PC THE TOWN

For about two thousand years, Christians worldwide have celebrated the Easter weekend as the most holy of holidays. Believers who have trusted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior wait for this holiday as a way to worship and praise God, and focus on all that is spiritual. Much of the world also celebrates this time, but for different reasons. And, for those who do not profess a strong religious bent, the general consensus is that it is a good time to have a long weekend with lots of good food and big sales at the mall. Regardless of your reason to participate in church activities, special pageants or concerts full of music and drama, relaxing with family members with big dinners and lots of fun activities, or spending time in quiet contemplation, don�t miss the real focus of the Holiday. God performed a miracle on that first Easter Sunday by raising Jesus from the dead. Here is the account of the resurrection according to the Gospel of John, Chapter 20 (NIV) in the New Testament Bibl...

One of the most embarrassing skin conditions is acne, and you can usually find a lot of it especially on the faces of teenagers. The typical look of acne is red spots that break out due to many reasons� stress, genetics, and other causes. Acne can be serious or moderate, and there are some cases that require ongoing treatment by health care professionals. Here are some interesting statistics from the AAD (American Academy of Dermatology), which can also be located at this website--  http://www.aad.org/media-resources/stats-and-facts/conditions/acne : � Acne is the most common skin disorder in the United States, affecting 40 million to 50 million Americans. � Nearly 85 percent of all people have acne at some point in their lives, most often on the face, chest, and back. � By mid-teens, more than 40 percent of adolescents have acne or acne scarring, which requires treatment by a dermatologist. � The total direct cost associated with the treatment of acne exceeds $2.2 billion each ye...

Back in Biblical times, thousands of years ago, when someone shouted �Unclean, unclean,� that usually meant the person was suffering from a dreaded disease, typically leprosy. In that time it was commonly believed that you could catch that horribly disabling and fatal illness simply by being near someone or breathing the same air near the affected individual. Plus, it was a legal requirement for the victim to announce the fact they were in the area by shouting out those words. That way, everyone within ear shot could run the other way. Leprosy was seen as a plague on those who had it and a direct result of sin against their god. A lot of knowledge about leprosy has been gained since then, as in most all medicine. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), leprosy was recognized in the ancient civilizations of China, Egypt and India. The first known written mention of leprosy is dated 600 BC. Throughout history, the afflicted have often been ostracized by their communities and fa...

When you swallow anything, that item goes through a tube that connects your mouth to your stomach whether it is a liquid or a solid substance. That bodily throughway is called an esophagus. When that area gets irritated, you can suffer from more serious medical issues including a condition called GERD�Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease. If you have symptoms similar to heartburn or acid indigestion that is not caused by eating certain types of spicy food, you may have GERD. Also known as acid reflux, GERD can cause serious damage to your esophagus over time. The burping, heartburn, and spitting up associated with GERD are the result of acidic stomach contents moving backward into the esophagus (called reflux), according to KidsHealth.org. This can happen because the muscle that connects the esophagus with the stomach (the esophageal sphincter) relaxes at the wrong time or doesn't properly close. Many people have reflux regularly and it's not usually a cause for concern. But with GE...

When your primary care doctor raises the topic about any invasive procedure, most of the time people cringe about the thought of any type of surgery or medical treatment involving going inside your body. For men especially, a colonoscopy is typically going to come up in conversation with your physician if you are close to the age of 50, or have any type of abnormal bleeding in your urine or other waste. A colonoscopy can be a �routine� way of finding out if there are any abnormalities in your colon. For any patient, though, there is nothing routine about this procedure. Additionally, men over the age of 75 have a higher risk of additional health care problems. According to HealthLeaders Media, colonoscopies in seniors over age 75 should not be performed because risks of harm outweigh benefits; as many as 30% of these "potentially or probably inappropriate" procedures were still being performed, with huge pattern variation across the nation, especially in Texas. For patients b...

Memory loss can be caused by a variety of issues. Anyone can suffer from losing their ability to remember�illness, aging, blood loss, medications, injuries, and more. Catastrophic memory loss can occur with more serious problems related to accidents or diseases. An example would be amnesia, when the brain cannot function to allow even the simplest of information to be recalled like your name or even motor skills for muscle movement. Any of these types of memory loss are topics for further discussion. This particular blog post deals in greater detail with memory loss for seniors, who are more likely than the general population to have multiple issues concerning the lack of ability to remember who, what, when, and where, and sometimes how. As you age your brain begins to shrink naturally, according to this web article by Kenney Myers: "24 BLOGS WITH THINGS YOU CAN DO TO KEEP YOUR BRAIN SHARP AS YOU AGE". However, if you eat right and stay active you can actually reverse the sh...