Initial Symptoms Of Parkinson’s Disease
Published on Mar 25 2010, in the categories: parkinson
Parkinson's disease is a disease caused by chronic and progressive degeneration that primarily affects a small area of the central nervous system, called the grey substance. The black substance produces dopamine. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter essential to the control of body movements. The body is created so that an imbalance between excitatory and the inhibitory mechanisms in favor of the latter. This disease was first described in 1817 by British physician James Parkinson in his essay on the shaking palsy.
The biochemical cause (altered dopamine synthesis) was detected first time around 1960. This disease generally affects people over fifty, with a slight preference for the male, currently in Italy there are more than 200,000 Parkinson's patients, with about 1,200 new cases a year.
The causes and risk factors for Parkinson's
The causes of the block in the production of dopamine are still unknown, but there is a statistically higher incidence of Parkinson's disease as a result of repeated trauma to the head (as in ex-boxers), exposure to toxic substances in the environment and cerebral arteriosclerosis.
In some cases it was possible to identify a correlation between the onset of disease and drug use in young people. Exposure to toxic substances appears to be a case confirmed by the high incidence in some rural areas, which make heavy use of pesticides.
However, it is not yet clears the underlying cause of Parkinson's disease. It is very difficult to correlate all the statistics available today on the spread of the disease. We know for a fact that is a disorder characterized by degeneration and death of neurons producing dopamine neurons when they drop below 30% displayed the initial symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.
The symptoms of Parkinson's disease
One of the initial symptoms of Parkinson’s disease is a tremor of the hand, which appears when the hand is not being used. Other symptoms are weakness of the voice, change in writing, which becomes shivering and with smaller type, facial expression changes caused by the reduction of facial expressions, gait with small steps, cramps, involuntary loss of saliva. Other symptoms are anxiety and depression, minor mental disorders and intellectual decay. The final stages are characterized by a general degeneration. The period in which the disease takes its course can vary from ten to twenty years.
Treatment for Parkinson's disease
Drug therapy involves the administration of anticholinergics, levodopa (L-Dopa) and dopamine agonists. Levodopa has long been the main pharmacological tool, but after a few years it has shown a reduction of its effect on the patient and it also has unpleasant side effects. It is now administered with other substances, such as carbidopa and entacapone, which reduce the breakdown of levodopa in the body.
The dopamine agonists are drugs that in recent years have proven more effective, allowing time to postpone the use of levodopa. Anticholinergics prevent the action of acetylcholine becomes negative when lower levels of dopamine causes Parkinson's disease. The monoamine oxidase inhibitors (selegiline) and catecolometiltransferasi (entacapone) work by blocking enzymes that degrade dopamine, but are not very effective and generally only potentiate the effect of levodopa.
The biochemical cause (altered dopamine synthesis) was detected first time around 1960. This disease generally affects people over fifty, with a slight preference for the male, currently in Italy there are more than 200,000 Parkinson's patients, with about 1,200 new cases a year.
The causes and risk factors for Parkinson's
The causes of the block in the production of dopamine are still unknown, but there is a statistically higher incidence of Parkinson's disease as a result of repeated trauma to the head (as in ex-boxers), exposure to toxic substances in the environment and cerebral arteriosclerosis.
In some cases it was possible to identify a correlation between the onset of disease and drug use in young people. Exposure to toxic substances appears to be a case confirmed by the high incidence in some rural areas, which make heavy use of pesticides.
However, it is not yet clears the underlying cause of Parkinson's disease. It is very difficult to correlate all the statistics available today on the spread of the disease. We know for a fact that is a disorder characterized by degeneration and death of neurons producing dopamine neurons when they drop below 30% displayed the initial symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.
The symptoms of Parkinson's disease
One of the initial symptoms of Parkinson’s disease is a tremor of the hand, which appears when the hand is not being used. Other symptoms are weakness of the voice, change in writing, which becomes shivering and with smaller type, facial expression changes caused by the reduction of facial expressions, gait with small steps, cramps, involuntary loss of saliva. Other symptoms are anxiety and depression, minor mental disorders and intellectual decay. The final stages are characterized by a general degeneration. The period in which the disease takes its course can vary from ten to twenty years.
Treatment for Parkinson's disease
Drug therapy involves the administration of anticholinergics, levodopa (L-Dopa) and dopamine agonists. Levodopa has long been the main pharmacological tool, but after a few years it has shown a reduction of its effect on the patient and it also has unpleasant side effects. It is now administered with other substances, such as carbidopa and entacapone, which reduce the breakdown of levodopa in the body.
The dopamine agonists are drugs that in recent years have proven more effective, allowing time to postpone the use of levodopa. Anticholinergics prevent the action of acetylcholine becomes negative when lower levels of dopamine causes Parkinson's disease. The monoamine oxidase inhibitors (selegiline) and catecolometiltransferasi (entacapone) work by blocking enzymes that degrade dopamine, but are not very effective and generally only potentiate the effect of levodopa.
Cardiovascular Disease Signs And Symptoms
Published on Mar 24 2010, in the categories: symptoms
The cardiovascular disease prevention is an urgency for developed countries and for their spread, continuing to grow, that the mortality associated with them (the Europeans are dying for more cardiovascular disease than for cancer).
Cardiovascular disease can be prevented. Preventive strategies are based on change of particular habits and behavioral correction of pathological conditions that may predispose to cardiovascular diseases.
The purpose of this section of the portal is to provide the information necessary to know their risk of cardiovascular disease signs and symptoms and to prevent them.
The cardiovascular system consists of a mechanical pump, the heart, and a system of pipes from the heart (the aorta and major arteries) and gradually divided into smaller and smaller ducts (medium-sized arteries and arterioles) thin wall tubing up to (the capillaries). The main function of the cardiovascular system is to deliver to cells throughout the body's blood and with it oxygen and nutrients in addition, it is a deputy to carry away carbon dioxide and waste products produced by the body. These exchanges are accomplished through the capillaries which have very thin walls and arrive in all cells.
