Reading the Charlotte Sun Newspaper

One of the frustrations of being a DeSoto Sun subscriber is the disjunction between the editorial pages and the news editors put into the newspaper. Too often, as happened twice this week, editorial essays are based on information editors failed to share with readers. That means readers don’t have the same sources as the editorial writers and are unable to fairly evaluate the editor’s assertions and conclusions.

Earlier this week, DeSoto Sun Pundit opined about the horrific number of juvenile gangs and criminal gang members. To instill the proper level of hysterics into the piece, the writer cited “research” conducted by Robert McMillan, a third-tier syndicated columnist — I suspect McMillian’s “research” was probably copying some numbers from a think-tank report. Unfortunately, McMillan’s column has not yet appeared in the paper, so readers have no idea what the local writer was talking about. There’s no way to evaluate the editorial position or the imminent danger of this threat to local peace and tranquility.

Yesterday’s editorial is a naively framed bit of Pollyannaism based on “housing investment” reports the writer says have been published by Credit Suisse. Try as she might, Old Word Wolf cannot find the article in the newspaper’s archives, and Credit Suisse puts out so many reports that it was hopeless sorting through all the current ones on the Internet to decide how the writer was using the numbers he claims to have dug up.

In a variation of the same problem, readers’ letters to the editor all week have been full of responses to an editorial that seems to have had something to do with drivers who run red lights. Unfortunately, while DeSoto readers can read reader reactions, they have no way of reading the editorial because it wasn’t placed in our zoned edition of paper. It’s like listening to one side of a conversation.

“Housing history has and will repeat itself”

Cramming two tenses into one clause is like putting two cats in a sack.

One of the frustrations of being a DeSoto Sun subscriber is the disjunction between the editorial pages and the news editors put into the newspaper. Too often, as happened twice this week, editorial essays are based on information editors failed to share with readers. That means readers don’t have the same sources as the editorial writers and are unable to fairly evaluate the editor’s assertions and conclusions.

Earlier this week, DeSoto Sun Pundit opined about the horrific number of juvenile gangs and criminal gang members. To instill the proper level of hysterics into the piece, the writer cited “research” conducted by Robert McMillan, a third-tier syndicated columnist — I suspect McMillian’s “research” was probably copying some numbers from a think-tank report. Unfortunately, McMillan’s column has not yet appeared in the paper, so readers have no idea what the local writer was talking about. There’s no way to evaluate the editorial position or the imminent danger of this threat to local peace and tranquility.

Yesterday’s editorial is a naively framed bit of Pollyannaism based on “housing investment” reports the writer says have been published by Credit Suisse. Try as she might, Old Word Wolf cannot find the article in the newspaper’s archives, and Credit Suisse puts out so many reports that it was hopeless sorting through all the current ones on the Internet to decide how the writer was using the numbers he claims to have dug up.

In a variation of the same problem, readers’ letters to the editor all week have been full of responses to an editorial that seems to have had something to do with drivers who run red lights. Unfortunately, while DeSoto readers can read reader reactions, they have no way of reading the editorial because it wasn’t placed in our zoned edition of paper. It’s like listening to one side of a conversation.

“Housing history has and will repeat itself”

Cramming two tenses into one clause is like putting two cats in a sack.

Instead of writing a real lead, the business editor tries to wring a bit of levity from the word “kudos” in a misguided effort to set up his column this morning. The result is his readers are treated to a writer’s warm-up exercise instead of journalism.

“There’s a whole bunch of congratulations and kudos to pass out in today’s “Biz Bits.” But before we get on with this – is “kudos” singular or plural? And how did such an obscure word come to get slung around by so many people who barely know what it means? That’s the problem with English – too many words.

The journalist-editor’s job isn’t to toss rhetorical softballs to the ignorant masses. And when his own ignorance, whether feigned or real, is easily remedied by reaching over to the top left corner of the desk and opening the dictionary, laziness becomes the only explanation. This opening doesn’t inform; it insults. It doesn’t draw readers in; it shuts them out. Charlotte Sun readers, the editor asserts, are people who barely know what “kudos” means.

Even worse, the rhetorical antics infected a headline writer over at the page-designer’s playpen and no grownups were around to stop the high jinks.

Instead of writing a real lead, the business editor tries to wring a bit of levity from the word “kudos” in a misguided effort to set up his column this morning. The result is his readers are treated to a writer’s warm-up exercise instead of journalism.

