No Brain Damage From Ecstasy, New Research Shows

The brain, the complex system, or organ that controls everything we do; from little things like movement to more complex areas like language, the ability to think logically and to make moral judgments.  The brain is probably the most important part in our body, along with the heart.  If it weren't for our brain we wouldn't have the ability to do simple things like walk or even speak.  The brain is what triggers, or tells the rest of the body what to do.  It should be an important goal, and necessity to make sure our brains stay healthy and ensure that no damage is done to our brain in order to function to the fullest and properly. 

Manly people today however do not protect their bodies, or brain the way they should.  Today drugs are a social contribution. The semi easy and availability to drugs and other damaging substances are becoming popular ideas among many people, whether they are young, and trying to be "cool" or older.  It seems to be that substance abuse or addiction is only becoming more of a problem.  The more someone uses drugs the more it will damage their brain.  Drug addiction is a brain disease because the abuse of drugs leads to changes in the structure and function of the brain.  The more they abuse drugs the more their brain is going to rely on them, and the brain sends the person intense impulses to take them; it becomes a necessity, or addiction.  It is not a good idea for anyone to become addicted to drugs, because if they continue to use them their brain will change and send messages to the body that it needs more drugs, which will hurt your body, and cause it to become more damaged and unhealthy.

Although drug addiction is bad, and can have serious effects on your health it has recently been discovered in a study that the most popular rave drug, Ecstasy, may not have damaging effects on the brain.  The study done was the largest study ever done on the drug, costing 1.8 million dollars funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.  The study showed that when testing for other factors that might lead to impairment, such as sleep deprivation and dehydration commonplace in rave culture, previous habitual drug or alcohol use, and former cognitive damage for any reason could lead to reasons why ecstasy previously might have been linked to brain damage.  However when you take those factors out and just focus on the Ecstasy users only, with no previous drug abuse or cognitive damage the results are different.   The initial 1,500 subjects selected for the study was reduced to only 52 cognitively clean subjects.  This means that those who were only taking the drug Ecstasy and not effected by these other factors were thinking clearly and their brain was not effected by the drug.  Thus proving that the drug Ecstasy does not effect the brain. 

Love & Peace.

Dont do drugs. :)

Music: it feeds the soul

Ever since I was a child music has been apart of my life.  Whether it be singing in a choir, listening to music in the car, or even the music from my dance recitals it has always been there.  It's like the annoying little sister, always there but you never really realized the full importance of it in your life.  Now that I'm older, and really think about it, music is the one thing that has always been constant in my life.  I mean think about it, old boyfriends or girlfriends have come and gone, clothes are used and then thrown away, but music is different.  It's everlasting.  What did you do when that boyfriend or girlfriend broke up with you, well I know I was listening to music constantly.  Music is my escape, my one thing I can call my own, and know that it will always be around.  Music is the door to my soul, the way I express myself the most and an escape.  I need music, and I like it.  I may have never really fully recognized the impact it had in my life, but now that I really think about it, it's basically one of the most important parts of my life. 

Music has been around for ages, Beethoven was a master of music during the 1700s, 1800s, and today although it may not be a classical genius like Beethoven we have our masters of the art like Lady Gaga, Eminem, or whoever.  Even as time has changed, interest, and different styles of music have emerged music is still constant.  As music changes your preferences may change yes, but when you have rough times, or need a pick up or just want to jam out there will be some type of music there that you can always turn to. 

To me music is my way to be myself and get away from the world.  I love music.  I can't go a second of the day without listening to a song, singing a tune, or rocking out to my favorite song, it is a part of me.  I hate silence, it makes me uncomfortable, that is why I always have to have something going on and why music is such an important part of my daily routine.  If I was deprived of music, I honestly don't know how I would function, because I need it.  It calms me, makes me happy, and is soothing.  I never realized how much I needed it until I noticed myself singing in the shower, always having the radio blasted in my car, and how much my headphones were attached to my ears.  Music is the one thing I can always count on.  It will never let me down, leave me, or hurt me.  I can always count on it to help me get through those days when I don't want to do anything, and when all I want to do is dance; it is who I am.

Music is my soul. 

Love & Peace

Father Charged with Attempted Murder in Injuries to Adoptive Son

Parenthood, a guardian, protector, a role of which holds the highest position when caring for the life of another.  This is arguably one of the most important jobs a person will ever have during their life time.  Once they decide to take on the role of a parent, they are responsible for the life, survival, and protection; overall well-being of that life.  It was their choice to bring a life into this world, and therefore it is their duty to take care of them until they can care for themselves. 

