الأحد، 27 مارس 2011

داء النقرس
تعريف المرض:
- يعرف النقرس ايضآ بـ " التهاب المفاصل المستحث بالبلورات " ويسمى ايضآ بـ " داء الملوك " لأن حياتهم السابقة كانت  أكل كثير وشرب كثير ونوم كثير وعدم حركة في جسم بدين مع ترهل.
- النقرس أحد الإضطرابات (اضطراب في الهضم والاستقلاب ) التي تلحق بنظام الأيض (التمثيل الغذائي) ، وفيه يتراكم حمض البوليك Uric Acid (أحد نواتج التمثيل الغذائي للبروتينات والتي من المفروض أن يتخلص منها الجسم بإخراجها) بحيث تشكل بلورات إبرية crystals of uric acid الشكل داخل المفاصل ، مما يسبب فترات من الألم الشديد والإلتهاب، ويمكن أن يتجمع حمض اليوريك أيضآ تحت الجلد في جيوب تسمى التُوف Tophi أو في القناة البولية على شكل حصيّات كلوية.

أسباب المرض:
يحدث مرض النقرس نتيجة زيادة نسبة أملاح حمض البوليك في الدم، مما يؤدي الى ترسبها في الأغشية الداخلية للمفصل وعظام المفصل حيث تحدث الآلام المميزة للمرض.
ويزيد من ارتفاع نسبة حمض البوليك في الدم وظهور هذه الأعراض:
  •  الإكثار من تناول البروتينات الحيوانية.
  • تناول بعض المستحضرات الطبية كخلاصة الكبد.
  • التعرض للجراحات.
  • السمنة وارتفاع مستوى الكوليسترول في الدم.
  • العقاقير المدرة للبول
  • قصور الغدة الدرقية.
  • مرض الكلى
  • ارتفاع ضغط الدم غير المعالج
  • وجود تاريخ عائلي بالإصابة بفرط حمض اليوريك في الدم. حيث تلعب الجينات الوراثية دوراً أيضاً في الإصابة بهذه الحالة حيث أثبتت الإحصائيات أن فرد واحد لكل أربع أشخاص مصابون بالنقرس يرجع لوجود تاريخ عائلي له.
  • السكري النوع الأول Type 1 diabetes
  • العقاقير المستخدمة لعلاج ضغط الدم والتي تعمل علي خفض نسبة الأملاح والماء في الجسم
  • قلة النشاط (الحركة) مثل البقاء لفترات طويلة في السرير
  • التعب المفاجئ أو الإصابة
  • ضيق الشرايين
  • التقدم في السن
  • نقص التروية القلبية.
أعراضه:
يسبب النقرس ألمآ حادآ مفاجئآ ، وعادة ما يكون في قاعدة الاصبع الكبير(مفصل إبهام القدم) ، لكنه قد يصيب أ ي مفصل آخر وخاصة المفاصل التي أتلفتها حالات مرضية أخرى مثل الالتهاب العظمي المفصلي.ويمكن أن يصيب النقرس شحمة الاذن والجلد المحيط بالنفصل ، وخصوصآ مفاصل الاصابع أو مؤخر العقب.

وتبدأ الأعراض بآلام حادة مباغتة بالمفصل ، مع ظهور تورم وإحمرار حوله(تصبح المفاصل حمراء اللون ومتورمة) ، وقد يصاحب هذه الاعراض إرتفاع في درجة الحرارة (الحمى) ، وفي معظم الأحيان تحدث هذه الأزمات في فترة المساء ، لكن الأعراض لا تلبث أن تزول نهائيآ في ظرف اسبوع أو أكثر لتعاود الظهور مرة ثانية على فترات تمتد لعدة أسابيع أو أشهر او سنين.

تشخيصه:
 يعتمد تشخيبص مرض النقرس أساسآ على ملاحظة أعراضه المميزة، ويمكن التأكد من دقة التشخيص بإجراء تحليل معملي للكشف عن زيادة نسبة حمض البوليك في الدم، ولو أن إرتفاع معدل حمض البوليك في الدم لا يعني في كل الأحوال الإصابة بمرض النقرس.

يقوم الطبيب بفحص المريض وقد يغرس إبرة في مفصله المصاب  للحصول على عينة من سائل المفصل لفحصها تحت الميكروسكوب ، فبالفحص المجهري يظهر بالسائل بلورات حمض البوليك.كما يقوم أيضا بإلتقاط افلام مشعة ويقوم الطبيب بفحص البول.

