The REAL YOUTH POTION (potential uses of growht hormones)

Growth hormone (GH) has been used for pharmaceutical purposes (that is, as a drug) since its discovery in the 1950's. originally obtained from the pituitary glands of cadavers, it is now biosynthesized and administered by injection. Although GH is widely used in clinical trials, its use as prescription drug is restricted until its helpful and harmful effects-many of which are intriguing-can be fully documented.

GH is administered legally to children who does not produce it naturally or who have chronic kidney failure, to allow these children to grow to near-normal heights. Unfortunately some physician succumb to parental pressures to prescribe GH to children who do produce it but are extremely short.

When GH is administered to adults with growth-hormone deficiency, body fat decreases and lean body mass, bone density and muscle mass increase. It also appears to increase the performance and muscle mass of the heart, and it decreases blood cholesterol, boosts the immune system, and perhaps improves one's physiological out look. Such effects (particularly those involving increased muscle mass and decreased body fat) have lead to abuse of GH by body builders and athletes, which is one reason why this substance remains restricted.

Because GH may also reverse some effects of aging, anti-aging clinics using GH injections to delay aging are springing up. Many people naturally stop producing GH after 60, and this explain why their ratio of lean-to-fat mass declines and their skin thins. GH is the drug treatment of choice for many aging Hollywood stars who dread the loss of their youth and vitality. Administration of GH to elderly patients reverses these declines. However, clinical studies reveal that the administered GH does not increase strength or exercise tolerance in elderly patients, and careful study of very sick patients in intensive care unit (where GH is routinely given to store nitrogen balance) found that high doses of GH are associated with increased mortality. For these reasons, earlier media claims that GH is a "youth potion" have proven to be dangerously misleading, and GH should not be administered to the very old or critically ill.

GH may help AIDS patients. Because of improved antibiotics, fewer AIDS patients are dying from opportunistic infections. The othe side of this picture is that more die from the weight loss called "wasting". It has been shown that injection of GH can actually reverse wasting during AIDS, leading to weight gain-a gain of lean muscle. In 1996, the U.S. Food and Drugs Administration approved the use of GH to treat such wasting.

GH is not a wonder drug, Even in cases where it is extremely beneficial. GH is expensive and has undesirable side effects. It can lead to fluid retention and edema, joint and muscle pain, high blood sugar, glucose intolerance, and gynecomastia (breast enlargement in males). Hypertention, heart enlargement, diabetes and cancer of the colon are other possible results of high doses of GH, while edema and headaches accompany even the lowest dose. Carefully tailored dosage can avoid most of these side effects however.

Intensive research into the potential benefits of GH is ongoing and should keep this hormone in the public eye for years to come. Let's hope its inbridled use does not become a public health problem.

Growth hormone (GH) has been used for pharmaceutical purposes (that is, as a drug) since its discovery in the 1950's. originally obtained from the pituitary glands of cadavers, it is now biosynthesized and administered by injection. Although GH is widely used in clinical trials, its use as prescription drug is restricted until its helpful and harmful effects-many of which are intriguing-can be fully documented.

GH is administered legally to children who does not produce it naturally or who have chronic kidney failure, to allow these children to grow to near-normal heights. Unfortunately some physician succumb to parental pressures to prescribe GH to children who do produce it but are extremely short.

When GH is administered to adults with growth-hormone deficiency, body fat decreases and lean body mass, bone density and muscle mass increase. It also appears to increase the performance and muscle mass of the heart, and it decreases blood cholesterol, boosts the immune system, and perhaps improves one's physiological out look. Such effects (particularly those involving increased muscle mass and decreased body fat) have lead to abuse of GH by body builders and athletes, which is one reason why this substance remains restricted.

Because GH may also reverse some effects of aging, anti-aging clinics using GH injections to delay aging are springing up. Many people naturally stop producing GH after 60, and this explain why their ratio of lean-to-fat mass declines and their skin thins. GH is the drug treatment of choice for many aging Hollywood stars who dread the loss of their youth and vitality. Administration of GH to elderly patients reverses these declines. However, clinical studies reveal that the administered GH does not increase strength or exercise tolerance in elderly patients, and careful study of very sick patients in intensive care unit (where GH is routinely given to store nitrogen balance) found that high doses of GH are associated with increased mortality. For these reasons, earlier media claims that GH is a "youth potion" have proven to be dangerously misleading, and GH should not be administered to the very old or critically ill.

