Image via Wikipedia

YOU DON’T ALWAYS HAVE TO CRANK UP THE AMPLIFIER

Let me make it easy to understand for you. Surely simple explanations on things that could be rather complex will open my article up to a wider audience. Who am I targeting? I am targeting some ears my friends. If you happen to know what an amplifier is, then you will understand that it is not necessary to use the greatest amount of energy to create the clearest sound. Don’t turn up the volume too high on an amplifier because in doing so, you will hear the speakers crackling and then you hear that noise. The noise becomes louder and drowns out the purest sound. Ah! Now you have a terrible signal to noise ratio. Don’t think for a moment that humans know how to do this better than animals. It is a well known fact that dolphins know how to see things and locate using sound. Of course they have the ability to filter out erroneous signals and my bet is that scientists need to take a queue from these creatures who might actually be a key to improving modern instrumentation since they manage to do it without too many visible wires and hardware.

Video Credits: http://www.ultrasonicdirectory.com

Was the sound clear enough? Oh wait! I forgot to add an image. Oh, I did it and now this article is finished. Hope you enjoyed it!

Skill Set

Becoming a certified ultrasound technician entails a specific skill set. Before embarking on this career it is important to see if you even qualify. College is not a requirement however a high school diploma is.

• Math and Science – If you have any interest and especially a talent for math and science then you are already ahead of the game. You will be dealing with specific mathematical measurements and mechanics as well as a large spectrum of the human body including anatomy, biology, physiology and pathology.

• Comprehension - Make sure you are comfortable and capable of learning a completely different language. Medical terminology can be a challenge with its Latin derived phrasing. In addition, the technological ultrasound equipment also has its own specific word and number combinations that can mean the difference between positive and false positive results.

• Communication - Interpersonal communication skills with people of many different backgrounds, education and personality are essential when working as an ultrasound technician. Exhibiting a sense of empathy and compassion to patients while at the same time being able to handle yourself professional with doctors and other medical staff is essential. You will be communicating with people of high caliber intellect so knowing your stuff will go a long way in reputation and possibly salary.

Certification and Training

Completing a course in ultrasound technology and proving on the job experience will enable you to take the test to become certified. Tests for certification are given by The American Registry for Diagnostic Medical Sonography (ARDMS). Although certification is not required having one will enhance your yearly salary considerably and may affect your ability to obtain a job in a market where so many others are certified. There are a number of different programs to choose from and you’ll need to make sure yours is accredited so that you will be eligible for certification. Program options include:

• 4 Year College Bachelor Degree or 2 Year College Associates Degree – College is your best training choice. These institutions often have excellent programs as well as a clinical internship so you are able to ‘hit the ground running’ right after graduation.

• Vocational School: 9 months to 2 years – Vocational schools are less expensive and may also have a placement program however there are many scam schools out there that will take anyone’s money. In turn, the training can often be mediocre and not up to date. If you choose a vocational school, check with local hospitals and doctor’s offices to see how acceptable they are.

• Hospital on the Job Training – On the job hospital training can be highly advantageous as you will be in the trenches with everyone else rather than a classroom. However, this can be a long haul regarding salary advancement.

Take your time, choose the right career program and school, and work with the goal of becoming certified as soon as possible after graduation. As a certified ultrasound technician, you’ll have no trouble finding a job after graduation.

And it is really remarkable how the majority of women change their minds about abortion when they see their unborn child’s movement and livelihood.

An organization known as Online for Life is known for putting out the pro-life message to the 6 million abortion related searches on the Internet per month. Through donations they make this possible.

I would like to share with you a true event that has taken place in the USA. I have gotten permission to post this event so that many of you can see the amazing effect a sonogram has on the unborn child’s life.

Story from Online for Life Blog

Enjoy.

Image Source

We often see homeless street children pleading for money or a filthy sick- looking baby in the arms of a malnourished woman in most unlikely places. We sympathize with kids having unspeakable conditions way beyond treatment. We feel outrage with parents abusing their own children. Sometimes in our own grief for these souls, some of us question, would it had been better for them if they were not born-  safe from the world’s madness, from pain or sickness or from a troubled parent’s cruelty?

