Aids and Society essays

Aids and Society essays The number of newborns infected by vertical transmission of the human immunodeficiency virus is increasing as the prevalence of HIV-positive women increase within the United States. It is estimated that while seven thousand HIV-positive women become pregnant each year, between one thousand and two thousand of their newborns will be HIV-positive. This research paper will concentrate on the transmission of the human immunodeficiency virus from mother to child, the benefits of drugs intervention, and whether or not the HIV-screening process of pregnant women should remain voluntary or become mandatory. The HIV-virus has proven that it is not a disease to be taken lightly or ignored. I chose this topic because I want to be informed about the virus and its rate of vertical transmission so that I will be able to inform others about such ethical topics: Does the baby have rights and should a pregnant women be denied her right to privacy with respect to HIV? Data shows that AIDS is now increasing faster among females than males, with women accounting for seven percent of cases in 1985 and nineteen percent in 1995. The incidences of HIV-positive heterosexual women have risen dramatically over the past decade, and AIDS is now the third leading cause of death among women ages twenty-five to forty-four. The one thing that all of these women have in common is that they all are of child bearing age. Consequently, the incidences of HIV-positive newborns have also increased. As mentioned previously, about seven thousand HIV-infected women give birth each year, and about twenty-five percent of their babies are HIV-positive. Maternal transmission accounted for ninety-two percent of all new AIDS cases reported in children in 1994(Davis15). A major breakthrough in drug intervention began in February 1993. The AIDS Clinical Trials Group administered a double-blinded, randomized, placebo-controlled study of zi...

What is happiness Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

What is happiness - Essay Example Hence we should not just end up at being happy after living our lives. We should not â€Å"at last† reach happiness after our grim years and lifelong struggles. This feeling is best described as â€Å"Happiness is not a brilliant climax to years of grim struggle and anxiety. It is a long succession of little decisions simply to be happy in the moment†, as penned down by J. Donald Walters (QuotationsBook.com, n.d, p.g 57). Happiness is not what we want but it is what we need. It is food for soul. To be happy in life, we need to take advantage of opportunities and to follow our dreams. Happiness slaps us in the face when we are down. Happiness takes us out of our deepest sorrows. Happiness is like a light that guides us through the path of our life. Happiness is not unattainable or difficult. Happiness is an emotion that drives and guides us. Happiness sows in us a seed of hope. Hope that we should live by. Hope that should make us strive, hope that makes us struggle. Happiness is to smile, feel and see. A lot of questions can be asked about happiness. Most of these questions are exaggerated questions as everyone’s happiness is variable. There is no right answer to what happiness is. The human heart is the main sensor for happiness. It feels and craves deeply. The heart is like an ocean. The heart is like the sky. The heart is vast in its likings. It feels happiness very momentarily and rather than living in the moment it tends to look for other things. Unhappiness is also an emotion felt by the heart. Unhappiness is dominant over happiness as it has the capability to cling to our souls and hearts. Happiness is a symbol or a metaphor whereas unhappiness is a story. This story can make or break our lives. Hence it is important to engrave happiness in our souls. It is also must for a person to ask themselves where their happiness lies and with who

Ethics of Public Health Policies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Ethics of Public Health Policies - Essay Example According Resnik (2015), ethical principles include but are not limited to the following: human subjects protection, integrity, fairness, non discrimination as well as honesty among others. Thus a public health policy should be designed to fulfill the abovementioned ethical principles. A public health policy should be non discriminatory so that it can fulfill the needs of all employees in particular regardless of their race, color or creed. In public health policies, efforts should be made to ensure that least harm is caused to other people. The deontology theory states that people should adhere to their obligations and duties when analyzing dilemma (Rainbow, 2002). In as far as public health policy is concerned, it can be seen that the state should adhere to its duties and obligations to ensure that the employees are not harmed at work. This theory also proposes that measures should be implemented in order to minimize the chances of incidents at workplaces. On the other hand, the utilitarian theory posits to the effect that â€Å"the choice that yields the greatest benefit to the most people is the choice that is ethically correct,† (Rainbow, 2002). In this particular case, it seems that the promulgation of a public health policy will benefit the majority of the people hence it is ethically correct to implement it within the workplace. The other theory that is applicable to the above mentioned case is the rights theory. According to Rainbow (2002), the rights set by a society are protected and given priority and this is considered ethically correct with regard to implementation of a public health policy since it is every person’s health to be protected within the workplace. By using both ethical principles and theories, it can be seen that one is in a better position to analyse the situation so as to be able to reach the most correct ethical decision. The decisions

