Blog#12: Call for Global Crackdown on Fake Medicines

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-20313541

Lack of drug regulation in countries throughout the world is leading to the use of fake drugs. The World Health Organization has stated that there are countries, in fact 1/3, that have not placed regulations on medication. Tobacco is another substance that has been known to have fake contents distributed. A protocol has been put into place for tobacco that would track the tobacco products with a serial number to make sure that there is no distribution of fake tobacco. The article mentions that there should be a tracking number on medications, just like the tobacco, so that there would be the ability to track the correct medications. This protocol would decrease the likelihood of fake medications being used. In poorer countries the distribution of fake drugs is much more prominent than in the richer countries. With fake drugs being used, many people paying for treatments are not getting what they pay for and are inevitably dying without treatment. In places that have high cases of malaria there will be a higher death rate from the disease because one in ten of the treatment drugs are fake. In the United States there have been sixteen deaths dealing with meningitis because of faulty drugs as well.

                These fake drugs are causing very preventable deaths. If these poor countries were able to receive full treatments with none of them being faked then it would save many lives. I feel that tracking these medications would help out tremendously in making sure that the people are getting what they pay for. I have read a few articles that mention how many poorer countries often have a hard time trusting the drugs that they are given and now I see as to why they have this doubtful nature. These medicines are lacking the active ingredient and I find this to be absolutely horrible that they are being distributed to the public. I hope that this tracking can go into effect because these medications are much more important than making sure that tobacco is not faked.

Blog #11: Stakes Rise in Malaria Battle as Cracks Appear in Drugs Armor

      http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2012/11/09/164712206/stakes-rise-in-malaria-battle-as-cracks-appear-in-drugs-armor

          The drug artemisinin, used to treat malaria is becoming more and more resistant to treatments. Doctors in Southeast Asia have noticed that there are a lot of patients who do not change symptom changes after the drug had been administered. Lack of treatment options are going to lead to higher death rates from Malaria. It is very important for children especially to receive treatment as soon as possible in order to recover quickly and correctly. If the treatments do not work properly or at all it will lead to death and defects. Medicines related to artemisinin have been known to eventually stop treating the disease and now that the new version of artemisinin is beginning to fail, doctors need to start testing for new options. However, the article said that it could take up to 5 years for the newest working drugs to be available for public use. Public Health Officials believe that researchers need to focus very hard on looking for a cure for this disease before it gets out of hand and there are no more drugs to treat it.

                This is extremely bad for those in regions of Asia and Africa which are mostly affected by the disease. Since my topic for blogs this semester has been health and disease I have seen stories about Malaria all over the internet. It almost seems as though it is the biggest health issue going on at the moment in the world. I feel as though new drugs should have been in the works as soon as the first two forms of artemisinin failed to be effective for a long time. With the failing medications I believe that there should be an increased focus not only on finding and new medication, but also on prevention. Malaria outbreaks would be cut in half if those of Africa had mosquito nets to prevent the bugs from getting to them. While this is not a fix and will in no way stop the cases from continuing, it will at least be a cheaper way in helping cut down the numbers of cases and giving researchers a better chance at developing a cure or just better medication in general.

Blog # 10: Marburg Haemorrhagic fevor in Uganda

http://www.who.int/csr/don/2012_10_31/en/index.html

On October 18^th in Africa there were multiple cases of the Marburg virus reported. These occurrences are in 5 different regions which include Uganda, Kampala, Ibanda, Kabarole, and Mbarara.  18 cases are being investigated and so far 9 of those cases have led to death. This virus has a 50% death rate so far. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC), The World Health Organization (WHO), and the Uganda Red Cross (URCS) are all working together in order to try and treat the disease as well as prevent the spread. The organizations have spread the word out to neighboring countries in order to make sure that the traffic between areas is controlled to stop cross-contamination.

