Medical Science Reaching New Heights


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Medical science and technology has reached new heights in the past few years. The new developments in this field have fostered many benefits for the general public. Many diseases that were previously incurable can now be treated under the advanced technology. Furthermore diseases that have not yet taken their toll on the body can be detected earlier on plus the way certain diseases and operations had to be undertaken has become much less painful for the patients.

An example of the benefit that can be derived from the advancement in science and technology is with the use of the ECG machines. Through the use of these machines one can assess the performance of the heart’s conduction system. This revolutionary step gives a clear picture of the heart muscles and action can be taken according to the condition of the patient. These machines can easily be brought to a patient’s home in the case of an emergency or to the scene of an accident that requires immediate diagnosis and medical attention. ECG can even be taken on the way to the hospital in the ambulance and the results transmitted to the doctors who start preparing for the patient beforehand.

Along with benefiting the people in terms of pain relief the advanced technology has also brought with it much convenience. Take for example the use of a digital thermometer. This is a portable device that is battery powered and can be used to record accurate temperature anywhere and anytime. Therefore we see that mankind has derived innumerous benefits from the advancement in science.


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Stomach Cancer Patients Helped By Chemo

This article is based on a new research in which the researchers have made a new discovery where they have found that the individuals who are suffering from the stomach cancer can get a lot of benefits by having chemotherapy. In this article along with the research, we will mention a brief summary about stomach’s anatomy, understanding the cancer of the stomach, symptoms, diagnosis, staging, treatment, nutrition and follow up care so that our readers will have an extensive review and understanding on a lot of different topics that are mentioned above.

Stomach is a very important part of our digestive system. The stomach is a bag like structure that is connected above to the esophagus and below to the duodenum, which is the first part of the small intestine. The food moves down the esophagus and then enters the stomach with the contractions of the esophagus and then when it reaches the stomach, the food is being acted upon by the acid being produced in the stomach and is broken down into small particles so that when it passes through the rest of the gastrointestinal tract, the active ingredients can be absorbed through it very easily. The food stays for a period of about 2-3 hours in the stomach.

It is really important to understand for us as to how the cancer begins. We all know that the single living unit that our body is made up of is cell and these cells combine together to form tissue and these tissues combine together to form organs. The cells are what normally transforms and they then form a mass of tissue, which is known as tumor. The tumor can be either benign or malignant. The benign tumors are not life threatening and they are encapsulated, but on the other hand the malignant tumor is what metastasizes and thus causes lethal damage to the body and spread from one organ to another.

The process with which the malignant cancer metastasizes to other organ systems is through the lymph nodes, lymph vessels, blood vessels and direct invasions. The stomach tumor grows through the tissue and directly invades the organs such as pancreas, esophagus or the intestine. The other organs that the tumor spreads to include liver and lungs and the spread to these organs occur through the blood vessels, and the cancer cells can also spread to the entire body through the lymphatic system.

The exact reason why the stomach cancer occurs is not exactly known but there are a lot of risk factors that increases the development of this disease. The risk factors includes age and the people in which the stomach cancer occur are mostly 72 years or older. Other risk factors include sex, in which men are most likely to develop stomach cancer than women. Asians are the ones who are most commonly affected by stomach cancer. Another risk factor includes the ingestion of smoked, salted or pickled food and the people who are in a habit of eating these foods are at risk of developing the stomach cancer. H. pylori infection also increases the risk of the development of the stomach cancer, but there are very few people in whom this infection can lead to stomach cancer. People who smoke are also at increased risk of developing stomach cancer, as well as individuals who have a strong family history of stomach cancer are at high risk of developing it.

The symptoms that occur due to the development of stomach cancer include discomfort in the stomach, a feeling of being full, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, as well as weight loss. It is not necessary that any individual who is going through these symptoms is suffering from the stomach cancer, but it is not necessary that the individual who is going through these symptoms is truly suffering from stomach cancer. If any one is going through these symptoms must contact the doctor and tell the physician of when these symptoms started and a detailed history of them so that it is easier for the doctor to make a diagnosis and to order the investigations.

The investigative procedure includes the physical examination in which the doctor palpates the abdomen to detect any masses. The upper GI x-rays of the esophagus and stomach and these x-rays are taken after a barium swallow because the barium makes the abdomen illuminated and helps to see as to what are the defects that are present. Endoscopy is another investigation in which the endoscope is being passed down the esophagus and the stomach is being visualized. With the endoscopy the walls of the stomach can be seen as well as biopsy of the stomach tissue is being obtained and the tissue sample that is being taken is then seen under the microscope and hence the diagnosis of cancer is being established.

