February 22, 2012

Cancer Deaths are on the Decline

The American Cancer Society says prevention efforts are working and medicine is getting better at treating cancer. The latest report from the organization shows that cancer rates continue to decline in the United States. Research shows that almost 1 million cancer deaths have been prevented in the last 20 years.

The cancer study compared statistics on deaths between 1990 and 2007 which is the latest year for which data is available. Over that period of time, the cancer death rate declined by just over 20% for men and by almost 15% for women. The discrepancy between the decline for men and women has directly to do with smoking. The Cancer Society says research shows that women have been slower to give up cigarettes than men and that is why their cancer death rate is not falling as fast.

One area where great progress has been made in cancer deaths among women is breast cancer. The campaigns which push early detection are clearly having positive results. Breast cancer is still the number two cause of cancer deaths among women but the number of deaths has been steadily declining by about 3% per year since 1990. The five year survival rate for women diagnosed with breast cancer is now 90%. You can find more about preventing cancer at medikalfizikder.org.

The new cancer study shows that prevention efforts are the key to reducing cancer death rates even more. Public service campaigns to encourage people to quite smoking must continue along with campaigns encouraging people to be screened for colon and breast cancer. We can put up our very own security systems against this dreadful diseas. The tests are simple and an early diagnosis will improve the patient’s odds of surviving.

 

 

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How to Prevent Head Trauma

 

Fresh vegetables are important components of a...Even though the media enjoys telling stories about the “miracles of modern medicine” the idea that a magic pill or medical treatment can cure all leads down the path of terrible health choices. A doctor might be able to relieve pain or improve mobility, but neither option is ideal. Rather than focus on treating symptoms, perhaps the message should be live healthy and be healthy.

Healthy Diet

Eating the right type of food might not be easy or as enjoyable a grabbing fast food on the go, but that type of diet can lead to a multitude of health problems. A recent documentary challenges the notion that animal products make up a high percentage of American diets. The documentary “Forks over Knives” shows that a plant-based diet solves many of the medical problems that plague Americans. Rather than poisoning themselves with processed fats, sugars and starches, data shows that a vegan diet reduces disease rates and improves health.

Medicine Still Important

Even though eating right and exercising are important, these actions will not prevent physical injury. Preventing brain trauma means wearing a helmet and wearing a seatbeat and taking other preventive actions. In the event of an accident, los angeles brain injury lawyers can ensure the best treatment for patients.

The best medicine often preventive medicine. Even though that sounds like don’t get sick, it is not as simple as that. Proper steps can be taken to avoid injuries, fight off disease take precautions to allow you to live as healthy, happy and as long as possible.

 

 

Filed Under: Medical Care Research

Calcium Really is Important

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Most people are well aware by this point that if a child does not get enough calcium during their first few years of life, they can develop serious bone problems down the road. However, the positive benefits of calcium are numerous beyond merely granting bone strength during one’s later years. As a matter of fact, every system in a child’s body needs calcium to operate at its best, and this trend does not stop when the child gets older.

We all need calcium for a lot of our most important physical functions. Our every system demands plenty of calcium, just so our muscles can properly contract. When you realize that your diaphram and heart are both muscles, it becomes fairly obvious how important calcium is just to staying alive. While your body can break down your bones to get its calcium needs basically met, this is basically cannibalizing yourself. Interestingly enough, this type of personal cannibalism works the same way as a calorie deficit does. When your body recognizes a lack of calcium in your diet, it assumes you’re starving, and goes into starvation mode.

In this state, your body uses calories at the lowest levels possible. This in turn causes you to pack on calories as fat, which carries its own set of risks. So essentially, no matter how old you are, you can still benefit greatly from a glass of milk on a regular basis. While you will naturally need more than a glass of milk to have enough calcium to power your vital systems, it is a good start to getting back on the calcium track. Your every system will thank you.

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Streamlining Health Care

It should come as no surprise that technology has changed even the way we receive care from our doctors. Over the past decade, several critical advances in technology have revolutionized the health care information system that is used by doctors. These changes have helped to create a more effective way to diagnosis, treat and follow patients throughout their lives.

Consider for a moment the systems that have been used in the past and how they have evolved. For many years, each doctor, clinic or hospital kept their own records regarding patient care. This was effective – as long as the patient only needed care from that particular doctor. Changing doctors, moving or visiting a specialist required the patient to get copies of their records. The new health care information system has changed this. Today, thanks to systems like these, many patients’ records are now electronic. Prescriptions can be written electronically. Invoicing, insurance and billing have also been streamlined.

