While the findings are preliminary, new research raises the prospect that sleep, specifically a lengthy afternoon nap, prepares the brain to remember things. Think of it as similar to rebooting a computer to get it to work more smoothly.

“Sleep is not just for the body. It’s very much for the brain,” said study author Matthew Walker, an assistant professor at the University of California at Berkeley.

Walker and colleagues divided 39 young adults into two groups. At noon, all the participants took part in a memory exercise that required them to remember faces and link them with names. Then the researchers took part in another memory exercise at 6 p.m., after 20 had napped for 100 minutes during the break.

Those who remained awake performed about 10 percent worse on the tests than those who napped, Walker said.

There’s one more twist: People’s ability to learn declines about 10 percent between noon and 6 p.m. normally, but the nappers were able to negate that decline.

The structure of the study suggests that a phase of non-dreaming sleep that the nappers went through is boosting memory, he said.

“This is further evidence that sleep plays a critical role in the processing of memories,” he said. “It provides more evidence that it’s not just important to sleep after learning, but you need it before learning to prepare the brain for laying down information.”

To read the entire article in its orginal publishing, click here.

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There it is. He pops it up. He smiles, as if it were a gruesome badge of honor, this image of a massive, seven-inch hole in his left leg, just above the knee.

“I look at it all the time,” the 19-year-old Celski says.

He was sitting in a press conference room Sunday, about 20 hours after he won an Olympic bronze medal in short track Saturday night, finishing right behind his boyhood hero, Apolo Anton Ohno, in the 1500. It is a feat that will be hard for any U.S. athlete here to surpass, given where Celski was 154 days earlier, his blood gushing onto the ice at the U.S. Olympic trials as if someone had turned on a spigot.

“I thought my whole career was over,” Celski said. “I thought at one point that I might die that night.”

J.R. Celski grew up in Federal Way, Wash., and comes out of Pattison’s West, the same in-line skating club that produced Ohno, who tied Bonnie Blair as the most prolific Winter Olympian in U.S. history with his silver medal in the 1500. Celski has long been regarded as Ohno’s successor as the nation’s top short-track skater, a standing he confirmed when he won five medals in last year’s world championships.

And then it all seemed certain to be taken away, on the night of Sept. 12 in Marquette, Mich. Celski was skating in the semifinals of the 500 meters when he lost his edge and crashed into the wall, hitting it hard, the front of his right skate blade carving into his left thigh, almost to the bone.

Suddenly, the arena went quiet. Celski’s agonizing cries were about the only audible sound. He never lost consciousness. He pulled the blade out of his leg, looking at the wound and seeing what he describes as “a rainbow” - blue and purple and white and yellow, and yes, red.

His parents, Bob and Sue Celski, were in the stands that night.

“I’m so grateful that we didn’t lose him, because we could’ve,” Sue Celski said. “God had a different plan for him.”

Celski was rushed to the hospital, but it could have been faster. The ambulance driver didn’t put on his siren, and stopped at lights. At the hospital, no surgeons were on hand.

Finally, he was operated on, the muscle pieced back together, the wound taking 60 stitches to close. Not long afterward, Celski found out he had earned enough points to qualify for the Olympics. That seemed a completely unrealistic goal, but Celski wasn’t deterred. He and his father flew out to Park City, Utah, to consult with Dr. Eric Heiden, team orthopedist for U.S. Speedskating and the five-time gold medalist of the 1980 Games, who evaluated the injury and helped set up treatment. The plan would be carried out by Dr. Bill Moreau, of the Olympic Training Center medical staff. Celski dived into the program, riding a stationary bike, walking, doing hydro-therapy. The physical therapists pushed him, hard. Celski basically told them: bring it on.

Said Sue Celski, “He never took it like he was a victim, like he wanted people to feel sorry for him.”

Celski’s first race back on the short track was here, the other night. He says he still has to fight being tentative, still gets flashbacks. He has two more Olympic races - the 1000 and the 5000-meter relay - to go. He said he can’t really begin to describe the emotions he has been through between Sept. 12 and Saturday night. He smiled again.

