LEG PAIN - Calf Muscle Strain

Calf Muscle Strain
(Pulled Calf Muscle; Gastrocnemius Strain; Gastrocnemius Tear; Gastrocnemius Muscle Injury) 

by Laurie LaRusso, MS, ELS

Definition  

A calf muscle strain is a partial or complete tear of the small fibers of the muscles. The calf muscles are located in the back of your lower leg.

Causes  

A calf muscle strain can be caused by:

• Stretching the calf muscles beyond the amount of tension they can withstand
• Suddenly putting stress on the calf muscles when they are not ready for the stress
• Using the calf muscles too much on a certain day
• A direct blow to the calf muscles

Risk Factors  

Factors that increase your chance of developing a calf muscle strain:

• Participation in sports that require bursts of speed. This includes track sports like running, hurdles, or long jump. Other sports include basketball, soccer, football, or rugby.
• Previous strain or injury to the area.
• Muscle fatigue.
• Tight calf muscles.
• Poor conditioning.

Symptoms  

Symptoms may include:

• Pain and tenderness in the calf
• Stiffness in the calf muscles
• Weakness of the calf muscles
• Pain when pushing off the foot or standing on tiptoe
• Bruising on the calf
• Popping sensation as the muscle tears

Diagnosis  

The doctor will ask about your symptoms and medical history. A physical exam will be done.

Most calf muscle strains can be diagnosed with a physical exam. Your doctor may want images of the area if severe damage is suspected. Images may be taken with MRI or ultrasound.

Muscle strains are graded according to their severity:

• Grade 1—Some stretching with micro-tearing of muscle fibers.
• Grade 2—Partial tearing of muscle fibers.
• Grade 3—Complete tearing of muscle fibers. This may also be called a rupture or avulsion.

Treatment  

Talk with your doctor about the best treatment plan for you. Recovery time ranges depending on the grade of your injury. Treatment steps may include:

Acute Care  

Rest  

Your muscle will need time to heal. Avoid activities that place extra stress on these muscles:

• Do not do activities that cause pain. This includes running, jumping, and weight lifting using the leg muscles.
• If normal walking hurts, shorten your stride.
• Do not play sports until your doctor has said it is safe to do so.

Cold  

Apply an ice or a cold pack to the area for 15-20 minutes, four times a day, for several days after the injury. Do not apply the ice directly to your skin. Wrap the ice or cold pack in a towel.

Pain Relief Medications  

To manage pain, your doctor may recommend:

• Over-the-counter medication, such as aspirin , ibuprofen , or acetaminophen
• Topical pain medication—creams or patches that are applied to the skin
• Prescription pain relievers

Compression  

Compression can help prevent more swelling. Your doctor may recommend an elastic compression bandage around your calf. Be careful not to wrap the bandage too tight.

Elevation  

Elevation can also help keep swelling down. Keep your leg higher than your heart as much as possible for the first 24 hours or so. A couple of days of elevation might be recommended for severe strains.

Recovery Steps  

Heat  

Use heat only when you are returning to physical activity. Heat may then be used before stretching or getting ready to play sports to help loosen the muscle.

Stretching  

When the acute pain is gone, start gentle stretching as recommended. Stay within pain limits. Hold each stretch for about 10 seconds and repeat six times. Stretch several times a day.

Strengthening  

Begin strengthening exercises for your muscles as recommended.

You may be referred to for physical therapy

If you are diagnosed with a calf muscle strain, follow your doctor's instructions .

Prevention  

To reduce the chance of calf muscle strain:

• Keep your calf muscles strong and flexible, so they can absorb the energy of sudden physical stress
• Learn the proper technique for exercise and sporting activities to decrease stress on all your muscles

Last reviewed February 2014 by Michael Woods, MD

Source: http://www.med.nyu.edu/content?ChunkIID=11984

MH370 - Former captain debunks all 'MH370 theories' by saying aircraft too automated to drift from course and crash

Former captain debunks all 'MH370 theories' by saying aircraft too automated to drift from course and crash

Saturday, 29 November 2014 - 10:08pm IST | Place: Melbourne | Agency: ANI

A former senior captain with a major international airline, who has flown a Boeing 777 aircraft, has debunked all the crash theories proposed by other experts on the missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH 370 by saying that the flight is so automated that even if the flight crew left the cockpit it would have flown to its destination via the preprogrammed computer Flight Profile.

