Medical articles

Yet another reason why you should read medical articles

Reading medical articles doesn't have to be difficult. You just need to choose your starting point. As you probably don't have medical background you should strat with simple things. Maybe an interesting format would be questions and answers?

Q&A format is very nice for beginners. As you learn more for the medical articles,you can proceed to more formal and details. So find a medical website and start gaining this important knowledge!

Looking for interesting medical articles?

We all like reading interesting medical articles that help us understand how human body works.

Internet today offers a great deal of interesting medical articles. But be careful - some of the may not be written by health professionals. That is why they can be misleading.

However accurate the article may seem always remember to colsult your doctor before deciding on any therapy or new drug. Your doctor may order some lab test for you to diagnose your conditio better.

Remember you can do a little investigation of your conditio by reading medical articles but your doctor has the priority.  

 

What are the risks of Blood Donation?

Blood donation is a very safe, aseptic procedure, done in a well-controlled environment by professional medical and paramedical personnel. The procedure lasts about an hour. Most people between the age 18 and 65 years old and in good health condition are able to donate 350-450 ml of blood. Although considered to be a relatively safe procedure, it still carries with it a few risks.

The risks of blood donation:

• Hypotension - this may cause donors to feel faint, lightheaded or dizzy. To avoid such situation donors should be fresh after eight-hour sleep, eat a well-balanced meal and drink plenty of fluids before donating blood.
• Weakness – physical exertion after 24 hours of donation is contraindicated. Donors are also encouraged to avoid alcohol for a few days.
• Venipuncture site injury – pain and bruising of the venipuncture site may develop. Application of firm pressure for about five minutes after removal of the needle should prevent bruising.
• Hypocalcaemia – the symptoms of this deficit include tingling in the lips, spasms in hands and feet or generalized convulsions. This can be prevented by providing calcium supplements to the donor.
• Improper sterilization of equipment may increase risk of infection.
• Increase risk for iron deficiency anemia may develop. This side effect can be minimized by taking supplemental iron.

It is essential to have in mind that blood is an important resource though limited and can be used to save lives of people.

Dangers of Drug Abuse in Pregnant Women

There are a lot of physiologic changes in pregnancy that can significantly alter the bio-availability of drugs taken orally. A higher dose is generally needed for pregnant patients with a few exceptions. Monitoring of doses is very important to make sure that there is no adverse effect to the mother and the fetus. Birth defects are the most common adverse effect of irresponsible drug consumption.

Contraindicated drugs

Abuse of these drugs may have teratogenic effects.

1. Erythromycin can cause acute cholestatic hepatitis in pregnant mother.
2. Metronidazole can cause mutation in the fetus.
3. Aminoglycosides can cause ototoxicity and ear problems.
4. Warfarin can result in facial dimorphism, nasal hypoplasia and defective bone mineralization in the fetus.
5. ACE inhibitors can cause renal dysgenesis in the fetus.
6. Live vaccines such as chicken pox, MMR and polio can cause vertical transmission to the fetus.

FDA Classification

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) classify drugs as A, B and X, based on the drug safety for use in pregnancy.

Category A- these drugs demonstrated no fetal risk during controlled trials.

Category B- these drugs show no evidence of risk although they should be consulted with a doctor before consumption as abuser may have severe adverse effects.

Category X drugs- these drugs are absolutely contraindicated in pregnancy due to proven fetal risk.

Assessment of risk versus benefit is the main rule in drug prescribing for pregnant patients. Drug therapy should only be given when necessary, with the lowest possible dose and shortest possible duration, without compromising its therapeutic effect and the final decision should be made by a physician.

How Do Painkillers Work?

Pain is an unpleasant sensation arising from a damaging stimulus. Its function is to provide the body with an early warning system so as to prevent injury and maintain optimum functioning. There are two major types of pain: fast pain and slow pain. Fast pain can be felt as fast as 0.1 seconds after the painful stimulus while slow pain begins after 1 second or longer and persists in intensity. Slow pain is usually associated with tissue destruction. Do you know how painkillers work?

Causes of pain

The pain receptors in the skin and other tissues are free nerve endings and can be stimulated by mechanical, thermal and chemical pain stimuli. In general, fast pain is elicited by the mechanical and thermal types of stimuli, whereas slow pain can be elicited by all three types. Examples of chemicals produced by the body that causes pain include bradykinin, serotonin, histamine, lactic acid, acetylcholine and prostaglandins.

Painkillers

Painkillers are drugs used for pain relief. In terms of their action, they can be broadly classified into 2 major groups – non-narcotic analgesics and narcotic analgesics.

Non-narcotic analgesics

These are analgesics that do not have CNS effects, like:

·         NSAIDS (Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) - the principal action of these painkillers is the inhibition of prostaglandin production.

·         Paracetamol is a weak cyclooxygenase inhibitor in peripheral tissues.

Narcotic analgesics

Narcotic analgesics are more effective compared to non-narcotic analgesics but they also tend to have central nervous system effects. They are of two types, namely: Natural and Synthetic.

Ultimately, type of used painkiller should depend on the type of pain felt.  

How Reliable are Pregnancy Tests?

A pregnancy test is a common tool in detecting pregnancy. The demand for this product has increased in the present years, resulting in numerous brands cropping up in the markets. However the accuracy of these different kits may not always be reliable.

The pregnancy hormone is composed of α-subunits and β-subunit. The β-subunit is unique thus high specificity antibodies were developed for this subunit. This is the bases for the detection of HCG in the urine or blood. Numerous commercial test kits are available for measuring serum and urine levels of HCG, with each test using a different combination of antibodies resulting in different levels of sensitivity in detecting pregnancy. Normally, the hormone can be detected in maternal plasma or urine by 8 to 9 days after insemination.

Though most of the tests claim 99% accuracy of pregnancy detection, it may not be the case. Research in clinical trials revealed that a detection limit of 12.5 mIU/mL HCG is required to diagnose 95% of pregnancies at the time of a missed period. The accuracy and reliability of 18 different home pregnancy tests were assessed and it was found that only one brand had this degree of sensitivity. Commonly available pregnancy tests sensitivity varies from 20mIU/mL to 100mIU/mL HCG. By using tests with higher sensitivity (e.g. 20mIU/mL) pregnancy can be detected sooner.

Overexposure to Ultraviolet Rays

Remember the ROYGBIV colors of the rainbow, and notice that the last color visible to us is V which is violet. And Ultraviolet Rays or UV rays, are rays beyond violet that our naked eyes cannot see anymore. Some animals can see them but generally humans cannot see, and is commonly regarded as bad for one’s health when over exposed to these rays.

SUNBURN

Whenever you go to a beach and get exposed to sunlight during swimming or even just walking outside, you sometimes notice that patches of your skin that were exposed are peeled. This is because of the ultraviolet ray, specifically UV B rays. This UV ray penetrates your skin and kills the cells which are now the visible peeling you can see.

TANNING

Tanning is the darkening of the skin color due to exposure to sunlight. Most Caucasians go to the beach and get tanned to make them look darker but people from the tropics are already tanned so they avoid getting tanned. The pigment melanin responsible for the darkening of one’s skin; the more melanin you have, the darker your skin will be.

Getting exposed too much from the sun is bad for one’s health but keep in mind that Vitamin D is synthesized by the sunlight and is therefore important to have a little exposure to sunlight.