Friday, November 9, 2012

FEMALE HEART ATTACKS



Nurse has heart attack and describes what
women feel when having one.....

NURSE'S HEART ATTACK EXPERIENCE

I am an ER nurse and this is the best description of
this event that I have ever heard. Please read,
pay attention, and send it on!

FEMALE HEART ATTACKS

I was aware that female heart attacks are different, but
this is the best description I've ever read.

Women rarely have the same dramatic symptoms that men
have ... you know, the sudden stabbing pain in the
chest, the cold sweat, grabbing the chest &
dropping to the floor that we see in movies. Here
is the story of one woman's experience with a heart attack.

I had a heart attack at about 10:30 PM with NO prior
exertion, NO prior emotional trauma
that one would suspect might have brought it on. I
was sitting all snugly & warm on a cold
evening, with my purring cat in my lap, reading an
interesting story my friend had sent me, and
actually thinking, 'A-A-h, this is
the life, all cozy and warm in my soft,
cushy Lazy Boy with my feet propped up.

A moment later, I felt that awful sensation of indigestion, when
you've been in a hurry and grabbed a bite of
sandwich and washed it down with a dash of water,
and that hurried bite seems to feel like you've
swallowed a golf ball going down the
esophagus in slow motion and it is
most uncomfortable. You realize you shouldn't have
gulped it down so fast and needed to chew it more
thoroughly and this time drink a glass of water to
hasten its progress down to the stomach. This was
my initial sensation--the only trouble was that I
hadn't taken a bite of anything since about 5:00 p.m.

After it seemed to subside, the next sensation was like
little squeezing motions that seemed to be racing
up my SPINE (hind-sight, it was probably my aorta
spasms), gaining speed as they
continued racing up and under my
sternum (breast bone, where one
presses rhythmically when administering CPR).

This fascinating process continued on
into my throat and branched out into both jaws.
'AHA!! NOW I stopped puzzling about what was
happening -- we all have read and/or heard about
pain in the jaws being one of the signals of an MI
happening, haven't we? I said aloud to myself and
the cat, Dear God, I think I'm having a heart attack!

I lowered the foot rest dumping the cat from my lap,
started to take a step and fell on the floor instead. I thought to
myself, If this is a heart attack, I shouldn't be
walking into the next room where the phone is or
anywhere else... but, on the other hand, if I
don't, nobody will know that I need help, and if I
wait any longer I may not be able to get up in a
moment.

I pulled myself up with the arms of the chair,
walked slowly into the next room and dialed the Paramedics...
I told her I thought I was having a heart attack
due to the pressure building under the
sternum and radiating into my jaws. I
didn't feel hysterical or afraid, just stating the
facts. She said she was sending the
Paramedics over immediately, asked if
the front door was near to me, and if so, to
un-bolt the door and then lie down on
the floor where they could see me when they came in.

I unlocked the door and then laid down on the floor
as instructed and lost consciousness, as I don't
remember the medics coming in, their examination,
lifting me onto a gurney or getting
me into their ambulance, or hearing the call they
made to St. Jude ER on
the way, but I did briefly awaken when we arrived
and saw that the radiologist was
already there in his surgical blues and cap,
helping the medics pull my stretcher out of the
ambulance. He was bending over me asking questions
(probably something like 'Have you taken any
medications?') but I couldn't make my
mind interpret what he was saying, or form an
answer, and nodded off again, not waking up until
the Cardiologist and partner had
already threaded the teeny angiogram balloon up my
femoral artery into the aorta and
into my heart where they installed 2 side by side
stints to hold open my right coronary artery.

I know it sounds like all my thinking and actions at
home must have taken at least 20-30 minutes before
calling the paramedics, but actually
it took perhaps 4-5 minutes before the call, and
both the fire station and St Jude are only minutes away from my
home, and my Cardiologist was already
to go to the OR in his scrubs and get going on
restarting my heart (which had stopped somewhere
between my arrival and the procedure) and
installing the stents.
Why have I written all of this to you with so much detail?
Because I want all of you who are so important in
my life to know what I learned firsthand.

1. Be aware that something very different is happening in your
body, not the usual man's symptoms but
inexplicable things happening (until my
sternum and jaws got into the act).
It is said that many more women than men die of
their first (and last) MI because they didn't know
they were having one and commonly mistake it as
indigestion, take some Maalox or
other anti-heartburn preparation and
go to bed, hoping they'll feel better in the
morning when they wake up... which doesn't happen.
My female friends, your symptoms might not be
exactly like mine, so I advise you to call the
Paramedics if ANYTHING is
unpleasantly happening that you've not felt
before. It is better to have a 'false alarm'
visitation than to risk your life guessing what it might be!

