Vitamin C / Ascorbic acid

Vitamin C / Ascorbic acid - Getting to know it!

Vitamin C or Ascorbic acid is a water-soluble, anti-oxidant vitamin. The most important function of this vitamin is to boost the immunity and to supply the body with anti-oxidative power. It is also needed for the synthesis of collagen (structural component of blood vessels, bones, ligaments, and tendons) and dentin (structural component of teeth).


Vitamin C is an 'enediol-lactone' of an acid. The naturally occurring form of the vitamin is L-ascorbic acid, and is structurally similar to L-glucose.


Being an anti-oxidant, it protects proteins and genetic material (RNA and DNA) from free radical damage.

Asbestosis

About


Asbestosis is a chronic inflammatory lung disease that occurs due to long- term exposure to asbestos fibres


Asbestosis particularly affects the parenchymatous tissues of the lungs and has gained increased significance due to its link to mesothelioma and to other forms of lung and laryngeal cancer. Asbestosis is also frequently associated with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).

Asbestos is a group of minerals, comprised of long, thin and fibrous crystals. It gained widespread usage during the industrial revolution. It is ideally suitable for insulation, due to its ability to withstand heat, and is resistant to destruction by several physical and chemical agents.


Asbestos fibres are of varying lengths and sizes. There are two major types of asbestos namely chrysotile, or the serpentine type and the amphiboles or the straight type. Chrysotile is the more dangerous of the two varieties. All types of asbestos are capable of causing fibrosis (shriveling) of the lung tissue.

Asbestosis, as a medical problem, was recognized early in the 20th century. A few decades later studies established asbestosis as a predisposing factor for bronchogenic carcinoma and malignant mesothelioma. The developed countries have started recognizing the harmful effects of asbestos and have replaced it with synthetic metal fibres. Legislations have been passed globally to curtail its use in industries.

Developing countries still face the problem of widespread usage of this material by a variety of industries, such as textiles, insulators, fire-proofing, reinforcement of cement and brake linings.

Miners are at a greater risk of exposure to asbestos. Construction workers too are at a higher risk of exposure, as asbestos is frequently used in construction industries. The risk level for the occupants of such buildings is, however, quite negligible.

A relatively rare disease, asbestosis, mostly occurs in people who are constantly exposed to asbestos fibres. Those who are at the worst risk include people who directly come in contact with asbestos material at their work place.

Exposure to asbestos fibers invokes an immune response in the exposed individual. When this exposure is long-term, it leads to fibrosis of the lung, a typical feature of asbestosis. Shortness of breath is usually the presenting symptom.

Asbestosis may be diagnosed by ruling out other diseases with similar symptoms. Pulomonary Function Tests, chest X-rays and CT scans are some of the diagnostic tests usually employed. In some cases, a biopsy of the lung may be called for.

Asbestosis is bereft of a specific treatment regime. Respiratory infections are controlled with the help of antibiotics. Management of the disease, through lifestyle changes is, often, the only choice. More care must be taken to prevent the disease, especially by the high -risk group.

Oligoarthritis / Arthritis In Children / Childhood Arthritis / Juvenile Arthritis

Introduction

Most parents when told that their child has arthritis find it hard to believe it, as arthritis is regarded an adult's disease. This however is not true. Arthritis can affect children as well. Children with arthritis often find it difficult to cope up with the disease and treatment therefore has to be aimed at restoring the functional activity of the child such as going to school, getting educated, holding jobs, raising families and so on. It is also vital to ensure that joint and bone function, vision are preserved to the maximum possible extent.


Forms of Arthritis

Artificial Insemination

About Artificial Insemination

Artificial insemination is a simple and inexpensive medical procedure, commonly used in the treatment of infertility. AI is just one of those options that may be considered prior to attempting more involved treatments, such as IVF.

Palpitations And Arrhythmias

About palpitations

Palpitations are unpleasant sensations of one's own heartbeat.

People describe palpitations in various ways, such as racing heartbeat, fast heartbeat, and fluttering or skipped beat. Most palpitations are harmless; however if they occur regularly a check up is warranted.

Palpitations are the most common symptom of arrhythmia when there is a problem in the heart's conduction system. Not all heart palpitations are dangerous. Sometimes it can reflect a problem not in the heart but somewhere else in the body (like the thyroid).