“There’s a whole bunch of congratulations and kudos to pass out in today’s “Biz Bits.” But before we get on with this – is “kudos” singular or plural? And how did such an obscure word come to get slung around by so many people who barely know what it means? That’s the problem with English – too many words.

The journalist-editor’s job isn’t to toss rhetorical softballs to the ignorant masses. And when his own ignorance, whether feigned or real, is easily remedied by reaching over to the top left corner of the desk and opening the dictionary, laziness becomes the only explanation. This opening doesn’t inform; it insults. It doesn’t draw readers in; it shuts them out. Charlotte Sun readers, the editor asserts, are people who barely know what “kudos” means.

Even worse, the rhetorical antics infected a headline writer over at the page-designer’s playpen and no grownups were around to stop the high jinks.

Medical reporting requires special skill and vigilance on the part of the journalist. A well-reported medical story helps readers put complex information into perspective. It balances the inevitable attraction of hope and discovery against the inevitable limits of investigation and study.

On the other hand, a poorly done story can lure readers into spending money, investing precious time, and nurturing false expectations for phony baloney medical devices and nostrums. Readers are not always as skeptical as they should be when it comes to hoping there’s relief just around the corner for whatever ails them.

In the universe of good medical reporting and bad, the centerpiece of Sunday’s medical tab in the Charlotte Sun falls into the bad — very bad — categtory.

The topic is a local man’s promotion of a device called an interactive metronome. Half a dozen studies have demonstrated that practice with the device can improve some people’s ability to concentrate on laboratory tasks. The results suggest learning to mimic rhythms might help some suffers ease the symptoms of some kinds of attention-deficit disorders. This is genuinely interesting news and certainly worth a nice feature story in the local paper.

Unfortunately, the reporter-editor fails to report the relevant who, what, when, where, why, and how-much sorts of information that would help readers understand the device’s benefits and limitations. By avoiding journalism’s basics, she ends up writing an advertisement for the salesman — without even including the key element of a good ad: How much does it cost?

Here are the details.

Improving the efficiency of the mind
By Dawn Krebs
Feeling Fit Editor

It helps to improve concentration in autistic children. It also helps to improve overall athletic performance in athletes. It also has been used in a pilot study of Parkinson’s patients.

These assertions require attribution. Whose pilot study? Which atheltic performances? Not one of the “teasers” in the lead is addressed in the body of the story.

While it seems that nothing could achieve results in such a broad spectrum of people, …

(nothing? not asprin, not ice cream, which also achieve results in a broad spectrum of people?)

… the Interactive Metronome program uses a unique device to help reach a variety of people with different needs and goals — their brains.

What does it mean that the brain is a “different” need or goal? This sentence doesn’t make sense. “Unique” it isn’t. Down below the story says the device is a traditional metronome — hardly unique. And, as anyone with an electronic keyboard knows, computer-generated rhythms are commonplace.

The program is research-based, and utilizes rhythm and timing to improve focus, coordination as well as athletic performance.

The first clause’s assertion that the program is research based is unrelated to the three items in second clause. These assertions echo the lead closely enough that it’s time to start coughing up some 5W facts.

And one Nokomis man is not only proof of the program’s success, he helps others by coaching them through the program, certified as a program provider.

What regulatory or academic institution issues the certification he claims to hold? There is no professional license issued in the state of Florida to anyone with this name.

“The better our mind and our body work together, the better they perform,” said Mike Danski.

And the basis of this assertion is? My body does not work very well, but my mind is pretty sharp.

Danski has traveled from Tampa to Ft. Myers, administering the program to a wide swath of individuals. Because of some of his clients, Danski literally brings the program to them.

Because of some of his clients? Because of what? Why “literally?” What is a “wide swath” of individuals? Swath usually refers to the width of the path cut by a reaper or similar instrument.

“Some of the families I work with involve autistic children,” Danski explains. “There’s no way they could travel to get to the trainings. So I go to them.”

What are his credentials for “training” autistic children?

The Interactive Metronome program typically involves 10-12 sessions lasting about 45 minutes to an hour each.

Attribute this statement. Describe what a session entails.

The program combines the traditional music metronome with computer technology to help with concentration, focusing on tasks, rhythm and timing.

Make the clauses parallel, please. How does this combination occur? Does a “traditional” metronome sit next to the computer?