In most part of the world, abortion is legal. Although it is still regarded as ‘murder of the innocent’, certain instances are considered. Whether this could be political or health reasons, ironically, abortion is said to be the best answer for the well being of the mother and the unborn.

Political Aspect

Poverty is one of the reasons why most countries agree for abortion. If a single parent or a woman having already many kids, cannot feed or support a child, this situation can be a problem for both of the child and the mother. Matters get worse if the parent doesn’t want the child. Several studies, conducted in countries like in U.S., Czechoslovakia, and Sweden, have documented the long-term developmental problems suffered by children whose mothers did not want to bear them. The findings reveal emotional, educational and functional disorders that get worse as children become adults. While the majority of unwanted children who were born to poor, unhealthy, unmarried or teenage mothers, these difficulties are also observed for kids born to healthy, adult women who have stable marriages and good economic resources.  So as the study stated, an unwanted child becomes an unwanted adult.  And with this state, an unwanted child can only be a liability to a country.

Image Source

In addition, unsafe abortion is also one of the concerns of the government. Most women would undergo risks in ending unwanted pregnancy. In countries like Netherlands, Canada, U.S. and Sweden, abortion has been legalized to save these women from killing themselves. And surprisingly, some of these countries have lower abortion rates. Holland for example, has the lowest abortion rate in the world, about 6 abortions per 1000 women per year. This is for the reason that contraception is widely available and covered by the national health insurance plan. They carry out public education on contraception, family planning, and sexuality. More to this, responsibility for one’s sexual activity is strongly promoted. Of course, some people say that teaching kids about sex and contraception will only encourage them to have lots of sex. But teenagers from this country were observed to have less frequent sex, starting at an older age.

 Health Issues

Abnormalities at birth can be detected earlier through examinations like ultrasound or blood tests. Usually born kids with birth defects suffer the most with their parents. The sad part of this, is most of the children with congenital abnormalities may not survive longer. The condition of the mother is also measured, like in the case, that the mother cannot bear a child because of heart conditions. This may kill the mother and the unborn, so in order to save one life, the fetus is terminated.

Image Source

To Kill or Not to Kill

According to the Christian church, at the moment of conception a new life is born. Regardless if we terminate pregnancy in less than a month, we already killed a human being.

Abortion is nothing new and till now, debates between the church and the government continue. While the former speaks of morality, the latter reasons of what is best for the people.

We all have our point of view regarding this matter. I maybe from the male specie but I have a mother and a sister. I sympathize with women who have been victims of violence- of rape and had to resort to abortion for such traumatic experience. The child would be a terrible reminder, too. Among others, I understand parents who made a painful decision of killing their own child to make things better for all of them.

Yet, I must make my stand. I do not speak of my religion, my country or my government. I am speaking as a person. And as a person, like you or anyone else, we share the desire of to be loved and to be accepted, like these unborn children. Those kids mentioned, where political aspect is concerned, had to grow up unwanted and a liability because their parents had refused to treat them as their own. I do believe that love and acceptance changes everything.

Image Source

These unborn have no voices of their own and therefore the choice is never theirs. It is always the decision of the parents.  And hear this; there is always an acceptable reason for every trial in the world such as having an unwanted pregnancy. Doing the right thing has its future rewards.

In countries where abortion is legal, our woman’s right to be happy and to be productive without the burden of an unwanted parenthood is acknowledged. It’s a sign of being ‘civilized’ as one author cites it. With equal privileges and opportunities similar with men .Yet, the male specie can never measure up with our women.

Once I have heard my nephew tell his mom that women are special than man. My sister asked my seven year old nephew, ‘Why?’. He told her simply, because women can bear life, not the same as men.

Our women need to be respected but then again, they should also remember to respect themselves.

Sound is rhythmic compression waves in an elastic medium. It is created when a vibrating source disturbs the medium whether that be air, water or peanut butter. The vibrations carry energy so even at the level of physics sound has power.

