Every year in the National Football League numerous players have been suspended due to violations of the leagues substances abuse policy. Players can receive suspensions for numerous reasons but the most popular is substance abuse, the two substances that continue to cause players trouble are marijuana and performance enhancers. Two completely different drugs that have two opposite effects, one that relaxes the body and the other that gives you the opportunity to create an unfair advantage over your opponent. Marijuana is legal in most states around the country but is still frowned upon by the league. NFL players are on the field every Sunday (Monday and Thursday as well) competing at high levels while crashing into their opponent head first. Over the years this has brought up the discussion of head injuries, concussions are a popular injury within the league and over the year’s doctors have hinted that three of them is the number at which decisions to keep playing becomes harder.

In this article I found on a former NFL player who suffers from CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy), a disease that basically eats away at your brain due to the head trauma the person has induced. Researchers have found that this disease has become more common over the past decade among former NFL players. According to this Daily News article, Leonard Marshall, an 11 year NFL veteran goes through everyday smoking his vaporizer to deal with his chronic migraines, his paraphernalia contains CBD (cannabidiol), found in the marijuana plant, but does not allow the user get high. Leonard is a supporter of the alternative and is pursuing the league to overturn the ban and how it is safer to use than the painkillers players are prescribed.

Current and former players are still trying to convince the league to allow the use of marijuana as a pain reliever. The reason behind this is player believe it can be a resource that can help against getting a concussion and also don’t want to run the risk of becoming addicted to pain killers. A CNN article discussed this matter with former Baltimore Ravens offensive tackle Eugene Monroe. According to Monroe players are faced with two decisions when it comes to dealing with the pain from the game, take the pain killers doctors are forcing down your throat and run the risk of later becoming addicted or seek treatment from marijuana, although you run the risk of suspension. In the past few season you have seen more and more young players chose the path of retiring rather than the other two options. Although the league has implemented rules that protect the player head and neck areas it still hasn’t stopped them from getting injured. Football is one of, if not the most physical sport in the world and over the years you have seen the playing rate at a young age decrease because of the fear of serious injuries. Players are beginning to value their personal health and long-term lifestyles rather than the money that is in the game.

A study done by doctor Daniel G. Amen was conducted in 2009 and he looked at the brain activity of former NFL players. He and his team recruited 100 former NFL players that had played in the league for more than three years to run tests on. The participants performed numerous MACF tests (Microcog Assessment of Cognitive Functioning) that measured their cognitive functioning and proficiency, as well as speed, accuracy and memory, the results were then compared to adults in the U.S. The next test was based on reactions and
they performed this task while being injected with a dose of Tc99m. Before and after that task the players were scanned for brain SPECT to measure the blow flow in the cerebrum. The study found that there were significant increases in every aspect of the MACF scores after the retest as well as an increase in cerebrum blow flow to all areas of the brain expect the temporal lobe. At the end of the study in 2010 players were reported to show improvements in areas such as, memory, mood and motivation.

I started playing football when I was about 7 and continued to into my high school years. Throughout those times as I got more knowledgeable, I realized that those players smashing into each other and getting injured could be me, but that’s not what stopped me from playing; I was 5’9 and 110lbs soaking wet sophomore year. You see these injuries players are having to deal with and there are so many products out there that are created to help prevent them such as kevlar rib protectors and shock absorbing helmets, but has anyone thought that maybe these player’s bodies need something to protect them on the inside. Surgeries take a toll on a body they become recurring and painkillers have now proven to be a very addictive and dangerous substance. The league needs a safe alternative to protect its players, if marijuana can be the solution is it worth trying?

Sources:

Vinton, Nathaniel, Dustin Foote, and Michael O’keeffe. “Former NFL Players Appeal to League to Embrace Marijuana Use.” NY Daily News. N.p., 30 July 2016. Web. 02 Dec. 2016.

Amen, Daniel G. “Reversing Brain Damage in Former NFL Players: Implications for Traumatic Brain Injury and Substance Abuse Rehabilitation.” Taylor&Francis Online. N.p., 08 Apr. 2011. Web. 01 Dec. 2016.

