Why Giggling is Good For Us

After doing some research and coming across quite a few interesting websites, I think it’s safe to say that I did some giggling while attempting to decide what to write about.  I’ll link those below, but on a more serious note, laughing has been found to be beneficial not only mentally but physically as well.

 It seems that the biggest health improvement is a boost in our immune systems.  This means there is an increase in antibody producing T-cells, the ones that fight infection, resulting in less coughs, colds, and stress hormone production.  This makes us more resistant to disease as well as more relaxed for up to 45 minutes after the giggle-sesh is over.

The second most common result I found was the release of endorphins, our body’s natural feel good chemicals, which promote an overall sense of well-being and acts on the brain similarly to morphine, thus relieving or diminishing pain.

A good laugh-session can also help relieve symptoms of depression and get you feeling like yourself again, though this should definitely not be the sole step taken.  Always remember that it’s important to seek professional help.  Even those suffering from SAD can be positively affected by this simple task.  It reduces tension and stress along with lowering anxiety and irritation, the main contributors of depression.  Other mental health connections include dissolving distressing emotions such as anxiety, anger or sadness, and increases energy.

Laughing can also protect your heart according to a study by the University of Maryland, which discovered that people with diagnosed heart disease were 40% less likely to laugh during a variety of situations compared to people in the same age range without the disease.  It improves the function of blood vessels and increases blood flow throughout the body.  A good laugh has also been thought to PREVENT heart disease, heart attacks, and other cardiovascular problems.  Fifteen minutes a day is equally as important as getting in a minimum of 3 workouts a week.  Also related is the idea that laughter lowers your blood pressure and forces you to breathe deeper, sending oxygen-rich blood and nutrients throughout the body.  It’s especially helpful for people with asthma as it empties the lungs of a larger air volume, cleansing the lungs in a way similar to deep breathing.

A recent study shows that giggling could also help you find the right mate.  “Men love women who laugh in their presence and women actually laugh 125% more than men,” says Rob Mansfield of Laughter Yoga International.  If you’re already in a relationship then laughter can help maintain a strong connection.

On a more silly note, I also came across some articles claiming that laughter is considered to be a mini-workout and can aid in weight loss.  They mean that we’re exercising our diaphragm, the muscle below our lungs, along with our abdominal muscles and possibly shoulders.  They’ve found that laughing 100 times is about equal to 10 minutes of weight lifting or rowing and 15 minutes of biking.  We burn calories by raising our heart rate and also increasing our metabolism.  So remember, KEEP LAUGHING!

http://www.laughteryoga.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1087:10-reasons-why-laughing-is-good-for-you&catid=237:news-archive&Itemid=480

Pope to the Rescue

This may not be as medically oriented as most of my other articles, but discussing a woman who has had such a large impact on pregnancy in society over the last two years is just as important in my eyes.  I give you, Mrs. Rosie Pope, the head of her own maternity concierge service, couture maternity clothing line (Rosie Pope Maternity),  MomPrep classes for expectant mothers, and most recently the star of "Pregnant in Heels" on Bravo TV.  This strong, independent woman has never ceases to amaze me as she handles the joys and perils of motherhood in an often hysterical but sometimes tear-jerking way.  She coaches her patients on any topic from questions about trying to conceive through the toddler years.  Rosie's patience runs high when dealing with first time mothers .  She never babies them but rather hands them a firm dose of pre-natal and post-partum reality.  I'm a big fan of the show because she incorporates her story of problems conceiving to daily struggles of being a mom.  It feels like she's welcoming you into her life and truly practices what she preaches.  She was London born and came to the United States when she was 18.  Before she decided to dedicate her life to mothers and babies Rosie performed ballet at Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, modeled for Italian vogue, studied Neuroscience at Columbia University and even work briefly as a private detective.  She got her foot in the door with a company called 'A Pea in the Pod' who she is now designing clothes for.  I could go on forever but all I really need to say is that I appreciate the perserverence, empowerment, amd relatability Rosie puts into pregnancy, an often scary but always exciting time for women.                                          https://www.rosiepope.com/blog/

Exercise and the Brain

We've all heard that exercise is good for your heart, lungs, blood pressure, and mental health, but did you know that it could also be making you smarter?  Many people believe that we are born with a set number of brain cells and that they even degenerate over time, this however is not true.  Let's first discuss what we already know about the correlation between the brain and working out and we'll move to more recent studies later in this article.