In order to plan the treatment of a patient, it is very important that the stage of the cancer is being known. In order to understand the staging of the cancer, we will explain the TNM staging of cancers. In the TNM staging, the T stands for the size of the tumor, N stands for the nodal involvement, M stands for the metastasis. When the tumor is being diagnosed through histology, the next step is staging and then the tumor is being determined of its size, nodal involvement and the level of the metastasis, which helps to determine as to the prognosis, as well as to select the treatment options that would suit the best for the patient. If there is small size of the tumor and there is no nodal involvement and the tumor has not metastasized, then the patient undergoes chemotherapy and radiation depending on the decision of the physician. If the patient has a large tumor size and there is nodal involvement but no metastasis, then the decision can be to excise the tumor in its entirety so that it does not metastasize because it is going towards the trend of enlarging and involving the nodes. On the other hand if the tumor has metastasized then more conservative approach is being considered or the removal of the organ that has the metastasis is being considered to be excised, so every situation has its own way of its management and that will all be taken by your physician specialist.

The treatment of cancer is again as described above can be either radiation therapy, chemotherapy or surgery depending on the situation and therefore it is very important to analyze the situation in depth by your physician. Normally under such circumstances there is a board of doctors who sit together and put down the case and determine as to what would be the best approach in managing the situation and delineate the right steps of treatment. Once the steps are being delineated, your doctor will then share their decision with you and your family and will tell you of what options that they have seen are best for you and then they throw the ball in the patient’s court so that they could decide whether they are satisfied with the approach or not.

The doctor also explains the side effects of the therapies that the patient is going to have and that side effects differ from person to person. The side effects from the radiation therapy includes loss of hair, fatigue, malaise, low blood count, erythema of the skin, dryness of the mucosal membranes, connective tissue scarring and fibrosis etc. The side effects of the chemotherapy include nausea, vomiting, hair loss and bone marrow suppression.

It is really important for the individuals who are undergoing treatment to take the proper caloric requirements because nutrition is very important to be at its best because it will give more energy and will improve the health and will aid in the speedy recovery of the individual undergoing the cancer treatment. There are patients who really don’t like to eat much because of bad taste, these individuals can arrange for foods of their choice that they like the best and can also get help from a registered dietitian to help them plan their diet so that they are taking proper diet and maintaining the proper caloric requirements that they need on a daily basis.
According to the latest research it is being found that the patients who are suffering from stomach cancer can get a lot of benefit from chemotherapy before and after the surgery. This research was conducted over a span of more than five years where the doctors gave chemotherapy before and after surgery to the patients and it was found out that the patients who received the chemotherapy before and after the surgery had a 36% survival rate as compared to the 23% who only had surgery. The chemotherapeutic regimen that is being used in the patients suffering from stomach cancer includes epirubicin, cisplatin, and fluorouracil, and there are also newer drugs that are being available and under trial so that more beneficial therapeutic regimens are available to the stomach cancer patients.
This is a very big breakthrough because this therapeutic regimen increases the rate of survival of the individuals and thus it will be helping a lot of people who are suffering from stomach cancer. There is a very stunning statistic that has also been brought into attention, which is that there will be about 22,300 new cases that will be diagnosed this year and there will be about 11,400 people who will be dying because of this disease.


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Depression & Obesity

Depression is a very serious problem that is present in a lot of individuals throughout the world. It is very important for the people throughout the world to understand that there are a lot of people around them who are going through these feelings and they should be the ones who get the support from their family and friends and peers so that they are able to live a better life and are able to get themselves out of the clouds of dark. In this article we are going to discuss the relationship of depression and obesity.

Since depression is such a disastrous problem where the individual is just cocooned inside them, but if this is coupled with the obesity then it can be said very easily that this lethal combination can just lower down the life expectancy to a decade or so. Obesity is a chronic disorder and it affects millions and millions of Americans and is caused by a variety of factors. Obesity poses serious health risks and causes a lot of health problems that include coronary heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, diabetes, cancer, sleep apnea, decreased mobility, joint problems, vascular problems, etc. Obesity alone accounts for about $100 billion in the health sector and the numbers are increasing at a very high speed.

It is not only the adults who are affected with obesity with depression, but there are also a lot of children who are victimized by this disease. The researchers who have been working on this subject have found that there are a lot of psychological factors that are involved in the relationship of this problem. They said that the families who are living in a very high stressed environment where the parents are in a constant fight with abusing each other verbally or physical abuse leads to the kids who are very depressed and this just have a very strong influence on the appetite of these children. In reaction to the abuse that they have to go through just leads them to be depressed and in order to combat the negative feelings, the kids just have then increased appetite to overcome those feelings that they are going through.

There was a study that was conducted on about 1000 children who were from the ages of 9 to 16 years.

