Charity Tillemann-Dick: After a lung transplant, an aria

You'll never sing again, said her doctor. But in a story from the very edge of medical possibility, operatic soprano Charity Tillemann-Dick tells a double story of survival -- of her body, from a double lung transplant -- and of her spirit, fueled by an unwavering will to sing. A powerful story from TEDMED 2011. LINK: Youtube

Girl grows two new kidneys after old ones fail

A girl left seriously ill when both her kidneys failed astounded medical experts by growing two new ones. Angel Burton from Louth, Lincolnshire, suffered from painful kidney infections from birth to the point where she required surgery at the age of five.

But surgeons were amazed to discover the little girl had four kidneys, with two new fully formed organs sitting on top of her old ones. And the new ones had taken over the role of the others, meaning she was effectively 'cured' of kidney failure.

Now, three years on, Angel, now eight, is fighting fit and her family are still thankful for the miracle that changed her life. She has an rare condition known as 'duplex kidney' - common to just a handful of people in Britain.

A duplex kidney is fused to the other at the centre and may share or have an independent ureter draining urine to the bladder. In Angel's case both her kidneys are 'duplex' and fused to the other. Each has a separate ureter, meaning that she has four kidneys and four ureters. LINK

Quarantine Rapper is Back

(YouTube Link)

Christiaan Van Vuuren created a viral video two months about about his experiences in quarantine for drug-resistant tuberculosis. He’s still there, and has had plenty of time to hone his video editing skills:

It has now been 102 days that I’ve been here in the hospital all up, isolated with a case of Multi-Drug Resistant TB. I am here under a strict regiment of 6 different antibiotics, and a couple of other medications to help with the side effects of those. Over this time I have been lucky enough to have access to a computer with music and video production capability!!! So far I have really enjoyed making videos and connecting with people around the world through the internet, as it’s been a great way for me to keep my mind off all the treatment, and make me feel as if I’m actually achieving something in here, rather than wasting the time away staring at the walls!….. For this most recent music video, I really wanted to do something that was out of control – so I enlisted the help of my brother. He is only able to come in for short visits here and there, for which he has to get masked up and wear protective gloves, but it was enough for us to be able to go silly with his digital handycam.

Via: Nerdist, Via: Neatorama

What Your Face Reveals About Your Health

What do you see when you look in the mirror? According to Chinese medicine, your face is a window to your health. Your forehead, nose, chin, right cheek, left cheek: each of these five face zones gives you clues to what is going on inside your body - if you know what to look for. LINK

Decode what your face reveals about you.

Photo Archives of the National Museum of Health and Medicine

The museum, formerly called the Army Medical Museum, is now part of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in Washington, D.C. It houses millions of artifacts in a variety of historically significant collections. Selections from their photographic archives have been assembled in a Flickr photostream, which “began as unofficial ‘favorite photos’ of the staff of the Otis Historical Archives” at the museum.

The subject material is understandably weighted toward anatomic and pathologic specimens, but also includes historical photos re public health and the delivery of health care in war and in peacetime.

Links for the museum and the photostream. Photo credit Joe Clark. Via: Neatorama

The Lung Flute: A Sort of Gross (But Important) Medical Innovation

Behold the mucous-loosening powers of the Lung Flute, a brilliantly simple device that will help millions who suffer from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

LINK, Via: Vimeo

Lavender: Nature’s First Aid Plant

Image Credit

Lavender - it looks gorgeous and it has all sorts of medicinal uses. If you can, try and avoid humming dilly, dilly while you read through this article, but to be honest, now I have put the tune in your head, you may well find that impossible.

From the article:
Lavender is perhaps one of the best known of essential oils and it is the perfect addition to the home first aid kit. Lavandula officinalis has dozens of uses around the home. It has an uplifting fragrance and can be used in every room of the house, including the laundry, but it is also very versatile as a treament for everyday ailments.

READ MORE

Written by Louie Jerome, LINK

Mystery medical history photos

Can you identify this? The Stanford UNiversity School of Medicine posted a "Medical Mysteries" set to Flickr. These are photos that the Lane Medical Archive has no information about: what/who is seen in the photos, what exactly they're doing, etc. Can you help? LINK

"Medical Mysteries"

OmniMedicalSearch

OmniMedicalSearch is a medical search engine. You can find authoritative, consumer-oriented health and medical information. There are nearly one million medical terms and synonyms that translates everyday language and precisely matches it to complex medical information.

You can also use Medical Image Search. LINK

Medical Encyclopedia

A Medical Encyclopedia including over 4,000 articles about diseases, tests, symptoms, injuries, and surgeries. It also contains an extensive library of medical photographs and illustrations.

LINK