2. Note that I said 'Call the Paramedics.'
And if you can take an aspirin. Ladies, TIME IS OF
THE ESSENCE!

Do NOT try to drive yourself to the ER - you are a
hazard to others on the road.

Do NOT have your panicked husband who
will be speeding and looking anxiously at what's
happening with you instead of the road.

Do NOT call your doctor -- he doesn't know where you
live and if it's at night you won't reach him
anyway, and if it's daytime, his assistants (or
answering service) will tell you to call the
Paramedics. He doesn't carry the
equipment in his car that you need to be saved!
The Paramedics do, principally OXYGEN
that you need ASAP. Your Dr. will be notified later.

3. Don't assume it couldn't be a heart attack because you
have a normal cholesterol count.
Research has discovered that a
cholesterol elevated reading is
rarely the cause of an MI (unless it's
unbelievably high and/or accompanied by high blood
pressure). MIs are usually caused by
long-term stress and inflammation in
the body, which dumps all sorts of deadly hormones
into your system to sludge things up
in there. Pain in the jaw can wake you from a
sound sleep. Let's be careful and be aware. The
more we know the better chance we could survive.

A cardiologist says if everyone who
gets this mail sends it to 10 people, you can be
sure that we'll save at least one life.

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Haifa University Researchers Find Important Link In Fight Against Alzheimer’s

Haifa University Researchers Find Important Link In Fight Against Alzheimer’s

Health News: Have Israeli Researchers Found A Cure For Alzheimer's?
Alzheimer’s disease is considered incurable. However, researchers at Haifa University may have discovered a starting point towards an eventual treatment. During the study, conducted at the University of Haifa’s Sagol Department of Neurobiology, a link has been discovered between Alzheimer’s disease and the activity level of a protein called eIF2alpha. According to Prof. Kobi Rosenblum, head of the Department, altering the performance of this protein via drug therapy could constitute a treatment for Alzheimer’s. The study was published in the journal Neurobiology of Aging.

In recent years, Alzheimer’s research has primarily focused on battling the disease once symptoms have appeared, even though it’s known that the disease nests in the brain many years before any symptoms are revealed. In advanced stages of the disease, Prof. Rosenblum explains, small lumps (called plaques) are identified forming in the brain from a protein called amyloid. These plaques, he says, are typical in Alzheimer’s patients and undermine brain functioning. Much research has been directed at understanding these plaques and trying to eliminate them or restrict their formation and growth.
The new study, conducted by research student Yifat Segev in the Laboratory for Research of Molecular and Cellular Mechanisms Underlying Learning and Memory, which is headed by Prof. Rosenblum, in cooperation with Prof. Danny Michaelson of Tel Aviv University, sought to identify factors that could be linked to Alzheimer’s even before the irreversible amyloid plaques are formed, and that are connected to the disease’s primary risk factor – age.
Promising results
A previous study co-authored by Canadian researchers and Prof. Rosenblum’s lab at the University of Haifa, revealed that cognitive abilities could be improved by altering the activity of the eIF2alpha protein, which regulates the creation of proteins in all cells, including nerve cells. That research gave Alzheimer’s researchers a glimmer of hope: Perhaps it would be possible to improve cognitive abilities or even prevent cognitive damage in Alzheimer’s patients at an early stage of the disease by intervening in the mechanisms that regulate protein generation in nerve cells.
The current study compared mice that expressed the human Apoe4 gene – a gene known as a central risk factor for Alzheimer’s – with a group of mice with the parallel Apoe3 gene, which does not constitute a risk factor for the disease. Mice in the former group showed a change in the regulating mechanism for protein generation involving the eIF2alpha protein that damaged the cognitive abilities of those mice at a young age. This sort of mechanism change is characteristic of aging, and so also hinted at the tendency of these mice toward premature aging.
According to Segev, this is the first time that a link has been found between the activity of eIF2alpha and the Apoe4 gene in relation to Alzheimer’s disease. She noted that modification treatments for the eIF2alpha mechanism are being widely researched and are developing quickly, and so the more we can understand about the connection between this mechanism and Alzheimer’s, the more we can find ways to identify and slow the progress of the disease.

