Osteoporosis
By admin | July 22, 2008
Osteoporosis is a disease of bone that leads to an increased risk of fracture. In osteoporosis the bone mineral density (BMD) is reduced, bone microarchitecture is disrupted, and the amount and variety of non-collagenous proteins in bone is altered. Osteoporosis is defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) in women as a bone mineral density 2.5 standard deviations below peak bone mass (20-year-old healthy female average) as measured by DXA; the term “established osteoporosis” includes the presence of a fragility fracture. Osteoporosis is most common in women after menopause, when it is called postmenopausal osteoporosis, but may also develop in men, and may occur in anyone in the presence of particular hormonal disorders and other chronic diseases or as a result of medications, specifically glucocorticoids, when the disease is called steroid- or glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis (SIOP or GIOP). Given its influence on the risk of fragility fracture, osteoporosis may significantly affect life expectancy and quality of life.
Osteoporosis can be prevented with lifestyle advice and sometimes medication, and in people with osteoporosis treatment may involve lifestyle advice, preventing falls and medication (calcium, vitamin D, bisphosphonates and several others).
Signs and symptoms
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Atenolol
By admin | January 12, 2008
Do not stop taking atenolol without first talking to your doctor. Stopping suddenly may make your condition worse.If you need to have any type of surgery, you may need to temporarily stop using atenolol. Be sure the surgeon knows ahead of time that you are using atenolol.
Atenolol can cause side effects that may impair your thinking or reactions. Be careful if you drive or do anything that requires you to be awake and alert. Avoid drinking alcohol, which could increase drowsiness and dizziness while you are taking atenolol.Atenolol is only part of a complete program of treatment for hypertension that may also include diet, exercise, and weight control. Follow your diet, medication, and exercise routines very closely if you are being treated for hypertension.
Hypertension often has no symptoms, so you may not even feel that you have high blood pressure. Continue using this medicine as directed, even if you feel well. You may need to use blood pressure medication for the rest of your life.
Atenolol is in a group of drugs called beta-blockers. Beta-blockers affect the heart and circulation (blood flow through arteries and veins).
Atenolol is used to treat angina (chest pain) and hypertension (high blood pressure). It is also used to treat or prevent heart attack.
Atenolol may also be used for purposes other than those listed in this medication guide. Read the rest of this entry »
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Breast Implant
By admin | December 28, 2007
A breast implant is a prosthesis used to enlarge the size of a woman’s breasts (known as breast augmentation, breast enlargement, mammoplasty enlargement, augmentation mammoplasty or the common slang term boob job) for cosmetic reasons; to reconstruct the breast (e.g. after a mastectomy; or to correct genetic deformities), or as an aspect of male-to-female sex reassignment surgery. According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, breast augmentation is the most commonly performed cosmetic surgical procedure in the United States. In 2006, 329,000 breast augmentation procedures were performed in the U.S.
There are two primary types of breast implants: saline-filled and silicone-gel-filled implants. Saline implants have a silicone elastomer shell filled with sterile saline liquid. Silicone gel implants have a silicone shell filled with a viscous silicone gel. There have been several alternative types of breast implants developed, such as polypropylene string or soy oil, but these are uncommon. Read the rest of this entry »
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Filling up and dumping out
By admin | December 20, 2007
As your child’s daily wake of destruction has made perfectly clear, emptying a container requires a lot less precision than filling one. This is one of the first fine motor feats your toddler will master — and once she does, she’s likely to repeat it with a vengeance. As exasperating as it may be come cleanup time, this dumping is an important cognitive exercise, too: Your child is beginning to realize that one object, like a bucket, can hold another object, like a load of dirt. Once this dawns on her, she’ll delight in establishing that the dirt can also be emptied out. Read the rest of this entry »
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How to help your toddler develop fine motor skills
By admin | December 20, 2007
When it comes to using gross motor skills — things like walking, jumping, and running — your little dynamo probably doesn’t need much encouragement. But it’s equally important that she work on her fine motor skills — small, precise thumb, finger, hand, and wrist movements. That’s because they support a host of other vital physical and mental skills. “Stacking blocks, for instance, involves not just picking up the blocks, but knowing what to do with them and planning out the action,” says Gay Girolami, a physical therapist and executive director of the Pathways Awareness Foundation, a nonprofit organization focused on physical development in Chicago. Read the rest of this entry »
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Developing Gross Motor Skills
By admin | December 18, 2007
No matter how proficient your child is at any given skill, always encourage and motivate her with plenty of positive reinforcement for her efforts.
