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Reproductive Health
2008-03-30 12:40:00
Often forgotten about, your reproductive health is just as important as other aspects of your health. Gaining a better understanding of your reproductive system can help you gain a clearer picture of just how sensitive your reproductive organs are. How it Works will explain how your hormones and organs come together to produce your monthly cycle. And if you think that your diet doesn't make much difference to your reproductive health, think again. Diet and the Reproductive System will explain just how the food you eat influences how your reproductive system works.When your system is out of whack, not only can it affect your menstrual cycle, but it can also prevent you from getting pregnant. One way of making sure your system is in top shape is by getting regular pap smears. But what does it mean if you have an abnormal one? Read Abnormal Smear Test to find out. And if you have a retroverted uterus, don't worry. This is normal and is unlikely to interfere with yourWhile many women ...
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HIV and AIDS
2008-02-25 12:27:00
What is HIV?Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) causes the most serious sexually transmitted infection (STI) - acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). HIV attacks the part of the body that defends against disease (the immune system).There are usually no visible symptoms during the early years of infection so it is not possible to tell if your partner has HIV unless he or she has had an HIV blood test. Many people with HIV look healthy but can transmit the virus to others.HIV can lead to death about 10 years after being infected but there are now good treatments available that can improve the quality of life of an infected person, so it is important that the disease is found and treated early.How could I become infected with HIV?You can become infected with HIV if the body fluids - blood, seminal fluid, semen, vaginal fluids or breastmilk - of an infected person get into your body. The most common way this happens is through unprotected sex, or penetrative sex without a condom. Th...
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Anemia
2008-01-14 09:03:00
Anemia (uh-NEE-me-eh) is a condition in which a person’s blood has a lower than normal number of red blood cells (RBCs), or the RBCs don’t have enough hemoglobin (HEE-muh-glow-bin). Hemoglobin—an iron-rich protein that gives the red color to blood—carries oxygen from the lungs to the rest of the body. In people with anemia, the blood does not carry enough oxygen to the rest of the body. As a result, people with anemia feel tired, along with other symptoms, because their bodies are not receiving enough oxygen. In severe or prolonged cases of anemia, the lack of oxygen in the blood can cause serious and sometimes fatal damage to the heart and other organs of the body.RBCs also are called erythrocytes (eh-RITH-ro-sites). RBCs are disc-shaped and look like doughnuts without a hole in the center. They are produced continually in the spongy marrow inside the large bones of the body and normally last 120 days. RBCs’ main role is to carry oxygen, but they also remove carbon dioxid...

Altitude sickness
2008-01-03 10:54:00
What is altitude sickness?Altitude sickness occurs when you cannot get enough oxygen from the air at high altitudes. This causes symptoms such as a headache and not feeling like eating. It happens most often when people who are not used to high altitudes go quickly from lower altitudes to 8000 ft or higher. For example, you may get a headache when you drive over a high mountain pass, hike to a high altitude, or arrive at a mountain resort.Mild altitude sickness is common. In the United States, more than 20% of people visiting the western mountains have it.1 Experts do not know who will get it and who will not. Your age, being male or female, and how physically fit you are play no role in whether you get altitude sickness.Altitude sickness can be dangerous. It is smart to take special care if you go high-altitude hiking or camping (like in the Rockies) or have plans for a vacation or trek in high-altitude countries like Peru, Ecuador, or Nepal.Altitude sickness is also called acute m...
More About: Sickness

Adrenal Gland
2008-01-01 07:09:00
The adrenal glands are orange-colored endocrine glands which are located on the top of both kidneys. The adrenal glands are triangular shaped and measure about one-half inch in height and 3 inches in length. Each gland consists of a medulla (the center of the gland) which is surrounded by the cortex. The medulla is responsible for producing epinephrine and norepinephrine (adrenaline). The adrenal cortex produces other hormones necessary for fluid and electrolyte (salt) balance in the body such as cortisone and aldosterone. The adrenal cortex also makes sex hormones but this only becomes important if overproduction is present.Indications for Surgical Removal of Adrenal GlandsThe indications for surgical removal of the adrenal gland are relatively straightforward and include, but are not limited to the following:Tumors of the adrenal cortex which overproduce hormones. One such tumor is shown in the picture...it is the round yellow mass located within the triangular adrenal gland. This...

