Sex advice is being replaced by sex aids! Now 12-years-olds are being made available DIY (do it yourself) abortion kits and vaccinations against HPV, a sexually transmitted infection.

If the new bill proposed by doctors, that is yet to be passed in parliament goes through, British schoolgirls as young as 12, could be given permission for DIY abortions. This has given way to a huge controversy. This would mean that very young kids will be able to undergo termination without supervision, behind their parents’ backs, even as late as 19 weeks.

In the words of Tory Nadine Dorris, a leading anti-abortion MP, “We are talking about very young girls who will go home and abort on their own.” This has scared many a parent and is a cause of great concern for them. Parents feel that this is like giving permission to go ahead and indulge in sex because there is a secret “remedy” and it also creates a risk factor for the child herself, which is what a girl is at 12.

Critics have said this decision by the Government sends out a wrong message to young girls. Even the Christian Institute has expressed disapproval of this plan. The director of the Roman Catholic Linacre Centre for Healthcare Ethics, said, “A massive public health programme which targets girls as young as 10 or 12 may well create more problems than it solves .. sending the message that promiscuity is normal and expected.” (more…)

Death begins in the colon! That may sound a little extreme but it is a fact that a troubled colon leads to all sorts of diseases, some more serious than the others. Colon cleansing is one of the best ways of cleaning an unhealthy colon that is severely out of balance. While it is necessary to learn about different methods of cleansing, it is of utmost importance to understand that several mishaps can occur if colon cleansing is not performed properly.

Do not believe anyone that says colon cleansing is free from any reactions. It is common to have physical reactions to the colon cleansing process. These reactions may include headaches, vomiting, fatigue, diarrhea or dizziness. For all the discomfort, this is actually a sign that the process is working and that you are actually eliminating toxins from the body. Although, these symptoms may not be considered as serious, if they do occur, you may need to temporarily cut back on your cleansing procedure.

You must learn not to confuse cleansing supplements with laxatives. Laxatives are not considered to be a good alternative, despite the fact that many health professionals recommend them. According to colon hydrotherapists, laxatives only stimulate the muscular movement of the colon. They can also cause dehydration and do nothing to loosen and remove the colon’s false lining. Laxatives may also weaken the colon by irritating and over-stimulating it, and it is best to stay away from them. (more…)

Prenatal diagnosis is currently the most widespread application of technology and genetic knowledge. Along with the benefits that advancing technologies provide, they also give birth to new dilemmas. Researchers can now detect many health problems of an unborn child in the womb. While it is a good thing as it helps parents prepare well to receive such a child, this information also creates situations where parents face the wrenching decision of whether they should give birth to the child or terminate the pregnancy. They are left to decide if giving birth to such a child is an injustice to the child.

What about the ethics of prenatal testing, especially in Down syndrome? How do mothers experience the personal and ethical choices about prenatal testing? We should also be looking at the perspective of mothers of children with Down syndrome.

Society believes that it is a grave burden to raise a child with Down syndrome and that it is both medically appropriate and morally correct to take measures to ensure the child is not born. Because of few treatment options, testing is basically linked to the only option of ‘therapeutic’ abortion. (more…)

Although Abortion is practiced throughout most of the world and has been practiced long before the recorded history, it still invokes passion and controversy. Abortion raises fundamental questions such as when life begins and what it is that makes us human. In America, abortion is a highly charged issue that involves ethical, religious and political debate. It continues to be a very contentious issue with few signs of abatement.

It is understandable that most women feel abortion is a moral decision for them and a totally personal decision, given their situation. This includes their religious beliefs, health, marital status, genetic makeup, age and other factors.

If a woman decides to undergo abortion, after consulting with her physician and her spiritual advisor, should the government veto her decision?

The answer to this is a whole lot of debate in the U.S., many times even bordering on violence.

