Medicine

Electric wheelchairs mobility for virtually any type of disability. Innovations have made control of electric wheelchairs manageable for everyone. Today, manual and electric wheelchairs have become a physical extension of the rider. But it wasn't until 1979, when an anti-trust suit was settled, that an era of competition and design innovation began resulting in better pricing and greater mobility in both manual and electric wheelchairs. Today we can find lightweight, transport, ultra light wheelchairs along with ramps and lifts. Now sleek sports models are used in competition as formal leagues for basketball, tennis, racing and many other sports are developed for users of manual and electric wheelchairs....

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Of all the places in the body that can hurt, the face might seem the strangest. But for some people, that's exactly where the agony occurs, and the cause is a nerve gone haywire. How peripheral nerves involve themselves in pain is sometimes confusing. Here's a handy way to think of the two basic patterns: #1: The nerve is the messenger. If you have a dental abscess, a facial sunburn or a sinus infection, you can count on pain being present. Where does it come from? Special nerve endings detect the tissue-injury and generate electrical impulses. The peripheral nerves carry these impulses into the brain. The peripheral nerves didn't CAUSE the pain, they're just carrying the bad news. (Don't shoot the messenger!...

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The treatment of high blood pressure is one of the most important areas of modern medicine. Good quality care and blood pressure treatment can reduce the risk of death, the risk of stroke and the risk of heart attack or coronary disease. The British Hypertension Society produced guidelines in 2004. This is what they recommend. Blood Pressure Measurement All adults should have a blood pressure measurement at least once every five years up to the age of 80 - and more often thereafter. If their blood pressure reading is borderline or high then the frequency of checking should be increased to at least once a year. Nobody should be labelled as having high blood pressure unless at least four seperate seated readings confirm the problem....

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"If you have to deal with chronic neck pain, it can be a real struggle. I know? because I've had to do it myself," states Dr. Nathan Wei, a board-certified rheumatologist and Clinical Director of The Arthritis and Osteoporosis Center of Maryland. How arthritis causes neck pain... The neck is an interesting structure. It's made up of 7 bones stacked on top of each other. Each is separated from each other in the front by fibrous cushions called discs, and from each other in the back by special joints called facet joints. "The maximum movement of the neck occurs between the 4th and 6th cervical vertebrae...and this is where the most wear and tear in arthritis is seen," says Dr....

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Pharmaceutical giant Bristol Myers Squibb has announced that they will suspend direct-to-consumer advertising for their prescription drug products for a year. This comes in the wake of the well-publicized withdrawals of Merck's Vioxx and Pfizer's Bextra, two non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) that were voluntarily withdrawn from the market recently. Studies showed that they increase the likelihood of strokes and heart attacks among patients that take them for prolonged periods of time. This represents an unusual move for a pharmaceutical company, as they tend to spend a large portion of their annual advertising budget on direct-to-consumer advertising. It is possible that Bristol Myers recognizes that consumers are becoming concerned about new drugs being approved by the FDA and advertised heavily, only to find out later that the drugs have previously unknown and possibly dangerous side effects....

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How does a mind contemplate itself? That's a philosophical question I'll leave to minds smarter than mine, but what I can tell you is how to examine the brain and other parts of the nervous system. Most people are familiar with how doctors examine a heart or set of lungs. The physical exam of these organs consists mainly of using a stethoscope to listen to them in action. But when it comes to examining components of the nervous system-consisting of the brain, spinal cord, peripheral nerves and muscles-a stethoscope is pretty useless. The nervous system doesn't make sounds that the doctor can listen to (though the arteries in the neck that deliver blood to the brain can be usefully listened to)....

