Explaining the epic failure of EMRs

It is no news a lot of doctors like to stick up a rather snotty nose to EMR. The defenders of the EMR tend to label such doctors as archetypal Luddites, sticking to their archaic ways and unbecoming of change and the new times. But as is usually the case with any two heated but opposite arguments, the truth likely lies somewhere between the two extremes.

On an objective basis, there is no denying that automatisation of medical record keeping is the new way forward. In theory, if the machine could keep records for you and give it back to you when and where you want it, thus freeing up valuable time for the patient encounter, that should be winsome for everyone. That alas, is a vision of the EMR utopia, and let alone being anywhere close to such utopia, it is difficult to ascertain if we are even set in the road leading us there.

Sometime ago, exasperated at the sheer waste of time that the clunky new discharge module was causing because it would not work the way it is supposed to (my hospital is means challenged, so they are building a patchwork of cheapskate EMR suite on top of their legacy system from the 90s, just to placate the gods of CMS), I complained to the IT guy that the thing barely works! The guy was sympathetic and said, “look I know the discharge module sucks, just bear with it until the end of the year when we should be able to weed out the bugs.”

But that’s not all, I said, even if it were working just the way it is supposed to, the discharge still takes me longer than what it used to with paper. “That’s something you will have to learn to live with,” he retorted. “Computer records do take a longer time than paper, and there is nothing I can do to change that.”

Right there, I think is where EMR loses a lot of ground against paper records. At any practice, time is the most valuable resource, and anything that doesn’t offer a straight off benefit to save time will have a hard time being adapted. Add to that the inertia people have about their old ways and you have a deal breaker right there.

Comparison with paper-based records

Paper-based records are still by far the most common method of recording patient information for most hospitals and practices in the U.S.^[2] The majority of doctors still find their ease of data entry and low cost hard to part with. However, as easy as they are for the doctor to record medical data at the point of care, they require a significant amount of storage space compared to digital records. In the US, most states require physical records be held for a minimum of seven years. The costs of storage media, such as paper and film, per unit of information differ dramatically from that of electronic storage media. When paper records are stored in different locations, collating them to a single location for review by a health care provider is time consuming and complicated, whereas the process can be simplified with electronic records. This is particularly true in the case of person-centered records, which are impractical to maintain if not electronic (thus difficult to centralise or federate). When paper-based records are required in multiple locations, copying, faxing, and transporting costs are significant compared to duplication and transfer of digital records.^{[citation needed]} Because of these many "after entry" benefits, federal and state governments, insurance companies and other large medical institutions are heavily promoting the adoption of electronic medical records. Congress included a formula of both incentives (up to $44K per physician under Medicare or up to $65K over 6 years, under Medicaid) and penalties (i.e. decreased Medicare/Medicaid reimbursements for covered patients to doctors who fail to use EMR's by 2015) for EMR/EHR adoption versus continued use of paper records as part of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, enacted as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.^[3]

One study estimates electronic medical records improve overall efficiency by 6% per year, and the monthly cost of an EMR may (depending on the cost of the EMR) be offset by the cost of only a few "unnecessary" tests or admissions.^[4][5] Jerome Groopman disputed these results, publicly asking "how such dramatic claims of cost-saving and quality improvement could be true".^[6]

However, the increased portability and accessibility of electronic medical records may also increase the ease with which they can be accessed and stolen by unauthorized persons or unscrupulous users versus paper medical records as acknowledged by the increased security requirements for electronic medical records included in the Health Information and Accessibility Act and by recent large-scale breaches in confidential records reported by EMR users.^[7][8] Concerns about security contribute to the resistance shown to their widespread adoption.

Handwritten paper medical records can be associated with poor legibility, which can contribute to medical errors.^[9] Pre-printed forms, the standardization of abbreviations, and standards for penmanship were encouraged to improve reliability of paper medical records. Electronic records help with the standardization of forms, terminology and abbreviations, and data input. Digitization of forms facilitates the collection of data for epidemiology and clinical studies.^[10][11]

In contrast, EMRs can be continuously updated (within certain legal limitations – see below). The ability to exchange records between different EMR systems ("interoperability"^[12]) would facilitate the co-ordination of healthcare delivery in non-affiliated healthcare facilities. In addition, data from an electronic system can be used anonymously for statistical reporting in matters such as quality improvement, resource management and public health communicable disease surveillance.^[13]

Source:

Explaining the epic failure of EMRs

Wikipedia

World's oldest woman died

Besse Cooper of Georgia was declared the world's oldest person in January.