“Not many people were expecting me to be here,” J.R. Celski said.

To read this New York Daily News article in its original form, click here.

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When the earthquake struck Haiti last Tuesday, people on the mainland started journeying out to La Gonave in desperation, hoping to receive food and medical treatment. This has put an enormous strain on the feeding stations and the clinics in place, which were not ready to serve the mass of people or the extreme nature of the injuries. While our teams on the ground are doing their very best, with the help of the military and the UN, supplies and food are running out at a rapid pace.

Many people across the world have donated money and survival supplies, but are having difficulty getting these resources into the country. Our ministry contacts have been working with Haitian Customs and the Haitian Embassy for the last 10 years, and remarkably, were given clearance yesterday to send a ship directly to the outskirts of the island, avoiding the delays of customs. We understand that this is nothing short of a miracle, and will seize the opportunity while it remains. The ship will be leaving as soon as it is filled, no later than next Tuesday. As you can imagine, time is of the essence and the people’s survival demands on our resources getting to them as soon as possible. Several of our company’s employees are on the Expediting team, and will personally make sure all donations make it onto the boat and from there, onto the island of La Gonave. Ministries and Non-Profit organizations are providing 50 Tons of Non-Perishable Foods and Building Supplies, along with other necessities, but are asking for support from businesses and hospitals in the procurement of medical essentials.

As we have had a hand in this effort for years, the people at Southwest want to do everything we can to give relief to our clinic in La Gonave. We will be sending down as much medical equipment as possible, but we do not sell supplies, nor have access to medication and disposables. This is why we are writing you, to call upon known resources and ask for your help on the items we cannot provide.

With such a rare opportunity to ship directly to our teams, we want to seize this chance. The following page contains a list of items we hope to send down to La Gonave. If you are able to provide even one box of gauze, we would greatly appreciate it. If you can help with several items, even better! Please call or email Caitlin King in our home office with any pledges or donations- 918-254-4080. From there, she can provide all necessary shipping information and information on tax-credit letters. If you would like more information on the ministry we are working with, please go to gutschurch.com and click the link entitled “Help Haiti”. We look forward to hearing from you, and working with you to provide the medical resources needed to save lives.
Thank you very much,
Southwest Medical Corporation

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CNN — The devastation caused by Tuesday’s earthquake could decimate what fragile medical care exists and spawn a “perfect storm” in a country already struggling to fight rare tropical and infectious diseases, health experts said. On Tuesday, a magnitude 7.0 earthquake ripped apart buildings, shearing huge slabs of concrete off structures in the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. About 3 million people — one-third of Haiti’s population — were affected by the quake, the Red Cross estimated. The disaster cut power, electricity and other utilities. This could leave people without clean drinking water and at greater risk of malnutrition and disease.

“The potential new mass of displaced persons could create crowded, unsanitary conditions that facilitate the spread of contagious respiratory infections,” said Dr. Peter Hotez, head of the department of microbiology at George Washington University. “What you have is the perfect storm of infection,” Hotez said. “What you have is a breakdown. It is already a fragile infrastructure with high rates of infectious and neglected tropical disease. Now there are potential breakdowns in sanitation, clean water, housing and subsequent crowding. That’s a terrible mix.”

Even before the earthquake, the country has been the subject of intense public health efforts, as nearly half the causes of deaths have been attributed to HIV/AIDS, respiratory infections, meningitis and diarrheal diseases, according to the World Health Organization. The first medical response would be to find the people who are trapped in the rubble.

“Usually in natural disasters people suffer extreme physical and mental shock along with the initial injuries caused by the disaster, such as amputations and fractures,” said Dr. Tamman Aloudat, senior health officer with the International Red Cross in Geneva, Switzerland.

Historically, 90 percent of the casualties in major earthquakes occur within the first three to four days, he said. The likelihood of finding survivors dwindles in about three to four days. For those who survive with injuries, blocked roads, lack of supplies and medical attention can hamper recovery.