The program works when a client places the headphones on their head. They will then hear a rhythmic sound through the headphones. They are instructed to respond to the sound by tapping or clapping as closely to the beat they hear as they can. Other sounds direct the client on if they are on the beat, falling behind or responding too quickly. Over a series of sessions, the brain learns to keep rhythm and timing. As these skills improve, so does physical functions such as motor control, coordination, concentration, attention span, and even athletic performance.

FCAT-level grammar faults in every sentence. What makes this “a program,” and not just a bio-feedback session? How is this program different than learning to play drums or other rhythm-percussion instruments?

Danski didn’t happen into this field by accident.

This field is what? Using one device hardly constitutes a field.

An elementary school teacher, he was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder shortly after his son was also diagnosed with the same thing. Other members of his family also tested for ADD and bipolar disorder.

Tested but not diagnosed?

But Danski didn’t want to live life like that.

Like what? Living life like any particular thing has not yet been mentioned.

“I didn’t like the thought of being on medication the rest of my life,” he said. “So I went to the computer and Googled non-medicine alternatives to treat my condition. Interactive Metronome came up.

Close quote. Is Google, a search engine, really a good basis for conducting medical research? The ways its entries are sorted have nothing to do with medical reliability, peer review, types of studies performed or any other criteria usually used to evaluate medical matters.

Even then, Danski took his time — 10 months in all — to research all he could find about the program.

Wow. Ten months.

“One of the good things for me is that it was based in Florida,” he said. “When I was done reading up on the program, I drove over to their facility with my son, and met everyone involved.”

This statement should alert a reporter to suspect Danski’s research skills are rudimentary. What city is “their facility” located in?

He became a program provider soon afterwards.

Was he certified by the manufacturer, or is there an oustide, objective agency involved?

Danski sees the program as a way to help children who have ADHD or are struggling with concentration or focus in a way that doesn’t involve medication.

This sentence does not say what the writer thinks it says.

Scientists have found the same results that Danski is now experiencing.

And those scientists are? Those results are?

In a study published in the March 2001 American Journal of Occupational Therapy, a significant pattern of improvement was found in a double-blind study of nine-year-old to 12-year-old boys diagnosed with ADHD. The study found the boys showed improvement in “attention, coordination, motor control, language processing, reading and control of aggression.”

The article’s abstract does not describe a “double blind study.” In fact, if the reporter knows what a double-blind study is, she would know it’s nearly impossible to conduct one using a device of this sort. The study described is a randomized study, using a “no intervention” group and a “computer games” group as controls. Here’s the abstract:

[Am J Occup Ther. 2001 Mar-Apr;55(2):155-62. Links
Effect of interactive metronome training
on children with ADHD.
Shaffer RJ, Jacokes LE, Cassily JF, Greenspan SI, Tuchman RF, Stemmer PJ Jr.
College of Human Medicine,
Michigan State University, Ann Arbor, USA.
OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of a specific intervention, the Interactive Metronome, on selected aspects of motor and cognitive skills in a group of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). METHOD: The study included 56 boys who were 6 years to 12 years of age and diagnosed before they entered the study as having ADHD. The participants were pretested and randomly assigned to one of three matched groups. A group of 19 participants receiving 15 hrs
of Interactive Metronome training exercises were compared with a group
receiving no intervention and a group receiving training on selected computer video games. RESULTS: A significant pattern of improvement across 53 of 58 variables favoring the Interactive Metronome treatment was found. Additionally, several significant differences were found among the treatment groups and between pretreatment and posttreatment factors on performance in areas of attention, motor control, language processing, reading, and parental reports of improvements in regulation of aggressive behavior. CONCLUSION: The Interactive Metronome training appears to facilitate a number of capacities, including attention, motor control, and selected academic skills, in boys with ADHD. PMID: 11761130 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]]

The Interactive metronome program was developed in the early 1990s. Now, there are more than 2,500 certified providers in more than 1,700 clinics, hospitals and universities throughout the United States and Canada.

The source of this information? What institution has issued the 2,500 certificates?

One such hospital is HealthSouth Corporation, a nationwide provider of outpatient surgery, diagnostic imaging and rehabilitative health care. In November of 2004, the company announced it will offer Interactive metronome therapy at locations for patients who suffered from neurological and motor impairments such as stroke and Parkinson’s Disease, to name a few.

This sounds as if it has been copied from a three-year old press release. How can a hospital be “nationwide?” Where is this hospital based? Is this the same HealthSouth whose board members were accused of stock manipulation and whose CEO was investigated for a billion-dollar fraud a couple of years ago?

