Well I started my project this weekend by having some of my family members do the survey. I was really excited to see some of the results, but it was hard for some of the people to answer the questions since they have not had concussions before. I orginally wanted to include people who have had and who have not had concussions in the survey, but after getting my first results back I decided to change it. I didn't really realize that for people who didnt have concussions they wouldn't beable to answer like more than half of the questions. Therefore instead of changing my questions I am just asking different people all of who would of had to have  a concussion once in their life.I think this way will work better anyways, because it will be people who have actually experienced concussions before. It will be thier ideas and thoughts about the precautions and warnings they had and took with their concussion, instead of someone just saying what they would have done if they were in the situation. I do think that I am going to recieve split results, because everyone has different ideas about concussions and head injuries. I just hope everyone realizes the dangers of concussions, because they are such a serious injury. I do have to change my list of people but I think if I get results from people who have experienced concussions my survey will be more successful.

Project

My project is basically just strating out. I know the topics I am going to focus around, and most of the questions I am going to ask. Most of my questions are yes and no while some are like the lickert scale. My case study is going to focus on concussions in the media, and how they bring about awareness and a personal story of a someone who had a concussion. Most of my questions are basic, but at the end I am also going to include a place for comments so people can explain in detail why they avoided concussion warnings.  I am really excied for people to start answering the questions and recieving the results. Through my project I hope to bring about awareness so other people who are faced in this situation can know the seriousness and take  precautions when they get a concussion.

Project

My project is going to focus on concussions; the reasons why people ignore the warning signs, and how we can show the seriousness of these injuries. For my project I plan to do a case study and a survey. I was thinking of focusing on one group of people, but then I decided to include all people boys and girls all ages to really get a sense of what people think throughout many different ages. I want to also include both athletes and non athletes to see the different opinions. I am going to do a survey, about different questions and topics like
- why people avoid warning signs
 - how can we draw more attention to this injury
  - do different sports expect differnt things or have different ideas on concussions
- why you would/wouldn't avoid the warning signs
- does you school/family effect your decisions on head injuries
My procedure is going to include articles about concussions. I want to include some stories about the long-lasting effects of concussions as well. I want to have the survey to show different peoples thoughts on concussions. Overall, I want to see the factors that play into concussions whether it be school, family or choices pertaining to the injury. I want people to know the seriousness of concussions and that they are not something that can be pushed to the side.

2nd Quarter Project

For my second semester project I decided to do a case study on concussions. Over the past few weeks I have been blogging regularly about different topic throughout the health world, and my last post on concussions was really the most interesting for me. I am an athlete and I think that is what draws me to this topic. I am going to research about why people avoid the warning signs and how we can draw more attention to the seriousness of this injury. I am also going to incorporate factors of money, class, family, friends, and schooling to my research, and add surveys to show others' opinions and thoughts.
I am really excited for this part of the project, I did enjoy blogging but I am glad to focus on 1 topic in health care.

Keeping Quiet Can Keep You Out of the Game

Concussions are a serious problem that high school athletes face throughout the season. Whether they are scared to report them because they do not want to lose playing time or that they do not know the symptons of what a concussion are, athletes are hurting themselves because they are not taking proper care of this serious head injury. Concussions can come from many different things, a header in soccer, a tackle in football, or a collision in basketball and there are not certain symptons that make you have a concussion. Symptons range from headaches, dizziness, naseau, sensitivity to light and sound, and lack of focus or attention. Concussions are serious injuries that have lasting impacts athletes. Raising awareness for concussions is important if we want to save our athletes from brain damage now and in the future.
This video I thought was a very good way to show the seriousness of a concussion. Tracy in the video got two concussions back to back and never said anything about the first one. Her decision to not tell anyone about her injury ultimately hurt her in the long run since after this injury she could not play sports anymore. I feel a lot of athletes now-a-days do the same thing and ignore a head injury because they want to continue to play. If we want our athletes to still play we have to tell them about the terrible conditions a concussion can lead to if they do not treat it correctly. Concussions are very serious and I believe all athletes should see videos like this to raise their awareness about the seriousness of a concussion.

