Health Information Series

Archive for the ‘Diseases and Conditions’ Category

One of the certainties about Alzheimer’s is that their earlier diagnosis can only be done after 10 years of neural impairment. Currently, this degenerative disease can not be diagnosed in its early stages, a fact which obviously precludes treatment.
Tau protein in Alzheimer research and Chile

The battle against Alzheimer’s disease has occurred in all places and in all contexts without encouraging results. However, these days have known some research in Chile, in come to fruition, would open the possibility of designing drugs to help in this fight.

After a long time to test 200 patients between 65 and 80 years, scientists from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Chile have isolated an abnormal form of tau protein in the blood of these people and is associated with the development of this degenerative disease.

Gonzalo Farias, Andrea Maccioni Ricardo Slachevesky and specialists responsible for the investigation, they discovered that for some reason the tau protein (which transports various substances to the brain cells) bonds giving rise to the formation of plaques that cause death of neurons.

The next thing was to confirm that this process occurred in the blood. And it was. There is a greater number of abnormal tau protein in patients with Alzheimer’s disease and cognitive impairment. Those old but healthy individuals showed no evidence of newly exposed.

Another item to note is that some patients who had not been diagnosed with this degenerative disease but showed deterioration in cognitive abilities, also had above-described phenomenon linked to the protein tau.

The research of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Chile is an undeniable step forward in the search for early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s.

Back pain is one of the most common medical problems, affecting 8 out of 10 people at some point in their lives. Most often this pain is caused by poor posture, so it is up to us to make an immediate change to prevent it.

Especially if you spend much time sitting in the front of your computer, you must pay close attention to how you feel and position of your back, this must be straight and the neck line, we also have to keep walking a firm and right, with head erect and chest up.

On the other hand it is important to maintain flexibility of our muscles, so you can practice the following exercises, thus preventing the annoying back pain from the comfort of your home and with the help of a chair.

1 .- sitting with your back straight and shoulders relaxed, supports your hands on your thighs and makes several bends of the neck, back and forth, very slowly.

2 .- The firm back back relax your arms and performs stretching our arms trying to move backward reaching as high as possible but we feel pain.

3. – Likewise, place your hands behind your head and pull back with your elbows, you will feel like your back is straightened further and accommodate the ideal position.

You should not forget the position that you sleep, try to keep your back as straight as possible and try to have a good mattress, it is extremely important.

If back pain is severe or does not improve after three days, you should call a health professional. You should also seek medical attention if you have back pain after physical injury

Definition

Schizophrenia is a disorder of dual or multiple personality. It is considered a chronic, severe, which is characterized by loss of contact with reality (psychosis), delusions, presence of hallucinations (false perceptions), abnormal thinking and impaired social and occupational functioning of the individual.

Etiology

Currently unknown specific cause of schizophrenia but is known to have a genetic basis in addition to external factors: environmental stress and / or viral infections.

Types of Schizophrenia

• · Paranoid schizophrenia

• Disorganized schizophrenia

• Catatonic schizophrenia

• Schizophrenia undifferentiated

Paranoid schizophrenia is characterized by the presence of auditory hallucinations or delusions Read the rest of this entry »

Botulism is a disease transmitted by food. Toxin is a family group of bacteria Clostridium botulinum and Clostridium tetani.

Botulism is in our environment especially in soil and untreated water to form spores (spore-producing bacteria to protect themselves, thus becoming resistant to the environment and this allows them to survive for a long time.)

A person presenting with botulism requires immediate medical attention and is a public health emergency because the contaminated food may be at hand from other consumers.

The bacteria that cause botulism usually thrive in poorly canned foods, poorly maintained and / or poorly cooked. The packed cans in stores for sale are rarely involved in cases of botulism.

The eat crops directly from home, fruits, vegetables, undercooked meat and seafood poses a risk of being a conveyance of botulism to our table.

Diagnosis and Treatment

One way to confirm the diagnosis of botulism is through a blood sample and / or excreted. To confirm this diagnosis begins with medical treatment that involves administering an antitoxin.

The antitoxin is available in three types (a, b, e), which help slow the progression of the disease. Multiple exposure or multiple occasions this bacteria increases the risk of conditions such as Guillain-Barre syndrome and the Eaton-Lambert syndrome. Read the rest of this entry »

What is cardiac catheterization?

Cardiac catheterization is an invasive procedure more accurate (the term invasive implies that enters the body with an instrument) that allows detailed information on heart conditions.

Used to diagnose diseases of the heart muscle (myocardium) and / or coronary artery disease (partial or complete blockage) allows endomyocardial biopsies (heart muscle), measure blood pressure in the chambers of the heart and determine the heart’s ability pump blood.

Cardiac catheterization is in addition to infants and children to examine and treat congenital heart defects.

What is the procedure?

The procedure lasts 30-60 minutes and is performed while the patient is drowsy under the influence of a sedative. The doctor administers a local anesthetic and inserts a thin flexible tube called a catheter through
an artery or vein in the arm, neck or leg (which is the most used). Read the rest of this entry »

Back pain is one of a long list of annoyances that humans suffer. Its causes are many and depend on the style of life, work and the pace of modern society.

Often these attitudes generate anxiety pain, slow to make physical movements, sudden changes in mood and truancy, among others. In general the pain barrier causes us to perform our job duties and personal goals.

Diagnosis

The condition usually affects the spine region acquired a different name, depending on the area in which they locate. When you sit in the cervical region is called cervical. If you are located in the region called the dorsal or thoracic back pain and when located in the lumbar region, there is talk of back pain or lumbago.

Back pain can be divided into acute, when it appeared recently, and chronic when it lasts for months and even years. It is important to know if the episode of back pain has occurred for the first time or have existed previously. We must also be clear about their frequency and whether it is located in a fixed or whether it extends to areas such as arms or legs. Read the rest of this entry »