In another correlation study, 585 children were found to have a positive correlation between Interactive Metronome scores and academic performance in reading, math, science and study skills.

Why is this “another” correlation study? Where is the first “correlation study?” The alert science reporter knows correlation is not the same as causation and would never report it as such.

The shift from children to adults was seen when the program showed results in the improvement of the brain’s ability in motor planning and sequencing.

What shift is referred to? This sentence simply doesn’t make any sense. The shift is a definite noun and must refer to something that has already been mentioned. Does a shift from child to adult mean the child grows up?

In a pilot study, the effect of the motor training was observed in patients with mild or moderate Parkinson’s Disease.

No cap on “disease,” please. But more important is the pilot study: whose study, what methodology, was used, what duplication of results has occurred?

The severity of the disease was compared before and training sessions that totaled 20 hours.

Is there a word missing? Before and after, perhaps? Knowing what little I do about Parkinson’s, I doubt that the disease was mitigated; symptoms perhaps, but not the disease.

The study found that computer-directed movement training improved the motor signs of Parkinson’s Disease.

Whose study is this? Where was it conducted? Is computer-directed movement training the same thing as the interactive metronome? There is nothing in the paragraph that says they’re the same.

The patients using the treatment learn to focus for longer and longer periods of time. Danski works one on one with each patient, working off of a lap-top computer he brings with him in order to complete the session.

Are we still reading about Parkinson’s patients?

Danski also points out the athletic-training abilities the program has.

“A lot of golfers use it,” he said. “I work with a lot of golfers in town. I love helping athletes.” Name one.

Danski explains that if your are a athlete [sic] that is struggling, it helps bring your abilities up to par. But if you are already doing well, the program helps take your learning and mental skill to a higher level.

Danski has worked with student athletes in public schools as well as private schools in the Venice area.

Name one.

“More than 50 school districts have the program to help the students academically and athletically,” he said.

Name one.

According to Danski, the Interactive Metronome program improves the working memory part of our brains, the part that manages our lives, the part that allows us to walk up a flight of stairs or form a sentence.

Language skills, gross-muscular coordination and balance are not carried out by the same parts of the brain, according to the general sources I’m familiar with. What part of the brain “manages our lives?” These statements are nonsense.

“The sessions can last from 40-50 minutes,” Danski said. “The training is not easy.”

If it’s not easy, how did studies of young children and Parkinson’s sufferers come about? If it’s difficult to train, explain what the difficulties are.

But being able to qualify for it is.

“Anyone that moves or thinks is a candidate for this training.”

Said the salesman. This man is selling something; how much does his service cost? What’s the benefit to “anyone that moves or thinks?”

And if you didn’t, it’s plagiarism. Real newspapers fire reporters for doing it.

But the weekly tab “Feeling Fit,” overseen by Editor Dawn Krebs of the Charlotte Sun, has made a cottage industry of the practice.

Today, it’s a double-header. The first example is the work (if we allow that using an affiliated hospital’s Web page word for word is actual work) of Danielle Dreher. Joining her in the double-header is Glenna Schnebly, R.N., a local nurse working at Charlotte County’s Home Health Network. Schnebly copies her discussion of wound control for diabetics pretty much straight from Find Articles dot com, a Web site that published a fuller version of essentially the same article back in 2004 with Mary Ellen Postheur’s byline.

Exhibit One is a story about bar-code scanners that can reduce medication errors. If Sun Editor Krebs had done a Google search using nearly any phrase in the story submitted by the hosptial’s professional publicist, with no more trouble on her part than a click on the search button, the search engine would have yielded two Web pages with copy identical to Dreher’s article (further mis-identified as “Special to Feeling Fit”).

The news appears in no-byline pieces posted on the Web some weeks ago by two affiliated hospitals, Brooksville Regional Hospital, Brooksville, Fla., and Spring Hill Regional Hospital, Spring Hill, Fla. I suspect that because everyone involved is an HMA-affiliated hospital, there has been some file sharing.

How easy — and honest — it would be to say these affiliated hospitals are all making the same announcement about a golly-gee-whiz device, and report it as news affecting three businesses, one of which serves the local area. That way the local editor doesn’t get caught publishing rave-review quotes by local hosptial administrators that have already been attributed to half a dozen other people in far and distant cities.