Contradicting the theory that suggested that the Boeing 777 aircraft could have flown on autopilot for hours and ran out of fuel before crashing, Byron Bailey said that the flight could have flown on autopilot for hours and reached its destination unless a human intervention changed the flight profile, reported The Daily Telegraph.

He explained that the aircraft has 80 computers and except for two engines, nearly every system is triplicated and the failure of even one of these systems would automatically result in a transfer to another. This means that for the Air Traffic Control (ATC) to lose control secondary radar contact with MH370, someone would have to deactivate all the three systems manually.

An analysis of Malaysian military radar had found that the flight tracked across northern Malaysia before drifting to the northwest and turning south into the southern Indian Ocean. However, the former captain said that the Boeing 777 aircraft is fairly big and it is almost impossible for it to go unnoticed on the Indonesian, Thai and then Indian military radar.

He ruled out total electricity failure too, as suggested by some theories, by saying that the flight has five generators and an automatic deployment Ram Air Turbine (RAT) as a final backup which can supply hydraulic and electrical power to vital systems and still have contact with the ATC.

Bailey said that the Boeing 777 is a large aircraft and added that he believed that the MH370 is still intact and submerged under 6000m of water. He said that it will be found only if "we search long enough."

Flight MH370 has been missing since the early hours of March 8, when it left Kuala Lumpur for Beijing with 239 passengers and crew on board. 

Source: http://www.dnaindia.com/world/report-former-captain-debunks-all-mh370-theories-by-saying-aircraft-too-automated-to-drift-from-course-and-crash-2039564

EBOLA NEWS - Ebola cases exceed 16,000 worldwide, WHO says

Ebola cases exceed 16,000 worldwide, WHO says

Nearly 7,000 people have died, Sierra Leone needs more beds

The Associated Press Posted: Nov 29, 2014 7:58 AM ET Last Updated: Nov 29, 2014 12:14 PM ET

A child suffering from the Ebola virus receives treatment at a holding centre in Sierra Leone. The country will soon see a dramatic increase in desperately needed Ebola treatment beds. (Tanya Bindra/Associated Press)

Sierra Leone will soon see a dramatic increase in desperately needed Ebola treatment beds, but it's still not clear who will staff them, according to the top United Nations official in the fight against the disease.

Ebola has sickened more than 16,000 people of whom nearly 7,000 have died, according to figures released by the World Health Organization Friday.

Sierra Leone is now bearing the brunt of the eight-month-old outbreak. In the other hard-hit countries, Liberia and Guinea, WHO says infection rates are stabilizing or declining, but in Sierra Leone, they're soaring. The country has been reporting around 400 to 500 new cases each week for several weeks.

Those cases are concentrated in the capital, Freetown, its surrounding areas and the northern Port Loko district, which together account for about 65 per cent of the country's new infections, Anthony Banbury, head of the UN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response, said in an interview with The Associated Press.

"The critical gap right now in those locations are beds. It's as simple that: We need more beds," said Banbury, who spoke by telephone from Ghana, where the mission is headquartered. Only about 350 of some 1,200 promised treatment beds are up and running, according to WHO figures.

Five more British-built treatment centres will open next month, tripling the current bed capacity, according to the U.K.'s Department for International Development. One near the capital is already up and running.

Still, more beds alone are not enough.

"We're concerned that the partners who have signed up to operate the beds won't be able to operate them in the numbers and timeline really required," Banbury said. He is flying to Sierra Leone this weekend to address that problem.

Unsafe burials

Sierra Leone is also dogged by unsafe burials. The bodies of Ebola victims are extremely contagious and the touching of dead bodies might be responsible for as much as 50 per cent of all new cases, Banbury said.

Cultural practices call for dead bodies to be washed, and women's bodies are supposed to be prepared by other women. But with very few women on burial teams, Banbury said that it appears people are washing the bodies of women before they call for them to be taken away.

Health workers wearing Ebola protective gear remove the body of a man that they suspect died from the Ebola virus. More than 16,000 people have been infected with Ebola and nearly 7,000 have died. (Abbas Dulleh/Associated Press)

Sierra Leone also needs more burial teams: WHO numbers show that only about a quarter of the teams the country needs are trained and working.