For some people the idea of being a parent is a scary thought; it's only reasonable seeing as if they have to be completely responsible for someone's survival.  For some people they are ready to handle all the struggles and responsibilities, but for others, it isn't as easy, and may step into the role not ready and maybe a little bit immaturely.  It is important to understand the full job that is involved with being a parent.  Parents have to fully and unconditionally love their child, without that they can never fully be the parent that every child deserves.  The worst thing a parent could ever do is beat their child; this is an obvious sign that they were not ready to be parents and did not think of the child's own welfare. 
There are many tragic stories in the world of children being brutal beaten, neglected, and even murdered by their own parents; heart wrenching stories that makes a person question how a parent could ever do that to their own child.  It really shows how some people are not ready to be parents and do not fully understand the meaning of being a parent.

Recently in Miami a father was charged with attempted murder of his adopted son.  The boy was found along side of I-95 in the back of a pickup truck soaked in chemicals and badly injured with severe burns.   Along with the boy, his sister Nubia, was found in a bag dead.  The two children were foster kids to Jorge Barahona, 53.  For years he and his wife Carmen had been foster parents to children, taking them in from the Department of Children and Families.  The department is an agency that finds and makes sure to protect and provide stable living environments for children and families in Florida.  The department is very sad and sorry for what happened to these twins, and is going to make sure that incidents like these cannot slip under their noses anymore.  The father was charged with a 1 million dollar bail and scented to jail for the murder of Nubia, and was also just recently charged with attempted murder on his son, Victor.  The boy was transported to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s burn unit for his severe burns and placed on a respirator, and recent reports say he is doing better, but still in critical condition. 

It is sad and unfortunate to see such abuse and neglect.  It also seems like the agency should have been able to see that something was not right, especially after the child abuse hot line received a call about how the two twins were being forced to stand in a bathtub for hours hands and feet bond.  It is a horrible accident not caught soon enough, and a tragedy.  This just goes to show the irresponsibility of some parents and the need for mature adults to raise children and protect and provide for them like they deserve.  I hope that tragedies like these will one day not exist, but that will take a lot of maturing for some people for it to ever stop. 

Praying for a world of LOVE & PEACE.

Knees

Last Friday I had the joy of experiencing yet again another knee surgery.  Yes, these things are a pain, I mean both literally and metaphorically, and I never realized how much I hate knee surgeries.  I mean honestly they are nothing but an annoyance.  It's amazing how we depend on one thing so much, to function properly and just be able to do little every day things like walking, and then when you are abruptly taken away the privilege of putting all your weight on both legs, you realize how important your knees are.  I really have never been more thankful to have functioning legs.  After my surgery I haven't been able to do anything, let alone walk properly.  I really haven't appreciated something as little as walking in a very long time.  It makes you really be glad for how fortunate you are to have to working legs, unlike some people.  I never have been so annoyed though with knee surgeries as I am now.  I have had one already and I am really tired of dealing with knee problems, constant pain, and trying to be active and play volleyball at college.  I don't know how much longer my knees can take it and I really do want the doctors to "fix" my problem but it just doesn't seem like that is going to happen.  I mean, doctors are very good at what they do, I highly respect them since I have dealt with with them a lot in my life, and my dad is even a doctor, but honestly, you have tried a hundred times, so it seems, with several different options to "cure" my knee problems, but it isn't helping.  The surgery same surgery I had on my other knee two years ago, helped for a while, but guess what, yes my knee is killing me once again.  Oh and what is the only option available, that they will hope help to solve the problem, yes, another surgery.  I really don't see the point anymore, and I am severely getting tired of it.  I don't know, it could be just because I want to be fixed so badly and know not much is going to help, and there fore I am a little down about it, but I really just don't see how it will get better the second time, if it didn't get better the first time.  All I know is that I don't like being in pain, and would like to stop being in pain, and volleyball isn't helping much I know that. Looks like I have some things to think about. So now that I have complained enough to everyone, and vented my long brewing frustration, I hope that whoever is reading this is not completely annoyed with me, and that maybe you will be able to appreciate your healthy functioning knees. Just pray that you never have knee problems, because it is the worst thing to ever have to deal with, and basically it will be with you for the rest of your life. 

