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Showing posts from April, 2014

The needle and the damage done.

The FDA recently approved the use of a Narcan (naxolone) intramuscular injector for home use. The same route as a Epinephrine intramuscular injector (EpiPen) used to counteract the very quick and very deadly allergic reaction otherwise know as Anaphylaxis. What is naxolone? What are we talking about here? Naxolone otherwise know as its brand name Narcan is an opioid antagonist. Meaning in a very basic sence that it binds to opioid receptors in your brain and blocks them from receiving any opioids (Heroin, Vicodin, Norco, Oxycontin, and any other opiate based medication or drug). Narcan has ZERO side effects and essentially only one indicator; an overdose of any opioid based substance. An opioid overdose manifests itself as pinpoint pupils, pale or cyanotic skin, diaphoresis, decreased or completely absent respiratory effort eventually leading to death. Now,  I have administered Narcan countless times and have seen first hand the dramatic effects of this lifesaving drug. *see here...

Our Place In The Universe

We live on one simple planet, Earth.  That planet is about 12,712 kilometers in diameter from pole to pole.  The entire human species is just a speck on the face of this planet.  That planet is part of a solar system made up of 8 other planets which revolve around an average star that we call the sun.  Our solar system is approximately 287.46 billion kilometers in diameter.  Just to give you some perspective on our small little tucked away corner of the universe, the Voyager 1 probe was launched from earth on September 5, 1977 and has been traveling ever since.  The total mission duration is about 36 and a half years.  During this time, the probe has traveled at a velocity of 17 kilometers every second (that's 11 miles every second).  As of August 25, 2012, the voyager finally left our solar system and ventured into interstellar space.  That is the scope of our solar system.  Let's move out a little more and see how small this massive so...