GH may help AIDS patients. Because of improved antibiotics, fewer AIDS patients are dying from opportunistic infections. The othe side of this picture is that more die from the weight loss called "wasting". It has been shown that injection of GH can actually reverse wasting during AIDS, leading to weight gain-a gain of lean muscle. In 1996, the U.S. Food and Drugs Administration approved the use of GH to treat such wasting.

GH is not a wonder drug, Even in cases where it is extremely beneficial. GH is expensive and has undesirable side effects. It can lead to fluid retention and edema, joint and muscle pain, high blood sugar, glucose intolerance, and gynecomastia (breast enlargement in males). Hypertention, heart enlargement, diabetes and cancer of the colon are other possible results of high doses of GH, while edema and headaches accompany even the lowest dose. Carefully tailored dosage can avoid most of these side effects however.

Intensive research into the potential benefits of GH is ongoing and should keep this hormone in the public eye for years to come. Let's hope its inbridled use does not become a public health problem.

Lessons I Learn as I Go Through Life:

Life is a constant race. Like driving in a race tract, one wrong move, one wrong decision will lead you to disaster and will get your car out of control. There is always a very little time between the moment you notice your mistake and the point of impact. So you must always move quickly. Time will never wait for you!

Life is a very long travel. Like a journey across oceans, you must fill your ship with all the stuff you need in order to survive, but putting too much load may cause ship to sink or may slow down your trip. you must always be prepared for the storms ahead, be resilient and always go with the flow.

Life is a gamble. You must always play it right. If you are too scared to bet a lot, you can only win a little.

Life is a business, you must know where and when to invest your money, time and effort in order to prosper. Every single thing, big or small has its price. Learn not to need the thing that you cannot afford, and buy only the stuff you need. Plan one step ahead and you are half-way to
success. Always remember that a particular strategy will work only once.

You can never swim two parallel rivers at the same time, so always know your priorities. For those people who say that Money alone wont make you happy, give me some, so that i can make the most of it. Money makes the world goes round, it is so powerful, a necessity of life in order to live.

Opportunity comes only once, so grab hold of it, make good use of it. And if ever you missed it, don't be sad. wise man seldom waits for opportunity, instead, he makes more opportunity than he gets.

And when you think that every thing is hopeless, just remember that the darkest time of the night is the minute before dawn.

What makes girls go daring in BORACAY?

I'm just confused on what I see and experience in Boracay. I saw a lot of women wearing two piece and they Go DARING! (lol). hahaha! I just want to cover why they should need to wear that kind of clothes not even on the beach but also in malls, church, bars and everywhere!. You can see them dazzling in the sand and almost all the guys are keeping there eyes at the beautiful and sexy bodies. hahahahahah! So seriously, WHAT MAKES GIRLS GO DARING IN BORACAY??

The name Boracay alone conjures images of leisure and pleasure at their best, specially partying tourists enjoying the Caribbean-like ambience and splendor of its beach front areas during early evenings complete with a happy mix of festive lights and Latin music and not to mention the white sand dance floors.

Boracay, a small island off northwestern Panay in Western Visayas is known worldwide as a tourist paradise in the Pacific. It attracts hordes of tourists, both local and foreign, all year round.

When the subject of Boracay comes up, a number of familiar images instantly comes to mind topped by the vision of people of various races parading and idly walking on its white sand beaches trying to savor their birthright share of leisure and pleasure under the sun.

Interestingly, the superfine powdery white sand on its beaches is in itself a source of wonder. It never gets hot and remains cool to the sole of one’s barefoot even under the scorching summer heat of the sun. To this day, I have not yet heard or come across any credible enough explanation for this phenomenon.

The most indelible image that sticks to one’s mind about Boracay, however, is the way women in general behave when in the tourism island paradise which they normally do not do elsewhere.

In Boracay, women of all ages, races, sizes and configuration, throw away modesty to the winds and daringly show off and display with abandon what wares and physical assets they have. They do it not just on the beaches but anywhere else including restaurants, night spots, the market and even in churches.

During the holy mass I attended here in Boracay, the officiating priest in his sermon jokingly said he has already got used to saying mass before congregations that normally include women in their “two-piece and tapis” attires to whom he could not easily refuse giving communion.

A friend sought my opinion what makes women in general go boldly daring and baring in Boracay and similar tourist settings? After briefly pondering on the question, my professor a sociologist told me it may be due to their definition of the situation.

