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Alcohol rehab and effective treatment for alcoholism

Posted in Articles, Health on 01/18/2012 09:25 pm by admin

Alcoholism rehab and its successful medication

Alcohol rehab and effective treatment for alcoholism

Alcoholism:
Alcoholism is a disease which has a tremendous effect on person’s health, family life and social networks. This disease can lead to many frustrations in the patient’s life as well as family life.

Alcohol Rehab:
Alcohol Rehab is a program which helps in bringing the end for the alcohol dependency life-cycle and can make the person feel free from the habit of alcoholism. But to break the dependency of alcohol the person requires lot of courage and should have a control over his feelings. Alcohol rehabs make a person effort easy to make him free from his/her habit of alcoholism.

Methods used by alcohol rehabs:
These types of programs do an end to end research to find out the reason as why the person has become addicted to alcohol and try to solve the problem If the problem behind alcoholism I not solved or understood clearly then there are chances that the patients can again become addicted to this habit in near future.

Most of the alcohol rehab program covers three main stages to make the person free from alcoholism. These three stages are alcohol detox which is followed by giving counseling to the concerned person and to his family and make him/her emotionally strong and the last stage is aftermath.

These programs are divided into courses based on the person dependency on alcoholism and during the treatment it is made sure that his/her relation with the outer world is not disturbed. In these programs counseling is provided even to the family so that they are not treating the patients badly and also told them the reason behind his/her alcoholism habit.

There are several good rehabilitation centers and Alcohol Rehab Dual Diagnosis, is one among them which provides the treatment to the patients by covering various aspects such as inspiring the patient for these programs, making them aware of the advantages for such program and providing the counseling to the concern person and his/her family and why their support is mandatory in those programs and to make it a success.

 

They Won’t Tell: Looking for Confidential Blood Testing

Posted in Articles on 12/02/2011 12:38 am by admin

There are many reasons for a person to want to keep their blood tests confidential. As government and even potential employers and landlords become more invasive of privacy, even the results of a blood test can mean the difference between getting a job or not, or getting a place to live or not. Some people also fear being ostracized by friends and family before they can have a chance to deal with the ramifications of whatever their STD testing revealed.

Fortunately, there are many STD Testing Labs in the United States where a person can get a confidential blood test. Some localities still require that labs report any test that comes up positive to the government, but these places are rare and the patient is warned, or should be warned, of the non-confidentiality beforehand. Many states offer many places where the patient can get confidential blood testing. For example, STD testing California offers what looks like dozens of cities and towns where the patient can go to be tested.

In most states the patient can go online to apply for the test or call the testing center. After being told what the test will entail, the patient can then simply walk into any of the state’s STD Testing Labs. They can do this on the same day they apply for the test, or make an appointment for later. They then take the test and in most cases learn the results in one to three days. Unless otherwise stated, the test is completely confidential and the patient can even use an alias. One caveat is that these testing labs don’t take insurance, Medicaid or Medicare and the patient will have to pay out of pocket for the tests.

Most of the labs have equipment that can readily test for diseases like HIV, chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, hepatitis B and C, herpes and other sexually transmitted diseases. The testing is overseen by a doctor and if the patient’s results come back positive, qualified nurses at the lab can recommend where a patient can go to seek more help.

 

The ‘secret weapon’ of retroviruses that cause cancer

Posted in Articles on 01/16/2011 05:10 am by admin

ScienceDaily (Feb. 15, 2010) ? Oncogenic retroviruses are a particular family of viruses that can cause some types of cancer. Thierry Heidmann and his colleagues in the CNRS-Institut Gustave Roussy-Universit? Paris Sud 11 “R?trovirus endog?nes et ?l?ments r?tro?des des eucaryotes sup?rieurs” Laboratory have studied these viruses. They have identified a “virulence factor” that inhibits the host immune response and allows the virus to spread throughout the body. This factor is a sequence of amino acids that is located in the envelope protein of the virus. Read the rest of this entry »

 

Low levels of natural antibodies behind stroke

Posted in Articles on 01/16/2011 02:33 am by admin

ScienceDaily (Feb. 13, 2010) ? The chances of suffering a stroke are linked to the presence of a certain type of antibody in the immune system, a new study from Karolinska Institutet shows. The researchers hope to be able to develop a vaccine that can mobilise the body?s own defence against arteriosclerosis and stroke.

The research group, which was led by Professor Johan Frosteg?rd, has previously demonstrated that high levels of a certain type of antibody (anti-PC) in the immune defence are linked to a reduced risk of arteriosclerosis, a common cause of thrombosis and myocardial infarction. Read the rest of this entry »

 

First FDA-approved stem cell trial in pediatric cerebral palsy

Posted in Articles on 01/16/2011 02:33 am by admin

ScienceDaily (Feb. 11, 2010) ? Medical College of Georgia researchers are conducting the first FDA-approved clinical trial to determine whether an infusion of stem cells from umbilical cord blood can improve the quality of life for children with cerebral palsy.

The study will include 40 children age 2-12 whose parents have stored cord blood at the Cord Blood Registry in Tucson, Ariz.

Umbilical cord blood is rich in stem cells, which can divide and morph into different types of cells throughout the body, said Dr. James Carroll, professor and chief of pediatric neurology in MCG School of Medicine and principal investigator on the study.

Cerebral palsy, caused by a brain injury or lack of oxygen in the brain before birth or during the first few years of life, can impair movement, learning, hearing, vision and cognitive skills. Two to 3 children in 1,000 are affected by it, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

Animal studies indicate that infused stem cells help injured brain cells recover and replace brain cells that have died, Dr. Carroll said.

“Autologous stem cell transplantation, in which the transplant recipient is also the donor, is the safest form of stem cell transplantation because it carries virtually no threat of immune system rejection,” he said.

While no controlled clinical trials have been conducted to date, previous studies have shown marked improvement in children with cerebral palsy about three months after an initial infusion of cord blood.

“Evidence up to this point has been purely anecdotal,” Dr. Carroll said. “While a variety of cord blood stem cell therapies have been used successfully for more than 20 years, this study is breaking new ground in advancing therapies for brain injury — a condition for which there is currently no cure.”

Children will begin the study with a neurological exam by MCG pediatric neurologists Elizabeth Sekul and Nicole Brockway. Then, half of the study participants will receive an infusion of their own cord blood while the other half receive a placebo. Three months later, the children will be evaluated without physicians knowing which group received the stem cell infusion. Afterward, children who didn’t get the cord blood initially will receive an infusion. Children will return three and six months later for evaluation.

Researchers will periodically assess the children’s motor skills and neurological development.

“For the purposes of this study, we’re not looking at stem cells as a possible cure; rather whether stem cells can help change the course of these types of brain injuries in children,” Dr. Carroll said.

Study participants must have been unable to sit independently by 12 months or unable to walk by 18 months and must be seizure-free or have seizures that are adequately controlled.

To ensure consistency in cord blood stem cell processing, storage and release for infusion, the Cord Blood Registry is the only family stem cell bank participating in the study.

The trial is also receiving support from the Associazione Figli Inabili Banca d’Italia, a private organization in Italy that provides financial assistance to parents who can’t pay for their children’s medical treatments.

Story Source:

Adapted from materials provided by Medical College of Georgia.

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

 
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