I did some research into what the Marburg virus is and where it had originated. I found that the original outbreak site was in Marburg, Germany in 1967, which explains the name. The people became infected after contact with the African green monkey. It was also said that African fruit bats are carriers of the Marburg virus. The virus mostly occurs within Africa, However, it is known to reach other continents but this is infrequent. The symptoms occur within 5 to 10 days after being infected and are very serious conditions. I feel as though the WHO and CDC are doing a good job at monitoring the areas and people to make sure that the disease does not get out of hand. What I found to be smart was that the WHO had epidemiologists helping the teams in Uganda conduct the research. The article does not mention any particular cure for this disease and so they are most likely treating the patients for dehydration and replenishing their bodies after blood loss.

Blog#9: How the Taliban is Thwarting the war on Polio

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2012/10/17/162595455/how-the-taliban-is-thwarting-the-war-on-polio

Polio is still a major disease that affects many people in Pakistan. The government has had to call the disease a national emergency last year. The total number of cases which occurred during the national emergency was 198, but since Pakistan has taken efforts for a new vaccination the numbers have decreased. The areas that are most affected are those that are more secluded and in tribal regions. There are 34 million children in Pakistan that need to receive the polio vaccination in order to stop the spread and many of them live in these unreachable areas. The people who live there are so secluded because of the dangers of the Taliban as well as the attack done by the United States with the use of drones. These people are highly mobile which helps the disease spread quickly. The parents have been told rumors that the vaccinations cause sterilization in children, AIDS, and that the CIA agents are who is administering the vaccinations. With all of these factors, roadside checks have been set up in order to catch any children under 5 years old to give them the vaccination so that they can be sure that those children do not get missed. However, by doing these roadblocks they are not reaching everyone and so to help with the process, UNICEF has been using educators to tell families about polio and the importance of the vaccine.

                I believe that the work that these officials are doing in Pakistan is very beneficial to the people in the region. These children need help to fight this disease, especially since they are so weak from their conditions. These children often need multiple vaccinations to insure that they have a good chance of not contacting this virus. I found it interesting that those who the UNICEF educates are the women, students, and religious leaders. It does not mention that the men of the area are educated to help the community, so it shows who has the ability to influence the people. I also found it shocking that something such as American drone attacks can affect the way that a country can receive vaccinations. I feel as though the roadside checks and vaccinations are not doing well enough to reach the 34 million children in the country. However, due to dangers and mobility issues I know that it makes it difficult for those vaccinators to get into contact with these children. Hopefully over time these actions will show more improvement in lowering the cases of polio and a new way can be discovered to treat those children in the future.

Blog #8: Fight against Tuberculosis a mixed bag

            http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2012/10/17/fight-against-tuberculosis-a-mixed-bag/?iref=allsearch

                  Tuberculosis is the second largest killer of people in the world following behind HIV/AIDS. Tuberculosis kills more women in the world than it does males. The goal for TB treatment is to be able to diagnose and treat within the same visit so that the disease does not spread to a level that is harder to treat. 67 countries are using a test called Xpert in order to determine the type of disease within two hours. There are 310,000 reported cases of TB throughout the world and only 60,000 of those cases were treated. The World Health Organization is not happy with the current treatments for tuberculosis and they believe that there are better ones to be developed and used to treat faster. Currently someone being treated will have to take the drugs every day for 6 months and someone who has the drug resistant tuberculosis will have to take the drugs every day for 18 months.

                As of now the treatment for Tuberculosis is not practical. While the drugs do help the patients get better, it is not done in a timely and efficient manner. If the World Health Organization is not satisfied with the forms of treatment then it should most certainly be looked into to see if there is a more efficient form.  Many people in these developing countries may not have the money in order to pay for the full treatments for TB and people may have distractions that may prevent them from taking the full dosage for the allotted amount of time. With so many lives in danger all over the world I am surprised that treatments have not been improved, but I understand that this disease is hard to treat and takes a while in order for the person to even be aware that they have the disease.

