therhinoguide.com

I have been asking around for a good dentist to get tooth crowns. And, I am surprised to report that this was not an easy request, apparently, the dentist is not a well-used resource unless a tooth is in extreme pain. The dentist is a person that the average American seems to avoid unless the explosion of real pain in the mouth is greater than the psychological fear from your memories of childhood of the man or woman with the sharp pointy tool hacking at your teeth and the drill with the scary whirring sound.

My memories are strong and I have resisted the idea of a new tooth crowns for quite some time, however, I have overcome my fears and I am resolved to see a general dentist. I have screwed up my courage and hope that the dentist can repair and recreate my winning smile. I have used my personal and professional network of friends and associates to find the best man for the job, and in this case, they came through like champions. I am suppressing my childhood memories of the dental chair and look forward to once again allowing myself to smile the big smile.

I had to take a trip recently where I was in a car for up to fifteen hours a day and slept in strange and uncomfortable beds every night. Though I didn’t realize how much I needed an adjustment until I got home, I did realize that I was not sleeping well and didn’t “feel” 100%. As soon as I got home I called my chiropractor and was glad I did. In just one session, my neck was back where it needed to be, hips realigned again and my back felt like I could go for another month!

When I shared this with a second cousin of mine I expected to get what I get from my mother, “You should go to a regular doctor, not one of those bone cracking guys!” However, what I heard surprised me! I found out that she and her husband have been going to their chiropractor for over twenty years and believe she has saved their lives and kept them out of the hospital over the years compared to people and relatives (my mother being one of them) that have had to be hospitalized over the past. They are in their mid seventies and neither one has been in the hospital since going to a chiropractor! What’s funny about that is they are considered the quacks in the family along with me and we are all okay with that!

I have been told for many years that I really don’t need my appendix, my spleen or my pinky finger. But I have always wondered if we don’t need them, why do we have them? If evolution is the reason we no longer have use of these body parts then I would think we would be born without them. Well, I just might be right!

There was a study done in the 70’s that showed war veterans who had lost their spleens were twice as likely to die from cardiovascular disease than those who had their spleens. They have now done research with mice and it is the same that mice without spleens have a harder time recovering form heart attacks than those who have their spleens. It seems that the spleen, though we can live without it, plays an important part in the immune system and its function is essential to repairing heart and other body tissue. So if they are now discovering why we should not discount our spleen, what other things will they soon discover about other body parts we are told we can do without? I guess our bodies are a lot smarter than we thought and the evolutionary process works whether we understand it or not.

Chagas disease infects an estimated 12 million people in Latin America, killing tens of thousands each year. With no vaccine or specific treatment available for large-scale public health interventions, the main control strategy relies on prevention of transmission. Trypanosoma cruzi, the protozoa that causes Chagas disease, is primarily transmitted via the bite of the triatomine insect, more commonly known as the kissing bug. However, the Trypanosoma cruzi infection by oral route constitutes the most important mode of transmission in some geographical regions, as illustrated by reports on microepidemics and outbreaks of acute Chagas’ disease acquired by ingestion of food contaminated with parasites from triatomine insects and studies that show that stomach acid does not suffice to kill the parasite directly.

In 2005, health officials in southern Brazil recorded 45 cases of patients that developed symptoms of Chagas disease after ingesting sugar cane juice from a roadside kiosk and five of the patients died. Blood tests from this outbreak confirmed the presence of Trypanosoma cruzi in 31 of the 45 suspected cases. It is important to study this newly discovered mode of transmission of this morbid disease to find the prevalence associated as well as to educate the public of the importance of cleaning food products and avoiding triatomine infestation not only in dwellings but as well with food products.

In Middle Tennessee, hospitals are reaching out to women with high-risk pregnancies and their newborn infants by investing millions in advanced neonatal services. Baptist Hospital’s newly-renovated $9.6 million Seaman neonatal intensive care unit opened in March February 2009. About a month later,  The Women’s Hospital at Centennial Medical Center completed the final phase of a $15.5 million expansion of its neonatal intensive care unit, expanding from 40 to 60 beds. And, there’s more to come from another one of Nashville’s major hospitals. In 2008, Vanderbilt University announced plans for a $203 million 340,000-square-foot addition to the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital. When completed in 2013, the hospital with include 36 neonatal intensive beds.

The need for advanced neonatal services has increased dramatically. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, the rate of premature births has spiked about 36 percent nationally since the early 1980s. Why is this?

One reason is that technology makes it possible for babies that wouldn’t have lived 20 years ago to have a fighting chance at survival. Not only are women having babies later in life, there is also a higher rate of diseases such as diabetes. And, hospitals and physicians are equipped to treat these patients at a higher level than they ever have before.

Primary care, the branch of medicine that focuses on treating patients with a broad spectrum conditions, is in a crisis. Only 2 percent of today’s medical students want to go into primary care internal medicine. Industry experts warn of a shortage of primary care doctors that will shock the nation’s health care system in coming years. Meharry, Medical College a 132-year-old historically black school in Nashville, is trying to do something about it. Over 50 percent of the school’s physicians-in-training are preparing to practice primary care. According to one industry group, the nation needs 60,000 more primary care physicians for every American to have access to health care.

One of the reasons for the erosion of primary care is the pay scale. The starting salary range for a primary care doctor is $80,000 to $125,000, a wage that maxes out around $300,000. Compare that to the starting salary for a specialist in urology. They start at about $250,000, with eventual earning power of about $620,000. An orthopedic surgeon specializing in hip and joint replacement can reel in more than $1 million a year. Meharry emphasizes the meaningful relationships developed in a primary care practice, focusing on the passion of helping people. It’s an uphill battle, but one the school believes in is worth fighting for. Only 2 percent of today’s medical students want to go into primary care internal medicine, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association. About 56 million Americans do not have a relationship with a primary care physician.