Tuesday, August 5, 2008

POC tour!

last week we have our tour at the phil. orthopedic center located at quezon city.all of us in the group were excited and very eager to see the conditions of all the patients, most of them are for long term therapy and rehabilitation. as we enter in the nursing education building i was shocked because of a huge number of nursing students were waiting for their clinical instructor. it was a very special day for our mentor bacause it's her birthday and now on her golden year. as we go on to the different areas of the hospital my heart was touched by the conditon of many children with potts disease the most common cause of their stay in the hospital. many of them have their traction, cast and braces. i was really emphatic during that time. another area in the hospital was for the male ward mostly of them are also bedridden because of injuries inflicted to them such as vehicular accidents, fall, gun shots etc. our tour last only for about 4hours but poc will be one the hospital that i will never forget and will leave a memory for a lifetime!

Bisphenol-A it is really harmful?

Polycarbonate, a type of plastic, meets at least two of these three criteria for harm. It contains an ingredient, Bisphenol-A (BPA), which has garnered a lot of attention lately because of its use in baby bottles and its potential to damage developing humans and animals. Studies have found that BPA can migrate out of the plastic into foods and beverages, and then into you.


The bonds that hold BPA molecules together in a polycarbonate can disintegrate over time, when heated, or exposed to acidic or basic substances. Because of this, the BPA is never really safely locked away.* It’s that freewheeling, loose BPA that attaches to the food or beverage in a polycarbonate container and then leaches into your body.


In the body, BPA acts as an endocrine disruptor—masquerading as a sex hormone. This is a particular problem for sexual development, which is dependent on precise hormone signaling: Grow now! Develop hair! Don’t have breasts—you’re a boy! Studies have shown that BPA can harm developing rodents, even in small amounts. The question is whether it can harm humans in the amounts to which we are regularly exposed.


This spring, the Canadian health authority decided to try to ban baby bottles made from polycarbonate plastic. Even though the authorities concluded that the amount of BPA getting into people is less than a safe level, Canadian health officials worry that even very low levels of BPA could harm developing infants and children. Tony Clement, Canada’s Minister of Health said in his speech, “it is better to be safe than sorry.”


The United States Food and Drug Administration says that for now, BPA is safe for humans of all sizes and ages because more than three times less BPA gets into us than the level the government deems safe (0.05 mg per kilogram body weight per day**). But in a review published in 2007 in the journal Reproductive Toxicology, scientists argue that there have been more than 40 studies showing BPA causes harm in doses lower than the human safe dose.

Meanwhile, after reviewing over 200 individual BPA studies, a National Institutes of Health toxicology panel concluded that there is “some concern” that the amount of BPA coming out of polycarbonate baby bottles or the lining of cans can harm developing humans. “Some concern,” the report explains, means halfway between “negligible concern” and “serious concern.” It’s not definitely deadly, but it’s not safe either.

To sum up, people are not exposed to BPA at the level that the United States government says is dangerous. But many doubt the accuracy of that “safe level.” If knowing there’s even a small bit of BPA in polycarbonate bottles is enough to put you off, it may be time for you to switch to another food/beverage storage system.

Hormones released during sexual intercourse!

Then there is the biochemistry of the orgasm itself. Research shows that during ejaculation, men release a cocktail of brain chemicals, including norepinephrine, serotonin, oxytocin, vasopressin, nitric oxide (NO), and the hormone prolactin. The release of prolactin is linked to the feeling of sexual satisfaction, and it also mediates the “recovery time” that men are well aware of—the time a guy must wait before “giving it another go.” Studies have also shown that men deficient in prolactin have faster recovery times.

Prolactin levels are naturally higher during sleep, and animals injected with the chemical become tired immediately. This suggests a strong link between prolactin and sleep, so it’s likely that the hormone’s release during orgasm causes men to feel sleepy.

(Side note: prolactin also explains why men are sleepier after intercourse than after masturbation. For unknown reasons, intercourse orgasms release four times more prolactin than masturbatory orgasms, according to a recent study.)

Oxytocin and vasopressin, two other chemicals released during orgasm, are also associated with sleep. Their release frequently accompanies that of melatonin, the primary hormone that regulates our body clocks. Oxytocin is also thought to reduce stress levels, which again could lead to relaxation and sleepiness.

What about the evolutionary reasons for post-sex sleepiness? This is trickier to explain. Evolutionarily speaking, a man’s primary goal is to produce as many offspring as possible, and sleeping doesn’t exactly help in his quest. But perhaps since he cannot immediately run off with another woman anyway—damn that recovery time!—re-energizing himself via sleep may be the best use of his time.

And although there is conflicting information as to whether women feel sleepy after sex, a woman often falls asleep with the man anyway (or uses it for some key cuddling time), which is good news for him: it means she is not off finding another mate. When the man wakes up and she’s still there, he just might be ready to go again.

It’s also possible that sleepiness is just a “side effect” associated with a more evolutionarily important reason for the release of oxytocin and vasopressin. In addition to being associated with sleep, both chemicals are also intimately involved in what is called “pair bonding,” the social attachment human mates commonly share. The release of these brain chemicals during orgasm heightens feelings of bonding and trust between sexual partners, which may partially explain the link between sex and emotional attachment. This bond is favorable should the couple have a baby, as cooperative child rearing maximizes the young one’s chances for survival.

The bottom line is this: there are many potential biochemical and evolutionary reasons for post-sex sleepiness, some direct and some indirect—but no one has yet pinpointed the exact causes. One thing, however, is certain: we females better get used to it, because it doesn’t look likely to change anytime soon.

I will leave frustrated American women with one final thought: if you are upset at the ubiquity of the post-sex snoring phenomenon, remember that things could be a lot worse. A recent survey of 10,000 English men revealed that 48 percent actually fall asleep during sex.

Talk about coitus interruptus!

Congratulations to New Nursing Board Exam passers

After four years of hardship and training in the nursing schools a new batch of board passers was released by the phil regulatory commission last 2 weeks ago. many was shocked because of the result i would like to emphasize our 4 topnotchers who make it through the way of success, again they made our school one of the best performing nursing schools in our country, this is a living proof that it is not on the school but it is on the student wether he can make it. again i would like to congratulate Batch 2008 nurses. and im hoping that i could make it also next year!