Readers hate reading stuff in the newspaper that’s so clearly space filler plucked from the Web. And they hate seeing articles labeled “special to” that aren’t. And speaking of stuff plucked from the Web …

Similar Game, Different Plagiarist

In this case, there’s no “we’re all in the same marketing program” kind of excuse. Glenna Schnebly, R.N., copies an article from Find Articles dot com, which offers “free and premium articles.” The one Schnebly chose to copy is posted on the Web with the byline of Mary Eller Posthauer. Here’s the comparison.

How Important is Blood Glucose Control in Wound Management?
By Glenna Schnebly Glenna Schnebly RN, BSN, a member of Home Health
Network.

A person with a poorly controlled blood glucose level and poor eating habits is at risk for numerous physiologic problems.

An elevated blood glucose level creates a negative effect on the wound healing process by not allowing glucose to diffuse easily through the pores of the cell membrane, thus creating a dehydrating effect by increasing osmotic pressure in the extracellular fluids causing water to transfer out of the cells.

Both extracellular and intracellular dehydration can occur, which affects the healing time of skin. Also, an elevated blood glucose level damages both the blood
vessels and the nerves. It places the person at risk for developing peripheral vascular disease.

Are there more infections with people who have elevated blood glucose?

Poor glycemic control, which impairs the body’s ability to eliminate bacteria, leads to an increase in infections. Urinary tract, respiratory, and soft tissue infections are particularly common in people with diabetes. Soft tissue infections of the lower extremities
and gangrene are serious complications, which sometimes lead to amputations.

How does this happen? Hyperglycemia decreases oxygen to the tissues. Delivery of leukocytes and antibiotic agents to the wound is a impaired because
of the lack of blood flow. Oxygen is necessary for granulation tissue growth during wound healing.

How does this affect nutritional status?

Hyperglycemia can cause neuropathy or damage to the intestinal nerves, causing diarrhea, vomiting or bloating, all of which affect the overall nutritional status of the person with diabetes.

What steps can be taken to help improve nutritional status?

A consult with a dietician and a registered nurse, both certified diabetes educators, needs to be arranged. They meet with the patient and establish treatment goals that include diet, medication management, blood glucose monitoring and appropriate skin care.

And here is the original from Find Articles dot com. The brick-red text is the cut-and-paste portion that Schnebly used. Note that every sentence she used appears in exactly the same order in the original. The numbers refer to footnotes in the original.

Risks from Hyperglycemia
By Mary Ellen Posthauer

A patient like Mr J who has a poorly controlled blood glucose level and poor eating habits is at risk for numerous physiologic problems.1 An elevated blood glucose level creates a negative effect on the wound healing process, causing wounds to heal slowly.2-8 This is especially a problem for patients with diabetes. Combined with medication, dietary intake plays a significant role in the repair of wounds because the diet also provides protein, calories, fluids, and other nutrients. When the blood glucose level is elevated, glucose docs not diffuse easily through the pores of the cell membrane. This creates a dehydrating effect: The increased osmotic pressure in the extracellular fluids causes water to transfer out of the cells.

Loss of glucose in the urine causes osmotic diuresis, increasing urinary losses of electrolytes and water. Both extracellular and intracellular dehydration can occur, which affects the healing time of the skin.9 An elevated blood glucose level also damages both the blood vessels and the nerves. In addition, it places the patient at risk for developing peripheral vascular disease.

[snip two paragraphs]

Poor glycemic control-which impairs the body’s ability to eliminate bacteria-leads to an increase in infections.5, 11-14 Urinary tract,15 respiratory,16 and soft tissue infections arc particularly common in people with diabetes.17,18 Soft tissue infections of the lower extremities and gangrene are serious complications.19 In addition, hyperglycemia decreases oxygen to the tissues. Delivery of leukocytes and antibiotic agents to the wound is impaired because of the lack of blood flow. Oxygen is necessary for macrophage mobility and growth of granulation tissue during wound healing.

Hyperglycemia can cause neuropathy or damage to the intestinal nerves, causing diarrhea, vomiting, or bloating, all of which affect the overall nutritional status of the patient with diabetes.20

Nutrition Strategies Because Mr J has had problems adhering to his diet and monitoring his blood glucose level, his health care provider schedules a consult for Mr J and his family with the dietitian and a registered nurse, both certified diabetes educators. They meet and establish treatment goals that include diet, medication management, blood glucose monitoring, and appropriate skin care.

