NEW YORK: Airplane crew and passengers who frequently fly between several time zones face a number of health problems including disruptions in a woman’s menstrual cycle and even short-term psychiatric disturbances, researchers from the UK warn in a report published on Thursday in The Lancet.There seems to be no getting use to long-haul flights, according to researchers who report that flight crews who regularly take long journeys are not protected from the effects of jet lag such as poor and interrupted sleep, mood changes, irritability, stomach problems, and decreased brain power.Jet lag from crossing several time zones also causes a dip in an athlete’s performance, note Jim Waterhouse and two associates from the Research Institute for Sport and Exercise Sciences at Liverpool John Moores University.Jet lag is worse for older travellers, and its severity increases with the number of time zones crossed. “If the journey crosses fewer than about three time zones, then jet lag is unlikely to be a major difficulty for most people,” the authors write.The direction of travel also matters, Waterhouse and colleagues say, with flights to the east bringing more jet lag than flights to the west.So how long will it last? Jet lag caused by eastbound flights lasts for several days “roughly equal to two-thirds of the number of time zones crossed, and about half the number of time zones crossed for westward flights,” Waterhouse and colleagues report.Currently, there is no cure for jet lag, but there are some things frequent long-haul travellers can do to try to lessen the impact of jet lag upon arrival. For journeys that cross more than three time zones, travellers can help the body clock adjust by deliberately seeking or avoiding sunlight at the new destination, the investigators offer.Trying to maintain alertness during the day at the new destination by exercising and/or drinking caffeinated beverages may also help. The jury is still out on the value of taking the hormone melatonin to curb jet lag, the authors say. Melatonin is secreted during sleep and has been implicated in jet lag, but Waterhouse and colleagues don’t advise using melatonin until more research is conducted.What’s needed, they conclude, is a “more detailed understanding of the molecular changes associated with time zone changes...with a view to developing drugs to promote clock adjustment and further assessments of new sleep-promoting and alertness-promoting drugs.”—Reuters
Sunday, April 1, 2007
Saturday, March 31, 2007
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Advice for Pre-Meds --- A MUST READ!! |
There are a few things I would like to tell you before you start
medical school....and, of course, these are only my opinions and may not
represent the opinions of anyone else in this entire world....so take it with
a grain of salt.
01 - Everyone, including my doctor, told me to get the hell out of medicine
before I got in.
02 - I busted my ass in high school, college, etc...to get to med school.
03 - Once in medical school, what you did to get you there no longer matters.
04 - Be prepared to study....then study somemore, and then a little more...
and then be prepared to not do well on the test.
05 - Be prepared to accept the reality that you may be an idiot (this came
as a shock to me).
06 - Be thankful that everyone else in your class is also an idiot and no
one expects you to know everything all at once, and for every test.
07 - Realize that getting ahead in med school means making lots of
friends ... those who step on toes to get to the top are quickly
shunned by the rest of the class. This is very bad since people
tend to get a hold of old tests, helpful hints, book
recommendations, etc..that will be of great benefit to you. If you
are the smartest person in the class...dont try to show off and be
cocky. There will be plenty of opportunities for people to
undermine you if they decide they dont like your attitude. In
short, have fun, be nice....make sure you are likable to a large
number of people.
08 - No one can go through medical school 8 times, so dont be such a "pal"
that you end up doing extra work (typing a review sheet, for
example) for your friends while they are out having a good time.
09 - For me, the first year was NOT the hardest. This is b/c I was used
to busting my ass to get into medical school that I never slowed
down. For some, it is the "wake up call" if you never studied in
college.
10 - The second year IS the hardest, its survival of the fittest. They
want you to know everything about everything, and some more in
between. People quit after every exam.
11 - Once thru your second year, the rest is cheesecake. You dress like
a doctor, work like a doctor, and hopefully start acting like a
doctor.
12 - Once thru your second year, you realize the first 2 were bullshit and
you know nothing and can't remember the rest.
13 - Its relatively easy to PASS medical school, it requires more
dedication than genius to get a High Pass, and a mixture of both to
Honor.
14 - Remember that P=MD (meaning that if you PASS you will become a
doctor). Also, remember that P is not equal to ENT, SURGERY,
OBGYN, DERMATOLOGY, etc...so basically, everyone who graduates is a
doctor, but not everyone who graduates is the doctor they may want
to be.
15 - In the middle of the second year, they could not pay you enough to
be a doctor.
16 - In the middle of the second year, you cant afford to quit b/c you now
have a huge loan to pay back.
17 - The best years of your life are while you are in medical school.
18 - The worst years of your life are while you are in medical school.