Kounang, Nadia. “Is It Time for Football to Reconsider Marijuana?” CNN. Cable News Network, 09 Mar. 2016. Web. 02 Dec. 2016.

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Tobacco is a resource that our country has depended on for many decades, over that time there have been discussion about how it is healthy and studies that have been conducted showing how it’s harmful. To this day it hasn’t changed people’s perspective about it and hasn’t stopped them from buying it. Growing up in the south where tobacco was the main resource I have always wondered if certain types of tobacco cause different types of harm due to their complexion. In this case, I will discuss the different harms moist snuff tobacco causes vs tobacco in cigarettes.

Chewing tobacco has been around for years and we closely associate it to baseball and areas in the southern region of the country. Cigarettes on the other hand have been around for much longer and are associated worldwide. Chewing tobacco comes in a few different forms, but the two most popular are pouches and either long or fine cut. When smokeless tobacco was compared to cigarettes researchers have said that they both contain the same amount of nicotine content, the only difference is how it was delivered. In this article, according to Johnathan Foulds smokeless tobacco was considered to be 90 percent less harmful than a cigarette. He also commented on how both products can still cause mouth cancer and how smokeless tobacco recedes the gums, but had no evidence of this because of the fact that we don’t truly know what goes into these products and how they are being produced. Oral pathologist, Brad Rodu added some more interesting points to this subject. According to Rodu, smokeless tobacco users had a much lower chance of mouth cancer than someone who smokes, he also added that using smokeless tobacco was one way of helping an addicted smoker quit.

Another article compared the health risks of chewing tobacco versus smoking and how it wasn’t true that it helped cure your smoking addiction. According the Parade article, people that have been convinced that smokeless tobacco is less dangerous for you and will help “kick” your addiction have been misled. They followed up by providing some information to support their claim, noting that smokeless tobacco still contains about 28 cancer causing substances and about 30,000 chemicals. They added that the sugar in smokeless tobacco was a factor in tooth decay and your gums are more likely to decay as well due to the chemicals.

A study done by the committee of Human Resources at the University of California, San Francisco studied 10 men, ages 24 to 61, that had or have a smoking addiction for a total of 5 days at their study center. The morning after a night without food or tobacco the study began by studying the participants in four different scenarios. The first was smoking cigarettes of the participant’s choice for a total of 9 minutes with a puff every 45 seconds. A normal amount of oral snuff was then placed in their mouths for 30 minutes and the washed out. The participants then selected a dose of chewing tobacco they felt comfortable with and chewed the brand they preferred which was disposed of at their convenience. Nicotine gum was then chewed (2 pieces) for two hours while blood pressure and heart rate were monitored. The results looked closely at the nicotine input levels and all the results followed one same pattern in that, the nicotine levels decreased as time pasted which is expected. Cigarettes held the highest input level followed by smokeless tobacco and then nicotine gum and the younger group of subject came out to have the highest rise in nicotine levels. Heart rate was a factor in this study finding that cigarettes and chewing tobacco had the highest bpm (36 and 35), oral tobacco was slightly lower (29), and nicotine gum came in the lowest (19). The study also found that the heart rate was at its peak in all four categories within the first 30 minutes of use, both heart rate and blood pressure were almost back too normal by the end of the session in all categories.I do not believe that smokeless tobacco can cure your smoking addiction although it has a lower nicotine input. Smokeless tobacco and cigarettes may as well be considered similar in context to the chemicals found in them based on the history of harms they do to your body. The chart I discovered in the study got me thinking about how cigarettes are more commonly addictive than smokeless tobacco based on their nicotine inputs. When I saw the comparison between all four categories I realized how the misleading topic of smokeless tobacco helping you “kick” your smoking addiction could have arose based on the level of nicotine input in the gum. Since the nicotine input in the gum is supposed to adhere to the addiction the reason so many people struggle with it is because the gum input is so low and they figured that smokeless tobacco has more nicotine in it but still cancels out the smoking portion of the addiction.

