Blog 15: Who was Marie Curie

Marie Curie- was born in 1867 in Poland to Piano player and Teacher Bronsilawa Boguska and mathematics and physics professor, Wladyslaw Sklodowski. She became a governess at the age of 18 putting her younger sister in school, only if her sister promised to return the favor, which she did. She went traveled to Paris to follow in her father’s footsteps, studying mathematics, physics and chemistry at the Sorbonne; it was there where she met the man she would call her husband Pierre Curie (Nobelprize.org).

Marie and Pierre work alongside each other and become the first to work with polonium and radium; Marie actually named polonium after her home country Poland (Nobelprize.org). Pierre was very concerned with the physical properties of polonium and radium, so Marie and one of Pierre’s pupils Mr. Debierne were able to accomplish this difficult task. The Marie received her doctorate in 1903 and in the same year the Curies were awarded the Nobel Prized for their work with radium along with French Physicist Antoine Henri Bacquerel (Nobelprize.org). A few years down the road she received yet another Nobel Prize in 1911 in Chemistry for her extensive work with radioactivity, becoming the first women to ever receive a this honor and the only person in history to receive two (Nobelprize.org).

Unfortunately she died of Leukemia due to years of exposure to radiation. She to me is the most remarkable women because she discovered the use of radiation as a form of treating cancer; she saved a lot of lives in her time and continues to save lives, because of her discovery she opened the door for more advance methods of threaty cancer. Although, radiation has it’s negative affects it gives those suffering with cancer hope and because of that she will always be remembered and anyone who has ever cancer should thank God for giving her the talent and thank her for using it. This accomplishment was not easy to come by as we have learned through this course, science and medicine was a male profession, women were not recieved with open arms. She accomplished alot in her time and I am glad I have this knowledge now.

One other cool fact was that she was the person who coined the phrase “radioactivity” Absolutely amazing!!

Sources:

Marie Curie - Biography". Nobelprize.org. 11 Dec 2010 http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1903/marie-curie-bio.html

http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/family/real/women-who-changed-our-world

Protect YoSelf cont'd

Here is a quick video of what I describe about self-defense, this lady is really awesome we need to follow here lead and be confident and strong.

Protect Yoself Ladies!!

Here are some ways that will help women have confident over their attacker:

1. ARM YOURSELF: There is no reason why females should be afraid of a gun, having a gun can be the difference between life and death. If you are simple oppose to having a gun carry a knife, an if you do not like knife either than carry pepper spray. Here are some of my suggestions for pistols and knief, because I am a be advocate of the 2nd Amendment right!!

Kel-Tec PF 9, is the smallest, the lightness and the flattest 9mm pistol ever made and is ideal for females with self defense in mind. Women can now carry a pistol will the big bang behind it with out the big size, and it barely has any recoil to it.

This Ti-lite, is one of the fastest deploying self-defense knives on the market. It is very sleek and light weight you won't even know its there until you need it. Below is a quick video showing you how fast it deploys.

 

2.  Get Training:  It is important to that women know how to defend themselves with or with out a weapon, if you do decided to have a weapon, one must be prepared to use it and be confident in their ability to fire, stab, spray if necessary.  If you do not have a weapon and you are attacked, then it is very important that you know where and how to hit your attacker. A lot of instructors will tell a women, that is being choked to to try  and hit the arms of the attacker or get the attacker hands from around the neck. What you should do is go for the ears or throat first. If you are being choked  and your hands are free raise both hand and with alot of force smack both ears, make sure you hit them simultaneously, this will disorientate him, at that time with all four fingers aim for the throat, this will definetly get him to release his grip.

3. Be aware of your surrounding: The most dangerous mistake females make everyday of their life, is not being aware of their surroundings, especially at night. When you are exiting a building be looking around, for anything and anyone suspecious. Try never walking around in a parking lot by yourself at night, ask a co-worker to walk with you.

4. At the Bar:  Please, Please ladies whatever you do, do not leave you drinks unattended, if you do buy another drink never ever drink it after you have left it alone.

Blog 13: Send them to treatment!!

 

This is my personal opinion which is supported by doctors as well, that it would benefit not only the individual that is incarcerated for illegal drug use, but tax payers as well to just send the offender to mandatory rehabilitation. I say this because more than likely the individual will obtain drugs once inside prison; therefore worsening the addition and lessening that person’s chance of being freed of their addiction.

In News Week article a Doctor by the Name of Josiah Rich, visits prison near R.I. and Providence to treat those who are locked up for drug abuse. He himself feels that the American prison system is failing to rectify the individual’s addiction.

