Universal Medicine

With the Olympic Games around the corner, drug tests are almost at an all time high as athletes prepare for an intense summer of sporting prowess and talent. From the speeds of Usain Bolt to the endurance of Mo Farah, the Olympics is truly the greatest gathering of athletes across the world. But today, we're going to delve deep into how some athletes prepare for this prestigious competition. Looking back at the 2012 London Olympics, it was a great success for the USA as they topped the table for the most medals attained, with: 46 golds; 29 silvers and 29 bronzes. But, after the games, some athletes were stripped of their winnings as they tested positive for banned substances and therefore lost their 'achievements'. The list of athletes were: Nadzeya Ostapchuk - Belarus (Gold medal in women's shot put) Darya Pishchalnikova - Russia (Silver medal in women's discuss throw) Soslan Tigiev - Uzbekistan (Bronze medal in men's wrestling freestyle 74kg) Tyson ...

This week on Universal Medicine, we will be discussing the “historic agreement” which is set to be established with the new contract of junior doctors in England. As you may be aware, the NHS is the publically funded health care system in England; the largest single-payer health care system in the world. In November 2015, the Government made a contract offer to junior doctors. This contract planned to impose longer working hours with less pay – what the Government refers to as a way to establish a ‘7-day NHS’. Currently, the social hours are Monday to Friday 7am-7pm, however the new contract has the proposal of Monday to Saturday 7am-10pm. What’s the issue with this new contract, you ask? Good question. The contracted weekly hours are proposed to increase from 60 to 90, a pay-cut of up to 30-40% as well as removing safeguards of junior doctors. Why should you care? Well… not only will this lead to a more stressful and strenuous workload for doctors, it also affects YOUR patient ...

Chocolate...something that absolutely everyone adores from youngsters to older individuals. However, did you know that chocolate can bring plenty of health benefits? As usual, Universal Medicine always opt to provide medical news which individuals may not be familiar with so this week on Universal Medicine we will be revealing the possible remedies that a simply bar of chocolate could provide. Although there is a massive stereotype linking chocolate to conditions such as obesity and tooth decay, a recent study has portrayed the potential aid chocolate can bring to health. It all comes down to the amount of cocoa content which is used to orchestrate chocolate. Moreover, cocoa is obtained from the fruit grown on cocoa trees which is sourced in many areas ranging from Brazil to Ivory Coast which is the highest cocoa producing country as it provides 30% of global cocoa. So what's so special about cocoa? Well, it is packed full of a group of compounds known as "Antioxidants...

Modern medicine has made massive advancements since the times when we had to visit our village doctor when we were unwell.  Nowadays thankfully, your local pharmacy has access to a wide range of helpful drugs to help you back to your feet. However drugs don't just pop out of thin air, herbal remedies have been used for century's and in this blog post I aim to have a look at some of the traditional remedies that have transferred into modern medicine. Willow tree Bark is a good example of a traditional plant cure turned medicine. Willow bark can be traced back to 400 BC when people were advised to chew it to reduce fever and inflammation (also headaches) . It was found to be the chemical, Salicin, in the bark that gave it it's healing properties. In the 1800's , this chemical was first used as the basis for Aspirin (acetylsalicyclic acid) which is commonly used to reduce fever and inflammation but also as a preventative measure for heart attacks. Another tradi...

Why do we laugh at something we find funny? Is it a natural reaction? Does the brain trigger this? Well, laughing is a physical reaction from humans which contracts the diaphragm as well as other respiratory organs within the system. It is a part of the human behavior for positive feedback and social interaction and doesn't always occur after a joke or something funny. Sometimes people laugh at even the most basic of things; for example, saying hello to a friend can trigger laughter. It is a social interaction which bonds people and builds relations and one person laughing can gradually begin to initiate someone else to laugh. It's contagious! Laughing, the universal language. It truly is amazing to think that humans can communicate by simply laughing. What more, we are born with this prospectus language even if we were born deaf blind or both! Moreover, it is instinctive and occurs completely naturally. Usually, it is a visual representation which portrays a smile along ...

