Health science

Health science is a medical discipline of applied science which deals with human or animal health. There are two parts to health science: the study, research, and knowledge of health and the application of that knowledge to improve health, cure infectious diseases, and to understand how humans and animals function. Health science research builds on the pure sciences of biology, chemistry, and physics and also social sciences (for example medical sociology).

There are a wide range of traditional areas of health science. The most common areas are: medicine, nursing, midwifery, and various forms of therapy to supplement the healing process and restore proper activity (e.g. recreational, physical occupational, speech, and respiratory). Health science includes both the study and application of preventing and curing human diseases and disorders. Medical doctors include physicians and surgeons. There are many different branches of medicine; the other health care professions also have specialties or focus on specific populations or settings of care. Other less common medical areas include first aid and triage.

Dental health has grown in importance in recent decades making dentistry a major field of health sciences. Counselling, hospice care, home care, nutrition, medical social work, alternative medicine, pharmacology, and toxicology are all considered part of health science. Veterinary science is the health science dedicated exclusively to the care of animals.

Because health science deals with human life, issues of medical ethics, an important area of ethics, arise frequently. Medical ethics includes questions on topics such as a patient's right to privacy. Euthanasia, abortion, human cloning and genetic engineering are especially controversial issues directly related to health science.

Health science fields are as old as the human race. Humans have always been in need of solutions to various health related issues, such as childbirth. With modern technology and the backing of the pure sciences, the scientific accuracy of these fields has greatly improved. Nevertheless, many cultures have and continue to use various herbs and other culturally specific solutions to help solve health problems. These solutions may or may not be backed by any scientific support.

There are a large number of health professions. The terms medicine or biomedicine, and medical doctor or M.D. refer to dominant conventional practices in the West.

Health practices

Conventional Western practices

Complementary and alternative medicine

Spiritually-based healing

Folk medicine and related traditions

Health practices of historical interest

Related topics

External links and references



In the News

Galaxies Are Born Of Violence Between Dark Matter and Interstellar Gas
Researchers using supercomputer simulations have exposed a very violent and critical relationship between interstellar gas and dark matter when galaxies are born -- one that has been largely ignored by the current model of how the universe evolved. The findings, published in Science, solve a longstanding problem of the widely accepted model -- Cold Dark Matter cosmology -- which suggests there is much more dark matter in the central regions of galaxies than actual scientific observations suggest.

First ever southern tyrannosaur dinosaur discovered
Scientists have found the first ever evidence that tyrannosaur dinosaurs existed in the southern continents. They identified a hip bone found at Dinosaur Cove in Victoria, Australia, as belonging to an ancestor of Tyrannosaurus rex.

Reading Wilde, Querying Spaces: An Exhibition Commemorating the 100th
Material about British author Oscar Wilde ("novelist, poet, playwright, aesthete, reputed homosexual, enigma"), who was convicted in 1895 of practicing "indecent acts."The exhibit of printed and manuscript works "trace[s] the powerful impact of Oscar Wilde in the aesthetic, political, spiritual, and moral circles of late-Victorian England."Includes discussions of Wilde's epigrammatic theater, Wilde in America, and prison and personal letters. From New York University (NYU) Library.

Clean Fuels Could Reduce Deaths From Ship Smokestacks By 40,000 Annual
Rising levels of smokestack emissions from oceangoing ships will cause an estimated 87,000 deaths worldwide each year by 2012 -- almost one-third higher than previously believed, according to the second major study on that topic. The study says that government action to reduce sulfur emissions from shipping fuel (the source of air pollution linked to an increased risk of illness and death) could reduce that toll.

Air Force Tests Synthetic Fuel
Successful cold-weather tests in North Dakota of a synthetic fuel blend that could be made from coal or natural gas shows the Air Force a way to wean itself from foreign crude. By the Associated Press.

Women Can't Count On Fetal Movement Monitoring To Reduce Stillbirth Ri
A review of studies on fetal movement counting methods finds there is no solid evidence that the practice reduces the risk of stillbirths. Because fetal movement is an indicator of an unborn baby's health and decreased movements may signify a problem, pregnant women are often advised to count the number of times they feel their babies kick or move during a prescribed time period.

DoD Won't Resort to Draft or Sacrifice Quality to Boost Numbers
This June 2005 article from the United States Department of Defense (DoD) discusses why "despite recruiting shortfalls for the active Army and all reserve components except the Air Force Reserve in May [2005], defense officials say they will strive to fill the ranks with the highest-quality recruits possible and have no intention of supporting a draft."Includes link to monthly recruiting/retention numbers.

Tiny Tampa Bay Fish Key To Evolution Of Immune System
A tiny fish offers insight into the human immune system, according to Florida researchers. The finding could lead to improved biodefense and better immune-boosting drugs to fight cancer and other disorders.

New Damping Systems
The Gaiker Technology Centre (Basque Country), member of the IK4 technological platform, has carried out in collaboration with ANTEC, S.A. and TENNECO a technological research project to manufacture a new range of ecological shock absorbers able to provide major security level and comfort to drivers and users of vehicles and to improve their competitiveness from traditional products.

Visual Challenge for 'Alice in Wonderland': Make You Believe 'World of
Star Warsveteran and all-around effects guru Ken Ralston brings work on The Polar Expressand Beowulfto Tim Burton's madcap 3-D version of Alice in Wonderland. The VFX team uses a grab bag of digital tricks to bring Burton's vision to the screen, but ditched motion capture because it was "boring."





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