Sources:

Benowitz, Neal. “Nicotine Absorption and Cardiovascular Effects with Smokeless Tobacco Use: Comparison with Cigarettes and Nicotine Gum.” Wiley Online Library. N.p., 28 July 1998. Web. 01 Dec. 2016.

Quraishi, Fatima. “Smokeless Tobacco: No Chewing, No Spitting, and Fewer Cancer-Causing Chemicals?” ABC News. ABC News Network, 21 June 2006. Web. 01 Dec. 2016.

Parade. “The Risks: Chewing Tobacco vs. Cigarettes.” Parade. N.p., 25 July 2007. Web. 01 Dec. 2016.

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Exercising is a key component in a healthy lifestyle, but recovering from your choice of exercise is typically overlooked. We’ve all been in those situations after an intense workout where we need something to drink because our body have just worked so hard. When you exercise your body produces sweat to maintain a stable balance while your body is hard at work and your body needs fluid before, during and after exercising to prevent dehydration. So water should you be drinking in the situations for your body to compete at high levels and regain strength afterwards. Water is always a smart choice in every situation, but sports drink and milk have also been a high topic of discussion.

Hydrating your body is key in all three stages of exercising because your body needs to be replenished after it has been fatigued throughout your workout. An article that I found discussed the many factors that go into hydrating your body such as when, how, and how much. According to David Spierer sport scientist, water is the go to drink
when working out for a short period of time, but when your workouts are more intense water does not replenish your electrolytes. Sports drinks such as Gatorade contain sodium, potassium, and calcium which are direct factors in regaining electrolytes. According to the school ofmedicine at the University of North Carolina sports drinks with 4 to 8 percent of carbohydrates and sodium are more effective when working out for longer and strenuous periods of time than water. A brief survey done by the American College of Sports Medicine gave the recommended amounts of fluids that should be consumed before, during, and after a heavy workout (those statistics can be found in the article). They did not specify weather water or a sports drink was the better choice.

A study done by the University of Wisconsin surveyed people who walked on a treadmill for 90 minutes that drank Gatorade before the process. The hot conditions seemed to a variable that altered the physical performance of the participants who drank water, the Gatorade drinkers were found to have lower levels of exhaustion. The variable of the conditions you work out in was something that caught my eye because according to Spierer, water is the better choice in colder conditions because it moves through your body at a faster rate.

Another study done in Minneapolis and Bloomington was conducted of youth basketball players, ages 6-13, majority of them being female. Eight groups were formed with parents who surveyed the players and reported to the doctors with their findings. The study was done based off of their practice performances four times, and although it was not a game parents still commented on what they thought was the best for these during and after games. A survey was given to the parents that participated about the food and beverage choices they thought were appropriate for games. The study did not end of reporting which beverage was the better choice, but it did get feedback from parents about what they thought was the ideal choice. The study focused more on the nutrition side of preparing for games and recovering after them with foods such as fruits, dairy, and healthy sandwiches. They did have comments about sports drinks such as Gatorade, one side said that Gatorade was good for their kids since in replenishes electrolytes and can improve performance but other commented on the sugar intake from these drinks which can end up holding an athlete back from peak performance.

The take away that I got from this was that their needs to be a balance between the two and one can’t override the other. Water is always good to drink since it helps your body out in so many ways, but after exercising for a long time it doesn’t provide the same compounds a sports drink contains. I was always told to drink water during exercising because the sugar in sports drinks can slow you down but I also believe in balance so I would have a Gatorade at my disposable as well. I think that since hydrating after exercising is the time where you consume the most amount and replenish your electrolytes Gatorade is the choice because that will even out with the water you have consumed since you drank that before and during exercising. Although companies like Gatorade have started to market sports drinks for all three stages of exercise, I believe that water still needs to be the top choice since you haven’t lost anything yet. My reason behind it is because if your body is hydrated with water, that is much easier to work off than the sugar from sports drinks and since your body is saturated with sugar it will perform at a high level.