Study Finds Precious Stem Cells Are Assigned ‘Bodyguard’ Cells

Study Finds Precious Stem Cells Are Assigned ‘Bodyguard’ Cells

Health News: Study Finds Precious Stem Cells Are Assigned ‘Bodyguard’ Cells
Hiding deep inside our bone marrow — the flexible tissue found in the interior of bones — are special cells. They wait patiently for the hour of need, at which point these blood forming stem cells can proliferate and differentiate into billions of mature blood cells to help the body cope with infection, for example, or they can turn into extra red blood cells for low oxygen levels at high altitudes.
Even in emergencies, however, the body sticks to a long-term plan: It maintains a reserve of undifferentiated stem cells, meaning cells that have not yet expressed signs of their future specific type, for eventual needs and crises.
A research team headed by Prof. Tsvee Lapidot of Israel’s Weizmann Institute’s immunology Department recently discovered a new type of bodyguard that protects stem cells from over-differentiation. In a paper that appeared in Nature Immunology, they revealed how this rare, previously unknown sub-group of activated immune cells keeps the stem cells in the bone marrow “forever young.”

Blood forming stem cells live in comfort in the bone marrow, surrounded by an entourage of support cells that cater to their needs and direct their development – the mesenchymal cells. But the research team, which included postdoctoral fellow Dr. Aya Ludin, Prof. Steffen Jung of the Immunology Department and his group, and Ziv Porat of the Biological Services Unit, discovered another type of support cell for the stem cells. These are an offshoot of the macrophage family, literally the “big eaters” of the immune system that are important, for instance, for bacterial clearance.
The team found, however, that a rare sub-population of the bone-marrow macrophages has another role to play. Each of these rare macrophages can take a stem cell under its wing and prevent its differentiation.
Keeping useful cells alive during chemotherapy
Probing more deeply, the researchers revealed, in precise detail, how these macrophages guard the stem cells. They secrete substances called prostaglandins, which are absorbed by the stem cells. In a chain of biochemical events, these substances delay differentiation and preserve the youthful state of the stem cells. In addition, the prostaglandins work on the neighboring mesenchymal cells, activating the secretion of a delaying substance in them and increasing the production of receptors for this substance on the stem cells, themselves.
This activity, says Lapidot, may help the non-dividing stem cells survive chemotherapy – a known phenomenon. Macrophages also live through the treatment, and they respond by increasing their prostaglandin output, thus heightening their vigilance in protecting the stem cells.
The bodyguard macrophages also increase their activity in times of infection. While other members of the macrophage family are recruited to fight the pathogens, their cousins in the bone marrow are hard at work ensuring that a pool of stem cells will resist the urge to differentiate.
In previous work in Lapidot’s lab, it was discovered that prostaglandin treatments can improve the number and quality of stem cells. This insight is currently being tested by doctors in clinical transplantation trials for the use of stem cells from umbilical cord blood to treat adult leukemia patients. These trials are showing that prior treatment with prostaglandins improves migration and repopulation potential, enabling the small quantities of cord blood stem cells to better cure the patients.
“The present study hints at the possibility of further increasing the support for bone marrow stem cells by exploring this intriguing connection between the immune cells and stem cells,” says Lapidot. “An understanding of the mechanisms at work in these cells might improve the success of stem cell transplantation, especially that of umbilical blood.”

Sunday, September 2, 2012

Stroke has a new indicator!


Stroke has a new indicator! Read and pass on....
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Stroke has a new indicator They say if you email this to ten people, you stand a chance of saving one life. Will you send this along?Blood Clots/Stroke - They Now Have a Fourth Indicator, the Tongue



I will continue to forward this every time it comes around!
STROKE: 
Remember the 1st Three Letters.....
S. T. R. 
STROKE IDENTIFICATION:



During a BBQ, a woman stumbled and took a little fall - she assured everyone that she was fine (they offered to call paramedics) ...she sai
d she had just tripped over a brick because of her new shoes.


They got her cleaned up and got her a new plate of food. While she appeared a bit shaken up, Jane went about enjoying herself the rest of the evening.

Jane's husband called later telling everyone that his wife had been taken to the hospital - (at 6:00 PM Jane passed away.) She had suffered a stroke at the BBQ. Had they known how to identify the signs of a stroke, perhaps Jane would be with us today. Some don't die. They end up in a helpless, hopeless condition instead.
 
It only takes a minute to read this.

A neurologist says that if he can get to a stroke victim within 3 hours he can totally reverse the effects of a stroke...totally. He said the trick was getting a stroke recognized, diagnosed, and then getting the patient medically cared for within 3 hours, which is tough.
 

RECOGNIZING A STROKE

Thank God for the sense to remember the '3' steps, STR. Read and
Learn!

Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. Unfortunately, the lack of awareness spells disaster. The stroke victim may suffer severe brain damage when people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms of a stroke.

Now doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three simple questions:

S *
Ask the individual to SMILE.
T *
Ask the person to TALK and SPEAK A
SIMPLE SENTENCE (Coherently)
(i.e. Chicken Soup)
R
 *Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS.

If he or she has trouble with ANY ONE of these tasks, call emergency numberimmediately and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher.
 
New Sign of a Stroke --------
Stick out Your Tongue!

NOTE: Another 'sign' of a stroke is this: Ask the person to 'stick' out his tongue. If the tongue is
'crooked', if it goes to one side or the otherthat is also an indication of a stroke.

A cardiologist says if everyone who gets this e-mail sends it to 10 people; you can bet that at least one life will be saved.


I have done my part. Will you?
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Cancer Survivors Who Stay Active Live Longer


Ben
Can going for a walk improve cancer survivors’ long-term prognosis? It may, according to new research showing that exercise can lower survivors’ risk of premature death, not only from cancer but from any cause. The findings are likely to resonate widely at a time when about 14 million Americans, and many more worldwide, have survived cancer.
In one report, a major new review published this month in The Journal of the National Cancer Institute, scientists at the agency gathered available studies examining exercise and cancer survivorship, dating to 1950. Most had been published in the past five years.
“This is an area of growing scientific interest,” says Dr. Rachel Ballard-Barbash, the associate director for applied research at the National Cancer Institute and lead author of the study. “Exercise is an accessible, low-cost intervention. But before we can suggest that cancer survivors become physically active, we need to understand what effects exercise has” on the bodies and life spans of those who’ve been given a cancer diagnosis.
To date, messages about the effects of exercise on cancer patients have been mixed. Some physicians have worried that exercise might exacerbate the fatigue that is common after cancer treatment. Others have raised concerns that the physical stress of exercise could even create conditions within the body that might contribute to tumor recurrence.
A 2010 roundtable convened by the American College of Sports Medicine concluded that exercise appeared to be safe for most cancer survivors, but anyone whose treatment had involved drugs harmful to the heart muscle or bone density should be closely monitored. But those recommendations didn’t directly address the issue of whether or how exercise might affect tumor recurrence or to what degree exercise could affect a survivor’s overall life span.
So those became the concerns that Dr. Ballard-Barbash and her colleagues set out to examine in more detail.
In the end, they found 45 studies that looked at physical activity among people who’d received a diagnosis of cancer. The types of tumors studied included prostate, ovarian, brain and colorectal. But a majority of the studies, “as in most cancer research,” involved women who had survived breast cancer, Dr. Ballard-Barbash said. “There’s a lot of research money in that field,” so, in general, there is more available science.
Most of the studies also were observational, meaning that patients completed questionnaires about their activities, which can be unreliable since people may not accurately recall their true activity levels. Only a few were actual experiments, during which volunteers were assigned to exercise or to remain sedentary. And although none were designed expressly to determine what biochemical or genetic effects exercise might be having on cells within the body, several did look at various biomarkers that have been found to play a role in cancer recurrence and progression.
As it turned out, virtually all of the studies, whatever their methodology, showed that regular physical activity “decreased the risk of cancer-related mortality and of all-cause mortality,” Dr. Ballard-Barbash said.
Exercise, in other words, made it less likely that a survivor would subsequently die from a recurrence of his or her cancer. When Dr. Ballard-Barbash and her colleagues teased out specific information about biomarkers related to cancer recurrence, they found that exercise tended reliably to improve insulin levels, reduce inflammation and increase populations of the very immune system cells that are thought to attack tumors.
Exercise also lessened the chances that a survivor of cancer would later succumb prematurely to other common diseases like heart disease or diabetes. “We live in an era when cancer has moved away from being generally fatal to being itself a chronic disease,” Dr. Ballard-Barbash said. People can live many years after a cancer diagnosis. “If they are inactive,” she continued, “they risk developing other chronic diseases.”
Exercise made the cancer survivors in the studies she and her colleagues examined healthier and far more likely to enjoy a longer life span than if they were sedentary, although she cautioned that the patients who exercised may have been in better health or faced a less aggressive cancer to begin with.
Interestingly, exercise did not seem to increase fatigue among most survivors. More often, it lessened it.
Researchers found similar results in another new study published this month, this one involving colorectal cancer survivors in the Netherlands. Those who exercised reported much less exhaustion and, in general, greater health-related quality of life than those who did not. “Fatigue and the fear of tiredness may be a barrier to physical activity for some people” who’ve survived cancer, said Laurien M. Buffart, a professor at VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam, who led the study. “But more and more evidence suggests the reverse,” that exercise energizes people who are undergoing or have completed cancer treatment.
And the exercise does not need to be intimidating or vigorous. “In our review, the most common activity was walking,” Dr. Ballard-Barbash said, “which happens to be an activity that is within the scope of almost anyone.”
She added that many more experiments are needed to determine the ideal dose and type of exercise to improve long-term survival after cancer treatment. Survivors also should consult a physician, of course, about the effects of treatment on the heart or about their readiness, in general, to exercise. But if you get the go-ahead, she said, “it appears that any activity,” in any amount, “is beneficial for those who’ve had cancer.”

