Wednesday, September 16, 2009

The Benefits Of Breast Augmentation (Yes, You Need Breast Implants)

I'm all for women being obsessed with getting bigger breasts. It keeps their minds busy, and out of things they have no business thinking about, like politics, and finance. Breast augmentation is a multi billion dollar industry, and though thousands of women get breast implants every year, there are still several million who haven't had the procedure yet. This hub is designed to educate those women on the importance and benefits of breast augmentation.

Here are just some of the benefits of breast augmentation, according to the experts who know. (I refer of course to the great people at docshop.com, who highly recommend breast augmentation to women.)

Potential Benefits of Breast Augmentation

  • Increased Confidence
  • Increased Self Esteem
  • Aesthetic Improvement
  • More Clothing Choices

Some people say that self esteem and confidence come from accepting yourself as who you are, and coming to value yourself for your intellect, your values, your unique soul, but those people are probably flat chested and ugly. It's pretty obvious that the real way to gain self confidence is by having your body hacked open and having silicone pillows stuffed into your flesh so that men ogle you more when you're out in public.

To help those of you who may not have grasped the importance of breast augmentation, I've prepared a graph. As this graph clearly shows, a woman's worth as a human being increases proportionally with the number of leering men ogling her breasts.

Finally we come to the last benefit on the list, increased clothing choices. Well, if being able to wear that pretty top in the shop window isn't worth going under general anesthetic and subjecting your body to major surgical trauma, then I don't know what is.

Remember folks, appearance is everything, and if a woman isn't sexually attractive to men, then she's pretty well just a waste of time, and nobody will ever love her, ever

H1n1 (swine) Influenza Guide: swine flu

Definition
Swine influenza is flu virus usually found in pigs. The virus occasionally changes (mutates) and becomes infectious in humans. When this happens, the disease becomes a concern to humans, who have little or no immunity against it. This means the virus has the potential to spread quickly around the world. It also may be more difficult to treat than the usual, seasonal human flu viruses.

Causes, Incidence, And Risk Factors
In the spring of 2009, cases of human infection with H1N1 flu were confirmed in Mexico, the United States, and many countries around the world. The H1N1 flu virus is contagious and can spread from human to human. At this time, it is unknown how easily it can spread between people. It is known that flu viruses can spread from pigs to people, and from people to pigs. However, you CANNOT get H1N1 flu virus from eating pork.
Human-to-human infection with the H1N1 flu virus likely occurs the same way as seasonal flu, when an infected person coughs or sneezes into air that others breathe in. People may also get infected by touching something with the virus on it, such as a door knob or counter, and then touching their mouth or nose.

Symptoms
Symptoms of H1N1 flu infection in humans are similar to classic flu-like symptoms, which might include:
* Fever above 100.4 °F
* Cough
* Sore throat
* Headache
* Chills
* Muscle aches
* Diarrhea
* Vomiting
Signs And Tests
If you think you have been exposed to H1N1 influenza, call your health care provider before your visit. This will give the staff a chance to take proper precautions to protect them and other patients during your office visit. If the H1N1 flu becomes widespread, there will be little need to continue testing people, so your health care provider may decide not to test for the flu virus.
Your doctor may perform the following physical exam:
* Auscultation (to detect abnormal breath sounds)
* Chest x-ray
Your doctor can test for the H1N1 flu virus using a nasopharyngeal swab (a swab of the back of the inside of your nose), or grow it in a culture. However, this will likely happen only if:
* You are at high risk for flu complications.
* You are very sick.
Treatment
Most people who get H1N1 flu will likely recover without needing medical care. Doctors, however, can prescribe antiviral drugs to treat people who become very sick with the flu or are at high risk for flu complications. The CDC currently identifies the following people as high risk:
* Children younger than 5 years old, especially those younger than age 2
* Adults 65 years of age and older
* People with:
o Chronic lung (including asthma) or heart conditions (except hypertension)
o Kidney, liver, neurologic, and neuromuscular conditions
o Blood disorders (including sickle cell disease)
o Diabetes and other metabolic disorders
o An immune system that does not work well, such as AIDS patients or cancer patients receiving chemotherapy

Other high risk people include:
* Pregnant women
* Anyone younger than 19 years of age receiving long-term aspirin therapy
* Residents of nursing homes and other chronic-care facilities

New Blood Pressure Drug Shows Promise

Treatment Targets Resistant Hypertension
By Salynn Boyles
Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD

Sept. 15, 2009 -- As many as 30% of patients with hypertension fail to achieve their target blood pressures levels with treatment, but an experimental drug may help them hit their blood pressure goals.
In a newly reported study, patients whose blood pressure remained high despite very aggressive treatment had significant reductions in both the top (systolic) and bottom (diastolic) blood pressure numbers by adding the drug darusentan to the mix.
The drug works in a novel way by blocking the production of the amino acid endothelin within the walls of the artery. Endothelin is believed to raise blood pressure by causing the blood vessels to constrict.
“When you block endothelin the arteries relax and blood pressure should drop,” researcher Michael A. Weber, MD, of the State University of New York, tells WebMD.

