Medicine Disability

Assess the patient s need for assistance in removing the tablet or capsule from the container, holding the container, holding a medicine cup, or holding a glass of water. Some patients with physical disabilities cannot handle or hold these objects and may require assistance... 

Alleviation of Illness , in The Power of Belief Psychosocial Influence on Illness, Disability and Medicine, edited by Peter Halligan and Aylward Mansel, Oxford Oxford University Press, 2006, pp. 55-67... 

The application of vaccine technology forms a core element of modern medicinal endeavour. It plays a central role in both human and veterinary medicine and represents the only commonly employed prophylactic (i.e. preventative) approach undertaken to control many infectious diseases. The current (annual) global vaccine market stands at in excess of US 3 billion. Immunization programmes, particularly those undertaken on a multinational scale, have served to reduce dramatically the incidence of many killer/disabling diseases, such as smallpox, polio and tuberculosis. 

A native of Portland, Christina is a former world-class athlete and former massage therapist with a B.A. in Russian and Japanese languages, now working toward a doctorate in naturopathic medicine. Hoping to eventually receive grants to pay for her education, she currently pays for classes with a part of her monthly disability income of several hundred dollars. 

The great Italian physician Ramazzini, who is considered to be the father of occupational medicine, wrote in the early 1700s about the health problems that beset the tradesmen of his time—the cobblers, the coopers, the tanners, the millers, and the others—who labored from childhood to middle age in work that they knew would ultimately kill or disable them. He described trades in which children entered the workforce at the age of 10 or 12 even though they knew that by the age of 40 they could be disabled or even dead. Although Ramazzini described the conditions and treated the sick, he couldn t do much to prevent these conditions. It is only now, in fact, over the past 40 years or so, that society has begun to recognize that a healthy workplace is not merely a desirable luxury, but a right for the worker and an asset to productivity. 

For established medicines, doctors and hospital pharmacists are asked to report serious suspected reactions including those that are fatal, life-threatening, disabling, incapacitating or which result in hospital admission or prolong hospitalisation for in-patients. They should be reported even if the effect is well recognised. 

Gdlberg, C. 8c G. O Brien (Eds.) (2000). Developmental Disability Behaviour. Clinics in Developmental Medicine number 149, London Mac Keith Press. 

Tu, J. 8c M.W. Partington (1972). Developmental Medicine Child Neurology 14, 457M66. Verhoeven, W.M. 8c S. Tuinier (1996)./ourna/ of Intellectual Disability Research 40, 502-508. 

Similar to opioids, the cannabinoid system appears to be intricately involved in normal physiology, specifically in the control of movement, formation of memories, and appetite control. Basic research has discovered that members of this family of compounds have the capacity to protect threatened neurons, thereby slowing neurodegenerative processes that ultimately lead to physical disability. As the function of the physiological role of endocannabinoids becomes clearer, it appears the system may be involved in the pathology of several neurological diseases, specifically multiple sclerosis, spasticity, and pain. In 1999 the German journal, Forschende Komplementar-medizin und Klassische Naturheilkunde (Research in Complementary and Classical Natural Medicine) commented ... 

Deborah Fidler and Laura Hahn, Colorado State University, Colorado, USA Lisa G. Shaffer, Signature Genomic Laboratories, Spokane, Washington, USA Susan L. Hepburn and, Eric J. Moody, Department of Psychiatry, JFK Partners, Colorado Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center (IDDRC), University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, Colorado, USA... 

In regard to neuroleptics, we found that pioneers in their use were most straightforward about its brain-disabling effects. We find the same phenomenon with lithium. Cade (1949) indicated that lithium, when used for other medicinal purposes, produced actual mental depression in a variety of patients, not just those suffering from mania or manic depression. The drug enforced a so-called quieting effect on persons he considered schizophrenic (dementia praecox, in his nosology) ... 

FIGURE 1-1 Relationship between the depth of the disabled submarine, the internal pressure of the submarine, and the percentage of the crew members likely to suffer from decompression sickness. Abbreviations DCS, decompression sickness DISSUB, disabled submarine fsw, feet seawater. Source Parker et al. 2000. Reprinted with permission from Aviation Space and Environmental Medicine, copyright 2000, Aerospace Medical Association, Alexandria, Virginia. 

As we saw with HIV, individual behavior, particularly high-risk behaviors such as unprotected sex and illicit drug use, has the ability to spawn epidemics. According to the World Health Organization, there are approximately 340 million cases of sexually transmitted infections a year worldwide (World Health Organization, 2003 a). These preventable diseases can result in illness, infertility, and disability, as well as death. It is imperative for infectious disease prevention programs and interventions to take these complex social-behavioral components into consideration (Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, 2003). 

Public disappointment that scientific medicine can neither guarantee happiness nor wholly eliminate the disabilities of degenerative diseases in long-lived populations, as well as the fact that drugs used in modem medicine can cause serious harm, naturally lead to a revival of interest in alternatives that alluringly promise efficacy with complete safety. These range from revival of traditional medicine to adoption of the more modem cults. ... 

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