Breaking a sweat has been proven to help people recover from depression more quickly, improve memory,  prevent other health ailments, aid in better decision making, and helps to alleviate pain via neurotransmitters.  This is thought to mimic the effects of morphine on the reward center of the brain and intefere with pain transmission within 30 minutes.  Exercise causes an additive effect on the body, meaning that longer and harder workouts will be required to reach the same euphoric feeling over time.  The new ideas of the effect that exercise exerts on the brain are the following mechanisms:  neurogenesis, mood enhancement (increased serotonin and norepinephrine) and endorphine release.

Neurogenesis, the creation of new neurons, most often occurs in the Hippocampus which is the learning and memory center of the brain.  Since we begin to lose nervous tissue around age 30, it is important to exercise since the stress of working out activates the expression of BDNF (Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor) genes.  BDNF is responsible for growth, differentiation, survival, and repair of brain cells resulting in a denser network of neurons that in turn are better at storing information.  It has also been known to strengthen cells and their axons, connect neurons and spark neurogenesis via exercise. This protects existing neurons, promotes plasticity (contributes to the efficiency of information cross the synaptic cleft), and offers reparative effects to injured neurons, decreasing the likelihood of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's    With exercise the brain can resist physical shrinkage, and create an increase in both blood vessels and cognitive flexibility.  Another scientist, Justin S. Rhodes stated that working out can slow or reverse brain physical and cognitive decay which begins in our late 20's at a rate of 1% each year.

It has been reported that physical INactivity is associated with poorer academic performance and lower scores on neuropsychological tests.  Activity, especially aerobic, provides the following benefits:  increased skills in multi-tasking, planning, inhibition and helps with memory.  Weight bearing activity has only proven to help with memory. However, over-exercising can also inhibit learning so it's important to find a balance.
Michelle W. Voss at the University of Urbana-Champaign stated that both aerobic and strength training are key to maintaining brain and cognitive health.   This is big news in the health field and Gretchen Reynolds of The New York Times claimed that it's, "not just a relationship, it IS the relationship".   So many people noticed this new trend that Justin S. Rhodes from the Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at the University of Illinois began his own experiement with mice.  He made four groups, the first lived in luxury with hearty meals and comfortable beds.  The second group had all of the pleasures of the first group and a running wheel, the third did not live a lavish lifestyle and ate standard food while the final group had running wheels but no toys or treats.  The results showed that extra toys and tastes had no real effect on the brain while those mice with a running wheel were healthier and performed better on cognitive tests
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/22/magazine/how-exercise-could-lead-to-a-better-brain.html?pagewanted=all

2012-2013 Medical Mission Trip

This is just the beginning but I'm getting pretty excited about the possibility of going to Costa Rica or Nicaragua on a Medical Mission Trip with my university's Pre-Medicine Club.  If I do end up going I think it'd be pretty cool to keep everyone updated with pictures and what I'm doing while I'm gone.

VIDA is the host group and I've spent the day checking out their website.  This seems like really good hands on experience and a real eye-popper on a resume.  The following is directly from http://vidavolunteertravel.org/

Volunteers will actively participate in the following areas with an emphasis on hands-on experience (via interpreters as needed):

 Conducting patient interviews along with a thorough patient history.
 Taking patient vital signs.
 Performing basic physical exams and assessments. (May include blood sugar monitoring and urinalysis).
 Volunteers may assist with pre-natal wellness checkups on expectant mothers.
 Volunteers may assist in wound care, dressing changes and sutures.
 Present patient information to professional medical staff along with differential diagnosis and proposed treatment plan recommendations.
 Working in our pharmacy.
 Performing public health screenings and community education discussions to help promote public awareness.