He explained that a person responds to a situation based on how he/she perceives it, and reacts to it accordingly with a behavior pattern deemed proper and appropriate for it as dictated by the cultural norms of his/her group.

Thus a lady will not go shopping in malls back home clad only in skimpy bikini or sometimes covered by a sheer wrap-around because members of her community do not consider such attire appropriate. In Boracay, however, it is perfectly okay and so they go boldly daring.

This perception finds mutual reinforcement among girls and women of all ages, sizes, shapes and configuration while in Boracay, where they gamely indulge in informal displays. The menfolk, of course, do not just agree. The savor the sight and atmosphere as well.

Local tourism seems in the upswing indeed in Boracay. As one Malay town councilor who runs his own resort hotel in the island noted, the volume of garbage in the island increases proportionately with the rise in local tourist arrivals.

The telltale signs of increased garbage include plastic wastes and debris lining the water shoreline mostly mineral water bottles and caps, plastic bags, discarded knick-knack food covers and others.

Web-Workz

PROVE IT YOURSELF

Improve Your Memory

Q: Can you improve your ability to learn and remember new information??

A: Yes!

The following techniques take advantage of the brain's storage and retreival mechanisms:

• Concentrate. This may seem obvious, but paying attention increases brain activity and epinephrine levels, thereby consolidation of information into long-term memory.
• Minimize interference. Go where it is quiet. A noisy environment will impaire your ability to concentrate.
• Break down large amount of information into smaller topics. Give yourself time to review each topic, and take a break in between.
• Rephrase material in your own words. Restate the information in a way that makes sense to you personally.

Short-term memory involves quick bursts of action potentials. Every time you read, think about, or test your self on a concept, more neurons fire. By studying new material actively and repeatedly, you trigger additional action potentials and improve long-term retention because the neural synapses are reinforced by use.

Anabolic Steroids

Are Athletes Looking Good and Doing Better With Anabolic Steroids?

Everyone loves a winner, and top athletes are popular and make a lots of money. It is not surprising that some will grasp at anything to increase their performance - including anabolic steroids. these hormones engineered by pharmaceutical companies, were introduced in the 1950s to treat victims of certain muscle-wasting diseases, anemia and to prevent muscle atrophy in patients immobilized after surgery. Testosterone, a natural anabolic steroid hormone made by the body, triggers the increase in muscle and bone mass and other physical changes that occur during puberty and convert boys into men. Convinced that the large dose of the anabolic steroids could enhance masculinizing effects in grown men, many athletes were using the steroids by the early 1960s, and the practice is still going strong today. Indeed it is estimated that one out of ten young men has tried steroids, so use is no longer confined to athletes looking for the edge.



The use of this drug has been banned by most international athletic competitions, and users (and prescribing physicians or drug dealers) are naturally reluctant to talk about it. Nonetheless, there is a little question that many professional bodybuilders and athletes competing in events that require great muscle strength (such as discuss throwing and weight lifting) are heavy users. Sports figures such as football players have also admitted to using steroids to help them prepare for games. Advantages of anabolic steroids cited bu athletes include increase muscle mass and strength, increased oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood (because of greater red blood cell volume), and an increase in aggressive behavior (the urge to "steamroller the other guy").

But do the drug do it all that is claimed from them? Research studies have reported increased in isometric strength and body weight in steroid users. Although these are the results weight lifters dream about, there is a hot dispute over whether the drug also enhance the fine muscle coordination and endurance needed by runners and others.

Do the claim slight advantage conferred by steroid use out weight he risk? Absolutely not! Physician say they cause bloated faces (a sign of steroid excess), shriveled tastes, and infertility; damage the liver and promote liver cancer; and cause changes in blood cholesterol level ( which may place long term use at risk for coronary heart disease). Additionally, out one-third of anabolic steroid users develop serious psychiatric problems. many behaviors in which the user undergo Jekyll-Hyde personality swing and become extremely violent (the so-called 'roid rage) is common; so, too, are depression and delusions.

A recent arrival on the scene, sold over the counter as a "nutritional performance enhancer", is adrostenedione which is converted to testosterone in the body. It is taken orally and much of it is destroyed by the liver soon after ingestion, but the few milligrams that survive temporarily boost testosterone levels. "wannabe" athletes from the fifth grade up are said to be sweeping the supplement off the drugstore shelves. This is troubling; adrostenedione is not regulated the U.S. Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) and its long term effects are unpredictable. Ongoing studies have found that makes who took the supplement developed elevated levels of the female hormone estrogen as well as testosterone (raising their risk of feminizing effects such as enlarged breasts), early puberty and stunted bone growth.