After learning in class today about psychological and sociological explanations of deviance, I found an interesting article about depression that relates to both of these two factors.
In a recent British study, researchers found that people who  battle despression 79% of them have reported that they have faced descrimination at some point. This statistic was not only people from Britain, but it included over 1,000 people from 35 different countries, which makes this a problem people face world wide. People  who believe they are descriminated against because they are depressed, and those who choose not to get help because of the fear of being descriminated against both face a psychological problem. Yet this problem of depression shows that it is not only psychological problems because people are not only becoming depressed because of thoughts or events in their life. People are depressed because they feel descriminated against at public places like work, and school, and in relationships with co-workers, and friends. Much more research is needed, and descrimination in depression is going to be looked at much more because of this recent finding.
This article jumped right out at me after I read it. It related alot of what we talked about in class like psychological and sociological explanations to depression, a mental problem that people throughout the world deal with everyday. Depression is a very serious topic in our country and results for 38,000 deaths a year in the United States alone. I think depression is confusing, no one really knows what a person is thinking about or even why they are thinking about it. The fact that 79% of people who are depressed because of descrimination is disturbing and something that needs to be fixed.

In yesterdays (10/10/12) New York Post in the Health section was an article about breast cancer. I know cancer is a serious and gloomy topic, but I believe it is good to raise awareness and talk about considering October is breast cancer awareness month.
Breast Cancer a majority of the time is cured for most people because with doctors improved screening diagnoses cancer can be seen at early stages. When cancer is found, surgery is the first step to recovery. Two different surgeries can be performed to get rid of the cancer either a lumpectomy or a mastectomy, depending on the condition the doctors choose which is best for one's condition. After surgery there are many therapies that are preformed to stop the cancer from coming back, these are chemotherapy, hormonal therapy, targeted drugs and radiation. Each has their own personal benefits and it mostly depends on the doctors point of view and what they think is best for the patients condition. Cancer is a scary thing but with today's knowledge and advancement, they are well on there way to treating and curing patients of this awful disease.

 I felt this article was a good way to show that although cancer is very serious that there are many cures to make it better. October is breast cancer awareness month and I believe that this is a great opportunity for people to learn about cancer. In my own personal experience three of my family members have battled breast cancer. It is a scary time throughout the process but through successful surgeries chemotherapy and radiation each of them have been healed and healthy.

Today I decided not to blog about health hints and facts but about a serious problem that was discovered today.  Over 91 people throughout the country were charged with Medicare fraud amounting to over 429 million dollars. Doctors, nurses, and other hospital professionals in Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Brooklyn, Baton Rouge, Los Angeles and Miami were involved in the case where they tried to steal taxpayer dollars for personal benefit. The finding of this case is a result of the Obama administrations investigation and interest to stop  health-care fraud. Right now the administration is trying to stop future payments from coming into the health care providers suspected of the crime.
This article really grabbed my attention when I first saw the headline, 429 million dollars is so much money and for these people to be so selfish to take it for themselves is very wrong. This article appealed to me on two levels. Well first off, I want to go into the medical field one day and I cannot imagine being involved in a scheme like this. Taking advantage of taxpayers and patients who rely on these doctors for their health and well-being is awful. These people trust their hard-earned money into these people and for these people to be so inhumane and only think about themselves is terrible. Secondly, this also relates to my religion class, and moral decisions. These doctors and health-professionals definitely did immoral decisions that they will have to live with for the rest of their lives. (most likely in jail). It is scary to think how doctors who are supposed to help people will turn around and stab them in the back for their own benefit. Not only does this now stereotype doctors, because health-care costs are already expensive but its puts them in a villain position. Doctors are one of the highest earning category of people in the US and with this case it targets them as money hungry animals who will do anything for their benefit. This is a very scary topic not only for patients and taxpayers, but for doctors as well. We cannot assume every doctor is like this, and I hope they settle this case and put those who did this corrupt act in jail.

To smoke or not to smoke...

