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You walk by a mirror and take a quick glance. Wait! What’s that enormous spot doing on your face? And if that’s not bad enough, it’s almost midnight and you’re in your pajamas, so running to the drug store is out of the question. But don’t worry. Most likely you already have a solution in your medicine chest, and besides being convenient it’s cheap, effective, and time-tested. Here are three spot treatments you can try: aspirin, milk of magnesia, and toothpaste.

1. Aspirin

How it works: Aspirin contains salicylic acid, an ingredient in many acne fighting products that deeply cleans pores and gently removes dead, clogging skin flakes. Salicylic acid also has anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial properties.

How to use it: Crush an aspirin (uncoated is best) with the back side of a spoon, and add just enough water to form a creamy paste. After washing and drying your face, apply the aspirin paste only on the blemish, and allow the treatment to dry and then remain on the area for 15 to 30 minutes. You may leave the treatment on longer if you have experience with this method and know that it won’t irritate your skin. Rinse the aspirin paste off with lukewarm water, and allow your skin to air dry.

Precautions to take: Avoid the eye and nostril areas. Remove the treatment at the first twinge of discomfort. Don’t use this treatment too often, or your skin may become irritated. Once or twice a day is enough. Don’t use aspirin on your skin if you experience allergies when you swallow it.

2. Milk of Magnesia

How it works: Milk of magnesia is anti-inflammatory, oil-absorbing, and mildly disinfectant. It contains the mineral magnesium, an enzymatic cofactor for many necessary processes in the body.

How to use it: On clean, dry skin, apply enough milk of magnesia right out of the bottle (full strength) to form a thin coating on the blemish as a spot treatment. Allow the milk of magnesia to dry. As it dries, the skin will tighten, and this is normal. After 15 minutes you can remove the solution with lukewarm water and allow your face to air dry. If you’ve previously used milk of magnesia on your skin with no adverse reactions, you can try leaving it on overnight.

Precautions to take:Rinse off if discomfort occurs. If milk of magnesia spot treatments heal your breakouts but dry out your face too much, use them less often or dilute the product with water.

3. Toothpaste

How it works: Many toothpastes contain baking soda, a calming and absorbent ingredient. Antiseptics are another common ingredient. Toothpaste is also thought to act like a clay mask, soaking up excess oil. Because of its drying action, toothpaste is said to be most effective on pimples that have already come to a head.

How to use it: Dab (do not rub) on blemishes only, avoiding the surrounding healthy skin. Leave on for about 15 minutes, and then rinse off gently with lukewarm water and allow the skin to air dry. Do not leave this treatment on overnight unless you have already used it successfully for extended periods of time. Do not use mint flavors; they cause a burning sensation and soreness. Also avoid whitening toothpastes because the hydrogen peroxide in them can irritate the skin.

Precautions to take: Spot-treating blemishes with toothpaste has the potential to be very irritating, especially to people with sensitive skin. Do a 15-minute test on the inside of your forearm before applying toothpaste to your face.

Do aspirin, milk of magnesia, and toothpaste really work to reduce blemishes? For many people, they’re even better than commercial preparations. Of course, as with any skin treatment, results will vary. There are different types of acne, different reasons for breakouts, and different types of skin. But if you’re in a pinch, or just economizing, the answer to a sudden breakout may already be in your medicine chest.

The Clavicle is sometimes referred to as the collar bone, and makes up the Shoulder or Pectoral Girdle. The Shoulder Girdle comprises the two collar bones and the scapulae bones, which are triangular shaped bones on the back of the rib cage.

The Clavicle along with the scapular connects the arm to the upper body, allowing the arm to swing away from the body. The Clavicle also protects the nerves and blood vessels that travel along the neck to the shoulder area.

Males are usually twice as likely to develop a Clavicle fracture than females. Direct impact injuries and falls are the most common causes of this type of fracture. Many fractures are simple breaks that require minimal treatment and heal uneventfully. Some however, result in dislocation, requiring more aggressive treatment. Surgical intervention may be necessary for severely displaced comminuted fractures.

Diagnosis of a clavicle fracture involves history, physical examination and palpation. The patient usually relates a history of a fall or a direct impact to the shoulder area, resulting in severe pain and restricted movement.

Examination usually reveals swelling, tenderness along the shoulder area, with bruising and patient guarding. Range of motion of the shoulder is limited with crepitus. If the patient complains of numbness down the arm, neurovascular compromise may have occurred.

Routine x-rays usually will indicate the location and severity of the Clavicle fracture. The type of fracture usually dictates the type of treatment. If the fracture is displaced, the doctor may manipulate the clavicle back in place, under anesthesia. More severe fractures and dislocations may require surgical intervention.

If the injury is acute, ice should be applied to the area immediately to reduce swelling, pain and inflammation. The shoulder/arm complex should be immobilized in a sling type of brace to prevent any further movement. Appropriate pain medication is prescribed to reduce the pain and swelling.

Early range of motion and physical therapy is recommended to prevent shoulder adhesions and to restore normal function. A shoulder brace may be utilized after the injury to protect the clavicle area and prevent a reoccurance.

It is important that you consult with a physician before attempting any treatment for a Clavicle fracture. Early diagnosis and treatment can reduce the chances of complications that can prolong the pain and disability from this common fracture.
One of the premiere websites that sells shoulder braces and shoulder slings for Clavicle fractures and provides a wealth of information on these types of shoulder injuries is The Brace Shop.

The Brace Shop, LLC. is one of the fastest growing brace companies in the USA. They provide one of the largest selections of extremity braces, therapy products & accessories on the internet.