The question of why athletes use these drugs is easy to answer. Some say they are willing to
do almost anything to win, short of killing themselves. Are they unwittingly doing this as well?

PROVE IT YOURSELF

Q: the digestion of the food you eat happens only in your stomach, true or false?

A: False, why?? (read below)

You can detect the presence of an enzyme (a catalytic protein) in one of your own body fluids, saliva, with the following demonstration. Place a small cracker in your mouth. Do not swallow it, but move around the cracker in your mouth to moisten it with saliva. After a minute you will experience a sweet taste that was not present initially. This is because your saliva contains an enzyme that break the bonds in the starch of the cracker, producing the sweet-tasting disaccharide maltose. Wha tyou have just demonstrated is that the hydrolysis (digestion) of starch actually begins in your mouth, even before food reaches your stomach. To prove that the starch was broken down by an enzyme and not by the watery component of your saliva, wet another cracker with tap water. Moisten it for the same lenght of time as the first cracker, and hten place it in your mouth. It should not taste as sweet as the first one.

Medical Imaging: Illuminating the Body

Before the light of technology shed itself to mankind, we can only imagine how do our body works inside a living person. How the blood circulates inside the body? How babies develop inside the womb? What does brain looks like when a person is thinking? these and other questions has bothered doctors and scientists for many years, until today.

By bombarding the body with energy, new scanning techniques can reveal the structures of internal organs, and wring out information about the private and, until now, secret working of their molecules. these new imaging techniques are changing the face of medical diagnosis.

Until about 50 years ago the magical but murky X ray the only means of peeping into a living body. What X ray did and still do best was visualize hard and bony structures and locate abnormally dense structures (tumors, tuberculosis nodules) int the lungs. The 1950's saw the birth of nuclear medicine, which uses radio isotos to scan the body, and ultrasound techniques. In the 1970's, CT, PET, and MRI scanning techniques were introduced.

The best known of new imaging devices is computed tomography (CT) (formerly called computer axial tomography [CAT]), a refined version of X ray. A CT scanner confines its beam to a thin slice of the body andends the confusion resulting from images of overlapping structures seen in conventional X rays. CT's clarity has all but eliminated exploratory surgery As the patient is slowly moved through a doughnut-shaped CT machine, its X-ray tube rotates around the body. Different tissues absorb the radiation in varying amounts. The device's computer translates this information into a detailed, cross-sectional picture of the body region scannedt. CT scans are at the forefront in evaluating most problem that affects the brain, abdomen, and calcification of the coronary arteries in those at the elevated risk for heart disease. Special ultrafast CT scanners have produced a technique called dynamic spatial reconstruction (DSR), which provides three-dimentional images of body organs from any angle. it also allows their movements and changes in their internal volumes to be observed at normal speed, in slow motion and at specific moment in time. Although DSR can be used to evaluate the lung and certain other mobile organs, its greatest value has been to visualize the heart beating and the blood flowing through vessels. This allows heart defects, constricted blood vessels, and the status of coronary bypass grafts to be assessed.

Another computer-assisted X ray technique is digital subtraction angiography (DSA) (angiography = vessel pictures). This technique provides an unobstructed view of diseased blood vessels. Conventional radiographs are taken before and after a contrast medium is injected into an artery. Then the computer substracts the "before" image from he "after" image, eliminating all traces of body structures that obscure the vessel. DSA is often used to identify blockage in the arteries that supply the heart wall and brain.



Just as X ray spawned "new technologies" so did the nuclear medicine in the form of positron emission tomography (PET). PET excels in observing metabolic processes. PET's greatest clinical value has been its ability to provide insights into brain activity in those affected by mental illness, Alzheimer's disease and epilepsy. One of its mmost exciting uses is to determine which area of the healthy brain are most active during certain tasks (speaking, listening to music, and so on). The patient is given an injection of short-lived radioisotopes that have been tagged to biological molecules (such as glucose)and then positioned in the PET scanner. As the radioisotopes are absorbed by the most active brain cells, high-energy gamma rays are produced. The computer analyze the gamma emission and produce a picture of the brain's biochemical activity in vivid colors.



