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New Antibiotic Recommended For Typhoid Fever In Poor Countries

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Typhoid fever and paratyphoid fever (also collectively known as enteric fever) are severe systemic illnesses characterized by sustained fever and generalized symptoms.
The infections are transmitted through fecal-oral route and are caused by the bacterium Salmonella typhi or Salmonella paratyphi A, B, or C. Together, they cause an estimated 26 million infections and 200,000 deaths every year, with high numbers originating from parts of South Asia.
An increased prevalence of antibiotic resistance has been found with first line treatments using oral amoxicillin, chloramphenicol and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole. This has led to a new generation of antibiotics known as fluoroquinolones to curb the new resistant species.
Gatifloxacin was previously released in 1999, but was withdrawn after concerns about its side effect of causing unstable blood sugar levels was published in 2006 by the New England Journal of Medicine.
Led by Dr. Amit Arjyal in Nepal, researchers from the Wellcome Trust Major Overseas Programme at the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, together with researchers at the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit–Patan Academy of Health Sciences, Kathmandu, Nepal, ran an open-label randomized superiority trial, investigating the efficacy and side effects of a new fluoroquinolone, gatifloxacin, against chloramphenicol.
In this trial, the team discovered that gatifloxacin was not inferior to chloramphenicol in rates of treatment failure and had similar fever clearance time. There was also neither a difference in rates of positive stool cultures at the 1 and 6 month mark nor any difference in relapse rates.
The results of this trial was published in Lancet Infectious Diseases. The researchers identified several advantages of using gatifloxacin over chloramphenicol. There were fewer side effects associated with gatifloxacin such as anorexia, nausea, dizziness and diarrhea. Gatifloxacin required less frequent administration for a shorter duration compared to chloramphenicol (1 time a day for 7 days, versus 4 times a day for 14 days). It also cost less than chloramphenicol, at . Finally, chloramphenicol-resistant strains may be susceptible to gatifloxacin.
However, gatifloxacin use resulted in elevated sugar levels in elderly patients, which returned to normal after the treatment was concluded. Hence, the researchers submitted a recommendation to the World Health Organization that gatifloxacin be used in young populations with a low risk of diabetes. The drug is also currently in Phase III trials for the treatment of mycobacterium tuberculosis



HUMOR\LAUGHTER THERAPY

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Research results indicate that, after exposure to humor, there is a general increase in activity within the immune system, including:
bulletAn increase in the number and activity level of natural killer cells that attack viral infected cells and some types of cancer and tumor cells.
bulletAn increase in activated T cells (T lymphocytes). There are many T cells that await activation. Laughter appears to tell the immune system to "turn it up a notch."
bulletAn increase in the antibody IgA (immunoglobulin A), which fights upper respiratory tract insults and infections.
bulletAn increase in gamma interferon, which tells various components of the immune system to "turn on."
bulletAn increase in IgB, the immunoglobulin produced in the greatest quantity in body, as well as an increase in Complement 3, which helps antibodies to pierce dysfunctional or infected cells. The increase in both substances was not only present while subjects watched a humor video; there also was a lingering effect that continued to show increased levels the next day.

 Laughter Decreases "Stress" Hormones
The results of the study also supported research indicating a general decrease in stress hormones that constrict blood vessels and suppress immune activity. These were shown to decrease in the study group exposed to humor.
For example, levels of epinephrine were lower in the group both in anticipation of humor and after exposure to humor. Epinephrine levels remained down throughout the experiment.
In addition, dopamine levels (as measured by dopac) were also decreased. Dopamine is involved in the "fight or flight response" and is associated with elevated blood pressure.
Laughing is aerobic, providing a workout for the diaphragm and increasing the body's ability to use oxygen.
Laughter brings in positive emotions that can enhance – not replace -- conventional treatments. Hence it is another tool available to help fight the disease.
Experts believe that, when used as an adjunct to conventional care, laughter can reduce pain and aid the healing process. For one thing, laughter offers a powerful distraction from pain.
In a study published in the Journal of Holistic Nursing, patients were told one-liners after surgery and before painful medication was administered. Those exposed to humor perceived less pain when compared to patients who didn't get a dose of humor as part of their therapy.
Perhaps, the biggest benefit of laughter is that it is free and has no known negative side effects.




growth of tumor (animated)

