Evening primrose oil has a significant effect on certain aspects of schizophrenia, particularly on the ‘flat’ emotions and social withdrawal common in schizophrenics. It also improves overall psychiatric status and memory, as well as helping reduce the abnormal, involuntary movements (tardive dyskinesia) in schizophrenic patients who are on neuroleptic drugs. Schizophrenics have abnormalities in essential [...]

Death Humanity is one of the few species of animal that looks into the past, present and future. It follows that fear of death is mankind’s daily travelling companion. Right through their sixth and seventh decades people fight death. They think they still have much to accomplish. Peace in the face of death commonly appears [...]

In infancy, behaviour that is problematic for parents stems from intrinsic, biological attributes. Colic, excessive crying and fussing are usually attributable to individual biological predispositions, such as particular temperament profiles. It is often in the toddler period that a child’s behaviour becomes a problem for parents. Temper tantrums, eating problems, problems at bedtime, and aggressive [...]

Cluster headache often goes untreated because it is not always clearly recognised. It is regarded, like migraine, as a vascular headache. That is, changes in the walls of the arteries in the head are believed to trigger the pain. Unlike migraine, which is far more common in women, cluster headache is almost entirely a male [...]

The structures making up the floor of the pelvis may be weakened and so lead to prolapse where the womb or uterus falls down into the vagina and the bladder and rectum also fall into the vagina. All these symptoms can either be reversed or prevented by taking oestrogen supplements, but this is an area [...]

Bronchiolitis is a serious condition occurring in infants under the age of two years, most often during cold winter months. The bronchioles, the tubes into which the larger air-containing bronchi divide, become inflamed and infected, and allergies may play a part. It often recurs, and it is often confused with asthma. It may be caused [...]

Discovering and playing with the genitals is universal in infancy and childhood. Baby hands are happy to explore anything and everything within their grasp. Crevices and appendages are no exception, and they will self-examine and self-explore—this is all part of the normal growing up period. There may be some satisfying sensation in fiddling, but there [...]

Nitrates and nitrites, widely used as food additives in products such as smoked meats and fish, can undergo reactions in the stomach to yield nitrosamines, which are considered to be carcinogenic. The reaction is encouraged when the compounds are subjected to high heat, such as takes place when bacon is cooked. Since both nitrates and [...]

Wounds of the skin are classified as abrasions (scrapes), punctures, and lacerations. A laceration is a cut of any size and depth and can be located anywhere on the body. Signs and symptoms A cut is obvious from its appearance and the bleeding that occurs. However, there are signs and symptoms you should look for [...]

Don’t eat the following foods to the exclusion of all others, says Edward Giovannucci, M.D., Sc.D., assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. But these are super-foods that you should include on your shopping list each week and find ways to work into your meals because they increase immunity, build healthy hearts and strong [...]