Communication Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Communication - Research Paper Example I was with my friends, and sometimes it was awkward getting up out of the raised barstool chairs with backs in order to meet and greet people who were coming and leaving the bar and grill. For the most part, people at my table did not violate other peoples' personal space. Everyone was pretty respectful. I cannot necessarily say the same for the people sitting at the bar. When I glanced over at the bar occasionally, people were leaning on the top of the bar and having their arms folded, or they had their arms pointing the direction of other customers. I'm sure it was a cozy atmosphere for many of those folks, and friendly too, I'm just not sure everyone at the bar had the equal amount of elbow room that is nice to have when one is sitting around the tabletop of a bar. One has to kind of edge in, sit on a barstool, and make oneself comfortable. Peoples' appearances were rather varied and interesting. Some people were dressed up. Some men wore a tie, but for the most part there were no men wearing suits. All the men seemed to be dressed casually but in nice polo shirts. The women for the most part dressed nicely as well, some more than others. Not many women had excessive jewelry or accessories. Some women didn't wear any jewelry at all, which I found quite surprising, because usually on the whole, women wear jewelry of some type. One woman who was a singer in the show had her hair professionally done and wore a modicum of jewelry but nothing too extreme. Another singer in a band which performed, who also was a woman, had absolutely no jewelry on. I thought the woman with the jewelry was prettier and had more substance as an artist than the woman without any decorative ornamentation at all. The woman who wore jewelry looked like she took care of herself better. Her nails were painted and nicely manicured as well. Overall, peoples' appearances were clean-cut but not professional in any sense of the word, except for one woman I did notice who was wearing a dress. Other than that, both men and women wore casual clothing and nothing extremely fancy or overdone. Peoples' communication, both verbal and non-verbal, was congruent for the most part. The people producing the show at the bar and grill were very nervous, looking at the crowd quite a bit and analyzing how many people were at the venue. They had promoted this event (mainly for the sake of their own band being filmed by ABC later on in the evening), and the people who put on the show were worried that they weren't going to get enough of a crowd in to see the artists/musicians play. For the most part, peoples' body language and what they didn't say was very telling. Few people avoided eye contact, which is a non-verbal behavior which people do when they are lying.1 I could tell some people were nervous or bored by the way we were holding conversation. Some people were just nervous to be in social settings, and other people were trying to act interested in making conversation

