Bone is built of two basic components: flexible fibers of collagen and brittle chains of the calcium-rich mineral hydroxyapatite. But those relatively simple ingredients, the springy and the salty, are woven together into such a complex cat’s cradle of interdigitating layers that the result is an engineering masterpiece of tensile, compressive and elastic strength. “We only wish we could mimic it,” Dr. Ritchie said. Read the full New York Times article - By Natalie Angier.

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes -
  Overview | Students gain a greater understanding of the anatomy and physiology of the muscular system, the skeletal system and connective tissue by researching joints in the body. They also reflect on the effects of injuries on their joints and learn about new treatment methods. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.
• The New York Times - Learning Network - Investigating the Complex Significance of Bones -
  Overview | Students examine the literal, physiological and figurative significance of bones through experimentation, then create their own skeleton-related exhibits for a "Bone and Skeleton Museum." Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

• Nurses using the new procedure, developed by experts at the Johns Hopkins medical school in the 1990s and endorsed last year by the World Health Organization, brush vinegar on a woman’s cervix.
• It makes precancerous spots turn white. They can then be immediately frozen off with a metal probe cooled by a tank of carbon dioxide, available from any Coca-Cola bottling plant. » The full New York Times article - By Donald G. McNeil.Jr. - Published: September 26, 2011.

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The Cervical cancer vaccine - who needs it, and how it works:

• The cervical cancer vaccine is the first vaccine ever designed to prevent a cancer. In the United States - where cervical cancer strikes about 10,000 women a year and causes up to 4,000 deaths - the impact of the cervical cancer vaccine will be tremendous.
• Worldwide, the impact may be even greater. According to the World Health Organization, there were 500,000 new cases of cervical cancer in 2005. » Mayo Clinic: questions and answers article.

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The cancer vaccine could be given to girls as young as nine. - Image and article

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• Related article: HPV Virus to blame for rise in throat cancer:

• Cancer of the back of the mouth and throat is on the rise, primarily because of more cases stemming from a viral infection called human papillomavirus (HPV), according to a U.S. study.
• The number of people who were diagnosed with HPV-related oral cancer in 2004 was triple the number diagnosed in 1988 -- due largely, researchers suspect, to changes in sexual behavior that have helped spread the virus. » The full Reuters article - By Kerry Grens - October 4, 2011.

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• The New York Times - Learning Network - The Vaccination Question:
  Overview | Students share opinions about common vaccines, then consider facts and opinions about the HPV vaccine and hold a “fishbowl” discussion. They then survey members of the community to determine their perspectives on the issue. » Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

• First, nowhere but in Hollywood does medicine, even in its most catastrophic form, unfold with the sustained hysteria that requires the beat of this unnerving, tympanitic score.

• The real horror of most disease is that it all moves so slowly, leaving everyone involved all too much time to think. The worse the illness, the more time seems to drag. » The full New York Times article - By Abigail Zuger, M.D. - Published: September 12, 2011.

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• The New York Times - Learning Network - Fear Factor “Contagion” can veer far from the reality of a viral pandemic. -
  Overview | In this lesson, students consider the movie “Contagion” in the context of public health and epidemics. They then learn more about the nature of disease outbreaks and experiment with using social media and other digital tools to track and map seasonal flu in their communities. » Go to this Health and Science Lesson.
• The New York Times - Learning Network - Pandemic Panic -
  Overview of Lesson Plan: In this lesson, students engage in an inquiry into influenza A (H1N1), considering the virus and the pandemic from multiple perspectives and acting as advisers to share factual information they learn with their classmates and school communities. Click here for a companion lesson for Grades 3-5.Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

• FACE
  Ask the person to smile.
  Does one side of the face droop? 
• ARMS
  Ask the person to raise both arms.
  Does one arm drift downward?
• SPEECH
  Ask the person to repeat a simple sentence.
  Are the words slurred?  Can he/she repeat the sentence correctly?

• TIME
  If the person shows any of these symptoms, time is important. 
  Call 911 or get to the hospital fast. Brain cells are dying.
  More from - Stroke.org

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Hospitals beating deadline for treating heart attacks

• In a spectacular turnabout, hospitals are treating almost all major heart attack patients within the recommended 90 minutes of arrival, a new study finds. Just five years ago, less than half of them got the patients’ clogged arteries opened that fast. » The full Boston Globe article - By Marilynn Marchione - Published: August 23, 2011.

Image source

Image source

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• The New York Times - Learning Network - Understanding Medical Responses to Emergencies -
  Overview | Students review their understanding of cardiopulmonary resuscitation. They then learn about other types of medical responses to common emergency situations and evaluate the importance of CPR. » Go to this Health and Science Lesson.
• The New York Times - Learning Network - To the Rescue! -
  Overview | Students learn about the trial of an automated cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) machine. They then investigate and role play first aid responses to a variety of emergency scenarios. » Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

• As a pediatrician, I was baffled by scientifically baseless attacks on the substances that have tamed smallpox, polio and a host of other deadly and disfiguring diseases, at least in the developed world.
• But as a historian, I found it even more bewildering to hear speakers claim that government-sponsored vaccines were a violation of the founding fathers’ design.
• Benjamin Franklin died in 1790 — six years before Jenner’s discovery and 190 years before the World Health Organization announced that vaccination efforts had succeeded in eradicating smallpox from the globe. Yet while composing the final portion of his “Autobiography” in 1788, Franklin reminded his readers about the importance of immunizing their children. His advice is especially useful today when so few Americans have firsthand knowledge of the panoply of once common killers now preventable thanks to safe, reliable vaccines.
• “In 1736 I lost one of my sons, a fine boy of four years old, by the small-pox, taken in the common way,” he wrote. “I long regretted bitterly, and still regret that I had not given it to him by inoculation. » More in this New York Times article - By Howard Markel, M.D. - Published: February 28, 2011.