Blog 7: How Cellphones Helped Researchers Track Malaria In Kenya

The Harvard School of Public Heath is conducting research on how to track the spread of Malaria by looking at phone records. A similar research project was done to study the spread of Cholera in Haiti by tracking phone data. This information was used to see where the doctors would be able to treat the most people in the most effective manner. The researchers thought that the most outbreaks due to spread would be around the coast that the lake regions. However, there were not as many outbreaks in the coastal regions and there was data that suggested mosquitoes adapting to the cities. Mosquitoes are not normally located in the cities and are highly populated in rural areas. This proposes a difficulty people the people in Kenya travel a lot from rural to urban areas. The hope of this data is to show that the travel of people can mark the treatment center and to inform the people of when they enter these high risk areas by text message.

                I believe that this will be very beneficial to those living in high risk malaria areas. The people in these areas will know when to be on alert and to stay protected. This research let us use our technology to save lives and keep people informed of their surroundings. I was actually shocked when the researchers discovered that the most highly traveled areas were the ones that had the least amount of malaria spreading. It does make since that the mosquitoes would be located in the mostly rural areas because the city does not allow them an environment to survive in.  However, it is scary that the mosquitoes are now beginning to adapt to living in the megacities which can lead to an increase in the spread and number of people affected.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2012/10/10/162643881/how-cellphones-helped-researchers-track-malaria-in-kenya

Blog 6: Botswana Doctors Stop Cervial Cancer with a Vinegar Swab

Doreen Ramogola-Masire a gynecologist has been using the method in which she uses a vinegar swab to check for cervical cancer. It has been highly effective in underdeveloped countries and it is cheap enough for it to be easily accessible for those who are poorer than most. 80% of cervical cancer deaths occur in these low-income areas. Being able to do this can get fast results and the women can be treated within the same day. This method will save many lives since in these areas HIV is very common and it increases the chance of the women of developing cervical cancer.  Doreen hopes that this development will prevent so many horrible from occurring in these regions.

Cervical cancer is a very common killer of women all over the world. The United States has the ability and technology to check for the signs early and get the correct treatment so that it lowers the death rate. However, in the underdeveloped countries cervical cancer is much harder to diagnose and the women often suffer painful deaths due to it being too late to remove the cancer. This new find of the vinegar swab test will improve the rate in which women in other countries are able to be diagnosed with the cancer early and lower the death rate. The fact that this method is so easy and cheap makes it even more accessible to the patients and it will be able to be used even in the most remote locations. There is only minimal training for these midwives in order to know how to do the procedure, but once one person knows how to do this then it can only improve from there.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2012/09/18/161264247/botswana-doctors-stop-cervical-cancer-with-a-vinegar-swab

Blog 5: New Virus related to SARS detected in The Middle East

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2012/09/24/161693192/new-virus-related-to-sars-detected-in-the-middle-east

 

A new version of a respiratory virus has been discovered and is similar to that of the SARS virus. There have been cases that have occurred in the Middle East. However, there is not much known about this new illness. The director of the Respiratory Diseases Department said that the department is doing all they can to see if the two cases are related, as well as, trying to find if any other respiratory cases in the Middle East are from the same condition.  The Qatari man who was infected was taken to a hospital in London where he is being treated in the Intensive Care Unit. So far, none of the hospital staff have become ill, so that rules out the possibility of the virus being contagious like SARS. Since the illness is still in its early stages, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), it is unknown exactly how the virus spreads. The WHO is looking into the possibility that the virus is coming from animals.

The symptoms include respiratory problems, fever, cough, and shortness of breath. Since these two cases are the only ones that have been discovered in the span of a few months, it does not appear that the public will have to worry about an outbreak. John Oxford, the virologist doesn’t believe that the virus will be a major outbreak like the SARS virus, but instead believes that this virus will just be another infection to add to the books. While the two viruses may share similar symptoms, they are not the same. However, if anyone in the Middle East or even those in London who were exposed to the patient should experience any of the symptoms identified with these viruses they should see a doctor immediately.

