Emily Proper                                                                                                                      Health Article

Life-logging camera brings new hope for memory-loss patients

                Patients with Alzheimer’s have been using diaries in an attempt to bring back memories. Now there is a new device that can recall a patient’s memory faster and to a greater extent. A small wearable camera called the SenseCam takes two very low resolution pictures per minute and when reviewed by the wearer, can bring back memories of that time as well as details that do not appear in the photographs. Trials have proven this to be very affective and the pictures seem to be able to allow people with memory loss issues to recall past events easier than ever.

 These findings are exiting news in a disease that has been in a stalemate as far as progress for a cure is concerned. I personally have a grandmother with Alzheimer’s disease but unfortunately she couldn’t benefit from it this far into the disease. But it is definitely a concern of mine whether or not any progress will be made by the time my mother or my sisters and I reach an age where the disease -which has signs of being highly genetic – could effect us as well.

Emily Proper                                                                                                                                      Health Article

Birth Control Bill Has Enemies in Philippines.

                The right to an abortion is not universal. As a result, many families end up having more children then they can support. In the Philippines in particular women are going to extreme measures to cause miscarriages for unwanted babies. Ms. Judilla, a 37 year-old manicurist, vowed to not have any more children after her third daughter. When she became pregnant again…and again, she tried to kill her babies by throwing herself down stairs, taking cytotec (the so called “abortion pill”), and also taking an herbal concoction that has been supposed to induce an abortion. The Reproductive Health and Population Development Act is being proposed but is also being met with many opponents. If passed, local government will provide for birth control and sex education.

                With the passing of this bill, women will have more choices leading to less burdensome children. Therefore the status of living will increase for most and they will no longer have to go through traumatizing situations that are extremely dangerous to all involved. Hopefully this bill’s opponents can have an open mind and realize that banning abortions and not providing birth control is hurting their women, taking away from their children and is keeping their economic status for most families in a ditch. It is depressing that these rights for women are not yet universal but this bill can take it one step closer.  

Emily Proper                                                                     

Trapped between worlds, some Latina teens consider suicide

            A trend has been spotted in the overwhelming number of Latino girls committing suicide. The average suicidal Latino teen is 14 or 15 years old, lives in low-income homes and is the daughter of immigrant parents. The teens are at constant ends with their parents who wish their children to grow up with Latino values while attending American schools and living in American communities, The teens are having a hard time balancing both and pleasing their parents as well as doing the things they would like to do. Some girls find that even going to the pool with their friends to be unacceptable to their parents (mainly their mothers). When Francisca Abreu started to show signs of depresion and her teacher found the note she wroter to herself saying how she wanted to die, she was sent to a psychiatric center and started to attend therapy. She met a boy and trying to compensate for the lack of parental connection in her life she leaned on her new boyfriend. All was fine until she found out she was pregnant and she was only 14.

            Growing up is so difficult now a days expecially for girls. They need so much support and guidance from their parents in order to remain as safe and stable as possible. It is no surprise that the kids commiting suicide are the ones form low-income homes and have immigrant parents only because the stress in their life is at a greater level than most. Love and understanding are things that parents need to have when raising their kids or else they will only side further away into more dangerous situations.