Early onset of sexual activity among teens may relate to the amount of adult content children were exposed to during their childhood, according to a new study released by Children's Hospital Boston. Based on a longitudinal study tracking children from age six to eighteen, researchers found that the younger children are exposed to content intended for adults in television and movies, the earlier they become sexually active during adolescence. The...
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
How Do Our Attitudes About Beauty Change As We Age?
What people find beautiful about themselves may be different than what they find appealing in another person. That's just one finding from a recent consumer survey conducted on the BeautyforLife website (a joint venture of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons and the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery.) Visitors were asked "What aspect of physical beauty do you find most appealing in another person?" In their 20s, 30s, and 40s, respondents...
Friday, August 14, 2009
True Tales of Military Medicine: One Sunday in March
Since it’s Veteran’s Day, I thought it would be a good time to share one of my more memorable days in the Air Force Medical Corps. While this story does not deal with battlefield medicine, it does highlight some of the differences between civilian and military medicine.It was the first Sunday in March. I was deployed to a small air base in the Middle East with the 820th RED HORSE, a group of construction engineers. We were halfway through a six-month...
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
New 'Molecular Condom' Meant To Prevent AIDS In Women
University of Utah scientists developed a new kind of "molecular condom" to protect women from AIDS in Africa and other impoverished areas. Before sex, women would insert a vaginal gel that turns semisolid in the presence of semen, trapping AIDS virus particles in a microscopic mesh so they can't infect vaginal cells. "The first step in the complicated process of HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) infection in a woman is the virus diffusing from...
The Date
During my second year of medical school I decided to make more an effort to be social. To that end, I had decided to attend the annual medical school Halloween party. It was held at the VFW in one of the smaller St. Louis suburbs (Each of our parties seemed to be held at a different VFW. Allegedly we made such a mess that we were never allowed back at the previous ones).I had thrown together a costume at the last minute and dressed as Willie Nelson....
Monday, August 10, 2009
H1N1 Vaccine Will Be Approved, Ready For Use By September
By September, the first H1N1 (swine) flu vaccines will be approved and ready for use, WHO director of the Initiative for Vaccine Research Marie-Paule Kieny said Thursday, Reuters reports. Kieny also expressed optimism that "vaccine production yields were improving, following a disappointing start that triggered some worries about supplies," the news service writes.By early next month, Kieny said scientists will have the results of the first H1N1...
Thursday, August 06, 2009
Intense, Prolonged Exposure To World Trade Center Attack Associated With New Health Problems Several Years Later
Large number of individuals, such as recovery and rescue workers, nearby residents and office workers, who experienced intense or prolonged exposure to the World Trade Center attack have reported new diagnoses of asthma or posttraumatic stress 5-6 years after the attack, according to a study in the August 5 issue of JAMA, a theme issue on violence and human rights. "The September 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the World Trade Center (WTC) killed thousands...
Wednesday, August 05, 2009
TV And Computer Screen Time May Be Associated With High Blood Pressure In Young Children
Sedentary behaviors such as TV viewing and "screen time" involving computer use, videos and video games appear to be associated with elevated blood pressure in children, independent of body composition, according to a report in the August issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. The recent trend in obesity is a major public health concern and its effect on blood pressure is of particular concern,...
Monday, August 03, 2009
New HIV Virus Found In Gorillas
Scientists who found a new human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in a Cameroonian woman living in Paris, have discovered it is an unusual variant of HIV-1 that could have come from gorillas.The research that led to the findings was headed by Dr Jean-Christophe Plantier of the University of Rouen in France and is published in the 2 August online issue of Nature Medicine. Drs David Robertson and Jonathan Dickerson from the Faculty of Life Sciences at...