Timothy McVeigh Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Timothy McVeigh - Case Study Example As such, this brief analysis will consider the type of evidence that used against McVeigh by the prosecution as well as an enumeration of the converse evidence that the defense sought to use a means of casting doubt into the minds of the jurors with regards to the case. The prosecution relied primarily on a combination of physical and eyewitness testimony from those that either new McVeigh personally or professionally. One of the witnesses that the prosecution called was that of Jennifer McVeigh; Timothy McVeigh’s own sister. Her testimony regarding the letters that McVeigh had sent her concerning his fury and rage over the actions of the United States government and the means by which he ultimately sought to rectify this evil were of primal importance for helping to paint McVeigh’s act as something that was highly premeditated and filled with rage and anger that, in his mind, necessitated revenge. However, Jennifer McVeigh’s testimony was not so clean as one may like to think due to the fact that the defense was able to prove that she had lied under great duress to the FBI in prior statements (Roebuck & Gest 1997). This was proven to be a function of the fact that when they had first interviewed her, they had done so for 8-10 hours per day for 8 days straight; continually threatening her that if she did not comply completely they would charge her with treason or any other number of federal crimes that were ultimately punishable by the death penalty. As such, the way in which this witness was utilized by the prosecution was highly suspect with regards to whether she was telling the truth or a version of the truth that the prosecution felt would be the most useful to the case. However, the most detailed account of McVeigh’s motives and eyewitness testimony to hearing these motives expounded was that of Michael J. Fortier; one of Timothy McVeigh’s old Army friends. Among other information that Michael J. Fortier was able to enga ge the jury and the prosecution with was the fact that McVeigh had told him that McVeigh’s hatred for the government had reached such proportions that he intended to blow up the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building as a means of causing â€Å" a general uprising in America† (Esposito 1998). Conversely, the testimony of the Fortiers, both Michael and his wife, was sought to be discredited by the defense due to the fact that they were known drug users who also could have easily been blackmailed by the government to testify against their former friend based upon the grounds that long prison sentences could have faced them had they chosen to refuse. Furthermore, evidence that was provided by the written and sworn statements of the Fortiers showed that they had repeatedly changed their earlier statements with regards to the key instances of the bomb plot and of their knowledge about its proceedings. With regards to the physical evidence that was presented, the prosecution soug ht to utilize the fact that explosive residue was found on the jeans, t-shirt, and earplugs that McVeigh was wearing at the time of his arrest (Cohen 1998). Further physical evidence was revealed to have shown McVeigh’s fingerprint on a receipt for approximately 1 ton of ammonium nitrate used to make the bomb. Further, VIN numbers from the Ryder truck rented under an alias were found

