Category: Health

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English Man Becomes the Second Person Ever to Be Cured of HIV

Nearly 10 years ago, scientists used a stem cell transfusion to functionally cure someone of HIV. Unfortunately, it’s been difficult to replicate that success… until now. A second individual has been found to show no signs of the virus after 18 months, and the results could bring hope to people affected by HIV around the world.

The idea for curing these people via blood transfusion is born from the fact that people who receive a Δ32 mutation of the CCR5 gene from both parents are naturally resistant to HIV-1. The mutation is rare, however, so the chance that both of your parents are carriers is something like winning the genetic lottery – but what if we could inject stem cells from those lucky people into those already infected?

Image Credit: Pixabay

The approach is what led to Timothy Ray Brown, the “Berlin Patient” being functionally cured in 2007 – he has stayed that way since – after effectively having his immune system transplanted.

The treatments are expensive and dangerous, however, and the fact that Brown already had one Δ32 mutation played in his favor. This time around, with the “London patient,” a double Δ32 stem cell transfusion was needed.

Both patients also had cancer diagnoses, which led to the out-of-the-box treatment idea and is why it hadn’t been conceived of or tried before 10 years ago.

Image Credit: Pixabay

A functional cure is different from what’s known as an eradicated cure in that the former means copies of the virus could still be in the body unactivated and undetectable at current levels.

That said, there is reason for hope, according to Professor Ravindra Guptra, one of the study’s authors.

“By achieving remission in a second patient using a similar approach, we have shown that the Berlin Patient was not an anomaly, and that it really was the treatment approaches that eliminated HIV in these two people.”

Image Credit: Pixabay

The problem with celebrating is that currently, this treatment approach will be difficult to repeat on a wide scale. Doctors believe that the chemotherapy played a role in the gene therapy success because the process temporarily destroys fast-dividing cells, leaving space for replacement. People who do not have cancer are typically treated with antiretrovirals, and for now, that’s more effective than short-term chemotherapy and a stem cell transfer.

Also, there aren’t enough stem cell donors that have the Δ32 mutation to make it a viable option on a wider scale – there are currently 37 million people infected with HIV.

That said, drug-resistant strains of HIV are becoming more widespread, so having alternative options may be live-saving news in the near future.

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In 2010, a Polish man living in Germany…

In 2010, a Polish man living in Germany asked doctors to remove what he thought was a several-year old cyst at the back of his head. However, doctors found that the ‘cyst’ was actually a .22-caliber round lodged in his scalp. He didn’t noticed it because he was drunk when it happened 5 years ago.

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This Doc’s Decision to Write His Name on His Scrub Cap is Making Hospitals Everywhere Safer

Most of us only have experience in hospitals and operating rooms as the patient, and between the whirlwind of prep and our own nerves it’s all but impossible to remember the names of the dozen or so people littering the room, never mind why they’re there in the first place.

It turns out that the surgeons, nurses, anesthetists, et al have similar issues with remembering each others names and roles, as well, which can slow them down and even cost patients their lives in extreme situations.

The World Health Organization surgical safety checklist requires all staff to introduce themselves before surgery, but Dr. Hackett noticed that the section of the checklist was ticked without being completed – and even when it was, names and duties would go in one ear and out the other.

“When it’s done properly,” he says, “there are a few giggles from people, which tells me it’s not done regularly.”

This is why Australian anesthetist Dr. Rob Hackett started wearing a scrub cap that said “Rob Anaesthetist” on it when entering an operating theatre. He challenged others to do the same through #TheatreCapChallenge, an initiative from the PatientSafe Network in response to concerns over how avoidable mistakes and poor communication can contribute to poor outcomes for patients.

Image Credit: Twitter

Dr. Hackett says he’s faced pushback from some doctors but hopes that in the future a wider range of professionals will jump on board.

“There were some snide remarks, like ‘can’t you remember your name?’ …While there’s been support for name & role caps from anaesthetic and obstetric societies, it’s interesting to observe that we’re yet to receive any active support from a surgical college. Here’s a golden opportunity for them to face up to the bullying nature they’ve been tarred with.”

Even though the movement has room to grow, medical professionals from across the globe are showing their support by making their own caps and tweeting selfies using his hashtag #TheatreCapChallenge. Others agree with Dr. Hackett that knowing everyone’s name can save vital, life-and-death seconds in an operating room.

While it may sound crazy to think just having to repeat something or ask someone’s name, when seconds literally count, no positive change is too small.

