Domestic Violence In The NFL

Domestic violence is a very serious and real thing in the united states. According to the us department of justice, approximately 1.3 million women and over 800,000 men experience some type of domestic violence in the US every year. Domestic violence is not just a big problem for everyday people, it is also a very serious problem in the NFL. Recent events such as the Ray Rice incident is a very good example of how domestic violence is a very big issue among the NFL. Ray Rice was accused of hitting his wife and only suspended for two games at first. It wasn’t until the video came out that Rice was actually suspended from the NFL indefinitely. This caused a lot of controversy about how the NFL deals with their punishments. Many people were upset at first that the NFL has a worse punishment for layers who fail drug test than they do for people who hit their loved ones. Others were outraged that it took video being leaked for the league to realize how bad it was and suspend Rice.

Shortly after the incident with Ray Rice, Adrian Peterson came out and admitted to beating his child after he had already been charged with child abuse and the NFL had done nothing about it. This brings up the question why the league never did anything about it. It also makes you wonder, did they even Know about it? And if they didn’t, why are they not keeping a good watch on their players? The Peterson case coming out right after the Rice incident really make a lot of people start questioning how this NFL deals with these kinds of problems.

Since the incident the NFL has done many things to try to make it right. The commissioner of the NFL, Roger Goodell, had stated things in press conferences such as, “Simply put we have to do better, and we will.”  He has also talked about how he knows the NFL was wrong in these cases and that they will do better in the future and help increase awareness of the problem in the United States. Many people question if the NFL actually has learned their lesson or if they are just doing these things because of the bad press and media attention.

In my opinion, it is ridiculous how the league was dealing with these problems. domestic violence is a very serious crime and the NFL should have been more strict with players that violate this law. The only reason the NFL is doing anything about this now is because of the media attention and bad press they have got. if they had it their way Rice would have still been playing and they would have still been acting like they know nothing about Petersons situation. It is good to see that the leagues is taking some responsibility for their actions and trying to make it right now. Although I still believe that it should not have taken two big incidents like this for them to realize how big the problem was and to do the right thing.

Ground Breaking Cell Transplant

A new grand breaking cell transplant has allowed a paralyzed man to walk again. Polish man, Darek Fidyka had been paralyzed from the chest down after a 2010 knife incident that caused an 8 millimeter gap in his spinal cord. After 13 months of rehabilitation and an 8 month program he was still now showing signs of improvement. Two years after his 2012 cell transplant Fidyka can walk again with the help of a walker.

Scientists at University of London developed olfactory ensheathing cells from the nose transplanted to Fydyka’s spinal cord. Three months after his surgery his thigh cmuscle began to grow and three months after that he began to walk with leg braces. “When you can’t feel almost half your body, you are helpless, but when it starts coming back it’s as if you were born again,” Fidyka said.

This is a very positive impact of technology. Someone who was completely paralyzed from the chest down being able to walk again seems impossible, but with the help of technology this gives people hope. Hope to eventually be able to perform things they couldn’t before.

Kevorkian Case

Jack Kevorkian is a medical doctor who graduated from the University of Michigan Medical School. He believed in the right of physicians assisted suicide and participated many times in helping people achieve that. He claimed to have assisted around 130 people, although all of his patients did take the final action when essentially committing suicide. In the media Kevorkian was referred to “Dr. Death.” He always said, “dying is not a crime.” In 1999, Kevorkian was tried for his role in a case of voluntary euthanasia, he was convicted of second degree murder and served eight years under a 10-25 year sentence. In 1987, Kevorkian started advertising in the Detroit newspaper as a physician’s consultant of “Death Counseling”

His first public assisted suicide was Janet Akins and 54 year old suffering from Alzheimer’s. Charges were dropped about a year later due to no laws in the state of Michigan prohibiting physician’s assisted suicide. In 1991, Michigan revoked Kevorkian’s medical license and was no longer allowed to practice any type of medicine. Between 1990 and 1998 is when he assisted 130 people with their suicide. Kevorkian only assisted by connecting the patient with his personally made euthanasia machine.

Many Americans and others around the globe criticized Kevorkian’s work. According to a report from Detroit Free Press, 60% of patients who committed suicide with help of Jack Kevorkian were not terminally ill.

On June 14 2010, CNN’s Sanjay Gupta sat down with Dr. Jack Kevorkian for a face to face interview. Kevorkian began the interview by saying the worst most single moment of his life was the day he was born. Throughout the interview Kevorkian made it clear that he had no regrets in what he participated in.

Many Americans see it both ways some see as if this was the worst thing that someone could do, because it was helping some one die, someone who had many loved ones and ones that cared about them that wouldn’t want to see their family members or friends die especially when in some cases they weren’t even terminally ill. Others are different, some may believe that if that is what a person truly wants then they should have the power to make that decision.