Comparison of Techniques in Acne Scar Treatment

Comparison of Techniques in Acne Scar Treatment Punch excision techniques are utilized for depressed scars such as ice pick and boxcar scars. According to the diameter of the scar, a biopsy punch of appropriate size is used to excise the scar. If the scar is > 3.5 mm in size, it is excised and sutured after undermining, in a direction parallel to the relaxed skin tension lines. Procedure: Surgical preparation is done. Local anaesthesia infiltration and marking of the scar is done. Initial undermining of the scar is done. Based on the diameter of the scar, a biopsy punch of appropriate size is inserted till the subcutaneous fat layer and the punch graft is removed and discarded. After removal of the plug, the area becomes elliptical. Undermining with an artery forceps is done and is followed by suturing with 6-0 prolene. (Illustration 33.5) A linear scar ensues lying along the RSTL. Dressing is done. Antibiotics and NSAIDs are administered for 7 days. Depressed pitted ice pick scars up to 4 mm in diameter, are excised and replaced with an autologous, full-thickness punch graft. The donor site is commonly the post-auricular region or the gluteal region. Care should be taken to avoid cobblestoning, which is a common complication. Procedure: Surgical preparation is done. Local anaesthesia infiltration and marking of the scar is done. Initial undermining of the scar is done. Based on the diameter of the scar, a biopsy punch of appropriate size is inserted till the subcutaneous fat layer and the punch graft is removed and discarded. From the donor site, a full thickness punch graft> 0.5 mm than the excised scar is taken. This is then fit into the recipient area( Area of excised scar), if needed it is trimmed. Sutures or surgical glue is applied. (Illustration 33.6) Dressing is done. Antibiotics and NSAIDs are administered for 7 days. All the punch techniques require a postoperative follow up after 1 week to check for the donor/ recipient site and removal of sutures, if required. In selected cases, when scarring is linear and extensive, scar revision techniques such as Z, M and Y plasty may be useful. These need to be performed by a dermatosurgeon properly trained in performing these procedures. [41, 42] Various techniques such as microneedling, threadlifts are being used in atrophic acne scars. Intralesional steroids and cytotoxics along with silicone sheets are the mainstay for hypertrophic scars. Skin needling, also called â€Å"collagen induction therapy† or â€Å"needle dermabrasion† is the technique of rolling a device composed of a barrel studded with hundreds of needles, which create thousands of micropunctures in the skin to the level of the papillary to mid-dermis. [ 43] The optimal scars to treat with skin lesion are the same as fractional laser resurfacing— rolling acne scars, superficial boxcar scars, or erythematous or hypopigmented macular scars. A dermaroller device is used with needles of length 1.5 to 2.5mm is rolled across the skin with pressure in multiple directions until the area demonstrates uniform pinpoint bleeding through thousands of micropuncture sites. One study describes rolling the device four times in four different directions (horizontally, vertically, and diagonally right and left) for a total of 16 passes. [44] In the author’s experience, the number of passes required to achieve uniform pinpoint bleeding of the treat ment area is variable and is inversely proportional to the density of the needles on the rolling barrel. Usually, three or more treatments are required to achieve optimal clinical benefit, separated by four-week intervals. Figure 33.6 shows good results with dermaroller microneedling. Microneedling with fractional radiofrequency (MFR) technology is now being used for acne scars. MFR is useful for distensible scars and non- distensible scars with associated volume loss. The procedural details and clinical studies have been detailed in Chapter 10. Non-surgical face lifts with threads are also being used for acne scar treatment. Polydioxanone (PDO) threads are used for lifting and tissue tightening and scar resurfacing; it stimulates production of collagen and fibroblasts in response to its implantation. Threadlift with PDO is indicated in patients of scars who cannot come repeatedly for multiple number of sittings for derma roller, or do not want to undergo laser/ lights or radiofrequency treatments. Evidence based studies are lacking with this technique. The procedure has been detailed in chapter 15. Intralesional triamcinolone 10-40 mg/mL with or without cytotoxics, like 5-fluorouracil, is indicated for the treatment of hypertrophic scars and keloids. These are repeated at 3-4 weekly intervals until resolution; care is taken to avoid atrophy. [45, 46, 47, 48] Administration of fluorouracil (5-FU) or bleomycin into the scars, results in gradual flattening of the scars. [49, 50, 51] 5-FU inhibits rapidly proliferating fibroblasts found in dermal wounds. [52]The therapy is efficacious for facial acne scars as monotherapy, [53, 54] and in combination with intralesional corticosteroids and a 585 nm pulsed dye laser. [50 ] Studies with 5-FU use a concentration of 50 mg/mL with a total dose per session ranging from 50 mg to 150 mg and can be given multiple times a week to increase treatment efficacy. Bleomycin is another antineoplastic agent that inhibits collagen synthesis through cytotoxic effects on rapidly dividing fibroblasts. [55, 56] Silicone dressings are chemically and biologically inert; silicon sheets or gels are found to be useful in flattening keloids and hypertrophic scars, reducing discoloration and making scars cosmetically acceptable. [57, 58] Scarring in areas which are subjected to repeated movements (chin, marionette lines) are prone to become more obvious with aging. The synergistic combination of botulinum toxin and fillers may prove to be a useful modality in these scars. Botulinum toxin relaxes the muscles and hence decreases the tensile forces surrounding the scar. [20] Combining 2 or 3 modalities of acne scar treatment in a single session or sequential planning of the procedure can prove advantageous to a monotherapy. Various combination therapies are practiced. Combination of different interventions can result in satisfactory improvement of acne scarring. It is useful to combine subcision with various modalities. Subscision treatments followed by microneedling performed immediately the day after and TCA 15% peel done a fortnight later was found to improve the grade of scar. [59] Another sequential combination therapy is TCA peeling, subcision, and subsequent fractional laser irradiation. Dot peeling and subcision is done twice at an interval of 2-3 weeks and fractional laser irradiation is done every 3-4 weeks. The duration of therapy is 12 months. A marked decrease in acne scar severity was noted. [60] Combination of PRP with microneedling, fractional CO2 and erbium YAG also constitutes an effective alternative that produces synergistic benefits with fewer adverse effects. [61, 62, 63] The aim of good postoperative care is to prevent or minimize complications and ensure early recovery. Preventive actions must be taken promptly to avert complications, which may lead to unacceptable aesthetic or functional result. This is most important in ablative resurfacing procedures, particularly in darker skinned patients, where pigmentary alterations are common. Supportive medical therapy and a careful maintenance program are essential to maintain results of surgical treatment in most patients. Complications related to individual procedures are discussed in details in respective chapters. In general, the complications include conditions such as active herpes simplex, immunosuppressive conditions, which may predispose to infection and delayed healing. Post inflammatory hyperpigmentation is a common and dreaded complication of acne surgery, especially in dark skinned patients. Patients with unrealistic expectations or uncooperative patients who do not follow treatment regimens are more prone to develop complications. Adequate counselling, priming the skin and supportive medical therapy, apart from good intra- and postoperative care are essential for satisfactory surgical outcomes. The tips for management based on the author’s experience are outlined in Box 33.4 Box 33.4: Pearls and Pitfalls Procedural treatment in acne provides gratifying results. These are an adjunct treatment in active acne, however post acne scarring is being better managed with the advent of various procedural interventions. Fractional resurfacing lasers have proven to be one of the most beneficial technologies for post acne scarring. Judicious use of combination therapies in a single or sequential sessions have a synergistic role and are increasingly being used in clinical practice. Appropriate patient selection and a good understanding of patient expectations are vital to achieve an optimal therapeutic outcome. Acne surgery involves the use of appropriate surgical interventions for treatment of active acne as well as improving cosmetic outcomes in postacne scarring. In active acne, surgical intervention is used as an adjunctive to medical therapy. The treatment of post acne scars involves a multimodal approach as different types of scars may exist in an individual. Each scar and each patient must be evaluated and treated accordingly. The main goal of treatment is to achieve maximal improvement rather than perfection. The procedures can be classified as resurfacing, lifting, excisional modalities.For superficial scars, non-invasive or minimally invasive techniques such as microdermabrasion, superficial chemical peels or the newer non ablative lasers, are better treatment options. For deeper scars, a combined approach with subcision, punch excision techniques in conjunction with resurfacing procedures, are essential to achieve optimum results. Many complications can be prevented by thorough p reoperative evaluation, sound surgical technique, and careful follow-up care. Good patient rapport and effective communication with patients are invaluable.

