HTNet - A Notepad of Tech, Business, Science and Self Improvement

The BBC reported that women suffering from endometriosis are more likely to develop ovarian, kidney and thyroid cancers:

Dr Anna-Sofia Melin and colleagues at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, looked at data on 63,630 women with endometriosis.

They identified 3,822 cases of cancer among these women - which is no more than the general population.

However, certain tumour types, including ovary and brain, were far more common with endometriosis.

Dr Melin said various theories for the link between endometriosis and cancer had been put forward.

Endometriosis is not really uncommon. It is estimated that about 90 million women suffer from the condition. I had an acquaintance that suffers from endometriosis. Since there are currently no cure for endometriosis, doctors usually subscribe to her a cocktail of painkillers to ease the pain.

In case you’re wondering what the heck blepharospasm is, here’s an excerpt from Wikipedia:

A blepharospasm (from blepharo [eyelid] and spasm [uncontrolled muscle contraction]) is any abnormal tic or twitch of the eyelid.

To put it simply, it’s one of those moments that you’re feeling as if you’re blinking ten or twenty times in a couple of milliseconds.

The good news is that boffins from the Department of Neurological and Psychiatric Sciences University of Bari in Italy have discovered that drinking a cup or two of coffee daily could reduce the risk of the condition:

He suggested that caffeine may block receptors in the brain that are associated with the tremor and explained a similar mechanism had been proposed for the protective effects of caffeine in Parkinson’s disease.

Professor David Wong, spokesperson for the Royal College of Ophthalmologists, said the condition was fairly rare.

“Sometimes the condition is so bad that the patients spend most of the time with their eyes closed - they are effectively then visually impaired.

“Eye doctors treat patients mainly these days with Botulinum toxin.”

I love coffee! Right now, I’m currently going through my stockpile of Super Power 6-in-1 Coffee, which I bought after reading this post by Joneh

Found this post from USA Today regarding one of the world’s most loved venereal disease (and one of the most hardest to spell); Gonorrhea.

Apparently, the bacteria that causes Gonorrhea has developed resistance to fluoroquinolones, an antibiotic that’s traditionally used to combat it. From the linked article:

Fluoroquinolones are widely used because they are effective against a range of bacteria and fewer people are allergic to them than to other antibiotics. Apparently, Douglas said, it’s easier for bacteria to mutate and resist fluoroquinolones than it is for them to become resistant to cephalosporins.

“Gonorrhea has now joined the list of other superbugs for which treatment options have become dangerously few,” Henry Masur, president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America told the Associated Press. “To make a bad problem even worse, we’re also seeing a decline in the development of new antibiotics to treat these infections.”

Scary scenario. However, I’m sure that the boffins in the pharmaceutical industry will take this as a challenge and rise to the occassion. But until then, please take adequate measures to prevent yourselves from catching VDs.

Remember, safe sex saves lives

I’ll be frank with you; I still smoke. Nevertheless, I think I manage to reduce my smoking habit significantly. Four years ago, I was on three king size boxes a day. Effectively smoking 60 cigarettes daily.

Now, one box lasts for two days, sometimes three. On Fridays, I’d only buy a smaller box containing 14 sticks, and they usually last until the following Monday afternoon.

Here I’ll share with you what I call the Boundary Method which I’ve been using to reduce my smoking habit and hopefully kick it altogether some time soon.

Read the rest of Using Boundaries To Help You Overcome Smoking »