MONROE, Ga. — The woman who was listed as the world's oldest person has died in a Georgia nursing home at age 116.

Besse Cooper died peacefully Tuesday afternoon in Monroe, according to her son Sidney Cooper. Monroe is about 45 miles east of Atlanta.

Cooper said his mother had been ill over the weekend with a stomach virus, then felt better on Monday. On Tuesday he said she had her hair set and watched a Christmas video, but later had trouble breathing. He said she was put on oxygen in her room and died there about 2 p.m.

She was declared the world's oldest person in January. In May, Guinness World Records learned that Maria Gomes Valentin of Brazil was 48 days older. Valentin died June 21.

Source: http://news.msn.com/obits/woman-116-listed-as-worlds-oldest-dies-in-ga

Also see:  COKE IS POISON!

Americans have the least confidence in parliament and car dealers

Americans have the least confidence in parliament and car dealers

Parliamentary and car salesman - they are the least honorable profession in the opinion of Americans, according to a survey published on Monday and probably not surprise Americans elect, whose lack of popularity is highest, according to AFP.

Institute Gallup asked respondents to give ratings in terms of 'honesty and ethics of people' from a list of 22 professions. First stood nurses, with 85% of the votes of those surveyed, followed by pharmacists, doctors, engineers, dentists and police.

The last places in the rankings, car dealers are considered honest by only 8% of respondents, roughly the same as members of the House of Representatives (10%), employees and vendors advertising actions. Senators occupy a better place.

Many professions were excluded from the survey, but it illustrates the traditional unpopularity of Congress, symbols of inertia and corruption in Washington, says the source.

According to surveys conducted in 1976, only in the immediate aftermath of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 Americans were elected the first places in the ranking. After that brief moment of national mobilization period, they went into free fall. Regularly, American lawmakers are under investigation on ethical issues or for adultery or for embezzlement.

Since 2010, the House of Representatives is controlled by Republicans, while the Senate remains in Democratic hands. With this 'cohabitation' legislative deadlock was almost total in the last two years, each room texts adopted by voting against opponents controlled chamber.

EU institutions have complied with the 82% European Ombudsman's recommendations

EU institutions have complied with the 82% European Ombudsman's recommendations

European Ombudsman Nikiforos Diamandouros considers that in 2011 the compliance rate institutions European Union (EU) on his suggestions was 82%, in the context in which it issued in that year 120 recommendations, positions and friendly solutions, a release of the European Commission (EC) released Monday.

'European Ombudsman's decisions are not binding law. That is why I rely on my arguments convincing force and the availability of institutions to cooperate with me in combat administrative shortcomings and draw lessons for the future. Overall compliance rate of 82% is encouraging, but leaves room for improvement, especially for institutions that are significantly below average, "said Nikiforos Diamandouros, quoted in press.

In 2011, recommendations, positions and amicable solutions proposed by the Ombudsman were related to situations such as the refusal to allow access to documents, problems with procedures, conflict of interest or violation of the right to a hearing.

In one case, the Ombudsman has contributed to the settlement of a dispute between the European Commission (EC) and an NGO on an EU project launched under the 'European Dialogue on Migration'. EC finally returned 70,000 euros NGO concerned.

On the other hand, there was a situation in which the EC has decided not to follow the recommendation of the Ombudsman to facilitate access to the requested documents.

In another case, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has followed the recommendations of the Ombudsman to publish warnings about possible side effects related to Septrin, a medicine used to treat bacterial infections.

Surgically implanted device that allows controlling diabetes and reducing obesity

Surgically implanted device that allows controlling diabetes and reducing obesity

Doctors at the hospital in Barcelona Bellvitge first appeal to a new type of surgery that allows reduction of obesity and diabetes control, agency EFE reported Monday.


The system consists of placing a device in the small intestine leaving the stomach by endoscopic intervention. The device creates an internal barrier between food intake and first part of the bowel wall, allowing food to get digested faster and less at the other end of the intestine, as if 'by-pass' gastric surgery.

