If you have had chicken pox, you might get shingles later in life. Shingles is caused by the herpes zoster virus (also called the varicella zoster virus). After you have had chicken pox, the zoster virus stays in your body and lying dormant. For 1 in 3 people in the US, the virus activates and causes shingles. The symptoms of shingles are pain,...
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Did you know that before the year 2000, poor pain management was called a major medical problem and was synonymous with poor medical care in the US? On January 1, 2001, Congress declared 2001 to 2010 the Decade of Pain Control and Research. Assuring that effective pain management occurred in hospitals, in 2003, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of...
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Someone next to you in the elevator is coughing, sneezing and hacking away. Meanwhile, inside your body, your spleen is busily producing the lymphocytes (white blood cells) that create antibodies to attack the viruses and bacteria to which you are being exposed. This organ is between four and five inches long (about the size of a fist) and located on the...
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Two blood cancers with such similar names, Non-Hodgkin and Hodgkin Lymphoma, is bound to cause confusion. The Dana Farber Cancer Institute has created a great infographic to help clear up any...
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What does it mean to have a calling? You’ve probably heard people say that they were “called” to become a pastor, social worker, nurse or doctor. What does that mean? Researchers have tried to define it and seem to have settled on three components to the definition. First, there is a caller: something external that could be defined by...
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