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Interesting facts about honey and cinnamon

Cinnamon and Honey;
 
Honey is the only food on the planet that will not spoil or rot. What it will do is what some call 'turning to sugar.' In reality, honey is always honey. However, when left in a cool dark place for a long time it will "crystallize".  When this happens loosen the lid, boil some water and set the honey container in the hot water, but turn off the heat and let it liquefy naturally. It is then as good as it ever was. Never boil honey or put it in a microwave. This will kill the enzymes in the honey. 

Cinnamon and Honey
Bet the drug companies won't like this one getting around. Facts on Honey and Cinnamon:
It is found that a mixture of honey and Cinnamon cures most diseases. Honey is produced in most of the countries of the world. Scientists of today also accept honey as a 'Ram Ban' (very effective) medicine for all kinds of diseases. Honey can be used without side effects for any kind of diseases. 

Today's science says that even though honey is sweet, when it is taken in the right dosage as a medicine, it does not harm even diabetic patients. Weekly World News, a magazine in Canada, in its issue dated 17 January,1995 has given the following list of diseases that can be cured by honey and cinnamon, as researched by western scientists: 

HEART DISEASES:

Make a paste of honey and cinnamon powder, apply it on bread instead of jelly and jam and eat it regularly for breakfast. It reduces the cholesterol in the arteries and saves the patient from heart attack. Also, those who have already had an attack, when they do this process daily, they are kept miles away from the next attack. Regular use of the above process relieves loss of breath and strengthens the heart beat. In America and Canada, various nursing homes have treated patients successfully and have found that, as one ages, the arteries and veins lose their flexibility and get clogged; honey and cinnamon revitalize the arteries and the veins.

ARTHRITIS:  Arthritis patients may take daily (morning and night) one cup of hot water with two tablespoons of honey and one small teaspoon of cinnamon powder. When taken regularly even chronic arthritis can be cured. In a recent research conducted at the Copenhagen University, it was found that when the doctors treated their patients with a mixture of one tablespoon Honey and half teaspoon Cinnamon powder before breakfast, they found that within a week practically 73 patients out of the 200 people treated were totally relieved of pain -- and within a month, most all the patients who could not walk or move around because of arthritis now started walking without pain. 

BLADDER INFECTIONS: 
Take two tablespoons of cinnamon powder and one teaspoon of honey in a glass of lukewarm water and drink it. It destroys the germs in the bladder.. 

CHOLESTEROL: 
Two tablespoons of honey and three teaspoons of Cinnamon Powder mixed in 16 ounces of tea water given to a cholesterol patient were found to reduce the level of cholesterol in the blood by 10 percent within two hours.  As mentioned for arthritic patients, when taken three times a day, any chronic cholesterol is cured. According to information received in the said Journal, pure honey taken with food daily relieves complaints of cholesterol.

COLDS: 
Those suffering from common or severe colds should take one tablespoon lukewarm honey with 1/4 spoon cinnamon powder daily for three days. This process will cure most chronic cough, cold, and, clear the sinuses. 

UPSET STOMACH: 
Honey taken with cinnamon powder cures stomach ache and also clears stomach ulcers from its root. 

GAS

According to the studies done in India and Japan, it is revealed that when Honey is taken with cinnamon powder the stomach is relieved of gas. 

IMMUNE SYSTEM: 
Daily use of honey and cinnamon powder strengthens the immune system and protects the body from bacterial  and viral attacks. Scientists have found that honey has various vitamins and iron in large amounts. Constant use of Honey strengthens the white blood corpuscles (where DNA is contained) to fight bacterial and viral diseases. 

INDIGESTION: 
Cinnamon powder sprinkled on two tablespoons of honey taken before food is eaten relieves acidity and digests the heaviest of meals. 

