"Well, Like Smoking Keeps the Weight Off", and Years off Your Life. Idiot.

Pretty much accepted by everyone in the known world, smoking is bad for you and if not the immediate cause of your death, long term smoking will have ensured years taken off your life. Another know fact in the known world are the existence of annoying chain smokers who love the claim of "when I quit smoking I gained weight and being overweight isn't healthy." As annoying as their logic is they are right but fat or black lunged they're still going to croak early.

After years of research and experimenting on mice, scientists at Yale found nicotine directly effects the receptors responsible for  controlling a persons fight or flight response. NPR ran the story and interviewed  Marina Picciotto, one of the authors of the study who said "The fight or flight response is one where you actually want to preserve energy to do something very important," she says "So maybe you don't want to be out there eating while you're supposed to be running away from a tiger."

So smoking does keep weight off but according to a recent study done by the National Institutes of Health the health benefit of keeping off that excess weight (5-10lbs) is negligible compared to the net benefit of quitting smoking. The study was conducted between 1985 and 2011, using data gathered from 3,251 participants.

Now if a person is choosing to continue to smoke in order to keep the weight off not for health reasons but to look good well that's an entirely different story. Mostly a story about a shallow idiot who probably spends to much time underneath tanning beds.

Bill Gates, Saving the World-One Awesome Sexual Experience at a Time

As most men know around the world, using a condom during sex lessens the feeling and stimulus but safe guards both sexual partners from possible pregnancy and eliminates the spread of a STD. Preventing an unplanned pregnancy and stopping the spread of itchy or possibly deadly diseases makes the use of a condom and its minor negative side effects well worth it...right? Not in all populations and that's what the Gates Foundation wants to change.

As the Gates Foundation Grand Challenge Website puts it " When used properly, they reliably protect females from pregnancy and both partners from numerous STIs, including HIV transmission, making them a prime example of a multi-purpose prevention technology (MPT). Their use does not require a prescription, a skilled health provider or in fact any healthcare provider or healthcare delivery system.  There are no adverse events associated with their use, a statement that cannot be made for any other contraceptive or STI-preventive product. " It's for reasons the Gates Foundation is looking for the "Next Generation Condom that significantly preserves or enhances pleasure, in order to improve uptake and regular use".

A condom such as this is gravely needed in a world with a booming population and according to the UN World AIDS Day Report 2012, as of 2011 there are 34 million individuals with HIV globally, 2.5 million people were infected in 2011, and even though new cases of HIV were down in many countries, some regions of the world saw a uptick in the spread of HIV rates. North Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and the Russian Federation all saw dramatic increases in new cases of HIV.

The person or company to come up with such a condom could be rewarded with millions of dollars worth of funding. There are of course some guidelines to what the Foundation is looking for such as ensuring a product that is affordable for individuals in developing countries and that the improved sensation enhancement does not sacrifice any HIV prevention characteristics of the current condom.

Of course a condom with improved sensation will not alone stop the non use of them. In 2000 the UN released a report entitled The Male Condom which gives a variety of reasons why condoms are not used, such as: societal disapproval because condoms aren't considered "macho", implications of infidelity in committed relationships, or individuals just don't have access to them or can't afford them.

Although not a total solution the Gates Foundation has a great idea and if successful will not only lead to a decrease in the spread of HIV but also add a skip in the step for men around the world.

The "Silent Epidemic"

A scary sounding name for a very scary public health issue. Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) has become known as the "silent epidemic" in large part because persons who experience a traumatic brain injury are not aware of the perilous danger they are in due to symptoms that resemble everyday ailments or even a hangover.

A blow or bump to the head may result in a head injury that disrupts the normal function of the brain leading to symptoms that my not occur for hours, days, weeks, or go unnoticed because of their resemblance to common health issues. These symptoms vary depending on the severity of the injury. Some of the signs for a mild traumatic brain injury are: headache, dizziness, difficulty sleeping, vomiting, or sleeping more than usual. Signs of a more serious injury are: repeated vomiting, slurred speech, inability to wake from sleep, a worsening headache, or clear fluids draining from the ears or nose.

If left untreated a TBI may result in permanent brain injury leading to a wide range of neurological problems, the brain falling into a coma, or death. According to the CDC the most common causes of TBI are falls and car crashes. The CDC recommends preventive measures such as:
"

1. Wearing a seat belt every time you drive or ride in a motor vehicle.
2. Never driving while under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
3. Avoiding activities that can distract you while you drive, such as using a cell phone, texting, and eating.
4. Wearing a helmet and making sure your children wear helmets while riding a bike.
5. Helping prevent falls by:                                                                                             A:Encouraging older adults to improve their balance and coordination by exercising.       B:Using safety gates at the top and bottom of stairs to prevent young children from falling."                                                                                                              

Because so many of the causes of TBI are accidental a complete preventive solution is not available however increased awareness of this medical issue may result in fewer long term handicaps or deaths.

Why the HIV Cure Cannot be Reproduced, For Now

By now everyone has heard the miraculous story of a 2 year old being cured of HIV. It's the second reported case of a HIV cure next to Timothy Browns case that involved a bone marrow stem cell transplant from a donor immune to HIV (more on that later).

The Mississippi baby cured of HIV received anitviral drugs within 31 hours of birth and continued to receive these medications for the next 18 months. At this time the mother and child stopped coming to the hospital to  receive the "cocktail". Both mother and child had left their home bu were eventually found after a year. When the doctors examined the baby they found no replicating traces of HIV.

A wonderful outcome to the story as doctors were sure they would have found the virus running rampant throughout the babies body. However the results of this story cannot be reproduced because in order to examine if it was just this child or it could occur in others doctors would have to not give life saving drugs to a child born with HIV. Medical ethics prevent doctors from denying life saving coverage to a patient.

A major breakthrough in HIV research even though it will be difficult to reproduce the results. Similar to the case of Timothy Brown who was cured of HIV while being treated for leukemia. The bone marrow stem cell treatment Brown received was from a person who was immune to HIV. Unfortunately this is a treatment that may not be reproduced due to the difficulty of finding a bone marrow doner match. Odds of finding a match are 1 in 540 according to the National Bone Marrow Program. Put that together with the odds of finding a doner who is from the 1 percent of persons descended from Northern Europeans and it's unfortunately highly unlikely a HIV cure will be found in a individual.

Despite the difficulty of repeating these cases they still offer new insight into the virus. For years the medical community has worked to defeat HIV and with continued treatments and advancements in medical technologies, health officials are making continued progress in defeating HIV once and for all.

Well here's a picture of a family dog named Lucky. Posting it to not only share her awesomeness to the internet but mostly to see what a photo will look like on this blog.

Well here it is, my very first post. Unfortunately it is not a groundbreaking piece of informative news that a blogger hopes to write but just something I can use to see how posts will look on different templates. Still browsing through the large selection of templates available. Eventually I hope to move away from using a provided format such as Google blogger and moving to a customized site using Wordpress maybe? I'll see whats best suited for me at that time. I think one more sentence should help me determine the best template to use and here it is written.