“In Haiti, if you have a serious injury or illness, if you’re lucky, you can make it to the hospital,” said Dr. Ted Kaplan, a pediatrician from Orlando, Florida, who formed a network of clinics and health organizations in Haiti. “They don’t have much they can offer you. The situation now is there’s no ambulance. If you don’t get to the hospital, you don’t have an orthopedic surgeon, you don’t have a CT scan — there’s no equipment to deal with the injury.”

On Wednesday, he spoke to CNN while anxiously waiting to hear from his in-laws, who live in Haiti.

“It’s quite a disaster in a place that has no safety net,” he said.

The lack of a safety net means that if left untreated, minor injuries or fractures can become life-threatening because they’re left open to bacterial infections such as tetanus, doctors said. But even the uninjured can face medical risks. Interruptions in basic services such as the water supply can increase the risk of waterborne disease outbreaks. Animal and human fecal matter and bodies can become sources of contamination if they’re in the water supply, Hotez said.

“The risks in the short-term are diarrheal infections, diarrheal diseases including typhoid fever and cholera,” he said. Risks also include bacterial infections such as shigellosis (which causes diarrhea) and salmonella enterocolitis (a common type of food poisoning). Bacterial and mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue and malaria are also major risk factors, Aloudat said.

“The local Red Cross will attempt to go and start monitoring about outbreak epidemics,” he said.

The International Red Cross said it is deploying stocks of non-food relief items to 10,000 families, and additional staff will be deployed as soon as possible.

Some doctors worry that the major, long-term health initiatives to treat preventable diseases in Haiti could be upended. Many community-based health initiatives have been set up to administer medicine to treat elephantiasis (enlargement of limbs caused by worms), and diseases caused by intestinal worms and parasites. Any interruptions in fighting these preventable diseases has disastrous consequences.

“This is going to a big setback for public health control measures, and you will see the impact of this earthquake at least for months and possibly for years,” Hotez said. “What you’re going to need is something equivalent to a Marshall plan for Haiti. These are our neighbors. You go to Haiti, it’s like you go back in time 500 years and see incredible neglected tropical diseases that don’t need to be there.”

To read the rest of this article in its original format, click here.

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Baby Marcello was delivered by Caesarian minutes before midnight in 2009. His brother Stephano was born moments later — in 2010.

Juan Velasco, the twins’ father, said it would be fun for the boys to enjoy birthday parties on different days when they are older.

He added he was relieved both babies were delivered safely after a high-risk pregnancy. Born 10 weeks premature, the twins are expected to remain in the hospital for two months.

Their proud mother, Margarita Velasco, went into labor Dec. 31 in Tampa, Fla.

This article is brought to you by Foxnews.com

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The car worth more than $1.6 million was ordered by the emirate’s health authorities in Germany.

The ambulance is planned to be used in emergency cases, when a large number of people would need to be provided with urgent medical assistance simultaneously. It is capable of carrying up to 100 patients in a light condition and more than 40 in a heavy condition.

The ambulance is included in the Guinness Book as the world’s largest mobile medical center. It has an intensive care, a surgery, a delivery and an X-ray units inside, with the most modern medical equipment. The car is also equipped with television and satellite connection systems.

This developing article was published this morning on RIA News.

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The complete genetic codes of two human cancers have been mapped for the first time. The move could herald a medical revolution in which every tumor can be targeted with personalized therapy.

The exhaustive genetic maps, which catalogue every DNA mutation found in two patients’ tumors, will transform treatment of the disease. It has been described as the most significant milestone in cancer research in more than a decade.

Scientists predict that by about 2020 all cancer patients could have their tumors analyzed to find the genetic defects that drive them. This information would then be used to select the treatments most likely to work.

Insights from the genomes will also lead to the development of powerful drugs to target DNA errors that cause cancer and highlight ways in which the disease can be prevented. Cancers would be diagnosed and treated according to their genetic profiles rather than their position in the body.

“The pace at which genomics is moving is probably the most exciting thing that’s gone on in cancer research in more than a decade,” said Professor Sir John Bell, President of the Academy of Medical Sciences. “These cancer genome projects are a major landmark, as significant as the sequencing of the human genome itself.”