Remember, that each individual has their own unique strengths and weaknesses. I believe that in life, we all need to learn to improve our weak areas to an acceptable standard, compensate for them where necessary while focusing on, developing and enjoying our strengths and talents. Read the rest of this entry »
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Alcohol and breast cancer
By admin | December 9, 2007
Believed to increase risk
The WCRF panel report Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity and the Prevention of Cancer: a Global Perspective finds the evidence “convincing” that alcoholic drinks increase the risk of the following cancers: mouth, pharynx and larynx, oesophagus, colorectum (men), breast (pre- and postmenopause).
Head and neck cancers
Head and neck cancers, as used in this article, mean cancers of the mouth, esophagus, pharynx and larynx. The U.S. National Cancer Institute states that drinking alcohol, especially above the recommended maximum intake, increases the risk of these cancers in both men and women. “Also, using alcohol with tobacco is riskier than using either one alone, because it further increases the chances of getting cancers of the mouth, throat, and esophagus.” The International Head and Neck Cancer Epidemiology (INHANCE) Consortium co-ordinates a meta-study on the issue.
A study looking at laryngeal cancer and beverage type concluded, “This study thus indicates that in the Italian population characterized by frequent wine consumption, wine is the beverage most strongly related to the risk of laryngeal cancer.” Read the rest of this entry »
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Staged of Breast cancer
By admin | December 9, 2007
Breast cancer is staged according to the TNM system, updated in the AJCC Staging Manual, now on its sixth edition. Prognosis is closely linked to results of staging, and staging is also used to allocate patients to treatments both in clinical trials and clinical practice. The information for staging is as follows:
TX: Primary tumor cannot be assessed. T0: No evidence of tumor. Tis: Carcinoma in situ, no invasion T1: Tumor is 3 cm or less T2: Tumor is more than 2 cm but not more than 5 cm T3: Tumor is more than 5 cm T4: Tumor of any size growing into the chest wall or skin, or inflammatory breast cancer Read the rest of this entry »
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Diagnosis
By admin | December 9, 2007
Breast cancer is diagnosed by the examination of surgically removed breast tissue. A number of procedures can obtain tissue or cells prior to definitive treatment for histological or cytological examination. Such procedures include fine-needle aspiration, nipple aspirates, ductal lavage, core needle biopsy, and local surgical excision. These diagnostic steps, when coupled with radiographic imaging, are usually accurate in diagnosing a breast lesion as cancer. Occasionally, pre-surgical procedures such as fine needle aspirate may not yield enough tissue to make a diagnosis, or may miss the cancer entirely. Imaging tests are sometimes used to detect metastasis and include chest X-ray, bone scan, Cat scan, MRI, and PETtumor marker determined in blood which can be used to follow disease activity over time after definitive treatment. Blood tumor marker testing is not routinely performed for the screening of breast cancer, and has poor performance characteristics for this purpose.
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Screening
By admin | December 9, 2007
Breast cancer screening is an attempt to find unsuspected cancers. The most common screening methods are self and clinical breast exams, x-ray mammography, Breast Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), ultrasound, Miraluma and genetic testing.
X-ray mammography
Mammography is still the modality of choice for screening of early breast cancer, since it is relatively fast, reasonably accurate, and widely available in developed countries. Breast cancers detected by mammography are usually much smaller (earlier stage) than those detected by patients or doctors as a breast lump.
Due to the high incidence of breast cancer among older women, screening is now recommended in many countries. Recommended screening methods include breast self-examination and mammography. Mammography has been estimated to reduce breast cancer-related mortality by 20-30%. Routine (annual) mammography of women older than age 40 or 50 is recommended by numerous organizations as a screening method to diagnose early breast cancer and has demonstrated a protective effect in multiple clinical trials. The evidence in favor of mammographic screening comes from eight randomized clinical trials from the 1960s through 1980s. Many of these trials have been criticised for methodological errors, and the results were summarized in a review article published in 1993. Read the rest of this entry »
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