Cardiovascular diseases are diseases that affect the heart and / or blood vessels. The damage caused by these diseases can cause, in certain districts, does not reach an adequate amount of blood needed. The lack of blood supply in a district makes the cells that constitute it go quickly to meet a shortage of oxygen. This shortage of oxygen is called ischemia. If ischemia is prolonged in time, can cause the death of a part of the body (heart attack). Stroke and myocardial infarction are the most serious cardiovascular diseases. In the first case the disease results in a decrease in blood level within the brain, in the latter case, there is a reduction of blood flow at one of the coronary vessels to carry blood to the Members of heart muscle (myocardium). The damage caused to the heart after infarction makes it more difficult for pump organ and this may cause circulation problems in other body areas.
How can the cardiovascular disease be prevented?
Cardiovascular disease is widespread in the population. It represents the leading cause of death in industrialized countries and is still increasing. It can not only cause death but it can also reduce the quality of life of those affected in a non-lethal way. Cardiovascular disease signs and symptoms may be at least partially preventable. This is possible by implementing a series of measures of behavior (quit smoking, change eating habits, exercising) and type treatment (to reduce high blood pressure, high cholesterol, control diabetes).
Adopting these recommendations is to make prevention. Prevention is undoubtedly the best strategy for reducing the incidence of cardiovascular disease!
An effective prevention program may be made only after identifying what needs to change. In other words, it is important to recognize the existence of factors that predispose an individual subject to experience a cardiovascular disease or the asymptomatic disease.
Cardiovascular disease can be prevented. Preventive strategies are based on change of particular habits and behavioral correction of pathological conditions that may predispose to cardiovascular diseases.
The purpose of this section of the portal is to provide the information necessary to know their risk of cardiovascular disease signs and symptoms and to prevent them.
The cardiovascular system consists of a mechanical pump, the heart, and a system of pipes from the heart (the aorta and major arteries) and gradually divided into smaller and smaller ducts (medium-sized arteries and arterioles) thin wall tubing up to (the capillaries). The main function of the cardiovascular system is to deliver to cells throughout the body's blood and with it oxygen and nutrients in addition, it is a deputy to carry away carbon dioxide and waste products produced by the body. These exchanges are accomplished through the capillaries which have very thin walls and arrive in all cells.
Cardiovascular diseases are diseases that affect the heart and / or blood vessels. The damage caused by these diseases can cause, in certain districts, does not reach an adequate amount of blood needed. The lack of blood supply in a district makes the cells that constitute it go quickly to meet a shortage of oxygen. This shortage of oxygen is called ischemia. If ischemia is prolonged in time, can cause the death of a part of the body (heart attack). Stroke and myocardial infarction are the most serious cardiovascular diseases. In the first case the disease results in a decrease in blood level within the brain, in the latter case, there is a reduction of blood flow at one of the coronary vessels to carry blood to the Members of heart muscle (myocardium). The damage caused to the heart after infarction makes it more difficult for pump organ and this may cause circulation problems in other body areas.
How can the cardiovascular disease be prevented?
Cardiovascular disease is widespread in the population. It represents the leading cause of death in industrialized countries and is still increasing. It can not only cause death but it can also reduce the quality of life of those affected in a non-lethal way. Cardiovascular disease signs and symptoms may be at least partially preventable. This is possible by implementing a series of measures of behavior (quit smoking, change eating habits, exercising) and type treatment (to reduce high blood pressure, high cholesterol, control diabetes).
Adopting these recommendations is to make prevention. Prevention is undoubtedly the best strategy for reducing the incidence of cardiovascular disease!
An effective prevention program may be made only after identifying what needs to change. In other words, it is important to recognize the existence of factors that predispose an individual subject to experience a cardiovascular disease or the asymptomatic disease.
Symptoms Of Mad Cow Disease
Published on Mar 24 2010, in the categories: Mad Cow
There is much confusion surrounding the so-called mad cow disease. To understand exactly the size of the problem we should be able to answer the questions:
a) How the cows get sick?
b) What do the animals eat?
c) How the infection is transmitted to humans?
d) In what report is the disease caused in humans with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease?
Scrapie - is a contagious disease of sheep caused by a prion. This is spongiform encephalopathy and it can be transmitted to cattle (causing the mad cow disease) through meat and bone meal derived from sick sheep. This is why we are looking for an agreement to ban animal meal.
BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) or mad cow disease - is the disease of cattle caused by a prion that remains latent for a long (four to six years) before manifest as symptoms of mad cow disease: aggression, abnormal gait, weight loss.
The prion, a pathological protein, accumulates in the nervous system (brain and spinal cord), making it increasingly spongy. It has been identified for the first time in Britain in 1985 (over 180,000 cases in the next fifteen years). In 2000 the only countries where BSE had not yet been reported were Finland, Austria, Sweden, Italy and Greece, while in other European countries ranged from a few cases (Spain, Holland, Germany, Switzerland , Belgium) to hundreds (Ireland, France, Portugal). Usually the disease does not occur before twenty months of life of the cattle and was also found in cats, tigers, lions, pumas, cheetahs and wild ruminants bred in zoos. Some animals, like the hamsters, are immune.
Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease - From the flesh of cattle (small intestine, spinal cord, lymph nodes, tonsils, eyes and brain) can apparently be transmitted to humans (in what is erroneously called variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, disease whose only point in common with BSE being caused by the same pathogen, the prion). The first human cases were recorded in Britain in 1994 and confirmed cases in the next six years were just under a hundred. The disease is not transmitted to humans simply by eating infected meat: there must be indeed a genetic predisposition and 62% of the population is immune from the contagion. Only those persons who have endogenous prion protein with a certain shape (the presence of methionine at position 129 of the chain of amino acids) can be attacked by prions exogenous (coming from sick cattle).
In the United States was discovered an antibody (FabD18) able to block infection and to eliminate prions, then preventive and therapeutic functions.
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease - is a disease caused by a prion, a protein pathology, which remains latent in the long (even decades) before manifesting with progressive dementia, loss of muscle control and abnormal involuntary movements. It is rare (one case per million per year) and occurs in 95% of cases in the sporadic form, and only 5% is attributable to the familial form genetically based.
The first form affects adults between forty and sixty-five years of age (young adults treated with growth hormone have not yet synthesized, but derived from human tissues, or contaminated during medical procedures such as corneal transplant) and evolution of slower familial form. The first symptoms of mad cow disease are memory loss, visual disturbances and dizziness, mental deficits, apathy. Death occurs after a period ranging from three to twelve months.
a) How the cows get sick?
b) What do the animals eat?
c) How the infection is transmitted to humans?
d) In what report is the disease caused in humans with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease?
