Universal Medicine

Fluoride is used in toothpaste as it is able to reduce tooth decay by strengthening tooth enamel. Fluoride binds to enamel to make it more resistant to acid attack from bacteria. It is naturally found in water supplies but varies in amount depending on the area. However, in the early 20 th century research led to finding that levels of tooth decay within a population were linked with the fluoride levels in drinking water. As a result, water fluoridation was introduced in an attempt to improve overall dental health.  Fluoridation is debated due to the worry about whether or not fluoride is safe and whether or not it is right to mass medicate a population. It has proved to be effective though, as research has found that children in water fluoridation scheme areas are less likely to develop tooth decay than those who aren’t.  Dental fluorosis is caused by ingesting too high a dose of fluoride over a period of time whilst the teeth are still developing. It is recogni...

CPR: Cardiopulmonary resuscitation is a technique used to restart a person’s heart and breathing once they have stopped. In order to restart the heart, rescuers may breathe into the person’s mouth to force air into the lungs, perform chest compressions, apply an electrical shock to the chest (known as defibrillation), use an artificial ventilator, insert a breathing tube into the throat or give drugs to stimulate the heart. Pros: Cons: By performing CPR, you can prevent death so long as it is used in the correct circumstances (i.e. when the person is unconscious, has no heartbeat and is not breathing). [For example, you shouldn't use CPR on a patient who is undergoing a heart attack because the heart is still beating. When the heart attack progresses on to a cardiac arrest and the heart has completely stopped beating, CPR can be performed.] There is a low success rate, especially for elderly people or those with complicated medical conditions (e.g. people with c...

The gut microbiome hosts up to 1000 bacterial species which encode for 5 million genes forming functions for host physiology and survival. This is used in order to ensure sufficient nutrients and to aid the production of vitamins such as B and K which play a major role in the immune system. This bacteria also digests the foods that are unable to be digested by the stomach and small intestine. Between the gut microbiome and the brain there is bidirectional communication occurring across numerous physiological channels. The vagus nerve(longest cranial nerve) exits the brain from the medulla oblongata of the brainstream to then travel laterally exiting the skull through the jugular foramen. This nerve contains different types of fibres: branchial motor - supplies muscles of the pharynx and larynx, visceral motor - responsible for transmitting information, visceral motor - carries parasympathetic fibres from smooth muscle of the upper respiratory tract, heart and gastrointestinal trac...

How does cancer spread? Cancer spreads when cells from a primary tumour dissociate and enter the bloodstream or lymph system, in what is known as intravasation. Then cells move through the system they have entered in a stage known as circulation. Eventually the cancerous cells will leave the transport system in extravasation, before colonising a secondary site. Notably, researchers have recently discovered a network of fluid filled tubes that account for about 20% of our fluid volume, and likely act as shock absorbers. They surround every tissue in the body and cancer cells that enter these channels have a direct passage into the lymphatic system, which leads to faster spread, but this revelation may help us tackle the task of slowing the metastasis (movement) of cancer. To where do cancers most often spread? Cancers often spread to the lungs, liver or lymph nodes first: ·         Blood is pumped to the lungs, and any cancer in the b...

Human Papillomavirus (HPV) is an extremely common sexually transmitted infection. It is mostly linked with causing cervical cancer in women as certain strains of the infection can cause cells in the cervix to grow abnormally which in some cases can lead to cervical cancer. HPV can also cause mouth cancer and genital warts in both men and women; and can cause penile and anal cancers in men.  However, only young women are readily and freely vaccinated through a school based programme implemented in 2008. Young men are not vaccinated freely so they are not protected against HPV related diseases even though they are still at risk. The vaccination of young women does offer ‘herd protection’ to some men as men who have sexual contact with vaccinated women will not be infected with high risk HPV. However, men who have sexual contact with men (MSM) are more at risk as neither party has received the vaccine.   The reason the vaccine is not readily available to young men is...