Archive for April, 2008

Have you ever experienced choking? It is mostly caused when any object or food particle gets lodged into your windpipe, blocking the flow of air.

In adults, often any piece of food is suspected to be a main culprit, while most of the young children swallow certain tiny objects unknowingly, which can lead to choking.

If a person is not able to show any sign of choking attack, then you can look for these simple indications:

• Coughing forcefully
• Experiencing difficulty in respiration and even unable to talk
• Change in the color of skin, nails and lips into blue or dusky
• Loss of consciousness

Necessary steps to follow for choking:

As the choking interrupts the supply of oxygen to your brain, administering first aid as soon as possible can be helpful for you.

Knowledge of certain tips regarding the first aid, which you can do in case any of your neighbors or friends experience choking, can be a good quality for you. Some of the most important tips involved in the first aid process of choking mainly include:

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Did you notice any scaly, swollen skin at the base of your eyelid? Are you experiencing any burning or itching of eyelids?

Reddened eyes associated with burning, itchy and watery eyes are the common symptoms of blepharitis.

It is an eyelid inflammation caused due to infection of bacteria on your eyelids.

Blepharitis, this bacterial infection is usually caused due to excess growth of bacteria on your eyelid [Eye infection]. This bacterium is usually found on the skin and leads to the accumulation of germs and causes irritation of skin on the eyelid. Sometimes, this bacterium can also be developed on your skin due to certain allergies.

Blepharitis is harmful infection for your eyes!

If you have blepharitis, then the risk for the loss of eyelashes and abnormal growth are very high and certain other possible ways in which this common eye condition can cause harm to your eyes can include:

Sty: The result of this possible eyelid inflammation, which usually develops near the root of your eyelash, is certainly a painful lump at the edge of your eyelid or it can also occur inside your eyelid.

Approximately 2% of the people suffer from scoliosis in United States.

There are approximately 20% chances of having scoliosis in the running family if anyone in the family has experienced this disease.

So, they need to be examined to know if scoliosis is present. The reason for scoliosis is not known in almost 80% cases.

This condition is commonly seen in middle and late childhood pre-puberty, mostly in girls than boys. Even though it is common in children, scoliosis can also occur in adults representing the development of scoliosis of childhood that was not diagnosed or treated at their childhood.

Different Types Of Scoliosis Based On Age, Cause, And Curve!

Scoliosis Based On Curve –Four types of scoliosis depending on the region of the curve include:

Thoracic scoliosis: In this, majority of the scoliosis is seen towards the right side in mid back.

Lumbar scoliosis: In this, major scoliosis is concentrated in the lumbar region directed to the left side.

Thoracolumbar scoliosis: Majority of the curve is concentrated at the connection of the thoracic and lumbar spine.

Double major:It is also called as thoracolumbar adolescent idiopathic scoliosis. In this, curve is concentrated on both the sides.

Do you know almost 90% of the women suffer with interstitial cystitis? Interstitial cystitis is mainly associated with chronic urinary urgency and most frequent urination, which can be sometimes accompanied with pelvic pain.

The manifestations associated with this cystitis usually vary from person to person and sometimes changes in the same individual.

You will be affected with either of the two forms of interstitial cystitis, which include ulcerous cystitis and non ulcerous cystitis, depending on the presence or absence of tumors in your bladder lining.

This presence of ulcerations is usually observed by conducting cystoscopy test. Ulcerative interstitial cystitis can be rarely found in less than 10% of all cases. Star shaped ulcers found in the walls of bladder are commonly known as Hunner’s ulcers.

Eventually, interstitial ulcers are capable to cause physical damage to the walls of your bladder. As a result of chronic inflammation, there is a chance for scarring and strengthening of the bladder wall and leads to decrease in the capacity of bladder.

Is cancer related to interstitial cystitis?

The long term or persistent presence of this chronic inflammation have not been studied well and requires further observation and research. However, till now there is no evidence that persistent interstitial cystitis can increase the risk of bladder cancer.

Did you observe any unwanted skin growth on the sole of your feet? Then it can be a plantar wart [Treating warts], caused due to the presence of human papilloma virus in your body [HPV virus].

This virus can enter into your body through tiny cuts and breaks on your skin.

Most of the plantar warts are not serious, but they can become annoying or painful.

These warts are resistant to treatment, so try to consult your doctor to remove these warts caused by HPV virus.

Is there any specific cause to get infected with these warts?

You can acquire these plantar warts through direct contact with HPV virus. More than 100 different types of HPV viruses are present, in which some of them tend to cause warts on your fingers, hands and also near your fingernails, while some of them are responsible for warts on your feet.

The virus which is responsible for plantar warts is not highly contagious, but it mostly thrives in moist and warmer places like public swimming pools, locker rooms and also on shower floors. So, you have chances to get infected with this virus if you walk with barefoot in these kinds of public places.

Smallpox is one of the most contagious diseases caused by variola virus, which has been completely wiped out throughout the world.

It was also potentially one of the most devastating and disfiguring biological weapon that have killed almost 300 million people in 20th century alone.

The early signs and symptoms of smallpox, which you can notice after two weeks of infection resembles like those of flu. You can suffer with fever, fatigue and head ache if you are affected with this viral infection.

Later when the infection develops, it causes severe pus filled blisters on your skin. These blisters eventually leave deep, pitted scars [Treating scars] on your skin. Once when the symptoms reaches advanced stage, there is no cure or effective treatment for small pox.

Variola virus is the main culprit!

Variola virus is the main source for the infection to take place. When you are infected with this variola virus, initially this virus starts replicating inside your body cells, primarily in lymph nodes and then in your spleen and bone marrow.

About two million Americans are being affected with rheumatoid arthritis, which is an autoimmune disease caused when the immune cells attack the joints and organs.

Even though the rheumatoid arthritis can be seen at any age, it most commonly occurs in young women and adults between the ages of 20 and 45.

People with rheumatoid arthritis tend to die younger mostly from cardiovascular disease. It has been found that there is a link between rheumatoid arthritis and heart disease.

Rheumatoid arthritis seems to raise the risk of having silent heart disease. New research says that there is likely a risk of three times of dying prematurely with heart disease with rheumatoid arthritis.

The reason for this is that the inflammation advances atherosclerosis. The marker of inflammation and elevation of C-reactive protein levels have been shown to predict cardiovascular disease in people.

Nevertheless, other inflammatory diseases like Crohn’s disease will not carry the risk of having premature deaths from heart diseases.

A new study suggests that the risk can be identified and modified with the same criteria that are used to identify the risk of heart disease, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, family history of cardiovascular disease, and older age.

Have you ever noticed your father or brother suffering with night sweats? It is so because they might be suffering with male menopause.

Like women, men with menopause behave strangely in their late ages and seem lethargic. Not only women, even men are also considered as sufferers of hormonal imbalances.

Hormonal changes play an important role in aging of men, but male menopause cannot be the accurate description for these changes.

Unlike women, hormonal changes in men take place gradually, over a period of years and the effects of these hormonal changes are subtle and can be noticed much later in their lives.

Some of the males never get affected with lower hormone levels while some can have physical and emotional symptoms, which include changes in energy levels and also in sexual functions.

Role of testosterone in male menopause:

Male menopause is some times described as andropause, which implies lower levels of testosterone in a man’s body. It is not sure that all men go through this phase and the exact reason why only some persons experience andropause is still unknown.