Scrapie - is a contagious disease of sheep caused by a prion. This is spongiform encephalopathy and it can be transmitted to cattle (causing the mad cow disease) through meat and bone meal derived from sick sheep. This is why we are looking for an agreement to ban animal meal.
BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) or mad cow disease - is the disease of cattle caused by a prion that remains latent for a long (four to six years) before manifest as symptoms of mad cow disease: aggression, abnormal gait, weight loss.
The prion, a pathological protein, accumulates in the nervous system (brain and spinal cord), making it increasingly spongy. It has been identified for the first time in Britain in 1985 (over 180,000 cases in the next fifteen years). In 2000 the only countries where BSE had not yet been reported were Finland, Austria, Sweden, Italy and Greece, while in other European countries ranged from a few cases (Spain, Holland, Germany, Switzerland , Belgium) to hundreds (Ireland, France, Portugal). Usually the disease does not occur before twenty months of life of the cattle and was also found in cats, tigers, lions, pumas, cheetahs and wild ruminants bred in zoos. Some animals, like the hamsters, are immune.
Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease - From the flesh of cattle (small intestine, spinal cord, lymph nodes, tonsils, eyes and brain) can apparently be transmitted to humans (in what is erroneously called variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, disease whose only point in common with BSE being caused by the same pathogen, the prion). The first human cases were recorded in Britain in 1994 and confirmed cases in the next six years were just under a hundred. The disease is not transmitted to humans simply by eating infected meat: there must be indeed a genetic predisposition and 62% of the population is immune from the contagion. Only those persons who have endogenous prion protein with a certain shape (the presence of methionine at position 129 of the chain of amino acids) can be attacked by prions exogenous (coming from sick cattle).
In the United States was discovered an antibody (FabD18) able to block infection and to eliminate prions, then preventive and therapeutic functions.
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease - is a disease caused by a prion, a protein pathology, which remains latent in the long (even decades) before manifesting with progressive dementia, loss of muscle control and abnormal involuntary movements. It is rare (one case per million per year) and occurs in 95% of cases in the sporadic form, and only 5% is attributable to the familial form genetically based.
The first form affects adults between forty and sixty-five years of age (young adults treated with growth hormone have not yet synthesized, but derived from human tissues, or contaminated during medical procedures such as corneal transplant) and evolution of slower familial form. The first symptoms of mad cow disease are memory loss, visual disturbances and dizziness, mental deficits, apathy. Death occurs after a period ranging from three to twelve months.
Lupus Disease Symptoms
Published on Mar 23 2010, in the categories: Lupus
Lupus is a devastating disease that affects several million people, almost 90% of women. Too often considered an elusive disease, with 'vague' symptoms, as fatigue and joint pains, the Lupus disease is a terrible one. Sometimes, the Lupus disease it is not recognized and it is stored in the category of psychosomatic disorders.
But what really happens is that the immune system loses the ability to distinguish between its own cells and tissues and what the 'invading' elsewhere. The immune system attacks the skin, joints, blood and major organs such as kidneys, heart, and brain.
The Lupus disease symptoms vary greatly in different patients and this makes it difficult to diagnose. The pain may move from an 'articulation to another and may be accompanied by swelling, redness and increase or weight loss. Other external Lupus disease symptoms can be rashes on the skin and ulceration of the mucous membranes of the nose or mouth.
The name of the disease comes from the characteristic rash that may appear on the face, in a position reminiscent of the speckles of the snout of the wolf.
There are three types of lupus: the discoid, which affects mainly the skin, the system is the most serious and can affect any organ of the body and that induced by drugs, which usually subsides with discontinuation of the latter.
Lupus is a chronic disease. According to the Lupus Foundation of America, the disease affects more people than multiple sclerosis, sickle cell anemia and leukemia, yet it is still little known and little research is supported by comparison with other diseases.
Care more successfully when diagnosed early, but patients do not come easily to diagnosis. It can take many years before an encounter specialist can recognize and treat the disease.
To fight the ignorance so widespread, the foundation has launched several initiatives, including campaigns with high impact. The campaign of '97, whose title is: "Stop the disease!" included video and printed images of women, containing the provocative phrase "Because we do not believe that the pain of lupus is real! Maybe because most of the victims are women". Another publication created for the newspapers shows a young woman, with an inscription on the shirt: "If I were a man would you take my pain more seriously?"
Lupus does not fear it is not understood. If someone mentions cancer what is intuitively evokes something devastating, awful. At the word lupus answers "yes, I've heard of it.
One wonders whether it is not diminished because people who suffer from it are mostly young women. If a child says "I am exhausted and I can not move the joints in the morning" will certainly be taken very seriously. A girl will be asked if she has a boyfriend.
A person with lupus is faced with a rejection similar throughout the world. The same is true even within families of patients and is often favored looking quite normal patients.
Information campaigns are needed to broaden the knowledge of the disease and to raise funds for research. The ultimate goal is to find the cause and then cure. As one of the advertisements says, the disease is real, as the pain makes it real.
But what really happens is that the immune system loses the ability to distinguish between its own cells and tissues and what the 'invading' elsewhere. The immune system attacks the skin, joints, blood and major organs such as kidneys, heart, and brain.
The Lupus disease symptoms vary greatly in different patients and this makes it difficult to diagnose. The pain may move from an 'articulation to another and may be accompanied by swelling, redness and increase or weight loss. Other external Lupus disease symptoms can be rashes on the skin and ulceration of the mucous membranes of the nose or mouth.
The name of the disease comes from the characteristic rash that may appear on the face, in a position reminiscent of the speckles of the snout of the wolf.
There are three types of lupus: the discoid, which affects mainly the skin, the system is the most serious and can affect any organ of the body and that induced by drugs, which usually subsides with discontinuation of the latter.
Lupus is a chronic disease. According to the Lupus Foundation of America, the disease affects more people than multiple sclerosis, sickle cell anemia and leukemia, yet it is still little known and little research is supported by comparison with other diseases.
Care more successfully when diagnosed early, but patients do not come easily to diagnosis. It can take many years before an encounter specialist can recognize and treat the disease.
To fight the ignorance so widespread, the foundation has launched several initiatives, including campaigns with high impact. The campaign of '97, whose title is: "Stop the disease!" included video and printed images of women, containing the provocative phrase "Because we do not believe that the pain of lupus is real! Maybe because most of the victims are women". Another publication created for the newspapers shows a young woman, with an inscription on the shirt: "If I were a man would you take my pain more seriously?"