Some of the most common diseases that we will encounter are the following:

 Parasites.
 Gastritis.
 Muscle-Skeletal pains.
 UTI
 Upper respiratory infections.
 Pneumonia.
 Cold/Cough.
 Fungal infections.
 Scabies.
 Diabetes.
 Heart disease.
 Malnutrition.
 Skin Infections.

Medical Orientation

VIDA offers one full day of orientation to prepare volunteers for a truly hands on clinical experience, which covers the following topics:

 Introduction to tropical medicine and common diseases.
 Basic physical exams, vital signs and social histories.
 Review of medical instruments and equipment; proper care and handling of medical equipment.
 Differences between health care systems of host country and U.S./Canada/Europe.
 Importance of community education/public health.
 Review of standard precaution practices.
 Basic medical Spanish (allows participants more independence).
 Review of field clinic setup and processes; such as the intake form.
 Pharmacology.
     Overview of medications and prescription procedures.
     Review of pharmacy setup and procedures.

Academic Activities:

 Case presentations and discussions after every 2 days of clinic.
 Study assignments between clinic days (throughout the whole trip).
 General control questions about each case reviewed with the local physicians.

I'll try to keep this updated as I learn more about the trip : )

The Science of Love

There may be more to a kiss than meets the lips, as we are discovering that kissing is more of an evolutionary advancement than a romantic gesture that has motivated poets and musicians for decades.  Ninety percent of the world's population shows intimacy in this way and many believe it began as a feeding ritual between mothers and their young.  Kissing is now understood world wide as a sign of love and affection.  This is an extremely interesting topic in my opinion, because there is both a lovey-dovey laymans and a scientific side.

After some more research I came across a new book called "The Science of Kissing: What Our Lips Are Telling Us" by Sheril Kirshenbaum.  She speaks of the research Helen Fisher conducted as an anthropologist at Rutgers University from which she declared that this form of intimacy fulfilled the three needs of sex drive, romantic love, and attachment.  Some even believe that kissig helps to find and initiate relationships with partners long enough to conceive children.  While this is all fun and cute, it's also important to understand what is happening in our brains.

Kissing causes an increase in the neurotransmitter Dopamine, which is responsible for craving and desire, why most of us feel addicted or like we can't get enough of our significant others.  Serotonin and Oxytocin levels both also sky-rocket rendering a happy go lucky mood while thinking about our partners and attachment respectively.  Oxytocin has also been called the 'love hormone' and is found in the largest quantities after an orgasm.  This is responsible for mother-child attachment as well.  It's not surprising that during a passionate kiss all senses are heightened, pulse quickens, pupils widen making vision unfocused (the reason we close our eyes), blood vessels dilate, and our nose tells us about the other persons hygiene.  With all of this happening at the same time, its common for a bad or good kiss to have a big effect on a relationship.  A study from the State University of New York - Albany recently stated that between 50 and 65% of people have ended a relationship due to a bad kiss, more commonly women.  Considering human lips are packed with tons of nerve endings, making it the most sensitive part of our face due to its disproportionately large representation in the brain, it makes sense that sparks literally fly when you are crazy about someone.  No really, electrical impulses are passed between the brain, lips, tongue, and skin during a good lip locking session.  In the estimated 20,000 minutes, or 2 weeks, that we spend kissing in our lifetime people have noticed a difference between how the genders go about this act.  Men most often prefer french kissing, while some may just find it sexy, scientists hypothesize that it also has to do with the amount of testosterone transferred from the male to the female within saliva.  This in turn raises the woman's libido.  Supposedly women follow more of a histocompatibility complex in which they are 'drawn' to men whose DNA is very distinct and compatible to their own.  If this is true, their children will be more immunologically favored to survive.  I also found it interesting that 2/3 of the world's kissing population tilts their head to the right when locking lips, despite what their dominant side or hand is.

