Bad Moon Rising

I see the bad moon rising.
I see trouble on the way.
I see earthquakes and lightnin'.
I see bad times today.

Don't go around tonight
Well it's bound to take your life
There's a bad moon on the rise.

Full moon tonight...and you know what that means...no not werewolves, but trauma! Okay, so it's not actually a full moon, only 96% of the face of the moon will be covered in light...close enough. I have duty tonight as I have said before, so I'll keep you updated.

For the space geeks here, if you're interested, you can get your name programmed into a microchip that will be on the Dawn spacecraft by going here.

As for those of you who have asked me about UVA: I did apply early decision and was accepted through that route two weeks earlier than the specified decision date. Good luck to the other applicants!

I was actually thinking about joining the rescue squad in Charlottesville and in addition, taking the EMT-Intermediate class since I will be 18 by then. Any suggestions for where to look for the class? I think UVA might actually offer one through its prehospital education program. I also have heard that the rescue squad was great down there; I'm looking forward to it, but I'll never drive an ambulance. Ever. I refuse; too much responsibility for everyone on the truck and other vehicles that are around.

Today I volunteered at the Christmas Mother which was really nice. For those of you who don't know what that is (I didn't know myself before I went), basically people bring in food and gifts and we then distribute the food and gifts to families in need of them in the area. I'm glad I participated in it; I really love serving people.

Other News:

New Dementia Case Arises Every Seven Seconds

'The number of people that have dementia is set to double every 20 years, according to a report in this week's issue of The Lancet. The study reveals that 24 million people have dementia today, and this is set to rise to 42 million by 2020, and 81 million by 2040. Researchers from Alzheimer's Disease International (ADI) combined data from published reviews on the prevalence of dementia for the major regions of the world. They found that of those that live with dementia, 60% live in developing countries, with this number rising to 71% by 2040. The numbers in developed countries are set to increase by 100% between 2001 and 2040, but in India, China, and their south Asian and western Pacific neighbours rates will rise by more than 300% during this period.'

Oral HIV Tests Not the Last Word

'THURSDAY, Dec. 15 (HealthDay News) -- When an HIV test tells someone they are infected with the virus that causes AIDS, most would probably assume that's the end of the story.
However, as doubts emerged this week as to the accuracy of one rapid oral HIV test, experts noted that "false positive" results aren't as rare as people might think.
In fact, doctors consider a result on the oral HIV test to be only a preliminary finding, because of the risk that the screen may be inaccurate. Most physicians routinely advise patients to go for a more accurate HIV test if they turn up positive.'

Stay safe everyone,
Bravomedic out.