Category: Health

Robot Students

Unhealthy students that are confined to a hospital will soon be able to still attend class. Bad news for the kids in one way and good in another. They still have to do their homework and the students can stay in contact with their friends.

Using a robot in the hospital room and another robot in the classroom a student can participate in class. A great use for robots!

“Achim is using a pair of robots–one, called “Mr. Spike,” at his bedside, and its mate, “Mrs. Candy,” in the classroom–to keep up with his schoolwork and his friends for the months he will be bedridden at Blythedale Children’s Hospital in Valhalla, N.Y., just north of New York City.

The robot in the classroom, which displays a live picture of Achim, provides what its inventors call “telepresence”: It gives the boy an actual presence in the classroom, recognized by teachers and classmates. It can move from class to class on its four-wheeled base, and it could even stop at the lockers for a between-periods chat.”

Smoke Free Provinces

Some of the toughest anti-smoking legislation in North America is being implemented tonight in Ontario and Quebec. Essentially the two Canadian provinces will be “smoke-free.”

The legislations bans smoking in restaurants, bars, casinos, and all other indoor public places. Personally, I can’t wait until smoking is banned in all public places because I don’t like being forced into consuming other people’s vices.

Lowered Chance of Recurring Breast Cancer

There is new hope for people who have HER2 type of breast cancer – a type of breast cancer that is infamous for its relapse rate. HER2 also affects 20-30% of breast cancer cases. A new drug, Herception, has reduced relapse by 50%!

“The results of these clinical trials provided consistent evidence that treatment with Herceptin following standard chemotherapy reduces the risk of cancer recurrence by about 50%. Herceptin has clearly demonstrated that it provides the best chance of long-term survival when used as early as possible in the course of the disease.”

Helping out Darfur

Canada’s Prime Minister announced that we’re gonna step in and help the troubled Darfur region of Sudan with $40-million in foreign aid.

“First, working through the United Nations, the lead organization on the ground, we will help to provide urgently needed necessities like food and water, deliver medical care to the afflicted and the suffering and build desperately-needed sanitation services,” Stephen Harper said on May 23, 2006.

Humanitarian needs, such as food, water and sanitation are of the highest importance here, but steps will also be taken to implement the Darfur peace agreement. The suffering people of Darfur will finally get some much needed help! The UN has also decided to step in with a peacekeeping force.

Caffeine Helps Infants Inhale

It seems that caffeine is proven to harm something, then another study proclaims that caffeine is actually good. Well chalk another mark for caffeine the good: caffeine helps babies breath.

“Caffeine therapy helps protect the lungs of premature infants from damage.

That’s an early finding from an international, multi-center trial designed to assess the safety of caffeine therapy for the treatment of apnea of prematurity.

Apnea of prematurity is very common in preterm infants, because their lungs are underdeveloped and the central nervous system, which automatically directs the body to breathe, is immature and often not functioning properly. It’s not known exactly how caffeine therapy helps these tiny babies breathe better, but its major benefits are believed to come from its stimulant effect on the respiratory system”