An Analysis of Das Boot Essay -- Das Boot Essays

What is it that makes the film, "Das Boot", stand out in the plethora of war movies? Why was this film, with subtitles and about German World War 2 soldiers, popular enough in America to earn six Academy Award nominations? One possible answer is the characters. Like so many other epics, the sensation of viewing pleasure goes beyond the intense plot and into the intricacy and intimacy of the building blocks of every story: the characters. Director Wolfgang Petersen's mastery is in bringing the viewer into that unfortunate submarine, makes everyone a participant in the horror as one of the characters, creating the feeling of no escape. Then, once Petersen has the viewer "in" the submarine, he presents us with a duality in character type; there are men determined to salvage the mission and thwart disaster, as well as others who are helpless in helping their comrades, doomed to be insufficient and bothersome. Once Petersen has portrayed this conflict, it is easy to see how the level of tension is so high in the submarine. The film begins with the submarine crew drunk and jovial, attempting to enjoy their final moments before their departure. Knowing that the odds of returning alive are minimal, the men appear to throwing their intuition to the stars as they frolic foolishly and even tastelessly. Petersen is presenting the viewer with a group of rowdy boys full of life and indifferent to their future, in stark contrast with the men who arrive at the Mediterranean port later in the film. At this moment, all the men are equals, ready to confront the sea and serve their country. While in the submarine, the nature of these men changes. No longer are they a homogeneous group; rather a number of... ... thing he does like his attentiveness to Hitler's speeches, his meticulous eating habits, and promenading in his Nazi attire, all annoy the crew. His very presence is a distraction to a crew that needs total focus. Although he appears as diligent as the others, his style is different, his attitude is too unnecessary, and his demeanor is too inappropriate for the submarine. This duality is a large component of the tension that resides in the boat. Peterson seems to be making a contrast he to encourage the already mounting tension. Combine this with the life-death aspect of the mission and incredible stress is inevitable. It is a ship mostly full of ardorous men, but the few who don't fit are harpoons in the ship's side. Pederson's film is quite intense and it has to be said that this duality in character portrayal enhances this aspect of the movie.