Medical Care Research

Training for Medical Physics

If you want to be a medical physicist, you have a number of options available, depending on what exactly you want to do. Most of the people who go into this field have degrees in physics or have significant undergraduate work in physics. A bachelor’s degree is only one step on the way to a career in medical physics, however.

Once you have a degree, you will need to apply to graduate schools. The baseline for someone to work as a medical physicist, which will be jobs reading images that people have made in hospitals, is a master’s degree. This degree will allow you to work in the field although you will be under the supervision of a practicing physician.

If you intend to work in research or alone in this field, then you will need to have a doctorate. Some people fill this requirement through medical schools while others attend graduate programs specifically designed for students of medical physics.
The American Association for Medical Physicists includes only 23 programs throughout the United States with programs specifically in medical physics. There are fewer than 50 internships or residencies in the country for this type of medicine, making the competition for these spots fierce.

Students who think they may want to pursue this type of work should begin as soon as they enter college to prepare for acceptance at one of these graduate schools. Then they will need to work extremely hard to land an internship.
Working in this field can be grueling as the work is demanding, and research can take years to end with any positive results. If you are able to work in this field and help make advances to improve patient care, however, then you will be able to feel good about the contribution you have made to your society.

Filed Under: Medical Care Research Tagged With: Medical Care Technology, Medical physics, Physics, United States

Newton Had Apples, Not Toys

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You know those little toys business executives usually have on their desks? The series of metal balls hung in a line that clack back and forth when you play with them? That’s Newtonian physics in action. The toy is the embodiment of Newton’s First Law of Motion, which – paraphrased – states that objects at rest or in motion tend to remain in that state unless acted upon by an external force. You get to see it twice, in the toy. The first time, you are the disturbing force, who pulls the one ball on the end into the air and lets it fall. The ball gains kinetic energy and transmits it into the next ball when it strikes. That ball (which is sandwiched) transmits it to the next and so on until the energy reaches the ball on the other end. That ball is not restricted in its motion and so it swings up into the air, gaining potential energy, than falls back down again with kinetic energy and repeats the process going the other way.

That ought to continue forever, and of course it does not. The reason it doesn’t is the same reason that a feather and a bowling ball don’t fall at the same rate here on Earth. Astronauts on the moon demonstrated that the two objects do fall at the same rate there. What’s different here? There is no atmosphere on the moon, which means no air. Air is a thing, whether we see it as such or not, and it has an effect. When that toy swings back and forth, it moves through the air, and it loses a little bit of its energy in order to do so because the air resists its motion. Just so, the feather is easily resisted by the air while the bowling ball shrugs it off. Thus the two objects fall at a different rate, and the toy comes to a stop.

Filed Under: Medical Care Research Tagged With: Newton's laws of motion

An Apple a Day Provides Newtonian Physics.

Physics is the study of motion and how the mechanical world operates – in fact, mechanical is the correct word, for such is how disciplines of physics conceive of the world, as a machine of sorts that operates by mechanical rules that may be mapped and thus predicted. Just like a machine, the world may eventually break down – the concept of entropy gets at this – but in the meantime the system of rules that constitutes physics serves as a predictive tool very useful in human advancement. It has applications from the obvious – vehicle design – to the less obvious – planetary motion and the space program – to the unexpected – medical physics.

Physics has many different subsets that focus on one particular kind of thing (e.g. astrophysics, particle physics, metaphysics), but there are also general theories about the universe, and the adoption of one theory over another has a great impact on the rest of the science.

Consider Sir Isaac Newton. In many ways he is the father of modern physics, even though aspects of his theory are now known to be incorrect. His three laws of motion are well known and well accepted. The first is best known as “objects at rest tend to stay at rest” or its variant “objects in motion tend to stay in motion” but either way the principle is that a body will continue in its current state of activity unless acted upon by an external force. The second law, the least well known, is the mathematical expression of force, saying that objects acted upon by a force undergo a proportional acceleration. The third law is perhaps his best known, stating simply that for every action, there must be an equal and opposite reaction. Through these three laws Newton built an entire system of physics, a system that was largely overturned when Albert Einstein propounded his theory of relativity.

