Leaf through any magazine; watch any TV channel, and there is no dearth of beautiful women on show! They are all considered to be gorgeous because they have “full breasts”! What’s more, the advertisements are so belligerent in their message that any normal woman is left wondering if something is lacking in her appearance! Additionally, the clinics and professionals dealing with Breast Implant are also coming forward to press home the fact that it is a risk-free plastic surgery operation. Is it any wonder then that more and more women from all walks of life are opting for Mammoplasty?

Since I do not agree with the above-stated opinion and feel that every operation comes with its own risks, I would suggest that you keep a few points in mind if you are planning to go in for a Boob Job.

(1) Do not be a sheep, blindly following other sheep! After all, it is your body that we are talking about. Are you absolutely sure that you need this change? Just ask yourself one question—“What drastic change is this procedure going to bring in my life? What will happen if I don’t do it?”

(2) Get references to good surgeons from women who have already undergone this procedure. Degrees may sound impressive, the credentials may be very genuine—but what matters in the end is how comfortable you feel with a particular doctor. Is it someone in whom you can place implicit faith to deliver the goods? Choose the best from a list of doctors. If you have a personal physician already, then so much the better for you!

(3) Your surgeon should have a genuine certificate provided by the American Board of Plastic Surgeons. A surgeon with hospital privileges is someone who is recognized and respected by that particular hospital—he/she is a better option, since his/her competence will never come under scrutiny!

(4) If you are intending to get operated in a clinic, then check out beforehand if there are professionals with experience in this type of surgery. Check to see if the facility is clean and hygienic, and no medical wastes are allowed to be lying around.

(5) A good surgeon will clarify whether you do need Breast Augmentation or not? The risks and benefits of the procedure will be explained in detail. The surgeon will even be able to offer different options and alternatives to surgery. Never feel pressurized into going in for something that you are not totally sure about!

(6) If you have decided to have the procedure anyway, let the surgeon guide you through the exact steps of the procedure. What complications can occur during surgery, and after surgery? Are there any major risks to this sort of procedure? What benefits will you receive after the procedure?

(7) No doctor can honestly promise that a surgical procedure is absolutely risk-free, no matter the numerous precautions taken to prevent any mishap from occurring. The surgery requires general anesthesia to be administered, which by itself carries a good amount of risk! Inform the surgeon about any existing medical problems or any medications that you are taking. Also, a thorough physical examination is required before proceeding with any type of surgery.

(8) As for cost, it should not come in the way of your decision to opt for a good surgeon or well-known clinic. Money may go today, you can earn it back tomorrow—but if you are not sure that you can trust a particular doctor, you may possibly end up with post-operative complications that you can very well do without. The result is you having to shell out more money than necessary to get back to a normal life again!

Need Help for the Curlies? Try Cheap GHD Hair Straighteners!

Pink Straighteners
Well honey, hair straighteners are the total bee’s knees when it comes to getting rid of those curls you love to hate. Sure maybe wavy has it “moments” but you’d be a lot happier if you had fewer wavy moments and more straight ones. We’ve all had bad hair days that’s for sure, and if you do want the straight look, the best solution is using hair straighteners.

It might take you a wee bit of time to figure out how to best use hair straighteners to their best advantage, but once you caught on to the trick, you’ll be off to the races. Using a hair straightener does take time so make sure you leave room in your morning routine for working with your hair.

Beauty Articles
Beware of buying Cheap GHD Hair Straighteners that only one setting – on or off. This means they get way too hot and can damage your hair. What you want is one where YOU can control the temperature. This is important if you have the frizzies as higher heat just makes the frizz worse. So go for a lower wattage hair straightener – say 40 watts or so.

Not to give you a scare or anything, but hair straighteners can get pretty hot, so if you happen to be moving yours over your hair and you suddenly hear a sizzling sound – stop! You are literally cooking your hair. Hair does have moisture in it, even if it’s frizzy. Taking out what else there is left in your tresses isn’t a great idea. Just remember this, a hair straightener gets up to temperatures of about 248 degrees F. Water boils at 212 degrees F. Can we spell HOT! So take care.

