In the new movie, 'Inception,' a master thief is able to infiltrate peoples' dreams and steal their subconscious secrets -- even plant a dream idea they'll think is their own.

As fantastical as that seems, an evolving area of sleep research holds that it is possible for people to direct their own dreams, in a limited way.

For example, people who suffer from recurring nightmares can learn to substitute happier endings. Practitioners of lucid dreaming -- who train themselves to be aware that they are dreaming -- say they can try out fantasies like flying.

Ordering up a dream about a nagging personal problem is difficult, but possible, says Robert Stickgold, an associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. 'As you go to bed tonight, really think about some of those emotional issues that you haven't wanted to deal with. You've got about a 10% to 20% shot.'

That fits with the current understanding of what dreams are and why we have them. Once thought to represent repressed sexual urges, or simply neurons firing randomly, dreams are now believed to be mash-ups created by the unconscious mind as it processes, sorts and stores emotions from the day.

'We take our problems to sleep and we work through them during the night,' says Rosalind Cartwright, an emeritus professor of neuroscience at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, who has spent nearly 50 years studying sleep and dreams.

Her new book, 'The Twenty-Four Hour Mind,' explains that the mind latches onto some thread of unfinished emotional business from the day. Then, in REM sleep (the rapid eye movement period when most dreaming occurs), it calls up bits of older memories that are somehow related, and melds them together. 'That's why dreams look so peculiar. You have old memories and new memories Scotch-plaided into each other,' she says. 'They are emotional connections rather than logical ones.'

Usually, people work through the most negative emotions first, and their dreams become more positive as the night goes on. (How do researchers know that? 'The old-fashioned way. We wake them up and ask them,' Dr. Cartwright says.)

But nightmares interrupt that process; people usually wake up before the frightening emotion is resolved, so the dream keeps repeating.

'Your brain seems to think that it's helping you to prepare, but you don't allow yourself to finish it so it becomes a broken record,' says Shelby Freedman Harris, director of the Behavioral Sleep Medicine Program at Montefiore Medical Center in Bronx, N.Y.

Dr. Harris's program is one of a small number around the country that helps nightmare sufferers and people with post-traumatic stress disorder learn to rewrite the script of their recurring dreams using a technique called Image Rehearsal Therapy.

After recalling the nightmare in detail, the dreamer writes out the new script and envisions it several times a day. Dr. Harris says one of her patients had recurring nightmares of being surrounded by sharks. She imagined they were dolphins instead and rehearsed the scene during five sessions, and the nightmares vanished. A young patient having nightmares of being chased turned the pursuer into chocolate and ate him.

'It gives the patient control over the nightmare,' says Dr. Harris. Studies have found that after several sessions practicing with a therapist, some patients dream the new ending just as they envision it, some dream another version of it, and some stop having the nightmare altogether.

Can you order up a dream on a specific topic, or can somebody else influence your dreams? Numerous experiments with so-called dream incubation have tried, with mixed results.

'I can control people's dreams. I can get them to dream about videogames by having them play intensely,' says Dr. Stickgold. His studies at Harvard found that when volunteers played the game Tetris for hours a day, 60% reported dreaming about it at least once as they were falling asleep.

In a follow-up study with the virtual-skiing game Alpine Racer, 14 of 16 students reported seeing skiing images at sleep onset (as did three people who were merely observing the experiment.)

It's unclear how far into the night's dreams those images persisted. Dr. Stickgold and colleagues are now repeating the study having subjects play 'Dance, Dance Revolution' and waking them later in the night to ask about their dreams.

                                                                                                                                                                    2010-08-05

Healthy women, the vagina secretes a number of vaginal discharge . Psychological factors and physical deterioration will lead to increased vaginal discharge , after conditioning, the general will gradually return to normal.

If it is caused by a gynecological infectious diseases of white sick, it must be a doctor to identify the cause, the condition of patients medication, infection control, can cure the sick white. 

White sick often by the trichomonas vaginitis , fungal vaginitis , chronic cervicitis caused.