Filed Under: Medical Care Research Tagged With: Albert Einstein, Isaac Newton

Surprising Causes of Memory Problems

It is normal to forget things. Everybody occasionally forgets something at times. As people age, they worry that this forgetfulness is an early sign of Alzheimer’s disease. However, almost 90% of those who complain that they are developing Alzheimer’s do not have it.

So if you are not developing Alzheimer’s, what is causing your lapse in memory? The following 5 common problems may be the root cause.

Stress. People who have chronic stress (marital problems, money woes, loss of job, caring for family members with long-term illnesses) often experience memory loss. Stress raises your level of cortisol. Cortisol is a hormone that enhances concentration. However, too much cortisol (created by excessive stress) damages the hippocampus where information is stored and retrieved.

Poor sleep. If you don’t consistently get 7 to 8 hours of sleep every night, your brain doesn’t get the necessary time to rejuvenate and recharge itself. Just like leaving a light on all the time burns out the light bulb, going without enough sleep can ‘burnout’ your brain so that it cannot focus and retain information. If you wake up in the mornings and have a dry mouth or throat and have a headache, you may need to be checked for sleep apnea. When sleeping problems are solved, your memory problems will lessen.

Depression. Depressed people have low levels of serotonin. Serotonin activates the hippocampus (which deals with memory). If the body does not have enough serotonin, the hippocampus will not be able to do its job.

Vitamin B-12 Deficiency. The body needs vitamin B-12 to produce myelin. Myelin is a coating on nerve cells that enhances the transmission of nerve signals. When the body lacks vitamin B-12 to produce myelin, myelin malfunctions which in turn impairs the brains ability to think and to remember.

Thyroid disease. Doctors have found that either too much or too little thyroid hormone causes mental slowing. This mental slowing often portrays itself as memory loss.

Filed Under: Medical Care Research Tagged With: Alzheimer's disease, Memory loss

Treatments for Erectile Dysfunction

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Erectile dysfunction is a serious reproductive disorder that affects more that 100 million men all over the world. It is one of the major causes of impotency in men. Erectile dysfunction can be triggered by diabetes, psychological problems, cardio-vascular disease, side effects from other drugs or an accident or surgery.

Treatment for erectile dysfunction varies depending on the degree of erectile dysfunction. A sex therapist can give you tips that can help in becoming sufficiently aroused to achieve a better erection. When the sex drive in a man runs diminishes for a man, this causes the brain to reduce the tension of blood in the penis. A more popular approach to treating erectile dysfunction is impotency drugs such as Viagra, Staxyn, Cialis and Levitra. These are the legal drugs available for treatment of erectile dysfunction that are approved by the Food and Drug Administration. These are prescription drugs that need written consent from a doctor. But these drugs are widely used and are easily available.

It is very hard to obtain quality impotency drugs without a doctor’s visit. You can find reliable sources of genuine Cialis from ukmedix along with other impotency drugs. Other cures for erectile dysfunction include vacuum pumps that help in increasing the blood flow to the penis. Psychological problems like anxiety, depression or trauma can be dealt with by consulting a psychologist, who can help you overcome these problems. If one requires a permanent treatment for erectile dysfunction, then he can opt for penile implants. There are different types of penile implants which are surgically placed inside the penis. One common penile implant is the penile prosthesis, where one cylinder is placed inside the penis and another is kept in the groin muscles. This can be very useful for people with these problems.

Filed Under: Medical Care Research Tagged With: Erectile dysfunction, Food and Drug Administration, Tadalafil

5 Reasons Teens Abuse Prescription Drugs

Teen drug abuse is on the rise, but it’s not necessarily a rise in street drugs that’s the main problem. Teens are digging into the medicine cabinet and finding prescription medication that belongs to aunts, uncles, grandparents and even parents. Some teens even swap drugs with each other to experience a high that’s a surprise, because they don’t know what medication they’re taking.