“I went to a cardiac arrest in a theatre where there were about 20 people in the room,” Dr. Hackett recalls. “I struggled to even ask to be passed some gloves because the person I was pointing to thought I was pointing to the person behind them. It’s so much easier to coordinate when you know everyone’s names. It’s great for camaraderie and it’s great for patients as well.”

His movement is picking up steam and the data suggests there are benefits that reach beyond his original intent.

“UK studies have shown increased name recall amongst staff from 42 to 85%, increased name and role introductions during the surgical safety checklist from 38 to 90%. Simulation studies at Stanford University in the US demonstrated greatly increased communication and theatre efficiency.”

Women who have c-sections and are generally awake in an operating theatre also benefit from being able to address the people around them and have an awareness of why they’re there, as well.

An unintended benefit of writing on a scrub cap could also be people choosing to purchase re-usable caps as opposed to single-use ones – as of now, a 20-theatre hospital discards over 100,000 of them every year and spends about $10k of its annual budget on disposable caps. The material they’re made from is harmful to the environment and takes forever to break down, so there’s an environmental and financial upside to switching.

Hackett believes that being forced to admit that they’ve been hurting – even killing – patients for years can be one reason people struggle with accepting his simple fix for the problem.

“Cognitive dissonance is one of the challenges that #TheatreCapChallenge has faced. It’s most likely to affect those who feel defined by their decisions, often those further up the chain of command – in accepting change they’ll need to accept that what was happening previously, on their watch as it were, was not as good.”

Here’s hoping our healthcare providers – all of them – can check their egos at the door in order to forge a better, safer future for everyone who finds their lives in a hospital’s hands.

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It Turns Out Kids Who Are Obsessed with Dinosaurs Are Actually Smarter

Do you know a kid who absolutely LOVES dinosaurs? My nephew is obsessed with them, and I was the kind of kid who could describe a paleontologist’s job in great detail back in second grade.

If that describes your kids, that’s great news since a recent study found that kids who are obsessed with dinosaurs are smarter than kids who aren’t.

In the psychology world, this phenomenon is called “intense interests.” Roughly one-third of kids develop an intense interest in their lives but for most the obsession usually fades after the age of six.

Photo Credit: Flickr,Mike Mozart

A study from the University of Indiana and the University of Wisconsin found that an intense interest can “enhance perseverance, improve attention and enhance skills of complex thinking as the processing of information”, especially when the interest demands a conceptual domain.

Intense interests have also been shown to improve linguistic skills and are a good indicator of higher understanding. It’s also been shown that the way children study dinosaurs helps them develop strategies to tackle problems throughout their lives.

Interestingly, kids’ intense interest in dinosaurs develops in the first year of life without encouragement from their parents. As mentioned earlier, most of these obsessions pass and only 20% of kids still have the intense interest when they enter school.

Researchers believe that once kids start school and have to devote time to learning new things, they lose their free time to explore their interests. It is suggested that in order to keep your child’s interest alive as they grow up, parents should teach their kids facts about the subject as opposed to letting them have “pretend adventures.”

Make sure those kids keep learning on their own after they start school, and remember, if your child is obsessed with T-Rex, that’s a good thing!

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Sorry, Parents: Your Sleep-Deprivation is Here to Stay At Least Until Your Youngest Hits Kindergarten

Everyone knows that part of being a parent is not getting nearly enough sleep. When you bring a baby into your home you can kiss your regular 8 hours of beauty rest a night goodbye.

While some may think they’ll catch up on sleep eventually like once the baby starts sleeping all night, the science is in and…that’s just not true.

In fact, the science says it will take six whole years before parents get a decent night’s sleep after having a baby.

Image Credit: Pixabay

It seems hard to believe – sure, night feedings end fairly quickly (in retrospect), but kids are sick and they have nightmares and they wake up for no apparent reason and need a drink or to come sleep in your bed. Parenting is 24/7, and we know that, but researchers were still caught a bit off guard.

Study co-author Sakari Lemola, a psychology professor at the University of Warwick, commented in The Guardian:

“We didn’t expect to find that, but we believe that there are certainly many changes in the responsibilities you have.”

Previous research estimated that parents lose about 44 days of sleep during their child’s first year of life, with mothers being hit harder than fathers. That said, more and more fathers are accepting larger parenting roles and, as they often go back to work sooner, have fewer opportunities to nap during the day.