Cheap GHD Hair Straighteners
Pay attention to the kind of plates hair straighteners have. Frankly the best ones are usually those with ceramic plates. If there is a Teflon coating, bonus, this will prevent your hair from sticking to the plates – which is something that can happen considering the high temperatures we are talking about. Look for rounded edges because they give you a much smoother finish. Those squared edges can leave you with kinks in your hair if you hold the straightener in your hair too long.

Bottom line? Pay attention to what you are buying and shop around until you find something that you are truly happy with. There is no sense in just grabbing the first hair straighteners you see or you might wind up with damaged hair instead of the straight hair you have been dreaming of.

There are several acne scar laser treatments available. The blue light therapy exposes the skin to a blue light source that has the capability of destroying P. acnes. It is a painless procedure and has temporary side effects like dryness and redness. The pulsed light and heat energy therapy includes exposing skin to the combination of the pulsed light and heat energy which helps decrease oil production. The side effects include temporary redness in the areas treated. The diode laser treatment helps destroy the sebaceous glands without affecting the outer layer of the skin. The side effects include temporary swelling and redness in the affected areas.

Upright MRI
The role of cervical spinal instability in the genesis of spinal cord injury (cervical myelopathy) and the complete extent of
that instability over the full range of flexion and extension positions that a patient’s cervical spine occupies can now be measured
in the FONAR UPRIGHT® Multi-Position™ MRI. Additionally, the measurements can be performed in the FONAR
UPRIGHT® Multi-Position™ MRI with the patient in the UPRIGHT® position where the spine is supporting its full weight
load.
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
The extent to which disc degeneration and the occurrence of spondylolistheses are correlated and the full extent of the
spondylolistheses that occur when cervical flexion and extension occur in the UPRIGHT® body position was measured in 168
patients suffering from neck pain.
Upright MRI
To evaluate the degree to which cervical vertebral slippage was a candidate for inflicting cervical cord injury, UCLA scientists
measured the extent to which cervical vertebra slippage (spondylolisthesis) increased as a function of disc degeneration. The
extent to which slippage increases as a consequence of disc degeneration is the first step in evaluating the potential of a patient’s
spine pathology for causing cervical cord impingement, cervical cord injury and ultimately cervical myelopathy.
Muhle, et al.,4 for example, in a flexion-extension recumbent MRI study of patients with neck pain concluded that “cervical
spinal motion may contribute to the development of cervical spondylitic myelopathy.” Their conclusion was the result of
their data that showed “at flexion and extension, the prevalence of spinal stenosis and cervical cord impingement increased
as the stage of degenerative disease progressed.”
Additionally, Muhle, et al. described the possibility of a “PINCER CONDITION” arising with respect to the patient’s cervical
cord wherein cervical disc degeneration and the consequent loss of disc height results in spinal cord pinching from intervertebral
disc bulging anteriorly and cord pinching from infolding of the ligmentum flavum posteriorly.
The Muhle, et al. study is compelling regarding the prospect of serious injury to the spinal cord when the cervical spine
with degenerative pathology engages in its normal range of flexion and extension motion.
The Muhle, et al. study, however, necessarily underestimates the injury potential of such degenerative pathology since the
study was performed with the patients recumbent when the full extent of the compressive forces of weight loading were not
engaged.
The UCLA study using the FONAR UPRIGHT® Multi-Position™ MRI evaluated the potential for cervical instability to
induce cord injury with the patients fully UPRIGHT® with the cervical spine subjected to its normal compressive gravitational
forces of body weight.
The study established that cervical spine translational and rotational instabilities increase as disc degeneration increases
finally reaching an ankylosing stage where translational and rotational mobility is reduced relative to normal. In their paper
“Multilevel cervical spondylosis: laminoplasty versus anterior decompression” Hirabyashi and Bohlmon report that “cervical
spondylosis is the most common cause of cervical spinal cord dysfunction in individuals older then 55.”5
The full range of motion analysis of the cervical spine made possible by the FONAR UPRIGHT® Multi-position™ MRI
further enables the future implementation of clinical treatments that limit cervical motion to positions that do not encroach on
the cord and cause injury. The FONAR UPRIGHT® MRI also now makes possible post-operative image analysis to verify that
cord impinging and cord injuring conditions have been successfully eliminated by surgery.
