Blog Post #14

Medtronic inc. created a deep brain stimulation device for Parkinson's disease. My dad works for Medtronic and they implanted the device and they realized it has an extra benefit. They first caught on to it when the patients also saw improvement in the obsessive compulsive disorder. It reduced repetitive thoughts and behaviors just as it reduced the tremors in Parkinson's. Four out of sixteen patients their symptoms nearly disappeared but others had serious side affects. 

Blog #13

A fourteen year old girl lived for 118 days with no heart. Last spring she had an enlarged heart that was to weak to pump blood sufficiently. It also had a possibility of rupturing. The surgeons removed it and replaced it in a heart transplant. The new heart didn't work properly so they removed it two days later and replaced it with artificial pumping devices. The girl said she felt like a "fake person" with no heart beating in side of her.  

Blog #12

When kids lie, it is a natural part of childhood development and isn't necessarily completely bad. Early lieing can be linked with good social skills in the future. When toddlers lie it is mostly a lie to gain something for themselves. When the 2 year old pulls the cats tail and says their imaginary friend did it, the smart thing to say is "The cat has feelings too". Since their too young to understand that lieing is bad, getting angry with them isn't the right thing to do since the child won't know what they've done wrong. When preschoolers lie it's usually about freewheeling relationship with reality. This is when they believe in monsters under the bed, imaginary friends etc. These things do things that the child can't. They believe it so it's not really a lie because it is just playful thinking. When school children lie it's usually because they want you to stop nagging. This is the age of a white lie. A white lie isn't completely bad since it can show signs of social awareness and sensitivity. There is also the lie of when they lie about something because they are afraid to disapoint their parents or of what the punishment will be. When tweens lie about homework it could be that their under stress and don't want to talk about it. When they aren't telling you everthing that they would have 4 years ago it doesn't mean their hiding things. It's just part of growing up.
I think this is an interesting article because children aren't meaning to be bad when they lie and don't usually think about it when they do lie. All of these reasons explain a lot about why kids lie and i think that parents would be a lot more understanding of their children when they lie.

Blog Post #11

A group of disabled veterans of the Iraq war, who are paralyzed or limited to a wheelchair, got to take part in a program where they can swim in the largest aquarium in the world at the Georgia Aquarium. "It's like you're in space," Winkler said. "It's like you're an able body again. It makes you feel so free." The experience isn't cheap. A half hour dive costs $290. The veterans got to swim free. "The water is the great equalizer. Once you get in, you're floating, you're weightless, and everybody becomes equal," Oglesby said.
Winkler was outfitted in a wet suit and snorkeling gear. He rolled his wheelchair down a long ramp to a dock floating in the 6.3 million-gallon tank of salt water. "It is so amazing, he said. "It's like you don't have a disability, because you're just floating around with everybody else. ... The fish are just swimming by. It's a total other world."
I think this is a great program that is really good for the veterans because they've lost an ability thats really important, and most of the time they have to watch the rest of the world do things they can't but when they're in the tank they can do everything everyone else can and they don't have to worry about having a disability.

(quotes from: http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/conditions/11/10/hm.veterans.swimming.rehab.sharks/index.html )

Blog Post #10

I recently read an article that explained how its hard to focus when you are tired, angry or stressed or external factors like television, computers, telephone. When you're tired your brain is deprived of oxygen and that can cause you to be less focused. Eating food also helps because it increases dopamine which makes you interested in whatever your doing because you want more of the pleasure it brings you. To eliminate stress you can run around or stand up at least because this tells your brain its time to wake up and be alert. Exercisers are known to be less stressed and less angry than those who don't exercise. All of these things can help you concentrate more on what your doing and can help regain focus.

Blog Post #9

The center for disease control estimates that 20% of high school kids have smoked cigarettes in the past year. Studies show that it is harder for teens to quit smoking than for adults. Peer pressure is a main cause of this. If everyones doing it, then it makes it harder to stop or else you'd be the different one. Another cause of this is because it is harder to seek out help from doctors or clinics without a parents knowledge. Some schools now have a smoking-cessatation program to help kids quit. It seems to be working beacuse reports show that 37% of kids have quit smoking and 60% reduced the amount of cigarettes they smoke.