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• The New York Times - Learning Network - Fighting Disease: Researching the History and Biology of Vaccines -
  Overview | What is a vaccine, and why do we need them? How do vaccines work, and how were they developed? In this lesson, students gauge their previous knowledge about vaccines. They then explore the history and biology of vaccines and create educational posters on the nature of vaccines and public opinions about them. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.
• The New York Times - Learning Network - The Vaccination Question:
  Overview | Students share opinions about common vaccines, then consider facts and opinions about the HPV vaccine and hold a “fishbowl” discussion. They then survey members of the community to determine their perspectives on the issue. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

A new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association this week found that one in five American teenagers now has some hearing loss. This is a 30 percent increase from just 15 years ago.
Adolescent hearing loss is not well understood. But sustained exposure to iPods and other MP3 music players may be a major factor, though the research is quite new.
How much do we know about the effect of the constant use of portable music devices on hearing, particularly in young people? Are other factors, like louder ambient noise in general, as much cause for worry? » More in this New York Times article and discussion.

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• The New York Times - Learning Network - Hearing the Warning Bells -
  Overview | Students explore hearing loss and ways in which technology can help the hearing impaired by experiencing a simulation of hearing impairment and by researching and presenting related topics. Students then investigate and evaluate possible dangers to their own hearing over the course of a week. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.
• The New York Times - Learning Network - Sense-itive Issues -
  Overview | Students consider the difficulties of adapting to the loss of different senses. They then work in small groups, each developing a fictional superhero who experiences a loss of one of sense and must learn to compensate for it with his or her other senses. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.
• The Learning Foundation - "Loud Music" - A Simplified Mock Trial - Go to this Simplified Mock Trial.

The new technique involves making them in advance by using random donor cells from human tissue to grow collagen on a biodegradable "scaffold" tube or mould made from a polymer.
When the scaffold dissolves away, fully formed blood vessels are left behind.
These are then "washed" of the original human cells so that they were completely benign and unlikely to cause any rejection in the body of a recipient. » The full Telegraph.co.uk article - By Richard Alleyne - Published February 2, 2011

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• The New York Times - Learning Network - Learning About Cell Renewal Throughout the Body -
  Overview | Students learn about the latest research on cell and tissue renewal. They then explore the various internal body parts and systems examined in these studies. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

It turns out that the bitter compounds work the opposite way from what we thought. They all opened the airway more profoundly than any known drug that we have for treatment of asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Senior author Dr Stephen Liggett said: “Based on our research we think that the best drugs wold be chemical modifications of bitter compounds which would be aerosolised and then inhaled into the lungs in an inhaler.”

Human lungs can detect bitter tastes in the same way as the tongue can and respond to the sensation in a particular way.
The discovery was made by accident when the team were studying muscle receptors that cause contraction and relaxation in the lungs. » The full Telegraph Uk article - By Rebecca Smith, Medical Editor (Published: 25 Oct 2010)

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• The New York Times - Learning Network - Allergies Acting Up? Dramatizing the Body’s Responses to Allergens
  Overview | How does the immune system react to allergens, causing allergy symptoms in some people? How can children, parents, doctors and communities respond to allergies, both mild to severe? In this lesson, students conduct a one-question interview to gather data on how much their classmates know about and are affected by allergies. Then, they work in groups to create a play to teach other, and others in the school community, about allergies, including how the immune system works in people with and without allergies. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

Chocolate may be loaded with calories, but it also may be good for your heart if it's eaten in moderation and
is also of high quality, new research suggests.
Researchers in Boston examined data from a nine-year study of 31,823 women in Sweden to determine the effect of eating
chocolate on heart disease and found that eating some of the sweet stuff may reduce the risk of heart failure.
The key findings:
Women who ate an average of one to two servings of high-quality chocolate per week had a 32% lower risk of developing
heart failure.
Women who had one to three servings per month had a 26% reduced risk. » More in this WebMED news article - By Bill Hendrick - Published Aug. 16, 2010

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• The New York Times - Learning Network - Fantastic Foods -
  Overview | Students learn about the health benefits of dark chocolate. They research other foods which they consider to be both healthy and delicious for a “classroom pantry.” Go to this Health and Science Lesson.
• The New York Times - Learning Network - Weight Training -
  Overview | Students conduct a class-wide survey collecting, compiling, and analyzing data about fitness, weight loss, and body image issues. Go to this Health and ESL Lesson.
• The New York Times - Learning Network - What Will You Do With Your Life?
  Overview: Students consider what it means to live a life well-lived by creating life lists of goals they would like to accomplish and analyzing patterns in the lists of their peers. Go to this Life's Lesson.

ISLAMABAD (AP) -- A case of the deadly, waterborne disease
cholera has been confirmed in Pakistan's flood-ravaged northwest,
and aid workers expect there to be more, the U.N. said Saturday.
The discovery came as new flood surges hit the south and the prime
minister said 20 million people had been left homeless by the
deluge. The full AP article Published: August 14, 2010

- WHO image source

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• The New York Times - Learning Network - Life in the Time of Cholera -
  Overview | Student learn about the way the 1832 cholera epidemic in New York affected urban life and reflected issues such as immigration and social class in the growing city. They then take part in a collaborative writing exercise in which they have a “conversation on paper” about various documents related to urban life during the Industrial Revolution. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.
• The New York Times - Learning Network - Pestilence and Plague -
  Overview | Students investigate various disease epidemics that have devastated the world population at different points in history and examine the diseases’ effects on the countries they impacted. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

But in the very near future, we're going to have to learn to live without them once again.
"The emergence of antibiotic resistance is the most eloquent example of Darwin's principle of evolution that there ever was," says Dr David Livermore. "It is a war of attrition. It is naive to think we can win."
Dr Livermore, whose grandmother died for lack of infection-killing drugs in 1945, is director of the antibiotic resistance monitoring and reference laboratory of the Health Protection Agency. - Continued after the images....