The researchers said that there is a hormonal pathway that is a link between the obesity and the depression, which is known as the hypothalamus, pituitary and adrenal, which is also known as HPA axis. The researchers commented that there is a connection between these endocrine glands, which regulate the production of a lot of hormones through them, and the secretion of one hormone affects the secretion of another hormone and thus there is a process of check and balance between the different hormones. They also stated that this hormonal axis is also responsible for the release of the hormone called cortisol, which is the stress hormone, and this plays a very important role in the metabolism of energy along with many other functions. When an individual is under stress, there is a response being sent to the adrenal gland to secrete cortisol and this hormone causes the deposition of the fat around the abdomen, and this pattern of fat deposition is very damaging to health. It must also be noted here that the presence of the chronic stress also can emanate depression, which is only going to worsen the situation.
The researchers said that the presence of obesity, depression, as well as other behavioral disorders are also the cause of the abnormal functioning of the HPA axis and this is believe to cause obesity. This is a very complex problem and is thought to be a combination of both the social and biological factors. It is very difficult to asses that depression caused obesity or the obesity caused depression because both overlap with each other and it is really difficult to determine as to what started first, but in whatever the case both are very lethal problems and both need to be addressed as soon as possible because there is a lot of work that is needed to be done to get out of the depressed feelings as well as to control the major factors that are causing obesity. If this problem is being seen through the pathways, it is seen that when the individual is depressed, this just totally disrupts the pathway and causes the production of the stress hormones and thus causes obesity. On the other hand the obesity also disrupts the HPA axis and causes depression, therefore it is really important to combat one thing at a time, which will help to focus on the problem that is considered to be the primary factor by the physician or the psychologist who makes the diagnosis of the situation.

The researchers said that about 15% of the children who participated in the study were chronically obese and there were about 12% of the children who were obese at a point in time during their childhood or adolescence and they also added that in their perspective the situation of the children being obese and depressed was at very high rates as it was undertaken by the Disease Control Department.
The researchers also added that there are a lot of kids who are living an impaired quality of life and there is a high number of obese kids who belong in that category, this just not only put them at a health risk but also puts them at the risk of their lives. It was also added that the children who are obese, their quality of life is as bad as the kids who are suffering from cancer and that is something that needs to be taken that seriously and the researchers who were going through these researches were amazed to see the data that came up through studies that were being conducted. It is alarming for all of us and this is something that needs to be fixed as soon as possible because the future of a nation is with the future of the kids and their health is something that we need to care for.


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Bionic Humans

The technology is advancing at a very rapid pace every single day. There are a lot of new wonders that you can see are being brought up in terms of research that is being conducted on the different things to either suggest a best approach in life towards living a healthy life, effects of supplements on our body, what is best for men to prevent the prostate cancer etc. and now there is a new research that is focusing on the fact as to how the different people who go through the process of amputation are able to get their lives back through this new process where the technology can now turn the humans into the bionic beings.

Before we proceed onto how the technology has equipped the humans to be bionic beings, I would really like to highlight certain facts regarding the amputations that are being done throughout the United States so that we all know as to how many people each year go through amputation and how their lives are being turned upside down where they are not their normal self no more, but they just show faith in them and live their life at the best. It is being estimated that there are approximately 1.8 million people in the United States alone who have gone through the process of amputation. Another statistic that was very shocking and highlighted as to the number of amputees was that there is about one amputee in about 200 individuals in the United States.
There are a lot of amputations that occur each year due to a lot of different reasons. The amputations occur because of the vascular problems in which there is blockage of the artery and that lead to the necrosis of the tissue and for that matter the limb or the digit needs to be amputated. There is another very common illness known as the diabetes, which results in a lot of vascular issues where the infection spreads at a very fast rate and this then leads to the development of a necrosis and damages the vessels in that specific digit that it affects and the blood supply to that specific digit is being compromised and then that digit has to be amputated so as to prevent that necrosis from spreading to the adjacent digits and tissue. It is also been mentioned in the statistics that the amputations that are being done due to the vascular lesions are known as dysvascular amputations and the amputations that are being done due to the vascular reasons are on the rise as compared to the amputations that are being done due to the trauma or accidents.