علاجه:

1- في الأزمات الحادة للمرض يجب أن يلتزم المريض بالراحة التامة في السرير، مع عمل كمادات باردة أو دافئة حسب إستجابة الألم لأي منهما.
2-     يعطى المريض المسكنات اللاستيرودية المضادة للإلتهاب ( NSAID) مثل ibuprofen  أن تخفف الألم الشديد ، وهناك اسلوب بديل وهي الأدوية الفعالة ضد المرض ومن أهمها عقار الكولشيسين والذي ينبغي تناوله بمجرد ظهور الأعراض ، ويستطيع دواء كوشيسين أن يقلل بقدر كبير من حدة النوبة لكنه كثيرى ما يسبب الاسهال
3-     ينصح بعدم تناول المريض للأسبرين (لأنه يثبط قدرة الجسم على إخراج حمض البوليك) ومركبات السلسيلات والأدوية المدرة للبول ، حيث إنها تسبب في ارتفاع نسبة حمض البوليك في الدم.
4-     قد يحقن طبيبك مفصلك المصاب أو داخل العضلة بعقار الكورتيزون أو يصف لك عقاقير الكورتيزون تتناولها بالفم.
5-     ينصح بشرب كميات وفيرة من الماء لتخفيف تركيز حمض البوليك في البول ، ومن ثم تقلل من خطر تكون حصوات بالكلى.
6-     الإمتناع عن المشروبات الكحولية والتي تقلل من قدرة جسمك على اخراج حمض البوليك.
7-     الإقلال من تناول المأكولات الغنية بالبروتينات مثل : الكبد ، الكلى ، الرنجة ، الانشوجة ، والسردين لأنها تزيد مستويات حمض البوليك.
8- الإقلال من تناول البازيلاء والحبوب المجففة.
9-     قد يصف لك الطبيب عقار الوبيروينول مع عقار كوشيسين بجرعات منخفضة.
10- المحافظة على الوزن المثالي وتخفيف الوزن.
11- الحركة وعدم الكسل.

المراجع:

 

الأحد، 20 مارس 2011

 
Yoga
Yoga is considered a mind-body type of complementary and alternative medicine practice. Yoga brings together physical and mental disciplines to achieve peacefulness of body and mind, helping you relax and manage stress and anxiety. Traditional yoga philosophy requires that students adhere to this mission through behavior, diet and meditation. But if you're just looking for better stress management — whether because of life's daily hassles or a health problem you're facing — and not an entire lifestyle change or way of life, yoga can still help.
Yoga has many styles, forms and intensities. Hatha yoga, in particular, may be a good choice for stress management. Hatha is one of the most common styles of yoga, and some beginners find it easier to practice because of its slower pace and easier movements. But most people can benefit from any style of yoga — it's all about your personal preferences.
The core components of hatha yoga and most general yoga classes are:
  • Poses. Yoga poses, also called postures, are a series of movements designed to increase strength and flexibility. Poses range from lying on the floor while completely relaxed to difficult postures that may have you stretching your physical limits.
  • Breathing. Controlling your breathing is an important part of yoga. In yoga, breath signifies your vital energy. Yoga teaches that controlling your breathing can help you control your body and quiet your mind.

The health benefits of yoga

The potential health benefits of yoga are numerous and may include:
  • Stress reduction. With its quiet, precise movements, yoga draws your focus away from your busy, chaotic day and toward calm as you move your body through poses that require balance and concentration.
  • Increased fitness. As you learn and refine new poses, you may enjoy improved balance, flexibility, range of motion and strength. And this means you're less likely to injure yourself in other physical endeavors or in your daily activities.
  • Management of chronic health conditions. Yoga might help with a variety of health conditions, such as cancer, depression, pain, anxiety and insomnia, by helping with sleep problems, fatigue and mood. Yoga also can help reduce heart rate and blood pressure.
  • Weight loss. If you're overweight or have binge-eating disorder, yoga may help you make the healthy lifestyle changes necessary to gain control of your eating and drop those extra pounds.
While you shouldn't expect yoga to cure you or offer 100 percent relief, it can help some health conditions when combined with standard treatment. And if you already enjoy good health, yoga can be an enjoyable supplement to your regular fitness routine.

