How To Lose Weight?
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
About Gamma Knife
Gamma-knife radiosurgery is a type of radiation therapy used to treat tumors and other abnormalities in the brain.
In gamma-knife radiosurgery, specialized equipment focuses as many as close to 200 tiny beams of radiation on a tumor or other target. Although each beam has very little effect on the brain tissue it passes through, a strong dose of radiation is delivered to the site where all the beams meet.
The precision of gamma-knife radiosurgery results in minimal damage to healthy tissues surrounding the target and, in some cases, a lower risk of side effects compared with other types of radiation therapy. Also, gamma-knife radiosurgery is often a safer option than is traditional brain surgery.
Gamma-knife radiosurgery is usually a one-time therapy completed in a single day.
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
WHAT IS DIABETES?
When our food is digested the glucose makes its way into our bloodstream. Our cells use the glucose for energy and growth. However, glucose cannot enter our cells without insulin being present - insulin makes it possible for our cells to take in the glucose.
Insulin is a hormone that is produced by the pancreas. After eating, the pancreas automatically releases an adequate quantity of insulin to move the glucose present in our blood into the cells, and lowers the blood sugar level.
A person with diabetes has a condition in which the quantity of glucose in the blood is too elevated (hyperglycemia). This is because the body either does not produce enough insulin, produces no insulin, or has cells that do not respond properly to the insulin the pancreas produces. This results in too much glucose building up in the blood. This excess blood glucose eventually passes out of the body in urine. So, even though the blood has plenty of glucose, the cells are not getting it for their essential energy and growth requirements.
Why is it called Diabetes Mellitus?
Diabetes comes from Greek, and it means a siphon. Aretus the Cappadocian, a Greek physician during the second century A.D., named the condition diabainein. He described patients who were passing too much water (polyuria) - like a siphon. The word became "diabetes" from the English adoption of the Medieval Latin diabetes.
In 1675 Thomas Willis added mellitus to the term, although it is commonly referred to simply as diabetes. Mel in Latin means honey; the urine and blood of people with diabetes has excess glucose, and glucose is sweet like honey. Diabetes mellitus could literally mean "siphoning off sweet water".
In ancient China people observed that ants would be attracted to some people's urine, because it was sweet. The term "Sweet Urine Disease" was coined.
There are three main types of diabetes:
- Diabetes Type 1 - You produce no insulin at all.
- Diabetes Type 2 - You don't produce enough insulin, or your insulin is not working properly.
- Gestational Diabetes - You develop diabetes just during your pregnancy.
Diabetes Types 1 and 2 are chronic medical conditions - this means that they are persistent and perpetual. Gestational Diabetes usually resolves itself after the birth of the child.
Treatment is effective and important
All types of diabetes are treatable, however Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes last a lifetime; there is no known cure. The patient receives regular insulin, which became medically available in 1921. The treatment for a patient with Type 1 is mainly injected insulin, plus some dietary and exercise adherence.Patients with Type 2 diabetes are usually treated with tablets, exercise and a special diet, but sometimes insulin injections are also required.
If diabetes is not adequately controlled the patient has a significantly higher risk of developing complications, such as hypoglycemia, ketoacidosis, and nonketotic hypersosmolar coma. Longer term complications could be cardiovascular disease, retinal damage, chronic kidney failure, nerve damage, poor healing of wounds, gangrene on the feet which may lead to amputation, and erectile dysfunction.
FATAL HAZARDS OF SMOKING
Heart diseases
Scientific studies suggest that smokers are 2-3 times more likely to die from a heart attack than non-smokers of similar age. Tobacco consists of carbon monoxide and nicotine which contributes greatly to heart attack. Carbon monoxide reacts with haemoglobin to form carboxyhaemoglobin. It cannot be broken up easily and reduces their blood carrying capacity. The heart has to pump faster and harder to maintain a normal blood flow, thus increasing the blood pressure.
Carbon dioxide and nicotine increases the rate at which the fatty material is deposited in the arteries, which constrict them. Narrowed arteries supply insufficient blood to heart muscles leading to angina pains. If these fatty deposits completely block an important artery such as a coronary artery, it can lead to heart attack.
Bronchitis
Tar is a brown, sticky substance that accumulates in the lungs during smoking and paralyzes the cilia. Cilia are microscopic hair lining air passages which trap dust particles. Due to paralysis, cilia cannot remove dust particles, allowing dust and germs to enter the lungs. Hence, the smoker coughs persistently. This type of cough is called a smoker's cough. The air passages may become inflamed and the person suffers from bronchitis. A person suffering from bronchitis becomes easily breathless and may not be able to walk properly. He may not even be able to sleep properly unless he is propped up. Chronic bronchitis can even kill someone.
Emphysema
When the air-sacs in the lungs are broken down by the harmful chemicals in the tobacco smoke, the surface area for the exchange of gases in and out of the body is reduced. More air has to be moved in and out of the lungs. This increases the rate of breathing making breathing more painful. This condition is known as emphysema. Emphysema prevents its sufferer from being active.
Cancer
Lung cancer is very common among cigarette-smokers. Tar contains many carcinogenic (cancer causing) chemicals. If the out growth or tumour obstructs the air passages, it can result in death.
Besides lung cancer smoking also contributes towards mouth, larynx, and brain cancers.
The harmful effects of smoking are innumerable. The highly addictive nicotine is absorbed in the blood which circulates through the brain and lungs. It reduces the exchange of gases at the respiratory surface of the smoker. When it is absorbed by brain, it greatly damages the thinking process
Smoking affects other people
A person who smokes not only harms himself but also others around him. People who do not smoke themselves but breathe in tobacco smoke from smokers are called passive smokers. Passive smokers, specially those who live with heavy smokers, are likely to suffer from sore eyes, smoker's cough, headaches and lung cancer caused by inhaling side-stream tobacco smoke. The allocation of non-smoking areas is one way to protect non-smokers from the harmful effects of cigarette smoke.
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