HIV and AIDS Synopsis
Posted by in HIV and AIDS on October 6, 2011
HIV/AIDS
Acquired Immune Deficiency (Aids) is a chronic and life threatening disease of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) that damages the immune system by killing off vital CD4+T cells. Genetic Research states that the disease originated in West Central Africa during the late 19th or early 20th century but was not recognized by the U.S. Center for Disease Control Prevention until 1981. HIV is spread through sexual contact, contaminated shared needles, pregnant women spread it to their unborn child and contact with infected blood. Knowledge of the disease can potentially save lives.
HIV is a lent virus which is a member of the retrovirus family that causes AIDS. When first infected with the virus, mild symptoms occur. These symptoms may or may not be recognizable but includes fever, headaches, sore throat, rash and swollen lymph glands. Swollen lymph glands/nodes are often the first sign of HIV infection but the best way to know if the virus has infected the bloodstream is to get tested. These symptoms usually last about two to four weeks at the initial stage of the virus into the bloodstream and typically go away until years later as the virus multiplies and begin to destroy the immune cells further if treatment is not sought after. That’s the significant reason of being tested regularly because early detection can help a person live a healthier life with the medication that’s on the market oppose to a person who has no knowledge that their living with the disease. If no treatment for the HIV infection is received, the disease will develop into AIDS in about ten years. This is solely due to the HIV process of eating away or destroying the CD4+T cells which are specific types of white blood cells that plays an important role in helping the body fight diseases. The more CD4+T cells that are killed, the weaker the immune system becomes. The normal CD4 cell count for a healthy immune is between 500 and 1000. Once the CD4+T cells drop below a life-threatening 200 per microliter, the diagnosis of HIV becomes a diagnosis of AIDS which then is the final stage of the virus and soon becomes the fatal state of the virus. Read the rest of this entry »
Stress Management for Students
Posted by in Stress on October 6, 2011
“Mom, I’m, too sick to go to school today.” We joke about feigning illness to avoid school, but the illness is not always feigned. Stressors that students face each day can be just as detrimental as those faced by their parents. Yet stress management for students is not as readily available as is stress management for adults.
Charts purporting to show “who is affected by stress” list occupations. On a scale of 1 to 10, police officers rate 7.7 and teachers rate 6.2 – but students are not rated. “Student” is not considered an occupation. Online searchers type in a phrase such as “teachersjob + stress reduction” and get a fair response. Type in “stress management for students”, and the response is far less.
Too Sick to Go to School?
Stressors can and do make students sick. Stressors call forth the “fight or flight” response, and the body immediately prepares. It pours forth extra supplies of adrenalin for short-term survival. It puts functions like bowel activity on temporary hold. It redirects blood to muscles. It dilates the eyes’ pupils in order to detect slight movements. The heart speeds up its delivery of oxygen to muscles. All this and more occurs in a matter of moments so we can fight or “run like crazy”.
If the body prepares, and a student sits still, the body must undo its preparations. Lacking opportunity for stress management, it can become ill.
Sick Enough to Excel at School?
Most students find that eustress (good stress) is a positive aide in school. Certainly, too much stress causes some students to freeze during exams, but appropriate amounts of eustress can coax the best from students.
While stress management for students must be geared to specific stressors, some of them are actually eustress stressors – or could be.
Consider the following seven (7) stressors. Read the rest of this entry »