INFLUENZA

A scientist in Spain has proved that honey contains a natural 'Ingredient' which kills the influenza germs and saves the patient from flu. 

LONGEVITY

Tea made with honey and cinnamon powder, when taken regularly, arrests the ravages of old age. Use four teaspoons of honey, one teaspoon of cinnamon powder, and three cups of water and boil to make a tea. Drink 1/4 cup, three to four times a day. It keeps the skin fresh and soft and arrests old age. Life spans increase and even a 100 year old will start performing the chores of a 20-year-old..

RASPY OR SORE THROAT:
When throat has a tickle or is raspy, take one tablespoon of honey and sip until gone.  Repeat every three hours until throat is without symptoms.
    



 
PIMPLES
Three tablespoons of honey and one teaspoon of cinnamon powder paste. Apply this paste on the pimples before sleeping and wash it off the next morning with warm water. When done daily for two weeks, it removes all pimples from the root. 

SKIN INFECTIONS:
 
Applying honey and cinnamon powder in equal parts on the affected parts cures eczema, ringworm and all types of skin infections. 

WEIGHT LOSS:
 
Daily in the morning one half hour before breakfast and on an empty stomach, and at night before sleeping, drink honey and cinnamon powder boiled in one cup of water. When taken regularly, it reduces the weight of even the most obese person. Also, drinking this mixture regularly does not allow the fat to accumulate in the body even though the person may eat a high calorie diet. 

CANCER: 
Recent research in Japan and Australia has revealed that advanced cancer of the stomach and bones have been cured successfully. Patients suffering from these kinds of cancer should daily take one tablespoon of honey with one teaspoon of cinnamon powder three times a day for one month. 

FATIGUE

Recent studies have shown that the sugar content of honey is more helpful rather than being detrimental to the strength of the body. Senior citizens who take honey and cinnamon powder in equal parts are more alert and flexible. Dr. Milton, who has done research, says that a half tablespoon of honey taken in a glass of water and sprinkled with cinnamon powder, even when the vitality of the body starts to decrease, when taken daily after brushing and in the afternoon at about 3:00 P.M., the vitality of the body increases within a week. 

BAD BREATH:
 
People of South America, gargle with one teaspoon of honey and cinnamon powder mixed in hot water first thing in the morning so their breath stays fresh throughout the day. 

HEARING LOSS: 
Daily morning and night honey and cinnamon powder, taken in equal parts restores hearing. Remember when we were kids? We had toast with real butter and cinnamon sprinkled on it!

Friday, April 27, 2012

The Human Body: What It Is and How It Works, in Vibrant Vintage Illustrations circa 1959

“Two hearts could provide enough energy to drive a truck around the world in two years.”
Much of our inquiry into what makes us human focuses on understanding consciousness, yet we spend the whole of our lives in our physical bodies. As a lover of anatomical art and vintage science illustration, I was instantly enamored with The Human Body: What It Is And How It Works — a stunning vintage anatomy book, depicting and explaining in more than 200 vibrant mid-century illustrations the inner works of the body. Originally published in 1959, this colorful gem was inspired by German artist and researcher Fritz Kahn, who in his 1926 classic Man as Industrial Palace described the human body as “the highest performance machine in the world” and used industrial metaphors to illustrate its remarkable capacities.
From the nine systems of the body — skeletal, muscle, nervous, digestive, respiratory, circulatory, lymphatic, endocrine, and reproductive — to the intricacies of the different organs and senses, the tantalizing tome demonstrates, in delightfully illustrated detail, just how magnificent our physical complexity is.




A gorgeous four-page centerfold illustrates full-body views of the various systems — muscles, blood vessels, nerves, digestive organs, and the gastrointestinal tract.

The introduction traces the history of our modern understanding of the body:
Almost nothing, it seems, could be more important to man than the human body. It is the solid part of “I”; it is with us as long as we live. Yet thousands and thousands of years passed before man really learned about this physical part of himself.
Among the ancients, health was something given by the gods. If you had an accident or got sick, it was because you had displeased the gods, or a demon had entered your body. The demon had to be eliminated, the gods made happy, before you could get well. Breathing and digestion, the circulation of blood, the working of the brain — these functions that kept a human being alive and active were not understood. The few real facts that were known were badly mixed up with superstition.




Thursday, February 16, 2012

Coconut Oil Touted as Alzheimer's Remedy


Researchers say the ketones found in coconut oil have slowed the progression of Alzheimer's disease in some people and may actually prevent it.