The heart is a muscular tissue with four chambers for receiving and pumping out blood. These chambers have to beat in synchronization throughout our life - almost 20 billion times. To provide this synchronization there are specific pace-making areas that emit regular electrical impulses that are transmitted to the cardiac muscles. The main electrical impulses are generated in the left upper chamber of the heart [Left atrium] by the sino-atrial node. This node is called the pacemaker of the heart. First, the electrical ions or the charged cells move throughout the atrium causing the muscles to contract. This contraction causes blood to fill the lower chambers of the heart [ventricles]. A second power station called the AV node [atrio-ventricular node], is present between the atria and the ventricles. This allows the ventricles to fill completely. Once the impulses travel down the ventricles, they contract pumping blood to the body. This whole cycle is one heartbeat or cardiac cycle. A normal heart beats about 60-100 times per minute. In general, the heart rate increases with exertion or physical or emotional activity and reduces at rest. An electrocardiogram can record these electrical impulses as waveforms.

Palpitations occur differently in different people. Everybody encounters an extra beat or two often. Most people are unaware of it. These ectopic beats are not harmful and do not pose danger or damage to your heart. In England, over 700,000 people have palpitations. Palpitations that are infrequent and not associated with any other symptoms may not require further investigations. However, patients with frequent palpitations associated with symptoms such as shortness of breath, dizziness or syncope (loss of consciousness) need to be checked by a physician.

APPENDICITIS

General Info about Appendicitis

The vermifom appendix or appendix in short, is a small part of the bowel or intestine. It is situated on the right side of the abdomen at the junction of the small and large intestines. It is a small narrow sac approximately 10 cm long and 1 cm wide. The appendix is a vestigial organ, that is, it serves no useful purpose.


General abdominal pain is often all that the patient will complain of during the first few hours of his attack But after the first few hours it becomes more evident that the chief seat of pain is at [the iliac fossa], and the general pain then usually subsides. In every case the seat of greatest pain, determined by the pressure of one finger, has been very exactly between an inch and a half and two inches from the anterior spinous process of the ilium on a straight line drawn from that process to the umbilicus.
-Charles McBurney, 1889

ANXIETY DISORDER

General Info about Anxiety Disorder Anxiety is the abnormal fear or reaction, towards any stress which the person can normally handle. Generalized anxiety involves excessive worry about actual circumstances, events or conflicts. The patient is anxious or apprehensive and may show signs like sweating, palpitation, dry mouth, dizziness, nausea, loss of appetite, frequent urination, difficulty in swallowing.



Anxiety is a thin stream of fear trickling through the mind. If encouraged, it cuts a channel into which all other thoughts are drained.

-Arthur Somers Roche

Anti-Ageing and Benefits of Red Wine

Defying Ageing and Death

Ageing process has always been an enigma. Recent research indicates that red wine could delay the process.


Since the early ages, ageing and death have evoked a wide range of feelings in the minds of mankind. Acknowledged as the 'inevitable', they have been looked upon with awe and fear by kings and paupers alike. History is littered with attempts to defeat death by negating or delaying the process of ageing, but the elixir of life continues to remain elusive. Nature has had the last laugh and conquering death still remains a distant dream. However recent studies have indicated that 'the dream' may not be quite so distant. Scientific research has proved that ageing, and the infirmities that accompany it, can be treated as a biological process that can be slowed, or even controlled.

It is a well-known fact that every life on earth will eventually die and slip into oblivion. It remains part of nature's wonder that some animals such as the cold-water fish, amphibians and the American Lobster do not age. They fail to reach a fixed size and continue to grow bigger, in order to live and reproduce. In most instances, they die at the hands of a predator. These lowly creatures are possibly in possession of certain factors, probably genes, which control the momentum of ageing. In humans, a search for these invaluable factors could definitely turn out to be a fruitful one.



Recent research on red-wine has shown that it maybe of some benefit by working as an anti-ageing agent, delaying the ageing process.

Anthrax

General Info About Anthrax

It is an infectious and potentially fatal disease of warm-blooded animals, especially of cattle and sheep, caused by the bacterium Bacillus anthracis. Anthrax can also occasionally effect human population.

Anosmia / Loss Of Smell

General Info about Anosmia

Anosmia is the absence or impairment of the sense of smell. 7% of the people in India suffer from impaired sense of smell. It can be partial or complete.

Anorexia Nervosa

Anorexia Nervosa - Overview & Early History

"Modern anorexia is the biopsychosocial disorder mirroring a society with specific tensions and contradictions: the bourgeois family, supportive yet suffocating, and all the paradoxical hypocrisies of modern attitudes towards youth, food, femininity, beauty
and sexuality, are whipped up by the media and by multi-million pound food and style industries."