Placing the device is outpatient anesthesia and does not require intervention takes less than half an hour, but the patient must remain in hospital under observation for one night.

This treatment is indicated in patients suffering from type 2 diabetes who do not respond positively traditional treatment. After a year when the patient may lose up to 20% of body weight, the device is extracted all about endoscopy.

HIV developing in Athens

HIV developing in Athens

Athens recorded an alarming increase of new HIV infections, especially among intravenous drug users, health authorities warned Friday, as Greece struggles with a prolonged financial crisis in the financing of health care and drug treatment programs have been reduced, the Associated Press reports.

While there were around 10-14 new HIV infections per year among drug users in Athens from 2008 to 2010, that number soared to 206 new cases last year and 487 new cases until October of this year - an increase of 15 times and 35 times, respectively, officials said.
                   
"There is no doubt that we have a large fast growing epidemic in Athens," said Angelos Hatzakis Professor at the University of epidemiology and preventive medicine in Athens.
                   
A total of 1,049 new cases of HIV infection were recorded in Greece in the first 10 months of this year, including 487 drug users. Among others, 256 are male homosexuals, while 108 were infected with the virus through heterosexual intercourse, figures show.
                   
"One of the reasons is the financial crisis," said Director of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control / ECDC / Marc Sprenger. "There are many people who are vulnerable, marginalized" and using drugs.
                   
They turn to cheaper drugs and inject them instead of smoking them to get the maximum effect from a smaller amount, officials said.
                   
"We are very worried," said Sprenger. "What we see now is that growth, and if we do not pay serious attention to this work in the future will become a huge burden."
                   
Greece is hit by a financial crisis in late 2009, he left the country to experience a sixth year of deep recession and a quarter of its workforce unemployed. To remain solvent, the country relies on international rescue loans from other European countries that also use the euro and the International Monetary Fund, notes AP.
                   
But instead, the Greek government has imposed several rounds of spending cuts and tax hikes in an effort to reform the economy and reduce the country's huge debt. The cuts have affected health care costs, many hospitals reported lack basic materials, while charities dealing with drug users and persons with HIV also are struggling to find funds.
                   
One of the main ways to prevent the spread of the virus that causes AIDS among drug users is the free distribution of needles, clean, officials said, and programs in this regard in Greece were able to increase the number of needles distributed it to 40 up to about 50-60 per dependent per year. But the actual number required for these programs to be effective, officials said ECDC is about 200 per drug per year.
                   
"The cost of prevention to avoid HIV infection is significantly lower than to treat those who become infected," remarks Sprenger

Is Drug Addiction part of Human Evolution?

 Is Drug Addiction part of Human Evolution?

The human mind is a wondrous and expansive thing that is constantly learning and adapting itself to the changing universe that surrounds us. Nonetheless human beings have a habit of becoming unsatisfied with our surroundings. Dealing with mental anguish and boredom has always been one of our greatest challenges as a species. To meet these challenges many of us have resorted to the use of recreational drugs in an effort to either expand our minds, embrace new experiences or simply to nullify the pain that life has inflicted upon us. Since the time of the ancient Egyptians mankind has sought out, cultivated and harvested a wide variety of recreational drugs to satisfy our cravings, alleviate our shortcomings and nullify our insecurities. The more advanced we evolve as a species the more sophisticated and widespread our involvement in the drug culture. But if we are to believe the teachings of Darwin about evolution, the strongest of the species will always thrive and dominate over the weaker of the species. Hence, given the proliferation of drug use with the technological advancement of our society, we must ask ourselves some fundamental questions. Is the use of recreational drugs just part of the human condition, and to that end is drug addiction actually part of our natural evolution as a species?

Regardless of your attitude to drugs you cannot argue that over thousands of years they have become increasingly diverse and prevalent in our society. Perhaps it is the growth in the variety of drugs and their use that has seen a very modern phenomenon emerge; the moralization and strict legal classification of drugs and their users. This recent trend of ascribing a moral label to drugs has meant that now there are basically two types of drugs that exist in the world. In the black and white world of our politically correct society drugs are classified as either medicinal or recreational in nature. Politicians, religious groups, social welfare groups and lawmakers have drawn a very distinct line in the sand between drugs that are good and drugs that are bad. Drugs that are medicinal in nature (eg: modern pharmaceutical drugs) are generally considered to be good for us and hence are classified as legal. In general recreational drugs are considered to be bad for us and are hence deemed illegal. The only recreational drugs that are legal are the ones that are so entrenched in our history and culture they are too hard to eliminate from society (eg: alcohol, coffee and tobacco).