                                                               
Smoking is a serious epidemic in our country. Recently New York City's health committee produced commericals about the deadly consequences of smoking. These commericals are very intense and give a close up view of what it is like to have an illness from smoking. There are over 4,800 chemicals in cigarette smoking and lung cancer in humans today is 90% from smoking. In the United States 8.6 million people have a disease related to smoking, some of which include emphysema, coronary heart disease, lung, bladder, kidney and throat cancer,  abdominal aortic aneurysm and many others. This commerical shows the daily struggles of a man who smoked, he is breathing heavily through a breathalyzer, and coughing constantly throughout. This video shows one of the many consequences smokers are faced with if they do not stop soon.
This was a very disturbing video, although you may have seen before it is certainly an eye opener every time. I picked this video because it leaves such a deep message. I would never consider smoking after seeing commercials like these! These scare me and I would never want to go through my life with such problems like these. Smoking effects your ability to do everyday tasks like breathing, and talking, I do not understand how smokers continue to smoke after seeing  a commerical like this.

Do you love chocolate? But try to avoid it to eat healthier? Well you may not have to eliminate it from your diet just yet. Chocolate is a guilty pleasure for many but recently researchers debunked some common  chocolate rumors that may let you enjoy your treat a little more. First of all chocolate does not raise your bad cholesterol aka LDL, in fact for some people it actually lowers it. Chocolate is not high in caffeine, the darker the chocolate the more caffeine it has, but that's only about 31 milligrams compared to the 320 milligrams in a grande coffee at Starbucks. Chocolate does not lack nutritional value, dark chocolate contain as many antioxidants as 2/3 cups of blueberries in addition to the mineral and dietary fibers in it as well. Lastly another common myth of chocolate proven untrue is that chocolate causes acne. Researchers have proven that large amounts of chocolate have never contributed to the outbreak of acne in a person.
Reading this article made me so happy! I LOVE chocolate and although I never think of these side effects while eating it I am glad to see that they are not true. In a world where everyone and everything we see is so obsessed with their bodies and body weights, knowing that everyone can eat chocolate and not have to worry about their cholesterol or skin is reassuring. Now I'm not saying that eating 3 lbs. of chocolate is good for you because its not but if you are careful and regulate your chocolate, you can continue to eat it and not worry about these myths above.

One step forward...two steps back

Hearing damage moderate to profound effects 275 million people worldwide, but this week  researchers and doctors are one step closer to finding a cure. Auditory neuropathy is damage to the auditory nerve, which is located between the inner ear and the brain; this damage doesn't allow sound to travel from the cochlea to the brain. Using gerbils and stem cells, researchers are closer to finding out a way to fix hearing loss. The gerbils were given a drug to damage their auditory neuropathy, then researchers transplanted stem cells called otic epithelial progenitors (OEPs) into their inner ears. After ten weeks researchers noticed the transplanted cells starting to connect to the brain stem, and by using the auditory brain stem evoked responses method researchers noticed a 46% hearing improvement in the gerbils. This is a big step to improve hearing damage, it still has to come a long way for it to work for humans but it shows a way to make human cochlear sensory cells. 
This article caught my eye because I have an aunt and an uncle who were both born deaf. My aunt has a cochlear implant but my uncle does not, they sign with each other but are also able to talk and communicate with my family and their two children who both have perfect hearing. This article also drew my attention because of stem cell research. Stem cell research is a very controversial topic in the catholic faith.  Since the catholic religion believes  that life begins at contraception they are against stem cells because they are from human embryos. This topic is very debatable from the deaf community as well who believe nothing is wrong with them and therefore need no reason to be "fixed". I  believe that if this will help people hear then it should be used. Only time will tell if it will be successful and used on humans in the future.

I'm very excited for sociology this year! For my project I chose health care. I was really uncertain when choosing my topic I went back and forth and ultimately chose this one in end because I want to go into the medical field when I am older.  I thought this topic would be interesting to see some of the problems with health and medicine in our country and in others as well. Helping me make my decision was our sociology book, I looked through the chapter on health care, and saw that it was much more than just insurance and medical practices. Topics like racism, money, class and surroundings all contribute to ones health care, and that it was made it more interesting for me.