Humans hear sound at frequencies between 20Hz ad 20,000Hz (A Hertz, the unit name commemorates a great scientist, is a wave frequency of one cyle per second, in motor terms 60rpm). Infrasound , frequencies to low to hear, has been credited with causing the heeling of alarm many experience in haunted houses, there are tales of high power infrasound generators that could bring down buildings or literally vibrate humans in the path of the sound to death.

In the Bible Joshua was allged to have brought the walls of Jericho down with the sound of trumpets: something that is just possible if the walls were unstable for any reason, though at this distance in time the truth of the tale or any explanation is impossible to establish. Caruso was alleged to have shattered a wine glass by singing a note at the resonant frequency of the glass, the frequency of the note emitted when the glass is tapped, though I find this hard to credit, experiments that tried to replicate this with commercial power sound generators failed to do so, though, high speed photography showed the glass distorted to an amazing degree. I recall talking to a Hi-Fi enthusiast who had converted the chimmeys in his house to Horn loudspeakers and aa low note played through these would ripple a listener’s clothes.

Ultrasound, sound too high in frequency to hear has been used to seal plastic bags and has a variety of therapeutic uses . Ultrasound, if focussed will heat up the area where it is focussed and the heating can be used for various things.

Everyday life

Thunder can terrify some people and even cause a heart attack ( as can any unexpected loud noise). Many ancient peoples associated thunder with a god The hiss of rain can depress or calm a listener, and the sound of male mosquito is used to repel the females, who are the ones that sting. A church organ can stir the listeners down to the bones, and I recall reading of a church organist died when the organ emitted an unusually large and unexpected noise in response to a key press. The vibrations cause by heavy traffic, sound transmitted through the ground, can crack walls and foundations and constant exposure to low frequency sound can be injurious to health, while there is some inconclusive evidence that animals can sense ultrasound that arises before earthquakes and ultrasonic dog whistles rely on the fact that dogs ( and cats) can hear sound at higher frequencies than humans.

Music

Even cave dwellers made music, perhaps by using stalactites as drums, or by creating a rasp (“Lost civilisations of the Stone Age” by Richard Rudgley). and music has been credited with hlping childbirth (Vivaldi), making children smarter (Mozart) and killing growing plants (Heavy metal). The last result was cited by Right wing religious extremists and appears not to have been a well conducted formal experiment. When Rock group Madness played in Hyde Park 20,000 people stamped their feet in unison and a building five miles away swayed in response. Soldiers have long known singing makes marching easier and a well known conductor claimed that had he been made to perform the actions he did while conducting but in silence he would have died. Music can bring about an altered almost mystical state of consciousness and is known to stimulate the parts of the brain that respond to sex and music. The latter discovery led scientists to proclaim the discovery that people use different types of music for different purposes, a discovery akin to the satirical finding that about half the married people in Britain were women (Gay marriage not being legal at the time)

Language and poetry

A Jewish man who spoke no German was listening to a recording of one of Hitler’ speeches, and ended, according to his words, uplifted and wanting to march with him, even knowing what Hitler was. Any good orator knows how to whip a crowd into a frenzy and the words are often less important than the rise and fall of the voice. A well known essay “The Neural Lyre” attributes the power of poetry to the fact natural metre matches a fundamental frequency in the brain and poets have been venerated reviled and persecuted at different times. Poetry is a medium of sound not words on the page and the effect of a poet reading their own work can be astounding. Poetry blends sound, meaning metre, and rhythm to create something that is more than the sum of its parts and at its best reaches past the conscious mind and grasps the unconscious firmly by the neck. Poetric prose, which uses the beat of poetry but may lack metre has a similar effect. Taken on their own the words of poem may seem meaningless but when read aloud they can pierce to the bone. Religious rituals use all these tricks, from the poetic lilt of the catholic mass to the whipping up of worshippers at a pentecontalist or similar service.

