Monday, March 31, 2014

Reef Burial: very unusual idea


Saturday, March 29, 2014

75% Skull Replacement-3D printed material


Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Agonal Gasping Near Death Breathing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88uCTEmuuGI

Cardiac Arrest - Good protocol procedures - two different outcomes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWKyXYnvlpM

Thursday, March 6, 2014

African Teens Survive HIV


Www.bbc.com

HIV teens survived against the odds

An Aids orphan in South Africa (September 2010)
HIV still carries a stigma in parts of sub-Saharan Africa

Fifteen-year-old Tadisa was never expected to live. Her mother Grace was HIV-positive and passed the virus on to Tadisa at birth.

In the 1990s, thousands of babies born with HIV in Zimbabwe died in infancy, as today's cheap life-saving drugs were not available in sub-Saharan Africa.

But to the great surprise of doctors, there are thousands of teenagers like Tadisa who have lived with HIV for more than a decade.

When Dr Rashida Ferrand wanted to research these young survivors, she was told none were still alive.

"Five years ago people would shake their heads in disbelief and say: 'Well, no, nobody survives,'" said the HIV expert from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

"Survival beyond five years is considered absolutely exceptional."

No-one knows exactly why people like Tadisa survived childhood with untreated HIV.

But while they have lived longer than expected, their lives have not been straightforward.

Many suffer chronic health complications, including disfigurement, and as a result are socially ostracised.

Dr Ferrand now treats these teenagers in Zimbabwe and is a passionate advocate for them.

"These children are more likely to be poor and to have lost their parents to Aids," she said. "They've been shifted around amongst guardians and missed education, so the odds are stacked against them."

'Untreated HIV infection'

Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for 69% of the world's HIV cases. Today, nearly one in 20 adults live with the condition.

Life-saving antiretroviral therapy (ART) has been available for free since 2004 in the region and has transformed the outlook of those with the virus.

But children like Tadisa who survived unexpectedly have often gone untreated, and the complications of untreated HIV - such as damage to the lungs and heart - are debilitating.

"There's also some brain damage leading to them not being able to perform in school," said Dr Ferrand. "There are some obvious visible signs of longstanding untreated HIV infection, such as stunting and skin disfigurement.

Part of the problem is a lack of awareness: four out of five children with HIV do not know that they have the virus.

Their medical problems are often put down to normal childhood illnesses and they do not get tested for HIV until they are in their teens.

'Culture of silence'

Dr Ferrand described a "culture of silence" and said the "most shocking" aspect of her research was that nearly all the older children and adolescents who have tested positive could have been diagnosed earlier.

Two-thirds had been to a primary health care clinic in the previous six months, a quarter had been in hospital at some point in their lives, and more than half had a parent or sibling with HIV.

Despite this, no-one had thought to test them for HIV.

Once tested, there was no standard way for young people to be told of their status, according to research at Harare's Parirenyatwa Ol Clinic by Dr Ferrand and her colleagues.

They asked 31 patients aged between 16 and 20 how they discovered they were HIV-positive.

Although the advice was for their parents or guardians to tell them, the adolescents preferred to hear the news for themselves.

"I wanted to be told at the clinic just so I know that it's really true, that I've been tested, and it's true", said one 17 year-old girl.

Some children had guessed, such as one 17-year-old boy who told the researchers: "My mother was lying to me saying I have a heart problem, I have a hole in my heart. So I decided to say, 'Okay.'

"But I knew. I knew that when I was coming here I was HIV-positive."

And sometimes the news was given in an abrupt manner.

"My grandmother told me at home," said one 18-year-old boy. "I was watching TV. My grandmother came up to me and said: 'Hey, A, do you know that you're HIV-positive?' I said, 'Okay.' She said it twice: 'You're HIV-positive.' I just said, 'Okay.'"

Stigma

The adolescents learn most about their condition from each other rather than their parents and guardians, the researchers found.

Once diagnosed, they can keep the virus at bay with the free ARTs.