Lupus does not fear it is not understood. If someone mentions cancer what is intuitively evokes something devastating, awful. At the word lupus answers "yes, I've heard of it.
One wonders whether it is not diminished because people who suffer from it are mostly young women. If a child says "I am exhausted and I can not move the joints in the morning" will certainly be taken very seriously. A girl will be asked if she has a boyfriend.
A person with lupus is faced with a rejection similar throughout the world. The same is true even within families of patients and is often favored looking quite normal patients.
Information campaigns are needed to broaden the knowledge of the disease and to raise funds for research. The ultimate goal is to find the cause and then cure. As one of the advertisements says, the disease is real, as the pain makes it real.
Lymes Disease Symptoms
Published on Mar 23 2010, in the categories: Lyme Disease
Lyme disease is a concern for professional people who work outdoors in certain areas infested with ticks. A pulse will settle anywhere on a human body, but prefers hot places, wet and dark as the crotch or armpits. If Lyme disease spreads to the heart, the person may feel an irregular heartbeat or slow.
The disease varies widely in its presentation, which may include a rash and flu-like Lyme’s disease symptoms in its early stage, followed by demonstrations musculoskeletal, arthritic, neurological, psychiatric and / or heart. It can affect people of any age. The number of cases of disease in an area depends on the number of beats in an area and how often the ticks are infected with bacteria.
The disease can sometimes be difficult to diagnose because symptoms can be confused with symptoms of other diseases. Lyme’s disease symptoms are affecting the skin and the nervous system. It is called after the town of Old Lyme, Connecticut where a cluster of cases was identified in 1975, although the clinical features of the disease had been reported in Europe since 1909.
Cases of Lyme disease
Lyme disease is caused by infection with a micro- organism (Borrelia), transmitted by a bite from a wood tick, a parasite that lives usually on deer.
Risk factors for Lyme disease include picnics and walking in areas that are covered with grass, especially where there is a lot of vegetation, like woods and bushes.
The disease can be spread when an infected tick bites a person and stays fixed for a period of time.
Symptoms of Lyme disease
The first sign of infection is usually circular rash that appears within 1-2 weeks of infection but may develop up to 30 days after the bite of the tick.
Unusual behavior or unknown.
Flu-like symptoms. Fever, chills, fatigue, body aches and headache may accompany the eruption.
Migraine.
Stiff neck.
Inflammation in the knees together and in other large joints.
Swelling of the brain (encephalitis) cause difficulties, confusion and dementia learning.
Can it be inherited?
Lyme arthritis is an infectious disease but not hereditary. In addition, chronic Lyme arthritis has been associated with specific genetic index, but the precise mechanisms of this predisposition are unknown.
Why my child does have this disease? Can it be prevented?
In European regions where ticks raging, it is difficult to protect children from possible contact. However, most of the time, burgdoferi Borrelia, and the causative organism are not transmitted immediately after the tick bite, but only after several hours to a day and a half later, when the bacteria reached the salivary glands of the host, such as the human body.
Ticks attach themselves to their guests from 3 to 5 days of feeding on their blood. If children are checked every summer evening for ticks attached, and if these ticks are removed immediately, the transmission of Borrelia burgdorferi is very unlikely. Preventive treatment with antibiotics after a tick bite is not recommended.
The disease varies widely in its presentation, which may include a rash and flu-like Lyme’s disease symptoms in its early stage, followed by demonstrations musculoskeletal, arthritic, neurological, psychiatric and / or heart. It can affect people of any age. The number of cases of disease in an area depends on the number of beats in an area and how often the ticks are infected with bacteria.
The disease can sometimes be difficult to diagnose because symptoms can be confused with symptoms of other diseases. Lyme’s disease symptoms are affecting the skin and the nervous system. It is called after the town of Old Lyme, Connecticut where a cluster of cases was identified in 1975, although the clinical features of the disease had been reported in Europe since 1909.
Cases of Lyme disease
Lyme disease is caused by infection with a micro- organism (Borrelia), transmitted by a bite from a wood tick, a parasite that lives usually on deer.
Risk factors for Lyme disease include picnics and walking in areas that are covered with grass, especially where there is a lot of vegetation, like woods and bushes.
The disease can be spread when an infected tick bites a person and stays fixed for a period of time.
Symptoms of Lyme disease
The first sign of infection is usually circular rash that appears within 1-2 weeks of infection but may develop up to 30 days after the bite of the tick.
Unusual behavior or unknown.
Flu-like symptoms. Fever, chills, fatigue, body aches and headache may accompany the eruption.
Migraine.
Stiff neck.
Inflammation in the knees together and in other large joints.
Swelling of the brain (encephalitis) cause difficulties, confusion and dementia learning.
Can it be inherited?
Lyme arthritis is an infectious disease but not hereditary. In addition, chronic Lyme arthritis has been associated with specific genetic index, but the precise mechanisms of this predisposition are unknown.
Why my child does have this disease? Can it be prevented?
In European regions where ticks raging, it is difficult to protect children from possible contact. However, most of the time, burgdoferi Borrelia, and the causative organism are not transmitted immediately after the tick bite, but only after several hours to a day and a half later, when the bacteria reached the salivary glands of the host, such as the human body.
Ticks attach themselves to their guests from 3 to 5 days of feeding on their blood. If children are checked every summer evening for ticks attached, and if these ticks are removed immediately, the transmission of Borrelia burgdorferi is very unlikely. Preventive treatment with antibiotics after a tick bite is not recommended.
Signs Symptoms Of Huntington Disease
Published on Mar 22 2010, in the categories: Huntington
It should first be said that there is a common path to all patients for the occurrence of various signs and symptoms of Huntington’s disease, which vary from person to person even within the same family. You also can not determine with certainty what signs and symptoms of Huntington’s disease accompany the first onset of this disease. In most cases the mental symptoms make their appearance before the physical-motor (e.g., a depression that lasted for months may signal the onset of illness), but it is equally true that in some cases opposite trend.