adrenogenital syndrome
2007-12-19 08:24:00
This condition is also more properly known as congenital adrenal hyperplasia. This is a group of conditions of similar source: a family of autosomal recessive disorders of steroid hormone production in the adrenal glands leading to a deficiency of cortisol, the stress fighting hormone. The master hormonal regulatory gland, the pituitary, sensing the deficiency, secretes massive amounts of the stimulating hormone corticotropin to bring the cortisol levels up to normal. This hormone in turn causes the adrenal glands to overproduce certain intermediary hormones which have testosterone-like effects on the fetus and child, leading to so-called "virilization."Virilization means that the clitoris of girls is enlarged, and may resemble the male penis to the point that the sex of the child is questioned or mistaken. Males have enlarged penile size. Virilized children grow abnormally rapidly because of accelerated bone maturation and go through puberty very early but ultimately wind up being ...
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Addison's disease
2007-12-19 08:20:00
Addison's disease is an endocrine or hormonal disorder that occurs in all age groups and afflicts men and women equally. The disease is characterized by weight loss, muscle weakness, fatigue, low blood pressure, and sometimes darkening of the skin in both exposed and nonexposed parts of the body.Addison's disease occurs when the adrenal glands do not produce enough of the hormone cortisol and, in some cases, the hormone aldosterone. The disease is also called adrenal insufficiency, or hypocortisolism.CortisolCortisol is normally produced by the adrenal glands, located just above the kidneys. It belongs to a class of hormones called glucocorticoids, which affect almost every organ and tissue in the body. Scientists think that cortisol has possibly hundreds of effects in the body. Cortisol's most important job is to help the body respond to stress. Among its other vital tasks, cortisolhelps maintain blood pressure and cardiovascular function helps slow the immune system's inflamma...
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Acupuncture Therapy
2007-12-18 17:17:00
"Acupuncture " may be more appropriately called Traditional Oriental Medicine.At the heart of it is the concept is that there is Qi (aka: Ki, Chi), a physical "energy force" that exists in every part of the living world. The flow of Qi in the channels of humans is familiar to anyone has seen the lines on the body of an acupuncture chart or model. Most practitioners believe that these Qi meridians exist as a separate system although sometimes in conjunction with the nerve and blood systems. These Channels of energy are named after the body's organs but do so only to describe a system of how one portion of the body works. For example, the liver in oriental medicine is described not as a physical organ as much as its role in moving Qi throughout the body.Acupuncture, as it is known in the United States, is actually a mixture of herbology, acupuncture and other healing arts. A practitioner may or may not use needles, herbs, magnets, crystals or his or her own Qi. Each of these modalitie...
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ACHARD – THIERS SYNDROME
2007-12-18 17:16:00
A disorder in diabetic women characterized by development of excessive hair on the face and chin. The condition is also called virilism. Women with this syndrome often have changes of the voice and menstrual difficulties. Their breasts get smaller, they gain weight, and the clitories enlarges.Achard-Thiers syndrome may be associated with enlargement of the adrenal glands and with excess androgenic (male) hormones in the bloodstream. In drastic cases, surgical removel of adrenal glands may be required; the woman must then, however, take for life the hormones normally manufactured by the adrenal cortex, as these are essential to life.
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ACNE
2007-12-18 17:16:00
Acne is a condition in which inflammation and infection of the sebaceous (oil) glands and ducts result in pimples, pustules and cysts on the skin surface.CausesThe underlying cause of acne, which to one degree or another affects approximately 80 percent of all teenagers, is the glandular revoluion that takes place with the onset of puberty. At this time, the pituitary governor of glandular activity alters the proportion of the male sex hormone androgen and the female sex hormone estrogen so that sexual maturation can be accomplished. Between puberty and maturity, both boys and girls have a consistenly high level of androgen. This temporary increase in the androgenlevel stimulates the production of the sebaceous glands which ordinarily discharge the fluid secretion sebum through the pores for lubricating the skin. Overproduction of sebum causes it to turn into a paste which backs up and plugs up the ducs extending from the glands in the underlying derma through the layers of the epid...
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ACHE
2007-12-18 17:15:00
A dull, constant, sometimes throbbing pain. A backahe often is described as a dull pain, and a toothache or headache as a throbbing pain. A dull aching pain of the bones occurs in influenza, and muscular rheumatism involves aching of the muscles.An ache, like all other types of pain, is useful and even life-saving. It is a warning signal, indicating that something is wrong. Without the ache of a strained back, a decayed tooth, a bruised muscle, or ab inflamed joint, a personwould not know that something was wrong until much more damage had been done.How quickly a person feels pain and how much he or she can tolerate is both physiological and psychological. The pain hreshold is a measure of the stimulus needed in order to register pain. The ability to sustain pain without complaining, crying, or inability to work varies greatly from person to person. An individul’s reaction to aching pain depends on many factors, including his previous experience with aches, his chilhood training w...