The United Nations had hoped that by Dec. 1, the end of the outbreak would be in sight: Two months ago, it said it wanted to have 70 per cent of Ebola cases isolated and 70 per cent of dead bodies being safely buried by that date. That would have drastically reduced the two ways people get infected — through contact with the bodily fluids of sick people and corpses.

World Health Organization numbers show they are significantly short of that goal and Banbury acknowledged that the overall goal would not be met. He stressed that tremendous progress has been made, and many places throughout the region would meet or even exceed the targets set.

"As long as there's one person with Ebola out there, then the crisis isn't over and Ebola is a risk to the people of that community, that country, this sub-region, this continent, this world," he said. "Our goal and what we will achieve is getting it down to zero, but there's no doubt it's going to be a long, hard fight."

© The Associated Press, 2014

Source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/ebola-cases-exceed-16-000-worldwide-who-says-1.2854642

EBOLA NEWS - In 'Disaster City,' Learning To Use Robots To Face Ebola

In 'Disaster City,' Learning To Use Robots To Face Ebola

November 29, 2014 7:45 AM ET

LAUREN SILVERMAN

Since it was built by the Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service in 1998, 90,000 emergency responders have come to "Disaster City" to climb over mangled steel and through derailed chemical trains.

Lauren Silverman /KERA

About three hours southeast of Dallas, there's a city that's been hit by almost every disaster you could imagine including earthquakes, hurricanes and even bombs. It's appropriately called Disaster City.

It's a training site for first responders, but the facility is looking ahead to a different kind of disaster — infectious diseases like Ebola, and robots may play a key role.

i

Robin Murphy, director of the Center for Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue at Texas A&M University, adjusts a robot used in hazardous waste cleanup.

Lauren Silverman/KERA

One of the first things you see when you enter Disaster City is an enormous pile of rubble.

"It looks like chaos, but it's actually an engineered structure with a tunnel system underneath," says David Martin, director of rescue training at the facility.

He says it's a perfect place to practice finding victims after a disaster like Sept. 11.

"Rescuers can use search cameras or acoustic listening devices that are so sensitive that even if someone were doing something as minute as scratching or breathing deeply, those detectors can pick that up and triangulate their location," Martin says.

Since the 72-acre site opened more than a decade ago, 90,000 emergency responders from across the world have come here to practice skills like climbing into derailed trains and navigating mangled steel.

On one street there's a small house. It looks like a tornado has just spun through, leaving wooden shards of what was once a bed frame and a dresser. Fifty feet away, there's a mock strip mall and a movie theater.

"We've had this facility utilized right after the shootings at the theater in Colorado for a SWAT team to practice how they would deal with ... an active shooter inside of the theater," Martin says.

But the first responders who have come here have never trained for an infectious disease outbreak like Ebola. That's next.

"The Ebola epidemic has really presented a new set of issues for disaster robotics," says Robin Murphy, director ofthe Center for Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue at Texas A&M University, which helps run Disaster City.

Murphy trains first responders to work with robots. Often she's on site in her van filled with gadgets.

"We've really looked at the more classic search and rescue, and we've talked about medical disasters, but more from the chemical spill or radiological like Fukushima," Murphy says. "Ebola's very different.

"So thinking about the lessons learned in decontamination, waste handling, both of the victims' waste and their sheets and towels as well as all of that protective gear that they have to throw away somehow, where robots can be helpful," she adds.

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David Martin, director of rescue training at "Disaster City," stands in front of a mock-up of a government building that's been hit by a bomb.

Lauren Silverman/KERA

Murphy says the robots she imagines fighting infectious disease outbreaks would be less about reconnaissance and more about interaction with sick people.

"One thing is can they be telepresence?" she says. "Can they be supervisors and advisers? Can they handle waste? Can they help carry the bodies in a culturally sensitive way to the burial?"

Murphy is working with technology companies to come up with software that will teach robots new tasks, from waste handling to supervision.

"There's a lot of different robots that are being deployed, and there has to be a way for them to not just communicate back with the operator but also have a way to communicate with one another," says Andy Chang, an engineer with National Instruments, an Austin company that designs hardware and software for disaster robots.

In a few years, Chang and Murphy hope to see robots and first responders working together in Disaster City, finding survivors after a tornado, or helping to shut down an infectious disease outbreak.

