Archive for March, 2008

World Down Syndrome Day is on march 21st. Organizations of Down Syndrome(DS), through out the world, organize and take part in events to raise awareness of Down syndrome in public.

Creating awareness on  this day gives great chance to raise funds to support children and adults with Down Syndrome.

Down syndrome is also called as Trisomy 21 and this occurs when you have a 3rd and extra 21st chromosome. That is why the day and month were chosen for Down syndrome that corresponds with 21 and Trisomy respectively.

Every year on Down Syndrome day, parents and families of new babies with Down Syndrome reach out to their communities and organizations provide information to pediatricians, obstetricians, local hospitals, parents and public health nurses.

The information booklets are distributed to the public libraries, schools and city halls as well as to newspapers and magazines.

People with DS live at home and are attached to schools, workforce and community. People with DS closely resemble parents and their family. But, each individual is unique with personality, appearance and set of abilities.

Each state has Down syndrome association, which provides vital support and information. You can also take part of their fund and awareness raising programs for Down Syndrome patients to make their world a little better.

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In general, hernia can occur in your body when any part in the body protrudes through the gap or opening into other part.

Hiatal hernia can be formed at the opening of your diaphragm where the esophagus, commonly known as food pipe, joins your stomach.

Most of the small hiatal hernias do not cause any harm and you can never know that you have a hernia, until your doctor determines it while checking for other health conditions.

But on the other side, if the hiatal hernia is larger, then it can result in chest pain and heartburn by allowing the acids and food back to your esophagus. Some times, these large hernias needs surgical repair.

What can be the source for this kind of protrusion?

The main reason behind hiatal hernia is still unknown. Some of you can develop this protrusion after sustaining an injury in that particular area of your body and others are born with a large hiatus or it can also be developed due to weakness.

Some of the experts suspect that this kind of hernia can be developed due to increased pressure in the abdomen from coughing, pregnancy and delivery or it can be due to substantial weight gain.

Are you aware of the abnormal sounds of your heart beat? This unusual or abnormal sound made by your heart is nothing but a heart murmur.

This unusual sound is generally made by your blood while flowing though your heart. Heart murmur generally sounds something like water flowing through a hose.

How innocent are these heart murmurs?

Most of the murmurs does not cause any harm to the normal functioning of your heart and doesn’t require any treatment. Most of the doctors have confirmed these abnormal sounds to be innocent and a person with a heart murmur can have normal heart.

Heart murmurs can be present by birth and also can be developed in the later stages of their life. It is not a disease, but it can indicate an underlying heart problem. These types of abnormal sounds of regular heart beat are most common in newborns and also in 50 % of all children.

Know more about the factors responsible for abnormal heart murmur:

Normal heart murmur: An innocent murmur can occur whenever the blood flows more rapidly through your heart like during excess physical activity and while doing exercises.

Are you suffering with yellow-crusted painful lesions on your lips, cheeks, and chin or in your nostrils?

Fever blisters can be the cause! These are the most common skin conditions which affect almost 15% of total population.

These fever blisters, also known as cold sores, are actually caused by herpes simplex virus, which can spread from person to person through direct contact with the infected skin or saliva.

Fever blisters are highly contagious and once if you are affected with these cold sores caused due to herpes simplex virus, frequently you can experience fever blisters again and again in your life.

There are no prevention methods or vaccines for this viral infection, but there are methods to ease the pain caused by these cold sores and prevent the spreading of infection through quick healing.

Useful steps to speed up the healing process of fever blisters:

• Avoid confusion between canker sores and cold sores. A canker sore is different from cold sore. Canker sores are usually explained as mouth ulcers which normally take place inside your mouth while cold sores very occasionally occur inside your mouth and they are also normally smaller than mouth ulcers. Consult your doctor and get it checked to determine whether they are cold sores or mouth ulcers.

Have you ever heard of food poisoning? Certain foods, which you take can be poisonous to your body some times.

This condition of food poisoning also called botulism is very rare condition but can be very serious for you if you get affected.

Botulism can be caused due to intoxication caused by certain potent toxins performed in foods.

Bacterium called clostridium botulinum is the main source for the production of these toxins in your body. Ingestion of these toxins, which are mainly present in foods made improperly, can be dangerous and fatal sometimes.

How botulism can cause harm to you?

Botulism, this condition of food poisoning usually stops your muscles from working. As the toxins spread in body, your muscles become weak and you can feel queasy and end up with diarrhea.

You can also feel difficulty in speaking, trouble in breathing, swallowing and can experience blurred vision and droopy eyelids.

Is there any prevention for botulism?

Food borne botulism is often caused due to improperly prepared home canned foods like corn, asparagus, beets and also green peas.

The arteries become harder as people get older, specifically the arteries in heart, kidneys, and brain.

These stiffer arteries, called arteriosclerosis, cause the heart and kidneys to function even harder.

