The field of medicine stands on a substantially stable basis of fact regarding what works and what does not. If a medication works, it is put on the market for physicians to subscribe to patients expressing the symptoms of its associated diagnosis. Acetaminophen is to a fever just as Prozac and Sarafem are to depression,…
While discussions about mental health are becoming more open and common, we still have a lot to learn on university and college campuses about how to best maintain that health and prevent illness. Specifically, how do institutions of higher education better deliver resources to the thousands of students who need them? One student at Washington…
Herpes, a common sexually transmitted diseases, is incurable and can be tough to prevent. The virus can be transmitted through vaginal, oral and anal sex, through open sores on the genitals and the mouth, and through skin-to-skin contact. Despite its high prevalence, many people don’t understand the symptoms of herpes or how it can be…
In the film Gattacca, parents use genetic selection techniques to create the baby that they want, and typically, parents choose the embryo with the most physically fit characteristics [1]. The techniques present in this 1997 film are nearly at our fingertips in an even more revolutionary form. Our ability to pick and choose specific traits…
Every day, Amy returns home from work with severe aches. The pain in her back and legs is hardly bearable. She has finished an eight-hour shift and has taken the gradually increasing pain for as long as she can manage. Fighting back tears, she enters her home, goes to her bedroom, opens a small bottle…
Vicodin, Demerol, OxyContin, Percocet – once among the inconspicuous painkillers that only occasionally occupied household medicine cabinets (and even then, only post-surgery or in the case of a very serious medical problem), today maintain household-name status. They are members of the family of opioid analgesics, drugs that attach to specific receptors in the brain and…
In 2006, the United Nations reported a growing total of 232 million migrants in the world, who represent roughly 3 percent of the global human population. Population migration is a global affair due to its implications in the realm of public health. Throughout history migration and immigration have played major roles in the spread of…
For approximately $40,000, Guide Dogs of America can train and provide a seeing eye dog to the visually impaired. Upon visiting their program’s website, a large “Donate” button appears beside a picture of fluffy labrador puppies in the arms of smiling volunteers. For $25, the Carter Center’s Trachoma Control program can cure someone in the…
Healthcare, particularly with regard to family and child benefits, is one of the most controversial topics being discussed in this upcoming election cycle. The United States is the only developed country in the world without paid parental leave laws of any kind, but the responsibility to update this and other aspects of the United States’…
“Maybe in 10 years time, I will become one of them too.” I’ve only been shadowing after Dr. Ly (pseudonym) for two days and already I think I know perhaps half of what he feels when he has to return the call to the mother of an 18-month-old with anhidrosis knowing that there is nothing…