This is because very often the symptoms of Huntington are ambiguous, subtle, difficult to recognize as such. May show signs of emotional instability, such as irritability or increased and a tendency to depression, apathy, difficulty concentrating, excessive fatigue. Subtle changes in behavior, small involuntary movements and difficulty with coordination first, especially if most evident under conditions of physical and psychological stress, can be telltale sign of the development of the disease.
All the symptoms are exacerbated by stress or excitement, and instead become blurred at rest and during sleep. While in the past, the Huntington disease has often been mistaken for an entirely different disease (such as schizophrenia, epilepsy, Parkinson's or Alzheimer's disease) is also true that the person "at risk" and its family, especially if there are precedents in the family, tend to see symptoms detectors where none exist. To give feedback to the diagnosis of Huntington may be in addition to the genetic test, performed in various centers, magnetic resonance imaging (already evident in earlier stages of disease) and the TAC, which highlight the presence of atrophy (cell death) in the caudate nucleus (the brain area affected by the disease).
Other symptoms:
The manifestation of psychic symptoms in a patient suffering from Huntington can be divided into emotional disturbance / behavioral disorders and cognitive / intellectual.
Emotional disturbance / behavioral: the onset of the disease generally tends to exacerbate certain sides of the character of the person. Thus, we have excessive irritability, outbursts of aggression and even violence on the one hand, depression, apathy, tendency to isolate the other.
Sufferers become insecure, anxious, always being aware of their condition. In extreme cases may lead to fledged psychosis or mania.
Cognitive / intellectual symptoms: the patients lose the ability to concentrate, to pay their attention to what they are doing, and this makes it dangerous for themselves and for other activities such as driving a car. Find it difficult to organize, even in small routine tasks, and are very hesitant in dealing with each new situation. Often fall into a confused state, unable to remember things done shortly before (but always keep the memory of events that occurred before, during their life) and are unable to perform actions which are particularly complex, although it had done in the past.
This is because very often the symptoms of Huntington are ambiguous, subtle, difficult to recognize as such. May show signs of emotional instability, such as irritability or increased and a tendency to depression, apathy, difficulty concentrating, excessive fatigue. Subtle changes in behavior, small involuntary movements and difficulty with coordination first, especially if most evident under conditions of physical and psychological stress, can be telltale sign of the development of the disease.
All the symptoms are exacerbated by stress or excitement, and instead become blurred at rest and during sleep. While in the past, the Huntington disease has often been mistaken for an entirely different disease (such as schizophrenia, epilepsy, Parkinson's or Alzheimer's disease) is also true that the person "at risk" and its family, especially if there are precedents in the family, tend to see symptoms detectors where none exist. To give feedback to the diagnosis of Huntington may be in addition to the genetic test, performed in various centers, magnetic resonance imaging (already evident in earlier stages of disease) and the TAC, which highlight the presence of atrophy (cell death) in the caudate nucleus (the brain area affected by the disease).
Other symptoms:
The manifestation of psychic symptoms in a patient suffering from Huntington can be divided into emotional disturbance / behavioral disorders and cognitive / intellectual.
Emotional disturbance / behavioral: the onset of the disease generally tends to exacerbate certain sides of the character of the person. Thus, we have excessive irritability, outbursts of aggression and even violence on the one hand, depression, apathy, tendency to isolate the other.
Sufferers become insecure, anxious, always being aware of their condition. In extreme cases may lead to fledged psychosis or mania.
Cognitive / intellectual symptoms: the patients lose the ability to concentrate, to pay their attention to what they are doing, and this makes it dangerous for themselves and for other activities such as driving a car. Find it difficult to organize, even in small routine tasks, and are very hesitant in dealing with each new situation. Often fall into a confused state, unable to remember things done shortly before (but always keep the memory of events that occurred before, during their life) and are unable to perform actions which are particularly complex, although it had done in the past.
Signs And Symptoms Of Thyroid Disease
Published on Mar 22 2010, in the categories: Tyroid Disease & SYmptoms
The word thyroid comes from the Greek thireos, meaning oblong shield. In fact the term is not very appropriate because the thyroid gland does not resemble at all to a shield but this view is called close proximity to the thyroid cartilage, which resembles a to a Greek shield.
A normal thyroid gland weighs about 20 grams and is constituted of two lateral lobes, right and left each about 5 cm long, united in the middle by a band of thyroid tissue, the isthmus. Despite being such a small gland it is crucial since it controls the metabolism of all our cells through the production of two hormones, thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3).
Iodine is an essential element for the proper production of these hormones and regions where the diet is very poor in iodine, the thyroid gland has difficulty producing adequate quantities of thyroid hormones. In an attempt to compensate for this deficiency, the thyroid swells forming the so-called goiter and in the event that this fee is not effective gland tends to become underactive thyroid (hypothyroidism).
In healthy people the normal values of T3 and T4 are maintained within normal values because of the action of a hormone known as fundamental thyrotropic hormone (TSH). This hormone is produced from the pituitary, a small gland about the size of a pea at the base of brain, just behind the eyes. This hormone and thyroid hormones are produced in such a way that when thyroid hormones are reduced in the blood, the values of TSH in an attempt to increase going to stimulate a gland that tends to work less, and when thyroid hormones in the blood tend to be in excess of this hormone is lowered to avoid stimulating gland is working too.
Thyroid disorders are very common so that hyperthyroidism, hypothyroidism, enlarged thyroid gland (goiter and / or thyroid nodules) affect, on average, one person in twenty. Women generally are more affected and just a simple blood test and a ultrasound of the gland to confirm a clinical suspicion. Most thyroid disorders can be successfully treated and even cancer thyroid, if diagnosed early, does not necessarily imply a reduction in life expectancy.
Hyperthyroidism
Hyperthyroidism means increased production of thyroid hormones T3 and T4 by the thyroid gland. The most common cause of hyperthyroidism is Graves' disease. The cause of this disease is still not well known but certainly involving genetic and environmental factors that determine the production in the blood of an antibody that stimulates the gland in these subjects work more. It affects approximately 1-2 cases per 1000 inhabitants, especially in the third and fourth decade of life and females are affected more frequently.
The signs and symptoms of thyroid disease these patients are linked to the increased metabolism induced by an excess of hormones circulating the thyroid.