Sound and the Brain

Humans evolved in an environment where there ears saved their lives more often than did their eyes. Even today any cyclist knows the value of ears Many of the effects of sound described here can be traced back to evolutionary needs. Much of the power of sound beyond the level of Physics has a similar origin. Yet in the West at least sound is regarded as secondary to sight. Maybe it is time to reassess.

Image Source

An estimated 500,000 pregnancies are lost every year in the developed world alone.  Half a million unlived lives and uncountable hearts broken.  1 in every 148 babies are stillborn and 3 in every 1000 babies die shortly after birth.  The rates of loss are higher in underdeveloped nations.  October 9-15 has been designated as pregnancy loss awareness week globally.  The week winds up with the “Wave of Light” on October 15, Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day.  People light candles in memory of all lost babies to symbolize their love and caring for all bereaved families. Official observance and awareness in communities helps families overcome their grief while also raising awareness of the shocking commonness of this tragedy.  This awareness will hopefully encourage more research and raise the possibility of more lives of lost babies being saved.

A miscarriage affects the entire family from the mother, father, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins.  Unfortunately, the lack of social awareness has lead to many of those suffering their grief to do so in silence.  People tend not to talk about it for varied reasons.  They may not want to make anyone feel uncomfortable or sad.  They may not want to trigger their own grief and end up a sobbing mess.  They may not want to hear the lame cliches that everyone thinks of in these situations such as:  “You’re young, you can have another” or “Maybe it was meant to be”.  Or, worst of all, they may be afraid that others will think they caused their own baby’s death.

The family, particularly the parents, are constantly having their grief triggered.  Babies and pregnant women are everywhere you look from your neighbours to the mall to on television.  It can make you afraid to even leave the house sometimes!  Even when watching television, you can be triggered by a commercial when watching a “safe” babyfree show.  I know one time when my husband were watching t.v., we saw a commercial which instantly made me break down in tears.  It was for the E.R. season premiere.  A lady was having an ultrasound and was told there was no heartbeat.  We were watching Two and a Half Men specifically to avoid having grief triggered.  The commercial came so suddenly and unexpectedly that I didn’t turn the channel.  The situation on the commercial is exactly what happened to us and shocked me into intense grief for hours afterwards.  It seems like it’s the same sort of situation as when you buy a car.  When you buy a Honda Pilot or whatever, you suddenly see them everywhere you look.  When you lose a baby, they are everywhere you look as well.

In the vast majority of cases, the cause of the loss is unknown.  In my family’s loss, we were told that our lost son was perfect except for the fact that he was dead.  Because the cause of the loss is unknown, it makes it very hard to prevent.  Further research could lead to more information being available to pregnant parents that could help increase their chances of having a healthy child.

On the other hand, it’s surprising how many miscarriages could have been avoided by better prenatal testing.  A good example of this is a condition called vasa praevia which is a complication that causes massive hemorrhaging.  This hemorrhaging causes fetal death in 95% of cases.  The condition can be detected through harmless ultrasound testing as early as 16 weeks.  And when it’s detected, the fetal survival rate is nearly 100%!  There are countless miscarriages which are caused by a poor prenatal diagnosis which could have been avoided.

Baby loss awareness week runs from October 9 – 15.  Many communities have memorials or Walks to Remember during this week.  The image of the butterfly is commonly used in reference to lost babies throughout history.  They are powerful symbols of transformation in many cultures and belief systems.  The transformation refers to the baby’s soul moving from a physical body to a spiritual body as well as the family’s eternal transformation by their babies short lives.  Our family attended a butterfly release in the summer as a way to memorialize our loss  (that’s my hand holding the butterfly below).  Think of attending such memorial walks in your own community to show your support and awareness for pregnancy and infant loss awareness week.

Image Source

Baby loss awareness ribbons are half pink and half blue to represent all the babies lost, both boys and girls.  Tragically, many parents will never know whether the baby they lost was a son or a daughter.  Wearing these ribbons will help to spread awareness and offer some comfort to grieving families as they struggle to put their lives back together.  So, pin on your ribbons (can be purchased online or made at home) and light your candles on October 15 at 7 p.m. so that a wave of light covers the world and memorializes all babies taken too soon.