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Cancer is the uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells anywhere in a body. The abnormal cells are termed cancer cells, malignant cells, or tumor cells. Many cancers and the abnormal cells that compose the cancer tissue are further identified by the name of the tissue that the abnormal cells originated from (for example, breast cancer, lung cancer, colon cancer). Cancer is not confined to humans; animals and other living organisms can get cancer. Below is a schematic that shows normal cell division and how when a cell is damaged or altered without repair to its system, the cell usually dies. Also shown is what can occur when such damaged or unrepaired cells do not die and become cancer cells and proliferate with uncontrolled growth; a mass of cancer cells develop. Frequently, cancer cells can break away from this original mass of cells, travel through the blood and lymph systems, and lodge in other organs where they can again repeat the uncontrolled growth cycle. This process of cancer cells leaving an area and growing in another body area is termed metastatic spread or metastatic disease. For example, if breast cancer cells spread to a bone (or anywhere else), it means that the individual has metastatic breast cancer.


download ANEMIA INVESTIGATION FILE

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Choosing Your Specialty

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Are you trying to decide what specialty to go into? It can be a very difficult decision. And often its not entirely up to medical students. After all, we do have to gain an acceptance into the program we want.....




MEDICAL MIRACLES.. (part 3)

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The girl with 8 limbsIn 2005, a girl with four arms and legs was born in a poor, rural Indian village. LAXMI  had two functioning arms and legs on the top of her body, but fused with her body at the pelvis was a parasitic twin with two arms and legs of its own, an undeveloped torso, and no head.







Trapped twin lives inside brother—for 36 yearsSanju Bhagat was always a little concerned about his large stomach, which was once so big he appeared to be nine months pregnant. Amazingly, he never received any medical attention for his protruding belly until he was hospitalized for shortness of breath in 1999 at the age of 36.

Instead of the enormous tumor they expected to find, the doctors who operated on Bhagat found the remains of a half-formed twin that had been living inside him. The condition, known as FETUS IN FETU occurs when one twin gets trapped inside the body of the other in the womb.



The little mermaidOnly a handful of children are known to have survived SIRENOMELIA, A birth defect—also known as mermaid syndrome—in which the legs are fused together.SHILOH PEPIN  is one of them. In addition to having one large extremity where her legs should have been, Pepin was born with no reproductive organs, no rectum, and no bladder—just 6 inches of a large intestine and a quarter of a kidney.



Baby born twiceWhen Keri and Chad McCartney went to the ob-gyn to find out the sex of their baby-to-be six months into the pregnancy, they got some unexpected and frightening news: A grapefruit-size tumor was slowly killing the fetus. Doctors had to remove the tumor—although it wasn’t cancerous, it was sucking up the blood that the fetus needed to grow—and to do so, they performed a surgery that has been completed fewer than 20 times.

They brought the baby about 80% out of her mother’s womb, excised the tumor, and then tucked her back in. Ten weeks later, in May 2008,MACIE HOPE  was born—again. And this time for good.




Boy born with heart outside his chestWhen Christopher Wall was born with his heart beating outside his chest—an extremely rare birth defect known as ectopia cordis—doctors did not expect him to survive even one day.

However, Wall just celebrated his 34th birthday. In his first 18 months of life, doctors performed 15 surgeries in an attempt to reposition Wall’s heart within his chest; when the risks became too great, they gave up and simply covered the heart with extra skin and, eventually, a sternum fashioned from a part of his hip bone.

With the extra aid of a plastic chest protector worn under his clothes, Wall took up basketball and karate, which he continues to enjoy today.




World’s oldest living conjoined twinsAt 57 years old, Ronnie and Donnie Galyon are the oldest living conjoined twins in the world, having far exceeded the life-span predictions that doctors made at their birth in 1951.

Joined at the base of their sternum, they have separate arms and legs, stomachs, lungs, and hearts, but they share one large intestine and one set of male reproductive organs. As children they worked in circus sideshows to help support their large family, and they continued to do so into the 1990s



Most extensive face transplant everWhen her husband shot her in the face five years ago, connie culp was left with only fragments of her upper eyelids, forehead, lower lip, and chin. In a 22-hour procedure in December 2008, surgeons at the Cleveland Clinic replaced 80% of Culp’s face with the face of a donor who had just died.

It was the most extensive and complex face transplant ever performed, the first in the United States, and just the fourth worldwide. Culp still draws stares from strangers, but she is finally able to talk, smile, smell, and taste again.