The people who go through the amputations are the ones who are just going through a lot of stress in their lives. For example if a person whose living depended on the fact that he has to lift loads on his back or has to walk around to perform his job is now no longer being able to perform his job and that is not going to take a toll on him but he and his entire family is going to go through a huge financial crunch. This is only the bare minimum that I have said here. We just cannot understand an individual who is going through the loss of a limb or a digit because these people are not themselves any more and that they are going through a complete new life that they have never thought of living before and this is so depressing for them because they cannot walk, cannot move without assistance and then they go through all the learning processes where they learn as to how to manage different things in their lives on their own.
These individuals who go through amputation need a lot of support from all of us to make their lives better and to be working again and that they just lose themselves at such a rapid pace that they just fall totally apart. They just do not know as to what to do now and that they need love and affection and comfort and support from the people who are around them. I think that we just cannot feel their pain that they are going through, but I also believe that we should tell them that this is not something that they need sympathy for because they are complete individuals and that they can do whatever they want to do, they just have to have the will to do the things that they want to. We just need to accept them with open arms and love them and feel them and this article is based on giving them hope that there are researches that are going on in which a lot of the work is being done on the prostheses that these people can have and really function as they have never lost a limb.

There is a team of British scientists who have worked on bionic prostheses and they have just worked really well in overcoming a problem where the prostheses that were made earlier were constantly rubbing on the skin and then they were causing the skin to erode and cause infection of the skin. This was causing a lot of disappointment among the people who were using the prostheses because rather than things becoming better for them, things were becoming more difficult every single day. Now the scientists have made the prostheses that are made up of metal and that they can now bind to the skin without causing any infection and has improved the quality of the bionic limbs that will be fixed for these individuals.
The prostheses that have been built by these researchers were being tried on a group of patients whose limbs and digits have been amputated and the results that these prostheses have shown were really good. This technology that is being used is known as the intraosseous transcutaneous amputation prosthesis, which is also known as the ITAP. The best part of these bionic limbs is that these limbs can be directly attached to the individual’s central nervous system and that the individual can take complete control of these limbs in a matter of five years. For us it has been science fiction where we can see the live tissue growing around the metal and that this not science fiction any more, it is a real life fact.

In this technique, there is involvement of the metal implant that is being loosely attached to the bone that is protruding through the skin and the skin just forms a seal around it. The researchers got the hold of growing the skin around the metal prostheses by observing as to how the skin moulds grow around the deers’ antlers. Through research the scientists have been able to develop a technology that is going to give a life to the millions of people who are suffering from the aftermath of amputations and that their life is something that will be changed for the best because then these individuals will be able to perform all their activities and would not feel that they have lost the limb because we learnt to live with our limbs and learnt as to how we can make them function and after amputation and plugging in of these prostheses these individuals will be able to learn as to how to make the best out of these bionic limbs and that it is just a matter of time that these people would learn as to how they can make things work for themselves.

It is through these techniques that these researchers are able to achieve a way where a prosthetic limb can be attached directly to the skeleton of the patient and that even though the skin is breached but there is no infection caused by it and that the invention of these bionic limbs have reduced the medical costs and a lot of inconvenience that was being caused by the conventional prostheses where these individuals would have to go repeatedly to get these prostheses fixed and also to get the medication in order to treat the infections and the pain that they are suffering through by the use of the prosthetic limbs. There is also a lot of problems with the pressure sores, as well as the surgical procedures that are being done to take care of the aftermath of these prostheses.

Now the researchers after having a big breakthrough in the fixation of the bionic limbs and digits, are now focusing on the attachment of the bionic limbs to the central nervous system with the help of the electrodes where the bionic limbs would just act on the desire to move that limb and that limb would move with the specific strength and in the specific direction that is being required and then this would make that limb a complete bionic limb. There have been researches that have been carried out in the United States but they did not make much progress because there were a lot of problems that were going on with regards to prevent the infection that was occurring because of the contact of the skin with the metal.
It is really striking to know that there are about 250,000 people in the United States and the Europe who undergo amputation every year and with this technology, there would be about 30 percent of the people who are going to find a new life coming their way and with no complications at all.


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Acid Reflux Can Be Healed Naturally

There are a lot of people throughout the world who are suffering from the acid reflux disease and the lives of these people are being greatly affected. There are a lot of people who are using a lot of different remedies to take care of this problem and they find a benefit from acid reflux for a short period of time and then this problem starts to recur again. Well we can easily understand from the name of acid reflux disease that the acid refluxes from the stomach into the esophagus.

The environment of the stomach is acidic and the acid is being constantly produced in the stomach, it must be known that the wall of the stomach is being coated up by the mucosa and it is a protective covering that protects the stomach from the acid corrosion, but the environment of the stomach walls is not the environment of the walls of the esophagus or the walls of the duodenum, which is the first part of the duodenum that is connected to the stomach distally. The normal pH value of the stomach is about 3.0 to 4.0 and it can go as low as to about 1.2. The stomach reaches this pH value because it acts on the food and breaks them down so that they are easily digestible by the duodenum, jejunum, ileum and other parts of the large intestine.

