OPINION
September 15, 2011
A newly released series of interviews with Jacqueline Kennedy, recorded in 1964, just months after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, offers an extraordinary and occasionally shocking glimpse of a woman enshrined in our popular culture as a figure of grace, fortitude and civility. In the conversations, the then-34-year-old widow reveals herself as variously audacious, narrow-minded and unsparingly tart. She called Indira Gandhi "a real prune — bitter, kind of pushy," and said she had told Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev at a dinner to stop boring her with statistics on Ukraine.
HEALTH
November 5, 2010 | By Joe Graedon and Theresa Graedon, Special to the Los Angeles Times
My 86-year-old sister takes amitriptyline. I worry that this drug could be affecting her balance. She uses a cane and always seems unsteady on her feet. She has fallen many times. Is amitriptyline safe for someone her age? This antidepressant is generally considered inappropriate for older people. Although it is sometimes prescribed to ease nerve pain or help people sleep, amitriptyline can cause mental confusion, lack of coordination, dizziness, dry mouth, blurred vision and constipation.
NEWS
September 13, 2010
What's the best way to get rid of warts? Freeze 'em? Sizzle them with acid? Or just wait for them to go away? (They often do.) Because warts are not exactly life-threatening, perhaps it's not surprising that their eradication has not been at the top of the medical establishment's research agenda. But a study just published in the Canadian Medical Assn. Journal (CMAJ) did address the issue. Its investigation of 240 Dutch people with warts found that cryotherapy (in which warts are frozen in the doctor's office with the use of liquid nitrogen)
WORLD
July 16, 2010 | By John M. Glionna, Los Angeles Times
Inside a dimly lighted living room in the heart of the Javanese forest, Dede Koswara blankly examines his bulky hands, which have morphed to the size of catcher's mitts. He shuffles along on blackened, bloated feet, a prisoner of his own mutinous body. For years, the slender construction worker watched helplessly as his limbs broke out in a swath of grotesque bark-like warts that sapped his energy and limited his mobility. At one point, he seemed to sprout contorted yellow-brown branches 3 feet long.
HEALTH
April 19, 2010 | Joe Graedon, Teresa Graedon, The People's Pharmacy
I have suffered from insomnia for many years. My doctor prescribed Ambien , but it doesn't seem to be working very well anymore. I also suspect that it affected my memory. Now the doctor is suggesting the antidepressant amitriptyline (Elavil) . The side effects I have read about make me nervous. Is there any herb or home remedy that might help me get some sleep? Amitriptyline is an old-fashioned (tricyclic) antidepressant. Some people experience a morning hangover effect that leaves them drowsy and disoriented.
ENTERTAINMENT
January 28, 2010 | By KENNETH TURAN, Film Critic
Unless you're Australian, or have a long memory for short films, you've likely never heard of cane toads. But be prepared, they're coming at you. And in 3-D no less. "Cane Toads: The Conquest" had its world premiere at Sundance on Tuesday night before an audience that roared with delight at the amphibians' antics. The reception fulfilled the expectations of filmmaker Mark Lewis, who called it "just like 'Avatar,' except with toads." An Australian with a lively and playful sense of humor, Lewis has been to Sundance before, with the irreverent "The Natural History of the Chicken."