.... People of my generation were taught a lot about washing your hands before every meal, Professor Richard James, director of the centre for healthcare associated infections at the University of Nottingham, said. It was automatic that it was done. A lot of that has gone."
There are some innovative ideas about, he says, on ways of teaching children in school to wash their hands – in the hope that they will then go home and pester their parents to do the same. » Read the full Article - By Sarah Boseley - The Guardian, Thursday 12 August 2010.

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• The New York Times - Learning Network - Outbreak! -
  Overview | Students reflect on and research drug-resistant bacteria and the use of antibiotics. They then use their research to make board games that focus on the microscopic interactions among bacteria, antibodies, antibiotics and the cells of the immune system. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.
• The New York Times - Learning Network - It Might Come in Handy -
  Overview | Students will learn about the latest study on routine hand washing practices. They will then research some of the possible communicable diseases that can be transmitted by having lax hygiene. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

The definition of Alzheimer’s is plaque plus memory loss and other symptoms of mental decline. But what is not known because no one could follow the development of plaque before a person died, was whether people with plaque and normal memories were developing Alzheimer’s.
Brain scans that showed plaque could help with some fundamental questions — who has or is getting Alzheimer’s, whether the disease ever stops or slows down on its own and even whether plaque is the main culprit causing brain cell death. » » continued after the image

Daniel Skovronsky - Image source
Top, images from the brain of a cognitively normal volunteer; bottom, results from an Alzheimer’s patient. Plaque buildup is shown in red.

Dr. Daniel Skovronsky thought he had a way to make scans work. He and his team had developed a dye that could get into the brain and stick to plaque. They labeled the dye with a commonly used radioactive tracer and used a PET scanner to directly see plaque in a living person’s brain. But the technology and the dye itself were so new they had to be rigorously tested.
The Avid study was complete, and the full data will be presented at the meeting next month. Other companies, still doing their studies, did not yet have data to examine.
“This is going to have a big impact on Alzheimer’s disease, guys,” he told his staff that day. » The full New York Times article - By Gina Kolata, Published: June 23, 2010

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• The New York Times - Learning Network - The Science of Aging -
  Overview | Student reflect on the lives of older people they know, then research and debate the key issues surrounding scientific experimentation in anti-aging. Related New York Times article: » "Even more reason to get moving" - By Jane E. Brody - Go to this Health and Science Lesson.
• The New York Times - Learning Network - Learning About Cell Renewal Throughout the Body -
  Overview | Students learn about the latest research on cell and tissue renewal. They then explore the various internal body parts and systems examined in these studies. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Weight Training -
  Overview | Students conduct a class-wide survey collecting, compiling, and analyzing data about fitness, weight loss, and body image issues. Go to this Health and ESL Lesson.
• The New York Times - Learning Network - Supporting Friends (and parents of kids) with Eating Disorders -
  Overview | Students role-play scenarios in which they encounter a friend or acquaintance who may have an eating disorder. Students brainstorm ways to help the friend...Go to this Health and ESL Lesson.
• The New York Times - Learning Network - The Science of Aging -
  Overview | Student reflect on the lives of older people they know, then research and debate the key issues surrounding scientific experimentation in anti-aging. (Related NYT article: » Even more reason to get moving -By Jane E. Brody) Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Investigating the Mind-Body -
  Overview | Students learn about baseball players who incorporate yoga and meditation into their pre-season training. They then investigate a number of mind-body techniques to present and demonstrate to the class. Go to this Health Lesson
• The New York Times - Learning Network - Learning About Cell Renewal Throughout the Body -
  Overview | Students learn about the latest research on cell and tissue renewal. They then explore the various internal body parts and systems examined in these studies. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

• The New York Times - Learning Network - The Care and Feeding of Kids: Finding Information on Nutrition and Fitness -
  Overview | How healthy are children in America? Why did first lady Michelle Obama introduce a new health initiative aimed at reducing childhood obesity? In this lesson, students reflect on their knowledge of health, nutrition and exercise. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.
• The New York Times - Learning Network - Supporting Friends (and parents of kids) with Eating Disorders -
  Overview | Students role-play scenarios in which they encounter a friend or acquaintance who may have an eating disorder. Students brainstorm ways to help the friend...Go to this Health and ESL Lesson.

The Lindners share a defective copy of a gene known as BRCA1 (for breast cancer gene 1) that raises their risk of developing breast cancer sometime in their lives to between 60 percent and 90 percent.
Deborah Lindner began to seek support elsewhere, (and contacted) Bright Pink, a group of young women who have tested positive for the BRCA genes.
Lindsay Avner, its founder, lived in Chicago, and their meeting over coffee in the hospital lounge one evening in March lasted four hours. Avner, 24, had had a prophylactic mastectomy last year.
"You've got to see my breasts," she told Deborah Lindner, escorting her into the bathroom.
Avner's surgeon at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan had used a technique that preserved the breast skin and nipples, leaving a scar only under the breast. Deborah, still in her scrubs, said, "Wow."
Deborah scheduled the double mastectomy with Dr. D.J. Winchester at Evanston Northwestern hospital for the last weekend in June, three days after her medical board exams.

The surgery and reconstruction took seven and a half hours, twice as long as the doctors had expected. The incisions were small, Winchester explained when he came out, and hidden under the breast, so it had taken a long time to scrape out all the breast tissue. - The full IHT article - By Amy Harmon.

The New York Times - Learning Network - Talking about Breast Cancer:
Overview | Students share words and associations related to cancer. They then investigate and participate in dialogues about the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer. Go to this Health, Science and Life's Lesson.