While there are a wide variety of tools available to help streamline medical practices, there are two that are having a big impact right now. The first health care information system is the electronic health records system which allows both patients and healthcare providers easy access to pertinent medical information via a secure link. The second is administrative systems which are used by healthcare providers to manage the day to day operations of a medical practice like insurance, billing and appointment scheduling.

As more and more healthcare providers make the switch to electronic HIS, patient care will become more standardized, allowing patients to live healthier lives.

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The Study of a Medical Physicist

The Study of a Medical Physicist

The career and duties of a medical physicist cannot be summed up in a paragraph or two very easily. It is a vast field with lots of room for innovation, discovery, and research. They use electro-optical and magnetic storage devices in the manipulation of images from X-rays. They also perform quantitative analysis of dynamic and static images through use of digital computerized techniques and radiation methods for analysis of tissue composition and characteristics. Exploring the foreign areas yet to be discovered in computerized tomography or magnetic resonance imaging for use in display of detailed anatomy images (cross-sectional) can be very exciting!

Furthermore, you’ll find medical physicists engaged in development and research of imaging procedures that incorporate ultrasound and infrared resources. Some common examples of the many research areas currently being investigated actively can be found in the several esteemed scientific journals based solely around ongoing discoveries in the field. Medical Physics is the name of one such journal that the AAPM publishes. The AAPM also holds 2 scientific meetings on a national scale each year, one being held in the winter and the other in the summer. At winter meetings, scientific sessions are conducted in joint sponsorship with Radiological Society of North America. Recurring regional meetings, workshops, and specialized summer courses are held by AAPM as well.

Physicists working in the nuclear medicine specialty also collaborate with other physicians on procedures that use radio nuclides to delineate internal organs and settle on significant physiological factors. These are factors like blood flow and metabolic rates.

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The Various Fields of Study and Opportunities in Medical Physics

The Various Fields of Study and Opportunities in Medical Physics

Medical physics is one of the key studies behind research and development of medical imaging procedures. A number of different techniques are used here to create a visual representation akin to the internal human body.  Medical physicists can conduct both moving and static medical imaging studies. Use of special equipment that experts have designed in the field also helps significantly. Adding to the development of imaging techniques for disease diagnosis, medical physicists are also likely to get involved in applying physics for disease treatment. This can be seen in laser surgeries, endoscopy for minimally invasive processes, and breaking up of kidney stones using hig intensity ultrasounds.

There are many fields for possible study when in the profession of a medical physicist. This ranges from treatment of cancer patients with radiotherapy to use of ultrasound diagnostics in pregnant females. The study can even be applied in veterinary care.

It is encourages that students with an interest in physics and the clinical practice of medicine consider a career as a medical physicist. If the individual is more interested in providing care to patients, he or she can join into clinical practice. This offers numerous opportunities for interaction with patients further down the road. On the other hand, students more drawn to development of new equipment and techniques will want to work in development and research. You’ll want to note that the necessity for teachers is also a primarily permanent and continual one. Very often, you’ll find trained and experienced medical physicists teaching medical technicians and future doctors as well as students of medical physics.

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Frostbite Basics

Frostbite Basics

It is always useful to have knowledge of first aid for emergency situations. One such condition you should be able to effectively handle if stuck in compromising conditions is frostbites. We try to briefly introduce you to the basics of frostbite first aid.

Frostbites basically refer to the freezing up of tissues in the body, typically skin. This results in contraction of blood vessels, oxygen loss, and damage to the body parts under attack. Numbness and color change of these tissues is common. Usually, this happens in locations farther away from the body centre where blood flow is less. Such body parts include the ears, nose, hands, and feet.

There are 3 types of cold injuries, classified by the extent of damage. These are

· Frostsnip

· Superficial Frostbite

· Deep Frostbite

Although most children, elderly, and patients with circulation problems are at the highest risk of developing frostbites, the majority of cases occur in adults aged between thirty and forty-nine. When someone gets frostbite, he or she may not even realize that something wrong at first. This is because the area affected is fully numb. However, if urgent medical attention is sought, most humans fully recover from frostbite. In cases where severe frostbite takes place, there is a potential for permanent harm. This depends on how deeply and how long the human tissue has been in a frozen state. In such cases, there may be a stop in blood flow to the tissue affected. There might be a need to amputate the affected area if the frozen tissue eventually dies.