Taking precautions before starting yoga

Yoga is generally considered safe for people of all abilities, even if you use a wheelchair or you're severely overweight. But there are some situations in which yoga might pose a risk. You may need to find an alternative to yoga or scale back your yoga poses.
See your health care provider before you begin yoga if you have any of the following conditions or situations, since complications can arise:
  • Balance problems
  • Uncontrolled high blood pressure
  • Certain eye conditions, including glaucoma
  • Severe osteoporosis
  • Pregnancy
  • Artificial joints 
You may be able to practice yoga in these situations if you take certain precautions, such as avoiding certain poses or stretches. Regardless of your health status, start slowly and gently. If you develop symptoms or concerns, see your doctor to make sure you're getting benefit and not harm from yoga.

References:

الجمعة، 11 مارس 2011

Benefits of dates      
Health benefits of dates are uncountable, as this fruit is affluent in natural fibres. Dates are even rich in several vitamins and minerals. These natural products contain oil, calcium, sulphur, iron, potassium, phosphorous, manganese, copper and magnesium which are advantageous for health. It is said that consumption of one date daily is necessary for a balanced and healthy diet. Dates help in fighting constipation, intestinal disorders, weight gain, heart problems, sexual weakness, diarrhoea and abdominal cancer.

Health benefits of dates have made them the best nourishment for muscles development. People consume dates in several ways, like mixing the paste of the dates with milk, yoghurt or with bread or butter to make the food tasty and healthy. This paste is beneficial for both adults and children, especially during the time of recovery. According to the modern medicine survey, it is known that dates are useful in preventing abdominal cancer. It is also seen that many Muslims break their fast by eating dates and water according to their traditions. Breaking fast with eating dates helps us to avoid overeating of the food after the fast. When the body absorbs the nutritional value of the dates, the feeling of hunger gets pacified
Dates are termed as a crown of sweets and ideal food which easily balances and digests food. It gives extra energy to a tired human body within half an hour after taking it. Dates are considered to be the best diet for confinement of the women. It is said that taking one date in a day will help you to maintain your healthy eyes for your lifetime. They are quiet effective in guarding the night blindness problems.

Benefits of dates
  • Constipation: Date is termed to be a laxative food. This is the reason that dates are beneficial for people suffering from constipation. For getting the laxative effect from dates, you need to soak dates for one full night in water. You should consume these soaked dates in the morning like syrup to get their actual advantages.
  • Intestinal Disorders: The nicotinic content that is present in the dates is said to be beneficial for curing any kinds of intestinal disorders. Continuous intake of dates helps to maintain a check on the growth of the pathological organisms and thus, helps in the rise of friendly bacteria in the intestines.
  • Weight Gain: Dates are said to be a part of healthy diet. They consist of sugar, fats, proteins as well as many essential vitamins. If the dates are consumed with the paste of cucumber, one can easily come out from the problem of over-slimming. One kilogram of dates contains almost 3,000 calories. These calories alone are sufficient to meet the daily requirements of a human body.
  • Healthy Heart: Dates are quite helpful in maintaining your heart in a healthy condition. When soaked for a night and crushed in the morning and consumed, they prove to be quite advantageous for weak hearts. They help in fortifying the heart, if taken twice in a week.
  • Sexual Weakness: Dates are even beneficial for increasing sexual stamina in the human body. A handful of dates, when soaked in fresh goat's milk for the night and then grinded in the same milk with the mixture of cardamom powder and honey, becomes a very useful tonic for increasing sex endurance and sterility caused due to functional disorders.
  • Diarrhea: Ripe dates contain potassium. Potassium is beneficial for controlling diarrhea. They are easily digestible, which helps to cope up with the problems of diarrhea.
  • Intoxication: Dates are known as an excellent remedy for alcoholic intoxication. Dates provide quick relief in the case of alcoholic intoxication. They should be rubbed and soaked overnight for getting more nutritious values from them.
  • Abdominal Cancer: Dates are beneficial for curing abdominal cancer. They work as useful tonic for all age groups. They work as better as the medicines, and are natural and do not bear any side effects in the body. They can be easily digested and used for supplying extra and needed energy.
Although dates carry tremendous nutritional values, great care should be taken in their selection because they consists of sticky surface which attracts various impurities in them. Hence, you should consume only those dates that are processed and packed properly. Make sure to wash them thoroughly before consuming. This will help remove the impurities present in them.


