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Gemma Arterton wears a lace top and grey pencil skirt at the BBC Radio 1 studios - vote on celebrity fashion, style and red carpet looks in GLAMOUR.COM’s Dos and Don’tsContinue reading...
Sunday, April 7, 2013
Gemma Arterton at the BBC Radio 1 studios
Gemma Arterton wears a lace top and grey pencil skirt at the BBC Radio 1 studios - vote on celebrity fashion, style and red carpet looks in GLAMOUR.COM’s Dos and Don’tsContinue reading...
FDA Approves 'Bionic Eye' to Help Against Rare Vision Disorder
By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay ReporterTHURSDAY, Feb. 14 (HealthDay News) -- An implanted, sight-enhancing device some are calling a "bionic eye" is the first to gain approval for use in the United States, officials announced Thursday.
According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the new Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System can help patients with a genetic eye disease called retinitis pigmentosa regain some sense of vision. About 100,000 Americans are believed to be affected by the illness, which causes a gradual deterioration of the eyes' photoreceptor cells.
The new device uses a tiny video camera attached to eyeglasses that transmits images to a sheet of electrode sensors that have been sewn into the patient's eye. These sensors then transmit those signals to the brain via the optic nerve. The device helps replace the damaged cells of the retina and helps patients see images or detect movement.
"It's a start, it's a beginning," said Dr. Mark Fromer, an ophthalmologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. "It's going to be exciting for people who get this device who are currently just seeing light or dark, [they] will see shapes and that will be life-altering for them."
An FDA official was similarly enthused.
"For many of the approximately 1,300 individuals who will develop the disease this year, this technology may change their lives," Dr. William Maisel, deputy director for science and chief scientist at FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health, said in an agency blog post. "It's the difference between night and day," he added.
Maisel's post also included testimony from people who had tested the device and spoke in favor of its approval at a recent FDA hearing:
"The biggest thing to me was being able to see the crosswalk lines on the street so I can safely cross streets in Manhattan," one user said.
"The most exciting day to me was October 27th, in 2009," another testified. "It was the first time I was able to see letters on the monitor screen [during a test of visual perception]. I had not seen letters since 1994, so that was huge."
A third person said he had a 17-year-old son, "and I don't mind telling you how much -- I mean, how happy that made me, not only to see the silhouette of my son, but to hear that voice coming and saying, 'Yeah, it's me, Dad. I'm here and I love you.'"
People with retinitis pigmentosa suffer damage to the light-sensitive cells of the retina. As these cells slowly degenerate, patients lose side vision and night vision and later on, central vision. The disease can cause blindness,
The FDA's approval is a limited one, labeled a "humanitarian use device" approval, meaning the Argus II can be used only for fewer than 4,000 patients per year.
Bosses Who Bully Poison the Workplace
Title: Bosses Who Bully Poison the Workplace
Category: Health News
Created: 2/13/2013 4:36:00 PM
Last Editorial Review: 2/14/2013 12:00:00 AM
Category: Health News
Created: 2/13/2013 4:36:00 PM
Last Editorial Review: 2/14/2013 12:00:00 AM
Use of Morning-After Pill on the Rise: CDC
By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay ReporterTHURSDAY, Feb. 14 (HealthDay News) -- The number of U.S. women using the "morning-after" contraception pill has risen dramatically in the last decade, federal health officials report.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 4.2 percent of women in 2002 said they had used the pill, but between 2006 and 2010 that figure had jumped to 11 percent, which translates to 5.8 million women who were between 15 and 44 years old.
The pill, considered emergency contraception to prevent unwanted pregnancy, was particularly popular among young women between 20 and 24 years old, who accounted for 23 percent of users, the government report found.
The report, released Wednesday by the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics using data from the 2006-2010 National Survey of Family Growth, also found:
Non-Hispanic white and Hispanic women were more likely to have used emergency contraception, 11 percent, compared with non-Hispanic black women, 7.9 percent.16 percent of users were between the ages of 25 to 29, 14 percent were teens 15 to 19 years old, and only 5 percent were 30 or older.19 percent of the women who used the pill weren't married, and 14 percent lived with a partner.The most common reasons for using the pill were a woman's fear that the contraceptive she was using might not work, or because she had unprotected sex.Most of the women who took the morning-after pill had used it only once; 24 percent used it twice, and 17 percent had used it at least three times.Emergency contraception is a high dose of progestin that prevents pregnancy by delaying ovulation (when the egg leaves the ovary and travels into the fallopian tube where it's available for fertilization by sperm). Some research suggests emergency contraception may make it more difficult for sperm to get past the cervix and into the uterus, and may make the uterus less hospitable to sperm.
