The absence of bone adhesion for a long time after a fracture is a vital problem for orthopaedist because it may lead to permanent impairment of organ functions, increase in the costs of treatment and discomfort of the patient due to the “bad choice” of the doctor. It is often a indication to start new methods of treatment and employment of drugs which could accelerate healing. Until now, a lot of methods which expedite healing and differently influence the clinical status of the patients were devised. The research of scientists from the University of North Carolina allow to hope that the new and effective weapon in struggling against the lack of bone adhesion will be stem cells. Read full text »

Our world is going faster and faster. So, modern man does not have enough time to relax. Advertising market offers many artificial substitutes, which enable us to regenerate and reduce our fatigue, without any rest. Energy drinks, intended for people who engage increased intellectual, psychical or short-term physical effort, are extremely popular these days. Because of their composition of carbohydrates, caffeine, electrolytes and other substances, they accelerate normal metabolism, improve the efficiency of human body and increase the concentration. However, uncontrolled drinking of this kind of liquids may lead to dangerous health consequences. Let’s look at the potential risks of energy drinks consuming. Read full text »

Recently people suspecting to have osteoporosis have a new simple method of diagnostics. A special tool allowing for detection of the disease is FRAX® algorithm which was developed by the World Health Organisation in collaboration with the Centre of Bone Metabolic Diseases, University of Sheffield (Great Britain). The algorithm is generally available on the Internet. An article which presents this tool also provides with broader introduction to its properties and directions for its use. Read full text »

Conference was prepared by students of the Local Committee Krakow of the International Federation of Medical Students’ Association IFMSA-Poland, Section of Medical Law and Commercial Law Section of the Association of Law Libraries Audience of the Jagiellonian University and the European Law Students’ Association in Krakow. The event is the fruit of cooperation between these organizations under the Medical Law project. Symposium held in Cracow, at the Center for Teaching and the Congress of the Medical Faculty of the Jagiellonian University Medical College, 13-14 May 2011.
In Poland and the world’s growing number of clinical research is an important aspect of scientific development. Students of the Jagiellonian University see this phenomenon. Read full text »

Obesity is one of the greatest threats to the XXI century. World Health Organization reports that since 1980 until doubled the number of obese people. In 2008, nearly 1.5 billion adults over 20 years of age were overweight. In this group, 200 million men and nearly 300 million women were obese. As many as 65% of the world’s population lives in countries where overweight and obesity kills more people than underweight. Obesity is now a big problem also in children. In 2010, nearly 43 million children under 5 years of age were overweight in the world. Read full text »

Echolocation, being a specialized form of spatial hearing, is most commonly associated with animals such as bats or dolphins. Human echolocation has been studied since 1950s, but so far the neurological basis of this phenomenon has not been established. Echolocation is thought to be a rare ability as it concerns only few blind people. However some studies show that both visually impaired and sighted may have a degree of such skills (1). Human echolocation still holds many secrets, but Canadian scientists put an end to one of them. Their study (2) published recently in PLoS ONE online journal, was designed to investigate which brain areas mediate natural human echolocation. Read full text »

Peripheral nerve injury is one of the greatest challenges in reconstructive surgery. Severe trauma, tumor infiltration or even neuroma resection may lead to irreversible nerve damage. While surgical intervention remains the gold standard, sometimes suturing of the nerve is not possible. Then transplantation is being taken into consideration. Apart from conventional autografting, clinicians may one day be equipped with artificial nerve grafts made from an extraordinary material, spider web. In spring 2011 scientists from the Department of Plastic, Hand and Reconstructive Surgery in Hannover constructed and tested special so called “nerve conduits”. Read full text »

Is it possible that our deep-rooted accent disappeared in the blink of an eye without our consent? Could it suddenly be replaced with another, foreign accent? Many people around the world fell victim to the mysterious syndrome which deprived them of the regional affiliation through a prosody disorder. What exactly is the foreign accent syndrome? Read full text »

Saliva is the natural environment of the mouth. Its presence is essential for the proper functioning of both hard and soft tissues. When we run out of saliva, normal activities such as eating or talking may become hard to bear. Read full text »

Good news for “double” moms. The results of a research carried out at the University of Utah (USA) confirmed that mothers, who naturally bear twins live longer, have more offspring and bear children at shorter intervals. Moreover, they give birth to the last child at a higher age than other mothers. Read full text »