Source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2014/11/29/366841324/in-disaster-city-learning-to-use-robots-to-face-ebola

FORMER ISRAELI SOLDIER - We stole Palestinians land and our leaders lied...

AIRCRAFT STORIES - Fighter jets scramble into skies over Austria after Turkish Airlines pilot inadvertently triggers hijack alert on flight from Frankfurt to Istanbul

Fighter jets scramble into skies over Austria after Turkish Airlines pilot inadvertently triggers hijack alert on flight from Frankfurt to Istanbul

• Incident began when plane was hit by a pressurisation problem
• Pilot mistakenly activated hijack alarm while responding to problem
• Plane was met by two fighter jets as it diverted to Vienna
• 
  

By CHRIS KITCHING FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 13:15 GMT, 29 November 2014 | UPDATED: 14:05 GMT, 29 November 2014

A Turkish Airlines pilot inadvertently sparked widespread panic after he triggered a hijack alarm during a flight from Frankfurt to Istanbul.

Fearing the plane had been commandeered by terrorists, Austria’s military deployed two fighter jets to escort the Boeing 737 to Vienna International Airport.

The incident occurred Friday afternoon after the pilot requested permission to divert to Vienna and make an emergency landing.

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A Turkish Airlines pilot activated a hijack alarm after the plane was hit by a pressurisation problem

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The plane's oxygen masks descended from the ceiling when there was a problem with the cabin pressure

According to authorities, the error was coupled with a depressurization warning and then unexplained radio silence from the cockpit.

The passenger plane had been flying from Frankfurt to Istanbul when panicked passengers saw oxygen masks fall from the ceiling after it was hit by a pressurisation problem.

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Two fighter jets escorted the plane until it made an emergency landing in Vienna

Flight radar data show that the plane was flying over the Alps when it changed course and flew to Vienna.

The pilot - who had asked to make an emergency landing - apparently inadvertently activated the hijack alarm as he responded to the problem, police said.

Authorities stepped down from their hijack alert status approximately 40 minutes after flight TK1618 landed without incident, according to the Kurier newspaper.

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-2854010/Fighter-jets-scramble-skies-Austria-Turkish-Airlines-pilot-inadvertently-triggers-hijack-alert-flight-Frankfurt-Istanbul.html#ixzz3KTLII6sK 

FLIGHT MH17 - Malaysia excluded from MH17 probe – for 'not pointing fingers at Russia'?

Malaysia excluded from MH17 probe – for 'not pointing fingers at Russia'?

Published time: November 28, 2014 20:08

Investigators watch as a piece of wreckage from the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 is transported at the site of the plane crash near the village of Hrabove (Grabovo) in Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine November 20, 2014. (Reuters/Antonio Bronic)

The country that owned the shot down MH17 jet, which was carrying a number of Malaysian citizens and was flown by a Malaysian crew, has been excluded from the criminal investigation due to its political neutrality, the nation's media reported.

Malaysia has been left out of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT), which has been tasked with learning more about the details of the tragedy which took place over Ukraine in July. This is despite the Dutch prime minister stating the importance of Malaysia's cooperation during a visit to the country this month. The JIT includes the Netherlands, Belgium, Ukraine, and Australia.

Experts from the Southeast Asian country are not taking part in the criminal probe into the reason behind the Boeing 777 crash, which killed all 298 people on board. Those victims represented 10 nations, and Malaysia had the second highest number of casualties at 43. Most of the passengers – 193 in total – were from the Netherlands.

Earlier in November, Malaysian police chief Khalid Abu Bakar demanded the "active participation of Malaysian experts in the work of the joint investigative group," while debris for further investigation was collected from the site without the country's involvement.

After the completion of the debris collection was announced, Malaysia said the action by the JIT countries was “unilateral,” an informed source in the Malaysian capital told TASS news agency.

A picture taken on November 7, 2014, shows a part of the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 at the crash site in the village of Hrabove (Grabovo), some 80km east of Donetsk. (AFP Photo/Dmitar Dilkoff)

According to Malaysian media, the country's transport minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said that Malaysia had expressed its stance "very clear" that it must be part of the criminal investigation, and informed Dutch authorities of its intention. Malaysian ambassador to Ukraine Chuah Teong Ban reportedly expressed concerns that his country would not be allowed to inspect the debris unless it became part of the criminal investigation team.