Those who are against abortion say that the government should be able to override the decision of a woman and require her to continue with her pregnancy and childbirth. These people base their stance on the strong belief that human life begins at the ovum and spermatozoon stage. This makes a pre-embryo, embryo and fetus all humans that are entitled to the basic human right to live, along with all other human rights. (more…)

It’s no secret that a poor diet can lead to poor health. Scientists and doctors agree that poor nutrition can contribute to a patient’s likelihood to develop a number of significant health problems. Some important health problems that can be negatively impacted by a poor diet include: high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and type 2 diabetes. Even heart attacks and strokes may be related to a patient’s poor diet. In fact, there is a current trend towards patients developing these detrimental diet-related ailments in the United States and in most Western countries.

It is quite possible to reverse the trend of poor health caused by a poor diet. The answer is to eat healthier, more nutritious foods and to increase the amount of exercise each individual does. Most people would like to follow a more nutritional diet plan, but they simply don’t have the knowledge to accomplish their goal. Much of the average person’s diet consists of fats, carbohydrates, and proteins. People simply don’t know what foods are best for them and they may not have the resources to get the information that they need. (more…)

A woman’s curse? In the West, through much of its history, women were considered ritually unclean during the monthly flow of blood. This period put a woman into a state of ritual defilement. Theologians believed that this “unclean creature” could not be entrusted with the care of God’s sacred rituals. Similar taboos existed among many cultures, including the Greeks and Romans. Women were not only considered to be “impure” but in danger of communicating this impurity to others. Anyone who touches a woman or her belongings becomes unclean and must clean themselves. These traditions were onerous and complicated.

Now for the blessings of the curse! The same blood is now claimed by researchers as life-saving. It is found to contain stem cells that are in the early stages of development, thus having the potential to turn into different types of cells.

American and Japanese researchers say that this blood contains adult stem cells and can be the “super repair kit” for the body. These stem cells can be used to develop nine different types of cells for growing new cartilage, bone, fat, skin, brain cells, lung, nerve, muscle and even the heart. (more…)

A trend for specialization has seen an increase in healthcare facilities all over the world. A healthcare facility can be anything from a simple medical clinic to a large multispecialty hospital. A good hospital is one that has specialized staff and equipment, the latest technology, research facilities, conducts clinical trials and strives towards improving patient care.

With the thousands of hospitals out there, deciding where to get treatment is a daunting task. However, hospital popularity among patients goes a long way in determining which hospital is good and what each hospital specializes in.

Consistency being the key; hospitals with consistent great performance are considered to be the best. Hospitals that belong to this cadre not only recruit the most qualified physicians and nursing care, but also strive to provide specialized services to patients.

There are several such health facilities in the United States that provide specialized services to their patients. Here we look at a few top hospitals that have good reviews from the patients as well as from various hospital surveys done. They top the charts of the healthcare providers.

1:- The Johns Hopkins Hospital

A teaching hospital situated in Baltimore, Maryland, The Johns Hopkins Hospital is considered to be one of the best hospitals in the world. It has been topping the charts at No. 1 in the U.S. News and World Report for 18 years consecutively.

Inception

This hospital was founded in the year 1889, in the name of Johns Hopkins, who was a banker and merchant in Baltimore. He left several million dollars and asked for this money to be used in the creation of two institutions under his name. Thus came into being, “The Johns Hopkins Hospital” and “The Johns Hopkins University.”

Johns Hopkins Hospital Institutions:

• The Brady Urological Institute
• The Wilmer Eye Institute
• The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center
• The Johns Hopkins Children’s Center

Specialties

The hospital has been ranked high for the following specialties:

• Rheumatology
• Urology
• Otolaryngology (ear, nose and throat)
• Neurology and Neurosurgery
• Psychiatry
• Gynecology
• Ophthalmology
• Geriatrics

The above specialties are ranked high; however, their services extend to several other branches, such as respiratory disorders, digestive disorders, endocrinology, oncology, heart and heart surgery, orthopedics, general pediatrics and kidney diseases. They have a rehabilitation section as well. (more…)

Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is an epidemic that threatens millions of lives globally. Even with all the advancement of science, there is no known cure and the only hope is to prevent the transmission of the AIDS causing Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV).

