The Speeding Fisherman

This is an actual emergency room photo of a fisherman who lost control of his high-speed bass boat in West Virginia . Wardens believe that he was travelling at a speed of approximately 75 MPH at the time of the accident. He was unable to negotiate a curve in the narrow waterway.

Unfortunately for him, upon striking the shoreline and being ejected from the boat, he landed back end first on an old fence post.

You can probably picture what happened next, but the attached picture really says it all. The good news is that after about 6 months, this man made a full recovery after suffering a shattered hip, broken leg, several broken ribs, internal injuries and soft tissue damage. Doctors credited his recovery to the fact that the post lodged itself so tightly that there was little or no blood loss.

Now that's got to hurt!!!

Moral of the story is DON'T DRIVE THAT FISHING BOAT TOO FAST!!!!!

Now look at the photo! BRACE YOURSELF 1ST THOUGH!!!

Breast cancer recurrence not increased with controlled ovarian stimulation

Ovarian stimulation using gonadotropins and letrozole to preserve fertility in patients with breast cancer undergoing chemotherapy is unlikely to increase their risk for recurrence, say US researchers.

Kutluk Oktay, from the Center for Human Reproduction in New York, and colleagues evaluated 215 women with breast cancer for fertility preservation before adjuvant chemotherapy. Overall, 79 of the women underwent controlled ovarian stimulation (COS) for embryo or oocyte preservation, while the remainder served as controls.

An average of 10.3 oocytes were retrieved from COS patients, with 5.97 embryos or oocytes cryopreserved per patient.

The time between surgery and chemotherapy was significantly longer for patients who underwent IVF than control patients, at 45.08 versus 33.46 days. In patients who had COS, peak estradiol levels ranged from 58.4 to 1,166 pg/ml.

In the COS group, median follow-up after chemotherapy was 23.4 months, compared with 33.05 months in the control group. Recurrence occurred in 3.8 and 8.1 percent of COS and control patients, respectively, at a nonsignificant hazard ratio of 0.56.

The team concludes: "COS before embryo or oocyte cryopreservation is unlikely to result in a significant increase in recurrence of breast cancer compared with those who did not undergo ovarian stimulation, at least in the short term."

2008 Olympics Opening Ceremony

Beijing held its formal opening ceremony for the 2008 Summer Olympics. The ceremony, held in the National Stadium known as the Bird's Nest, was attended by thousands, and watched by millions more on television. Below are some highlights of the nearly 4-hour performance.

The Hand of Hope!

Please read before viewing picture - it's worth it!

A picture began circulating in November. It should be 'The Picture of the Year,' or perhaps, 'Picture of the Decade.' It won't be. In fact,unless you obtained a copy of the US paper which published it, you probably would never have seen it.

The picture is that of a 21-week-old unborn baby named Samuel Alexander Armas, who is being operated on by surgeon named Joseph Bruner.

The baby was diagnosed with spina bifida and would not survive if removed from his mother's womb. Little Samuel's mother, Julie Armas, is an obstetrics nurse in Atlanta. She knew of Dr. Bruner's remarkable surgical procedure. Practicing at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville , he performs these special operations while the baby is still in the womb.

During the procedure, the doctor removes the uterus via C-section and makes a small incision to operate on the baby. As Dr.Bruner completed the surgery on Samuel, the little guy reached his tiny, but fully developed hand through the incision and firmly grasped the surgeon's finger. Dr..Bruner was reported as saying that when his finger was grasped, it was the most emotional moment of his life, and that for an instant during the procedure he was just frozen, totally immobile.

The photograph captures this amazing event with perfect clarity. The editors titled the picture, 'Hand of Hope.' The text explaining the picture begins, 'The tiny hand of 21-week- old fetus Samuel Alexander Armas emerges from the mother's uterus to grasp the finger of Dr. Joseph Bruner as if thanking the doctor for the gift of life.'

Little Samuel's mother said they 'wept for days' when they saw the picture. She said, 'The photo reminds us pregnancy isn't about disability or an illness, it's about a little person.' Samuel was born in perfect health, the operation 100 percent successful.

Now see the actual picture, and how awesome and completely incredible it is! The world needs to see this one!

Scientists identify possible cause of endometriosis

Endometriosis is a condition whereby patches of the inner lining of the womb appear in parts of the body other than the womb cavity. It can cause severe pain and affects approximately 15% of women of reproductive age. Endometriosis is also associated with infertility, with 50% of infertile women affected by the condition.

Researchers discovered that an enzyme, called telomerase, is released by cells in the inner lining of the womb during the latter stages of the menstrual cycle in women who are affected by endometriosis. Telomerase is not commonly found in the cells that make up the body, but is uniquely found in the inner lining of the womb and in some special cells, such as sperm and egg cells. The enzyme is also found in cancer cells and is thought to be responsible for replicating DNA sequences during cell division in chromosomes.

Dr Dharani Hapangama, from the University's Department of Reproductive and Developmental Medicine, explains: "Endometriosis occurs when cells of the inner lining of the womb are found growing outside of the uterus. At the time of a woman's menstruation cycle these cells, called endometrial cells, are shed and can be expelled into the abdominal cavity. If these cells continue to live and are implanted in the pelvis and abdomen it can cause severe pain and in serious cases can lead to infertility.

"We found the telomere – a region at the end of all chromosomes that prevents the chromosome destroying itself during cell division – is abnormally long in women with endometriosis. During menstruation telomeres normally shorten in length with each cycle of cell division until they reach a certain length at which they can no longer divide. An enzyme called telomerase can extend the length of the telomeres so that they can continue to divide and this can happen in some special cells such as sperm and egg cells, but not normally in cells that make up the organs of the body.

"Our research shows, however, that cells in the lining of the womb are unique in that they can express this enzyme in the early stages of the menstrual cycle when cell division is important, but not during the latter stages when implantation of the fertilised embryo becomes a priority.

"Women who have endometriosis express this enzyme in both the early and late stages of the menstrual cycle which means that the cells will continue to divide and lose their 'focus' in supporting the establishment of a pregnancy. As a result the lining of the womb may be more hostile to an early pregnancy, and the cells that are shed at this late stage in the menstrual cycle may be more 'aggressive' and more able to survive and implant outside the uterus, causing pain in the pelvic or abdomen area."

The research, published in Human Reproduction, will help scientists develop new techniques for diagnosing and treating the condition.

Sunday Laff

For Heaven's Sake Will Someone Tell Her It's A Mushroom