But one reason their guardians did not bring them for diagnosis and treatment was to protect them and their families.

"They fear that if the child is disclosed to, he will go about in the streets or at school telling others and other relatives that don't know that the parents are positive," said a counsellor at Parirenyatwa Ol Clinic. "So they will be stigmatized or discriminated against as a family."

In 2013 a UNICEF report stated that only about a third of children with HIV were receiving ARTs, compared with around two-thirds of adults.

New WHO guidelines say testing should be offered to all adolescents living in areas of the world where HIV is common, particularly sub-Saharan Africa.

Dr Ferrand believes it is an issue of child rights that the young people learn about their HIV status and receive treatment.

Hear Dr Ferrand speaking to Health Check on the BBC World Service.

Early treatment cures HIV baby


Early treatment 'cures' second US HIV-positive baby

HIV
The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) attacks the immune system

US researchers have revealed another baby carrying the HIV virus, which leads to Aids, may have been cured through early treatment.

Antiretroviral drugs were reportedly administered to the baby in California just four hours after birth.

The unidentified nine-month-old child is now said to be HIV negative.

It is the second such case after an HIV-positive Mississippi infant brought into remission following early treatment was reported in 2013.

'Not without risk'

"This is a call to action for us to mobilize and be able to learn from these cases," Johns Hopkins University paediatrics specialist Dr Deborah Persaud said at a Boston medical conference.

No trace of the virus can now be found in the infant's blood or tissues, the doctor revealed.

Dr Persaud said the nine-month-old child is still receiving a three-drug anti-Aids cocktail, while the three-year-old Mississippi child stopped receiving antiretroviral treatments two years ago.

"Really the only way we can prove that we have accomplished remission in these kids is by taking them off treatment and that's not without risk," Dr Persaud added.

Both children are reported to have been born to mothers infected with HIV, which weakens the body's immune system.

The human immunodeficiency virus has infected more than 34 million people worldwide, researchers estimate.

More on this story

Immune System Shield Upgrade

Www.bbc.com

Health

Immune upgrade gives 'HIV shielding'

HIV
HIV budding out of a T-cell, part of the immune system.

Doctors have used gene therapy to upgrade the immune system of 12 patients with HIV to help shield them from the virus's onslaught.

It raises the prospect of patients no longer needing to take daily medication to control their infection.

The patients' white blood cells were taken out of the body, given HIV resistance and then injected back in.

The small study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, suggested the technique was safe.

Some people are born with a very rare mutation that protects them from HIV.

It changes the structure of their T-cells, a part of the immune system, so that the virus cannot get inside and multiply.

The first person to recover from HIV, Timothy Ray Brown, had his immune system wiped out during leukaemia treatment and then replaced with a bone marrow transplant from someone with the mutation.

Now researchers at the University of Pennsylvania are adapting patients' own immune systems to give them that same defence.

Millions of T-cells were taken from the blood and grown in the laboratory until the doctors had billions of cells to play with.

The team then edited the DNA inside the T-cells to give them the shielding mutation - known as CCR5-delta-32.

About 10 billion cells were then infused back in, although only around 20% were successfully modified.

When patients were taken off their medication for four weeks, the number of unprotected T-cells still in the body fell dramatically, whereas the modified T-cells seemed to be protected and could still be found in the blood several months later.

Replacement therapy?

The trial was designed to test only the safety and feasibility of the method, not whether it could replace drug treatment in the long term.

HIV

Prof Bruce Levine, the director of the Clinical Cell and Vaccine Production Facility at the University of Pennsylvania, told the BBC: "This is a first - gene editing has not to date been used in a human trial [for HIV].

"We've been able to use this technology in HIV and show it is safe and feasible, so it is an evolution in the treatment of HIV from daily antiretroviral therapy."

He says the aim is to develop a therapy that gets people away from expensive daily medication.

"What if we can now take the leap to an upfront treatment that can last for years?"

Such a treatment will be expensive so any benefit will depend on how long people could be freed from drugs and how long that protection would last.