Kenneth Ebron, 70, has been walking the halls of the intensive care unit at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. Mr. Ebron, who has lung and heart disease, chatted with Dr. Dale Needham.
Dr. Needham said, “I meet some doctors and nurses who just shake their heads.” But, he tells them, “What you think is impossible actually happens in my I.C.U.” And, he said, “Patients like it.”
Dr. Morris found in a pilot study that the patients also seem to recover faster, spending less time in intensive care and the hospital. The full Jan. 2009 New York Times article » By Gina Kolata

• The New York Times - Learning Network - The Beat Goes On -
  Overview | In this lesson, students take their own pulse before and after exercise as they learn about how the heart works. They then research various ways that heart disease is treated and suggest specific treatment methods for their own imaginary patients. Go to this Health Lesson.
  Extend the Lesson:

  A provocative new study published this year in the journal Heart and Circulatory Physiology suggests, however, that there may be a novel way to test at least one element of your heart’s health right in your own living room, right in the middle of the holidays. Sit on the floor with your legs stretched straight out in front of you, toes pointing up. Reach forward from the hips. Are you flexible enough to touch your toes? If so, then your cardiac arteries probably are also flexible. The full New York Times article » By Gretchen Reynolds

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Healthy Hearts -
  Overview | In this lesson, students focus on advanced technologies used to treat disease impacting the cardiopulmonary system; they then reflect on the experiences of having and overcoming illnesses. Go to this Health Lesson.

Jan. 21, 2010 -- Smokers with lung cancer who have asked "Why quit now, I'm already sick?" may find new motivation in this answer: Doing so could double their odds of survival over five years.The full webmed article »

  Photo credit imageafter.com

President Obama (who signed a bill) to regulate tobacco products noted that 90 percent of smokers began on or before their 18th birthday.
“I know — I was one of those teenagers,” he said, standing beneath a punishing afternoon sun at a Rose Garden ceremony. “I know how difficult it can be to break this habit when it’s been with you for a long time.” “Kids today don’t just start smoking for no reason,” he said. “They’re aggressively targeted as customers by the tobacco industry. They’re exposed to a constant and insidious barrage of advertising where they live, where they learn and where they play.”
The new law, the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, allows the Food and Drug Administration not only to forbid advertising geared toward children but also to lower the amount of nicotine in tobacco products, ban sweetened cigarettes that appeal to young taste buds and prohibit labels like “light” and “low tar.” The full New York Times article » By Jeff Zeleny.

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Health Conscious? -
  Overview | Students reflect on and discuss their attitudes toward health and illness. They help to educate each other by researching illnesses in small groups, creating a handbook and writing response papers. Go to this Health and ESL Lesson.
• The New York Times - Learning Network - Evaluating the Changing Perceptions of Cigarette Smoking -
  Overview | Students learn about the changing public perception of cigarettes over the century. They design a survey on people's views on cigarette smoking for homework. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

Eventually a simple blood test will lead to accurate "made to measure" treatments that can identify, attack and kill the causes of each patient's own individual cancer, they claim.
Professor Mike Stratton, of the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, a world leading research centre in Cambridge who carried the studies, said: "What you are seeing today is going to transform the way that we see cancer.
"This is a really fundamental moment in the history of cancer research."

All cancers are caused by damage or mutations to the DNA of formerly healthy cells acquired during a person’s lifetime.
This damage causes them to grow into abnormal lumps or tumours and spread around the body disrupting its normal processes and eventually – if unchecked – causing death.
In lung cancer the damage is almost entirely caused by smoking and in skin cancer or malignant melanoma by ultra violent sunlight.
The Sanger Institute studies used powerful new DNA sequencing technologies to decode completely the genome of both tumour tissue and normal tissue from a lung cancer and a malignant melanoma patient.
They then compared and contrasted the two to discover the differences and see what damage has occurred to cause the disease. The full Telegraph Uk article » By Richard Alleyne, Science Correspondent (Published 17 Dec 2009)

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Learning About Cell Renewal Throughout the Body -
  Overview | Students learn about the latest research on cell and tissue renewal. They then explore the various internal body parts and systems examined in these studies. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.
• The New York Times - Learning Network - Talking about Breast Cancer:
  Overview | Students share words and associations related to cancer. They then investigate and participate in dialogues about the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer. Go to this Health, Science and Life's Lesson.
• The New York Times - Learning Network - Evaluating the Changing Perceptions of Cigarette Smoking -
  Overview | Students learn about the changing public perception of cigarettes over the century. They design a survey on people's views on cigarette smoking for homework. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Promoting Awareness of Modern Addictions -
  Objectives: Students will: consider their understanding of addiction, brainstorm and research ’modern ’addictions, such as food, shopping, the Internet, and video games, create public service announcements promoting awareness of different modern addictions and resources available to help. Go to this Health and ESL Lesson.
• The Learning Foundation - Simplified Mock Trial Case - "I really want to play!"

Coping with unfounded fear:
While encouraging people at risk of severe flu to seek the vaccine, the CDC is working hard to make sure people know that effective treatments are available.
People at risk of severe illness should be treated with Tamiflu or Relenza at the first sign of flu symptoms. Although the drugs are most effective if taken within 48 hours of symptoms, they still are helpful if given later. More in this WEMED article By Daniel J. DeNoon

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Debunking Myths About Swine Flu Vaccine -
  Overview | What precautions should you take against the H1N1 flu? Should you get the vaccine? In this lesson, students identify and debunk some of the myths surrounding H1N1 flu, or swine flu, and the new vaccine for it. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Pandemic Panic -
  Overview of Lesson Plan: In this lesson, students engage in an inquiry into influenza A (H1N1), considering the virus and the pandemic from multiple perspectives and acting as advisers to share factual information they learn with their classmates and school communities. Click here for a companion lesson for Grades 3-5.Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