The police chief said he would head to Amsterdam on December 3 to discuss Malaysia’s participation in the process with JIT members, joined by attorney general Abdul Gani Patail.

'Political play in the situation'

"When the crash happened, we did not blame any parties, neither Russia nor Ukraine, as we would like to take a look at the concrete evidence," head associate professor in research and aviation at Kuala Lumpur University, Dr. Mohamed Harridon, told RT. He added that unlike "western counterparts," Malaysia has taken a “neutral role," and not "pointed fingers at Russia," which could be the reason for the country's exclusion from the investigation.

Saying that Malaysia's participation would "push for a more balanced power into the investigation," Harridon – whose views on the matter were also published in one of Malaysia's oldest newspapers, the New Strait Times – pointed out that the country being part of the investigation was only right and "legal."

Youths hold placards and Malaysian flags during a Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 solidarity gathering outside the Parliament house in Kuala Lumpur July 23, 2014. (AFP Photo)

"If you have evidence, it should be investigated by all parties – also by neutral parties – [and] investigated thoroughly, instead of putting the blame initially on one party," he told RT, adding that there is "a political play in that situation."

"We are trying to lobby ourselves to be [included] in the investigation, we have laid out several statements, we have passengers dead in the crash, the plane belongs to Malaysia Airlines, and according to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), we should be part of the team," Harridon said, referring to the ICAO Chicago Convention, which states that the operator of a crashed flight must not be left out of an investigation.

"The exclusion from the investigation appears to be an indication that the investigation’s objectivity has been compromised and that the conclusions it draws will likely be politically motivated," New York-based geopolitical analyst Ulson Gunnar wrote in New Eastern Outlook magazine.

Gunnar added that Kiev is "a possible suspect in the investigation," as it had "confirmed to possess weapons capable of reaching the altitude MH17 was flying at when it was allegedly hit" – so Ukraine's "inclusion in JIT represents a monumental conflict of interest."

Soldiers carry coffins with the remains of Malaysian victims from the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 that crashed in Ukraine during a ceremony at the Bunga Raya complex at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang on August 22, 2014. (AFP Photo)

'Our participation will help prevent attempts to conceal the real story'

Saying that Malaysia must take a leading role in the investigation, the advisor for the country's Suaram human rights organization, Kua Kia Soong, raised the issue of an alleged non-disclosure agreement drawn up by the four participating countries, The Star newspaper reported.

"Something simple like the fact that these four countries can keep the findings of the MH17 crash to themselves is unacceptable," Kua said. He added that the consensus of the four countries which is allegedly needed ahead of revealing findings to the public is also inappropriate.

"One can understand why Ukraine is in the team since that is where the plane was shot from the sky. We can understand the Netherlands’ membership of the JIT since the flight originated from Amsterdam. But why is Belgium in the JIT?," Dr. Chandra Muzaffar, president of the International Movement for a Just World (JUST), said, according to The Malaysian Insider.

The scholar said that if Belgium was on the list because of Brussels being the administrative capital of the European Union – which "may have some aviation responsibilities over commercial flights in the continent" – it still makes no sense, because "then it is the EU, not Belgium, which should have a place in the team."

The breakage of the aircraft forebody, at the crush site of the Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777, outside the village of Grabovo, near Shakhtyorsk, Donetsk Region. (RIA Novosti)

He also said that if Australia is in the JIT because a number of its citizens were killed in the tragedy, Malaysia should not have been sidelined in the criminal investigations. He added that the US should be participating too, "since Boeing, an American multinational, manufactured the 777 passenger jet."

"Our participation in the investigation will at least help to check any attempt to conceal or camouflage the real story," Muzaffar said, as quoted by The Malaysian Insider.

Professor Mohamed Harridon doubts the whole truth will ever be revealed. "This is a long process, probably [will] take years, and there still [will] be speculations. Perhaps we [will] only know 60 percent of the truth," he told RT.

The Dutch Security Council announced on Friday that the task of collecting the Boeing 777 wreckage had been completed at the site, and fragments still left in Ukraine are of no interest to investigators. However, local agencies will be charged for removing any remaining fragments from the crash site, TASS reported.

Source: http://rt.com/news/209759-mh17-investigation-malaysia-excluded/