Fun fact of the day: 1 minute of intense kissing burns 26 calories!!

Alzheimer's Breakthrough

In London, scientists have found the five basic signs of the most dreaded disease to strike the elderly population, Alzheimer’s disease.  Due to recent research doctors may be able to detected if a patient with be affected by it 25 years in advance and before the onset of the disease.  Many believe this could be a breakthrough discovery in leading to the diagnosis and treatment because of the invisible timeline the information maps out.  The Washington University School of Medicine studied families with genetic risks and reported their findings in The New England Journal of Medicine.  The study consisted of 128 individuals from the United Kingdom, United States, and Australia who all had a 50% chance of inheriting one of the three mutations that cause early onset Alzheimer’s and most often develops between the ages of 30 and 40.  The potential victims all had equal risk based on the fact that only one of their parents suffered from the disease.  This also came into consideration when determining the possible symptoms could appear in those intended to get it.  Alzheimer’s usually shows itself during a person’s 60’s and those with the correct genetic mutation will go on to develop the dreaded disease.  Scientists tested blood and spinal fluid, looked at brain scans and made subjects take part in mental ability assessments.

1.  A change in spinal fluid levels: the first change of the key ingredient of Alzheimer’s brain plaques can be detected 25 years

2.  Raised levels of tau: this is a structural protein found in brain cells that can be detected 15 years in advance.

3.  Shrinkage of select parts of the brain

4.  A change in the way the brain uses glucose- 10 years prior

5.  Memory problems- 10 years prior

Dr Laurie Ryan, clinical trials program director at the National Institute on Aging, in America, said: "These exciting findings are the first to confirm what we have long suspected, that disease onset begins years before the first sign of cognitive decline or memory loss.

http://www.firstpost.com/living/alzheimers-can-be-predicted-25-years-early-scientists-375903.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/9391769/Five-signs-that-predict-Alzheimers-disease-25-years-before-memory-fails-study.html

http://racingalzheimers.com/killing-mom/

Know your ABC's

When it comes to moles, it's important to know what to look for:
Asymmetry- half of the mole doesn't look like the other
Irregular Border- a poorly defined border
Varied Color- contains multiple shades of black, brown, white, red, or blue
Large Diameter- should not be larger than a pencil eraser
Evolving- be especially aware if moles develop after age 20
Also be aware if any moles are painful, itchy, or begin to bleed.

The most common types of skin cancer are basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas, with the most deadly being melanoma.
Basal cell carcinoma is a slow growing form of skin cancer most common in the United States.  It begins in the epidermis, or uppermost layer of skin and most often occurs on skin that is regularly exposed to the sun or UV radiation.  It is much more likely to be found on people 40 years of age and older.  It appears pearly or waxy, white or light pink, flesh-colored or brown.  It may be a sore that does not heal and bleeds easily, is crusty or oozing, has irregular blood vessel formation around is or a sunken middle portion  It can be treated with Moh's surgery, excision, curettage and electrodesiccation, cryosurgery, medication, john's surgery, or photodynamic therapy

Squamous Cell Carcinoma, also a non melanoma form of skin cancer occurs when there is uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells that arise in the epidermis.  In normal skin that has been previously injured or inflamed or regularly exposed to the sun and UV radiation.  The earliest form of squamous cell skin cancer, known as Bowen's disease, is described as squamous cells that have not yet spread to nearby tissue.  This kind of skin cancer is most commonly seen on the face, ears, neck, hands, or arms.  It grows as a bump, has a rough scaly surface, and flat reddish patches.  The initial phases are typically larger than one inch.