I believe that it depends on the situation and how much pain that the person is truly in. If a person has absolutely nothing wrong with them then I don’t think that they should have a choice to commit suicide or get help with committing it. Before they even think about choosing to be involved in physician’s assisted suicide I think they need to be diagnosed with something much more serious than just chronic pain. Now if a person were to be suffering from Alzheimer’s at an old age then maybe it would be okay for a person to think about assisted suicide. I do agree that if a person wants to die it is their own feelings and that’s what they want to do, but they need to think about the people who love them and how this would affect them. Kevorkian shouldn’t have done what he did, but he believed that people should have the choice to die and to some people that is very unnecessary.

Tanning Bed Dangers

On average more than 1 million people tan in tanning beds a day. According to American Academy of Dermatology 35% of adults, 59% of college students, and 17% of teens report to using a tanning bed sometime in their lives. The average age of people who tan are between 16 and 29 years of age, 70 percent are Caucasian females. Almost 30 million people tan in tanning beds a year, 2.3 million of them are teens.

The sun lamps inside the tanning bed have cancer causing substances inside them. Studies have found that there is a 59% increase in the risk of melanoma in those people who have been exposed to UV radiation in indoor tanning beds. The FDA estimates that there are about 3,000 Emergency Room cases a year related to indoor taninng.

So how important is looking like an orange, fake tomato? I would say not very important considering the risks that tanning puts out there. I can see why people might do it before important events, such as a wedding, or special dance, but not every single day. I especially don’t understand the parents that let their kids do this to themselves. With the risk for skin cancer so high why would you put yourself in that situation? Your life, or how tan you are?

Marburg Hemorrhagic Fever

Viral hemorrhagic fever is a group of illnesses caused by four families of viruses, including Ebola, Marburg, Lassa fever, and Yellow fever viruses. Currently 99 people in Uganda are quarantined, because they have the Marburg hemorrhagic virus. A person got diagnosed with Marburg hemorrhagic fever and after three days of his death 99 people were isolated. Surveillance officers are closely monitoring all the people who came into contact with victim. This 30 year old man, who was a health worker died on September 28 of Marburg. He was a radiographer in a hospital in the capital of Kampala and a worked at a district health center where officials say he came in contact with colleagues. At least 11 people who may have came in contact with the health care worker have tested negative to this virus. Although some have developed symptoms similar to the Marburg hemorrhagic virus. This virus can cause symptoms very similar to Ebola, which begins with a fever and signs of weakness often leading to bleeding internally and externally. Marburg does have a shorter incubation period of 14 days than Ebola which is 21 days. The current out break of Ebola has killed more than 3,400 people in western African countries. Uganda has been hit by viruses like Ebola and Marburg in the past, but they have contained these outbreaks fairly quickly. According to CNN News the death rates from this disease is about 80%, but the most recent outbreak in Uganda back in 2012 killed only 4 of the 15 people.

It’s pretty scary to think about all the diseases in the world and know that diseases like Marburg and Ebola can kill you easier than we think. Obviously we can’t just get rid of these types of diseases in our world completely, but what can we do to try and prevent these things from happening if we choose to go to another country? Well the CDC recommends staying away from Liberia, Guinea, Sierra, and Leone, because of these outbreaks. If you choose to travel outside of the United States to a country with outbreaks of these types of viruses, make sure you are aware and are screened before coming back to the United States to make sure these don’t occur here.

Dangers of Smoking

In the United States about 42.1 million, or 18.1% of all adults smoke cigarettes. Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the US. Over 16 million people suffer from a form of a disease related to smoking. 15% of women are smokers and about 20% are men. In 2012, if a person were to smoke a pack of cigarettes a day that costs around $14.50 for 20 cigarettes, this means that that smoker could spend around $5,000 a year just to smoke. How can a person even afford to smoke that much? That is ridiculous that a person will spend $5,000 a year on something that harms themselves and their body. Besides spending an extreme amount of money on cigarettes there are also many harmful side effects.

Smoking does disgusting things to your body. It stains your teeth to be a gross yellow color and sometimes they even rot. Smoking turns your fingers yellow, harms your skin, it can lead to premature aging and many wrinkles, along with weakening your immune system, and gum infections. Every time a person smokes their lungs are becoming inflamed and damaged. The worst thing that can come out of smoking is lung cancer. When a person smokes it is irritating their skin, if they were to do this many times a day their skin would never have the chance to heal properly and would just stay like that. Around your organs you have a lining of cells that is similar to your skin, smoking can inflame these cells and when a person continues to do it it doesn’t have a chance to heal just like the skin on your body. This leaves diseases easier to get into your body, and in your immune system.

If a person is under the age of 20 their lungs are still growing, by smoking when you’re that young it is putting a stunt on the growth of your lungs. If young adults, or teenagers smoke frequently and their lungs never get the chance to grow to their full potential, this can mean they may never be able to perform at their full capacity.