The Brain: the central control system of the entire body. Indeed, it is mesmerising to consider, while only weighing in at approximately 3Ibs, it controls all bodily functions and can process information at a peak of 120 m/s across the housed 100 billion neurones plus 1,000 trillion synaptic pathways! In order to sustain this metabolic activity, 20% of your body’s oxygen is consumed by the brain - provided in 100,000 miles of blood vessels to this one organ… truly mind blowing statistics. Interestingly, the net rate of activity is heavily influenced by external stimuli - that is the surrounding environment. Many people have experienced the first night effect (FNE); when sleeping in an unfamiliar setting, it is likely to take longer to fall asleep. Characteristically in other organisms such as birds and marine animals, this is a permanent adaptation to stay alert for potential predators. Although identified in the past, the reason behind the FNE has remained unclear. Recently how...

Concussion From non-league football to professional rugby...concussion is something which a catalogue of sports has to deal with. In fact, American football is the sport which involves the most individuals suffering from concussion with, a staggering, 20% of high school players (in America) who experience concussion. This week, Universal Medicine will be exploring the topic of concussion along with symptoms and an exciting prospect which allows concussion to be identified from the side lines. Concussion is described as a "Mild" traumatic brain injury, here the brain bounces or twists in the skull as a result of a collision of sort. Although it is described as a "Mild" injury, concussion does have negative impacts on the individuals as well as possible long term effects. Firstly, it is important to understand that long term effects of concussion are very rare and can pass over time. A long term effect of concussion is the difficulty in making decisions as well ...

   You may be wondering why there's a rather large image of pigeons right at the beginning of this blog post, however I assure you its entirely relevant. In fact these apparently stupid 'flying rats' could actually be life saving doctors in disguise. Pigeons actually have an impressive visual memory capacity, from their history as message carrying birds, their extraordinary visual memory has aided humans well and a study has shown that, when trained, pigeons can be as accurate as humans in detecting breast cancer in images. So maybe they are not gonna be the solution to our current doctor shortage but still pretty amazing. However pigeons are not the only amazing animal mother nature has created. Rats have also found a place in the medical world. Those who have watched ratatouille ( those who haven't should make it a priority) will know that rats have a superior sense of smell. With up to 1,000 olfactory receptors- well over 5x more than humans- rats have the...

Lasers and astronomers have now become good acquaintances over the past few years as the lasers help to sharpen the resolution of images to create beautiful landscapes of the vast empty space that surrounds us. What else is more beautiful? But, recently, astronomers could now go on to use lasers as a way of playing hide and seek from extraterrestrial creatures lurking in the deep horizons of space. The way to hide is reasonably simple yet slightly complex to understand. A star emits different radiations out in all directions at brisk speeds. If an object was to get into the way of a ray of light, it would terminate the light from travelling through it, as it creates a modest eclipse and a reduction in the volume of light that the star emits. This is a mechanism which has been used by the Kepler telescope to identify over a thousand iconic planets across the galaxy. According to astronomers, this is a similar way in which intelligent civilians would be using to look for us. This is w...

Last week on Universal Medicine, our primary focus was on discussing revolutionary past and present affairs of Medicine. In present time, many new theories are being proposed due to advances in not only technology, but also our scientific knowledge and understanding. This week, we will explore a more recent discovery; one that has the potential to reduce the risk of heart attacks by 50%. Heart attacks are a major problem, responsible for 7.3 million deaths each year. Clearly then, this is a serious crisis which vitally, must be overcome. In order to devise a solution to this issue, the underlying anatomy combined with the functions of the heart must be understood. Firstly and most simplistically, the heart is the organ that acts as the pump of the circulatory system, transporting blood around the body. In turn then, regulating metabolism by providing oxygen and nutrients to the cells, while simultaneously removing waste products such as carbon dioxide. For this function the heart, it...