PC THE TOWN

Here the school bell ringing? See the big yellow buses and the flashing yellow school zone lights (and the local police with their radar guns)? Stunned that the summer is just about over? Yes, it�s time to go back to school. Much to the regret of millions of children and teens, and to the delight of many more millions of parents, this is the time that kids start the annual ritual of heading back to the classroom. Actually, football players, and marching band, and drill team members have already been after it for at least a month during the hottest days of the year�getting ready for the first pep rally, the first game, and the first concert of the new school year. As the halls of academia once again fill to the brim with children and adolescents in elementary and secondary schools nationwide, the primary concern that educators and administrators have as top of mind is not really education. Health and safety are paramount as the most important aspects of educating young people. Books, ch...

The component of the causal study of disease and a major field in modern medical practice and diagnosis is referred to in the medical community as Pathology. The term pathology itself may be used broadly to refer to the study of disease in general, incorporating a wide range of bioscience research fields and medical practices, or more narrowly to describe work within the contemporary medical field of "general pathology," which includes a number of distinct but inter-related medical specialties which diagnose disease mostly through the analysis of tissue, cell, and body fluid samples, as defined by the Oxford English Dictionary. According to the American Society of Clinical Pathology, there are several types of medical professionals that study in the field of pathology: A general pathologist is a physician who examines tissues, checks the accuracy of lab tests, and interprets the results in order to facilitate the patient�s diagnosis and treatment. He or she works closely w...

A new disease has recently cropped up in the US called Chikungunya. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), this virus is transmitted to people by mosquitoes. The most common symptoms of chikungunya virus infection are fever and joint pain. Other symptoms may include headache, muscle pain, joint swelling, or rash. Outbreaks have occurred in countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Indian and Pacific Oceans. In late 2013, chikungunya virus was found for the first time in the Americas on islands in the Caribbean. There is a risk that the virus will be imported to new areas by infected travelers. There is no vaccine to prevent or medicine to treat chikungunya virus infection. More details from the CDC can be found at this site: http://www.cdc.gov/chikungunya/ . According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Chikungunya is a mosquito-borne viral disease first described during an outbreak in southern Tanzania in 1952. It is an RNA virus that belongs to the alphavirus ge...

Complementary alternative medicine has been offered by health care providers and holistic practitioners as an answer to help resolve certain maladies that people want as options to be treated versus traditional medicine. One of those methodologies is the use of essential oils. Essential oils have been used for thousands of years for their health, cosmetic, and emotionally uplifting properties. Primarily extracted through careful steam distillation, but also through cold pressing, the purest essential oils are far more powerful and effective than dry herbs, delivering quick and effective results. According to www.YoungLiving.com , while some essential oils may uplift the spirits, others may empower you to release negative thoughts and habits. Essential oils can be your key to a more fulfilling and balanced emotional life. Modern lifestyles don�t always create optimal conditions for physical wellness. Poor diet, lack of exercise, and an overabundance of environmental toxins can leave t...

The current deadly disease du jour is the Ebola Virus, primarily because it is currently receiving worldwide attention for an outbreak in West Africa. The World Health Organization (WHO) and other groups have designated the situation there as extremely critical and very dangerous. That status is likely not to change for the better anytime soon as there is now an apparent epidemic in several countries in Africa that are experiencing a rapid expansion of new cases. Don�t be deceived. Ebola is indeed deadly as there is no known cure for it. The current mortality rate is extremely high of people who have contracted the virus, believed to have originated in bats. The exact source is not known, but it is in form similar to another disease that has been determined by health experts to have the same type of origination.   Here is an infographic site to see the effects of Ebola: http://infographicworld.com/ebola/ . According to WHO, Ebola first appeared in 1976, in 2 simultaneous outbr...

Summer time is an idyllic time of year. The temperatures are warm, if not hot; and you can be involved in so many activities outdoors that it may be you just don�t have time to do everything you want to do. You can go on vacation with the family because school is out for a few months, and you can travel almost anywhere without worrying too much about bad weather. You can go to the beach, go swimming at the lake, lay out in your backyard to work on your tan. You can work outside in the yard, or take a hike in the mountains or the woods. There are just so many fun things to do during the warmer months�except deal with bug bites. Because you are more exposed during the Spring, Summer, and Fall seasons, and you usually are wearing less clothing during this time of the year, you�re more than likely going to get bitten by those pesky little creatures typically lumped into the same category called �BUGS.� They consist of mosquitoes, ants, bees, wasps, spiders, chiggers, and a host of other ...