- Roy Porter 1997

Anorexia Nervosa is an eating disorder that was first described in 1868 and is found most commonly found among teenage girls. Its exact cause is not known


This disorder is also found though, in a smaller ratio, in adolescent males and adult men.


It is commonly observed among the teenagers.


Anorexia induces the patient to harbour low self-esteem and a high desire to control their emotions.


Anorexia is a characteristic reaction to a number of external and internal conflicts, such as stress, anxiety, unhappiness and a feeling of life getting out of hand.


Anorexia is a reaction of a person's inability to cope with these negative emotions.

Early History Of Anorexia Nervosa:


There were many previous case histories of this condition with eating disorder.


An English physician William Gull coined the term Anorexia Nervosa in 1868. Coining the term Dr Gull emphasized the physiological causes of the condition, the need to restore weight, and the role-played by the family.


Another physician Charles Lasegue around the same time also gave the current 'key descriptions' of the condition. (Ref: Palmer 2000)



In… 1868, I referred to a peculiar form of disease occurring mostly in young women, and characterized by extreme emaciation.... At present our diagnosis of this affection is negative, so far as determining any positive cause from which it springs…. The subjects…are…chiefly between the ages of sixteen and twenty-three.... My experience supplies at least one instance of a fatal termination.... Death apparently followed from the starvation alone..... The want of appetite is, I believe, due to a morbid mental state.... We might call the state hysterical.(William Withey Gull, 1874)

Ankylosing Spondylitis

What is Ankylosing Spondylitis?


"Ankylosing spondylitis is a Rheumatic disease that causes arthritis
of the spine and sacro iliac joint and can cause inflammation of the eyes, lungs and heart valves. It varies from intermittent episodes of back pain that occur through out life to severe chronic disease that attacks the spine, peripheral joints and other body organs resulting in severe joint and back stiffness, loss of motion and deformity as life progresses"

- American college of Rheumatology

Spinal and Epidural Anesthesia

About Spinal And Epidural Anesthesia

Spinal anesthesia is a form of regional anesthesia that involves injection of the anesthetic agent adjacent to the spinal cord or just outside it using a long needle. This renders the portion of the body beyond or below(as the case maybe) the point of injection numb and anaesthetized, while the rest of the body remains unanaesthetised.

The injection is usually administered in the lumbar (low back) spine. This form of anesthesia is easy to be administered and is ideally suited for surgeries performed in the lower parts of the body.

Local Anaesthesia

General Info About Local Anaesthesia

Local Anaesthesia, strictly speaking, means putting local anesthetic ("freezing") around the affected area to make it pain free. Technically speaking, local anesthetics are drugs that block sensory and motor nerve conduction to produce temporary loss of sensation without loss of consciousness. The loss of sensation is restricted to the area where the injection is applied. The other areas of the body are not anaesthetized. Local anesthetics are readily absorbed through mucous membranes and damaged skin. For certain procedures, adding adrenaline prolongs the duration of action.


Local anaesthetics can be applied close to the nerve of any part of the body,e.g,a finger, an eyelid, the foot or a tooth that require an operation without other areas getting anaesthetized. It can be applied within the mouth, nose or throat or any area lined by mucous membrane in the form of a spray, or gel or by means of an injection and operations done on the affected part with the patient remaining conscious.

Anaesthesia - History and Origins

About Anaesthesia

"Doctor, will you give me chloroform or anaesthesia?"

This is the often-repeated query by many patients about to undergo an operation. Little do they know that chloroform became obsolete decades ago. Anaesthesia has come a long way since then, being much more safe today than it was a long time ago. General anaesthesia as it is called today can be administered with just a small prick of a needle, injecting the anaesthetic into the person's vein of the hand, while he falls into deep slumber to wake up after the surgery.

What would it be like to undergo an operation without anaesthesia? A torture of the worst kind. And that is how our ancestors felt when they had to have an operation. No wonder then, without the benefit of anaesthesia to make them oblivious to the pain of surgery, they depended on magic, rituals and incantations to cure their symptoms. Advancement in anesthesia techniques helped the development of surgery too and take it to new heights in last ten to twenty years.

It would be difficult to talk about the origin of anaesthesia without taking note of the first pain relieving drugs. The ancient Egyptians used poppy seeds (from which opium is derived) during the operations. The Romans used the extract of the Mandragora plant to alleviate pain, the Greek used herbs like hemp and the Chinese used cannabis. Some of these were used for surgery, but anaesthesia as it exists today was unknown.