Cholesterol is a substance that is produced by the body. It is an essential substance for the cell membrane formation, hormones, and other functions.

On the other hand, if the cholesterol level is high, it results in hypercholesterolemia. In cholesterol, LDL (low density lipoprotein) cholesterol is harmful cholesterol and HDL (high density lipoprotein) cholesterol is beneficial. If a person has high LDL cholesterol, it leads to heart disease.

Elevated cholesterol and triglycerides in the blood results in arteriosclerosis. These hardening of the arteries leads in less blood flow and oxygen for the cells and tissues.

When the arteriosclerosis develops near to the heart, then there is a risk of having heart attack. When the arteriosclerosis develops near the head and neck, then there is a risk of having stroke. Arteriosclerosis also leads to high blood pressure.

Lack of physical exercise, excessive white sugar intake, refined foods, and high fat diet that is rich in cholesterol results in arteriosclerosis.

Pancreatic cancer is one of the serious cancers that spreads rapidly and rarely detected in its early stages.

In United States, it is the fourth common cancer and is responsible for more than 33,000 deaths a year.

In spite of much advancement in the fight against cancer, the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer is extremely poor.

The reason is this cancer is often not suspected and diagnosis in early stages is difficult. Pancreatic cancer symptoms are asymptomatic that can be easily ignored or related to other diseases.

Yellow skin and eyes (Jaundice):

If you have pancreatic cancer, jaundice can develop, which makes your skin and eyes yellow. It can result in jaundice, when bilrubin, a breakdown product builds up in the body.

Bilrubin is a fluid produced in the liver that is eliminated in the bile normally. But, if the bile flow is blocked by the pancreatic tumor, your skin and eyes can turn to yellow color with excess pigment from bilrubin.

Your urine becomes dark in color and stools become light in color as bilrubin does not reach the bowel due to the blocked bile duct. Itching can also result when bilrubin builds up in the skin.

When compared to the tumors of different parts of the body, treatment of brain tumor is very difficult because brain surgery requires highly sophisticated instruments.

Side effects from these therapeutic drugs are quite complicated and the brain itself does not allow the therapeutic drugs to enter it.

However, the modalities of treating the brain tumor include surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and combination of all treatments.

According to the new publication, people who received treatment with the high doses of chemotherapy drugs for certain types of brain tumors seemed to have longer life than those people who received other treatments.

Role Of Methotrexate In Treatment Of Primary Central Nervous System Lymphoma

Primary central nervous system lymphoma is a form of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, which affects the brain. This type of brain tumor is difficult to treat, but it can be cured or it can drive into long remission.

The most common method of treatment now-a-days is a combination of radiation and chemotherapy. The patient receives chemotherapy first and then will wait for radiation therapy until the results of chemotherapy treatment are seen.

Methotrexate is reported to be the most effective drug with fewer side effects in treating primary central nervous system lymphoma, a rare form of brain tumor.

Overuse or repetitive stress to your body joints can result in a painful inflammation, bursitis.

Usually your body has more than 150 bursae which lubricates and cushions the pressure points present between your bones, tendons and muscles near your joints.

When ever an inflammation occurs to these bursae, it can end up with a painful movement or pressure for your body joints.

Bursitis can more prominently occur at particular joints in your body like shoulders, elbows or hips. You can also have more chances to develop this inflammation at your knee, heel and also at the base of your big toe.

Inflammation of the bursa can be the main source for bursitis!

In many cases, the cause responsible for bursitis can be unknown. Bursae, these fluid filled sacs often get inflamed due to overuse or it can also occur due to excessive stress or prolonged pressure on your joints. Some of the causes which can be responsible for inflammation of bursae include:

• Trauma: Trauma can cause inflammatory bursitis from repetitive injury, which can result in widening of your blood vessels. This widening can allow the proteins and the extracellular fluids present in your body to flow into bursae and it reacts adversely to these foreign substances by causing pain and swelling at your joint.

Controlling the blood glucose levels is very important for women before they think about getting pregnant.

If you have diabetes before you got pregnant or developed gestational diabetes, then you are at increased risk of having babies with birth defects when compared with the women who neither have diabetes before pregnancy nor developed mild gestational diabetes.

It has been estimated that about 4.8 percent of women with diabetes before pregnancy have children with birth defects where as 1.5 percent of birth defects occurred in women who did not have diabetes.

It has also been estimated that almost 1.2 percent of women with mild gestational diabetes have babies with some or the other kind of birth defect in them.

Birth defect and diabetes:

The level of risks in a pregnant women suffering with diabetes usually depends on the degree of insulin need and also on the severity of complications involved with diabetes and control of blood sugar levels in her body.

Birth defects are more likely in infants who have diabetic mothers, especially in females who are dependent on insulin. Some of these birth defects are serious and can lead to fetal death. Some times these birth defects usually originate in the first trimester of your pregnancy.