Sources:

Kent, Linda T. “Gatorade Vs. Water.” LIVESTRONG.COM, Leaf Group, 6 June 2015, www.livestrong.com/article/75369-gatorade-vs.-water/.

Thomas, Megan. “Exploring Parent Perceptions of the Food Environment in Youth Sport.” ScienceDirect, Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, 14 Apr. 2012.

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Christmas time is approaching and who knows what will be under the tree but there is a high chance that you will be opening a box or two with clothes inside. Everyone has their own style they rock and they want to look their best, but what color should you be wearing to accomplish that. We have all had someone say that classic line one time or another about how “you look great in that color”, everyone has an assortment of outfits but haven’t you ever wonder why someone says that about that one particular color. Sometimes someone will follow up with a comment about how that color brings out your eyes, hair, or goes nicely with your skin tone.

It just got me thinking about so many things. Is there one ideal color that looks good on everyone. I wouldn’t think so because of the fact that you may not even like that color. Are there certain colors for certain seasons of the year? Is the color you look best in your favorite color, if you like the color you have confidence and that must play a role in looking attractive. Do men prefer a certain color on themselves than a woman may, vice versa? What is the key to determining what is the most attractive color to wear?

I found a study done by some psychologists that examined what color looked best on one person compared to another. 10 white women and 10 white men, about 18-22 years-old were participants in this three-part study with six different colors to compare: yellow, green, black, blue, white, and red. In the first study each guy was photograph in every color t-shirt, those photos were then randomized and given to 30 women to rate (least to most attractive;1-10). Red and Black were the two most attractive colors with white coming in last. The possibilities the researchers came up with were that, it was just by chance red and black happened to look good on those people. The other scenario was that since the participants could see the color they were putting on that color made them feel more confident and their confidence made them look more attractive. They tried two more studies, the second one they digitally clothed the person so they couldn’t see the color and their facial expressions would most likely remain the same, but it still didn’t change any of the judge’s decisions as the results kept Red and Black a top. The third test they didn’t let anyone see the color of the shirt, they only had the raters grade the participant’s facial expression but that still didn’t change very much. The conclusion of the researcher’s study was that the men looked more attractive in red and black and they back that up by saying how the person wearing the color is more confident because it displays manly attributes such as dominance. They also mentioned the favorite color aspect of their study and how the majority of the world prefers the color blue. They also explained how another study who have to be done to see what color men feel most confident in to see if there are more than just those two colors that represent attractiveness for males.

Another study done by Deanna Radeloff of Bowl Green University went into this study deeper with more confounding variables. Her 276 participants surveyed models with specific colors on and had to give reasoning behind why they rated them where they did only base on the color not the person. She performed a study in which she had six different model; different ages, sex, hair color, and some had to adjust their facial expressions. Every model had two different color polo shirts one that was recommended for the season and one that was not, this was based off of Cayghill’s color system. Everyone had a different color shirt and the chromas of each shirt were also varied. The results came down to about 270 random people who would come up to the booth at the state fair and choose between photos and check a box as to why. The results were across the board; 44% of the people selected all six of the recommended polo shirts dedicated to that specific season, 35% got 5 of the 6, 23% got 4 right, 17% selected 3, 9% were 2 out of 6, and .4% only got 1. All of the participants had favorite colors and those percentages were much a higher although for some color it only was higher for a particular sex; red and blue were the two favorite colors among the random contestants and that was supported by the research literature. In conclusion to her study she found that the color of the outfits was what influenced the audience’s perception and was associated along with the attractiveness of the person.

I know that certain colors express certain feelings such as red relaying power and yellow portraying happiness, but everyone is entitled to feel confident in whatever they wear and in the first study that is what they were really getting at. They said how the person putting on that one color made them feel a certain way and that feeling made them look more confident and confidence is always an attractive trait. I relate the second study to a clothing catalog because of the use of the different chroma’s. You can compare a spring and winter clothing catalog by what color the clothes are, you might see a light green and white striped shirt in a spring catalog because those are bright colors but in the winter you may see a shirt with navy blue, midnight green and red.