The study by UCLA of patients with neck pain was the first demonstration in the fully UPRIGHT® patient of the degree to
which the cervical spinal cord can be exposed to injury from spondylolithesis secondary to cervical disc degeneration. The
study proved that potential cord injuring cervical spine instability increased as a function of cervical disc degeneration, consistent
with the conclusion of Muhle, et al. that cervical spinal motion may be a contributor to the development of cervical
spondylitic myelopathy. The FONAR UPRIGHT® Multi-Position™ MRI technology was shown to be capable of quantifying
existing spondylolistheses and assessing the cord injuring potential of degenerative spine changes that exist in the neck pain
patient so the prospect of myelopathy can be assessed and surgical (or non-surgical) treatments implemented to prevent injury.
“POSITIONAL MRI: A VALUABLE TOOL IN THE ASSESSMENT
OF CERVICAL DISC BULGE” (PAPER 80)
UCLA scientists further assessed another major component of cervical spondylosis, namely the cervical disc degenerative
pathology manifest as disc bulges and the variation of these bulges with flexion and extension, when the criterion for designating
a disc prolapse as a bulge was a visible bulge 2 mm or greater.
The UCLA studies concluded that 25.08% of the time there was a failure to see disc bulges in the neutral sitting position
that became evident when these 163 patients with radicular signs and symptoms were additionally imaged in the flexion and
extension positions. 18.18% exhibited a bulge 2 mm or greater in flexion that was less than 2 mm in the neutral sit position and
23.75% exhibited a bulge 2 mm or greater on extension that was less than 2 mm in the neutral sit position (Table 2).
Additionally, in the UCLA study of patients with low back pain, “The Effect of Lumbar Flexion and Extension on the
Central Canal with Dynamic MRI” (Paper 79), Wei, et al. assessed the capability of the FONAR UPRIGHT® Multi-
Position™ MRI to quantify spinal stenosis, the most common reason for spinal surgery in patients older than 65 (Katz, J.,
et al., Rheum Dis Clin North Am 1994:20:471). In their study of 461 patients with low back pain, UCLA scientists reported
that they were able to measure spinal canal diameter in the vertical patient and quantify its changes with flexion and extension
“with high precision” using the FONAR UPRIGHT® MRI. They further reported the ability to measure the flexion and extension
changes in the spinal canal cross-sectional area “with the highest accuracy.”
Lumbar spinal canal stenosis and the entrapment of the cauda equina roots, which is a consequence of the constriction of
spinal canal dimensions produced by stenosis, results in the symptom complex intermittent neurogenic claudication – manifest
as debilitating pain in the back and lower extremities, weakness and difficulties in ambulation, and leg paresthesias. The
ability of the FONAR UPRIGHT® Multi-Position™ MRI to quantify key spinal canal dimensions with “high precision” in all
the UPRIGHT® body positions brings to the highly skilled and specialized craft of spine surgery a new and much needed technology
for quantifying the full extent of spinal stenosis in patients.
Additionally, the power of FONAR’s new UPRIGHT® Multi-Position™ MRI to measure spinal canal dimensions with the
body in its UPRIGHT® position and the spine fully weight-loaded, with the gravitational compressive forces responsible for
back pain fully engaged, means that FONAR’s new technology is now available to surgeons to quantify the full extent of
stenosis responsible for claudication symptoms in their patients and to do so with their patients fully UPRIGHT® and
occupying the full range of body positions they do normally.
It is self-evident that measurements of canal stenosis made in a conventional MRI with the patient lying down are an underestimate
of the full extent of the stenosis that exists when the patient is UPRIGHT® with his spine subject to the full extent of
gravitational forces that normally compress the spine.
Indeed, when conventional recumbent MRI scans do not visualize pathology that corresponds in severity with the intensity
of claudication symptoms, the likelihood is that recumbent MRI is not seeing the full extent of the stenosis the patient is experiencing
UPRIGHT® with his/her spine subjected to its full weight-load and occupying its normal flexion and extension positions.
Potential for Greater Precision in Optimizing Decompression
Moreover, current procedures for decompressing spinal stenosis can, from the surgeon’s perspective, be limited by the
expected impact of the procedure on spinal stability. It is likely that a full quantitative multi-position assessment of central
canal stenosis measured simultaneously with quantitative multi-position analysis of spinal stability – a combination that is
now possible using FONAR’s new UPRIGHT® Multi-Position™ MRI technology – will enable surgeons to achieve greater precision
in optimizing decompression while at the same time minimizing spinal instability.
IMPROVED SURGICAL OUTCOMES
DYNAMIC DIAGNOSIS OF THE SPINE TOTALLY WEIGHT-LOADED, UPRIGHT AND OCCUPYING ITS FULL
RANGE OF NORMAL PHYSIOLOGICAL POSITIONS MEANS A MORE ACCURATE DIAGNOSIS, IMPROVED
SURGICAL OUTCOMES AND, AS A RESULT, INCREASED PATIENT REFERRALS.