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“A whole new doorway of hope opened,” says Tom Otten, a suburban St. Louis police officer who traveled halfway across the country to Georgetown University Hospital to give a stranger a kidney so his wife would get one in return.

Relative after relative failed to be the match his wife, Irene, needed. Tests finally showed her body wouldn’t tolerate a kidney from 95 percent of the population.

In Washington, Roxanne Boyd Williams was a similar long shot. A sister’s kidney had saved her in 2005, but it failed this year. This time around, the 30-year-old mother’s immune system also had become abnormally primed to attack any new organ.

Dr. Keith Melancon, Georgetown’s kidney transplant director, offered a rare option. If both women could receive a close-to-perfect donor kidney — one that few of their immune system’s elevated antibodies recognize — he’d filter from their blood enough of the remaining antibodies to allow the new organ to survive.

A kidney exchange widens the pool of potential organs. That’s when patients find a friend or relative who isn’t compatible with them but will donate on their behalf, and the pairs are mixed and matched.

Like falling dominoes, Tom turned out to be Roxanne’s needle in the haystack. Another young woman was Irene’s. Roxanne’s father came from Florida, the answer for yet another impossible-to-match grandmother.

“It’s a large gift to give somebody, something so selfless,” Williams says, her hand clutching Otten’s as the two meet a week after surgery. “God bless you.”

The chain reaction — multiplied by three altruistic donors, people offering a kidney to anyone — turned into a 13-way transplant, during six marathon days of surgery at Georgetown and nearby Washington Hospital Center. It’s believed to be the largest exchange of its kind in a movement that could reduce the nation’s long and growing wait for a donated kidney.

Five patients got kidneys only because of the blood-filtering.

And strikingly, 10 of the 13 kidney recipients are black, Asian or Hispanic — important because minorities are far less likely than white Americans to get a kidney transplant from a living donor, the best kind.

“You are going to die a lot earlier sitting on that dialysis machine than if you get transplanted,” says Melancon, whose goal is to pair domino kidney exchanges and the blood-cleansing treatment called plasmapheresis to narrow the troubling disparities.

Of the 88,000 people on the national waiting list for a kidney, just over one-third are black, yet they receive only about 13 percent of living-donor kidneys. Blacks are disproportionately struck by the kidney-killing twin ravages of diabetes and hypertension, leaving those on dialysis with fewer donor candidates among their own family and friends.

For everybody, fewer than 17,000 kidney transplants are performed a year.

“These procedures really multiply the number of transplants that can be done,” Melancon says, predicting the two together could enable up to 4,000 additional transplants a year. “It’s really almost a religious experience when we start doing this, because it’s miraculous, it really is.”

The Associated Press documented weeks of the complex logistics, the ups and downs as Melancon’s team planned initially for a 16-way transplant, juggled donors and recipients for best matches and had to drop some — including one with heart problems that aborted his surgery.

In the end, 13 pairs emerged with life-altering bonds.

To read the whole article with surgery outcomes, click here.

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The White House on Wednesday painted the spending — part of the $787 billion stimulus bill the president championed during his first days in office — as a way to add jobs to a struggling economy. Officials also linked it to the administration’s broader push for an overhaul of the nation’s health systems that remains unfinished in Congress.

“One of the first investments we made through the Recovery Act was in supporting our nation’s community health centers, and today we build on that progress by funding new construction and improvement projects at more than 80 facilities nationwide,” Vice President Joe Biden said in remarks prepared for delivery Wednesday. “This is what the Recovery Act is all about: providing immediate assistance for hard-hit families, improving our nation’s infrastructure and creating new opportunities for stable, well-paid work.”

The administration plans to give almost $509 million to repair, rebuild or replace federally designated community health centers. From coast to coast, the centers serve more than 17 million patients — about 40 percent of whom have no health insurance.

As much as $88 million more will go to health care facilities to transfer their medical records to electronic format and to upgrade technologies, according to figures provided ahead of a scheduled afternoon announcement.

To read the rest of this article in its original form, click here.

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We wish you and your loved ones a happy and safe holiday weekend!

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