CT scans proved valuable Two studies published in the American Journal of Roentgenology show the need to check X-rays and CT scans for unusual features, and also point out swine flu can be tricky to diagnose in some of the sickest patients.
(in one study) CT scans of patients with severe cases of swine flu showed many had pulmonary emboli, which block the arteries in the lungs, a team at the University of Michigan found.
Anticoagulant drugs can break up these clots and save lives.
A team at the University of Michigan found..."The majority of patients undergoing chest X-rays with H1N1 have normal radiographs (X-rays)," Pulmonary emboli are also not normally seen in flu," Dr. Prachi Agarwalshe said in a statement.
"CT scans proved valuable in identifying those patients at risk of developing more serious complications as a possible result of the H1N1 virus, and for identifying a greater extent of disease than is appreciated on chest radiographs." The full Reuters article » (Reporting by Maggie Fox; Editing by Julie Steenhuysen and Cynthia Ostemran)

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Researching the 2009 Influenza A (H1N1) Pandemic -
  Overview: Students engage in an inquiry into influenza A (H1N1), considering the virus and the pandemic from multiple perspectives and acting as advisers to share factual information they learn with their classmates and school communities. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.
• The New York Times - Learning Network - Understanding the History of Twentieth Century Pandemic Flu Outbreaks -
  Overview: Students will examine the different types of pandemic flu viruses and virus “scares” that have occurred over the past hundred years by creating a master chart that displays the origins, transmission, symptoms, and socio-historical impact of each virus. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

October 6 - Update: Mass vaccination campaigns against the swine flu virus are underway in China and Australia and will be starting soon in the United States and parts of Europe, WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl said.
It was doubly important that health care workers be vaccinated, as it protects them as well as patients, he added.
"We would hope that everyone who has a chance to get vaccinated does get vaccinated," Hartl told Reuters. The full Reuters article » (Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Researching the 2009 Influenza A (H1N1) Pandemic -
  Overview: Students engage in an inquiry into influenza A (H1N1), considering the virus and the pandemic from multiple perspectives and acting as advisers to share factual information they learn with their classmates and school communities. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.
• The New York Times - Learning Network - Understanding the History of Twentieth Century Pandemic Flu Outbreaks -
  Overview: Students will examine the different types of pandemic flu viruses and virus “scares” that have occurred over the past hundred years by creating a master chart that displays the origins, transmission, symptoms, and socio-historical impact of each virus. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

The country’s top prosecutor, Keir Starmer, set out... new guidelines (which) are likely to make it easier for the terminally ill and those with degenerative diseases to receive help in committing suicide.
He listed 13 factors that could influence the authorities not to prosecute. These include the person aiding a suicide being motivated by compassion; the deceased clearly wanting to die; and the deceased being terminally ill, being severely physically disabled or suffering from an incurable degenerative disease.
Mr. Starmer said that the guidelines were an interim measure that would remain in place while his office sponsored a period of public consultation from now until Dec. 16. Final guidelines will be published in the spring, he said.

In her own statement on Wednesday, Ms. Purdy said: “I am relieved that common sense has won the day. I, and many others like me, want to be able to make informed decisions about the time and manner of our death, should our suffering become unbearable. We want to know whether someone we love will be prosecuted for helping us to die, even if that assistance is simply being with us at the end.” The full New York Times article » By Sarah Lyall

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Understanding the Quest to Protect Human Rights -
  Overview: Students explore the concept of human rights by developing and defending their own "Bills of Human Rights" and by writing a reflective essay that compares their notions of human rights and the protection of them. Go to this Building a Healthy Society Lesson.

“The Obama effect has been that women of all ages have been inspired to take responsibility for their health and their body,” said Rylan Duggan, a personal trainer who runs Go Sleeveless, a blog that instructs women how to tone up flabby arms.
“As the first lady of the United States, at 44 years old, and with two young children, Mrs. Obama has shown the world that you are never too busy to take care of yourself and look good doing it too,” Duggan said. The full online weekly health article »

Original image

5 easy steps to living long and well The behaviors are abstaining from smoking, weight management, blood pressure control, regular exercise and avoiding diabetes. The study reports that all are significantly correlated with healthy survival after 90.
A second study in the same issue of the journal suggests that some of the oldest of the old survive not because they avoid illness, but because they live well despite disease. Read more about the study in this article » By Nicholas Bakalar - NYT

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Creating “Life Lists” of Personal Goals -
  Overview: Students consider what it means to live a life well-lived by creating life lists of goals they would like to accomplish and analyzing patterns in the lists of their peers. Go to this Life's Lesson.

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Creating Health Resources for Students -
  Overview: Students consider the role of the nurse at their school and create informational pamphlets on health topics relevant to adolescents. Go to this Health and Life's Lesson.
• The New York Times - Learning Network - Evaluating Teens' Sources of Health-Related Information
  Overview: Students students research the answers to their own health-related questions, and evaluate the various sources from which this information comes. Go to this Health and Science Lesson. - Related information: "Teen Health Website" - Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

Today's advice, (August 21) published on the WHO website, said most patients were experiencing typical flu symptoms and would get better within a week.
It said Tamiflu (also called oseltamivir) and another antiviral Relenza (also called zanamivir) should not be given to healthy people who have only mild symptoms.
However, the drugs should be given quickly to patients in a serious condition or who appear to be deteriorating.
Those in at-risk groups - such as people with an underlying medical condition like diabetes - should also receive the drugs promptly.
Looking at children, the WHO experts recommended ''prompt antiviral treatment for children with severe or deteriorating illness, and those at risk of more severe or complicated illness.''
They went on: ''This recommendation includes all children under the age of five years, as this age group is at increased risk of more severe illness.
''Otherwise healthy children, older than five years, need not be given antiviral treatment unless their illness persists or worsens.''
The WHO guidance says doctors, patients and carers "need to be alert to danger signs that can signal progression to more severe disease." The full Telepgrah.co.uk article »