1.   They seem like a safe alternative to street drugs. Because they’re regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, many teens thinks it’s safer to take prescription medication than it is to take street drugs. However, prescription drugs can have serious side effects, including damage to the heart, kidneys, liver. When pills, such as Oxycontin, are crushed to boost the high, it can cause a lethal overdose.
2.   They want to fit in. A teenager can swipe one or two pills from the medicine cabinet and it will probably go unnoticed. If swapping or giving away medicine will make the teenager think he or she will become more popular, they may be willing to take the chance.
3.   They want to experience the feeling of getting high. The same reasons that someone would use street drugs cross over for prescription medication. Teenagers may feel anxious, depressed, emotionally distraught or socially lost, which can create a desire to “check out” for periods of time.
4.   They want to earn money. Stolen prescription pills can be sold to their peers for cold hard cash. Some teens need the money for necessities and others want the money for luxuries, but money is definitely a factor.
5.   They think it’s the cool thing to do. When a celebrity is discovered under the influence or having overdosed on a substance, teenagers many times believe the celebrity was taking the drug because it’s a cool trend. Many teenagers like to emulate celebrities, so they use the same drug of choice as their favorite star.

Filed Under: Medical Care Research Tagged With: Drug overdose, Pharmaceutical drug, Prescription drug, Substance abuse

Medications Don’t Team up Well

When it comes to the world of medicine, doctors and nurses tend to team up very well. Unfortunately, while human beings can show a lot of respect to one another, and add greatly to the mutual efforts of the team as a whole, medications are not like human beings. Medicine is just chemicals that cause changes in your body, without any regard to courtesy or even good sense. If a group of medicines interact in your system, it can have dire consequences for you. The worst part is, two medicines which ought to work together typically do not. As often as not, they actually end up doing more harm than good to you.

Think about high blood pressure and cardiovascular issues. The average patient has gone from taking an average of one or two medications twenty years ago, to popping a veritable cocktail of different meds today. When doctors ask patients to bring in all of their medicines, so as to investigate how much they are taking and how they might interact with one another, they tend to lug in a decent size bag. One wonders how long it will be before the average heart patient needs to work out, not so much for their cardiovascular health, but so they can lug around the practical duffle bag full of medicines our medical establishment wants to saddle them with.

Our computerized systems (and the pharmacists who manage them) are going to have to be especially dogged in the coming years. As the solution to every medical problem appears to be "take another pill or two," interactions are going to be all but unavoidable. The trick is in catching these interactions before they enter a person’s body and begin to wreak havoc. Once that happens, it may very well be too late to do anything but lament a tragedy. If we can move to less drugs taken more judiciously, the health care roles will be much simpler.

Filed Under: Medical Care Research

Issues with Prescription Drugs for Weight Loss

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Weight loss is a serious problem for a majority of Americans. The 2009 Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index showed that 63 percent of all adults in the country were obese or overweight. According to the index, one out of every four Americans is obese and nearly four out of every 10 Americans are overweight.

Prescription drugs are one of the tools available to doctors in the weight-loss battle. Experts, however, warn that it’s important to understand that simply making a choice from a prescription drugs list isn’t likely to have any effect on your weight. Instead, the battle against obesity must include a healthy diet and regular exercise. Extra weight is accumulated over many years of little exercise and poor eating habits for most people. Removing the weight often requires a lifestyle change to ensure that any weight loss success is more than temporary.

Doctors at the Mayo Clinic say there are a number of issues for the doctor and patient to consider before turning to prescription drugs. It’s important that the patient has first tried to lose weight through diet and exercise. If the extra weight is serious and has led to other complications, such as elevated blood pressure, Mayo Clinic diet experts say that prescription drugs can be helpful in some cases where other methods of losing weight have not been successful. However, they recommend that prescription drugs for weight loss be used only for patients who need to lose at least 5 to 10 percent of their body weight. Additionally, patients should be aware of any potential side effects from the weight loss drugs. The popular weight loss drug Meridia, for example, was shelved in 2010 after studies linked the drug to serious heart attacks. Finally, cost can be a factor as well. Some weight loss drugs are very expensive and are not covered by traditional insurance plans.

