Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Keeping Pace With Modern Medicine
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
The Modern Stent
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Tempatures are rising

A superb c. 1860 axilla clinical thermometer with ivory scale marked: G. TIEMANN & CO. NY. The instrument's original triangular-shaped case is present.
http://antiquescientifica.com/archive23.htm
Histoy of the Ultrasound

Since that time the ultrasound has continued to grow and flourish. And it's truly amazing what can be seen using the ultrasound now a days!
Chinese Medical Evolution
http://www.traditionalstudies.org/website/Chinese%20Medicine%20Evolution.html
Monday, June 15, 2009
ADHD -- New Title to an Old Problem?
Saturday, June 13, 2009
The Incredible, Yet Simple Band-Aid
Credits:
Bellis, Mary. "History of the Band-Aid." About.com. <http://inventors.about.com/od/bstartinventions/a/bandaid.htm>. 13 June 2009.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s34b8T44514 (video)
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Exercise does not Improve Sleep
Lead study author Dr. Arn Eliasson of Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington says results of the study were the opposite of their expectations. Quality of sleep did not improve after days of increased exertion and sleep efficiency did not vary according to the amount of exertion during the day, the study said.
"It has long been recommended, even championed, that getting exercise is part of the recipe for improved sleep. Our data do not support that notion," Eliasson said in a statement.
"The longest sleep and best sleep efficiency occurred after days with low non-exercise exertion -- better rested subjects got less exercise and had less calorie expenditure. After relatively more sleep -- more than six hours -- all measures of exertion decreased."
The study included 14 subjects who wore actigraphy armbands for 23 days. Data regarding total sleep time, sleep efficiency, total energy expenditure, exercise, energy expenditure, non-exercise activity steps and body mass were collected.
Seven subjects had a normal body mass and seven were overweight. Paradoxically, the researchers say, the group considered overweight had a higher total energy expenditure, and took more steps per day.
The study was presented at Sleep, the annual meeting of the Association of Sleep Professionals in Seattle.
SOURCE - http://www.upi.com/health http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9Vc41rmR_4
Napping 4-year Olds less Anxious

June 9 (UPI) -- Young children between ages 4-5, who did not nap were found to be more hyperactive and anxious than children who napped.
The study, presented at Sleep (the annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies in Seattle) found children who did not take daytime naps had higher levels of: hyperactivity, anxiety, and depression than other children.
The researchers suggest napping may have a significant influence on young children's daytime functioning and should be encouraged.
"There is a lot of individual variability in when children are ready to give up naps," lead study author Brian Crosby of Pennsylvania State University in said in a statement.
"I would encourage parents to include a quiet 'rest' time in their daily schedule that would allow children to nap if necessary."
For the study, caregivers for 62 children reported typical weekday and weekend bedtime/rise time, napping patterns, family demographics, and completed a behavioral assessment of the child. It's possible that there could be some minor consequences to children who aren't given the same amount of rest as normal children their same age. It's too early to tell if sleep deprivation at this age could lead to conditions like A.D.D. and A.D.H.D, but it is known that sleep at this age should be a very important part of their daily routine.
Type II Diabetes Found In Children