Another thing that is very important to mention here is that the environment of the stomach is entirely different from the environment of the esophagus that is connected to the proximal part of the stomach. The normal pH of the esophagus is between 4.0 and 6.0, which shows that there is a lot difference between the environments of these two structures. The major cause of the gastroesophageal reflux disease is the inability of the lower esophageal sphincter to close properly. When the lower esophageal sphincter is unable to close properly, then the acid just gets propelled from the stomach into the esophagus. Another factor that is related to the gastroesophageal reflux disease is the decrease in the esophageal and gastric motility and delayed gastric emptying along with the inability of proper closure of the lower esophageal sphincter leads to the reflux disease.

Let us have a look at the anatomy of the lower esophageal sphincter. It is a muscular part that joins the esophagus and the stomach and is known as the lower esophageal sphincter or the cardiac sphincter. The purpose of this sphincter is to serve as a valve that separates the esophagus and the stomach and it closes tightly so that the contents of the stomach do not cross into the esophagus. When we eat the food passes from the mouth into the pharynx and then into the esophagus and then the food moves down with the peristaltic movements and causes the lower esophageal to open. It must be taken into account that this valve is a one way valve and it just keeps closed, only opens when the food passes down the esophagus into the stomach and does not allow the contents of the stomach into the esophagus. When there is incompetence of the lower esophageal sphincter, there is regurgitation of the food from the stomach into the esophagus and this causes the heartburn symptoms that is what mostly is being described by a lot of people as a symptom that they are suffering from.

The medicine that a lot of people take to overcome the heartburn symptoms is the PPI, which is also known as the proton pump inhibitor that decreases the acid secretion of the stomach and hence the food that is regurgitated is not that acidic. A lot of people experience side effects from the use of the proton pump inhibitors and thus they try to find alternatives to treat their heartburn symptoms, which are very painful. The most common side effects of the proton pump inhibitors include diarrhea, feeling of being sick, constipation, abdominal pain and headaches. It is rare that proton pump inhibitors cause allergic reactions, itching, dizziness, swollen ankles, muscle and joint pain, blurred vision, depression and dry mouth. Another very important aspect is that these drugs can cause inhibition of the stomach and thus create an ideal environment for the microscopic organisms to grow thus causing infection of the stomach. Apart from the side effects it also causes the people to pay a lot of money to get these medicines and causes a burden on their pocket.

There are a lot of natural remedies that can be adopted to treat the reflux symptoms. The best part of using the natural remedies is that the individual does not have to go through the side effects of the medications, as well as the individual does not have to pay the high cost for the medicines that they have to buy the medicines from. The doctors and physicians just ask the people to not use the natural remedies stating that they cause a lot of side effects and should not be used, which I think is not a just opinion or suggestion because the nature has a lot of remedies for a lot of things and that they are used by a billions of people throughout the world who are using it and are able to manage the symptoms that they are going through. To name some of the natural ingredients that can be found at the grocery stores and health stores include herbs such as marshmallow and slippery elm, which have a lot of beneficial properties for people suffering from the heartburn. Along with that licorice, natural honey, as well as aloe vera also soothes out the esophagus and works wonderful in the healing process.

Another natural remedy that can be used is the chewing gum in which the individual when chews the gum results in the production of the saliva, which is alkaline and thus reduces the acidic nature of the stomach hence reducing acidity. Another way or reducing the acid reflux is by eating at least three hours before the bedtime because if one sleeps after just having dinner then the food will gravitate from the stomach into the esophagus and hence it would cause heartburn. Therefore one should not eat anything just before bedtime. Other things that help the heartburn symptoms include Kukicha Twig Tea, having fruits that are not acidic in nature, bananas, walnuts, lemons, salad etc.

It is very important that the food that you are eating must be alkaline in nature and not acidic and you must also learn as to how to eat the right foods and cook the right way so as to avoid the problem of heartburn. It is also important to avoid eating fatty and greasy food because they also cause the problem of heartburn and indigestion. This must also be kept in mind that the problem of heartburn is going to damage your esophagus and if heartburn persists for longer periods of time, it will cause stricture of the esophagus and will narrow the passage of the esophagus, which will prevent the food from going down into the esophagus. Therefore with these simple remedies we can prevent the problem of heartburn and we can really prevent that just with a wise approach by knowing what is right for us to eat along with the natural remedies.


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Red Meat Causing Pancreatic Cancer

Pancreas is a very vital organ of our body and our body depends on this organ to transport the glucose into the cells and this is being done with a hormone known as insulin. If the cells of the pancreas are being burnt out by excess production of insulin then the body will lose a very major function of production of insulin into the blood that would cause the transportation of the glucose into the cells. In this article we will discuss on what pancreas is and what are the different functions of the pancreas and what happens if an individual goes through the cancer of the pancreas and a research that shows that pancreatic cancer can be caused by red meat.