Filed Under: Medical Care Research Tagged With: Body weight, Food and Drug Administration, Health, Mayo Clinic, Obesity, Patient, United States, Weight loss

Get Rid of Belly Fat to Improve Your Health

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Waist circumference is a reliable test to measure you health. The smaller your waist, generally the healthier you are. Too assess whether or not your health is at risk, measure your waistline.

To do this, lie down on the floor. Wrap a soft tape measure around your natural waistline, which is above your hipbone but below your belly button. Measure your waist without holding your stomach in or holding your breath. For men, your waist should be less than 40 inches. For women, it should be less than 35 inches. If it is larger, you are at risk for heart disease and other physical problems.

To get rid of belly fat, drink six to eight glasses of water a day. Water increases your bodyâ€™s ability to metabolize fat. Your liver deals with metabolizing fat. If you do not drink enough water, your body makes your liver do the work you kidneys should do. This overworks your liver so it canâ€™t do a good job metabolizing fat. Drinking plenty of water gives your body enough fluids so your liver can do its job.

Some people think that there are magic foods — such as avocados, nuts, olives, and chocolate â€“ that will help them lose belly fat. While these foods do have good fat (monounsaturated), they are high in calories. If you eat too much, you will gain weight instead of losing it.

Increase the amount of whole grains in your diet. A recent study showed that a diet rich in whole grains eliminated extra fat from the waistline. Whole grain foods change the glucose and insulin response of your body making it easier to use stores of body fat. Reduce refined grains and eat a diet that includes more whole grains — and eat five servings of fruits and vegetables.

People think that they have to do hundreds of sit-ups or crunches to flatten their belly. Those exercises will strengthen your stomach muscles but wonâ€™t reduce belly fat. Only by eating a healthy, calorie-controlled diet and exercising at least an hour a day will you truly lose your belly fat.

Filed Under: Medical Care Research Tagged With: Abdominal obesity, Adipose tissue, Fat, Health, Shopping, Waist, Weight loss, Whole grain

Lose Weight by Eating Smaller Portions of Food

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To maintain optimal health, you need to control the serving sizes of the foods that you eat. Nutritionists recommend that you daily eat at least 3 cups of vegetables, 2 cups of fruit, 6 ounces of grains, and 5.5 ounces of meats and beans.

Controlling portion sizes is critical to a successful weight loss program. Large serving sizes result in weight gain. Smaller serving sizes help you to lose weight.

When you sit down at the dinner table, it is difficult to really know what constitutes a cup serving or what is the correct serving size for meats and grains. Here is a simple guide that will help you determine the appropriate size for your servings.

A cup serving is equal to the size of a baseball. Half a cup is equal to the size of a light bulb. One ounce is the size of a golf ball. Three ounces of meat is the size of a deck of cards. Three ounces of fish is the size of your checkbook. One tablespoon (for measuring salad dressings, butter, peanut butter oils, or mayonnaise) is the size of a poker chip.

When eating a baked potato, choose one that is the size of a computer mouse. When eating lunchmeat, it should be the size of a compact disc. Muffins and biscuits should be the size of a hockey puck. One-and-a-half ounces of cheese is the size of three dice stack on top of each other.

When eating dinner, mentally divide your plate into fourths. Vegetables should take up half of your plate. One-fourth of your plate is for your meat and one-fourth is for whole grains. Keeping your different servings within these dimensions will also help you maintain proper serving sizes.

Sweets and special treats should be kept within portion control, too. A piece of chocolate or a brownie should be the size of a package of dental floss. A slice of cake should be no bigger than a deck of cards. One serving size for a cookie is equal to the size of 2 poker chips.

Filed Under: Medical Care Research Tagged With: EAT., Health, Playing card, Portion control (dieting), Programs, Serving size, Shopping, Weight loss