Between 2nd and 5th century, people used mandragora mixed with wine and opium for surgery. Sometimes physical methods like compression of blood vessels or the nerves by means of clamps applied over the limbs were used to numb the area. 'Refrigeration anaesthesia' meant using cold water or snow to numb the region so that surgeries like amputations or abscesses drainage could be done; however the numbing procedure itself meant nothing short of torture. Blood letting, hypnosis, even the barbaric custom of giving a forceful knock on the patient's head, to give rise to a concussion and render the patient unconscious were used as a means of anaesthetizing someone.

Anaesthesia - History

Anaesthesia history - Introduction

Anesthesia plays a very important role in the field of medical surgery. One cannot possibly think of undergoing a surgery without being anesthetized. Before the discovery of the various anesthetic agents people underwent severe pain and agony. Patients were strapped down or were given alcohol and other sedative drugs to ameliorate the pain of surgery. Surgery sans pain would have remained a dream of the yester years if not for anesthesia, which has now made it a reachable reality!

Various anesthetic drugs like alcohol, opium (poppy), hyoscine, cannabis (hemp), cocaine were all used in the by gone era to relive pain. But till date it is the structure of morphine (opium alkaloids) that serves as a model for the synthesis of other modern synthetic anesthetic agents.

General Anesthesia

About General Anesthesia

The word "anesthesia" comes from a Greek word meaning absence or loss of sensation. Different types of anesthesia are used in procedures such as tooth extractions to complex procedures such as heart surgery. The anesthesia is used to block pain signals traveling through the nervous system. The type of anesthesia that is to be delivered will depend on:

The general health condition,

The type of surgery and other clinical consideration.

A careful consultation with the Anaesthetist and Surgeon can help determine the type of anesthesia that is required for the procedure.

General anesthesia is usually administered when there is a need for more extensive surgery. This form of anesthesia is nothing more than putting a patient to sleep until the surgery is over. While this is being done, the functioning of other vital organs such as the heart, kidney and lungs is monitored constantly.

General Anesthesia is usually administered through an intravenous route or through inhalation. From this point one will not be aware of anything else during the operation. Following this, a tube called as the endotracheal tube or the breathing tube is placed inside the windpipe. The tube is connected to a machine that delivers oxygen and removes carbondioxide from the lungs.

The set up ensure that the oxygen required for breathing and anaesthetic gases are delivered properly. A monitor can be used to determine whether the tube is properly positioned and whether adequate ventilation is provided throughout the surgery.

During the entire surgical procedure the heart rate, blood pressure and the oxygen level in blood are evaluated through monitors.

Dental Anesthesia

Teeth And Anesthesia

Pain
is the most common manifestation of dental disease and as such the advent of anesthesia may be regarded as a cornerstone in the development of modern dentistry.



Historically, dental pain or a toothache is regarded as the worst thing experienced by man since times immemorial. Despite the development of modern equipment and technical expertise, if there is one thing that dentists
have been unable to control, it is the pain that presents itself in a variety of ways. In fact the nerve in the tooth or the pulp as it is called has fibers that can transmit only pain as a response to any stimulus. These fibers are unique to the body in this regard. A visit to a dentist is the scariest experience for some people, while others are able to sail through it relatively unscathed. It is here that anesthetic agents have served as a blessing to dentists and patients alike.

Andropause / Male Menopause

About

Are you a middle –aged male whose enthusiasm is slowly waning and whose middle name is ‘irritable’? Take care- you could be on the threshold of ‘Male Menopause’!


Definition of Andropause -Andropause is the male equivalent of menopause in women and is generally characterised by a decline in sexuality and overall energy due to the decreasing level of male hormones, like testosterone, with age.


We all know about the female menopause but how many of us have heard of andropause, considered by some as the ‘male menopause’?

‘Mid-life crisis’ is the euphemism of choice that is used to refer to the symptoms of a ‘waning’ male. Today, it has been widely accepted by the scientific world that males encounter ‘andropause’- a term that refers to the paucity of vital male hormones. This, in turn, leads to an array of symptoms -from feeling ‘blue’ to low libido.

Andropause refers to the biological changes that men in mid-life experience; some like to compare this state with the female menopause. These changes are not universal and males continue to reproduce well into their old age.

'Men do not quit playing because they grow old; they grow old because they quit playing.' - Oliver Wendell Holmes

Actually the term ‘male menopause’ is something of a misnomer, because ‘menopause’ implies that the reproductive ‘machinery’ comes to a grinding halt. But it is important to know that such a ‘shut down’ occurs only in females. Males, however, may experience bouts of impotence.