Phobia is the intense and persistent presence of fear that many people have when they are conducting particular activities or find themselves in certain situations. A common symptom of phobia is the excessive desire to avoid any situation, person or activity that will expose them to their fears. A phobia is generally not diagnosed if the occurrence is minimal and tolerable. However, in cases where it affects the normal and daily activities of a person, then it will be treated accordingly.

There are literally hundreds of phobias that everyday people suffer from. The cause of which often relate to quite significant and strenuous situations that have occurred in the past. A phobic condition can be detrimental to the health of the person affected. The knowledge and fear of going out because you think something will happen can affect an individual in a big way.
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Helpful tips in phobia treatment:

• Behavioural home assignments – Discussions in therapy sessions can sometimes be quite stilted due to reluctance on the patient’s side. Home assignments can be provided by a professional therapist and will involve the patient in writing down their feelings and their responses to certain situations and therapeutic suggestion.
• Journal – a therapist will often ask their patients to write down their fears and doubts and how it is affecting them. This is also a home assignment that is done in between sessions.
• Conditioning – Conditioning is normally applied to children who have phobias. During the treatment, a prize is given to the child if they respond normally in situations provided by the therapist.
• Systematic desensitisation – The therapist lets the patient discuss and describe their fear, at the same time the therapist empowers the patient with ways of relaxing when faced in these situations. A simple relaxation is a start. It goes deeper and is more intense as the session progresses, how intense, will depend upon the individual patient.
• Flooding – Flooding exposes the person immediately to the feared object or situation until their surroundings slowly calm them down.
• Medication – Medication can block the feeling of panic but its more advisable to accompany this with therapy. A person should not be dependent on medical treatment as tablets and capsules can’t work to diminish them all.

Lifestyle can also help in diminishing phobias such as:

• Reducing stress – Stress can trigger extreme anxiety. Learn how to relax and free your mind and body from any situation that is detrimental to your phobias.
• Eliminate caffeine – Coffee has been said to trigger anxiety and alertness causing the body to become agitated in the majority of cases.
• Good diet – Proper and regular food intake keeps your body and mind healthy, keeping you alert and mindful of situations where you need to calm down and relax a bit.
• Cutting alcohol intake – Alcohol intake combined with your phobias can cause great hallucinations and a restless lifestyle. Sleep deprived patients are more prone to stressful lifestyles causing their health and mind ability to go downhill.

A phobic condition is not a disease. It is caused by unfortunate situations and traumatic emotional stress. Proper therapy and guidance is needed. People under phobia treatment should be understood and not be feared.

The impact of influenza can only be reduced through a vaccine. Today, the U.S. has only approved the use of inactivated influenza virus vaccines, and to be effective, these have to contain an H1N1, and H3N2, and a B virus component. In the past, at least one of these components had to be modified due to antigenic drift of the strain circulating the human population.

Vaccines are prepared by growing viral strains in embryonated eggs, and then the virus is purified and turned noninfectious through chemical inactivation. The influenza vaccines available today are effective depending on the antigenic ‘match’ of the circulating viruses with the strains used for vaccination, the person’s age, and his or her immune status.

Here’s what is expected in the future; ask your pharmaceutical consultant for further details:

• Cold-adapted influenza virus vaccine

This type of live vaccine has been used successfully in Russia to protect millions of children. The U.S. has been trying to develop such a vaccine for over 20 years, but the license has not been approved yet.

There are several important advantages here:

1. Live-virus vaccines can be administered through nasal spray, which is easier and less costly than the intramuscular option.

2. These can induce local neutralizing immunity and cell mediated immune responses, which could result in a longer-lasting and better cross-protective immunity.

3. Overall protection may improve for certain age groups, for example, kids 6 months to 9 years of age, with evidence of a massive reduction in secondary bacterial infections causing otitis media.

The more live influenza virus vaccines are used, the more benefits, risks, and economic consequences of this approach will be known.

• Genetically engineered live influenza virus vaccines

The introduction of techniques to engineer site-specific changes in the genomes of negative-strand RNA viruses has allowed the consideration of new vaccine approaches. It is possible now to create strains with unique properties that lead to reduction.

• Live influenza virus vaccine candidates expressing altered NS1 genes

Now it is possible to rescue influenza virus vaccine candidates from cells transfected with plasmids. This allows for the engineering of deletions in genomes of influenza viruses for better stability.

• Use of replication-defective influenza viruses as vaccine candidates

This is a promising approach, the construction of virus particles that undergo only a single cycle of replication. These induce a protective antibody response and stimulate a strong cell-mediated immune response without allowing the replication of infectious virus.

• DNA vaccination

This involves the administration of plasmid DNA encoding one or more of the influenza virus proteins. Studies have been limited to animal samples with very promising results; however, this type of vaccine may be better for diseases like AIDS. Further studies may present a universal approach to generating protective humoral and cell-mediated responses to different foreign antigens, resulting in the development of effective vaccines.

• New adjuvant approaches

Current influenza virus vaccines are administered by intramuscular injection. To improve their immunogenicity, liposome-like preparations have been developed, which contain cholesterol and viral particles that are very effective in mice when delivered subcutaneously or in intranasal form. More tests are needed to confirm how it will work in humans.

• Universal vaccine

This has been the focus of increased attention due to the current necessity to develop a new vaccine every year given the influenza virus’ continuous antigenic change. Even though some virus components are more conserved than others, a good approach to a universal vaccine based on these conserved elements is still pending, because these are minor antigens, and thus, are less immunogenic and less likely to create a protective response.