Image Credit: Pixabay

This study tracked the sleep of 2541 moms and 2118 dads over the course of six years. They parents reported births of children, as well as how well they slept on weeknights versus weekends. Women experienced the most lost sleep during baby’s first year, reporting a 1.7 point decline in sleep quality after their first children and another 1 point decline after the birth of each subsequent child. On average, moms lost about 40 minutes of sleep per night in that first year, and in the first three months they lost over an hour. Comparatively, dads lost only 13 minutes of sleep per night during their first year of parenthood.

Image Credit: Pixabay

Regardless of the differences, it took up to 6 years for both men and women to return to their normal sleep schedule after having a child. The results were also similar regardless of income, whether or not both parents worked, and single parenting.

There is a reason that sleep-deprivation is used as a torture device, and more than a few health reasons parents should be concerned – and take care to minimize the effects of a poor night’s sleep on their life and body.

Insufficient sleep is associated with car accidents, poor concentration and performance at work, increased illness, weight gain, and a higher risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Image Credit: Pixabay

Unfortunately, there’s not a whole lot you can do about it when you’ve got small children; if your little one needs you in the middle of the night you can’t really tell them to go piss up a rope and roll over.

But researchers did make a few suggestions.

“For parents, lifestyle management strategies might include stress management, exercise, enlisting help from family and friends and seeking the guidance of professionals such as therapists or physicians when needed.”

“Families benefit from prioritizing healthy sleep – this can be accomplished through limited caffeine intake, having a consistent and calming evening routine, keeping the bedroom dark, and reducing exposure to bright screens such as cell phones, tablets, and TVs close to bedtime.”

And take heart, mamas and daddies – six years will go by in a flash.

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U.S. flight attendants have higher…

U.S. flight attendants have higher rates of breast cancer, uterine cancer, gastrointestinal cancer, thyroid cancer, and cervical cancer, when compared with the general public, likely due to regular exposure to cosmic ionizing radiation.

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The U.K. is Seeing a Sudden Resurgence of Ancient Diseases

As we here in America battle with the comeback of diseases like measles, the United Kingdom is also struggling with the reemergence of old-school, Dickensian diseases gout and scarlet fever.

Data from the UK National Health Service shows a 52% increase in four key “Victorian diseases” since 2010/2011 – many of which were assumed to have disappeared along with chamber pots. The rise of sanitation, vaccinations, and modern science seemed to have these diseases on the run, but the recent data shows that they’re not going down without a fight.

Cases of scarlet fever have increased by 208% in the past decade, going from 429 cases in 2010/11 to 1321 cases in 2017/2018. The disease was the leading cause of death in children in the early 20th century and presents with a sore throat, fever, headache, swollen lymph nodes, and a pink-red rash.

Scarlet fever rash
Image Credit: Wikipedia

A vaccine nearly wiped out whooping cough in the 1950s but hospital admissions are up 59%, and the instances of people experiencing gout are up 38% – almost 2000 more cases in 2017/2018 than there were 10 years before. Gout is associated with a poor diet, heavy drinking, an a general lack of concern over one’s health.

Whooping cough bacteria
Image Credit: Wikipedia

Life expectancy is stalling in the UK, too, and hospital admissions due to malnutrition are up 54%. Infant mortality rates are also on the rise, and as with everything else, the poorer people are suffering the most.

The culprit? Well, the data suggests large cuts to healthcare, social services, and other public services could be to blame. That said, the study was commissioned by a political party that is against the austerity programs, which should be taken into consideration.

The data is solid and from independent sources, however, so the truth can’t be denied – people in the UK are sicker than ever, dying younger than they were ten years ago, and generally struggling to stay well as people in Western Europe face none of the same challenges (in general).

I don’t know about you, but I hope to avoid all of these diseases in the modern world. All I’ve got is a vaccination and a prayer.

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This Man’s ER Experience in Taiwan Shows How Truly Messed up American Health Care Really Is

No matter what side of the political aisle you belong to, chances are most of you would agree that America’s healthcare system, as it currently stands, is pretty broken. Even if we can’t all agree about what the right solution may be, we definitely agree that it could certainly be better.

The fact is that, when it comes to healthcare, America actually lags behind the rest of the civilized world. We spend more exponentially more money to get significantly less coverage.

Most other first world countries offer government-funded universal healthcare – and that is also true in Taiwan, where one Kevin Bozeat has been living as an ex-pat. But unfortunately, he didn’t qualify for their healthcare and had no American health insurance, either, when he found himself super sick and in need of a trip to the emergency room.

