Andre Elisseeff is bringing about new precedents in the medical world. He leads a team at IBM’s Zurich research facility. The prototype program that was demonstrated in 2007 combines a patient’s electronic health record with 3-D imaging. All a doctor needs to do is click on a section of the 3-D imaging and the program will give all the information it has on the patient for that particular part of their body.
The program is also linked to the 300,000 medical terms defined by the SNOMED (Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine) international standard. This is greatly helpful because these are words that aren’t commonly in the knowledge of doctors.
“The 3-D coordinates in the model are mapped to anatomical concepts, which serve as an index onto the electronic health record. This means that you can retrieve the information by just clicking on the relevant anatomical part. It’s both 3-D navigation and a 3-D indexed map,” said Elisseeff.
Do you like the idea of electronic health records more after reading this?
Do you think this technology would even help make medicine more efficient?
From: http://www.flickr.com/photos/hradcanska/2099517283/
Have you ever wanted to try acupuncture? I think it would be cool, but kind of scary because there are a bunch of little needles poking into you. I read an article about how acupuncture helps arthritis. There was a study that “reported that 25 percent of patients canceled their plans for knee surgery after acupuncture.” It is recommended by doctors for other conditions too, such as asthma and nausea. Scientists don’t really know exactly how the acupuncture works, but it has proven to be very effective. It can produce the release of endorphins, which are painkillers in the body.
I was interested in this topic because my mom is always complaining about her arthritis in her wrists and I am worried that I will have bad arthritis when I am older. I don’t know if I would want to use acupuncture because there are some risks from acupuncture if needles are injected improperly. It can also lead to punctured organs and infections when done wrong.
Do any of you have a history of arthritis in your family?
If so, would you be willing to use acupuncture to help cure it?
Experts say that the natural compound found in muscle tissue, creatine, not only helps increase athletic fitness but it also improve mental performance. Experts say it has a role on maintaining energy levels to the brain. They test 45 young adult vegetarians because meat is a source of creatine and they wouldn’t be able to get the most accurate information. In this article it said “The researchers found that subjects’ ability to remember long numbers improved from a number length of approximately seven digits, to an average of 8.5″. I thought this was interesting because I hear people saying creatine is a bad thing to take and I learned that it is a natural compound and that it helps your mental and physical state.
Do you think the patience will continue to a increase in mental performance?
Do you think creatine will have any long term health risks?
Source of article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3145223.stm
Credit: Stockbyte
A new study by researchers at Cardiff University suggests that eating sweets daily during childhood can make you more likely to commit acts of violence later in life. They found that people that ate candy every day when they were young were more likely to become violent adults. In the study there was a large percentage more violent people that ate the sugar than those that didn’t indulge in the sweets every day. The study also suggests that people that indulge in sugar also have addictive tendencies later in life. One psychologist believes that these behavioral issues are caused by a drop in blood sugar caused by hypoglycemia, which can be caused by eating these foods.
Do you think that sugar really creates violent adults?
How many sweets should be considered healthy for children?
Here is the website for the article.
http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2009/10/01-03.html
They have finally approved a vaccine for cancer! The FDA’s rejected vaccine for prostate cancer in 2007 has finally been authorized for human use. This is the first cancer vaccine to be approved by the U.S.’s FDA and boy the men should be rejoicing! Many men die each year from prostate cancer and now, Provenge, created by Dendreon of Seattle, can help prolong their life for about 4 more months. This vaccine does not cure or prevent this cancer yet it does help the men who have been suffering for this cancer, and let them live a longer life. This vaccine involves harvesting a person’s immune cells, which then attack the tumor. This is just a start for the cancer world, it is a good start and these scientists are hoping to find other medicine to help cancer patients.
If you want a more scientific or professional version of this post you can check out the website here: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20627593.000-first-cancer-vaccine-approved-for-use-in-people.html
Questions for you:
1. Why do you think that the vaccine was declined the first time?
2. Do you think this is the start of a new era in cancer vaccine breakthroughs?
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Flip flops are amazing! Nothing is going to change my opinion on that. I just recently read a science blog about the great things they can do for you. It stated that flip flops take a load off your knees which is most likely true. However in this article I read ,while commenting on the other blog, it spoke of a study that proved flip flops can lead to serious sole, heel and ankle problems.