Are you someone who has a specific color you look good in a like to wear occasionally or someone who is more go with flow and likes to dress seasonally?

Sources:

Roberts, Craig. “Distinguishing between Perceiver and Wearer Effects in Clothing Color-Associated Attributions.” Evolutionary Psychology. July 01, 2010. Accessed December 01, 2016.

Radeloff, Deanna. “Role of Color in Perception of Attractiveness.” Perceptual and Motor Skills. August 1990. Accessed December 01, 2016.

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I was sitting on my couch over breaking watching football and basketball and I noticed the hairlines of some of the players and the people in some commercials. Everyone knows it quite common for your hairline to recede when you get older and you can tell when it is receding by the high hairline and the indents on the top of the head. I was thinking, are there any other factors that could possibility cause your hairline to recede besides age. Do certain treatments cause your hair too thin out, is hair loss genetic, is it due to chance and it is just a matter of time.

Receding hair is due to hair lose commonly experienced by men more than women and usually occurs around your mid-30’s but can happen as early as your early 20’s. You will begin to notice a loss of hair over your temples that causes a widow peak on your forehead, and eventually form a bald spot on your head. This article breakdown the process of hair loss and the numerous causes it originates from, including hormones, genetics, ag
e, and stress. A sex hormone called DHT (dihydrotestosterone) found in men is r
esponsible sexual characteristics during puberty is a direct causes of hair loss in some men. When it continues to increase after puberty it can build up around hair follicles and it limits them from growing because it restrains them from receiving blow flow and it causes hair to fall out. Genes are another cause of receding hairlines. Scientist found that the gene AR
(androgen receptor) that is passed down from a boy’s father can cause hair loss based on the strength of the gene, it can start to show as early as a boy’s teenage years. Age is obviously a factor in hair loss with 65 percent of men showing signs of hair loss in their later years and 25 percent of them show signs of loss around 30 according to the National Institute of Health.

A study done by doctor Keith D. Kaufman surveyed a group of male patients ages 18 to 41 that experienced pattern hair loss. Two 1-year trials were observed while one group of men received an oral hair loss supplement while the other group was a blinded trial. The 1553 men who received the oral supplement were discovered to have shown improvement after every year while the placebo trail of 1215 men continued to result in loss. The oral treatment did not only slow down the hair loss, it also improved the quality of their hair while increasing the growth. The test was randomized among the men and the age at which they began to notice hair loss was divide between the supplement and placebo as well as U.S. and internationally. Another statistic that was shown was in every category more than 70 percent of the men had a family history of hair loss. Photographs of every patient were captured to record their progress and in this study and photo that shows a man’s baseline photo with a bald spot on his head was completely gone after 24 months of receiving the oral treatment. The oral treatment method that was used was to counteract the process of DHT, which they said was the main contributing factor in these men.

In conclusion, after reviewing the study it would be interesting to see how patient’s hair loss reacted to this supplement who did not suffer from DHT. Would that cancel out the process of getting rid of the DHT and go straight to increasing the hair growth? Since hair loss is so common among men there are many store bought products that can be used, but there were also teenagers in that study so would they just have to wait to use it or take a different approach? What is the approach you take if you carry the AR gene, can that be cured?

Sources

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Every year on the last weekend in April the most profitable sports industry holds their draft, the National Football League. It’s a three-day event which the order is organized based on the success of each team from the previous season, if you were awful you get the first pick and if you won the super bowl you get the last unless you cheated then you get nothing. NFL scouts are in charge of scouting colleges players to see who is the best and which players fits the teams scheme. The draft is a trickle-down effect and each team has their “big board” so when a player that is number one on that board gets picked fifth overall and that team has the thirteenth pick, they cross that player off their board.

May 8, 2014; New York, NY, USA; A general view of a helmet, NFL shield, stage, and podium before the start of the 2014 NFL Draft at Radio City Music Hall. Mandatory Credit: Adam Hunger-USA TODAY Sports

Each team is awarded seven picks in the draft, one for every round, it is up to them on what they want to do with those picks. Teams are allowed to trade picks to get higher up on the draft board, teams can trade back to get more picks in the draft, teams can trade players to get a certain pick, it’s all been done in the past. So what makes the 1st overall pick in the draft better than the 115^th pick in the fourth round: size, speed, athletic ability, college performance, maybe that player just wasn’t a fit for that team’s system. What happens when that fourth round draft pick is outperforming the top pick in his draft class?