MEDICAL MIRACLES.. (part 2)

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The woman with giant legsDoctors knew something was wrong with MANDY SELLARS since she was born.The 34-year-old’s legs and feet were abnormally large at birth, and they have continued to grow at an alarming rate. Today, her legs alone weigh 210 pounds.
Experts have not been able to diagnose her problem, although some of the doctors she has consulted believe she suffers from tremely rare condition that causes deformities, including partial gigantism, which may have afflicted the Elephant Man,known as PROTEUS SYNDROME...





A prisoner in her own body patients feeling like prisoners in their own bodies. Severe muscle spasms lead to the locking of the muscles, leaving patients paralyzed sometimes for hours on end, and in excruciating pain. condition also known as stiff person syndrome...

Kristie Tunick’s symptoms are so debilitating that the 32-year-old often has difficulty leaving bed. Tunick has undergone multiple tests and surgeries to try to improve her condition






 


Awake after a 19-year coma
Polish railroad worker  woke up from a coma after an astounding 19 years. Grzebski slipped into a coma in 1988 after being hit by a train. Doctors expected him to live for two or three years.

His wife stayed by his side, moving him to prevent bedsores and praying for his recovery. When he awoke in 2007, he was surprised to find that the Communist party had fallen and that people were talking on cell phones.

MEDICAL MIRACLES....(PART 1)

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I’ve compiled 20 of the most extraordinary cases from the world of medicine. Some of these stories may sound like the stuff of science fiction, but every one is true..

The girl who doesn’t age  Brooke GREENBERG is 30 inches tall and weighs 30 pounds. She looks like a toddler and has the mind of a toddler(a child who has just learn to walk)—but she is actually 16 years old.
Her hair and nails are the only parts of her body that have grown since she was 4.....



The girl who feels no painAs much as it hurts, pain teaches us important lessons (not to touch a hot stove, for example). People with a rare genetic disorder known as heriditary sensory autonomic neuropathy type V feel no pain, however, and may never learn those lessons.
Eight-year-old  GABBY GINGRAS constantly and unwittingly injures herself, sometimes seriously. She has knocked out all but one of her adult teeth  she scratched herself blind in her left eye... BUT SHE NEVER FEELS PAIN.....

Tree manThe arms, legs, and face of Indonesian Dede Kosawa are covered in bark-like warts, which have made him internationally famous and earned him the nickname TREE MAN . Doctors believe the growths are caused by a type of human papilloma virus (HPV) that has been exacerbated by a genetic immune defect.

The Top 10 Worst Doctors Of All Time......

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 10. Dr. Steven Kirshner  – applied a temporary tattoo to his patient while she was anesthetized instead of performing the surgery.

 9. Dr. Vincent Bettschart  – watched a World Cup match during operation and got drunk while performing a delicate surgery The surgeon got further into the spirit of the match by turning up the volume full blast, thus filling the room with the sound of vuvuzelas and cheering instead of surgery...

 8. Dr. Robert Ricketson  – inserted a screwdriver into his patient's back intentionally instead of titanium. later titnium rod was found in his apon pocket, that patient had to undergo 4 other delicate surgery to remove screwdriver.

 7. Dr. Spiro B. Antoniadis  – left a sponge in his patient's spine, it was discovered after 17 days. he accepted and said "i was experimenting'

 6. Dr. Red Alinsod  – branded his patient's uterus


 5. Dr. Cecil Jacobson  – used his own sperm to impregnate several patients. used his own sperm to impregnate his patients, without informing them. (father).He was the same doctor who in the 1960s claimed to have successfully engineered the impregnation of a male baboon.

 4. Dr. James Burt  – performed 'love surgery' without telling his patients and deformed most of them.He said at one point that he could change women from "a scared, reluctant little house mouse" to "a horny little house mouse."

 3. Dr. Earl Bradley  – abused 103 patients and kept videos of all of them


 2. Connell Watkins & Julie Ponder  – suffocated to death a 10-year-old while performing rebirthing therapy intentionally.


 1. Dr. Walter Freeman  – performed nearly 3,000 lobotomies.
, Walter Freeman ushered in one of the darkest periods in psychiatry's history by touting the "ice pick" lobotomy – where a sharp instrument is inserted through the eye socket to destroy the frontal lobes