The HIV virus takes several routes to transmit the disease, such as sexual contact, exposure to contaminated blood or blood products, needle sticks and in pregnancy, which is the worst, because it also affects the baby. Breast feeding is said to increase the risk of transmission from mothers to infants by almost 10 to 20%. In countries like the UK and U.S., HIV-positive mothers are advised not to breastfeed; however, in countries that are hardest hit by HIV, such as Africa, HIV-positive mothers have no alternative to breastfeeding and there are no effective methods as of now, to prevent HIV transmission through this route.

In this scary scenario, researchers from the University of Illinois at Chicago and Lavax, of Palatine, Ill., have come up with a ray of hope in the form of a freeze-dried formula that reduces the risk of transmission to the infants. This formula contains good bacteria, which has the potential to capture and destroy this virus.

Researchers reveal that they have isolated a particular strain of probiotic lactobacilli from the mouth of humans. This strain belongs to the same species as the one found in dairy products, such as yogurt.

The HIV virus is captured by this strain by binding itself to the outer envelope of the HIV virus. Since this grows and reproduces in milk, after inoculation with Lactobacillus, the protection for the infant is expected to last till weaning. (more…)

“Funiculus umbilicalis” in spite of sounding like a magic spell from a Harry Potter movie; is the Latin name for the narrow cord of tissue, commonly known as the umbilical cord that connects the embryo to the placenta. It brings nutrient-rich oxygenated blood from the placenta to the embryo or fetus and returns the deoxygenated, nutrient-depleted blood to the placenta.

According to researchers, this fetal life-support system has now been found to have other uses too. Stem cells from the umbilical cord are said to be helpful in the treatment of several diseases, such as hepatic diseases, sickle cell disease, leukemia, thallasemia, Hodgkin’s lymphoma and others. When healthy stem cells are transplanted into an ill child, these cells can grow new bone marrow cells and replace the destroyed ones.

Cord blood is the blood that is left in the umbilical cord after birth. This blood contains stem cells, which is what a human body is made of. These cells have the ability to develop into hundreds of different types of cells in the human body, like blood cells, bone marrow cells and brain cells. They are found at every stage, when developing from an embryo into an adult.

Stem cell research was always believed to hold awesome potential. Scientists believe that stem cells may be used to repair or even replace damaged cells and this has a huge potential of changing the treatment for diseases such as cancer, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s etc.

Researchers from the Universities of Leon and Granada have revealed that the human umbilical cord blood cells (HUCBCs) have been studied to have the capacity to treat hepatic diseases, such as hepatitis. They also say these cells can prove to be an effective alternative to bone marrow.

Currently, the treatment for hepatic failure is liver transplant; however, this is an issue because of lack of enough donors. There is also no specific treatment for fibrosis that is caused by hepatic diseases and this research can help many people suffering from this condition. (more…)

Heart transplant, also known as cardiac transplant involves placing a donor heart by either removing the patient’s own heart or leaving it in as a support to the donor heart. This is done on patients who suffer from severe coronary artery disease or end-stage heart failure.

There is so much demand for these heart transplants that it sometimes requires a long wait before suitable hearts are found for the patients and many patients die during the waiting period.

Frank Pagani, a doctor at the University of Michigan Medical Center came up with a life saving device, the heart pump. It all began when a suitable heart was not available for a patient who needed a transplant, and Dr. Pagani decided to experiment implanting a heart pump.

This device, implanted in the patient’s chest was the second such procedure to be done in the U.S. Today, this device is implanted in 400 patients who are currently undergoing a clinical trial. It is also awaiting approval from the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA,) to be used as a stopgap for people waiting for a heart.

These devices are manufactured by Thoratec Corp. in California. This company is in the process of completing a trial of another more advanced device called HeartMate II, which can be implanted permanently in the heart, in place of a transplant. If the trial turns out to be successful, it would be great news for younger patients with heart damage. (more…)