Blog #4: Subsidies Help Get Modern Malaria Drugs To Millions In Africa

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2012/09/18/161344518/subsidies-help-get-modern-malaria-drugs-to-millions-in-africa

Malaria kills 650,000 people every year. The main concentration of deaths are in Africa and consists of mostly children. The United Nations had created a program called The Affordable Medicines Facility-malaria. This program is supposed to supply countries with high malaria rate with affordable medications to treat the disease and lower the mortality rates. The program has only finished the first phase of testing and has led to a 26 to 52 percent increase in the availability of malaria medications. This research was done in eight different countries; however, the results are being questioned because the trail run only lasted for half a year in some places and a year in others. The goal of the program is to reach the private treatment centers that treat the majority of patients and don’t have a large supply of the drugs. It is unknown it the program will continue and a few doubt the future of it.

I feel as though this program is showing sufficient progress in the treatment of malaria outbreaks. According to the World Health Organization, Malaria is curable and preventable. However, even though the amount of cases are decreasing, it is stated that a child in Africa dies every minute from malaria (http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs094/en/ ). Before any decisions should be made in relation to the fate of this program there should be another trail run in which a specific time is set aside for the testing and research gathering so that there are no discrepancies.  The goals and results of the program so far are astounding and show that malaria can be treated in a good manner of time and save many lives. The availability of this drug will cut down on the use of counterfeit drugs often found in these private treatment centers. The use of these drugs could be detrimental to the lives of the Africans in the sub-Saharan region where the outbreaks are the most common. Many who visit Africa from distant places are also very susceptible to developing cases and so these centers would help out more than just a small location in the world.

Blog#3: Risks Outweigh Benefits for Ovarian Cancer Screening

http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2012/09/10/risks-outweigh-benefits-for-ovarian-cancer-screening/?hpt=he_c2

 Ovarian Cancer is the fifth most dangerous cancer threatening women today. The majority of women that develop ovarian cancer are over the age of 40. While many women were told that it is important to get regularly checked for ovarian cancer, a new study is showing that a regular visit is not needed. Too many visits can become dangerous due to the way that the test is conducted. To test for ovarian cancer, the doctor will check blood proteins via the CA-125 exam. This exam produces many false positives which results in women receiving surgery that is not needed. Many women not only go through this procedure without needed it, but on occasion there are side effects and complications that result from this.

Ovarian cancer forms on the tissue covering the ovaries and can quickly spread to the abdomen and bladder. It is very important to know the symptoms of ovarian cancer when a woman reaches the age of 40. By knowing the symptoms it can cut down in unnecessary medical exams or procedures. The symptoms include bowel changes, bloating, abdominal pain, back pain, and abnormal bleeding. Web MD provides a list of even more symptoms and how a woman can tell the difference between normal occurrences or cancer. It mentions that these symptoms will be very sudden and will not go away. If a woman experiences these symptoms and is either 40 or above and has a family history of ovarian cancer than it is essential to get a checkup. Many issues that can cause a false positive on an ovarian cancer screening are menstruation, pregnancy, and uterine fibroids. According to Web MD, 1 out of 100 women will develop ovarian cancer. However, this form of cancer is mostly caused due to genetics. Women can still get ovarian cancer without a family history of it, but it is rarer.

 http://www.webmd.com/ovarian-cancer/guide/ovarian-cancer-symptoms

Blog 2: Too young for a stroke? Think again

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/03/too-young-to-have-a-stroke-think-again/?ref=health


The article follows the story of Todd McGee who had a stroke at the age of 34. Todd ignored many of the signs because he thought that it was just a bad headache and due to his age it couldn't be anything life changing. However, Todd now is disabled with loss of the use of an arm and even speech that is hard to understand. When dealing with stoke victims, it is necessary that they receive treatment as soon as 4 hours after the stroke begins in order to prevent and permanent damage to the body. Many factors that can trigger a stroke include high blood pressure, obesity, alcohol abuse, and smoking. In women there is a greater risk while on birth control because it increases your chance of a stroke as a side effect.

