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Submitted by: Patrick Foote

A bulging disc may naturally develop in one s adult years, after typical, age-related degenerative changes have begun to take place in the spinal column. The intervertebral discs, which are the pillow-like separators in between the stacked vertebrae, can weaken and lose height over time. When the discs can no longer maintain their shock-absorbing capabilities, other anatomical elements of the spine such as the muscles, ligaments, and even facet joints can be affected. Before exploring how a bulging disc develops, it is important to understand the purpose of intervertebral discs, as well as what they are made of.

Intervertebral Discs

The intervertebral discs are spongy pads of cushioning located in between the vertebrae. They help provide the spine with a high level of flexibility, as well as shock absorption. Discs are composed mainly of water and collagen fibers, giving the discs their malleability. The tough outer layer of a disc is known as the annulus fibrosus. A gelatinous material, called the nucleus pulposus, fills the center of each disc. Over time, the discs begin to dehydrate and the annulus fibrosus weakens. This weakening, coupled with the compression of the disc by adjacent vertebrae, causes the nucleus pulposus to expand outward and bulge. As the bulge worsens, it may pinch the spinal cord or a nerve root. This pinching causes localized pain, in addition to numbness, pain, muscle weakness, and tingling that may spread to the extremities. If nerve compression does not occur, a bulging disc may never cause symptoms.

Risk Factors for a Bulging Disc

While age is typically the largest factor in the development of a bulging disc, there are other risk factors to be aware of. These can include:

Obesity

Repetitive movements, such as lifting, twisting, and bending

Smoking

Excessive vibrations from heavy machinery or vehicles

There is no way to prevent a bulging disc from occurring, but taking steps to live a healthier lifestyle, avoid high-impact sports, and limit other activities that place too much stress on the back and neck may lower the chances of development.

Treatment Options for a Bulging Disc

If a bulging disc is causing pain or other forms of discomfort, a doctor may suggest conservative (non-invasive) treatment options, including a couple days of rest, anti-inflammatory drugs, low-impact exercise, physical therapy, weight loss, and hot/cold therapy. You may also discuss more targeted pain management techniques with your doctor, such as epidural steroid injections, transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS), ultrasound therapy, and pain patches, among others. Surgery may be necessary if several weeks or months of conservative treatments fail to provide symptomatic relief, but this only occurs in about 10 percent of people diagnosed with a bulging disc. In the event that surgery does become an option, be sure to talk to your doctor about all the surgical techniques that are available. Inquire about the risks, levels of invasiveness, and projected recovery periods for each procedure before deciding on any type of surgery. Doing some research of your own about spine surgery will help you to have an informed discussion with your doctor and prospective surgeons.

About the Author: Patrick Foote is the Director of eBusiness at Laser Spine Institute, the leader in endoscopic spine surgery. Laser Spine Institute specializes in safe and effective outpatient procedures for

bulging discs

and several other spinal conditions.

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byAlma Abell

When you get a chip in your windshield and you catch it quick enough, you can take immediate action to make sure that the chip doesn’t lead to a crack that spreads across your entire windshield. While it may seem like a small divot today, as temperatures change throughout the day, the glass expands and contracts, which is why a small chip can lead to a much larger crack. If you wait too long to deal with it, you are going to eventually have to invest your money on a new windshield for your car, which you would like to avoid. With that said, there are going to be other situations where you will have no option but to replace your windshield after a rock slams into it on the highway. While you may hate the fact that you have to spend the money on a new windshield, at least you can find a professional in Windows Glass Replacement in Fort Worth that can do it quickly and correctly.

When you are looking to replace your glass windshield, you want to get it take care of quickly. While there are some items you can wait on for your car, you can’t drive around with a shattered windshield, not even for a couple of days. You want to go with a professional in Windows Glass Replacement in Fort Worth that can get you in the same day, and will be able to offer you a quick turn-around time. Yes, you want the job to get done correctly, but you also want t make sure that you aren’t left without your car for several days either.

When you are looking for a professional who is going to be able to take on a windshield replacement quickly, you want to consider what your options are. It isn’t just about who will give you the lowest price, it is about who will give you the best “package”, so to say, in regards to their expertise, availability, and turnaround time. When you are looking for professionals in the Fort Worth area who can take on the job, you need to check out AAA Glass.

Binaural Beats – The History of Binaural Audio

by

Eric Shelton

A current area of interest for neurophysiologists who specialize in the investigation of hearing, is the phenomenon of binaural beats. Discovered by Heinrich Wilhelm Dove in 1839, these low-frequency pulses are said to originate in the brain stem and have been connected with one s ability to locate the directions from which exterior sounds are generated. However, more recent advances in technology have given rise to other claims about their use.