Melanoma, the most deadly type of cancer is caused by changes in melanocytes, a specific type of skin cell which produces melanin which is responsible for skin and hair color.  There are four kinds:
1. Superficial spreading melanoma--the most common type among Caucasians.  This is flat, irregular in shape, and has varying shades of brown and black.
2.  Nodular melanoma-- this is described as a raised area that is dark blackish-blue or bluish-red
3. Lentigo maligna melanoma--this is the most common type among the elderly on the face, neck, and arms.  They are large, flat, and tan with areas of brown.
4.  Acral lentiginous melanoma--this is the least common form and occurs on the palms, soles, or under nails.  It is more prevalent in African Americans and has some rather unusual risk factors: effects people that live in sunny climates and high altitudes, in those with a history of blistering sunburns during childhood, in those that use tanning devices, those with a history of melanoma among close relatives, have a weakened immune system, or have certain types of birthmarks.

The following is a list of risk factors from http://www.skincancer.org/ :


Risk Factors

Anyone can get skin cancer, but some things put you at higher risk, like having—

·       A lighter natural skin color.

·       A personal history of skin cancer.

·       A family history of melanoma.

·       Long-term exposure to the sun

·       A history of sunburns early in life.

·       Skin that burns, freckles, reddens easily, or becomes painful in the sun.

·       Blue or green, grey eyes.

·       Naturally blond or red hair.

·       Overexposure to x-rays and radiation

How to protect your skin from the sun

So I know it's the middle of summer, everyone wants to be outside enjoying the weather, and the majority of the younger crowd accomplish their goal of obtaining a beach babe tan.  While this may look good now, their skin is being irreversibly damaged.  Coming from a very fair skinned person, here are the top guidelines to being smart in the sun.

1.  Limit sun exposure between 10AM and 4PM:  this is when the sun is most intense and ultraviolet rays damage the skin, contributing to cancer, freckles, age spots, discolorations, and benign growths.  Even when it is cloudy, rainy, or snowy outside as much as 90% of harmful rays still reach your skin.  Sand and water also reflect the sun, contributing to a burn.  When in the sun make sure to generously apply both lip balm and sunscreen/sunblock and reapply every two hours, more if swimming or sweating.  If possible, wear long sleeved shirts, pants, hats, and sunglasses that provide broad spectrum protection, and understand that being directly exposed to sunlight is just as harmful as being in a tanning bed.

2.  Stay hydrated:  drinking lots of water helps prevent dried, chapped skin along with applying the correct moisturizing cream directly after drying off from bathing or showering.  Avoid taking scalding hot showers and aim more for warm water for a maximum of 10 minutes because exposure to water dries out skin.  Chlorine and sodium lauryl sulfate also remove natural oils needed by your skin.

3. Good skin care:  gently wash your face to remove dirt, oil, grime, and dead cells but DO NOT scrub.  This can cause irritation leaving skin chapped and vulnerable.  It is recommended to wash your face twice daily using warm water, a mild cleanser, and a washcloth in circular motions.  Pat skin dry, being careful not to pull, and apply moisturizer.

4.  Health care precautions:  Try not to share lip balms, toothbrushes, mascara or anything that touches your skin with others. Don't share drinks, avoid touching your face with your fingers and other products like cell phones that can carry bacteria.  Cold sores, a viral infection, involve the skin bordering the lips while mainly bacteria contributes to acne.

5.  Check out your skin:  Be aware of new changes in your skin's appearance including freckles, moles, and growths.  Get a skin check up once a year, every six months if you have a family history of skin cancer or disease.  Also check for and cuts or bruises and mend accordingly to prevent infection.

http://www.everydayhealth.com/skin-and-beauty/skin-care-101/protect-your-skin.aspx 

Remember to always choose a sunscreen and lip balm with at least SPF (sun protection factor) 15 that protects against both UVA and UVB rays, contributing to aging and burning respectively.  Sunscreen is a lotion made from chemicals that absorb ultraviolet light and provide a protective layer that prevents harmful rays from penetrating skin.  We see sunscreen and sunblock at the store, two very different products.  Sunscreen needs time to sink in before providing protection while sunblock is effective immediately.  In order to determine how long you can be in the sun before another application is required, here's a simple trick.  Multiply the SPF number by the time it would usually take your skin to burn without sun protection and you'll get a number which equals how long it will take to burn while wearing sunscreen.  