Many people tend to not worry about stroke and believe it to be something that only happens when you reach a higher age range. However, it is clear that due to many factors, a stroke can be brought on sooner in life. Any form of medical signs should not be ignored because in some cases, much like Todd's, the "small" problem can turn into something medically dangerous. The article stated that it is normally harder to tell when those of a young age are experiencing a stroke because they are misdiagnosed with other medical issues, such as, vertigo, migraines, inner ear problems, or alcohol intoxication. It is important to receive a M.R.I. to diagnose the problem correctly. If a younger person experiences dizziness, weakness, headaches, numbness on one side, and vision trouble then it is important to get to a hospital as soon as possible. I thought it important that the article stated that a stroke should never be ruled out due to a patient’s age. This way it increase chance of survival and prevents further damage.

Blog 1: Treatment lapses may increase TB drug resistance

http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2012/08/29/treatment-lapses-may-increase-tb-drug-resistance/


     A study has shown that 43.7% of people infected with Tuberculosis have the strain that is drug resistance and is refered to as multidrug-resisitant turberculosis (MDR) or even extensively drug-resistant (XDR). The World Health Organization says that out of all the cases of TB in the world, about 9.4% have XDR. These forms of TB are untreatable with a first and second line of medications. The second line of medications is much more dangerous since it has more side effects. There are only two ways in which a person can develope MDR or XDR and those are by personal contact (close ranges and bodily fluids) and by wrongful use of medicines and not completing a perscription.




       I found this article to be very interesting. I was not aware that there was a form of TB that was not cureable. I always thought that people used to die from TB due to lack of medications and living conditions. It is evident througout the article that living conditions can increase the chances of a person developing MDR or XDR. People living in poverished countries or even people who just live in close vacinity to others are most at risk for the disease. Also, those who were treated with the second line of drugs were four times more likely to develope the form XDR. Turberculosis is a very serious matter and people should be careful with taking the medicines correctly and continuing the percription even if they start to feel better before they run out.

Blog #11, Cardiac damage repair

For the first time, stem cells taken from a patient’s heart were used to repair their heart damage. The testing has been successful in animals and is not officially successful in humans. 14 people were involved in the trial and 7 were not given stem cells and they did not see an increase in ejection fraction. The patients who underwent this procedure were in heart failure and having a bypass finished. During the operation the doctors took a portion of heart tissue and secluded the stem cells from that sample. After 100 days the stem cells were injected back into the patient’s heart and the pumping ability was monitored for 4 months. After those 4 months the hearts ability to pump increased by 8%. Giving the patients with heart troubles their own stem cells, they are improving their hearts ability to contract. Doctors said that by increasing the ability to contract does not change the person’s survival rate or life quality. However, the doctor’s plan on continuing this study by 2012 and by then they will possibly receive enough results to help them with actually improving survival rate and quality of life. Other studies are taking place dealing with using the patient’s own bone marrow are well. The bone marrow stem cells are being placed
within the patient only 6 hours after they experience a heart attack. The next process come from testing this method via trials to see if the stem cells are actually repairing the damaged heart cells or just helping the heart heal quicker.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-15693507

Blog #11, Parinson's study

Parkinson’s disease is a degenerate disease that attacks the
central nervous system. Symptoms of Parkinson’s include shaking and slow
movements. There is no environmental
cause of Parkinson’s because it is a genetic disorder and there is currently no
cure. Cardiff University has been working on a method to allow patients to be
able to control their movements that are triggered by Parkinson’s to some
extent. For the study, patients were placed in an MRI and asked to tighten
their hands in order to distinguish which section of the brain would light up
with the most use. By doing so, patients were able to control the amount of
movement being triggered by using their thoughts. The results showed that the 5
patients who underwent the neurofeedback had more control over their movements
than those who did not. The study was small with only 10 patients involved and
5 received the brain training and the other 5 did not. The researchers stated
that they would need a larger number of test subjects to have more accurate
results. This method is not a cure in
any way according to the researchers; it is only supposed to improve the
quality of life. The results for this research also prove that the brain is an
amazing organ and has the ability to adapt. The trial has also been run on
finding ways to control depression; however, the results are yet to be released
on this experiment.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-15644449