Is Drug Addiction part of Human Evolution?

Read more on author's page 

Also on Transhumanmedicine.com website

Does Africa need help?

Does Africa need help?

(CNN) -- Some of the bravest people I know are cowering today in eastern Congo, wondering where their supporters are. While our daily news zeroes in on Syria and Gaza, the fiscal cliff and Christmas sales, our friends in the war-ravaged part of the immense, mineral-rich Democratic Republic of the Congo are once again convulsed in a conflict they did not choose.

A resident from Goma, in North Kivu province, who for security reasons must not be named, sent me a heartbreaking e-mail accompanied by a photo taken by The Associated Press' Jerome Delay. It shows a tiny girl leading a long line of displaced women who carry enormous loads on their backs, a look of utter desperation on her face as tears stream down her cheeks.

The e-mail says, "This girl is a future mother, barely four years old and she must walk many kilometers due to the attack on her village. She cries, but who is listening? No one takes care of her, no one to console her. Her mother can't help because she is carrying their entire household's possessions on her back. Just one attack on this column of displaced people and she will find herself alone in the jungle. We only ask for peace. It's unacceptable that we deny her the chance to grow up and become a mother one day."

Become a fan of CNNOpinionIt is shocking how ill-prepared the international community has been for this latest round of violence in Africa. A leading hospital in Goma, where guerrilla forces have been poised to enter the city for months, sent desperate e-mails to friends around the world pleading for antibiotics, painkillers, plaster and bandages, as international agencies focused on evacuating their staff members from border areas. E-mails I received showed bloody, shattered limbs of children and badly wounded patients with expressions of horror and despair.

Many call Congo the "rape capital of the world," and when you work as I have with the doctors and nurses who have treated tens of thousands of rape survivors, it's hard not to acknowledge some truth to this terrible epithet. For the past 16 years, armed factions supplied by Rwanda, Uganda and the ragtag and ill-paid army of the Congolese government itself have carved up the Congolese provinces of North and South Kivu, marauding, pillaging, killing, abducting children to be soldiers and, yes, gang-raping women and girls as well as men and boys.

All the while, gold, diamonds and precious coltan ore have continued to be extracted and exported as the people of the Kivus have suffered without electricity, roads, schools and good government.

The single largest U.N. peace-keeping force in the world, MONUSCO, stood by virtually impotent last week as some 1,500 M23 rebels overran Goma. Congolese troops, many of them hungry and penniless, ran for the hills. And while we gathered around our Thanksgiving tables, the people of Goma hid in their homes or fled.

Read more here

Resident physicians can earn up to $ 3,000 a month in Israel

Resident physicians who will be selected for scholarships for three years at the prestigious university of Sheba Hospital in Israel, following a program organized by Wizrom Software and Sheba Israel Hospital will receive a gross monthly salary of up to $ 3,000 (2,400 euros), informs a company release Wizrom Wednesday.


Initial enrollment period, Nov. 22, was extended by five days, at the request of resident doctors who intend to apply, but need time to finalize cases.

The scholarships cover all costs of accommodation and transport, plus salary for three years as a resident doctor at Sheba Hospital in Israel. The package also includes health insurance, including accommodation for couples, malpractice insurance and more.
'For resident physicians in specialties neonatology, anesthesia / intensive care and pathology, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity: not only will you probably work best hospital in the world, but you will be paid accordingly, "said Eli David, entrepreneur who controls the company that sponsors the internship program, Wizrom Software, one of the largest providers of ERP solutions in Romania.

The program, entitled SHI Training Fellowship, started on 18 October in Romania with the selection of the six candidates by a prestigious jury. Ideal candidates must be resident doctors in specialty training in neonatology, anesthesia / intensive care and pathology to participate in SHI Training Fellowship. Months spent in Israel will be equivalent and will be considered upon completion of residency.