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Researching the 2009 Influenza A (H1N1) Pandemic -
  Overview: Students engage in an inquiry into influenza A (H1N1), considering the virus and the pandemic from multiple perspectives and acting as advisers to share factual information they learn with their classmates and school communities. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.
• The New York Times - Learning Network - Understanding the History of Twentieth Century Pandemic Flu Outbreaks -
  Overview: Students will examine the different types of pandemic flu viruses and virus “scares” that have occurred over the past hundred years by creating a master chart that displays the origins, transmission, symptoms, and socio-historical impact of each virus. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

Update:
Seven prominent organizations representing 450,000 doctors and medical
students are urging Congress to act on health-care reform.
Dr. Javette C. Orgain, president of the Illinois Academy of
Family Physicians, called 2009 "a monumental year for health care."
Orgain said she sees firsthand the effects of a "broken" health-care
system.
"Something is fundamentally wrong when my patients must choose
between the health care they need and deserve -- or food on the table,"
Orgain said.
Other medical organizations backing reform are the American College of
Physicians, American Academy of Pediatrics, American Medical Student
Association, American Osteopathic Association, Doctors for America and
National Physicians Alliance. More in the full Chicago Sun Times article » By Mary Houlihan

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Measuring the Impact of the Recession on Families and Communities -
  Overview: Students consider the loss of health care coverage among the unemployed and other ways that the recession affects the U.S. economy and families. They then examine and collect evidence of its effects on their own communities. Go to this Health and Building Society Lesson.

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Developing Public Awareness Campaigns About Health Issues Affecting Life Expectancy -
  Overview: Students investigate the relationships between health care, socioeconomic class, racial background and life expectancy in America and create public awareness campaigns designed to inform people about specific health risks that are known to lower life expectancy.
  Go to this Health and Building Society Lesson.

With its thrillerlike pacing and scenes of sexual coercion and teenage backbiting, the novel appeals to young readers, who say the book also gives them insight into peers who might consider suicide. “I think the whole message of the book is to be careful what you do to people, because you never know what they’re going through,” said Christian Harvey, a 15-year-old sophomore at Port Charlotte High School in Port Charlotte, Fla. “You can really hurt somebody, even with the littlest thing.” Read more about "Thirteen Reasons Why," - By Motoko Rich

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Reflecting on Teen Depression and Suicide
Overview: Student reflect on teen depression in the context of the bestselling book "Thirteen Reasons Why," then create proposals for improving mental health in their school community. Go to this Health and ESL Lesson.

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Discussing Strategies for Coping with Emotional Stress. -
Overview: Students reflect on the increase in self-injuring, specifically "cutting," among teens and then participate in a written discussion to identify and discuss healthy methods of coping with emotional stress. Finally, they conduct further research and write a mock dialogue. Go to this Health and ESL Lesson.

Although doing many things at the same time — reading an article while listening to music, switching to check e-mail messages and talking on the phone — can be a way of making tasks more fun and energizing, “you have to keep in mind that you sacrifice focus when you do this,” said Edward M. Hallowell, a psychiatrist and author of “CrazyBusy: Overstretched, Overbooked, and About to Snap!” (Ballantine, 2006). More in this NYT Article »

Try this fun Zen exercise.

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Evaluating the Costs and Benefits of Multitasking -
Overview: Students examine the effects of multitasking and evaluate its impact on their own efficiency.  Go to this Science and Health Lesson.

The tongue is more flexible, sensitive and tireless. And like other facial muscles, its functions tend to be spared in accidents that can paralyze most of the rest of the body, because the tongue is attached to the brain, not the spinal cord.
Read this NYT article » By Su-Hyun Lee

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Exploring State-of-the-Art Medical Technology -
Overview: Students explore new medical technologies to exhibit in an "Amazing Medical Machines" technology fair. Go to this Health and Science lesson.

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Understanding and Diagramming the Power of the Brain to Cause Motion -
Overview: Students test and reflect on how the brain receives, interprets and translates contradictory verbal and auditory cues into movement. Then, after learning about a new innovation in brain research and robotics, they diagram the brain and nervous system activities involved in voluntary motion and incorporate this knowledge into a creative work of science fiction. Go to this Health, Science and Building Society lesson.

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Discussing Strategies for Coping with Emotional Stress. -
Overview: Students reflect on the increase in self-injuring, specifically "cutting," among teens and then participate in a written discussion to identify and discuss healthy methods of coping with emotional stress. Finally, they conduct further research and write a mock dialogue. Go to this Health and ESL Lesson.

• The New York Times - Learning Network - The Life You Save...
Overview: Students identify common warning signs of depression that, if not addressed, could lead to suicidal behavior. They then write skits and create booklets in which they document appropriate suicide prevention techniques. Go to this Health and ESL Lesson.

"I think the leukemia taught me to think step by step," Van der Weijden said. "When you're laying in the hospital bed and feeling so much pain and feeling so tired, you don't want to think about next week or next month, you're only thinking about the next hour."You just be patient. You lay in your bed and just wait. It's almost the same strategy I've used here, to stay in the pack, to be patient, and stay easy just waiting for your chance." Read IHT Article » - The Associated Press

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Creating “Life Lists” of Personal Goals -
Overview: Students consider what it means to live a life well-lived by creating life lists of goals they would like to accomplish and analyzing patterns in the lists of their peers. Go to this Life's Lesson.

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Learning How Stem Cells Can Repair the Body -
Overview: Students research stem cells to learn how they function, the distinguishing characteristics of types of stem cells, and how stem cells may be manipulated by scientists to help bodies heal and regenerate unhealthy or damaged cells.  Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Learning About Cell Renewal Throughout the Body -
Overview: Students learn about the latest research on cell and tissue renewal. They then explore the various internal body parts and systems examined in these studies.  Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Creating Health Resources for Students -
Overview: Students consider the role of the nurse at their school and create informational pamphlets on health topics relevant to adolescents. Go to this Health Lesson.

