Essays on Health and Medicine

... at Berkeley and a member of the American National Academy of Sciences, goes further. HIV is not a new virus, he says. It is perhaps "as old as America". It is carried by a small, fairly constant proportion of the population and is harmless. It is present in many AIDS patients because most of them have risk factors in their lives such as drug abuse, sexual behavior or other shocks to the system that expose them to many microbes. AIDS is therefore not infectious, Duesberg argues. He thinks the epidemic is the result of an explosion in the use of "recreational" drugs such as cocaine, which badly damage the immune system. He also claims the epidemic is being f ...

... became the standard for feminine beauty in the imperial court, spreading downward socially and geographically as the lower cl asses strove to imitate the style of the elite. [3] In its most extreme form, footbinding was the act of wrapping a three- to five-year old girl's feet with binding so as to bend the toes under, break the bones and force the back of the foot together. Its purpose was to produce a tiny foot, the "golden lotus", which was three inches long and thought to be both lovely and alluring.[4] It is believed that the origin of the term "golden lotus" emerged in the Southern Tang dynasty around 920 A.D., where the emperor Li Yu ordered ...

... by a virus. And there is no cure for the common cold, just vaccines. I don't know, and could not find that much information on exactly how virologists find cures and vaccines. But I know that they need antibodies to make these cures. And there are two primary ways of making these antibodies. One, they can take them from patient zero. Patient zero would be where the virus originated from. Two, they could inject into an animal like a horse. If the animal, horse creates antibodies to fight off the virus, we take some of its blood. And from the plasma we extract the antibodies. Here is a method used long ago. Lets say that you were going to get vaccina ...

... with food and weight which often masks an underlying psychological problem. They lack self-esteem and feel that they can gain admiration by losing weight and becoming thin. The patients will deny being hungary or claim to be full after eating only a few bites of a meal. Dangerous signs of a person with anorexia are hair loss on the head, fainting spells, heart tremors, shortness of breath, constipation, compulsive exercising, intense fear of weight gain, cold hands and feet, dry and scaly skin, depression, a lack of sexual interest, anxiety, weakness, and exhaustion. Certain endocrine functions may also become impaired, causing menstruation and ovulation ...

... an endotracheal tube prior to suctioning has on a patient’s oxygen saturation. Oxygen saturation (SpO2) is defined according to Taber's (1993) as “the ratio of amount of oxygen present in a known volume of blood to amount of oxygen that could be carried by that volume of blood” (p. 1398). Ackerman (1993), primarily concentrated on the measurement of SpO2 via a pulse oximeter monitor was the focus of the review. Such research will aid nurses and respiratory therapists with their decision of choosing whether to use normal saline, a subject that is often unconsidered. In research by Schwenker & Gift (1998), it was proven that healthcare workers are unsure ...

... shape, then he/she is less likely to become sick and miss work. Many employers today have developed programs to assist the employee with any personal problems that they might have. Some employers offer smoking cessation programs and ergonomic supplies to prevent work-related injuries. With implementation of exercise and well-being programs, companies are not only helping employees, but also dramatically increasing the overall potential of the company. Exercise in the work place? True this sounds unusual, but look at all the benefits exercise has to offer, and with so many exciting choices in exercise programs, popularity of exercising at work has increased. " ...

... movement, memory, and thinking .Thc second major part of the brain is the cerebellum. The cerebellum commands balance coordination and posture. The last major part of the brain is the medulla it is in charge of heartbeat digestion, breathing sleeping and being awake. These are all the involuntary function of the body This part of the brain is the connector between the spinal cord and the cerebrum. The spinal cord belongs to the C.N.S. It is the most important bones of your lower back and it controls movement and mostly every thing in the body it has nerves. If you do not have a spinal cord you can't move around and go anywhere. You can not work or you cann ...

... any of the states have allowed suicide. Finally, we'll study some of the cases that have been brought before the American courts. Suicide has become a big part of American society, year after year more people are taking their own lives for many different reasons. A lot of philosophers have broken down all the reasons of suicides into two different categories, rational suicide and irrational suicide. A rational suicide has been given five basic criteria that usually must be met for the person's act to be considered rational. The five criteria which a person must show for their suicide to be considered rational are, "the ability to reason, realistic world view ...

... be normal and she can therefore compensate for this defect. There are two types of haemophilia, haemophilia A and B. Haemophilia A is a hereditary disorder in which bleeding is due to deficiency of the coagulation factor VIII (VIII:C)3. In most of the cases, this coagulant protein is reduced but in a rare amount of cases, this protein is present by immunoassay but defective.4 Haemophilia A is the most common severe bleeding disorder and approximately 1 in 10,000 males is effected. The most common types of bleeding are into the joints and muscles. Haemophilia is severe if the factor VIII:C levels are less that 1 %, they are moderate if the levels are 1- ...

... the two main effects of the body's released mediators (IgE) during an anaphylactic reaction are smooth muscle contraction and vasodilatation, which cause most of the body's adverse symptoms. (JAMA, 11/26/82) Since the most life threatening reactions usually involve the respiratory and cardiovascular systems, that is where emergency treatment is focused. In the cardiovascular system, a combination of vasodilatation, increased vascular permeability, tachcycardia, and arrhythmias can lead to severe hypotension. In the respiratory system, the swelling of tissues along with bronchospasm and increased mucus production are the main cause of death. So, if untreated, ana ...