Trichomonas vaginitis is a high incidence, especially in areas of relatively poor health conditions. The main symptoms of trichomonas vaginitis as genital itching , tingling, or reptile sense of quantity and with a yellow vaginal discharge white foam and acid odor. The current devaluation of its treatment of metronidazole (Flagyl), this drug can kill trichomoniasis. 200 mg per serving, 3 times a day, 7 days a course of treatment.Upon completion of the first course of treatment, can go to the hospital examination trichomoniasis cases, if not completely kill, and then a course of treatment, be sure to Trichomonas action to exterminate the future needs to prevent repeat infection.

More by the contagious fungal vaginitis, mold can be found from the vaginal discharge diagnosis. White fungal vaginitis caused by sick, the typical symptoms of genital itching unbearable, leucorrhea many of which see the cream of the clot strength. Gynecological examination, vaginal wall shows severe congestion , and a tingling feeling.  Treatment is to kill mold from the start, commonly used drugs nystatin suppository every night 1 (10,000 units), deep into the vagina, on the 10th for a course of treatment. A course still go to the hospital after the review to decide whether to continue medication. Vaginal wall for some serious congestion or ulceration in patients with small area, can be a long cotton swab dipped in 1% methyl violet solution smear.

Chronic cervicitis is more difficult due to short-term cure sick white, cervical erosion of the patients, disease, and are longer. Only cure cervical lesions, vaginal discharge problems can be resolved. Symptoms of more serious ill that white, vaginal discharge yellow pus-like and viscous, smelly, and there are the bloodshot eyes, a long-term patients with abdominal pain , backache , low back pain, poor physique, very painful. If long-term medical therapy, can be surgical cure.

                                                                                                                                                            2010-08-05

Senile vaginitis, also known as atrophic vaginitis; is a non-specific vaginitis. Mostly occurs in women after menopause, but after ovariectomy or breast-feeding women may also occur.

Clinical manifestations

The main symptoms are vaginal discharge increased yellowish or purulent water, smell, severe infection, vaginal bleeding may occur bit by bit, and there fall pain and vaginal burning. Such as involving the vestibular mucosa and around the urethra, often appear urinary frequency, dysuria.

Diagnosis

According to age, medical history, combined with local examination showed genital flushing, wet vaginal congestion, there are sporadic bleeding, the most obvious after fornix and cervix.Vaginal mucous membrane after stripping the formation of ulcers .  Generally not difficult to diagnose. When the formation of chronic inflammation, may occur two results: First, under the vaginal mucous membrane of connective tissue fibrosis, loss of vaginal elasticity, vaginal stenosis, and the final formation of scar; In other cases, adhesion to vaginal atresia vaginal wall, or even more than in the closed form vaginal empyema.  The assumed such a rare, but serious condition.

Differential diagnosis

And identify specific vaginitis, should take the examination vaginal discharge other than trichomoniasis, fungi and other pathogens. Bloody vaginal discharge should be the identification of uterine cancer. Gynecological examination attention to size and shape of the uterus, bleeding source and vaginal cytology , if necessary, cervical or endometrial biopsy, etc..

Treatment measures

The treatment of senile vaginitis principle is to enhance resistance to vaginal mucosa and inhibit bacterial growth. Systemic administration may be oral diethylstilbestrol 0.25 ~ 0.5mg, 1 day, 7 days. After the withdrawal of medication can sometimes lead to uterine bleeding. Topical, improve vaginal pH , with 1% lactic acid or 1:5000 potassium permanganate vaginal washing. Vaginal suppository every night can hold, B phenol film 0.25 ~ 0.5mg, into the vagina, 1 day, 7 days.  Apply when necessary, Locally spreading antibiotic powder or ointment.

Etiology

Mainly due to ovarian failure, low estrogen levels or lack of vaginal epithelial cells in glycogen reduction in vaginal pH values were alkaline, reduced ability to kill pathogens. Meanwhile, due to shrinkage of the vaginal mucous membrane, the Pifei thin, inadequate blood supply to the vagina reduce resistance, easy to breed bacteria cause inflammation of invasive disease.  In addition, poor personal hygiene, nutritional deficiencies, especially lack of vitamin B group, may be related to the pathogenesis.

                                                                                                                                                  2010-08-04