19 - Dating in medical school is close to impossible. If you can find
someone who understands your language, your schedule, your attitude,
your financial situation...marry them first, ask questions later.
20 - Sleeping/eating right become luxuries in medical school.
21 - Noone will ever understand your schedule or what the hell you are
doing (eg why you have to study 2 weeks before a test).
22 - You will have to study 2 weeks for a test.
23 - You will have to learn to budget your time wisely if you want to ever
have a life. Same goes for your money.
24 - Some people go out every night and do exceptionally well in medical
school...if this is you...great. If this is not you...Sorry.
25 - Some people bust their ass every day and fail medical school...hope this
is not you.
26 - The person who finds the best balance between study, social, family,
friends, entertainment will make the best of medical school.
27 - The ass who always aces every test and never studies is everyone in
medical school BUT you.
28 - The fact that you can dissect a rat in college has no bearing on your
performance in medical school.
29 - The fact that your favorite class in college is Biology is unique
b/c the smartest people in medical school today are NOT biology
majors and, in fact, have never taken such a class.
30 - The fact that you have taken such classes will help in the first year,
and give you more time for other things while your classmates are
"learning how to use the microscope".
31 - If a histology class is offered at your school, take it..take it
again...teach it...learn to love it. You can essentially SKIP your
medical school histology class if you know it well enough.
32 - You may have thought that all the BULLSHIT classes you took in high
school/college would come to an end when you got to medical
school ... sorry...they are still there.
33 - You wont believe the amount of information they want you to know.
34 - You wont believe the amount of information you can forget.
35 - Old tests can save your ass...they can also sink you if you just
memorize answers.
36 - You will have to rearrange your life, study habits, friendships
around being a student. No one will understand that you need to
study so much, for so long. I study at least 10 hours a day, every
day. I usually take a day off. Some people dont..thats just me.
I also am not at the top of my class. You have to find your
balance/grade tradeoff/relationship breaker time periods for
studying.
37 - Drugs are bad, dont do drugs. If you need help staying awake, you are
too tired to study..go to sleep.
38 - Your friends, collegues, will do drugs and make A's. Hopefully, life
will weed them out. Until then, be cool and realize that maybe
making C's is your maximum performance level.
39 - Dont neglect friends/family/pets - they are good for fun/meals/etc.
They can also be a drag (Come out with us, you can study tomorrow).
You need to have a long talk with these people if you do get into
medical school.
40 - To the rest of the world, you are not a doctor until you graduate the
4th year. To your family, you are a doctor two weeks before you
start your first year. If ever asked any medical questions, follow
your answer with a disclaimer (....but I would go to your doctor if
you are worried about it because I don't really know). Be careful
what you say, because people are listening.
41 - Never listen to a previous medical students advice on medical school.
They have been run though the meat grinder and couldnt think of
putting anyone else thru such torture. They tend to leave out the
good stuff like parties, good friends, fun memories, their first
patient contact, someone calling you DOC, getting to wear a white
coat, and knowing what the hell is going on during ER.
In summary, if you are not sure you want to be a doctor...be very sure you want
to be a doctor before you come to medical school. That bullshit about "helping
people" will get you nowhere your first 2 years. We are all in medical school
because we want to "help people" but this alone will not get you an MD. You need
to be dedicated to yourself, your studies, your talents, and your life as a whole
just to get thru the first 2 years. Any outside pressures you have will burst
while you are in school so be prepared to handle that before you get here. We
are not special in any way, we are not geniuses, but, we are willing to work
hard...and that, my friend, is what will make you successful in medical school.
Good Luck.
| [+/-] |
Life in Hypochondria - (c) 1999 by W. Bruce Cameron |
I am one of those people for whom the mention of a disease is the same as a
diagnosis. This is particularly true when those public service messages
come on the radio, listing the 14 signs of edema--invariably, I have all 14
symptoms. Like this:
Public Service Announcer: "Do you have skull apathy? Skull apathy
afflicts one out of ten men who were present during atomic bomb tests and
then later fell into the Love Canal. Listen closely to these symptoms:
"Has there recently been an obvious change in a wart or mole, such as
pulsating colors or bird whistles?"
(Ohmygosh, yes! I have a mole I've been calling Bullwinkle, because that
is sort of who it looks like, and lately he seems to have developed a funny
bend in one of his legs.)
"Do you sometimes believe you can see Al Gore talking without moving his
lips?"
(Yes!)
"Do you think you are like everyone else?"
(Doesn't everybody?)
"Do you have trouble booting Windows 95?"
(Yes!)
"Do flames shoot out of your eyes when you are driving at night?"
(Yes! Well, sort of.)