He sucked it up and let his roommate call him a taxi, figuring he’d work out the payment when it came due (the way most of us regular people do here in the States).

Here’s what happened.

Image Credit: Facebook

tl;dr: His experience was awesome and even with no insurance, it cost him $80.

Of course, since this is the internet in America, people had to try to find every which way to prove that his experience was singular, or reasons why it wouldn’t work in the States, or to insinuate that Taiwan is somehow a poor, third world country (it’s not; their GDP is higher than Denmark’s).

So, Kevin did some legwork for us in the form of arguments against all of the “good points” people made about his original post.

Image Credit: Facebook

To sum up:

  1. The cost of living in Taiwan is about 50% of the cost of living in the U.S. Good luck going to any emergency room here for any reason and getting out of there for less than $160.
  2. Doctors do make less, but they’re still solidly middle class (and there are plenty of people willing to go into the field).
  3. The taxes in Taiwan do pay for healthcare but they’re not high – if you have their national healthcare it works out to about $70.53/month for a person who makes $60k/year.

He acknowledges that no system is perfect, but quotes the Ministry of Health in saying that “…the Taiwanese government believes that healthcare is a right for all of its citizens, rather than a privilege for those who can afford it.”

Everyone in Taiwan is covered (along with foreign permanent resident) is entitled to coverage regardless of employment status, and no citizen goes bankrupt due to medical bills.

It sounds like a utopia, but it’s not – most of the world has figured out how to make it happen. And according to Kevin, it’s time for his home country to stop making excuses.

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This Poor Gentleman’s Ginormous Poop Nearly Killed Him (Seriously)

You might be proud of your ability to “hold it” until you get home, until after the kids go to bed, until a more convenient time, but take heed, people – holding in your poo for too long can literally kill you.

Proof? This 53-year-old Australian man went to the emergency room with severe abdominal pain, swelling, nausea, and a sudden inability to feel or move his right leg. Doctors confirmed the leg was paralyzed – it also had no palpable pulse and was cold to the touch.

At first, physicians were stumped. The man had no history of drug abuse, no risk of vascular disease, and really no significant or out-of-the-ordinary medical history at all.

What he did have was a really, really big poo.

Image Credit: BMJ Case Report

Holy sh*t.

A rectal examination and abdominal scans revealed massive fecal compaction that was putting life-threatening pressure on his abdominal organs. There was so much of it that it had distended his large intestine and put pressure on his right iliac artery, which is what caused the pain and paralysis in his leg.

The case was serious – he was showing signs of renal impairment and metabolic acidosis – the man required surgery to remove the backlog of poo and relieve the building pressure. The team wrote a case report, which expanded on their findings.

“Significant faecal disimpaction was performed manually under general anaesthesia with approximately 2 liters of feces removed.”

Image Credit: BMJ Case Report

2 liters, y’all. How long had it been since he’d gone?!

He was given constipation relief during recovery and left the hospital after four days. He finally walked again after 13 days.

Doctors are unsure what caused the massive build-up, but there’s no doubt that not being able to (or choosing not to) poop for a long period of time is incredibly dangerous. A teenage girl with a toilet phobia actually died in 2015 after holding it for 8 weeks, and this guy would have suffered the same fate had he not visited the doctors when he did.

Like my grandfather always said, better out than in. Never go against your body when death is on the line, my friends. You’ll come out on the losing end.

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Calming Down is Easy with This Military-Approved Breathing Technique

Between work, your spouse, your kids/pets, politics, or the general state of the world, life is pretty stressful.

That’s why it’s essential to have great good coping mechanisms that you can bust out when necessary. This particular one is actually used by the military – arguably one of the most stressful jobs ever. Known as combat breathing, four-count breathing, or diaphragmatic breathing, it can really help bring you back to center.

Image Credit: YouTube

The tactic lowers your heart rate and helps you regain control of your breathing, explains clinical psychologist Belisa Vranich. She’s also the author of 2016’s Breathe: The Simple, Revolutionary 14-Day Program To Improve Your Mental and Physical Health.

Image Credit: YouTube

“It’s one you can use when things are blowing up around you – both literally and figuratively – and you need to be able to stay calm.”

Image Credit: YouTube

She demonstrates the tactic in the Business Insider video below – practice with her until you feel cool enough to tackle the rest of your day.

Of course, a cup of coffee never hurt, either.

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