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How much power and influence do humans have when it comes to their healing? Is it luck, an individual’s own fierce determination and attitude, or what religion calls ‘God’s will’? The long-standing debate continues. Recently, however, three stories were presented to the media that shine more light on the discussion, reflecting great power within consciousness. [More]

The common thread between the District of Columbia, Washington, Colorado, Oregon, and Alaska is that they all have legalized marijuana for recreational purposes. Each state has their own set of rules on how they govern the purchase, selling, transportation, and cultivating of marijuana. There are many states that are working towards their own legalization of marijuana. Regardless of when or if that comes to be, the effects of marijuana are the same, it is substance that causes euphoria, a high that causes impairment. There is no employer that is going to take a risk of allowing a person to use marijuana and be employed. It is a risk hazard regardless of it being legal per certain states and remains illegal on the federal level. Therefore, people who want to get high and/or avoid anyone knowing that they have substances in their urine, aka pass a drug test; would use “fake marijuana” or “synthetic marijuana” or “Spice” [More]

Syracuse, NY native Ronnie Brower has managed to lose 425 pounds in just under two years. Not only is this feat amazing for the amount of weight loss, but it is a testament to Brower’s hard work as he lost the weight through old fashioned exercise and eating well. Two years ago, Brower was faced with news that his weight of almost 700 pounds could mean death before reaching the age of 30. Well Brower just celebrated his 30th birthday, and he did so over 400 pounds lighter, reaching his goal of 250 pounds. Along his journey, Brower often cited Taylor Swift’s songs as his inspiration as he continued to put in long hours at the gym. [More]

A smoking ban passed in New Orleans went viral across the city after midnight on Wednesday, April 22, putting out a once legal habit in a number of public facilities including bars, restaurants and entertainment venues (“Smoking ban goes into effect in New Orleans”, 2015). It’s a strikingly health conscious move that follows in the footsteps of many other cities, including New York, Chicago and Houston (“Comprehensive Smoke-Free Laws — 50 Largest U.S. Cities, 2000 and 2012”) [More]

Despite great advances in treatment, HIV continues to be an epidemic, and a large contributing factor for its spread is intravenous drug use. A recent outbreak of HIV in a rural Indiana community brings to bear more questions in this ongoing crisis. [More]

A recent study out of Ohio State University found that Acetaminophen may be numbing emotions in addition to physical pain. Acetaminophen is a common compound found in multiple over the counter drugs, the most widely used being Tylenol. There have been numerous studies measuring the effectiveness of acetaminophen on different forms and intensities of pain, but this study is the first to examine the possible emotional impact of acetaminophen. [More]

In recent years, however, the safety of the sport is being scrutinized as there’s a growing body of research evidence suggesting a clear link between football and brain injury. Specifically, repeated head concussions endured by many professional football players have been found to cause a brain disease known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). According to Wikipedia, chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is described as a form of progressive degenerative disease. Currently, this brain condition can only be diagnosed definitively postmortem, which means that it cannot be diagnosed in living people. [More]

With the number of adolescents and even younger children developing obesity rising over the past years, the question of the best way to address it has been examined recently. The “Teen Longitudinal Assessment of Bariatric Surgery” study concluded this year and results have been published (Micalsky, et al., 2015). This study focused on cardiovascular risk factors in adolescents who were severely obese, along with safety and health effects of weight-loss surgery procedures for that population. [More]

New research from Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health takes one more step toward finding the causative factors behind the development of schizophrenia (Stansfield, et al., 2015). Studying the brains of rats exposed to lead brought more strong indications that this kind of exposure may be a precursor to schizophrenia. [More]

Currently, rates of caffeine consumption in the United States are stable- the FDA indicates that as of 2012, the rates of consumption have not increased; however, the source of consumption – e.g.- energy drinks- has (Food and Drug Administration, 2012). This is contradictory with the casual observation of the the popularity of caffeinated energy drinks, such as Red Bull and Monster, and increasingly large serving sizes of coffee. [More]