"Are you troubled by cold sheets, swooping bats, percussion grenades?"
(Yes Yes Yes!)
"Did you cry at the movie Titanic, even though there were other guys in the
theater?"
(Yes! Hey wait, I didn't say that.)
"If you answered yes to any of these questions, it is probably too late to
see a doctor. In fact, you probably lapsed into a coma somewhere after the
third question. Have a nice day."
Just great, now I've got skull apathy and I'm about to go coma. I zoom
home and breathlessly dial my doctor's telephone number, assuring the
receptionist that this is a life and death emergency and yes, I have
insurance.
"This is Doctor Spleensplitter."
"Doctor Spleensplitter! This is Bruce Cameron! Thank God you answered the
phone."
"Oh, I'm... I believe I picked up the wrong line."
"Dr. Spleensplitter, I've got the top ten reasons to have skull apathy,
plus I can feel a coma coming on. You have to help me!"
"Skull apathy?"
"Yes."
"What sort of symptoms are you experiencing, Mr. Cameron?"
"Well, I have this mole shaped like a moose, only lately it looks like it
has developed a limp."
"Well then. Maybe you should see a veterinarian."
"Plus, I sometimes see Al Gore using Windows 95 without moving his lips!"
"Mr. Cameron..."
"I need some of those same pills you gave me last time."
"Mr. Cameron, those were placeboes."
"Yes, that's what I need, more placeboes! Only more powerful ones."
"More powerful placeboes."
"Yes!"
"Mr. Cameron, may I ask you a very important question?"
"Yes, I have insurance."
"No, not that. I was reviewing your file the other day..."
"You were? Why, do you suspect I've got something even more serious than
skull apathy?"
"No, actually, it's because our staff requested a whole new filing cabinet
to put it in, and I wanted to see if there was anything in there we could
throw out. Mr. Cameron, do you realize you've complained of nearly every
malady known to man?"
"I have?"
"Plus some I'd never heard of before. Wake Apnea. Sudden Shower Syndrome.
Reverse Appendicitis. And now this new one..."
"Skull apathy?"
"Precisely. Mr. Cameron, has anyone ever suggested to you that you might
be suffering a bit of hypochondria?"
"Hypochondria? Is it serious? What are the symptoms? Tell me straight,
doc, how much time have I got?"
"No, it isn't serious at all. In fact, a lot of people have it, in some
form or another."
"So I caught it from somebody else?"
"Mr. Cameron, hypochondria is merely a term for people who worry
obsessively that they may have some disease or affliction."
"Well, I am worried! I'm worried I might have hypochondria! Are there any
placeboes that can be used to cure it?"
"You're not understanding me, Mr. Cameron. It isn't a real disease."
"You mean I'm sick with something FAKE?" This opens up a whole new realm
of doom that I hadn't even contemplated before. I swallow, feeling the
first trickle of a whole host of phony symptoms. "What's next, a CAT scan?
An MRI? Should I have my internal organs removed? Doc, I'm too young to
have hypochondria. I was just beginning to live life to the fullest!"
Well, maybe not to the fullest, but I had just purchased fresh batteries
for the TV remote and was looking forward to a night of crisp channel
changes. Now it seems pointless, somehow.
"Mr. Cameron, I'm afraid I'm not making myself clear, here. There's
nothing really wrong with you. You just have a morbid obsession."
He thinks he is fooling me, with his medical jargon, but I know what
morbidity is. From the Greek word "Mortimer," which means death.
Mortician. Post Mortem. Today I mort, yesterday I morted, tomorrow I will
have mortalized. Tomorrow.
"24 hours." I whisper.
"Mr. Cameron?"
"I appreciate you calling me, Doc."
"Well, I didn't call you."
"Whatever. I just... having one more day to at least put my life in order,
maybe catch one last episode of Baywatch..."
"Mr. Cameron."
"Yes?"
He sighs heavily. "I'll call in a prescription for some placeboes right
away. Treated aggressively, you should be well on your way to recovery by
the end of the week."
| [+/-] |
|
Good morning... /Afternoon what ever suits you :P (time difference) any ways.... its said that one should start ones day with some laugh... so here are a couple of ticklers...
The patient awakened after the operation to find herself in a room with all the blinds drawn.
"Why are all the blinds closed?" she asked her doctor.
"Well," the surgeon responded, "They're fighting a huge fire across the street, and we didn't want you to wake up and think the operation had failed."
---------------
"Doctors at a hospital in Brooklyn, New York have gone on strike. Hospital officials say they will find out what the Doctors' demands are as soon as they can get a pharmacist over there to read the picket signs!"