And if you didn’t, it’s plagiarism. Real newspapers fire reporters for doing it.

But the weekly tab “Feeling Fit,” overseen by Editor Dawn Krebs of the Charlotte Sun, has made a cottage industry of the practice.

Today, it’s a double-header. The first example is the work (if we allow that using an affiliated hospital’s Web page word for word is actual work) of Danielle Dreher. Joining her in the double-header is Glenna Schnebly, R.N., a local nurse working at Charlotte County’s Home Health Network. Schnebly copies her discussion of wound control for diabetics pretty much straight from Find Articles dot com, a Web site that published a fuller version of essentially the same article back in 2004 with Mary Ellen Postheur’s byline.

Exhibit One is a story about bar-code scanners that can reduce medication errors. If Sun Editor Krebs had done a Google search using nearly any phrase in the story submitted by the hosptial’s professional publicist, with no more trouble on her part than a click on the search button, the search engine would have yielded two Web pages with copy identical to Dreher’s article (further mis-identified as “Special to Feeling Fit”).

The news appears in no-byline pieces posted on the Web some weeks ago by two affiliated hospitals, Brooksville Regional Hospital, Brooksville, Fla., and Spring Hill Regional Hospital, Spring Hill, Fla. I suspect that because everyone involved is an HMA-affiliated hospital, there has been some file sharing.

How easy — and honest — it would be to say these affiliated hospitals are all making the same announcement about a golly-gee-whiz device, and report it as news affecting three businesses, one of which serves the local area. That way the local editor doesn’t get caught publishing rave-review quotes by local hosptial administrators that have already been attributed to half a dozen other people in far and distant cities.

Readers hate reading stuff in the newspaper that’s so clearly space filler plucked from the Web. And they hate seeing articles labeled “special to” that aren’t. And speaking of stuff plucked from the Web …

Similar Game, Different Plagiarist

In this case, there’s no “we’re all in the same marketing program” kind of excuse. Glenna Schnebly, R.N., copies an article from Find Articles dot com, which offers “free and premium articles.” The one Schnebly chose to copy is posted on the Web with the byline of Mary Eller Posthauer. Here’s the comparison.

How Important is Blood Glucose Control in Wound Management?
By Glenna Schnebly Glenna Schnebly RN, BSN, a member of Home Health
Network.

A person with a poorly controlled blood glucose level and poor eating habits is at risk for numerous physiologic problems.

An elevated blood glucose level creates a negative effect on the wound healing process by not allowing glucose to diffuse easily through the pores of the cell membrane, thus creating a dehydrating effect by increasing osmotic pressure in the extracellular fluids causing water to transfer out of the cells.

Both extracellular and intracellular dehydration can occur, which affects the healing time of skin. Also, an elevated blood glucose level damages both the blood
vessels and the nerves. It places the person at risk for developing peripheral vascular disease.

Are there more infections with people who have elevated blood glucose?

Poor glycemic control, which impairs the body’s ability to eliminate bacteria, leads to an increase in infections. Urinary tract, respiratory, and soft tissue infections are particularly common in people with diabetes. Soft tissue infections of the lower extremities
and gangrene are serious complications, which sometimes lead to amputations.

How does this happen? Hyperglycemia decreases oxygen to the tissues. Delivery of leukocytes and antibiotic agents to the wound is a impaired because
of the lack of blood flow. Oxygen is necessary for granulation tissue growth during wound healing.

How does this affect nutritional status?

Hyperglycemia can cause neuropathy or damage to the intestinal nerves, causing diarrhea, vomiting or bloating, all of which affect the overall nutritional status of the person with diabetes.

What steps can be taken to help improve nutritional status?

A consult with a dietician and a registered nurse, both certified diabetes educators, needs to be arranged. They meet with the patient and establish treatment goals that include diet, medication management, blood glucose monitoring and appropriate skin care.

And here is the original from Find Articles dot com. The brick-red text is the cut-and-paste portion that Schnebly used. Note that every sentence she used appears in exactly the same order in the original. The numbers refer to footnotes in the original.

Risks from Hyperglycemia
By Mary Ellen Posthauer

A patient like Mr J who has a poorly controlled blood glucose level and poor eating habits is at risk for numerous physiologic problems.1 An elevated blood glucose level creates a negative effect on the wound healing process, causing wounds to heal slowly.2-8 This is especially a problem for patients with diabetes. Combined with medication, dietary intake plays a significant role in the repair of wounds because the diet also provides protein, calories, fluids, and other nutrients. When the blood glucose level is elevated, glucose docs not diffuse easily through the pores of the cell membrane. This creates a dehydrating effect: The increased osmotic pressure in the extracellular fluids causes water to transfer out of the cells.