Chart of the every team in the league who has been the best at drafting in the late rounds.

It happens every single year, there is nothing you can do about it, some teams predict it, others get lucky. The late round “steal”, considered to be a player selected in the late 3^rd round to early fourth round range or later. This player flew under every team’s radar and he’s now playing with a chip on his shoulder because he watched all those other players at his position get picked ahead of him.

Everyone is sitting at the game or watching it at home and they’re all thinking the same thing about the guy who just torched their team for a sixty-yard touchdown with :37 seconds left in the game to take the lead, “He was drafted in what round? where even is that college?”. Although that is not always the case with late-round picks its common, they just play the game with a different attitude than everyone else because they got their opportunity and they want to show the world that they deserved the recognition from the beginning.

I know who you already have in mind: Donald Driver, Kam Chancellor, and Geno Atkins, right? That’s just a wakeup call to show you how insane this league really is, those three guy were or still are superstars on their teams and they 4^th, 5^th, and 7^th round picks. Torry Holt was the first wide receiver taken in the 1999 draft, the same draft as Donald Driver, they both had fantastic careers with a ridiculous amount of receiving yards and touchdowns. So why wasn’t Driver the second receiver taken in that draft, Holt was the only guy who had more impressive numbers… Ohhhh maybe because Holt went to North Carolina State, a power five school in the ACC, and Driver went to Alcorn State, a D1-AA school, that makes sense, draft all the players that went to big school and then focus on smaller school, domination effect. 

The steal of all steals, he’s won a few super bowls, MVP’s, you name he’s won it. With the 199^th pick (6^th round) in the 2000 NFL draft, the New England Patriots selected, Quarterback Tom Brady, University of Michigan. Well that just totally blows up my last theory of the domination effect, everyone knows how big of a school Michigan is, so how’s a guy like that get drafted so late and become the face of the league. He’s 6’4 which is an ideal size for an NFL quarterback, he had an excellent college career at Michigan, he did only play two years though. I mean the teams that drafted quarterbacks ahead of him probably don’t even know those guy’s names anymore. Sometimes it’s just luck that he falls in your lap when you’re on the clock, sometimes it’s chance and it was meant to be, and then sometimes it’s whatever Bill Belichick keeps doing.

The draft is just another way to keep the league even more entertaining, teams look back and wish they would’ve taken that guy with their pick, but there is nothing you can do about, actually maybe you could try and trade some picks and players. It’s all a numbers game, in the end it’s all about who is holding the trophy.

Sources

http://www.complex.com/sports/2016/04/best-late-round-draft-picks-nfl/tom-brady-2000-6th-round-1999

http://www.nfl.com/draft/history/fulldraft?season=1999

http://www.nfl.com/draft/history/fulldraft?season=2000&round=round1#round1

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A few days ago I went to the dentist and the surprising news he gave me had nothing to do with my teeth, but it was correlated. The appointment was coming to an end, but he wanted me to do a bite test so he could see the alignment of my teeth for future reference. He put some wax over the bottom teeth and asked me to bite down, shift to the left, shift to the right, forward, and backward. He was pleased with my alignment but asked if that was normal. I replied back, is what normal? He said that my temporomandibular joint(TMJ) was popping when my mouth moved to the left with a significant motion. I told him that last fall when I was playing lacrosse I got hit in the side of the helmet and ever since it had popped like that, it didn’t hurt so I just thought that it was dislocated and there was nothing I could do to fix it. From time to time, whenever I would eat it would sound like someone squishing Jell-O in their hand. He said that the cartilage that’s in-between that joint and the temporal bone can be worn down over time with that motion and it could become very painful after the cartilage is gone. He told me that there was no surgical solution and to not make that become a habit.