Prof Levine argues this could be several years, which might save money in the long term.

Commenting on the findings, Prof Sharon Lewin from Monash University in Australia, told BBC News: "The idea of modifying a T-cell to make it resistant and showing it is feasible and they survive - that's exciting in itself.

"What most people are aiming for in HIV is a way you take treatment for a short period of time and that keeps the virus under control."

She said drug treatment would not be replaced by this, especially in the early stages of the infection.

But it might lead to people eventually replacing drugs with an immune upgrade, but "it's still a long way off".

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Death bed wishes: top 5


Nurse reveals the top 5 regrets people make on their deathbed

8683409_origBy: Bronnie Ware,

inspirationandchai.com.

For many years I worked in palliative care. My patients were those who had gone home to die. Some incredibly special times were shared. I was with them for the last three to twelve weeks of their lives.

People grow a lot when they are faced with their own mortality. I learnt never to underestimate someone’s capacity for growth. Some changes were phenomenal. Each experienced a variety of emotions, as expected, denial, fear, anger, remorse, more denial and eventually acceptance. Every single patient found their peace before they departed though, every one of them.

When questioned about any regrets they had or anything they would do differently, common themes surfaced again and again. Here are the most common five:

1. I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.

This was the most common regret of all. When people realise that their life is almost over and look back clearly on it, it is easy to see how many dreams have gone unfulfilled. Most people had not honoured even a half of their dreams and had to die knowing that it was due to choices they had made, or not made.

It is very important to try and honour at least some of your dreams along the way. From the moment that you lose your health, it is too late. Health brings a freedom very few realise, until they no longer have it.

2. I wish I didn’t work so hard.

This came from every male patient that I nursed. They missed their children’s youth and their partner’s companionship. Women also spoke of this regret. But as most were from an older generation, many of the female patients had not been breadwinners. All of the men I nursed deeply regretted spending so much of their lives on the treadmill of a work existence.

By simplifying your lifestyle and making conscious choices along the way, it is possible to not need the income that you think you do. And by creating more space in your life, you become happier and more open to new opportunities, ones more suited to your new lifestyle.

3. I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.

Many people suppressed their feelings in order to keep peace with others. As a result, they settled for a mediocre existence and never became who they were truly capable of becoming. Many developed illnesses relating to the bitterness and resentment they carried as a result.

We cannot control the reactions of others. However, although people may initially react when you change the way you are by speaking honestly, in the end it raises the relationship to a whole new and healthier level. Either that or it releases the unhealthy relationship from your life. Either way, you win.

4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.

Often they would not truly realise the full benefits of old friends until their dying weeks and it was not always possible to track them down. Many had become so caught up in their own lives that they had let golden friendships slip by over the years. There were many deep regrets about not giving friendships the time and effort that they deserved. Everyone misses their friends when they are dying.

It is common for anyone in a busy lifestyle to let friendships slip. But when you are faced with your approaching death, the physical details of life fall away. People do want to get their financial affairs in order if possible. But it is not money or status that holds the true importance for them. They want to get things in order more for the benefit of those they love. Usually though, they are too ill and weary to ever manage this task. It is all comes down to love and relationships in the end. That is all that remains in the final weeks, love and relationships.

5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.

This is a surprisingly common one. Many did not realise until the end that happiness is a choice. They had stayed stuck in old patterns and habits. The so-called ‘comfort’ of familiarity overflowed into their emotions, as well as their physical lives. Fear of change had them pretending to others, and to their selves, that they were content. When deep within, they longed to laugh properly and have silliness in their life again.

When you are on your deathbed, what others think of you is a long way from your mind. How wonderful to be able to let go and smile again, long before you are dying.

Life is a choice. It is YOUR life. Choose consciously, choose wisely, choose honestly. Choose happiness.

Credits:

This article first appeared on inspirationandchai.com via @ Real Farmacy



Read more: http://www.trueactivist.com/nurse-reveals-the-top-5-regrets-people-make-on-their-deathbed/