Now new research suggests a link between that initial reaction to smoking and a specific gene variant that has also been linked to a greater likelihood for becoming addicted to nicotine.
Findings could have implications for the discovery of new, targeted therapies that are much more effective than current treatments for smoking cessation.
Ovide Pomerleau, PhD, of the University of Michigan says such treatment could be a reality within a few years.
"Things are moving really fast in this field,"he says. "We are making new discoveries all the time." Read this Web Med Article » By Salynn Boyles

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Evaluating the Changing Perceptions of Cigarette Smoking -
Overview: Students learn about the changing public perception of cigarettes over the century. They design a survey on people's views on cigarette smoking for homework. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Creating Anti-Smoking Ad Campaigns Geared Towards Kids -
In this lesson, students explore the many causes and effects of cigarette smoking in order to create anti-smoking campaigns geared towards other students. Go to this Health and ESL Lesson.

The new cells come from patients with 10 incurable genetic diseases and conditions, including Parkinson's, the paralyzing disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, juvenile diabetes and Down's Syndrome.
"They allow researchers ... to watch the disease progress in a dish, to watch what goes right or wrong," said Harvard's Dr. Doug Melton, who will head up the distribution of the cells. "I think we'll see in the years ahead that this opens the door to a new way of treating degenerative diseases."
Every cell in the human body contains the same genetic instructions, and in people with inherited genetic diseases, every cell carries the same mistakes, Daley and Melton said. More in this Article » By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor - Reuters

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Learning How Stem Cells Can Repair the Body -
Overview: Students research stem cells to learn how they function, the distinguishing characteristics of types of stem cells, and how stem cells may be manipulated by scientists to help bodies heal and regenerate unhealthy or damaged cells.  Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Learning About Cell Renewal Throughout the Body -
Overview: Students learn about the latest research on cell and tissue renewal. They then explore the various internal body parts and systems examined in these studies.  Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

The Institute of Medicine recently noted that you can meet your body’s need for liquids in many ways, including drinking coffee and tea (with or without caffeine) and eating fruits and vegetables with a high water content. Two clues that you may need to drink more are thirst and the color of your urine, which should be clear like, well, water.

If you are physically very active, especially in hot weather, repeatedly sipping cold water is helpful. But beyond two quarts, you may need to also replace the salts lost in sweat — for example, by drinking a diluted sports drink or eating foods with salt and potassium. More about health myths in this Article » By Jane E. Brody - New York Times

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Finding Evidence to Support or Refute Commonly-Accepted Scientific Claims -
Overview: Students investigate commonly-accepted scientific claims and gather evidence that supports or refutes them. They synthesize their learning by writing their own "Really?" columns modeled after those found in The New York Times’s weekly Science Times section. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

Chicago — Addressing a packed congregation at one of the city’s largest black churches, Senator Barack Obama on Sunday invoked his own absent father to deliver a sharp message to black men, saying "What makes you a man is not the ability to have a child. Any fool can have a child. That doesn’t make you a father. It’s the courage to raise a child that makes you a father.” Read Article » By Julie Bosman - New York Times

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Examining Options for Teen Parents Now and in Previous Generations - Overview: Students discuss the hardships of teen parenting today and throughout history and interview someone of an older generation about how attitudes, behaviors and options relating to teen pregnancy and parenting have changed over time. Go to this Health, Science and Building Society lesson.

For people hospitalized with advanced heart disease, it is better to have visitors than to lie quietly alone. But one type of visitor seems to be especially beneficial, researchers reported on Tuesday. That visitor is a dog. Read Article » By Lawrence K. Altman - New York Times

• New York Times - Learning Network - Researching the Roots of Our Attitudes Toward Animals -
Overview: Students will reflect on their attitudes toward pets and use animal images to design an experiment identifying factors that influence humans’ attitudes, feelings and ambivalence toward animals. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

Bacteria are by far the most active ice nuclei in nature," said Brent C. Christner, an assistant professor of biological sciences at Louisiana State University.
Christner and colleagues sampled snow from Antarctica, France, Montana and Canada's Yukon and found that as much as 85% of the nuclei were bacteria, he said. The bacteria finding was most common in France, followed by Montana and the Yukon, and was even present in Antarctica.
The most common bacteria found were Pseudomonas syringae, which can cause disease in several types of plants including tomatoes and beans. Read this LA Times Article »From the Associated Press

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Creating a Book of Seasonal Riddles -
Overview: Students use descriptive language to write riddles on their favorite seasonal subjects; they then illustrate the "answers" to their riddles using the medium of their choice, and compile both riddles and illustrations to create a book. Go to this Science and ESL Lesson.

Update: The United Nations estimates that 2.4 million people were severely affected by the cyclone and said last week that 1.4 million of those remained in desperate need of food, clean water, shelter and medical care. The government says 134,000 people died or are missing.
International relief agencies have complained strenuously that the junta is barring foreign aid and foreign relief workers from the worst-affected areas and that it is endangering survivors.
“I think the generals are doing what they do best, taking charge of everything, trying to keep themselves in complete control,” said U Aung Naing Oo, a Burmese political analyst who lives in Thailand. » Read this New York Times article.

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Following News Coverage in the Aftermath of the Myanmar Cyclone - Overview: Students analyze and summarize news coverage on the aftermath of the May 2008 Myanmar cyclone from a number of different perspectives, focusing specifically on problems and responses. Go to this Health, Science and Building Society lesson.

• Related lesson: The Learning Foundation - "It's my country/I can do what I want!" - Simplified Mock Trial Lesson Plan.