Although the morning-after pill can be taken up to five days after unprotected sex, it becomes less effective the longer women wait.
The new report is likely to buttress the Obama administration's goal of providing contraception to all women, which has pitted the administration against religious and conservative groups that oppose any form of birth control.
Dr. Jill Rabin, chief of ambulatory care obstetrics and gynecology and head of urogynecology at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New Hyde Park, N.Y., believes the increased use of the morning-after pill has to do with its longevity and because it has been proven safe and effective.
"It's safer than aspirin," she said.
She also disputes the claim by some conservative groups who see the pill as an abortion pill. "It is definitely not an abortion pill. Once an egg is fertilized, the pill has no power," she said.
Ask Gemma Arterton a question!
The Incredible Burt Wonderstone UK Trailer
Steve Carell and Steve Buscemi star as illusionists who face competition from new kid on the block, Steve Gray (Jim Carrey). Continue reading...
Katy Perry and John Mayer leave Vincenti restaurant in Los Angeles
Has John Mayer really, finally settled down? The star – who is known for his long list of A-list exes – looked like the perfect boyfriend as he treated girlfriend Katy Perry to a romantic Valentine’s meal for two in Los Angeles yesterdayContinue reading...
Doggone It! Your Dog Has You Pegged
By Amy Norton
HealthDay ReporterFRIDAY, Feb. 15 (HealthDay News) -- Ever think your dog knows exactly when to misbehave?
You may well be right, according to a neat study out of the United Kingdom.
The recent research showed that dogs seem to understand that humans can't see in the dark -- and they'll take advantage of that fact to sneak a forbidden treat.
For the study, United Kingdom researchers watched 84 dogs under varying light conditions. In each case, the animals were in a room with a person and a tempting piece of food they were verbally commanded not to take. The light conditions changed so that the person was sometimes in the dark and sometimes illuminated. The same lighting changes were done with the food.
Overall, the researchers found, the dogs would try to snatch more food when the treat was obscured in the dark. But the animals did not change their behavior based on whether the person with them was illuminated or in a darkened part of the room.
So the dogs were not acting solely on what they, themselves, could see.
"We believe that this may imply that dogs understand what humans can and cannot see," said lead researcher Juliane Kaminski, of the University of Portsmouth in England.
"The question [of] how they come to such an understanding is a very good one," she added, "and it will definitely be a subject of future research."
According to Kaminski, the findings, published recently in the journal Animal Cognition, add to evidence that "we share some of our cognitive skills with other species."
The traditional view of dogs -- and other animals -- was that they can learn from conditioning (like obeying commands), and that's all. But Kaminski said this study joins other ones in showing that canines can understand their environment, including other beings.
An animal behavior expert not involved in the research agreed. The study showed that dogs seemed to grasp the human perspective of things, said Nicholas Dodman, a professor at Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine in North Grafton, Mass.
"It shows that the dog, when he believes the owner cannot see him, will become a thief in the night," Dodman added.
And that implies a fairly sophisticated level of thought, he said.
A number of studies have suggested that animals have so-called "primary emotions," like anger or joy. But those are relatively simple on the emotional scale. Whether animals have "secondary emotions" -- more complicated feelings like guilt, jealousy and envy -- is controversial.
Secondary emotions require a level of self-awareness and an awareness of others that some believe are lacking in animals -- with primates like chimps and baboons being the possible exception. But recent studies have been turning up evidence that dogs do demonstrate complicated emotions like jealousy.
"This study give us another piece of evidence," Dodman said. "They do appreciate themselves as entities; they do have thoughts and emotions. And it appears they may have secondary emotions."
Of course, people who live with a dog may need no convincing on that, Dodman noted.
Other humans, however, may well be skeptical. Kaminski said more research is needed to uncover the extent to which dogs understand their environment and the humans in it.
For his part, Dodman said he does not think dogs sit around and ponder existential questions. But they may have deeper thoughts than they have traditionally been given credit for.
"That's uncomfortable for some people," Dodman noted. "We have to admit that animals are much more like us than some people want to believe."
More information
Learn more about canine behavior from the Humane Society.
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