References:

الثلاثاء، 8 مارس 2011


MALARIA AND YELLOW FEVER

Malaria and yellow fever are common infectious diseases because they attack a lot of people around the world.
Malaria is a parasitic disease which is called Plasmodium parasite (1). It is transmitted to humans through the bite of infected mosquitoes (2). It usually affects children under five years of age and travelers who visit endemic areas of this illness like Africa, Asia and South and Central America.(1,3,4) It first appeared in2700BC in China(5).
Yellow fever is an acute viral infectious disease. This means that it is caused by a virus from the Flaviviridae group that is transferred to the victim by the bite of infected mosquitoes (6). It can attack anybody but old persons are the most at danger of getting yellow fever (7). It is famous in Africa and South America (8). It was discovered in the 17th century in Yucatan peninsula in Africa but it passed to America by ships during trade (6).
In this report, I will compare and contrast the symptoms, diagnosis and treatment of these two diseases.
Malaria and yellow fever have similar symptoms such as high temperature, head pain, nausea, chills, muscle pain, vomiting, shivers, jaundice, weakness, loss of kidney function, bleeding disorders and brain problems for example trance, spasm and death. (1,3,6,7,9) Yellow fever has different signs that  help the doctors to diagnose the sickness like abdominal ache, blood in the vomit and stool, deficiency of palate, malaise, the complexion bruise easily and flushed face, eyes and tongue.(6,9) In contrast the  distinguishing symptoms of malaria are perspiration, dry skin, diarrhea, cough and enlarging of the eyes.(1,3)
Both malaria and yellow fever are diagnosed by taking a travel history of the patient and different blood tests (1, 6). Each one of these diseases have specific tests for example the doctor use a Giemsa blood smear, rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) and polymerase chain reaction tests (PCR) to determine malaria disease whereas they use other tests to distinguish yellow fever  like a low white blood cell count (leukopenia), a low platelet count (thrombocytopenia),  liver function tests, Urine tests and an electrocardiogram (ECG)is used to recognize heart disorders. (3, 6)
 Oral drugs and intravenous medicines are prescribed to treat malaria and yellow fever. (1, 7, 9) However, Aspirin and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) should not be given because they may rise the hazard of bleeding problems (6). In addition malaria is cured by other medications for instance chloroquine, sulfadoxine- pyrimethamine (Fansidar),  mefloquine (Lariam), atovaquone-proguanil (Malarone) ,quinine and doxycycline(2). On the other hand, yellow fever is treated by dialysis for loss of kidney function, transfusion of blood to manage bleeding disorders, antibiotics to reduce the secondary bacterial infections and remedies to prevent blood pressure from falling (6).
This report has compared and contrasted the symptoms, diagnosis and treatment of malaria and yellow fever because they kill a lot of people around the world. It is very important to know the similarities and differences between these diseases because that helps the physicians to determine the illness and prescribe the effective medications to treat these two diseases.
People should take a vaccine before they travel to the areas where yellow fever or malaria are common. Also people, who live in endemic regions, should avoid mosquito bites by wearing protective clothes.  
           




References:
1)      Medicine net, Malaria. On line. http://www.medicinenet.com/malaria/article.htm
(accessed 29 November 2010).
2)      Buzzle, Malaria. On line. http: //www.buzzle.com/articles/malaria-disease-syptoms-cause-treatment.html (accessed 2 December 2010).
3)      Malaria. Infectious Disease Sourcebook. 1st  ed: United States, 2004:p234,241,242
4)      Medline Plus, Malaria. On line. http://www.nlm.nil.gov/medlineplus/malaria/html (accessed 13 November 2010).
5)      Wikipedia, Malaria. On line. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/malaria (accessed 13 December 2010).
6)      Medicine Net, Yellow fever. On line. http://medicinenet.com/yellow fever.htm (accessed 2 December 2010).
7)      Medicine Plus, Yellow fever. On line. http://nlm.nil.gov/medicineplus/ency/article/001365.htm (accessed 13 November 2010).
8)      World Health Organization. Vaccination Certificate Requirements and Health Advice for International Travel. Geneva; 1988
9)      Yellow fever. Infectious Disease Sourcebook. 1st ed: United States, 2004:
p351-354