According to The Real Cost people who are frequent smokers on average die 10 years earlier than the non-smoker. So why would a person do this to themselves? If by picking up a cigarette knowing you were shortening your life by 10 years would a person do this to themselves? Do they want to die earlier than most people? Do they want to get cancer?

Another big problem is secondhand smoke. Secondhand smoke contains more than 7,000 chemicals, hundreds of them are toxic and about seventy of them can cause cancer. According to the CDC, since 1964 about 2.5 million adults who are non-smokers died because they inhaled smoke from someone else, frequently. This is a big thing that makes me so upset. You are already pretty much killing yourself so if you’re going to do at least take yourself away from people you care about. An even bigger thing that makes me even more mad is smoking around children. YOU ARE KILLING THEM. Why would you do that to your kids? Secondhand smoke causes tons of health problems in infants and children, including asthma attacks,  respiratory infections, ear infections, and sudden infant death syndrome. If you want to potentially kill yourself from smoking go for it, but if your putting little kids or infants at risk for health problems and smoking right in front of them you need to see a counselor, because there is no excuse to do this to your children. In my opinion people who do this don’t care about their kids in any way. So please if you’re going to smoke just think about who you’re around and what you’re doing to yourself.

Ebola: Is NOT Here

As most of the country probably knows Ebola is in the United States. Ebola is a very infectious disease that is generally fatal. It is spread through body fluids, such as, sweat, saliva, and blood. You are only contagious once you begin to show symptoms. Thomas Eric Duncan was the first one diagnosed with Ebola in the United States, he was in Liberia and flew from there to Dallas, Texas. Alexis Bonte, FAO representative of Liberia describes how the Liberian people feel about Ebola, “Neighbors, Friends, and family are dying within a few days of exhibiting shocking symptoms, the causes of which are not understood by many local communities.” Duncan came to America to visit family and friends for a short while. In Liberia he had been helping Ebola patients. Duncan flew on two United Airlines flights before reaching his destination in Texas. He was screen three times before boarding the plane to the United States all the examinations showed his temperature to be a normal 97.3 degrees Fahrenheit.

On Thursday September 25 after 10 pm Duncan had a fever with vomiting symptoms so we went to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital where the doctor ordered blood tests, but no Ebola screening, he was prescribed only pain medicine. He was readmitted that Sunday and tested for Ebola, which came back as a positive.

Duncan was in the United States for a couple of days so he had to have come in contact with quite a bit of people. It is said that Health Officials are reaching out to as many as 100 people who may of come in contact with him.

Personally I think people are becoming to worked up about the Ebola virus, just because one person came back to the United States does not mean that the whole country is going to become infected with Ebola. When news headlines say “Ebola is here” they are far over exaggerating and they are just trying to get people to read their story. We know that everyone on the airplanes have been quarantine, along with all his friends and family he has come in contact with, even the ambulance that took him to the hospital, all the medics in it and the ambulance itself. Their is an emergency experimental medication that Duncan can be put on to try and get rid of his symptoms. This is not FDA approved, but the doctors can use this in any case that Ebola reaches the United States which obviously we now know it has. People do need to have a look out for this, yes, but we do not need to be worried about this virus, because only one person has it and the only way it is transmitted is through fluids from your body. Eventually this will all go away and no one will even be talking about it anymore.

Leading Cause of Death

As most people know, the leading cause of death in America is heart disease. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about 600,000 people die a year from heart disease, that is about 1 in 4 deaths caused by heart issues. Coronary Heart Disease is when your arteries that supply blood to your heart become narrowed, it is usually due to cholesterol or plaque build up on their inner walls. It is the most common type of heart disease that leads to death killing 380,000 a year, this costs the US about $108.9 billion a year. I myself was affected by the loss of my father from Coronary Heart Disease around nine months ago. This was a very sudden death, like most deaths from Coronary Heart Disease. So what can we do to prevent this? Well there is a lot of ways to keep your heart healthy. You can obviously watch what you eat and make sure you’re getting all the proteins that you need. You can also make sure that you do lots of physical activity. Doing all these things doesn’t assure you won’t get this, like it didn’t for my father, but you can at least try to maintain a healthy heart.

Another way you can prevent having blocked arteries in your heart is by managing your stress and making sure that you don’t stress yourself out, this can weigh onto your heart. To reduce your risk of heart disease you can control your cholesterol and manage your blood pressure, which may be difficult to do.

This is a scary disease especially if you have been affected by it. By telling you about my experience I hope people are actually paying attention to how to stay healthy at a younger age so it doesn’t affect you in the future.

I think that a lot of people don’t realize how healthy they actually have to be. Along with that I don’t think teens and young adults really realize that not being very healthy can lead to problems in the future. People need to understand that taking care of their body is much more important than it seems, because in the long run you being healthy and living a long fulfilled life is all that really matters. So my advice to you is, watch what you eat, get outside and DO something, watch your cholesterol, and make sure that you drink plenty of water, because in the end you will be thankful that you kept yourself healthy through out your life.