The pancreas is about 6 inches long and it is pear in shape. Discussing the anatomical location of the pancreas, the pancreas is located behind the stomach and it has a collecting duct system that collects the secretions of the pancreas and then transports it to the second part of the duodenum, which is the first part of the small intestine. We can divide the pancreas into three different parts, the first part is the head of the pancreas, which is the broader part of the pancreas, the other part of the pancreas is known as the body and the third part of the pancreas is known as the tail.

Pancreas is a very important organ and it does a lot of major functions in our body. Pancreas produces enzymes that help us regulate the digestive tract with the enzymes such as lipase, protease, and amylase. There are also hormones that are being produced by the pancreas and they are known as the insulin and glucagons. The portion of the pancreas that produces the digestive juices is known as the exocrine area of the pancreas and about 95% of the cancers of the pancreas originate from the exocrine pancreas. On the other hand the other part of the pancreas that produces the hormones is known as the endocrine pancreas. It is that only about 5% of the cancers originate from the endocrine pancreas.
The cancer of the pancreas is a very lethal cancer because it just grows pretty aggressively and that it does not take much time to become a full blown metastatic cancer. Another very important thing that needs to be taken into account right now is that this cancer is just surrounded by a lot of different organs such as stomach, small intestine, bile duct, which is a tube that is originating from gallbladder and that joins along with the duct of the pancreas and then opens into the second part of the duodenum, another organ that makes the bed of the pancreas is spleen, which functions to store the red blood cells and stores the red cells and also causes filtration of the red cells.

The most hazardous thing about the pancreatic cancer is that it just grows at a very fast pace and that it just invades the other organ structures around it and causes the spread of the cancer and that is something that is truly devastating for that individual. Like every disease, the cancer of the pancreas also shows its signs and symptoms that includes loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, loss of weight, pain in the upper abdomen, jaundice, as well as radiation of pain to the back. It must be noted here that these symptoms do not appear in the first phase of the cancer and becomes evident in the later stages and this makes it a very horrible disease, because since it spreads so fast in the body, it lessens the chances of survival of the individual.

If you are suffering from any symptoms that are being described as above, then it is recommended that you should get yourself examined by your doctor as soon as possible because these symptoms might represent pancreatic cancer. Your doctor will be sending you for the ultrasound examination and if there are any growths in the pancreas, then they can be seen through the ultrasound examination. Other investigations that can follow an ultrasound examination include a CT scan, as well as an MRI, which is also known as the magnetic resonance imaging. Another test that is done to check the status of the pancreas is the endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography through which a dye is being injected into the pancreas and the substance (tissue) of the pancreas can be seen and with the help of it, a biopsy can be performed, and then the tissue that is being drawn is stained and looked under a microscope to see if there are any signs of malignant cells in the specimen obtained. The test known as percutaneous transhepatic cholangiography is done to find out the cancer of the pancreas and along with that there can be seen as to what are the different ducts that are being blocked.

The cancer is being treated through different approaches depending upon the age of the individual, whether they are on any therapies or are undergoing through any other diseases. The first approach that can be adopted if the individual is healthy can be the excision and removal of the gland so that the tumor cells do not progress to any other organs that are close to the pancreas, another approach can be to treat the individual with the chemotherapy or the radiotherapy and these decisions can be taken by a physician or a board of the physicians to discuss and see as to what are the best approaches and the best medicines that can be started so that every thing is discussed in detail in the best possible interest of the individual.

There are other researchers that are being carried out to know as to what are the different things that can cause pancreatic cancer and it was found that the individuals who eat red meat are at high risk of developing pancreatic cancers. The researchers conducted a study in which there were about 61,000 women. These women were followed for over 17 years and it was being studied as to what effects they had with the use of fish, poultry and egg consumption. Along the passage of time it was being found that there were about 172 women who were being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. The researchers went into studying the things as to what were the reasons that these women developed pancreatic cancer and it was found that these women were eating red meat over a long period of time whereas on the other hand the women who were using poultry were at a low risk of developing a pancreatic cancer. It was also found that there was no association of pancreatic cancer with the processed meat, fish or the eggs.

This study is going to help a lot in the better understanding of the development of the pancreatic cancer, as this is very important to understand the causes and to prevent that there is a large scale education that needs to be transferred to a lot of individuals so that they can understand that a healthy diet can prevent the development of pancreatic cancer and can save lots of people who can fall victim to this horrible disease.


