Universal Medicine

The NHS offer screening tests for Down’s syndrome, Edwards’ syndrome and Patau’s syndrome between 10 and 14 weeks of pregnancy. There is a new blood test being launched that’s safer and non-invasive.  Down’s syndrome is a genetic condition that causes some degree of learning disability and certain physical characteristics. It also means a higher risk of other health problems such as heart disorders, thyroid problems, recurrent infections and hearing and vision problems. The condition is caused by an extra chromosome which is usually the result of a one-off genetic change in the gametes.  Women who are over the age of 38 are more likely to have a child with Down’s syndrome and this number rises as more women choose to have children later in life. The screening tests currently in place show the likelihood of having a baby with Down’s syndrome but more tests would have to be done to confirm it.  The screening test is available between 10 and 14 weeks of pregnan...

Anaesthesia is the practice of administering drugs to make patients insensitive to pain before surgery is carried out. Anaesthesia results in the loss of sensation, with or without the loss of consciousness. The first painless operation is thought to have been performed in 1842 by Crawford Long who used diethyl ether as an anaesthetic. There are two types of anaesthetics: local anaesthetics (used in epidurals during surgery or childbirth etc) and general anaesthetics (which limit physiological responses to surgical cuts, keeping heart rate, blood pressure and the release of stress hormones constant during the procedure). The ancestor of modern-day anaesthetics is thought to be cocaine- for example, cocaine was used to treat toothache in the late 1800s. Cocaine is the only naturally occurring local anaesthetic ; other anaesthetics are derived synthetically. Cocaine, however, is not readily used as an anaesthetic because it can cause psychological dependence (i.e. drug addiction)...

Sleep is a natural condition of the body and mind, which typically recurs for several hours every night in which the nervous system is inactive, eyes closed, postural muscles relaxed and consciousness practically suspended. It is an essential part of life and deprivation can lead to threatening consequences but why is sleep so important? Around a third of our lives are spent sleeping and this is what occurs during that time. Sleep is divided into two main stages non rapid eye movement (NREM) and rapid eye movement (REM). NREM is made up of 3 stages: Stage 1 is the stage between wakefulness and sleep and can last 5 - 10 minutes. Muscles are still quite active and the eyes roll slowly and may open and close. During stage one there is a transition from unsynchronised beta and gamma rays to more synchronised and slower alpha rays then to theta waves. The point in which you actually fall asleep is hard to pinpoint due to brain activity gradually slowing down. Stage 2 is whe...

One of the main treatments for cancer is chemotherapy – treatment through the use of medication. This often involves combinations of chemicals and can be used in a number of ways: To attempt to completely eradicate the cancer – curative chemotherapy. To improve the quality of life for patients with a terminal diagnosis, relieving them of symptoms – palliative chemotherapy. To combine with other treatments to make them more effective, for example chemoradiation - a combination of chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Often, chemotherapy is given intravenously over a period of time so as to avoid damaging healthy cells, but in some circumstances it is injected into the hepatic artery leading to the liver where the cytotoxic drugs can be digested. In other cases, the cytotoxic drugs can be consumed orally such as with lomstine (used to treat Hodgkin’s disease resistant to conventional therapy, malignant melanoma and certain solid tumours). There are a number of factors th...