Blog #10,Slowing down Progeria

The disease Progeria is an extremely rare disorder and only 78 children are recorded in having this disorder. Progeria ages children 8 times faster than the normal rate of aging. Not only does the child have the visible signs of aging such as the wrinkled skin, but they also develop kidney failure, loss of hair, loss of eyesight, and cardiovascular complications. Children who are diagnosed with Progeria have a maximum life span of around upper teens to lower 20s. Scientist have done research and found that anoxygen reactive chemical causes damage to the DNA which causes the Progeria to take effect. Researchers have tested a drug called n-acetylcysteine to see if the damage could be corrected. N-acetylcysteine is already in use to treat liver damage. The drug corrects 2 problems which include, restoring damage to the DNA and fixing the cell shape. So far their trials have been successful; however, a clinical trial will be hard to come by seeing as how there are not enough applicants to be tested on for precise results. If there were a way to test their result on a wider range they might see a change in the disease a slowing down of the aging process in these children and therefore more advancements can be made one day dealing with anti-aging methods. There can be many benefits in the future due to this disorder. Progeria helps researchers look into the ways of aging to see what makes the body age and this way they
could possible “turn back” the clock and help with other diseases in which cells need to be restored.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-15536744

Blog #9 - Doctors against childhood vaccines

With the introduction of a new generation of doctors into the medical field there has been a slow decrease in the push for childhood vaccines. It appears that the older doctors are the ones that push for the vaccines as opposed to the younger doctors that are 15% more likely to not push for a child to receive a vaccine. These younger doctors grew up with the vaccines that they are telling parents to not give to their children. Parents are also not 100% on board with the idea of these vaccines either. The parents fear the affects that the vaccines might have on their children such as autism. It has been proven that the vaccines themselves do not cause autism; however, the fear of this is hurting the child from receiving these vaccines to protect them from diseases such as polio, measles, and HPV. These doctors have never experienced living in a place like a 3rd world country in which the children never get vaccinated and therefore are plagued with these diseases. If they were to experience this environment they would see the importance of these vaccinations. Even if there is a risk of autism it is a very rare chance that it would happen and a greater chance that you child will remain perfectly healthy and not be exposed to the risk of such dangerous disease. The vaccines help more than they do hurt in the long run. It is sad to think that parents in America are being dropped from their doctor’s office because of refusal to vaccinate their child when parents in 3rd world countries would do anything to have a doctor that would vaccinate their child. In those countries that do not have access to these vaccines there is a much higher risk that they children will develop one of the diseases in their lifetime. The reason these doctors are not seeing a need for it is because most of America has been vaccinated as a child and therefore you do not see any outbreaks.

http://www.latimes.com/health/boostershots/la-heb-childhood-vaccines-20111020,0,2213409.story

Blog #8- CIA's vaccine hinders polio vaccine in Pakistan

Doctors have been located in Pakistan to give polio vaccines to the people since Pakistan has a high risk of polio cases. However, due to a fake vaccination that was held by the CIA in may might have hindered the vaccinations by causing the people to not trust western medicines. The CIA was holding this vaccination in order to find the location of Osama Bin Laden. The mission was to get DNA evidence from his compound to conform the identity. The results of the DNA did not match the DNA of the Bin Laden family that was in the records of the CIA. Since the Pakistani people have found out about this CIA vaccine they have no been allowing their children to have the polio vaccine. Many of the people have been saying that it causes infertility within their children and also contains pig products in order to get out of having the vaccine administered. The World Health Organization stated that Pakistan is one of the four countries in which Polio is still an endemic. The negative effects of the fake vaccine are hurting Pakistani's because there is an extreme lack of health care and the spread of disease is rapid. The fact that the people are rejecting the western medicines is going to greatly affect the spread of disease in that country. The Red Cross is having trouble getting permission to do anything since the event happened. Doctors without borders called it "a dangerous abuse of medical care." Hopefully the Pakistani people will see that they are in desperate need of the vaccine to protect their children and that the fake vaccine was just a bad decision on the CIA's behalf.