Blood Pressure Dropped by 10 Points
Weber led the study, which included 379 patients treated at 117 sites in North and South America, Europe, New Zealand, and Australia.Justify FullAll of the patients had elevated blood pressure despite treatment with at least three blood pressure medications, including a diuretic (“water pill”) at the highest dose the patient could tolerate.
In addition to these treatments, the patients received either a placebo or darusentan for 14 weeks at doses of 50 milligrams, 100 milligrams, or 300 milligrams taken once per day. Blood pressure was measured in all patients at the beginning and end of the 14-week study.
Compared to placebo, the experimental drug was found to reduce systolic blood pressure by an additional 10 points. This was true for all patients regardless of the dose of the experimental drug they took, how sick they were, and what other drugs they were on.
The main side effect of treatment was fluid retention, reported in 27% of the darusentan patients and 14% of patients in the placebo arm of the study. Weber says this side effect can be avoided in most patients by prescribing a more powerful diuretic than is typically given, but he adds that patients with heart failure should not take darusentan because of this side effect.
“The size of the [blood pressure lowering] effect with this drug was really encouraging,” Weber says. “For many people with treatment-resistant hypertension, adding this drug to the drugs they are taking would be all they would need to do to get their blood pressure down to where it needs to be.”

Second Trial to Be Reported
The study, which appears online in The Lancet, was funded by the drugmaker Gilead Sciences. The company is expected to seek FDA approval for darusentan as a treatment for resistant hypertension sometime next year. Gilead spokesman Nathan Kaiser tells WebMD that results from a much larger trial of the drug should be made public by the end of 2009.
In that trial, darusentan is being compared to the drug Tenex, which is often prescribed to patients who fail to achieve target blood pressure goals with conventional treatments.
In an editorial published with the study, blood pressure researcher Bryan Williams, MD, of England's University of Leicester, writes that important questions remain about the experimental drug.
“These findings do not mean that darusentan would necessarily be the best treatment for every patient with resistant hypertension,” he writes.
In an interview with WebMD, Williams notes that more study is needed to identify better treatments and treatment strategies for lowering blood pressure in patients with hard-to-manage hypertension.
"It is unlikely that a single treatment strategy is going to be the best for everybody, and while this drug may be perfect for some, there may be others who might respond better to different treatment options,” he says.
The problem, he adds, is that these other treatment options have not been as thoroughly studied.

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Do Allergies Cause Asthma?

People who have certain kinds of allergies are more likely to have asthma. Do you have allergies that affect your nose and eyes, causing stuff like a runny nose or red, itchy eyes? If so, you're more likely to have asthma, too. Whatever causes the allergic reaction, such as pollen or dust, can also trigger asthma symptoms.

But not everyone who has allergies gets asthma, and not all asthma happens because of allergies. Huh? Allergies and asthma can be a little confusing, so let's find out more.

About 9 million kids in the United States have been diagnosed with asthma. Of these, about three out of four have asthma symptoms that are triggered by an allergy to something (called an allergen). In these people, the symptoms of asthma like wheezing, coughing, or trouble breathing are often brought on by being around allergens.

Allergies have a lot to do with your immune (say: ih-myoon) system. Most of the time your immune system fights germs and bacteria to help you stay healthy. But in a kid with allergies, the immune system treats allergens (such as pollen) as if they're invading the body, like a bad germ.

When the immune system reacts to an invading allergen, the body releases substances that cause allergy symptoms, such as a runny nose or red, itchy eyes. Some kids can also get asthma symptoms, like coughing, wheezing, or a tight feeling in the chest.

If you have asthma, it is a good idea to find out whether allergies may be causing your asthma symptoms. To figure out what they're allergic to, sometimes kids will visit a special doctor called an allergist (say: ah-lur-jist).

If the allergist finds out that you are allergic to certain things, the best way to prevent allergic reactions (and to help stop asthma symptoms from bugging you) is to avoid being around the allergens. The doctor may also prescribe medicine for your allergies, if you can't completely avoid what's causing them.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Beetroot Juice Boosts Stamina, New Study Shows

Drinking beetroot juice boosts your stamina and could help you exercise for up to 16% longer. A University of Exeter led-study shows for the first time how the nitrate contained in beetroot juice leads to a reduction in oxygen uptake, making exercise less tiring.The study reveals that drinking beetroot juice reduces oxygen uptake to an extent that cannot be achieved by any other known means, including training.

The research team believes that the findings could be of great interest to endurance athletes. They could also be relevant to elderly people or those with cardiovascular, respiratory or metabolic diseases.

The research team conducted their study with eight men aged between 19 and 38. They were given 500ml per day of organic beetroot juice for six consecutive days before completing a series of tests, involving cycling on an exercise bike. On another occasion, they were given a placebo of blackcurrant cordial for six consecutive days before completing the same cycling tests.

After drinking beetroot juice the group was able to cycle for an average of 11.25 minutes, which is 92 seconds longer than when they were given the placebo. This would translate into an approximate 2% reduction in the time taken to cover a set distance. The group that had consumed the beetroot juice also had lower resting blood pressure.

The researchers are not yet sure of the exact mechanism that causes the nitrate in the beetroot juice to boost stamina. However, they suspect it could be a result of the nitrate turning into nitric oxide in the body, reducing the oxygen cost of exercise.

The research was carried out by the University of Exeter and Peninsula Medical School and published in the Journal of Applied Physiology. The research team now hopes to conduct further studies to try to understand in more detail the effects of nitrate-rich foods on exercise physiology.

Corresponding author of the study, Professor Andy Jones of the University of Exeter's School of Sport and Health Sciences, said: "Our study is the first to show that nitrate-rich food can increase exercise endurance. We were amazed by the effects of beetroot juice on oxygen uptake because these effects cannot be achieved by any other known means, including training. I am sure professional and amateur athletes will be interested in the results of this research. I am also keen to explore the relevance of the findings to those people who suffer from poor fitness and may be able to use dietary supplements to help them go about their daily lives."

This study follows research by Barts and the London School of Medicine and the Peninsula Medical School (published in February 2008 in the American Heart Association journal Hypertension), which found that beetroot juice reduces blood pressure.