated her own arrest to get treatment for recurring headaches--and who then jumped bail in 1992 and fled to Mexico--has been arrested in Puerto Vallarta, the FBI announced Friday.

Willie Harris went to war the day he was discharged from the Air Force. While many of his military buddies went to Vietnam in February, 1967, Harris went home to Los Angeles to prepare his own battle. "My job in the Air Force was to play basketball, to win games and prestige for my base commander," recalled Harris, who enlisted in October, 1962, and was eventually stationed at Kirtland Air Force Base near Albuquerque, N.M. "Then I hurt my knees," he said.

Larry Flynt wants to stop Missouri from executing the man whose bullet put the publisher of Hustler magazine in a wheelchair for life. Over the weekend, Flynt and the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union filed suit to force the state to release documents on how the state determines the process by which it kills prisoners. Joseph Paul Franklin, 63, is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on Nov. 20. Missouri last month delayed the execution of convicted murderer Allen Nicklasson after the German manufacturer of the drug propofol objected to its use in the deadly mixture of drugs designed to execute inmates.

So last week, we explained that I was getting Botoxed , or "Toxed," in a vernacular I created, and this week we will look at the results and reactions among my so-called friends. These are people, I remind you, whom you would pay to stay away, in a sort of reverse ransom arrangement. They know me so well and are so comfortable with me now that they'll say almost anything that comes to mind, the more mischievous the better. In a sense, these friends have become family, which is the last thing you want.