Boy born with no ears gets sunglasses wish

Boy Born With No Ears Gets Sunglasses Wish

Kieran Sorkin, 9, from Hertfordshire, was told at a hospital appointment on Thursday that his new ears had healed sufficiently to support his shades.

Kieran was born with bilateral microtia, which means he just had small lobes where his ears should have been.

He had an operation last summer to create a pair of ears made of cartilage taken from his ribs.

It took place at the world-renowned Great Ormond Street Hospital in London.

He then had a second procedure in February to lift his new ears away from the sides of his head and forwards into the correct position. They were covered in skin taken from his scalp.

But it was not until Thursday that he was told by lead surgeon Neil Bulstrode that he could wear sunglasses, just in time for summer.

"Awesome!" Kieran said before immediately putting on the glasses and admiring himself in the mirror.

"Mr Bulstrode is the best surgeon as he made my wishes come true," he said.

His mother said the family, from Bushey, were delighted with the results.

"Kieran has been very brave throughout this journey and the results today are overwhelming.

"We know we all made the right decision with Kieran to go ahead with surgery. It's already made such a huge difference to his self-esteem and confidence."

Kieran was born deaf as a result of the condition but can already hear, thanks to previous surgery to implant a hearing aid

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Noisy quacks under the knife

In the backdrop of a rise in the number of quacks in Punjab, especially Lahore, Punjab Healthcare Commission (PHC) in collaboration with the Punjab government has launched a campaign against these self-claimed life savers across the province.

According to PHC, a stern action will be taken against so-called dentists, orthopaedics and other unqualified doctors who are playing with the lives of masses. Unsterilized equipments used by unskilled dentists may cause hepatitis and other fatal diseases. The so-called orthopaedics that can be seen in every nook and corner of Lahore are running their clinics defiantly.

“It is a good initiative by the Punjab government and PHC if implemented in letter and spirit, however I am sure the government can’t enforce it effectively because health is not on its priority,” Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) Punjab President Dr Izhar Chowdhray toldPakistan Today.

He went on to say that if the chief minister (CM) can enforce a ban on marriages after 10pm, he could easily eradicate these quacks too. He added that the quacks can be impounded efficiently by giving a strict order to the concerned police station house officers (SHOs) of the localities.

Dr Chowdhry believes the matter is not as simple as it looks. Initiating a rigorous campaign against quacks is not an alternative for providing people better health facilities. If government ensures its citizens of affordable and speedy treatment then these quacks will automatically vanish.

“A poor person can compromise on his child’s education, but health is a commodity that he will have to buy for his child. And since he can buy it cheaper from a quack, he opts for it,” Dr Chowdhry concluded.

A self-claimed orthopaedic near Ravi Bridge told Pakistan Today that he supports the government’s initiative against quacks but it was not the ultimate solution. “We do not force patients to come to us. When they don’t get timely and affordable treatment, they move to us. Government must provide affordable treatment to the impoverished. We are ready to cooperate with the government in this regard,” he said while talking to Pakistan Today.

A woman came to his shop and got her broken arm bandaged in just Rs 30. She told this scribe that she could not afford expensive treatment in hospitals.

A PHC spokesperson told Pakistan Today that they have step-wise launched the campaign against quacks in different districts with the help of city district governments (CDGs). The PHC refers the cases to Health Parliamentary Secretary Khwaja Imran Nazeer, who then coordinates with the CDGs for raids on quacks.

It is pertinent to mention here that a number of quacks sprawl with impunity near Ravi Bridge in Nazeer’s constituency precincts. The parliamentary secretary and Health Advisor Khwaja Salman Rafique were however not available for comments.