ACCESSORY SEX ORGANS
2007-12-18 17:15:00
Organs which are related to the reproductive organs. In the male, the accessory sex organs include the apididymis, a portion of the seminal duct along the posterior border of the testis. Mature male sperm cells are stored here. The prostate gland, at the neck of the bladder, manufactures secretions that help transport the spermatozoa. In the female, the accessory sex organs include the vulva, two pairs of lip-shaped skin and soft membranes that surround the opening of the vagina, and the clitoris, a small projection of soft skin where the inner pair of vulva meet at the top.
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ABORTION COMPLICATIONS
2007-12-18 17:14:00
Often follow the interruption of a pregnancy by someone other than a physician. When induced abortions were almost always illegal and many women resorted to unlicensed persons, some of whom used crude techniques in unsanitary settings, abortion complications were frequent, and often fatal. Careless and ignorant methods can perforate the uterus and cause hemorrhage. Infection, kidney failure and shock are often associated with criminal abortion.If the uterus is puctured, abdominal surgery may be required to save the woman’s life. Severe and protracted infection can cause the kidneys to stop functioning or to function imperfectly. In this situation, special dalysis equipment must be used to restore kidney function and prevent blood poisoning.The chances of complications resulting from induced abortion are sharply reduced if the procedure is performed in a hospital or clinic by a licensed physician.
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ABSCESS
2007-12-18 17:14:00
A localized pocket of pus in a cavity formed by tissues that have broken down as the result of infection or injury. The inflamed area forming the cavity is red, painful, and swollen. An abscess is caused when bacteria enter a small wound, such as that caused by a splinter.White blood cells collect at the infected area to seal of the infection, to absorb the bacteria, and to liquefy them. The formation of thick yellowish pus result from this activity. The accumulating pus and the swelling of inflamed tissues press against the nerves, creating pain. The redness is caused by a concentration of blood in the area. An abscess “comes to a head” as the wall of surrounding tissue becomes thin. When the abscess ruptures and the pus escapes, the pain and swelling subside.A large, extremely painful abscess, such as a boil, should be professionally treated. A physician will open abscess saaafely with a sterilized instrument and remove the pus without unnecessarily irritating the tissue. Even...

ABDUCTOR
2007-12-18 17:13:00
A muscle that draws a part away (abducts) from the body or an extremity. An abductor muscle may be tiny ( as in the fingers and toes ) or large and powerful ( as the thighs ).The principal abducor muscles include the abductor digiti minimi (which abducts the little finger in the hand and the little toe in the foot); the abductor hallucis (which abducts and extends the thumb); the deltoideus (which abducts, flexes, and extends the arm); the gluteus maximus or buttock (which extends, abducts, and rotates the thigh outward); the extensor carpiradialis longus (which extend and abduct the wrist joint); and the interossei dorsales (which abduct and flex the toes).An adductor muscle is one that draws a part toward the body.

ABDOMEN
2007-12-18 16:59:00
The partion of the body between the lower part of the chest and the pelvis. This oval-shaped cavity is separated from the chest by the diaphragm. Heavy muscles protect the abdomen in the fron and sides, and the spinal column with its muscles protects it in back.The abdoment is lined by a membrane, the peritoneum. The stomach, large and small intestines, liver, spleen, pancreas, kidneys, appendix, gallbladder, urinary bladder, major blood vessels, and nerves lie within the abdomen. Many people call this area by the common term belly.The function of abdominal organs is digestion of food, absorption of nutrients by the body, and elimination of indigestible substances and wastes. In the female, the sexual organs are also located within the abdomen, whereas the male sex organs lie adjacent to it.The abdominal walls not only protect the organs but hold them in place so that they can function properly.