In the U.S. prison system there are 2.3 million inmates, half of the prison population are there for drug related reasons (Carmichael). According to the article in News Week, individuals who have been jailed for drugs have proliferated since the early 1990s, in 2007 there were 197,700 arrests (Carmichael).

Our justice system is not seeking to rehabilitate these people, but to simply punish them, "out of sight out of mind. What happens when these people are released from prison, they can go back to using, if they are not already using will locked up.

Moreover, If they do not want to provide treatment to benefit the abuser, how about to benefit themselves? The U.S. justice system can stand to save money by sending the offenders to rehab. How much can they save?  A whopping amount of "47,000 per inmate"(Carmichael), jeepers creepers that is a lot of moolah. I think the tax payers of America would prefer to rehabilitate them than incarcerate them.

Source:

Carmicheal,Mary. “The Case for Treating Drug Addicts in Prison” News Week on the web 26 November. 2010 < http://www.newsweek.com/2010/06/29/the-case-for-treating-drug-addicts-in-prison.html>

Blog # 12: Mental illness in the family

I found out that my uncle had bipolar disorder when I was in my sophomore year in high school; I did not really know how serious of a burden it was until after his death. I am not sure when he was diagnosed with BD, but I noticed all the signs of the mental illness, but I did not know he was actually sick I just thought he was a prick. He had these long periods of super high energy, overtly happy and fun, those were the days when I liked him and he was my uncle, then out of nowhere he would just turn in to somebody completely different.  I would want to go and talk to him, joke around and laugh about things and he would just ignore me act as if I was not even there, he looked and acted like a different person.

On day around 8 in the evening I was coming downstairs to grab a snack from the kitchen when I smelled something funny and I heard the microwave door shut. I walked into the kitchen and saw my uncle rolling up a joint. He would do the same routine every night before he went to bed, heat up the marijuana, lick the joint paper roll it up and smoke it while lying down in his favorite lounge chair. He would go and stay out for days, when he returned home he was different, my mother finally decided to have him admitted at mental institution for his safety. Since my mother and I had such a strong bound, whenever thing began to get rough she would come to me and tell me what was wrong, so it was that day she took uncle to the hospital when I found out that he was suffering from bipolar disorder and another type of mental illness that I cannot remember at this moment. He was released 2 weeks later and was put on medication, he did well for a while, but when he ran out of his medication he would have his BD episodes.

He was back to smoking drugs and staying out all night, one night he never came back. It was Late at night around mid-night I believe when 2 cops showed up at our door steps, I remember exactly what I was doing, my grandmother had woke me up to get her some tea, water and heat up her coffee, I was wearing a pink silk robe and a bandanna on my head, when I heard a knock at the door. I went over looked through the peep hole and saw that is was two officers, I ran upstairs and got my mother and she opened the door and let the two men in. They asked her do you know a Patrick Lawson, she said yes I do, that is my brother. Then they said ma'am I am sorry to have to tell you this but there has been an accident and your brother was involved, he was hit by a car when crossing the street, we believe he was killed on impact. I was in shock and in disbelief, I had no outward expression of emotion I was just silent, turned around and went upstairs to give my grandmother her coffee.

It would be two - three months after the accident before I found out what really happened. At the time of the accident everybody was looking for someone to blame, my grandmother blamed eldest brother for not wanting to drive him to where he would pick up his weed and my mother blamed the lady who hit him; until one afternoon when my mom picked me up from track practice and we started reminiscing about the good times, and the fun times we had with Patrick, and crying because he was no longer with us, it was that day when my mom told me why my uncle was dead. We pulled up into the drive way and she turned and looked at me and said "Patrick killed himself; he was trying to fight a lot of demons off. He came to me and told me he was thinking about suicide and apologizing for be  a burden" She told me that Patrick was getting worse up until that day, and that is when she notice something different about him, he was calm that whole day. She said she knew something was going to happen, but what she did not know. She said I believe Patrick stepped out in front of that care on purpose; it was no accident that he was killed.

Is that true I am not sure, but my mom was pretty confident that Patrick was ready to leave this world behind. I realize now two days before his death; he was reading his Bible a lot more and praying a lot more than usual. I did hear him ask God to forgive him for what he was about to do, but I did not pay any attention to it, now I wish I had, maybe he would still be alive, and then I think maybe it is a good thing that he is gone, he does not have to suffer anymore he is resting in Gods arms now, no more tears no more pain and no more worrying.  I also realize that he loved me, when I thought he hated me.

I learned that you could be completely energized and jubilant one moment and sad the next; also that it can take a toll on a person physically and mentally. It not only affects the individual, it affects everyone in your life. You know what I always wondered why he had a different job every 5 months and then there were periods where he would be out of work for more than 5 months. That would explain why my grandmother and mother were always sending him money when we lived in Atlanta, Georgia. He always had a hard time holding down a job. Wow I never realized the affects a mental illness can have on a person until I read about it this week, what an eye opener.

