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Tuesday, May 09, 2017

What Happens if You Smoke Marijuana Every Day?

Again, like every year, people will honor the day by smoking lots and lots of weed. Meanwhile, marijuana still toes the line between recreational drug and medicine, while the federal government deems it illegal without any health benefit.

The truth is, doctors and addiction experts have only had a whiff of evidence on marijuana's effects, positive or negative. Medicinally, marijuana can treat chronic pain, nausea and the effects of multiple sclerosis. However, experts are likely to tell you it's too early to define marijuana's effect without more testing. 

In the meantime, people continue to use the drug recreationally and medicinally. Here's what experts say happens when you smoke weed every day:

Dr. Stuart Gitlow, a professor at the University of Florida and a past president of the American Society of Addiction Medicine, said marijuana is much stronger than it was years ago, giving a more psychedelic feel rather than a mild sense of intoxication. 

A small percentage, he said, could have hallucinations and paranoia. However, the vast majority, he said, experience that mild high, which fades after several hours. 

After days of use, the pot becomes stored in the body's fatty tissue and THC is gradually released into the bloodstream, meaning a person can experience the effect of the drug around the clock.

Daily use, he said, promotes a chronic loss of attention, focus and concentration. Daily users perform at a lower level at jobs and at school. Focus and motivation also decrease, he said.

Caron Treatment Center Medical Director Dr. Joseph Garbely said about 15% of cannabis users develop an addiction. Daily users, he said, suffer memory, coordination, and problem-solving issues. For some, it could change the way a brain matures. Smokers who start young, he said, are more susceptible to being a daily user or becoming addicted.

Gitlow and Garbely concede we don't know all we need to know about marijuana. It took decades, Gitlow explained, for researchers to determine the affects of smoking cigarettes. 

Dr. Ryan Vandrey, an associate professor at Johns Hopkins Medicine, says you can't generalize marijuana users. Other factors need to be considered such as their dosage and the reason a person is using the drug. However, he said marijuana can have impact on how people perform at their job or at school. Withdrawal can occur after a period of long-term repeated use.

Dr. Gregory L. Taylor II, a primary care physician and assistant professor of medicine at the University of Southern California, said federal limits on research have inhibited thorough research on marijuana and its effects on the body. He said the research isn't "100% clear" on the drug's negative outcomes, adding there's no overwhelming data it contributes to certain cancers. If possible, he said the drug should be used under the direction of a doctor.


Sources MSN
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Published by Gusti Putra at: 11:30 AM
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Knows Your Health Based on Your Eye Color

What Your Eye Color Says About Your Health

Aside from whether or not you actually need those trendy frames, doctors can learn a lot about your overall health just from looking at your eyes. Conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and even brain tumors leave their mark on your baby blues — sometimes without even affecting your vision.

In fact, your eye color can actually be a hint about your risk for certain health problems. That certainly doesn't mean your eye color is somehow causing those conditions — or that having a certain color means you're definitely doomed to develop a certain problem — but knowing that color is correlated with those issues can help you be more aware of what you're up against, and how best to stay healthy.

Light Eyes Ilustration
Light eyes: If your eyes are blue, green, or gray, you may be at a higher risk for skin cancer than those with darker eyes, Ruth Williams, MD tells Everyday Health (though those with dark eyes also need to be careful about sunscreen use and getting regular mole checks with a derm). You're also more likely to develop age-related macular degeneration, one of the most common causes of vision loss. But you're at a lower risk for cataracts and vitiligo.




Dark Eyes
Dark eyes: If your eyes are brown or hazel, research suggests that you're more likely to have cataracts later in your life than those with lighter eyes. You're also more likely to develop vitiligo, a condition in which some of your melanin cells stop working properly which leaves you with patches of skin without pigment. On the flip side, you're less likely to develop skin cancer and macular degeneration.

Changing Color Eyes 
Changing colors: In some cases, a sudden change in eye color can be a signal of a serious health issue. If your eyes are suddenly red, for instance, that's a sign of irritation, infection, or allergies. And if the whites of your eyes turn yellow, that's a classic indication of jaundice: meaning you need medical attention ASAP.

Of course, you should check in with your doc any time you're concerned about a potential health issue — whether or not your eyes are your clue.

Sources MSN
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Published by Gusti Putra at: 11:16 AM
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Why Hair Turns Gray and Goes Bald


Scientists have pinpointed the cells that cause hair to turn gray and to go bald in mice, according to a new study published in the journal Genes & Development.