Ex:  25 SPF x 10 minutes in the sun to burn= 250 minutes in the sun before your skin would burn with sunscreen/block applied properly.

I   I also thought this was interesting from:  http://www.gosunsmart.org/yourskin/yourskin_protection.shtml

1.     Percentage of Protection from damaging UV rays:
SPF 15 = 92%
SPF 30 = 97%
SPF 40 = 97.5%

s

p

Elderly euthanasia - right, wrong, or just plain different?

I was doing some research about increasing suicide rates and came across a few interesting articles about elderly euthanasia.  Though this may seem like a morbid topic, I think it's important to discuss not only the medical but also ethical side to this new trend. Having grandparents of my own who struggle daily, this hits close to home and I can understand both sides of the argument.  Let's first talk about how this idea came about.

Huib Drion (April 25 1917-April 20 2004), a Dutch Supreme Court justice, and professor of civil law at the University of Leiden first proposed his idea of an "old people" pill in 1991.  He believed that these fragile individuals deserved to die with respect and dignity because we all experience desires, battles, pain, and expectations of life itself.  He was the main force behind the legalization of euthanasia in the Netherlands and wrote an essay titled "Voluntary Death for Old People" seven years after retiring from the high court.  He had thought up a two-step suicide system for the incurably sick which would begin by taking one pill and waiting to finish the session with the second pill a day or two afterward.  This process gave the person time to change their mind about death.  Interestingly enough, this system was never carried out but in 2002 the Netherlands became the first country to allow physician-assisted suicide for select terminally ill patients as long as they met the following guidelines: their decision was rational and reasoned, their suffering unbearable, and there was no prospect of improvement.  

Another doctor came along, Dr. Philip Nitschke in 1996 with "The Peaceful Pill Handbook".  This gave a detailed description of how to kill yourself painlessly, peacefully, and easily.  This same year the world's first voluntary euthanasia legislation was introduced, but was later overturned by Prime Minister John Howards federal government.  Recent legislation outlaws the use of the Internet to promote suicide.  The barbiturate Pentobarbital, originally used as a sleeping pill until over-doses became more common, is the same drug that was responsible for the deaths of Marilyn Monroe and Judy Garland and effects the body by causing drowsiness, and eventually breathing ceases.  There are a few essays online about how Dr. Nitschke gets ahold of this medication, now banned in the United States, by directing his patients to Mexico.  While he believes the most effective and preferred way to take it is by oral ingestion, many still half-heartedly attempt to inject it.  He began his "Exit" program which discusses assisted suicide and euthanasia for the elderly and seriously ill adults, and conducted his first trial using the  'deliverance machine' the same year his handbook was released under Australia's Rights of the Terminally Ill Act.  This was overturned nine months later.  As part of the "Exit" program people receive an exit guide who talks about other life-ending options, is with the patient when the act is committed, and cannot provide physical assistance or means.  The pill can be made with legal substances such as nicotine and alcohol, and as  long as it is made in the privacy of their own homes is not breaching the law.  Nitschke has recently broadened his target audience to troubled teens, elders with negative feelings about being placed in a nursing home, and euthanasia activists.  He also constructed a 90 minute documentary titled "Mademoisella and the Doctor" in which he promotes his company and individual rights to decide when to end ones life.

 Given the opportunity, what would you decide?

The Idea of "Modern-Medicine"

With new ideas and opinions about medicine arising daily, I felt it would be a good idea to start a blog discussing the good, the bad, and the ugly.  Technology, religion, sociocultural and economic status, along with the influence of media and ethics  all contribute to what we call "modern-medicine". Combine these factors with the always fun rising level of hypochondriasis and the demand to get help and information now, and we have  today's medical field.

While there have been many leaps forward in terms of health care in the twenty-first century, we still have a long way to go.  I see the following as major milestones in the health community:

1. New Functional Genome Information:


The human genome, often referred to as "the book of life", is difficult to read but is vastly made of base-pairs between adenine, thymine, cytosine, and guanine.  While we have known how these pieces fit together for the last decade, new information was recently acquired about what these pairs actually mean.