Wizrom, a leading provider of ERP solutions in Romania, organized this program unprecedented scholarships for resident doctors to mark the anniversary of 20 years since its establishment by an act of donation to the community.

Files can be submitted on http://shebafellowship.com/ro or can be sent by post or e-mail until 27 November 2012, at 24:00. Winners will be publicly announced at a ceremony to be held on December 12, 2012. They will have to commit to accomplishing contract that three years Israel will return to Romania and the Romanian medical system will practice for at least five years.

Founded in 1992, Wizrom Software is one of the top companies in Romania providing business software solutions. The company has a total of 3,424 active customers and over 31,000 licenses installed. Wizrom Software has in recent years strengthened regional presence and visibility through the operation of subsidiaries in Moldova and Bulgaria, starting projects with multinational clients in Serbia and Hungary, as well as creating a local network of certified partners.
The company has 160 employees from 15% growth in the first half of the team.

Sheba Medical Center is the largest medical center in Israel and the Middle East, providing complete care in virtually every medical discipline.

The risk of stroke is higher in people who lose their jobs

The risk of stroke is higher in people who lose their jobs, which is bad news in the current context. Job loss may increase the risk of heart attack, according to a study published in the journal 'Archives of International medecine' and noted huffingtonpost.fr.


By reaching these results, the researchers studied more than 13,500 people aged between 51 and 75 years, from 1992 to 2010, twice a year: 14% of them were unemployed at baseline and nearly seven in ten and have lost at least work during the 20 years. In nearly two decades, researchers have recorded nearly 1,000 heart attack.

Lead author of the study, Matthieu Dupre at Duke University in North Carolina found that heart attack risks were much higher in the unemployed who lost their job in the first year and increasing with each dismissal. People who have resigned are not included in these figures.

Researchers have observed that the rate of heart attack in people who have lost their jobs in the first year increased by 27%, regardless of profession. The effect appears to be cumulative: the risk would increase by 63% in people who have lost their jobs four or more times, the study said.

Taking into account such factors as obesity, smoking and lack of sporting activity, researchers found that job loss is an additional factor that would have the same impact on heart health as hypertension, type 2 diabetes and certain cardiovascular diseases. Risk of stroke in a person who has lost four or more times work are comparable to those of an old smoker.

Stress is not itself a direct cause of heart disease, although it may contribute to increased risk. The survey data did not take into account the reasons for dismissal and Matthieu Dupre states that do not yet know 'how stress increases the risk of heart attack. Further research is needed in this respect '.

Over one million U.S. women treated needlessly for breast cancer in the past 30 years

Routine mammograms have made over a million women in the United States are treated unnecessarily for breast cancer in the past 30 years, although tumors would never have reached an advanced stage, according to a new U.S. study published Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), according to AFP.


Study results again put into question the effectiveness of recommended medical examination, but this is already the subject of controversy.

"We concluded that mammography detected tumors would not ever be developed to cause clinical symptoms for the 1.3 million women in the last thirty years," concluded the authors, Gilbert Welch, from faculty Dartmouth Medicine (New Hampshire, north-east) and Archie Bleyer at the University of Oregon (north-west).

Among treatments followed by women are often difficult medical interventions - surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy and hormonal therapy - preferably to be avoided if not essential, they said.

Researchers analyzed epidemiological data to determine the frequency of mammary tumors detected early and advanced cancers diagnosed in women over 40 years from 1976 to 2008.

After systematic use of mammography in the United States, the number of cancers detected early has doubled, but the rate of women diagnosed with advanced cancer decreased by only 8%.

According to researchers, mammograms are not allowed so effectively detect cancers in advanced form, but have led in parallel to excessive diagnoses - 31% in 2008, or 70,000 women. They also reached the conclusion that a significant decrease in breast cancer mortality is mainly due to more effective treatments rather than early detection of tumors with mammography.

First Gene Therapy Successful Against Aging-Associated Decline: Mouse Lifespan Extended Up to 24% With a Single Treatment

A new study consisting of inducing cells to express telomerase, the enzyme which -- metaphorically -- slows down the biological clock -- was successful. The research provides a "proof-of-principle" that this "feasible and safe" approach can effectively "improve health span."