Gray hair
Researchers from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center accidentally stumbled upon this explanation for baldness and graying hairs-at least in mouse models-while studying a rare genetic disease that causes tumors to grow on nerves, according to a press release from the center.

They found that a protein called KROX20 switches on skin cells that become a hair shaft, which then causes cells to produce another protein called stem cell factor. In mice, these two proteins turned out to be important for baldness and graying. When researchers deleted the cells that produce KROX20, mice stopped growing hair and eventually went bald; when they deleted the SCF gene, the animals' hair turned white.
Ilustration gray hair

"Although this project was started in an effort to understand how certain kinds of tumors form, we ended up learning why hair turns gray and discovering the identity of the cell that directly gives rise to hair," said lead researcher Dr. Lu Le, associate professor of dermatology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, in a statement.

More research is needed to understand if the process works similarly in humans, and Le and his colleagues plan to start studying it in people. "With this knowledge, we hope in the future to create a topical compound or to safely deliver the necessary gene to hair follicles to correct these cosmetic problems," he said.

Souces MSN
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Published by Gusti Putra at: 10:54 AM
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Keep Your Skins by Wearing Sunscreen in One Picture

While nearly half of American women wear sunscreen regularly, only 18 percent of men follow suit — including your brilliant boyfriend who thinks Coppertone is a Motown cover band. You may have rattled off all the rational reasons why he should slap on some SPF: it prevents skin cancer, wrinkles, age spots, sunburns, and blotchy skin, but he just didn’t listen.

And while you were just thinking about how he is about to look like an old geezer real quick, a gift landed on your timeline. It’s a photo of Stephen Campbell, who is maybe someone’s boyfriend and definitely tragically sunburned.

Sunburn. Intense reddening of the skin on a mans back and upper arm,
resulting from 6 hours exposure to strong sunlight.
The sports commentator played three games of softball last weekend sans sunscreen and has the gnarly sunburn to prove it.

He had to show up to work with a tomato face, which was unfortunate for him because his work requires time in front of the camera. So you showed the viral photo to your boyfriend with a knowing glare. There’s a lesson to be learned here and Campbell said it best: Wear your sunscreen, kids.




Sources MSN
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Published by Gusti Putra at: 10:42 AM
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Most of kids in U.S have Ear Injuries caused by Cotton Swabs

Thousands of kids wind up in U.S. emergency rooms every year for ear injuries caused by cotton swabs, a new study reveals.
Cotton Swabs Warning
The analysis of federal data found that about 263,000 children were treated in emergency departments for ear injuries caused by cotton swabs over the 21-year period from 1990 through 2010.

That works out to about 12,500 such injuries a year, or about 34 injuries a day.

"The two biggest misconceptions I hear as an otolaryngologist are that the ear canals need to be cleaned in the home setting, and that cotton tip applicators should be used to clean them; both of those are incorrect," said senior study author Dr. Kris Jatana. He's with Nationwide Children's Hospital's department of pediatric otolaryngology, in Columbus, Ohio.

"The ears canals are usually self-cleaning. Using cotton tip applicators to clean the ear canal not only pushes wax closer to the ear drum, but there is a significant risk of causing minor to severe injury to the ear," Jatana said in a hospital news release.

Indeed, most of the injuries occurred while using cotton swabs to clean the ears (73 percent), the findings showed. The rest occurred while playing with cotton swabs (10 percent), or with children falling when they had cotton swabs in their ear (9 percent).

The majority of injuries occurred when children were using cotton swabs by themselves (77 percent), followed by when a parent (16 percent) or sibling (6 percent) was using a cotton swab to clean a child's ear.

About two-thirds of patients were younger than 8, and children under 3 accounted for 40 percent of all injuries, according to the report.
Putting cotton swab ilustration

The most common injuries were foreign body sensation (30 percent), perforated ear drum (25 percent) and soft tissue injury (23 percent). Foreign body sensation was the most common injury among children aged 8 to 17, while perforated ear drum was the most common among those younger than 8.

Ninety-nine percent of patients were treated and released. However, damage to the ear drum, hearing bones or inner ear can result in dizziness, balance problems and irreversible hearing loss, the researchers noted.

The study was published online May 8 in the Journal of Pediatrics.

Sources MSN
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Published by Gusti Putra at: 10:19 AM
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