Trigeminal neuralgia is disorder characterized by intense recurrent attacks of severe and lancinating pain in the trigeminal nerve distribution area. It frequently causes deep distress and lowers the quality of patients lives in general. The attacks can be triggered by everyday activities such as eating or smiling. Before the correct diagnosis made, it sometimes happens that patients are forced to undergo wrong treatments like complicated oral surgeries or teeth extractions, which leads to a profound sense of injustice and sometimes complete isolation. Read full text »

Yet another time achievements of the modern technology seem to stand against the health of its creators. Scientists representing Nascentis Medicina Reproductiva, Argentina, and the Eastern Virginia Medical School, USA, published their latest findings in the journal Fertility and Sterility, concerning an influence of wireless internet connection on human semen. Samples of sperm placed under a laptop connected to Wi-Fi showed decreased motility and greater DNA fragmentation. Researchers suspect, that this might lead to male infertility. Read full text »

Nowadays, look is very often the determinant of success both in personal and professional life. Slim people are better perceived by the society which put more trust in them. That is why so much interest is devoted to all treatments improving appearance. Read full text »

There is no doubt that the blood transfusion saves lives. Haemorrhages, malignant diseases of the blood, coagulation disorders do not necessarily constitute a threat to human life when the transfusion of blood or its components can be used. Unfortunately, despite numerous actions promoting honorary blood donation, there is a huge disproportion between the number of donors and the actual demand for blood in hospitals. The needs are massive – in Poland alone 2 000 000 transfusions are performed a year. Read full text »

In 1999, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) published a landmark report, To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System.¹ The IOM reported that up to 98,000 Americans die each year due to medical error and that more people were dying from medical errors than from motor vehicle accidents, breast cancer, or AIDS. The report defined safety as “freedom from accidental injury” and brought patient safety issues into the spotlight. While some complications are unavoidable, others are preventable errors. All possible measures should be taken to mitigate these errors and encourage safety in the operating room and all aspects of medical care. The IOM report was a “call to action to make health care safer for patients.”
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One of the greatest playwrights of the ancient Greece, Euripides wrote: “We do not exist without the pain and suffering “– it is hard to disagree with these words because the pain is a part of everyone’s life. It is often a symptom of the ongoing disease process the protection against external stimuli acting, but it is also a warning against dangers such as the body exhaustion. Read full text »

A study published in the Thorax journal reports that anticancer drug – bortezomib may be effective in auto-immune disease therapy. This regards especially to illnesses linked with tissue fibrosis. Mouse model of systemic sclerosis has been assessed. Bortezomib successfully blocked the development of the disease in animals. Read full text »