The results were recently published in the journal EMBO Molecular Medicine. The CNIO team, in collaboration with Eduard Ayuso and Fátima Bosch of the Centre of Animal Biotechnology and Gene Therapy at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), treated adult (one-­‐year-­‐old) and aged (two-­‐year-­‐old) mice, with the gene therapy delivering a "rejuvenating" effect in both cases, according to the authors.

Mice treated at the age of one lived longer by 24% on average, and those treated at the age of two, by 13%. The therapy, furthermore, produced an appreciable improvement in the animals' health, delaying the onset of age-­‐related diseases -- like osteoporosis and insulin resistance -- and achieving improved readings on aging indicators like neuromuscular coordination.

The gene therapy consisted of treating the animals with a DNA-­modified virus, the viral genes having been replaced by those of the telomerase enzyme, with a key role in aging. Telomerase repairs the extreme ends or tips of chromosomes, known as telomeres, and in doing so slows the cell's and therefore the body's biological clock. When the animal is infected, the virus acts as a vehicle depositing the telomerase gene in the cells.

This study "shows that it is possible to develop a telomerase-­based anti-­aging gene therapy without increasing the incidence of cancer," the authors affirm. "Aged organisms accumulate damage in their DNA due to telomere shortening, [this study] finds that a gene therapy based on telomerase production can repair or delay this kind of damage," they add.

'Resetting' the biological clock

Telomeres are the caps that protect the end of chromosomes, but they cannot do so indefinitely: each time the cell divides the telomeres get shorter, until they are so short that they lose all functionality. The cell, as a result, stops dividing and ages or dies. Telomerase gets around this by preventing telomeres from shortening or even rebuilding them. What it does, in essence, is stop or reset the cell's biological clock.

But in most cells the telomerase gene is only active before birth; the cells of an adult organism, with few exceptions, have no telomerase. The exceptions in question are adult stem cells and cancer cells, which divide limitlessly and are therefore immortal -- in fact several studies have shown that telomerase expression is the key to the immortality of tumour cells.

It is precisely this risk of promoting tumour development that has set back the investigation of telomerase-­‐based anti-­‐aging therapies.

In 2007, Blasco's group demonstrated that it was feasible to prolong the lives of transgenic mice, whose genome had been permanently altered at the embryonic stage, by causing their cells to express telomerase and, also, extra copies of cancer-­‐resistant genes. These animals live 40% longer than is normal and do not develop cancer.

The mice subjected to the gene therapy now under test are likewise free of cancer. Researchers believe this is because the therapy begins when the animals are adult so do not have time to accumulate sufficient number of aberrant divisions for tumours to appear.

Also important is the kind of virus employed to carry the telomerase gene to the cells. The authors selected demonstrably safe viruses that have been successfully used in gene therapy treatment of hemophilia and eye disease. Specifically, they are non-­‐replicating viruses derived from others that are non-­‐pathogenic in humans.

This study is viewed primarily as "a proof-­‐of-­‐principle that telomerase gene therapy is a feasible and generally safe approach to improve healthspan and treat disorders associated with short telomeres," state Virginia Boccardi (Second University of Naples) and Utz Herbig (New Jersey Medical School-­‐University Hospital Cancer Centre) in a commentary published in the same journal.

Although this therapy may not find application as an anti-­‐aging treatment in humans, in the short term at least, it could open up a new treatment option for ailments linked with the presence in tissue of abnormally short telomeres, as in some cases of human pulmonary fibrosis.

More healthy years

As Blasco says, "aging is not currently regarded as a disease, but researchers tend increasingly to view it as the common origin of conditions like insulin resistance or cardiovascular disease, whose incidence rises with age. In treating cell aging, we could prevent these diseases."

With regard to the therapy under testing, Bosch explains: "Because the vector we use expresses the target gene (telomerase) over a long period, we were able to apply a single treatment. This might be the only practical solution for an anti-­‐aging therapy, since other strategies would require the drug to be administered over the patient's lifetime, multiplying the risk of adverse effects."

Read more similar about this here

Smoking kills! See how!

A considered percent of humans smoke. Lets's see the result on their health!

Smoking it kills for sure. Smoking reduces your stamina, it make you feel tired and defenseless. Out of addiction one smoke again and again but slowly slowly it capture on your heart and lungs. It make a male impotent and female has chances to lose their fertility. I am not good at writing thing but still i have tried some, to show different type of effects of smoking.

