Of all the tasks of childhood, there is perhaps none that raises more anxiety for parents or causes more dread than toilet training. What should be the most natural thing in the world often turns into a dramatic struggle between parent and child. The more the parents want their child to be trained, the more [...]

There are some new operations for reconstructive surgery that are “one step” and do not require lengthy or multiple hospitalizations. Take some time first, and then consider that possibility if you think it might be helpful. As with the tubes they put in men’s penises for erection, there is no “need” to do so. Such [...]

William Masters and Virginia Johnson observed the sexual behavior of 382 women and 312 men for a total of 10,000 individual sexual-response cycles. Their courageous and pioneering work not only provided long-needed medical knowledge about sexuality, but allowed the public and medical acknowledgment that sexual problems were a part of many, if not most, sexual [...]

Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, or AIDS, has struck terror into many of the population and may well have caused many people unnecessary worry. First described in 1981, there have been around 6000 cases since in the United States. Unfortunately, nearly 70 per cent of these are dead within two years.

The high risk groups in the [...]

How would you like to be really fit? … “Fit for what?” you may ask.

Physical fitness may mean different things to different people.

To the doctor, it may mean freedom from disease. To the weight lifter, it may mean muscle mass. To a football player, it may mean the ability to play 100 minutes and still [...]

I think many people believe that the ‘experts’ weigh up such a balance on their behalf. You might imagine that the treatment your practitioner recommends is based on a careful assessment, considering all aspects of each possible treatment as well as your personal, social and psychological situation and needs. That is far from the truth. [...]

The fact that there are so many different types of cancer is one reason why there is no treatment which cures all types of cancer. There is a second reason. Cancer cells are not different enough from our normal cells. After all, they are actually part of us, they are cells which belong to our [...]

A new generation of doctors has grown up, unskilled in difficult forceps deliveries, but knowledgeable and skilled in caesarean section. Naturally, when complications arise, this is the procedure they will use and also teach.

Previously, a caesarean section was done in the “classical” manner. The incision in the uterus or womb was straight up and down [...]

The threat of the client’s disempowerment in the helping process can be moderated by sharing the decision-making and risk-taking with the client. This is readily achieved through the process of informed consent.

The latin roots of consent, con sentire, mean to feel with. Consent is about mutual understanding. You need to understand how the client sees [...]

1. An amount of food containing 50 grams of carbohydrate is given to a volunteer to eat. For example, to test boiled spaghetti, the volunteer would be given 200 grams of spaghetti which supplies 50 grams of carbohydrate (we work this out from food composition tables)—50 grams of carbohydrate is equivalent to 3 tablespoons of [...]