Lee was injured on July 2, 2006, during a geological field trip in the desert of California, when the car he was driving overturned. He emerged from a coma three days later, but his fourth cervical vertebra had been fractured.
Nevertheless, he was back to work in early 2007.
Every time he tested out a new device and adapted it for his own use, Lee said, he felt a little thrill, as if he had solved a scientific problem.
During lunch with colleagues recently, Lee amazed onlookers as he touched a headset microphone attached to his wheelchair with his right cheek to move the chair backward, and so prevent bedsores.
On his way back to his office from the cafeteria, Lee used his right cheek again to shift the wheelchair into cruise control mode. That mode buffers the shock when he uses his head to steer the wheelchair on a bumpy road.
"It's like downhill skiing," he said. - Read this NYT article » By Su-Hyun Lee

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Understanding and Diagramming the Power of the Brain to Cause Motion - Overview: Students test and reflect on how the brain receives, interprets and translates contradictory verbal and auditory cues into movement. Then, after learning about a new innovation in brain research and robotics, they diagram the brain and nervous system activities involved in voluntary motion and incorporate this knowledge into a creative work of science fiction. Go to this Health, Science and Building Society lesson.

The key to understanding E. coli's fingerprints is to recognize that the bacteria are not simple machines. Unlike wires and transistors, E. coli's molecules are floppy, twitchy and unpredictable. In an electronic device, like a computer or a radio, electrons stream in a steady flow through the machine's circuits, but the molecules in E. coli jostle and wander.
When E. coli begins using a gene to make a protein, it does not produce a smoothly increasing supply. It spurts out the proteins in fits and starts. One clone may produce half a dozen copies of a protein in an hour, while a clone right next to it produces none. Read Article » By Carl Zimmer - IHT

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Making Board Games About Drug-Resistant Bacteria and Antibiotics -
Overview: Students reflect on and research drug-resistant bacteria and the use of antibiotics. They then use their research to make board games that focus on the microscopic interactions among bacteria, antibodies, antibiotics and the cells of the immune system. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Debunking Common Misconceptions about Germs -
Overview: Students consider some common beliefs about germs and then create public service announcements that debunk (correct) a particular misconception. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

"The thing that's killing people is inaction," said Dr. Michael Sayre of Ohio State University, who headed the association's team that drafted the new recommendations.
Sayre said people not trained in CPR should do two things when they encounter an adult who has suddenly collapsed: first, call emergency services; and second, begin pushing "hard and fast" in the center of the person's chest.
This is necessary to maintain vital blood flow, according to experts. Chest compressions should continue until emergency medical services responders arrive, Sayre said. Read Article » By Will Dunham - Reuters

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Understanding Medical Responses to Emergencies -
Overview: Students review their understanding of cardiopulmonary resuscitation. They then learn about other types of medical responses to common emergency situations and evaluate the importance of CPR. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

The problem was that the location of (63-year-old Brooke Zepp's) cancerous tumor was so deep that (surgeons) would not be able to get to it to remove it without damaging organs.
The organs, including her small intestine, liver, spleen, pancreas, as well as parts of her large intestine, were outside of her body for about an hour-and-a-half and were kept chilled.
Zepp is now recovering and is doing quite well, as the surgery was a success. Read Article »

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Doctor's Dilemma -
Overview: Students consider the bioethical dilemmas faced by doctors and write case studies about relevant issues within a particular medical decision. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

• A Learning Foundation Lesson - Compare and Contrast the Florida case to the New York Times "Doctor's Dilema case" - Go to this ESL and Health Lesson.

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Debating the Merits of School Restrictions on Food and Drink -
Overview: students explore the concepts and content necessary to debate whether or not schools should regulate the quantity or type of food and beverages students consume, and develop position papers. Go to this Health Lesson.

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Supporting Friends (and parents of kids) with Eating Disorders -
Overview: students role-play scenarios in which they encounter a friend or acquaintance who may have an eating disorder. Students brainstorm ways to help the friend. Go to this Health Lesson.

But Henry Scowcroft, senior science information officer at Cancer Research UK, said: "The jury's still very much out on whether vitamin and mineral supplements can affect cancer risk.
"Some studies suggest a benefit, but many others show no effect and some, like this one, suggest they may even increase risk."
He added: "Research repeatedly shows that a healthy, balanced diet can reduce your risk of some cancers while giving you all the vitamins you need.
"Quitting smoking remains the most effective way to avoid many cancers. There's no diet, or vitamin supplement, that could ever counter the toxic effects of cigarette smoke." Read BBC Article »

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Evaluating the Changing Perceptions of Cigarette Smoking -
Overview: Students learn about the changing public perception of cigarettes over the century. They design a survey on people's views on cigarette smoking for homework. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

For decades, researchers believed that if people with diabetes lowered their blood sugar to normal levels, they would no longer be at high risk of dying from heart disease. But a major U.S. study of more than 10,000 middle-aged and older people with Type 2 diabetes has found that lowering blood sugar actually increased their risk of death, researchers reported.
The results do not mean blood sugar is meaningless. Lowered blood sugar can protect against kidney disease, blindness and amputation. But the findings inject an element of uncertainty into what has been dogma: that the lower the blood sugar the better, and that lowering blood-sugar levels to normal saves lives.
Read Article » By Gina Kolata - New York Times

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Finding Evidence to Support or Refute Commonly-Accepted Scientific Claims -
Overview: Students investigate commonly-accepted scientific claims and gather evidence that supports or refutes them. They synthesize their learning by writing their own "Really?" columns modeled after those found in The New York Times’s weekly Science Times section. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Identifying the Key Issues Concerning Home- and Hospital-Based Health Care -
Overview: Students share opinions about where patients might be treated for a range of ailments. They then investigate the key issues related to home- and hospital-based health care and write a reflection paper. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.