Summary: With wild deer and deer ticks increasingly common in suburban areas, Lyme disease has become a serious public health threat. This program familiarizes viewers with the symptoms of and treatments for Lyme disease, while providing additional information on how to prevent deer tick bites. Case studies feature a woman hospitalized with the illness after sustaining a tick bite hidden in her hair,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: Taking a tour through the world of pharmaceuticals, this program reveals that drug advances have as much to do with serendipity as science-and that they frequently produce as many questions as solutions. Viewers learn about the shifting purposes behind some medicines-as in the case of Ritalin, which was designed to treat adult depression, and Viagra, the sexual benefits of which are actually a...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: ABC News' World News Tonight has partnered with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Cancer Institute, and the North American Quitline Consortium to provide viewers with a comprehensive look at the leading cause of preventable death in America: lung cancer. This compilation of WNT segments reports on issues ranging from tobacco-related public health policy, to the latest...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Sometimes, the normal aches and pains of the aging process can indicate a more serious underlying medical condition. This program focuses on the causes, symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment of one such condition: carpal tunnel syndrome. Host Dr. Kevin Soden discusses how CTS arises and its diagnosis with hand surgeon Ken Means, while physical therapist Steve Moxie explains the various treatment...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: Science has made leaps and bounds in its assault on AIDS-but do antiretroviral drugs guarantee a long life? Why does the disease still cause widespread suffering in Africa, despite the development of new medicines? Author and actor Stephen Fry investigates, traveling across the U.S., Great Britain, and Uganda as he studies the medical obstacles to an AIDS-free world. Fry highlights good news,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: What does it mean to be disabled and how does it shape an artist's work? This documentary explores what is known as the disability art movement, following five artists-including a painter, a writer, an actor, a theater director, and a filmmaker, all of whom happen to have physical disabilities-through their creative work. Intense group discussions of artistic and personal goals are also...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: This program illustrates a growing appetite for—and dependence on—experience-enhancing pharmaceuticals and nutriceuticals among those who have the money, the connections, or the savvy to procure them. Drawing examples from the U.S. and France, Pills: Never Enough! examines the use of dietary supplements augmented by hormones to slow the effects of aging; the consumption of energy drinks such as...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: This program, divided into four sections, explores the presentation, diagnostic testing, treatment, and biochemistry of diabetes mellitus. Topics examined include the etiology of both insulin-dependent and non-insulin-dependent diabetes; the possible long-term effects of poorly regulated blood glucose levels; urine testing to determine glucose, protein, and ketone levels; blood testing for...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: It leads to anxiety, personality changes, substance abuse, and suicidal depression. Considering the symptoms, it's easy to see how PCS, or post-concussion syndrome, could be the most under-diagnosed condition affecting young people today. Athletes in high-impact sports are the most at risk, but which other groups are vulnerable? What actions should be taken when the disorder is suspected? How...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2011
View online at AVOD
Summary: Proper dental evaluations and hygiene are vital aspects of caring for an elderly client. Neglecting signs of oral health puts patients at risk for heart disease as well as more common problems like halitosis and bad breath, which can be embarrassing and could cause social and psychological problems. This program discusses specific conditions and diseases of the mouth, provides nursing and...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: Once diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, most patients can expect a stable and active lifestyle for up to a decade-but new drugs could lengthen that period. This program follows five volunteers in the clinical trial of MitoQ, a medicine designed to slow the ailment's progress. Viewers are taken through the yearlong, double-blind placebo-controlled study, in which each volunteer performs a daily...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: Filmed in the U.K., this program sympathetically presents the stories of four young adults-two men, two women-who triumphed over bipolar disorder, chronic anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder, clinical depression, and an eating disorder. Looking back on their lengthy ordeals, each person explains to viewers what it was like to slide into mental illness and how, with the help of others,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: New findings indicate that some of the most addictive and dangerous drugs are legal ones. This program looks at the pros and cons of the current drug classification system, shedding new light on the physiological and neurological effects of various substances. With the help of London's Institute of Psychiatry and other leading addiction research organizations, the program assesses the risks of...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
View online at AVOD
Summary: Confusion over multiple prescriptions and appropriate dosages might sound like a minor nuisance-but it can be dangerous or even fatal. This program explores the challenges that patients often face as they cope with drug interactions. An informative case study features a woman who regularly takes more than 12 medications for various health problems and who, while hospitalized, experienced a drug...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: Today's antibiotics are quickly losing their ability to combat bacterial infections. What has caused this pharmacological disaster? This program examines the link between the use of antibiotics in livestock as growth promoters and the rise of resistance to their effectiveness in humans. Although certain classes of antibiotics have already been banned in agricultural use, some authorities are...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: Modern medicine owes much of its success to drugs. How do these chemical molecules treat and cure aches and illnesses? This program explains that these substances are usually "copies" of natural substances produced by our own bodies. We witness the invention of a new drug by two researchers working at a major pharmaceutical laboratory-computer-assisted, of course. Finally, we are introduced to...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
View online at AVOD
Summary: Antibiotics have saved countless lives from potentially deadly infections-but bacteria keep rebounding in stronger mutations. This program focuses on one of the most lethal pathogens: methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA. Outlining the microbe's alarming ability to withstand methicillin, amoxicillin, and related antibiotics, the program examines the emergence of two separate...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Pharmaceutical prices in the U.S. are pushing patients to have their prescriptions filled in Canada, where drugs such as Lipitor cost less. Budget-conscious state governments are also eyeing Canadian distributors as a way to manage their prescription plans while making fiscal ends meet. But officially speaking, such transactions are still illegal in the U.S.-and the medicines themselves,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Although Alexander Fleming is usually credited with the discovery of penicillin in 1928, no penicillin-based antibiotic was actually developed for human use until 1938 through the work of Australian pathologist Howard Florey and German biochemist Ernst Chain. This program puts Fleming's contribution in scientific perspective. Live interviews, journal accounts, and archival footage lead the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: With thousands of prescription drugs on the market, patients, physicians, and pharmacists must work together as never before to ensure that medicines yield their intended effects without exposing those taking them to unnecessary health risks. This overview of prescription medications emphasizes the dangers of interactions between prescription drugs and other prescription drugs, over-the-counter...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Antibiotics initially worked miracles, saving millions of lives. In just decades, many of the wonder drugs are ineffective. How did it happen? This program reports on a battle for survival between humans and microbes, providing a concise history of antibiotics, as well as tracing their decline in efficacy. Their overuse and misuse is examined in medicine, agriculture, and domestic cleaning...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: Some doctors are wary of prescribing medication for ADD or ADHD, especially when treating young patients-but the majority rely on psychotropic drugs. This program challenges the status quo, supported by a staggering amount of testimony and documentation. Incorporating detailed interviews with psychiatrists, neurologists, and education experts-as well as parents and kids who have suffered...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: The misuse of prescription medicine is a growing problem. This program outlines six commonsense questions every patient should ask when given a prescription, like what activities should be avoided, and possible side effects. It also explains the importance of communication between patient, physician, and pharmacist to avoid potential problems. Saving medication, borrowing it from friends, and...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Some people suffer chronic pain long after an injury has healed, while others can jump from a two-story building and not feel a thing. This film reveals the physiological foundations of both scenarios as it examines the mechanics of pain perception. Viewers meet a family whose unique genetic code has lent insight into the sensation of pain, while a man who cut off his own arm to save his life...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2011