Head to toe - smoking effects can be seen on each part of your body. Let's go step by step and find out the dangerous smoking effects on your body.

Hair

Let's begin from the top i.e. your hair. Smoking effects can be felt on your hair. You hair becomes smelly and stained due to instant smoking effects. Slow hair growth, thinning and graying of hair is also believed to be a direct smoking effect. Your hair will look and feel lifeless and dull.

Passive smoking: A Way to kill your loved one :

Passive smoking can be annoying and repulsive for two reasons – you hate smokers, or you’re trying to quit. Worse case scenario, your girlfriend threatens to walk out if you don’t quit. That the ban on smoking in public places has a lot of support from the masses should be clue enough; smoking affects you and the people around you. Even if your child, friend, wife, husband, girlfriend or boy friend has no issue with you puffing smoke, you are actually killing him/her softly.

  

 Smoking and Pregnancy:

Smoking and pregnancy don't mix. Smoking while pregnant not only puts your own health at risk, but your unborn baby’s health as well. Cigarettes contain dangerous chemicals, including nicotine, carbon monoxide, and tar. It has been proven that smoking significantly increases the risk of numerous pregnancy complications, some of which can be fatal for the mother or baby. 

Brain

Smoking effects on brain are highly dangerous. Blockage of carotid artery may cut off the blood supply to the brain cells, which results in stroke (cerebral thrombosis). Blood thickening and clotting are also serious smoking effects and smokers are 1.5 times more likely to have stroke as compared to non-smokers.

Eyes

Dangerous smoking effects on eyes include common eye diseases such as Graves' ophthalmopathy, age- related mascular degeneration, glaucoma and cataract. The worst smoking effect on eyes can be permanent blindness.

Second-hand smoke and children:

Children are even more at risk because of their smaller lungs and the fact that their bodies are still developing.

Second-hand smoke can affect babies before they’re even born – toxins from the smoke can get into the mother’s bloodstream during pregnancy and reach the baby that way.

Exposing a child to second-hand smoke before or after birth makes a baby:

• twice as likely to suffer from colic
• more than twice as likely to get meningitis
• three times more likely to die from cot death

Nose

Smoking effects on your nose can rob you of your sense of smell.

Teeth and Gums

Do you ever wonder why your teeth are so yellow and stained? Do your gums bleed every morning you wake up? Well, it's because of the direct smoking effect on your teeth. Also smoking effects are not limited to the appearance of your teeth but also results in plaque, loose teeth, gum disease and gingivitis.

Mouth and Throat

All cancers associated with the larynx, oral cavity and esophagus are fatal smoking effects. The less dangerous smoking effects are reduced sense of taste, sore throat and smelly breath.

Hands

Poor blood circulation which leads to cold fingers, tar stained fingers, peripheral vascular disease and amputation due to gangrene are some of the heart-wrenching smoking effects.

Lungs and Respiratory System

The most dreaded lung cancer, feeling out of breath, colds and flu, pneumonia, asthma, cough and sputum, tuberculosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, chronic bronchitis and emphysema, phew... are all smoking effects which will more or less make your life hell.

Heart

Two immediate smoking effects on heart and circulation are an increase in your heartbeat rate and a sharp rise in blood pressure.

Long term smoking effects are increase in the blood cholesterol and fibrinogen levels and increase in chances of having a heart attack. Smoking effects on your heart leads to coronary heart disease, aneurysm, peripheral vascular disease, stroke etc.

Digestive System

Smoking effects are heartburn, peptic ulcers, Crohn's disease, gallstones and stomach cancer.

Skin

Wrinkles, capillaries and premature ageing and scarring are few smoking effects on skin.

Legs and Feet

Beurger's disease, leg pain and gangrene are painful smoking effects.

SMOKING EFFECT ON HEALTH
Read more on http://www.oxstyle.com/

Smoking is brain damage! Share information

Smoking negatively affects the brain, in the degradation of memory, ability to learn and judge, show researchers at King's College London. Their study was published in 'Age and Aging'.

A study conducted on 8,800 people who had high blood pressure and was overweight showed that this seems to affect the brain, but to a lesser extent. Scientists believe that people should be warned that lifestyle can lead to degradation of both mind and body. They studied the links between the likelihood of a heart attack and a stroke and brain state.