 Your mouth is one of the most active parts of your body on a daily basis. The temporomandibular joint connects your mandible (lower jaw) to the temporal bone (cheek bone) and its motion range from up and down, to left and right, and side to side. This joint allows you to chew, speak, and let out that yawn you have before your 8am. The three main causes of temporomandibular damage (TMD) are dislocation, trauma, and damage to the cartilage disc. The habit that is most common that pertains to the damage of the disc is grinding of the teeth. Men and women have different joint forms and researchers have discovered that TMD is more common in women, their hormones can also be a factor of TMD.

Symptoms of TMD are simple, it hurts. Since the jaw is such an active bone in the body, it incurs a lot of action on the daily such as chewing. When chewing is traumatic enough on the joint a dislocation can cause it much more stress since it is moving a lot more. Depending on the person condition the pain alters, it can be grueling or it could not hurt whatsoever, either way dentist recommends to make an appointment as soon as possible.

There are many solutions into relieving TMD, doctors recommend your solution to be low-key instead of surgically repairing it. For patients who suffer from the habit of grinding their teeth, a custom night guard is an easy solution to this problem. If you don’t suffer from TMD, but still have a clicking or popping sound of your jaw there are plenty of treatments that are easy and assessable. Staying away from harder foods that put more stress on your jaw and choosing to either apply ice or heat for a period of time are just two ways to reduce the risk of temporomandibular damage.

Sources

Pelis, Donna. “When a Clicking Jaw Is a Sign of TMD – Colgate® Oral Care.” When a Clicking Jaw Is a Sign of TMD. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Oct. 2016. http://www.colgate.com/en/us/oc/oral-health/conditions/temporomandibular-disorder/article/when-a-clicking-jaw-is-a-sign-of-tmd-1215

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A disease that attacks and breaks down your body tissue when the cells in your body divide at a rapid pace. I have briefly looked into this over the past few years because I was concern for myself. The reason behind my concern was because four of the five men on my father’s side had cancer in the past. My grandfather passed away from lung cancer in 1983, my uncle passed away in 2009 from a brain tumor that he fought for four years, my dad was diagnosed with head and neck cancer in the fall of 2010, and my uncle had skin cancer in 2012. Cancer can be due to chance alone as many know, but other times it can be due to how you treat your body and how you manage your health. My mother’s dad has never been affected nor have her two brothers, the women on both sides have never had any scares either. So that really got me thinking that, what if there is a male gene on my father’s side that can trigger the disease. Although all of the cancers were different I was still curious if there was any possibility that cancer could be linked with genetics.

An article from Coriell Collaborative written by J. Chakma back in 2008 discussed the three different ways that someone could end up being diagnosed with cancer. Sporadic cancers are the most common, but have no link to the patient’s genetics. Familial cancers are cancers that happen to be linked to your genetics but your surroundings could also contribute to the cause. These two factors work together in forming cancerous cells, the cancerous cells that are inherited are correlated with the factors of your environment. Although genetics is included, this type of cancer is uncommon among your inheritance. Hereditary cancers are the third type; these type of cancers are very uncommon but still have the possibility of affecting someone who has the gene passed down. The gene is only likely to have cancerous connections, only a very small percent of cases is caused by the gene becoming cancerous. The gene still has a high chance of being passed down through inheritance but only if it is passed down through an autosomal gene.

Although you may obtain a cancer gene, that does not mean you are surely to get it, it’s only likely, but you are still at risk. You could also have no links to cancerous genes but still end up getting it, for example if you smoke you could be at risk for lung or neck cancer. It is a fact that all cancers are genetics, but it is unknown as to which cancers can be hereditary. Having a cancer gene does not always but you at risk of the disease, but when that gene spreads and affects all of your cells it then becomes cancerous. Studies have found that some types of cancers are more likely in certain families than others, such as breast cancer. Lung cancer is due to chance, but can be triggered by the status of your surroundings. When cells are affected by cancer, tumors are formed, but not all tumors are considered cancerous. A tumor that is malignant is harmful and corrupts the tissue that surrounds the tumor. A benign tumor is one that does not form around tissue but can affect other parts of the body such as blood vessels. It is still important to treat both cases with extreme caution since they can both have dangerous effects, treatment options vary among the type of cancer as well as the patients. Everyday researchers are working to find a way to find an easier and less complex way of treating cancer, since every patient is different every treatment process is also different. Sometimes one treatment may not work as well on one patient, as it does another although they may have the same type of cancer. Everyone has different genes and those genes react differently in certain circumstances.