---------------
Ponder This: The difference between a neurotic and a psychotic is that, while a psychotic thinks that 2 + 2 = 5, a neurotic knows the answer is 4, but it worries him.
--------------
A man goes to the doctor and says to the doctor:"It hurts when I press here" (pressing his side)"And when I press here" (pressing the other side)"And here" (his leg)"And here, here and here" (his other leg, and both arms)
So the doctor examined him all over and finally discovered what was wrong... "You've got a broken finger!
------------
The Ranks of a Hospital
Surgeon:
- Leaps tall buildings in a single bound
- Is more productive than a train
- Is faster than a speeding bullet
- Walks on water
- Talks with God
Internist:
- Leaps short buildings in a single bound
- Is more powerful than a switch engine
- Is faster than a speeding BB
- Walks on water if the sea is calm
- Talks with God if special request is approved
General Practitioner:
- Leaps short buildings with a running start and favorable winds
- Is almost as powerful as a switch engine
- Can fire a speeding bullet
- Walks on water in an indoor swimming pool
- Is occasionally addressed by God
- Barely clears a picket fence
- Loses tug-of-war with a train
- Can sometimes handle a gun without inflicting self-injury
- Swims well
- Talks with animals
Intern:
- Makes high skid marks on a wall when trying to leap buildings
- Is run over by a train
- Is not issued ammunition
- Dog paddles
- Talks to walls
Medical Student:
- Runs into buildings
- Recognizes a train 2 out of 3 times
- Wets himself with a water pistol
- Cannot stay afloat without a life preserver
- Mumbles to himself
Nurse:
Lifts buildings and walks under them
Kicks trains off the track
Catches speeding bullets with her teeth and eats them
Freezes water with a single glance
The Nurse IS god!!!!
| [+/-] |
alternative Methods of healing |
http://www.methodsofhealing.com lol... phunny how things come up :P hahah just when i was about to close my net.. i recieved an email tellin me about alternative medicine, holististic treatments and other traditional methods of healing at http://www.methodsofhealing.com so thought before i hit bed id check it out...
it says it helps smokers to STOP SMOKING :P sounds interesting... so all of u who do mite want to check holistic treatments...
besides that it also claims Irritable Bowel Syndrome which is alos stress related... so what i figure is that this alternate medicine tretment thing helps fight stress related stuff...
okay now lets see what wikipedia has to say about it :
Alternative medicine describes practices used in place of conventional medical treatments. Complementary medicine describes practices used in conjunction and cooperation with conventional medicine, to assist the existing process. The term complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is an umbrella term for both branches. CAM includes practices that incorporate spiritual, metaphysical, or religious underpinnings; non-evidence based practices, non-European medical traditions, or newly developed approaches to healing.
The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine defines complementary and alternative medicine as "a group of diverse medical and health care systems, practices, and products that are not presently considered to be part of conventional medicine". It also defines integrative medicine as "[combining] mainstream medical therapies and CAM therapies for which there is some high-quality scientific evidence of safety and effectiveness".[1] Ralph Snyderman and Andrew Weil state "integrative medicine is not synonymous with complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). It has a far larger meaning and mission in that it calls for restoration of the focus of medicine on health and healing and emphasizes the centrality of the patient-physician relationship".[2]
The list of therapies included under CAM changes gradually. If and when CAM therapies that are proven to be safe and effective become adopted into conventional health care, they gradually cease to be considered CAM, since adoption and acceptance often take time.
Holism appears in psychosomatic medicine. In the 1970s the holistic approach was considered one possible way to conceptualize psychosomatic phenomena. Instead of charting one-way causal links from psyche to soma, or vice-versa, it aimed at a systemic model, where multiple biological, psychological and social factors were seen as interlinked. Other, alternative approaches at that time were psychosomatic and somatopsychic approaches, which concentrated on causal links only from psyche to soma, or from soma to psyche, respectively. (Lipowski 1977) At present it is commonplace in psychosomatic medicine to state that psyche and soma cannot really be separated for practical or theoretical purposes. A disturbance on any level - somatic, psychic, or social - will radiate to all the other levels, too. In this sense, psychosomatic thinking is similar to the biopsychosocial model of medicine.
In alternative medicine, a holistic approach to healing recognizes that the emotional, mental, spiritual and physical elements of each person comprise a system, and attempts to treat the whole person in its context,[1] concentrating on the cause of the illness as well as symptoms. Examples of such holistic therapies include Acupuncture, Ayurveda, Chinese medicine, Indian Head Massage, Naturopathic medicine, Qi Gong, Reiki, and Reflexology. They usually do not originate from the western medical-scientific tradition, and lack scientific evidence to verify their claims. (http://www.methodsofhealing.com)
Holism (from ὅλος holos, a Greek word meaning all, entire, total) is the idea that all the properties of a given system (biological, chemical, social, economic, mental, linguistic, etc.) cannot be determined or explained by the sum of its component parts alone. Instead, the system as a whole determines in an important way how the parts behave.
