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Birth Defects and Inherited Disorders

Written by Doc Team Friday, 20 August 2010 18:56

Specters of birth defect and inherited disease can throw a pall over the bright expectations of parent to be. The process of genetic counseling, along with new ways of determining whether a fetus is likely to be normal, has taken much of the mystery out of predicting pregnancy outcomes. Through genetic counseling a couple may be told if an inheritable disease or disorder is likely to be carried to an offspring or if high risk pregnancy may develop.

The medical procedures used for these determinations include removing a sample of fluid from the pregnant uterus, and examining pelvic structures and the developing fetus by insertion of special medical devices. Fetal abnormalities that may be identified or ruled out through prenatal testing and counseling include sickle cell anemia, Tay- Sachs disease, phenylketonuria (PKU), Down’s syndrome (mongolism, thalassemia, and neural tube defects such as spina bifida.

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The Most Common Cause of Food Poisoning

Written by Doc Team Thursday, 05 August 2010 20:18

The most common cause of food poisoning is the toxin produced by certain strains of the pathogen Staphylococcus aureus. The usual events, which begin 2 to 4 hours after ingestion of food, include nausea, severe vomiting, abdominal cramps, diarrhe, and prostration. But despite the violence of the acute attack, the symptoms usually subside after about 6 hours. Symptomatic treatment with replacement of fluids is generally all that is required. Inasmuch as staphylococcal food poisoning is actually caused by a toxin, many authorities refer to it as type of food intoxication.

The most common type of food poisoning caused by the organism per se (so-called food infection) is salmonellosis, a gastrointestinal infection involving dozens of species of Salmonella, the same group to which belong the pathogens of typhoid and paratyphoid fever. Many of these species are natural pathogens of domestic animals, and thus meats, fish, milk, eggs and milk and egg products are the usual culprits.

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Basic Knowledge About Renal Failure

Written by Doc Team Friday, 09 July 2010 20:39

Renal Failure is the inability of the kidneys to perform their normal excretory and regulatory function. The hallmark of the condition is uremia, which may be defined as the retention of urea and other metabolic wastes and the toxis efects produced thereby. These effects include nausea, vomiting, headache, dizziness, dimness of vision, coma, and convulsions.

There are a multitude of underlying causes of renal failure, including hemorrhage, poisoning, enlarge prostate, kidney stones, and inflammation of the glomeruli. If these are correctable, the outlook is good to excellent. The removal of kidney stones, for example, is clearly the answer to renal failure of this origin. When the cause is not correctable or when the limits of effectiveness of conventional therapy have been reached, long-term dialysis or transplantation must be considered.

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Breast Cancer - Most Common Lethal Neoplasm In Women

Written by Doc Team Friday, 28 May 2010 08:26

Breast cancer is the most common lethal neoplasm in women. The American Cancer Society (ACS) has estimated that breast cancer will constitute 29% of all new malignant neoplasms and 16% of deaths from cancer in women. The annual incidence of breast cancer in the United States increases dramatically with age (5 per 100,000 population at 25 years of age, rising to 150 per 100,000 at 50 years of age and to more than 200 per 100,000 at 75 years of age).

The incidence of male breast cancer is about 2.5 per 100,000 population. Fewer than 1% of all breast cancer cases occur in men.Breast cancer is the result of mutations in one or more critical genes. Two genes in women on chromosome 17 have been implicated. The most important gene is called BRCA-1 (at 17q21); the other is the p53 gene (at 17p13). A third gene is the BRCA-2 gene on chromosome 13.