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Obesity Poses A Recurrent Risk For Prostate Cancer

Prostate is a male reproductive gland that functions to produce the fluid for the semen and that functions to transport the sperm during the male orgasm. If we study the structure of the prostate gland, it is being made of about 30% muscular tissue and the rest of it is glandular tissue. The prostate gland is present at the neck of the bladder and then it opens into the urethra to pass on the prostatic secretions along with the semen to add bulk to it. It is being reported that by the age of 70, almost all men have a little enlargement of the prostate. If that enlargement is not significant enough, then there are no symptoms that are evident, but if the enlargement becomes significant then it presents itself in the obstruction of the urethra, which in turn leads to the obstruction of the urine, which is a serious condition and that is something that is an acute condition and needs to be resolved immediately because the urine gets collected more and more in the urinary bladder and then the urinary bladder becomes distended and the urine needs to be taken out of the bladder or the bladder could get ruptured and the bladder distension itself is a pretty painful condition.

This prostate enlargement should not be considered as a cancer of the prostate because there is another condition of the prostate that exists known as the benign prostatic hyperplasia also known as the BPH or it could be prostatitis. Benign prostatic hyperplasia is not cancer but is a benign condition, however, the benign prostatic hyperplasia as well as the prostate cancer are the conditions that can coexist together. Benign prostatic hypertrophy beings in men over the age of 50 and the symptoms that are caused because of it includes a weak urinary stream, difficulty to initiate the urinary stream, frequent urination, frequent awakening at night to urinate, incomplete bladder emptying sensation or complete inability to urinate.

Until and unless the symptoms start to occur because of the benign prostatic hyperplasia, the doctors do not think that the treatment is necessary for the benign prostatic hyperplasia, but if the symptoms are occurring then the treatment is required. This condition can be treated with the medications, as well as nonsurgical procedures that are done to remove the excess tissue such as the heat procedure.
There have been researches that are done and it has been found that the men who are obese are at an increased risk of recurrence of the cancer even if they have undergone the radiotherapy and the chemotherapy for the prostate cancer. The researchers said that there are a lot of mechanisms in which the obesity can promote the development and the progression of the cancer. They added that this combination or link of obesity with different cancers is being established by studying the different populations, experimentations and doing clinical researches on humans.

The studies have been carried out in which they have mentioned that the prostate cancers are present in the countries and the socioeconomic groups where the diet is rich in sugar, fat, red meat and is pretty less in the fiber, fruits, as well as the vegetables. Since it has been found out that the cancer is linked to obesity, there have also been studies that have proved along with time that the individuals who have been going through cancer and have been able to fight well against the cancer and are able to have been cured from that are at an increased risk of developing the cancer again if they are following a trend of gaining weight and are getting obese at a very high rate. Controlling the weight not only improves the chances of not having a recurrent cancer, but it also improves the quality of life of the individuals who are suffering from diabetes or other cardiovascular diseases.

There are many cancers that are known to occur because of the excess of fatty tissue inside the body. There are a lot of hormones that are involved in obesity and they play a role in the initiation and the promotion of the cancer at almost all levels. There are about four mechanisms that are being known in which the increased hormone secretion can cause promotion of cancer development. In the first mechanism, obesity leads to the production of the growth promoting steroid hormones and these can bind to the nuclear receptors in the hormone dependent tumor cells. The second mechanism is that the free hormone levels are affected by hormone-hormone interactions as in the case where the upper body obesity is associated with the reduced sex hormone binding globulin levels that leads to the increased free levels of circulating estrogen and testosterone. The third mechanism is that the steroid hormone action can trigger increased oxidant stress promoting cell proliferation and DNA damage. It has been known that the androgens have shown to increase the oxidant stress in the cancer cells of the prostate and that the defensive process to combat the oxidant effects that are shown to be impaired during the early phase of the cancer.

Therefore it is being shown that the paracrine factors and the hormones that stimulate the production of the steroid hormones in the cancer tissue is increased in obesity. It is also being noted that a lot of the paracrine factors that are the cytokines are being produced by the fat cells and the white blood cells. The increased levels of the cytokines are linked with obesity and these levels go down with weight loss. At earlier times, there were a lot of people who lost their lives to the infections, but these days the trend has changed and a lot of people are losing their lives to the diseases such as cancer and heart diseases.

The fact on which it is determined that the individual is overweight or underweight is the body mass index also known as the BMI, which is a ratio of height to weight. It was also found that the individuals who were obese were likely the ones who were diagnosed with prostate cancer at a younger age and these were mostly African Americans.

With this research, the scientists are hoping that they will be able to devise strategies with which they will be educating the masses between the link of obesity and the prostate cancer and what are the different possible ways with which they can take control of their increasing weight so that there is a lesser chance for them to develop the prostate cancer.