Signs and symptoms of thyroid disease
-palpitations
-shortness of breath (dyspnea on exertion)
-increased blood pressure maximum and minimum blood pressure reduction
-congestive heart
-Increased basal metabolism
-Heat intolerance and sweating
-Reduction of cholesterol
-Weight Loss
-Diarrhea
-nervousness
-insomnia
-tremor
-psycho-motor agitation
A normal thyroid gland weighs about 20 grams and is constituted of two lateral lobes, right and left each about 5 cm long, united in the middle by a band of thyroid tissue, the isthmus. Despite being such a small gland it is crucial since it controls the metabolism of all our cells through the production of two hormones, thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3).
Iodine is an essential element for the proper production of these hormones and regions where the diet is very poor in iodine, the thyroid gland has difficulty producing adequate quantities of thyroid hormones. In an attempt to compensate for this deficiency, the thyroid swells forming the so-called goiter and in the event that this fee is not effective gland tends to become underactive thyroid (hypothyroidism).
In healthy people the normal values of T3 and T4 are maintained within normal values because of the action of a hormone known as fundamental thyrotropic hormone (TSH). This hormone is produced from the pituitary, a small gland about the size of a pea at the base of brain, just behind the eyes. This hormone and thyroid hormones are produced in such a way that when thyroid hormones are reduced in the blood, the values of TSH in an attempt to increase going to stimulate a gland that tends to work less, and when thyroid hormones in the blood tend to be in excess of this hormone is lowered to avoid stimulating gland is working too.
Thyroid disorders are very common so that hyperthyroidism, hypothyroidism, enlarged thyroid gland (goiter and / or thyroid nodules) affect, on average, one person in twenty. Women generally are more affected and just a simple blood test and a ultrasound of the gland to confirm a clinical suspicion. Most thyroid disorders can be successfully treated and even cancer thyroid, if diagnosed early, does not necessarily imply a reduction in life expectancy.
Hyperthyroidism
Hyperthyroidism means increased production of thyroid hormones T3 and T4 by the thyroid gland. The most common cause of hyperthyroidism is Graves' disease. The cause of this disease is still not well known but certainly involving genetic and environmental factors that determine the production in the blood of an antibody that stimulates the gland in these subjects work more. It affects approximately 1-2 cases per 1000 inhabitants, especially in the third and fourth decade of life and females are affected more frequently.
The signs and symptoms of thyroid disease these patients are linked to the increased metabolism induced by an excess of hormones circulating the thyroid.
Signs and symptoms of thyroid disease
-palpitations
-shortness of breath (dyspnea on exertion)
-increased blood pressure maximum and minimum blood pressure reduction
-congestive heart
-Increased basal metabolism
-Heat intolerance and sweating
-Reduction of cholesterol
-Weight Loss
-Diarrhea
-nervousness
-insomnia
-tremor
-psycho-motor agitation
Early Symptoms Of Parkinson’s Disease
Published on Mar 20 2010, in the categories: parkinson
Introduction
The disease of Parkinson's, which is named after James Parkinson, English physician who lived from 1755 to 1824, is a chronic and progressive degeneration of a small area of central nervous system called the grey substance. The grey substance produces dopamine, a neurotransmitter essential for the control of voluntary movements.
Parkinson's disease usually strikes after 50 years of age, with a characteristic tremor of the limbs, rigidity and difficulty starting movements. In Western countries the incidence of the disease is about 0.3% of the population, with 20 new cases per year per 100,000 inhabitants above 65 years, at least one person in 100 develops the disease. In Italy, patients with Parkinson's are about 220 thousand, with an average of 1,200 new cases per year.
Symptoms
The early symptoms of Parkinson’s disease usually are a slight tremor in the limbs, most often in the hands, almost always alone. The tremor occurs at rest and appears for example when the hand is resting on the table or be left hanging along the body, if it is concerned the lower body; the disease is manifested by a slight dragging of one leg.
Other early symptoms of Parkinson’s disease include muscle rigidity, which can affect the limbs over the neck and torso, certain slowness in movements, reduced facial expression, speech disturbances and a gradual change in handwriting that appears smaller and smaller over the text.
In more advanced stages of disease (usually after several years) may appear impaired balance, due largely to a reduced ability to coordinate the postural muscles, states of depression (present in more or less severe in more than half of patients Parkinson's) or anxiety related to a reduction in the presence of some neurotransmitters (dopamine, nor epinephrine, serotonin) or the condition of more or less pronounced disability caused by illness, insomnia, memory problems and other disorders of cognitive function.
Diagnosis
The first indicators of occurrence of Parkinson's disease have symptoms such as tremors and slowness of movements, which are not sufficient for declaring the presence of certain disease. Their detection must be followed in the first place a thorough neurological visit.
A further confirmation are recommended instrumental tests such as Magnetic Resonance Imaging (CT) or Positron Emission Tomography (PET), and pharmacological tests using apomorphine (dopamine receptor stimulant) or levodope, which may give information on the functionality of the dopaminergic system.
So that the first symptoms of Parkinson's disease make their appearance, you must have damaged more than half of the cells of the grey substance. This means that the disease probably occurs long before symptoms appear: If you could go to early detection of disease, you could probably slow down the progression so remarkable.
Therapy
Parkinson's disease, at least at the current state of medical knowledge, is a progressive degenerative disease from which there is never heals completely. However, administration of specific drugs, in doses that are tailored to individual patients, can significantly slow down the progression of the disease, controlling the onset of symptoms more disabling.
The disease of Parkinson's, which is named after James Parkinson, English physician who lived from 1755 to 1824, is a chronic and progressive degeneration of a small area of central nervous system called the grey substance. The grey substance produces dopamine, a neurotransmitter essential for the control of voluntary movements.
Parkinson's disease usually strikes after 50 years of age, with a characteristic tremor of the limbs, rigidity and difficulty starting movements. In Western countries the incidence of the disease is about 0.3% of the population, with 20 new cases per year per 100,000 inhabitants above 65 years, at least one person in 100 develops the disease. In Italy, patients with Parkinson's are about 220 thousand, with an average of 1,200 new cases per year.
Symptoms
The early symptoms of Parkinson’s disease usually are a slight tremor in the limbs, most often in the hands, almost always alone. The tremor occurs at rest and appears for example when the hand is resting on the table or be left hanging along the body, if it is concerned the lower body; the disease is manifested by a slight dragging of one leg.
Other early symptoms of Parkinson’s disease include muscle rigidity, which can affect the limbs over the neck and torso, certain slowness in movements, reduced facial expression, speech disturbances and a gradual change in handwriting that appears smaller and smaller over the text.