Andropause was first described medically, in the 1940's, but was not accepted by the medical fraternity until recently. The term, ‘andropause’ is not recognized by WHO and its ICD-10 medical classification

Approximately, 25 million American males aged between 40 and 55 years are currently experiencing the symptoms of andropause.

During Andropause, the levels of the hormones testosterone and dehydroepiandrosterone are diminished. As a consequence of this drop, the individual may experience -loss of concentration, low energy levels, fatigue, change in attitude, depression, low libido, and mood swings. Even healthy males experience these symptoms. It is not clear if hereditary factors, enviornment or lifestyle are associated with andropause.

Research reveals that low testosterone levels also predisposes an individual to health problems, such as heart disease and osteoporosis

Andropause was an ‘under diagnosed’ and ‘under treated’ health condition. Today there is a lot of improvement in understanding and managing this condition. Simple blood tests diagnose this disorder. Treatment is carried out through Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT).

Birth Defect - Structural Defects

About Structural Defects

It is true that medical technology has improved so much over the recent years. But the risk of having a child with a birth defect continues to be a significant medical problem. About 1 in 33 children are born with structural defects such as malformed limbs, heart problems and facial abnormalities. Patients of all age groups, races, education levels, socioeconomic backgrounds are affected. Birth defects demand a considerable amount of resources in terms of the economy. The problem is however mostly underestimated or rather overlooked by many in the scientific community. An adequate knowledge about the various birth defects and the causes alone can prevent the incidence of birth defects to an extent.

ANEMIA / LOW HAEMOGLOBIN

General Info about Anemia It is a condition in the body when supply of iron to bone marrow falls short of that required for the production of red blood cells. It is the commonest cause of Anemia throughout the world.



"There are cases...in which [the blood's] amount of globules falls much below the physiological mean, and diminishing more and more, reaches a proportion so low that we can scarcely comprehend how, with so few globules in the blood, life can still be maintained. This diminution, in different degrees, of the globular element of the blood is the fundamental character of Anemia, a condition which is the opposite of plethora."

Gabriel Andral, 1843

Amoebic Dysentery / Amoebiasis

Amoebic Dysentery - Overview

It is also known as Amoebiasis or Traveller's Diarrhoea,.

It is the infection of the large intestine, sometimes involving the liver. It causes diarrhoea among other symptoms.


Frequently affects people whose hygiene is poor.

Travellers to countries with poor sanitation are at greater risk of contracting the disease (hence known as traveller's diarrhoea).

It can affect any one young or old of either sex.

About 10% of the world's population is infected with amoebas, particularly people who live in

Mexico
India
Central America
South America
Africa
Tropical areas of Asia.

In industrialized countries, amoebiasis is very common among recent immigrants and travellers who visit countries where amoebas are prevalent.

AMBLYOPIA / LAZY EYE

General Info about Amblyopia

Amblyopia is the medical term for poor development of vision in one eye. The word comes from the Greek. [ambly- (dull) + -opia (vision)] Amblyopia is often referred to as "lazy eye." It affects just two to three percent of the population.

Central vision does not develop properly, usually in one eye, which is called amblyopic.

The eye is anatomically normal, but visual acuity is reduced even with glasses. Amblyopia develops sometime between birth and 8 or 9 years of age, the critical period of time when the visual system develops and matures. Amblyopia causes more visual loss in the age group under 40 than all the injuries and diseases combined.

Alzheimer's Disease

General Info about Alzheimer's Disease

"If any one faculty of our nature may be called more wonderful than the rest, I do think it is memory. There seems something more speakingly incomprehensible in the powers, the failures, the inequalities of memory, than in any other of our intelligences," wrote Jane Austen, the English writer. This most wonderful gift, if you loose, can make your life chaotic.

The enduring disorder in memory retention is known as Alzheimer's disease. Generally, the disease affects the brain tissues after one reaches forty years. Once affected, Alzheimer's gradually destroys the ability to reason, remember, imagine and learn. It is marked by abnormal clumps (plaques) and irregular knots (neurofibrillary tangles) of brain cells. For reasons not well understood, these plaques and tangles take over healthy brain tissues, devastating the areas of the brain associated with intellectual function.


"Alzheimer's can be called the long good-bye. You grieve about the loved one from the moment you begin to observe the gradual loss of memory and the speech and personality changes, because they are incurable. The person you love is gradually changing before your eyes. You say good-bye many times until the final good-bye at death."

- Norma Wylie, 1996