"We've known the precise alphabet of the human genome...but not necessarily how those letters make meaningful words.  We know, that only one to two percent of the functional genome codes for proteins  but that there are highly conserved regions in the genome outside of the protein-coding that affect genes and disease development.  It's clear these regions do something or they would have changed or disappeared." said Bing Ren, PhD and head of the Laboratory of Gene Regulation at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research at UC San Diego.

When genes are not regulated correctly, mutations and disease can occur.  As of 2012 scientist understand approximately 11% of the genome.

http://health.ucsd.edu/news/releases/Pages/2012-07-02-mapping-the-functional-genome.aspx



2.  Information technology helping both doctors and patients:

Many people worry about technology, security, media, and social medical information interactions in this day and age.  For example, when checking in at the doctors' office it's more than signing a piece of paper.  Insurance, birth date, family information, and employment are all recorded.  Being a pre-med student I've talked to a few doctors Of the doctors about medical school and changes they have seen since making their debut in the medical field.  Many bring up that they spend far less time looking at books after they consult with a patient and more time on their Ipads, phones, and computers.  Now they can check medication interactions, patient history, and confirm their diagnosis all with the touch of a button.


3.  Anti-Smoking Laws to Reduce Public Smoking--I'm a big fan of this one:


As of right now there is NOT a nation wide smoking ban but it continues to be a product of the state which can result in local criminal charges based on occupational safety and health care laws.  The laws vary from banning smoking in only certain areas, to banning it nearly everywhere (except bars and adult only areas), to banning it everywhere (even outdoors).  Currently, 81.8% of the United States population live under a smoking ban.  The following states do not have any kind of smoking ban: Alabama, Alaska, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, West Virginia, and Wyoming.


4.  Stem Cell Research:

Probably one of the most controversial health issues, stem cell research became popular in 1998 when researchers discovered that they could isolate human embryonic stem cells, or hESC's.  Dr. James Thomson of the University of Wisconsin - Madison made the discovery and thought this was a promising new idea for treating diseases.  The concept  can be explained as obtaining hESC's from an embryo just a few days old which have the ability to differentiate into any type of human cell, making them useful to mature humans who's cells have lost this ability. While this seems like a great idea, a huge ethical dispute surrounds it.  The argument involves killing a human life, which brings up the question of when it begins.  Some believe it starts at fertilization while others say later in pregnancy or at birth.  Supporters of hESC, including those found at aaas.org, point out that eggs are often fertilized but may not implant in the uterus, causing pregnancy.  These supporters say that life does not begin until implantation has occurred.

http://www.aaas.org/spp/cstc/briefs/stemcells/

5.  Cancer Therapies:

The most common cancer treatments include chemotherapy, radiation therapy, surgery, and transplantation.

Chemotherapy uses anti-cancer drugs which reduce cell growth by attacking all cell DNA.  Some in the medical community refer to this type of treatment as "cytotoxic"or cell killing.  These drugs attempt to target cells with an unregulated growth pattern but cannot always promise exclusivity, resulting in hair loss and other side effects. This treatment itself is not painful, and does not typically cause nausea or compromise the immune system.

Radiation therapy uses high-energy radiation to kill cancer cells by damaging or destroying their DNA, the part of the cell responsible for cell growth and reproduction.  This method can damage normal cells as well, and can be projected onto the body from a machine or work internally by placing radioactive material near tumors or in the bloodstream.  Radiation therapy can be used in combination with chemotherapy.

Surgery to remove the infected body part or organ are common with prostate, skin, colon,  and breast cancers.

Transplantation is the process of removing the infected body part and replacing it with a healthy or artificial one from another being.  This is common with the heart, lungs, kidneys, liver, pancreas, intestine, thymus, bone marrow, and stem cells.  Donors are often living, brain dead, or have recently passed.