In more advanced stages of disease (usually after several years) may appear impaired balance, due largely to a reduced ability to coordinate the postural muscles, states of depression (present in more or less severe in more than half of patients Parkinson's) or anxiety related to a reduction in the presence of some neurotransmitters (dopamine, nor epinephrine, serotonin) or the condition of more or less pronounced disability caused by illness, insomnia, memory problems and other disorders of cognitive function.
Diagnosis
The first indicators of occurrence of Parkinson's disease have symptoms such as tremors and slowness of movements, which are not sufficient for declaring the presence of certain disease. Their detection must be followed in the first place a thorough neurological visit.
A further confirmation are recommended instrumental tests such as Magnetic Resonance Imaging (CT) or Positron Emission Tomography (PET), and pharmacological tests using apomorphine (dopamine receptor stimulant) or levodope, which may give information on the functionality of the dopaminergic system.
So that the first symptoms of Parkinson's disease make their appearance, you must have damaged more than half of the cells of the grey substance. This means that the disease probably occurs long before symptoms appear: If you could go to early detection of disease, you could probably slow down the progression so remarkable.
Therapy
Parkinson's disease, at least at the current state of medical knowledge, is a progressive degenerative disease from which there is never heals completely. However, administration of specific drugs, in doses that are tailored to individual patients, can significantly slow down the progression of the disease, controlling the onset of symptoms more disabling.
Early Lyme Disease Symptoms
Published on Mar 20 2010, in the categories: Early Lyme Disease
What is Lyme disease?
Lyme disease (the name derives from the American citizen where the first case was described in 1975) is a bacterial infection that affects mainly the skin, joints, nervous system and internal organs.
It may manifest with symptoms sometimes severe, persistent and, if untreated, it assumes a chronic course.
How is this disease transmitted?
A cause is a bacterium of the family of spirochetes, which naturally develop within the wood mice. Other wildlife (such as hares, foxes, ungulates and birds) may occasionally host the bacterium and contribute to its spread within the forest.
Ticks (especially of the genus Ixodes, the most widespread in the mountain environment) are the main carrier of the disease. Sucking the blood of infected animals, they get infected with the spirochete and then, their subsequent bites can transmit this disease to new hosts.
Ticks can bite any and all warm-blooded creatures, including humans. The bite is not painful and, for this reason, it passes unnoticed. Once attached to the skin, the tick acts as a pump, sucking the blood and regurgitating it continuously: in this way, it can contaminate a huge amount of blood in a short time.
Eventually the tick drops onto the ground, to digest the blood and seek a new host.
The habitat of the tick
Ticks live on land, on the grass. They prefer temperate climates and areas with a higher humidity.
They are found mostly at the edge of the woods, in clearings at the base of the bushes and near water courses. They can rarely be found at altitudes above 1,500 meters.
Ticks bite from spring to late autumn, and we cannot even exclude the winter months. Not all ticks are infected and are threatening illness.
What are the early Lyme disease symptoms?
The most frequent and characteristic early Lyme disease symptoms include reddening of the skin (usually located in the area of the bite) which tends to grow slowly.
This lesion (characteristically shaped like a “bull’s-eye”) is called erythema migrans and it appears after a period of 4-60 days after the bite. On rare occasions, the infection comes with pain in the joints and problems with the nervous system.
How does the disease evolve?
After the first location on the skin, the bacteria is transmitted by ticks and can spread anywhere in the body. In this case, except from early Lyme disease symptoms, later symptoms can include: pain in the joints (arthritis); nervous system problems (meningitis, neuritis of cranial nerves, motor difficulties and loss of sensitivity, limb); problems with other internal organs (heart, eye, liver, kidney disorders of varying extent).
If left to progress, the disease tends to persistent infection and, after a period of years after inoculation of the bacterium, to determine permanent results.
How do I prevent this disease?
Since there is still no vaccine against the disease the best prevention is to take certain precautions and to avoid hiking in the woods or the bite of ticks.
The main preventive measures are:
-use clothes that cover as much as possible the body,
-try not to sit on the grass
-Wash thoroughly and ensure there are no ticks on your clothes and body,
-Remember that ticks are most active from April to November.
Lyme disease (the name derives from the American citizen where the first case was described in 1975) is a bacterial infection that affects mainly the skin, joints, nervous system and internal organs.
It may manifest with symptoms sometimes severe, persistent and, if untreated, it assumes a chronic course.
How is this disease transmitted?
A cause is a bacterium of the family of spirochetes, which naturally develop within the wood mice. Other wildlife (such as hares, foxes, ungulates and birds) may occasionally host the bacterium and contribute to its spread within the forest.
Ticks (especially of the genus Ixodes, the most widespread in the mountain environment) are the main carrier of the disease. Sucking the blood of infected animals, they get infected with the spirochete and then, their subsequent bites can transmit this disease to new hosts.
Ticks can bite any and all warm-blooded creatures, including humans. The bite is not painful and, for this reason, it passes unnoticed. Once attached to the skin, the tick acts as a pump, sucking the blood and regurgitating it continuously: in this way, it can contaminate a huge amount of blood in a short time.
Eventually the tick drops onto the ground, to digest the blood and seek a new host.
The habitat of the tick
Ticks live on land, on the grass. They prefer temperate climates and areas with a higher humidity.
They are found mostly at the edge of the woods, in clearings at the base of the bushes and near water courses. They can rarely be found at altitudes above 1,500 meters.
Ticks bite from spring to late autumn, and we cannot even exclude the winter months. Not all ticks are infected and are threatening illness.
What are the early Lyme disease symptoms?
The most frequent and characteristic early Lyme disease symptoms include reddening of the skin (usually located in the area of the bite) which tends to grow slowly.
This lesion (characteristically shaped like a “bull’s-eye”) is called erythema migrans and it appears after a period of 4-60 days after the bite. On rare occasions, the infection comes with pain in the joints and problems with the nervous system.
How does the disease evolve?
After the first location on the skin, the bacteria is transmitted by ticks and can spread anywhere in the body. In this case, except from early Lyme disease symptoms, later symptoms can include: pain in the joints (arthritis); nervous system problems (meningitis, neuritis of cranial nerves, motor difficulties and loss of sensitivity, limb); problems with other internal organs (heart, eye, liver, kidney disorders of varying extent).