Anyways,

Rest I Peace Uncle Patrick, we love and miss you dearly tell Uncle Leon I said HI!!

Blog # 11 Chronic pain in women

Fibromyalgia is a chronic pain disorder rather than a disease. Fibromyalgia cause widespread pain, it can affect a person physically and mentally. An individual with Fibromyalgia suffers from different tender spots across the body and the body has a problem with processing pain.

Symptoms (Pain)

·         Widespread pain

·         Shooting and stabbing pain

·         Profound muscular discomfort

·         Numbness

·         Burning

·         Tingling

·         The pain and stiffness and so on can intensify in the morning

Symptoms (Fatigue)

·         Extreme exhaustion

·         Lack of Stamina

·         Fatigue that is associated with Fibromyalgia has no relation the tiredness a person would feel after a long day, it can affect the functionality of a person, it can interfere with how a person conduct daily activities.

Symptoms (Sleep)

·         Fibromyalgia can also interfere with an individual’s ability to fall into a deep restorative sleep. “During sleep, individuals with FM are constantly interrupted by bursts of awake-like brain activity, limiting the amount of time they spend in deep sleep” (NFA, 2009).

Additional symptoms:

·         Individuals with FM will also experience, trouble remembering things and loss of concentration, dizziness, anxiety, sensitive skin, rashes and eye problems, ect,ect (NFA, 2009).

Prevalence

·         In the U.S. it affect approximately 10 million people and about 6 percent of the world’s population

·         It affects women 2- 3 times more than men, about 85 percent of women are affected by FM

·         Men and children of all ethnic background

·         It begins to develop in the adults between the ages of 20 -50

·         Incidents rises as people age by the age of 80, 8% of adults will be diagnosed with FM

·         Amongst families (mothers and their children)

Diagnoses

·         There are no known laboratory tests that can be conducted to diagnose a person with FM.

·         The only known way to decide if a person has FM is to do a full physical exam. The patient must meet the American College Rheumatology (ACR) criteria of FM symptoms, which are:

a)       Patient medical history

b)      Self-reported symptoms

c)       Widespread pain in all four quadrants of the body for a minimum duration of three months (NFA, 2009).

d)      Tenderness or pain in at least 11 of the 18 specified tender points when pressure is applied (NFA, 2009).

However, Fibromyalgia can be hard to diagnose because its symptoms can be identical to those of other diseases.

What Causes Fibromyalgia?

·         There is no definitive cause for FM, but researchers have linked it to “Pain amplification due to abnormal sensory processing in the central nervous system (NFA, 2009).

·         Low levels of blood flow the thalamus region of the brain.

·         Some might be predisposed to it (genetics).

·         It might be cause by sickness or trauma to the body due to an accident.

How is Fibromyalgia treated?

·         Managing pain (Pharmaceuticals)

a)       Lyrica

b)      Cymbalta

c)       Savella

·         Sleep management

a)       Going to bed at the same time every night and waking up at the same time every morning

b)      Go to sleep in a quiet environment

c)       No caffeinated beverages or sugar before bed

d)      Try not to eat before bedtime

Blog 10: How does heart disease manifest differently in women than in men? Justify your answers with supporting documentation. What can you do now to prevent heart disease later?

When it comes to heart disease sex does matter; for instance, women experience heart disease differently than men because it is most likely to happen around the time of menopause and after (age 45-58), whereas men experience it earlier in life. The reason it affects menopausal women has to do with the amount of estrogen a women produces during this stage in her life, which is why some Doctors have said that HRT can prevent heart disease. Also women and men experience pain and symptoms differently.  Although the signs and symptoms of a "myocardial infarction (heart attack) is relatively similar in men and women, some symptoms are more prevalent; such as, "Shortness of breath, nausea/vomiting, back and jaw pain....

Some women may not even be aware they are having a heart attack" (Jones, Barlett pg. 280-281). Women are also much more likely to suspect it to be something else other than a heart attack. I believe this is why mortality rate is higher in women than in men, they ignore the signs and do not get treatment as soon as the symptoms start or after. It is also known that women will die within five years of their first heart attack.

Women will recover from strokes faster than men because women use both sides of their brain where as men predominantly use the left side. So if a stroke occurs on the left side of the brain it can be pretty devastating, but women will be able to use the unaffected part of her brain to re learn language and so motor functions.

Sources:

Alexander, L.L., LaRosa, J.H., Bader, H. Garfield, S. (2010).Dimensions in womens's health. (5th ed.0 Sudbury, MA: Jones and Barlett.