blog post #7, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is just now being recognized as a serious disorder. The symptoms include prolonged fatigue, loss of memory, headaches, loss of sleep, and digestive problems. Many people have not accepted it as a serious disorder because the name implies that the people with this disorder are only sleepy for over half the day and people just associate that with not getting enough sleep. Many suggest that if the name was changed to Chronic Fatigue Immune Dysfunction Syndrome it would be more accepted and get more attention. As is, there is no treatment for the disorder and with more attention being drawn to it then possibly some research can be done on the matter and a treatment can be found. However, to find a treatment researchers must try to pin point an origin for the disease. As of now, researchers cannot find an exact cause and believe it to be that there can be a wide variety of causes that happen to have similar outcomes. The one thing that has to be affected to cause Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is the immune system. Two major triggers that are known are exposure to a bacteria or a viral infection. Another reason that the cause is so hard to pin point is the fact that by the time that the symptoms become evident, the initial trigger is no longer within the body to be tested and diagnosed. Until a cause can be found people all over the world suffering from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome will have to continue on with no treatment unfortunately.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-levy-chronic-fatigue-syndrome-20110930,0,4021674.story

Blog #6- New cause for Alzheimer's disease

Researchers working on trials to develop Alzheimer's treatments are having no success. They feel as though they are looking at the cause of the disease in the wrong way. While it is stated that beta-amyloid plaque is what causes the disease, there have been no break throughs in the treatments which causes many to question what is going wrong in their trials and attempts for a cure. A scientist names Karl Herrup from Rutgers University says that beta-amyloid plaque may be part of the factors that affect Alzheimer's, but his research has brought him to the hypothesis that the cause of Alzheimer's is brain trauma from an earlier stage in life. The body would have to not heal completely from the injury and therefore cause imflammation in the brain. The inflammation would then begin to get beyond repair and the body would not be able to recover.

The largest cause of Alheimer's is old age which is unavoidable. Then age range of Alzheimer's patients is normally from 60 years old and up. Ways that people can slow down the affects of Alzheimer's is to keep in shape and keep up your cardiovascular health. by doing so, you improve the health of your brain and put off the injury from taking effect. Anything to hold off the disease for longer is always a good thing to start looking into no matter if Alzheimer's is a high risk for you or not. I believe that with this new hypothesis on the cause of Alzheimer's disease is can healp push research from a cure along and possibly lead to a success. With a cure, people all over the world would have more fulfilling lives in their older age because they will be able to remember what happens in their lives on a daily basis.

Blog post #3- efforts to curb maternal deaths

A year ago the United Nations held a meeting in which they disscussed a plan to decrease the deaths of women and children in childbirth. The goal that was set for this project is to save 16 million lives by the year 2015. 44 of the world's poorest countries had trouble dealing with this project because it calls for funds. After a year of observations it has been reported by The Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (PMNCH) that there has been progress in the worst affected countries. Many of the countries have had made major changes to help with these steps to improve the health of women and children. Some have made family planning more accessible to women. Also, some countries have made healthcare free for pregnant women and have hired more skilled deliverers. The United Nations has stated that while these steps are proving improvements other things such as education, nutrition, and water quality will have to be improved.

I believe that this is a great plan for the United Nations to be taking apart of. The deaths of women and children from childbirth is a major issue in the world. Making these improvements will help decrease the child mortality rate and will be beneficial for the countries. The only issue with this plan is that it costs a lot of money to make these projects happen which will hurt the poorer countries. There needs to be a way to have funds collected over time so that these countries can make the neccessary changes.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2011/sep/20/who-report-efforts-maternal-deaths