The general principle of holism was concisely summarized by Aristotle in the Metaphysics: "The whole is more than the sum of its parts".
Reductionism is sometimes seen as the opposite of holism. Reductionism in science says that a complex system can be explained by reduction to its fundamental parts. Essentially, chemistry is reducible to physics, biology is reducible to chemistry and physics, psychology and sociology are reducible to biology, etc. Some other proponents of reductionism, however, think that holism is the opposite only of greedy reductionism.
On the other hand, holism and reductionism can also be regarded as complementary viewpoints, in which case they both would be needed to get a proper account of a given system.
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GOOD NITE |
OKay then This wud be the last post for today :P or rather for yesterday :P and now i shall call it a day... will get back to sendin in some stuff... but for now
its SHAB BA KHAIR :) ALLAH HAFIZ... Good nite :P
and people please gimme some feeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed back :)
Friday, March 30, 2007
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A glimpse into future of KARACHI... was the heading... any ways check it out.. looks cool.. :)
| [+/-] |
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hummmmmm chalo at last some progress :)
we
GOT
Dr. SALEHA
WITH US NOW :P :P Welcome doctor sahiba
----------------------------
by the way Somebody is selling a skull... so anybody who wants to buy it should contact dat somebody before everybody else does...
http://www.orkut.com/CommMsgs.aspx?cmm=185462&tid=2523812333234538664&start=1
and this reminds me there is someone else as well who has a complete skeleton in the closet... so if anyone is interested tho contact....
http://www.orkut.com/Profile.aspx?uid=15421046177835783234
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Artery Stiffness May Be Reversed By Long-Term Smoking Cessation |
Ex-smokers achieved non-smokers' level of arterial stiffness after a decade of smoking cessation, in a cross-sectional study reported in Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart Association. "Smoking is a major risk factor, not only for lung disease and cancer, but also for heart attack, stroke and heart failure," said lead author Noor Ahmed Jatoi, M.B.B.S., D.C.N., D.M.M.D. "Our group has previously shown that smoking a single cigarette, passive or second-hand smoking and chronic smoking all lead to stiffer arteries, which in turn increase resistance in the blood vessels and, therefore, increase the work the heart must do." However, it was not clear if smoking cessation would be associated with reduced arterial stiffness. Stiffness in the arteries can increase blood pressure and is associated with increased risk of cardiovascular events. The researchers studied 554 people (average age 47, 56 percent female) who had high blood pressure but had never been treated for it. Researchers divided the subjects into: current smokers (150), ex-smokers (136) and never-smokers (268). "We categorized ex-smokers according to how long they were off cigarettes - under one year, more than one but less than 10 years and more than 10 years of smoking cessation," said Jatoi, a Ph.D. student in clinical pharmacology at Trinity Health Sciences Centre and Hypertension Clinic at St. James's Hospital, Trinity College Dublin (University of Dublin), Ireland. Researchers used Arterial Pulse Wave Analysis, a technology that measures arterial stiffness. They found that current and ex-smokers of only one year had significantly higher stiffness measurements compared with non-smokers. In ex-smokers, duration of smoking cessation was directly related to improvement in arterial stiffness. They found some improvement after one to 10 years, but arterial stiffness parameters only reached normal levels after more than a decade of smoking cessation. "Our study reinforces the message that smoking cessation is an important step smokers can take to enhance the quality and length of their lives. It shows both the unhealthy effects of smoking and the benefit of smoking cessation on the arterial wall," he said. "The longer one stops smoking the better." However, researchers noted that results need to be confirmed in a prospective, longitudal study - one that follows patients over time.
### Co-authors are Paula Jerrard-Dunne, M.D.; John Feely, M.D. and senior author Azra Mahmud, M.D., Ph.D. The American Heart Association strongly supports the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, bipartisan federal legislation that would give the Food and Drug Administration authority to regulate the manufacture, sale, distribution, labeling and promotion of tobacco products. The Association also advocates for smoke-free air policies, cigarette excise tax increases and comprehensive state tobacco control prevention and treatment programs. For more information, visit http://www.americanheart.org/fdatobacco. Statements and conclusions of study authors that are published in the American Heart Association scientific journals are solely those of the study authors and do not necessarily reflect association policy or position. The American Heart Association makes no representation or warranty as to their accuracy or reliability.