Ultrasound imaging, or ultrasonography, has distinct advantage over the approaches described so far: the equipment is inexpensive and it employs high-frequency sound waves(ultrasound) as its energy source. Ultrasound, unlike ionizing form of radiation, ahs no harmful effect on living tissues (as far as we know). The body is probed with pulses of sound waves, which causes echoes when reflected and scattered by body tissues. The echoes are analyze by computer to construct visual image of body organs of interest. Because of its safety, ultrasound is the imaging technique of choice for obstetricst, that is, for determining fetal age and position and locating the placenta. Because sound waves have very low penetrating power and are rapidly scattered in air, ultrasonography is of little value for looking at air-filled structures (the lungs) or of those surrounded by bone (the brain and spinal cord).



Another technique that depends on non-ionizing radiation is Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) which uses magnetic fields up to 60,000 times stronger than the earth's to pry information from the body's tissues. The patient lies in a chamber within a huge magnet. Hydrogen molecules spin like tops in the magnetic field, and their energy is enhanced by radio waves. When the radio waves are turned off, the energy is released and translated by computer into a visual image. MRI is immensly popular because it can do many things a CT scan cannot. Dense structures do not show up in MRI, so bones of skull and/or vertebral column do not impair the view of soft tissues such as brain. MRI is also particularly good at detecting degenerative disease of various kinds. Multiple sclerosis plaques, for examples, do not shpw up well in CT scans but are dazzingly clear in MRI scans. A key issue being investigated by MRI studies is how brain development and behavior change with growth or experience.



A newer variation of MRI called Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (MRS) maps the distribution of elements other than hydrogen to reveal more about how disease changes by chemistry. In 1992, MRI technology leaped forward with the development of the functional MRI, which allows tracking down of blood flow into the brain in real time. Until then, matching thoughts, deeds and disease to corresponding brain activity has been the sole domain of PET. Because functional MRI does not require injections of tracer elements, it provides another, perhaps more desirable alternatives to such studies. despite its advantages, the powerful magnets of MRI present some problems. For example, the can suck metal objects such as implanted pacemakers and loose tooth filings through the body. Also there is no convincing evidence that such magnetic fields are risk free.

As you see, modern medical science has many remarkable tools and its disposal. CT and PET scan are accounted for about 25 percent of all imaging. Ultrasonography, because of its safety and low cost is the most wide spead of the new techniques. Conventional X rays remains the work horse of diagnostic imaging techniques and still accounts for morethan half of all imaging currently done.

Tattoos

Nowadays, everytime i look around the people around me, they all get their tatoo. Especially here in Hawaii having a tattoo is like having a bracelet or an earing. So i start wondering, what really is tatoo?

TATOOS are made by using needles to deposit pygment within the dermis. Tattooing is an ancient practice, believed to have originated around 10.000 years ago. These days, tatoos are symbol of club membership for some males (street gangs, the military, fraternities); other people view them as symbol of individuality. In recent years, females have increasingly acquired tattoos as means of expression and for cosmetic purposes; permanent eyeliners and tattood liplines now account for over 125,000 tattoos a year.



But what if the tattoo becomes unfashionable or the pigment migrates? Tattoo removal has been and still is a pain - both physically and financially. Until recently, once you had one, you were essentially stuck with it, because attempts at removal - dermabrasion, cryosurgery (freezing), or applying caustic chemicals - left nasty scars. Using new laser-based technologies, dermatologists have no problem destroying the black or blue pigments in tattoos applied a generation ago, but newer, multicolored tattoos pose a larger problem. The of pigments in tattoo today require several different lasers to be used over seven to nine treatments spaced about a month apart, each costing $75 to $150 and at a cost in pain roughly equal to getting tatoood in the first place. Nonetheless, tattoo removal across the United States is skyrocketing.



Tattoos present some other risks, Even though the FDA has some regulations concerning the composition of tattoo pigments, their safety is not well established. Indeed. studies of dyes collected from tattooing studios have been found to contain cancer-causing agents that could be activated during tatoo removal. Saturation regulation vary widely (from none to complete prohibition)from state to state. Still, in each case, needles are used and bleeding occurs, and practitioner's competence varies significantly. If stict sterile procedures are not adhered to, tatooing can spread infections. The risk of hepatitis C infection (a chronic liver infection) is 15 times higher in those who have been tattooed than in those who have been tattooed than in those who have not

So if you are thinking about having a tattoo, look into it carefully. Even with the new laser removal techniques, is it worth the risk?