Frostbite is mainly caused by exposure to very low temperatures over a prolonged period of time. This is especially true when it is accompanied by a weak wind-chill or by a more succinct bout of exposure to deep and cold weather.

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The Painkiller Epidemic

It seems more and more people who live with chronic pain conditions are being prescribed some form of painkiller over the strenuous rehabilitation that used to be the prime remedy for these issues. Whether the occurrence exists as a result of a minor surgery or a back injury on the job, painkillers are seemingly everywhere. Additionally, people who receive painkillers as a result of an injury and are subsequently involved in the American disability program take advantage of the system and sell their prescribed painkillers to those who are addicted to them. Some people refer to this growing issue as an “epidemic”, in that it has become a wide spread plague that more and more families are experiencing and thus affected by in one way or another.

Painkillers are by no means a bad thing in their most simplistic form, in that they help to reduce the pain of an injury or post-procedure. However, more and more physicians seemingly prescribe them slightly more loosely than they should. This is particularly evident among the elderly. There are people who received and injury decades prior to their latest re-fill of their painkillers. Whether or not these people are feeling pain is subjective, after such a long period of time of living with the prescription, they have become dependent on them in order to function. In regards to the elderly, many of them would not survive a stint in rehab, and many of their family members would not be able to handle pulling them off the pills, so the abuse continues.

It is difficult to determine if this type of activity will simply continue indefinately, or government sanctions and restrictions will play a role in reducing the abuse for future generations. What is evident today is the fact that these pills are vastly being abused by people of all ages, and they are fueling a new type of drug addiction.

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An Apple a Day is Medicine for Good Health

That old saying about an apple keeping the doctor away turns out to be true. Apples are chock full of vitamins, especially B vitamins, and they have 6 grams of fiber per small apple. In addition, an apple is less than 100 calories, making it one of the best choices you have for healthy eating. Working an apple or two into your diet everyday isn’t difficult; you just need to make a conscious effort to do it.

Of course apples are not the only things that you can do to help make your health medicine things that are part of your everyday life. There are other options for good health through the use of lifestyle choices. Making enough of these good choices could
help you reduce or eliminate prescription medication from your life.

Start simple if you are worried about giving up everything you love. Instead of chomping on chips for a snack, consider changing to pita chips. They are healthier but still have the crunch and general substance of chips. Eventually you can move to pita pockets filled with yummy dips and then to pita pockets with veggies in them.

Another option is to begin making things on your own at home. Instead of buying chips at the store, you can make your own chips – for less money, too! – or French fries at home. Doing so will allow you to control the flavoring and taste but still have the crunchy, salty goodness of fries.

These are a few of the changes you can make that will allow you to experiment with your food and enjoy what you are eating at the same time you are getting healthier. Making these changes will result in needing fewer prescriptions and medical tests because you will find that you can eliminate many health problems by simply making changes to your lifestyle.

Filed Under: Medical Care Research Tagged With:

An Apple a Day is Medicine for Good Health

That old saying about an apple keeping the doctor away turns out to be true. Apples are chock full of vitamins, especially B vitamins, and they have 6 grams of fiber per small apple. In addition, an apple is less than 100 calories, making it one of the best choices you have for healthy eating. Working an apple or two into your diet everyday isn’t difficult; you just need to make a conscious effort to do it.

Of course apples are not the only things that you can do to help make your health medicine things that are part of your everyday life. There are other options for good health through the use of lifestyle choices. Making enough of these good choices could
help you reduce or eliminate prescription medication from your life.

Start simple if you are worried about giving up everything you love. Instead of chomping on chips for a snack, consider changing to pita chips. They are healthier but still have the crunch and general substance of chips. Eventually you can move to pita pockets filled with yummy dips and then to pita pockets with veggies in them.

Another option is to begin making things on your own at home. Instead of buying chips at the store, you can make your own chips ” for less money, too!” or French fries at home. Doing so will allow you to control the flavoring and taste but still have the crunchy, salty goodness of fries.

These are a few of the changes you can make that will allow you to experiment with your food and enjoy what you are eating at the same time you are getting healthier. Making these changes will result in needing fewer prescriptions and medical tests because you will find that you can eliminate many health problems by simply making changes to your lifestyle.

Filed Under: Medical Care Research Tagged With: , ,
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