Dove discovered that when two slightly different tones are introduced at once to the brain (via headphones), the brain would begin to produce an illusionary auditory pulse that exists exclusively within the auditory system. This discovery led to a number of positive implications with regard to hearing research, but it also led to a bit of controversy regarding which areas of the brain were actually affected and how those effects manifest themselves.

Recent research by Yale University, has led to an expansion of the idea that binaural beat effects in the human brain include the activation of a multitude of other cognitive functions located at other brain sites. In fact, it is now theorized that the pulses include visual or a mixture of both aural and visual stimuli. The implications of this discovery are far-reaching.

A practical application of binaural beats can be exemplified in inventor Ian Sommerville s conception, and the dream machine. This rotating metal cylinder from which a light is suspended has slits cut into its sides. The precise rotation of the cylinder causes light to pulse from between forty-five and seventy-eight revolutions per sixty seconds to correspond with the natural creation of electric oscillations already emitted by the human brain when it is at rest. As a result, this device has been used for various forms of relaxation therapy.

Robert A. Monroe, founder of the Monroe Institute, a research organization that explores human consciousness, developed another

application of binaural beats

that has expanded into consumerism. Monroe produced an entire series of CD s under the moniker, Hemi Synch. This specifically aural version of the dream machine s similar relaxing effect is currently being marketed as a meditation tool and is reported to place participants into a dreamlike state that encourages lucid dreaming.

Considered by some skeptics to be the equivalent of consumer snake-oil schemes, the discovery of binaural beats has had a wide scientific acceptance as an actual phenomenon. Those in doubt suggest that rather than produce specific effects such as lucid dreaming; the pulses instead merely mechanically produce a state of hypnosis or suggestibility that emulates deep, restorative sleep.

An open source software called, Gnaural is available for

download on the internet

to enable enthusiasts and skeptics alike to try the technology to arrive at their own conclusions about the effects of binaural beats. The software allows users to use headphones to experience the tonal pulses within the confines of their own homes. The caution is added that it is not recommended that users listen to binaural beats while driving or operating heavy machinery.

Find out more about how binaural audio can you help you at

binauralbeat.info/audio-cds.php

.

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Submitted by: Khaled Omran

I would like to write about a collection of software that mark a new trend in software for mathematics and engineering.They can do what a complex mathematics platform can do in a user friendly calculator like interface.

First, i would like to speak about Matrices calculator version 2.0.It is for matrices with real and complex numbers.It can do many operation such as find determinants, inverse, solve a system of semultaneous equations ,LU factorization, find real eigenvalues , and many more operations.What is new in this software and what makes it stand as a new trend is that the user can write his own programs that manipulate matrices on this platform. Well writting programs in itself is n’t new.The surprise is that you don’t write code you simply choose options and the program generates the code for you.Then you have your program and you can use it on again and again with new sets of data.In addition, you can save , edite , and print your work.

Second is Algebra calculator version 2.0. It is very powerfull and can do many operations. All operations are done algebrically.Both the inputs and outputs are in algebriac format.You can do many operations like multiply, divide, find roots and factorize.You can write your very own programs that manipulate functions and guess what you don’t have to write the code yourself. You just choose options and it generates the code for you.Again like Matrices calculator you can save, edit , and print your work.

Third is Mathwizard though it is a bit different in style than the first two yet it completes the set for all engineering and mathematics needs. It is a collection of mathematics calculators in one. It has a matrices calculator for both real and complex numbers, an algebra calculator, a calculus calculator , and finally a scientific calculator and guess what you can enter the expressions just as you are used to in school and university and it supports brackets, nested brackets and trignometric, exponential , and logarithmic functions.

These three programs stand as new advancement in the engineering software industry.They give tremendous calculations power in a very easy calculator like form that saves much time in programming efforts.

If you look at the needs of the engineer regardless of his specialization whether a civil engineer, mechanical engineer , electronics and telecommunications engineer he needs a program that does the calculation he desires. He needs to create user taylored new commands that fit into his own design library.He encounters design problems often and he need to automate the design calculations by creating his own user taylored commands. Finally, the engineer needs a bit of administration and book keeping like save , edit and print. Formost to all that he should be able to learn how to do that and be able to do that very fast and efficiently.

The new generation software answer these needs and more in a very unique way. They posses tremendous calculation power. Can be programmed with out needing to waste time writing code and they can do book keeping and printing.Moreover, they look lika calculators and are used as calculators.

About the Author:

Mathwizard Matrices calculator Algebra calculator

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