Love & Peace

Fish that regrows cardiac tissue could mend human hearts

Science and medicine are always making new strides every day.  It is amazing the things that are discovered every day and how life changing they can be.  There are no ends to what the medical field will discover next.  Something is always happening, and being discovered.  The most recent strides being made is in the area of heart.  The heart is the most important structure of the body that keeps everything working properly.  If the heart is not functioning correctly then everything else falls apart.  The heart is a delicate part of the structural complex, and needs to be handled delicately when being tampered with.  It is essential that nothing goes wrong with the heart, or it is injured in any way.  A small tear in the tissue could cause major problems.  It is important in the medical field to find ways to mend things like this in the heart, in the most effective way possible.  The most recent advancement in this is a fish.  The zebrafish, may be the answer to all heart transplant surgeries; forever ending their purpose in the world.  This amazing little fish has the ability to they can regenerate damaged cardiac tissue at an incredible rate.  In a week it is able to repair as much as 20 percent of it's heart muscle.  Medical researchers are working with the British Heart Foundation in hopes to gain insight into how the fish's ability could lead to the development of new treatments that eventually will allow the human heart to heal itself one day. There are enough similarities in the structures of a zebrafish and human heart that the idea is possible.  In a human heart it contains a significant number of latent steam cells that could be stimulated to regenerate cardiac tissue, like the zebrafish does.  The only matter is that we must learn from the zebrafish and begin to adapt it to human hearts.   Steps have already been made; the zebrafish's heart contains a protein called thymosine beta-4, which triggers the growth of the epicardium membrane that surrounds the heart.  New heart-repairing drugs based on this protein are already being researched.  The development of this technology won't extinguish the onset of heart disease itself, it does however offer hope that heart disease sufferers can eventually make a full recovery, plus it could mean the end for the need of heart transplant surgeries by enabling a heart attack survivor to regenerate the damaged cells.  This is a huge breakthrough because heart disease is a leading cause of death in the U.S.  If this idea is successful it could potentially save hundreds of thousands of lives every year in America alone.  It is ironic that such an enormous problem could be solved by a tiny fish.  Just goes to show you can never predict what might happen in the medical field, and what things will produce an outcome in the world of science. 

Gastric Bypass Surgery May Be Good For The Heart

In today's society it's all about looking thin and getting fit.   Sometimes people will do anything to get that perfect body, no matter what circumstances they have to take or endure.  Today, however, most people want to get the quick fix.  Instead of dieting, or eating right, working out and actually striving through hard work to get into good shape, and obtain the body they want, people tend to take the easy way out, or short cuts, like surgeries.  There are a numerous variety of different surgeries today that could be the answer to all your fat and bodily problems.  Weight loss surgeries seem to be all the rage.  There are all kinds of new weight loss surgeries, like lipo suction, gastric bypass surgery, and even the newest type of surgery, incision free.  It is amazing all the new advances the medical field is making in weight loss surgeries, and will only continue to improve. Gastric bypass surgery is one of the most common and effective weight loss surgeries offered.  A gastric bypass surgery was designed to reduce your food intake by creating a small stomach pouch and bypasses of the duodenum and other segments of the small intestine to cause malabsorption, which is the reduced ability to absorb calories and nutrients from food.  Gastric bypass does not only improve your figure, but recently research has discovered it could be good for your heart.  According to the "Journal of American College of Cardiology" it helps overly stressed hearts return to more normal function and structure.  400 severely overweight people who had undergone gastric bypass surgery were followed by doctors and compared to a group that did not undergo the procedure.  Two years prior to the operation, ultrasounds in the patients with the surgery showed a "remodeling" of heart structure.  This discovery suggested that the hearts were less stressed and had returned to a more normal size.  This new finding could be a major breakthrough for medical world.  It goes to show that sometimes things can produce more than one good effect.  It goes to show how much the entire body ties together, and is all working together to help the body function properly and to its full potential.  This also proves for more reasons why weight loss surgeries may actually be a better option for some people when trying to lose weight, especially for more severely overweight and obese people.  It could not only improve their body image, but improve their longevity of life.  Weight loss surgeries may be an easy way out of hard work, but if you are physically unable to lose weight the natural way, and it could help your overall health and life then weight loss surgery may be the way to go; it seems to improve every aspect of your life, providing for a better and fully functional lifestyle.