The International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) founded in 1973 is the leading professional forum for science, practice, and education in the field of pain. Membership in IASP is open to all professionals involved in research, diagnosis or treatment of pain. IASP has more than 6,500 members in 123 countries, 83 national chapters, and 14 Special Interest Groups. The biennial World Congress on Pain, the world’s largest pain-related gathering, is international and multidisciplinary. Plenary sessions, workshops, poster sessions, and refresher courses comprise the program, and attendees can receive continuing medical education credits. The 13th World Congress on Pain will take place in Montréal, Canada, from August 29 to September 2, 2010. Here are details. If I had endless money and time, I would travel to nearly every corner of the globe to study pain at these international gatherings of multidisciplinary health professionals. Here is the amazing 2010 schedule. (The Beijing conference in late October — East/West approaches to pain solutions–is intriguing, but so is the Nice, France conference on the same dates.)
Monthly Archive for June, 2010
The promise that was America: the dreams, the heart-felt demands of my generation are still with us. We will work to make them a reality for now and forever, until the last child is fed, until the last old person is comforted, and the last sick one well, until there is no hatred and ignorance.
Kelp
Americans eat too much salt. It is found in everything we like: pizza, commercial meats, soups, breads, cakes, candies, soy sauce, cola drinks, and V8 juice–read the labels. High sodium intake increases our risk of weight-gain, high blood pressure and stroke. It’s a foolish shame we don’t eat more healthy sodium found in very ripe fruits like overripe citrus, plums, and in okra and celery. Those sources of sodium, not refined salt, increase ease of movement and calcium absorption. They help prevent bone spurs and arthritis. Celery also reduces cellulite and helps keep cholesterol in check.
Kelp, this lovely seaweed that dances in ocean water, provides not only sodium but all the other minerals we need for strong bones, teeth, muscles, and the heart. Here are other healthy sources of the salty flavor that are not salt.
We used to say, “A family that prays together stays together,” later changed to: “A family that plays together stays together.” Now it’s: A family that gets surgery together can enjoy the same junk foods. A New Jersey researcher has found that when two people from the same family — a husband and wife, a parent and child, or two siblings, for example — both get gastric bypass surgery to “correct” obesity, they shed more pounds than someone who has to go it alone, according to a report presented Friday at the annual meeting of the American Society for Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery. This makes sense when we remember a previous study, which found that overweight people, who hang out with overweight friends, reinforce each others’ habits. That’s not to say that all bypass surgery is a come-on to support the medical industry. I know of one formerly overweight person whose bypass surgery gave him a svelte figure, a new lease on life because it normalized his diabetes, and energy to walk five miles a day. It worked great for him so far. But I have also overheard nurses discussing the down side of weight loss surgery: a lifetime of supplements, complications, and even death. It costs less to eat better. Here are a few ways to lose weight and beat diabetes without the knife.
Western Medical Criteria of Fibromyalgia Syndrome
1) Widespread musculoskeletal pain of at least 3 months duration
2) Tenderness in at least 11 of these 18 Tender Points (9 symmetrical sites)
Occiput: suboccipital muscle insertion; Low cervical: anterior aspect of intertransverse space at C5-C7; Trapezius: midpoint upper muscle border; Supraspinatus: near the origins, above the spine of scapula; Second rib: upper surface just lateral to second costochondral junction; Lateral epicondyle: extensor muscle, 2 cm distal to epicondyle; Gluteal: upper outer quadrant of buttock in anterior fold of muscle; Greater trochanter: posterior to trochanteric prominence; Knee: medial fat pad proximal to joint line and condyle..
“Despite the fact that everybody knows intuitively that pain hurts, neuroscience today is incapable of explaining why this is so.” (International Association for the Study of Pain. “Pain and the Philosophy of Mind” Clinical Update, Vol. XV, July 2007.) To feel pain, we need a mind. However, Western science has long disconnected mind from body creating separate medical specialties to address them. Trying to explain pain as a set of chemical reactions falls flat on its face because it in no way describes our experience. Neither does it indicate our best course of action. Take a painful case in point: Fibromyalgia.
A Study Shows Damaged Corneas May Be Regenerated With Patients’ Stem Cells
WebMD Health News: By Salynn Boyles
June 23, 2010 — A regenerative treatment that uses stem cells taken from the patient’s own eyes is helping some blind patients see again. Italian researchers report that the stem cell procedure resulted in successful corneal transplantation in three-fourths of patients with blindness in one or both eyes, caused in most patients by chemical or thermal burns. Vision was at least partially restored in patients who did not have major damage to other parts of the affected eye, says study researcher Graziella Pellegrini, PhD, of the University of Moderna’s Center for Regenerative Medicine. Pellegrini and colleagues have performed corneal transplants in around 250 patients over the last decade using the stem cell technique, but it remains experimental and is not being done in the U.S.
Shilajit, a major Ayurvedic rejuvenation tonic, is refined from an exudate pressed out from layers of rock in the Himalayan mountains. Shilajit is composed of humus and organic plant material that has been compressed by layers of rock. The active principle of shilajit is fulvic acid.
Shilajit is a balanced general tonic comprising useful mineral and organic constituents that is taken to help digestion and with the assimilation of foods. Shilajit is often used in combination with other specific plant decoctions to, for example, support respiratory and genitourinary functions. Shilajit is also known as Mineral Pitch or Black Asphaltum, is a rich source of natural occurring minerals. Shilajit has been widely used in India, Tibet, China, Pakistan, middle eastern countries and Russia for common ailments to tonify the immune system.
Injuries are a major cause of death worldwide. Every year, more than a million people die from road injuries and traffic accidents are the ninth leading cause of death worldwide. Stabbings, shootings, land mines and other injuries kill thousands more, many of them young men. Hemorrhage, or excessive bleeding, is responsible for about a third of trauma deaths in hospitals and can also contribute to deaths from multi-organ failure. Reuters today reported: “A cheap and easily administered medicine which helps to stem excessive bleeding could save the lives of many thousands.” The new drug is tranexamic acid, or TXA. Three thousand years ago, Yunnan Paiyao (AKA Yunnan Baiyao) was discovered and it has saved lives in Asia ever since. I have devoted an entire chapter to this Chinese Miracle drug in Asian Health Secrets: The Complete Guide to Asian Herbal Medicine. It is cheap, highly effective for wounds, surgery, bruising, swelling and pain. Every home, car, ambulance, and office should have it on hand. The herbal capsule taken internally combines tonic herbs, including tienchi ginseng, and astringent herbs such as myrrh to enhance circulation, heal damaged blood vessels, and stop hemorrhage. It helps detoxify wounds when applied externally.
Here is the “World News Network” LINK for – Letha Hadady For additional herbal information please see the video section of this website.
In Greek mythology, Zeus decided to give the city of Athens to the god who provided the most useful gift to humanity. Poseidon, god of sea and storms, sent a bolt that created a spring. Athena, goddess of war, civilization, wisdom, strength, strategy, justice, and skill, created the olive tree, and won the competition. Olive wreaths were worn by Greek brides and awarded to Olympic victors. In Ancient Rome, a defeated army carried olive branches as a gesture of peace. Olive leaf is one of the most health-giving herbal teas.