Researchers at Auburn University did an experiment with 39 volunteers wearing flip flops. While observing them, scientist noticed that those with flip flops changes the way they walked. The volunteers stated after the experiment they noticed squeezed their toes to keep the flip-flip on the foot while the heel lifted in the air. This action leads to your plantar fascia (the connective tissue that runs between your toe and heal) to be stretched out causing inflammation and pain in the foot and eventually tire your feet out (making you want to get off them asap)
Now, this never happens to me. I wear flip flops day after day after day, but maybe im on of the lucky ones. Have you ever felt the radiating pain right in the arch of your foot after a day in a pair of flip flops?
After reading both flip flop blogs which do you think is worse.. wearing flip flops and having feet issues or not wearing them and possible have knee issues?
Most people know that anything breaded and fried is bad for you, but chicken nuggets also have and unhealthy amount of fat and sodium. The Consumer Reports lab got twelve different brands of chicken nuggets to be tested along with two soy versions. The lab used ratings of poor, fair, good, and very good. They got a bunch of kids ranging from six to seventeen to taste test all of these products. The nugget found to be the best for you was deemed not very tasty by all of the taste testers. The nuggets that were found to taste the best were Target’s Market Pantry, Bell & Evans Breaded, and Costco’s Kirkland Signature Disney nuggets. The calories for a serving of these nuggets ranged from 100 all the way to 300. Most people who eat them have more than one serving so you could put away 600 calories easily without knowing it. I guess the lesson to learn here is don’t get the 20 piece McNuggets at McDonalds anymore.
I would like to know if the unprocessed chicken is any better for you.
http://www.healthnews.com/nutrition-diet/healthy-eating-recipes/consumer-reports-weighs-in-on-chicken-nuggets-4232.html
According to a new study people who work more than 10 hours a day are more at risk for heart disease. The study shows that they are 60% more likely to get heart disease or have a heart attack than people who only work 7 hours a day. They aren’t positive why this is, but some suggest that it is because of added stress. Then they go on to say that there is still this added risk even when your job is not stressful. Another theory is that when you work overtime you have less time to take care of your body and unwind. During the study they tired to control stress in the work place but it was still there because working extra time almost always adds to your stress.
Do you have any theories as to why this is true?
Do you think this is really a true thing?
Do you get stressed when you work too much?
U.S. district court judge Robert Sweet recently invalidated patents on two genes used to determine risk for breast and ovarian cancer. His decision was based on research by the Duke Institute for Genome Sciences and Policy which determined that gene patents “do more to block competition and discourage promising new technologies than to spur innovation.”
Over 20% of the human genome has been patented by pharmaceutical and biotech companies. Gene patents eliminate competition by allowing the patent-holders to decide who can use or research the gene. This blocks potential medication and cures by limiting research and requiring royalties. The invalidation of these two patents may be the first step in eliminating gene patenting.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=gene-patent
What do you think of gene patenting? Does the discovery of a genetic sequence give someone the right to prevent others from using it?
Do you use tanning beds often? Well if you do you should consider a more natural alternative. If you use them to often enough, it could become a compulsive behavior and be considered an addiction. Addiction is not limited to just sex, drugs, and alcohol. When it becomes compulsive, it makes chemical changes in your brain so it’s just like having a drink or smoking which induces a pleasant sense or feeling. So when you go to tanning beds, where you lie down in an enclosed area and relax, you create endorphins because it is a stress reliever. This is becoming really popular with the younger population and could cause your skin to aged prematurely or worse, skin cancer.
What is a healthier alternative to tanning in a place where there isn’t a lot of sun.
How often should you tan if you do use a bed to avoid these side effects.
http://www.healthnews.com/family-health/just-how-unhealthy-are-those-tanning-beds-4193.html
http://www.vanderbilt.edu/AnS/psychology/health_psychology/Tanning.html
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