Scoliosis

MELVILLE, NEW YORK, November 26, 2007 - FONAR Corporation (NASDAQ-FONR), The Inventor of MR Scanning™, announced today at the 93rd meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) in Chicago a groundbreaking invention in the diagnosis and monitoring of scoliosis. The patent-pending breakthrough utilizes new software and a new receiver coil developed for the unique FONAR UPRIGHT® Multi-Position™ MRI. The dramatic result is a single picture of the entire spine in the upright position.

Breast Cancer

A National Cancer Institute (NCI) Report shows a 70% higher risk of breast cancer for women with scoliosis (www.cancer.gov/newscenter/scoliosis2000). The NCI report says, “Researchers have found that women with scoliosis, or abnormal curvature of the spine, who were exposed to multiple diagnostic X-rays during childhood and adolescence may be at increased risk of dying of breast cancer…. The 5,466 women in the study, who received an average of 24.7 X-rays, were found to have a 70% higher risk of breast cancer than women in the general population.” The report goes on to say that “although radiation exposures to breast tissue are much lower today than during the time period covered by this study, they are not insignificant.”

Scoliosis

Current medical practice consists of ordering baseline X-rays for suspicious physical findings in children. (http://jaapa.com/issues/j20030901/articles/scoliosis.html). With X-ray, a scoliosis patient has a PA (posterior-anterior) and lateral radiograph two or three times a year. To reduce exposure to radiation, the patient is usually scanned with her back to the source of the X-ray.

Scoliosis affects 2-3% of the population or an estimated 6 million people in the United States, according to the National Scoliosis Foundation (www.scoliosis.org)

Raymond Damadian, M.D., president and founder of FONAR, said, “I’m delighted to announce our invention for the radiation-free evaluation of scoliosis with the FONAR Dynamic™ UPRIGHT® MRI. An accurate evaluation of scoliosis requires the patient to be upright. A conventional recumbent-only static MRI cannot meet this need. Of critical importance, our radiation-free application can be performed in the same amount of time and at the same cost as diagnosis and monitoring by X-ray. I believe it’s imperative that every hospital and practice performing scoliosis examinations consider providing their patients with the radiation-free choice that is finally available because of the unique benefits of the FONAR Dynamic™ UPRIGHT® MRI.”

The FONAR images provide coronal, sagittal and axial views of the entire spine - with no radiation. The 3-plane visualizations are achieved by 3-D acquisition with curved multi-planar reconstruction. Both the Cobb angles and the angular rotation of the vertebrae are measured. The FONAR UPRIGHT® MRI has another important advantage over X-ray. It sees, not only the curvature of the vertebrae, but the soft tissue, including the spinal cord, intervertebral discs, nerve roots and spinal ligaments.

“This application to scoliosis is just the latest of many unique advantages found only on the FONAR UPRIGHT® MRI,” continued Dr. Damadian. “Last week we reported on the landmark independent study by the UCLA School of Medicine, which reported the comparison of Dynamic™ UPRIGHT® MRI with static Upright MRI in more than 1,000 patients (1,301). A significant overall ‘miss rate’ of 18.1% by static MRI was cited. This large study proves the diagnostic advantages of FONAR UPRIGHT® Multi-Position™ weight-bearing MR imaging.”

FONAR plans to advertise its groundbreaking radiation-free scoliosis application in major medical magazines. To see the advertisement visit: http://www.fonar.com/news/pdf/scoliosis_ad.pdf.

As many as 60,000 people attend the Annual Meeting of The Radiological Society of North America. FONAR can be visited at booth 7753 in the South Hall at McCormick Place, Chicago, Illinois.