Melinda Sothern from the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in New Orleans documented previously unknown signs for obesity, heart disease and diabetes -- collectively called Metabolic Syndrome -- in very young children.
Metabolic Syndrome involves risk factors for diabetes such as blood pressure, obesity and decreased high-density lipo-protein, known as the "good" cholesterol.
Data was collected on 118 healthy children, ages 7-9, enrolled in an ongoing study.
The study found a child's current fat weight is the strongest predictor for poor insulin sensitivity, which is a risk factor for type two diabetes. Low-density lipo-protein, the "bad" cholesterol, was also strongly associated with insulin sensitivity in the prediction model.
The study found that fat in liver cells and in skeletal -- leg -- muscle cells also predict poor insulin sensitivity and high insulin resistance, pre-diabetes, along with an impaired fat-burning ability in the muscles.
These relationships were only found after the researchers considered the child's current fat weight, so the strongest predictor is whether or not these young children are currently overweight or obese.
The finding was presented at the American Diabetes Association annual scientific session meeting in New Orleans.
SOURCE - June 10 (UPI) http://www.upi.com/health
http://www.healthspablog.org (picture)
Uncovering our Earliest Ancestor
Ever since the idea of Human Evolution was proposed by Darwin hundred of years ago, the general population and skeptics have asked for proof. The search for a direct link between humans and animals has taken over 200 years - not long ago it was unveiled to the world at a news conference in New York.
The most fascinating part of the discovery is how intact the sample really is! Nearly a 95% complete 'lemur monkey' (named Ida) is thought of by many in the scientific field to be an absolutely groundbreaking discovery for the world of science. Ida is bringing quite a lot of buzz with scientists hoping she will be able to bring the answers to the questions that have been asked for the past couple centuries.
Many researchers believe that this fossil can complete the 'holes' in Darwin's evolutionary theory for which there had previously been no proof to substantiate. Sir David Attenborough said Darwin "would have been thrilled" to have seen the fossil, and believes Ida can tell us who we are and where we evolved from.
"This little creature is going to show us our connection with the rest of the mammals," he said.
"This is the one that connects us directly with them.
"Now people can say 'okay we are primates, show us the link'.
"The link they would have said up to now is missing - well it's no longer missing."
SOURCE: Sir David Attenborough, SKY NEWS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZ2mqA7HG1E
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
The Evolution of AIDS Treatment
Monday, June 8, 2009
Teenage Depression

Researchers from the universities of Vermont and Minnesota have found that children who start to socialize at a young age will grow up with less anxiety and will be less likely to become depressed at any stage in their life. The social pressure that is put on American teenagers can be unbearable. If the children are encouraged to socialize at a young age they will find it easier to adjust throughout life.
Adjusting and adapting at an early age is a key thing that people need to learn or it will plague them for the rest of their lives. If they learn how to function in relationships they will also learn to not internalize problems. The internalizing of problems will lead to anxiety and possible depression. Although depression can now partially be treated threw drugs and therapy it is something that parents have to help prevent at a young age.
Vitamin D Deficiency May Soften Baby's Skull

The troubling part about this situation is the fact that these studies were conducted in the United States, which is a very rich country. Where most of its citizens are getting and many times exceeding the required amount of nutrition in any given day. It is easy to see how this can be increasingly problematic in less civilized nations. The researchers found that out of the 1120 newborns that they evaluated nearly 22% of them were born with soften skulls due to Vitamin D deficiency. This however has an easy fix, the women that are taking care of their children just need to increase the intake of vitamin D.
Women`s issues: Then and Now!

“New technology and discoveries directly effect every aspect of human life including labor and delivery. Motherhood in the Victorian British aristocracy is different than the ideals and practices associated with modern day motherhood, and change will continue as it , like reproduction, is inevitable”.
Works Cited
Lewis, Judith S.In the Family Way: Childbearing in the British Aristocracy, 1760-1860 . Rutgers University Press. New Brunswick, NJ, 1986.
They Say to Us, Lean on Me
Thursday, June 4, 2009
NY faced last U.S. smallpox outbreak
Diseases from the past didn’t disappear.
CNN: “The 1947 smallpox cases led to doctors' immunizing residents at a rate of eight injections per minute - 500,000 in one day”.
And here it came back again in 2002 in NYC.
Watch the video…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZW588a0p7g
Or read the article…
Work cited:
NY faced last U.S. smallpox outbreak, Garrick Utley and Sanjay Gupta, CNN, December 14, 2002, http://archives.cnn.com/2002/HEALTH/12/13/smallpox.ny/
MMR: 3 in 1...
It appears that in the past immunization was safer… There is no evidence for combining 3 vaccinations into one. In the past medicine seemed to give priority to safety rather than to convenience.
Getting a Clearer Picture of Medicine
Bellis, Mary. "History of the Microscope". About.com. 04 June 2009. http://inventors.about.com/od/mstartinventions/a/microscope.htm http://z.about.com/d/inventors/1/G/H/Q/compound_microscope.jpg (picture)
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Seeing Medical History in Our Very Own Bones
Credits:
Harris, Tom. "How X-rays Work." 26 March 2002. HowStuffWorks.com.