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A neuroma is an inflamed nerve. In the foot, the most common place for a neuroma is between the third and fourth toes. The main nerve to your foot originates in the spine and travels down the back of the leg to the bottom of the foot and out to the toes. When the nerve becomes irritated, electrical or burning pain shoots out to the toes when walking. The second, third and fourth toes can become numb. There can be a sensation of walking on a lamp cord or a lump. Removing the shoe and massaging the ball of the foot can bring relief. To help decrease the pain, try the following tips: 1. Rest. Every step you take aggravates the nerve. Decreasing the time on your feet will help decrease the inflammation....

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New antidepressant development, until fairly recently, was at best a random, and at worst a problematic and frustrating, process. Often, medications that were developed for one thing were discovered quite accidentally to have much more important therapeutic effects for a completely different disorder. It has been well described that some of the original antipsychotics were originally developed to assist in anesthesia, and some of the original new antidepressants were originally intended to be medications for tuberculosis or psychosis. New antidepressant development was done on a "chemical" basis; that is, guesses were made as to compounds that would be safe and effective based on chemical structures of established medications....

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This is a short overview of a questionnaire used for substance abuse attitude testing in testing a CREATE (Curriculum Renewal and Evaluation of Addiction Training and Education) effects on Medical Students. My afterthoughts on substance abuse attitude testing are in the end of the article. The survey overview Questions 1-8 check the comfort level of a respondent.Questions 9-38 deal with general attitudes. Questions 39-51 deal students' attitudes to pregnancy. In the first part of this substance abuse attitude testing sheet students had to answer to several question concerning the level of comfort when asking patients about various kinds of addictions (smoking, alcohol and drug) and talking about their effects....

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Thirty percent of human population has a high blood pressure and everyone has a 90% risk to acquire it during the rest of the life. As a result, half of all human deaths are due to the major complications of high blood pressure, mainly stroke and heart attack. Medical scientists are fighting this life-threatening disease and they have gained some success. That is the development of several classes of antihypertensive drugs and definition of "normal" levels of blood pressure that should be maintained to reduce the risk of cardiovascular complications and death. Is it a great success? Unfortunately not. Pharmaceutical treatment can not reverse the disease. The patient with developed arterial hypertension can only hope to reduce the risk of high blood pressure complications....

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Vioxx is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammagory drug (NSAID) that reduces inflammation, pain, fever, osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis stiffness, and menstrual pain. However, Vioxx has been shown to cause blood clots, heart attacks, stroke, Stevens-Johnson Syndrome, kidney damage and other dangerous and potentially deadly side effects. Lawsuits are being filed against Merck, the manufacturer of Vioxx, for product liability. The claim is that Merck knew the dangers of Vioxx and marketed it anyway. In drug product liability lawsuits, the prosecution must prove that Merck didn't provide for the safety of the patient and that they were harmed as a direct result from taking Vioxx and from Merck's negligence....

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Whether you're a weekend athlete, or a gardener that overdid it, or a person with arthritis, there's hope for you. According to Dr. Nathan Wei, Clinical Director of the Arthritis and Osteoporosis Center of Maryland, "Shoulder problems are one of the most common afflictions of modern times. Fortunately, there are many ways of helping people feel better." The shoulder is the largest, most complex, and most mobile joint in the body Four muscles and their tendons (ropes attached to the top of the humerus), collectively known as the rotator cuff allow the shoulder to move as it does. The rotator cuff also plays a role in stabilizing the arm bone to the shoulder blade. Shoulder pain doesn't always come from the shoulder!...

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The state of Arizona has one of the worst drug problems in the United States. Historically and currently, the state is known as a transhipment location for a variety of drugs, including heroin, cocaine and marijuana, which are imported from other countries. As a result, these and other drugs are widely available in the state, and their abuse is common. There are probably few states that require the presence of rehabilitation centers as this one does - thankfully Arizona drug rehab centers are some of the best in the world. There is a wide range of treatment centers in Arizona that employ a range of different techniques to help the patient break their addiction. Some of these will have particular specialisations, which might be more appropriate for certain types of patient, so it is always sensible to find out as much as you can about an Arizona drug rehab before making an appointment....

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