Sources

Chakma, J. “Genetic Education – Is Cancer Genetic?” Coriell Personalized Medicine Collaborative. N.p., 2008. Web. 20 Oct. 2016.

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So a few years ago my 11-year-old sister came to my mom asking why she had so much more hair on her arms than most girls in her grade did. My mom replied “it’s a good thing trust me; people who have more hair on their arms are smarter.” I was sitting there also, and that kind of got me thinking, like there’s no way that’s true, she just said that to make her feel better, but it definitely has something to do with genetics. For some reason that always stuck with me and I always thought about it time to time, in school if I would see someone with a lot of hair on their arms, I would think, “I wonder what their grades are like.” In public if I saw someone with a lot of body hair I would think, “I wonder what they do for a living, where did they go to college.” When I would go to the doctors I noticed my doctor had a lot of chest hair and so I was like, “well that makes sense, doctors are very smart people, so maybe a lot of body hair is correlated with intelligence.” I thought this would be a great opportunity to look into this subject since we learned about correlation and chance.

A study conducted by Dr. Aikarakudy Alias looked at men and the relationship of their education level and amount of body hair.

His study was mainly focused solely on chest hair. According to doctor Alias students had more body hair than men who worked inferior jobs. He also discovered that men who performed highly in their degree were hairier than men who performed poorly. His study was conducted among mostly men who were about 22-years-old. He also found that doctors had the most chest hair along with highly educated men compared to the population. Alias studied this experiment in America as well as India. The study he conducted in America was of medical student and he found that 45 percent of those men were hairier than the population of the study. In India he expanded his study by surveying engineers and labor workers along with the doctors. He concluded that the engineers and doctors had more body hair that the laborers. He found that, out of the sixteen engineering students, hairier men got better grades. On a statistical level, he discovered that the top six engineering students had more hair on their bodies than the bottom eight. A deeper survey of his study found that the more intelligent men had hair on their chest as well as their backs. To concluded his study Dr. Alias said that even though the men with an abundance of body hair are perceived to be more intelligent, there are men with a lack of body hair or none at all that are still highly intelligent.

A blog post on Quora, written by Pavan Kumar had an opposing view on this topic. He opened up his post by clearly stating his opinion, that the assumption of ecsessive hair increasing your intelligence is false. Unlike Dr. Alias, women were not involved in his study. Pavan’s observational study was solely based off of scientific facts alone. He stated that the number of hair follicles in males, females, and chimps are the same…only the thickness of the follicles alter.  His post read that, although it may seem like men have more body hair than women and children and less body hair than chimps, looks can be deceiving. In his post he went on to discuss a simpler relationship not correlated to hair. He explained the relationship of growing 100 plants in two different areas. The first area was fertile, with good water supply. The second was less fertile with less water supply. Obviously over time the plants that were nourished well will look denser, although both of the areas have the same number of plants. In my opinion he is explaining a third variable that assists the plants into growing more densely. He then states that the third variable in men is testosterone, and how it affects the thickness of hair follicles. He compared the fertile area of the one test group of plants to testosterone and how they correlate to assist the grow of the variable they affect.

Sources:

Cooper, Glenda. “The Hirsute of Higher Intelligence | The Independent.” Independent, 11 July 1996, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/the-hirsute-of-higher-intelligence-1328285.html.

Kumar, Pavan. “Is Excessive Body Hair a Sign of Intelligence? – Quora.” Quora, 10 Aug. 2015, https://www.quora.com/is-excessive-body-hair-a-sign-of-intelligence.

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