Loss of glucose in the urine causes osmotic diuresis, increasing urinary losses of electrolytes and water. Both extracellular and intracellular dehydration can occur, which affects the healing time of the skin.9 An elevated blood glucose level also damages both the blood vessels and the nerves. In addition, it places the patient at risk for developing peripheral vascular disease.

[snip two paragraphs]

Poor glycemic control-which impairs the body’s ability to eliminate bacteria-leads to an increase in infections.5, 11-14 Urinary tract,15 respiratory,16 and soft tissue infections arc particularly common in people with diabetes.17,18 Soft tissue infections of the lower extremities and gangrene are serious complications.19 In addition, hyperglycemia decreases oxygen to the tissues. Delivery of leukocytes and antibiotic agents to the wound is impaired because of the lack of blood flow. Oxygen is necessary for macrophage mobility and growth of granulation tissue during wound healing.

Hyperglycemia can cause neuropathy or damage to the intestinal nerves, causing diarrhea, vomiting, or bloating, all of which affect the overall nutritional status of the patient with diabetes.20

Nutrition Strategies Because Mr J has had problems adhering to his diet and monitoring his blood glucose level, his health care provider schedules a consult for Mr J and his family with the dietitian and a registered nurse, both certified diabetes educators. They meet and establish treatment goals that include diet, medication management, blood glucose monitoring, and appropriate skin care.

Crude flirts with magic $100 price
NEW YORK (AP) — Energy futures wavered, hesitating on a drive to $100 a barrel today after the government reported that oil inventories fell unexpectedly last week, but that supplies at a closely watched oil terminal in the Midwest rose for the first time in weeks.
XX Light, sweet crude for January delivery rose 55 cents to $98.58 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange but alternated frequently between gains and losses.
XX Earlier they had risen as high as $99.29 a barrel in electronic trading to break the previous intraday record of $98.62 set earlier this month.

Sleight of desk, I guess.

They Read in the Newspaper
That It Worked in Atlanta

The journalist reports 60 residents are praying.
Since about 20 appear in his photograph, readers must assume either he can’t count or that trinity business is involved.

Did I mention this is the DeSoto Sun we’re reading?

Crude flirts with magic $100 price
NEW YORK (AP) — Energy futures wavered, hesitating on a drive to $100 a barrel today after the government reported that oil inventories fell unexpectedly last week, but that supplies at a closely watched oil terminal in the Midwest rose for the first time in weeks.
XX Light, sweet crude for January delivery rose 55 cents to $98.58 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange but alternated frequently between gains and losses.
XX Earlier they had risen as high as $99.29 a barrel in electronic trading to break the previous intraday record of $98.62 set earlier this month.

Sleight of desk, I guess.

They Read in the Newspaper
That It Worked in Atlanta

The journalist reports 60 residents are praying.
Since about 20 appear in his photograph, readers must assume either he can’t count or that trinity business is involved.

Did I mention this is the DeSoto Sun we’re reading?

MIAMI (AP) — A woman whose husband has kept about $600,000 in lottery winnings from her says she has a number for him: Half.

Um. “Half” isn’t a number.

And a less obvious item, mainly because it’s still a deep, dark secret around Our Town:

The Orlando Sentinel has posted a user friendly Florida high-school graduation-rate search page, part of its larger data-on-the-Web effort. I went there to learn DeSoto High School’s graduation rate for the class of 2006 is 69.7 percent.

Cheers to DHS for keeping its proportion of graduating students moving in the right direction — although it remains below the statewide average and dismal compared to neighboring districts.

And raspberries to the local newspaper’s “education reporter” who has not bothered to inform the people who pay for schools — most of them newspaper readers — of this news. And no, a press release from Sara Spas, the district’s very nice spokesperson, won’t make OWW the least bit happy.

Let’s practice some genuine journalism on this important topic. In case the assignment editor is unsure how to make these numbers come alive, the tie-in is our local school district’s recently announced plan to move toward SACS accreditation. The plan has drawn both smiles and frowns, depending who perceives their workload increasing as part of an “unfunded mandate.”

Go get that story.