Data were collected health and lifestyle of a group of people over 50 years who were tested as learning a large number of words and animal names in a minute. They were tested again after four and eight years. The results showed that the risk of a heart attack or a stroke was 'significantly related cognitive decline': those who had the highest risk were those with the greatest decline. The study showed that there is "a significant relationship" between smoking and lower test results. Dr Alex officials, one of its researchers, says: "Cognitive decline is more common with age ... We have identified a number of risk factors that may be associated with cognitive decline, all can be changed. People should be warned that you need to change something in their lives at risk because their cognitive abilities deteriorate. '

Dr Simon Ridley, of Alzheimer's Research UK shows that 'research has repeatedly shown the link between high blood pressure and increased risk of cognitive decline and dementia, and this study comes to strengthen this evidence'. "Cognitive decline with aging can lead to dementia and study of factors related to the decline can be crucial to identifying ways to prevent this undesirable conditions," he adds.

Alzheimer's Society says that 'everyone knows that smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and high body mass harm the heart. This study confirms what was already known and, moreover, shows that they can hurt and his head. One in three people over 65 years old can develop a form of dementia, but there are things you can do to reduce this risk. "

"Eating a nutritionally balanced, maintaining a healthy weight, practicing a form of movement, regularly checking blood pressure and cholesterol and refraining from smoking can make a difference," concluded Alzheimer's Society

This is serious - Coke danger! READ!

1. In The First 10 minutes: 10 teaspoons of sugar hit your system. (100% of your recommended daily intake.) You don’t immediately vomit from the overwhelming sweetness because phosphoric acid cuts the flavor allowing you to keep it down.
2. 20 minutes: Your blood sugar spikes, causing an insulin burst. Your liver responds to this by turning any sugar it can get it’s hands on into fat. (There’s plenty of that at this particular moment)
   
   1. CLARIFYING DATA: Reader Dan below provided some clarifying information about what the liver does with the extra sugar.
3. 40 minutes: Caffeine absorption is complete. Your pupils dialate, your blood pressure rises, as a response your livers dumps more sugar into your bloodstream. The adenosine receptors in your brain are now blocked preventing drowsiness.
4. 45 minutes: Your body ups your dopamine production stimulating the pleasure centers of your brain. This is physically the same way heroin works, by the way.
5. 60 minutes: The phosphoric acid binds calcium, magnesium and zinc in your lower intestine, providing a further boost in metabolism. This is compounded by high doses of sugar and artificial sweeteners also increasing the urinary excretion of calcium.
   1. CLARIFYING DATA: Reader Jag provided some additional links (here andhere) discussing the connection between phosphoric acid and calcium depletion.
6. 60 minutes: The caffeine’s diuretic properties come into play. (It makes you have to pee.) It is now assured that you’ll evacuate the bonded calcium, magnesium and zinc that was headed to your bones as well as sodium, electrolyte and water.
7. 60 minutes: As the rave inside of you dies down you’ll start to have a sugar crash. You may become irritable and/or sluggish. You’ve also now, literally, pissed away all the water that was in the Coke. But not before infusing it with valuable nutrients your body could have used for things like even having the ability to hydrate your system or build strong bones and teeth.

Read more on http://www.thebuzzmedia.com/
Also useful http://www.transhumanmedicine.com/

Pork meat contaminated with Yersinia

Pork meat contaminated with Yersinia

69% of pork currently marketed in the U.S. is contaminated with  dangerous bacteriaYersinia enterocolitica, reveals a recent examination of meat samples collected along the U.S. by Consumer Reports experts, reports ABC News. 

This bacterium, according to data from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in the U.S., affecting more than 100,000 Americans a year, plus each case corresponds diagnosed more than 120 cases undiagnosed.
Symptoms are quite severe and can include fever, cramps and bloody diarrhea, emphasizes doctors.
For his study Consumer Reports tipurule samples of pork purchased most frequently by millions of Americans across the country. In total, 148 were examined pork chops and 50 samples of minced meat.
Almost 96% of the samples examined were infected with Yersinia and 11% of enterococci. Salmonella and Listeria, two bacteria known and most frequently were detected only in 4% of cases and 3% respectively