If left to progress, the disease tends to persistent infection and, after a period of years after inoculation of the bacterium, to determine permanent results.
How do I prevent this disease?
Since there is still no vaccine against the disease the best prevention is to take certain precautions and to avoid hiking in the woods or the bite of ticks.
The main preventive measures are:
-use clothes that cover as much as possible the body,
-try not to sit on the grass
-Wash thoroughly and ensure there are no ticks on your clothes and body,
-Remember that ticks are most active from April to November.
Kienbock’s Disease Symptoms
Published on Mar 19 2010, in the categories: Kienbock
Kienböck disease is called avascular necrosis of the lunate. There are numerous published theories regarding the etiology of this disease, but none has been proven yet. The Kienbock’s disease symptoms include congenital and developmental disorders, primary rupture of blood vessels, thromboembolism, endarteritis obliterans, vascular thrombosis, median neuropathy, and isolated fracture either by accident or secondary to repetitive trauma.
The disease is also described within the family of osteochondrosis (Freiberg, Köller, etc.). Currently, most researchers believe that the necrosis of the lunate comes from a trauma such as stress fracture, avulsion of capsule-ligamentous structures, or horizontal fractures devascularized one pole of the lunate.
There are, in turn, risk factors for the production of necrosis:
- Variance ulnar minus short ulna is one of the most important risk factors in the production of Kienböck, as it leads to increased pressure on the lunate in the transfer of loads from the hand to the forearm.
- Vasculature: there are, according to Gelberman, three patterns of vascularization of the lunate: the pattern in Y (59%), R (31%) and X (10%), the latter being the highest risk for necrosis after horizontal fracture.
- Geometry of the lunate: Antuna Zapico described three types according to their shape and lunate trabeculatura: Type I, oblong, with a proximal apex and is associated with an ulna minus; Type II, more square, with ulna neutral and Type III, pentagonal, with ulna plus. Type I is by the trabecular structure of greater risk.
In conclusion, it is obvious that there is no single factor in the development of Kienböck, but requires some combination of load (single severe compression or repetitive minimal trauma), vascular risk and mechanical bias. This combination produces an effect of "nutcracker" between a prominent radio and head of the capitate, lunate leading to continuing to work under compression resulting in a progressive bone collapse.
Diagnosis
Kienböck's disease should be suspected in any young adult (20 to 35 years) who complained of the Kiebock’s disease symptoms, which are abdominal pain and progressive stiffness of the wrist, and occasionally, swelling over the dorsum of the lunate area.
Usually there is no clear history of trauma, but may correspond to a sequel perilunar carpal dislocation.
On physical examination we note decreased mobility, especially flexion, with tenderness in the central dorsal wrist. The patient reported that he has lost grip strength and can be objectified in the office with a Jamar dynamometer type.
The diagnosis is confirmed with plain radiography when there are advanced stages.
When radiography is negative, but there is a high clinical suspicion and radiological disease (negative ulnar variance, lunate type I) should request a magnetic resonance imaging confirmed the diagnosis.
Evolutionary stage
The most widely used classification of Lichtman corresponds to the split into four successive stages and progressive clinical and radiological:
- Stage I: normal radiology. Sometimes you can display a linear fracture. MRI is positive.
- Stage II: there is sclerosis of the lunate, but no collapse of the same. MRI can provide images of focal or generalized sclerosis.
- Stage III: It appears fragmentation and collapse of the lunate with loss of normal architecture. It is divided into stage IIIA when the angle scapha-mole is normal, and Stage IIIb when there is a fixed scaphoid flexion.
- Stage IV: the carpal collapse, with degenerative changes and mid-carpal radio.
The disease is also described within the family of osteochondrosis (Freiberg, Köller, etc.). Currently, most researchers believe that the necrosis of the lunate comes from a trauma such as stress fracture, avulsion of capsule-ligamentous structures, or horizontal fractures devascularized one pole of the lunate.
There are, in turn, risk factors for the production of necrosis:
- Variance ulnar minus short ulna is one of the most important risk factors in the production of Kienböck, as it leads to increased pressure on the lunate in the transfer of loads from the hand to the forearm.
- Vasculature: there are, according to Gelberman, three patterns of vascularization of the lunate: the pattern in Y (59%), R (31%) and X (10%), the latter being the highest risk for necrosis after horizontal fracture.
- Geometry of the lunate: Antuna Zapico described three types according to their shape and lunate trabeculatura: Type I, oblong, with a proximal apex and is associated with an ulna minus; Type II, more square, with ulna neutral and Type III, pentagonal, with ulna plus. Type I is by the trabecular structure of greater risk.
In conclusion, it is obvious that there is no single factor in the development of Kienböck, but requires some combination of load (single severe compression or repetitive minimal trauma), vascular risk and mechanical bias. This combination produces an effect of "nutcracker" between a prominent radio and head of the capitate, lunate leading to continuing to work under compression resulting in a progressive bone collapse.
Diagnosis
Kienböck's disease should be suspected in any young adult (20 to 35 years) who complained of the Kiebock’s disease symptoms, which are abdominal pain and progressive stiffness of the wrist, and occasionally, swelling over the dorsum of the lunate area.
Usually there is no clear history of trauma, but may correspond to a sequel perilunar carpal dislocation.
On physical examination we note decreased mobility, especially flexion, with tenderness in the central dorsal wrist. The patient reported that he has lost grip strength and can be objectified in the office with a Jamar dynamometer type.
The diagnosis is confirmed with plain radiography when there are advanced stages.
When radiography is negative, but there is a high clinical suspicion and radiological disease (negative ulnar variance, lunate type I) should request a magnetic resonance imaging confirmed the diagnosis.
Evolutionary stage
The most widely used classification of Lichtman corresponds to the split into four successive stages and progressive clinical and radiological:
- Stage I: normal radiology. Sometimes you can display a linear fracture. MRI is positive.
- Stage II: there is sclerosis of the lunate, but no collapse of the same. MRI can provide images of focal or generalized sclerosis.
- Stage III: It appears fragmentation and collapse of the lunate with loss of normal architecture. It is divided into stage IIIA when the angle scapha-mole is normal, and Stage IIIb when there is a fixed scaphoid flexion.
- Stage IV: the carpal collapse, with degenerative changes and mid-carpal radio.
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