A 6 month old puppy from Florida somehow managed to swallow a 13 inch serrated knife! Whats most miraculous about this story is not that the dog just managed to get it down, but that she survived! The Saint Bernard puppy, named Elsie, had the blade between her esophagus and stomach for about FOUR DAYS before it was removed earlier this week in a 2-hour operation. With only an 8 inch scar left on her tummy the puppy is now home safe and sound with her family (who is now wrapping their sharp objects in towels and placing them in high places).
Category: Health
Canadian Government increasing support for Addicts
Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh announced yesturday that $851,000 in federal funding will be spent to help curb the crystal meth abuse by first nations across Canada. More than 340 aboriginal addictions counsellors and health workers will be trained in how to counsel addicts of methamphetamine. Measures to help prevent the use of crystal meth will also be part of the 30 hour certification program that the counsellors will learn at the Saskatchewan Indian Institute of Technologies.
“By training these skilled and experienced community workers in the prevention of crystal meth abuse, we are strengthening our response to this very serious health threat.” Dosanjh says.
Dosanjh has also reaffirmed Health Canada’s plan to spend, over the next three years, more than $6 million of its $29-million Drug Strategy Community Initiatives Fund on anti-drug programs geared to the West, considered to be one of the worst areas for meth and heroin addiction. Raising awareness and creating better support for users of meth and other debilitating drugs is a much needed step towards minimizing serious chemical dependancy in our communities.
Stem Cells Can Help Heal Spinal Cords
A group of scientists have used human neural stem cells to rebuild damaged spinal cord tissue in mice. This is very promising as it would help to regenerate tissue needed by those with broken backs. The cells themselves helped to rebuild what needed to be there on their own.
Third World First?
There arent that many things you expect to see unvieled in third world countires for their first global appearance. Luckily the Institute for OneWorld Health aims at reversing this trend for life saving drugs. With a business model thats a capitalists nightmare, the institute is a non profit organization that aims at developing drugs and other medicines specifially for third world diseases, at an affordable price. Currently their most promising drug is against visceral leishmaniasis, a disease spread by the bite of an infected sand fly that is associated with fever, weight loss, enlargement of the spleen and liver, and anemia. If left untreated, it is fatal to up to 200,000 people a year. It very encouraging to know serious funds directed towards common diseases that affect large numbers of people of little income are finally being addressed.
Frozen Ovary, or Frovaries
Women with ovarian cancer may soon have a new option, frozen ovaries. An ovary can be frozen and thawed than transplanted, a huge step for any transplanted body part.
The research is still in the testing phase with 6 out of 8 ovaries functioning perfectly after the transplant.