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UNODC assures full cooperation for treatment of HIV patients

United Nation Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Regional Adviser Anne Bergens on Saturday assured full cooperation and expressed well wishes for patients of HIV AIDS
She was addressing a consultative meeting to showcase art adherence unit (AAU) providing rehabilitation for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) patient and the people who inject drugs (PWID). She said, “it was an opportunity for me to have a detailed interaction with drug addicted people of different parts of the country”.
United Nation (UN) Country Director for Aids (acquired immune deficiency syndrome), Marc Saba said that planning for treatment of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) AIDS and anti retroviral therapy (ART) at divisional level is underway.
Addressing a consultative meeting on Saturday to showcase an art adherence unit (AAU) providing rehabilitative anti retroviral therapy adherence support to human immunodeficiency virus positive, he said that the role of the Nai Zindgi Trust for treatment of AIDS and anti retroviral therapy patients is highly appreciable.
Marc Saba urged patients of HIV and drugs not to use drugs again and again. They must inform other people about the Nai Zindgi Trust for treatment, he added.
Nai Zindagi Trust, the lead organisation working for human immunodeficiency virus prevention and reduction among People who Inject drugs (PWID) organised a consultative meeting to showcase art adherence unit (AAU) providing rehabilitative anti retroviral therapy adherence support to human immunodeficiency virus positive patients and the people who inject drugs (PWID).
Relevant stakeholders representing public sector, private sector, civil society organisations and international partners and doctors attended the event.
They had a detailed interaction with the human immunodeficiency virus positive and the people who inject drugs (PWID) under treatment at AAU which helped them understand the issues surrounding human immunodeficiency virus and AIDS particularly among PWID and the problems faced by them in accessing anti retroviral therapy (ART).
Anti retroviral therapy is a life long treatment and intake of prescribed medicines by the patients on a daily basis is essential to maintain the immune system and minimize serious health consequences that are likely to be caused by human immunodeficiency virus and AIDS. 

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Ramazan advisory: Doctors urge caution for diabetics

With Ramazan just around the corner, doctors have called on diabetics to pay extra care in managing their glucose levels while fasting.

They were speaking at a seminar organised by Shifa International Hospital (SIH) to educate diabetic patients on how they can fast without adversely affecting their health.

Consultant Endocrinologist Dr Usama Ishtiaq said diabetics have risk of low blood sugars, very high blood sugars, dehydration and sometimes acidosis (presence of increase acids in the blood). But not all patients have similar risks, he added.

“Experts have divided patients mostly in three categories based on their diabetes, complications and associated diseases. These categories include very high, moderate and low risks of above mentioned problems. Therefore, we recommend that all diabetics should consult their treating doctors and discuss their risks,” Dr Ishtiaq underlined.

He said that around 40 to 50 million Muslims with diabetes across the world fast during Ramazan, adding that it is difficult to keep diet and blood glucose levels under control while fasting.

He stressed that patients can encounter some serious health issues while fasting such as an extreme increase or decrease in blood sugar level, lower water level in the body and some serious threats to diabetic children, pregnant women, and heart and kidney patients. He was of the view that frequent disturbance in diabetes may harm one’s health permanently.

Senior Clinical Dietitian Zainab Ghayyor advised patients to improve and maintain nutritional status during Ramazan fasting and prevent and treat complications in time. “Drug doses should be adjusted according to diet,” she suggested, while advising the patients not to skip sehri.

While highlighting the importance of fasting in Islam and its positive and spiritual impacts, Senior Manager Religious Affairs Azmatullah Qureshi, informed the audience about some health practices that do not affect fasting such as use of injection, using asthmatic inhaler and donating blood, vomiting, and pouring medicines into the eyes or ears. He said that there was no excuse for skipping fasting in minor diseases like flu or fever.

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Age-related memory loss only partial

Age-related memory loss only partial

The widespread belief that memory deteriorates as one approaches old age is not completely true as researchers have found that while the capacity to recall specific facts deteriorates with age, other types of memory do not. 

"In old age, deterioration appears in episodic memory but not in semantic memory," 

"Episodic memory preserves the facts of the past in our personal life, and it is more specific in terms of time and space: we can remember the last time we went to a restaurant, who we sat next to, what we ate... " Aizpurua said. 

Semantic memory is related to language, to the meaning of concepts and to repetitive facts. 

"This type of memory -- semantic -- and procedural memory are maintained (in some cases they even improve) whereas episodic memory in which detailed memories are retained is reduced," Aizpurua added. 

Procedural memory is the one to do with skills, the one we need to do things -- to drive, for example. 

In the experiment conducted for the research, the participants were asked to r .. 

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