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Keep your Arteries Healthy with Chelation

Chelation is a process of removing heavy metals from the body. The intake of the metals in different forms causes problems which can only be treated by the removal of these heavy metals from the body. During the world war, most of the people suffered due to the ingestion of lead. This ingestion of the foreign particles composed of metals such as lead creates problem at a later stage. Chelation is used to remove these toxic metals from the body. Chelation uses chemicals that can make these toxins amalgamate and settle. The amalgamated metals are then thrown out of the body. There are several Chelation methods that are used for this process. One of the methods, which are known as oral Chelation involves the consumption of chemicals orally that can make the metals settle in the body. One chemical that is commonly used is EDTA. EDTA Chelation is one of the most efficient ways of removing the toxins from the body. Chelation is also used to prevent the contraction of the arteries due the presence of metals in the body. To know more about the same you can take the help of the internet and the different health blogs.


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Antioxidants Help Adults Breathe Easier

There are a lot of people throughout the world who are suffering from the lung problems such as asthma, COPD etc. and there have been a severe decline in the normal respiratory capacity when these individuals are exposed to an allergenic environment. There have been a lot of researches that have been conducted and there have been a lot of new medicines that have been brought out in the market that have helped millions of people throughout the world. There have been researches that have been still carried out to find as to what are the different ways that the people who are suffering from lung problems can benefit from those researches.

According to a latest research, the scientists have found that the beta-carotene that is present in the different foods can really help the individuals who are suffering from the lung function capacity either through the different lung problems or either through the declining lung capacity because of the age factor. In the study that was being carried out for well over ten years it was found by analyzing and comparing the breath tests of the different subjects that the individuals who have levels of beta carotene in their blood, which is an antioxidant have about 20% more lung function capacity than the individuals who had very low levels of the beta-carotene in their blood. It was also stated that increase in the levels of the beta-carotene counteracts the effect of one year of aging, which is a remarkable discovery in terms of benefiting millions of people throughout the world.

Another factor that really impairs the lung function capacity is the habit of smoking that is being done by millions and millions of people throughout the world. Smoking not only impairs the lung function capacity of the individuals, but also is a leading cause of cancer in these individuals. Thus in this study it was found that if the beta-carotene is combined with vitamin E, which is also an antioxidant, it was found that it prevented the decline of the lung function capacity due to smoking. There are a lot of smokers throughout the world and the smoking habits of these individuals vary, like there are people who smoke one pack per day, there are some who smoke two packs per day and there are some who smoke half a pack a day or even less. So, the effect of smoking in each of these individuals is different. Obviously the individuals who are smoking more are the ones who are at greater risk of smoking hazards in terms of decreased lung function capacity as well as developing cancer. According to the study it was found that the smokers who are smoking greater than a pack a day and they do not have good levels of beta-carotene as well as vitamin E levels in their blood are the ones who develop and show twice the decline in the lung function capacity. There are also physicians who stated that the smokers who want their lung function capacity to improve, must quit smoking because the right vitamins to improve the lung function cannot help them much.

The research that was conducted on finding that the antioxidants help improve the lung function capacity was conducted on about 1,194 individuals who were all adults and they were of the ages from about 22 to 44, were enrolled in the study. Out of these individuals there were about 40% of the individuals who were lifelong smokers. The data had been documented for all of the individuals throughout the study so that a proper comparison can be made and the conclusions can be derived from them so that it can be seen clearly as to what are the effects of these vitamins on the lung function capacity. When the lung function of these individuals was measured, it was done by doing a forced expiratory volume test, which is also denoted as FEV1, whereas 1 represents the forced expiratory volume in one minute time. The results that were derived from these tests showed that the beta-carotene truly protected the lung function capacity of the individuals over the span of eight years in the general population and it was also found that the individuals who were getting beta-carotene and vitamin E protected a lot of the lung function capacity of the individuals, which in general terms is pretty worse if seen in the general population who are heavy smokers and do not have enough beta-carotene and vitamin E in their blood.

A fact that is known regarding the lung function capacity is that the forced expiratory volume in one minute, (FEV1) decline gradually every year to about 29.8 milliliters. It is also a fact that is being brought into documentation, which shows that the individuals who have low beta-carotene and vitamin E in their blood levels are the ones who get a decline of about 36.5 milliliters after a year. It was also brought into light that the individuals who are obese are the ones who suffer the most in terms of rapid lung function capacity every year and that the beta-carotene can really help these individuals to overcome the hazards of decreased lung function capacity so that these individuals live their life at the fullest and prevent themselves from gradually deteriorating health.

This research was conducted on the theoretical basis in which the researchers believed that the oxidative stress might contribute to the obstruction of the airway over time and that is why they started looking at the blood levels to see as to how much of the level of the antioxidants is present in the blood of the individuals and what is the current lung function capacity of these individuals so that they can see whether their theory is correct. They mentioned that the beta-carotene and the vitamin E were the only antioxidants that have showed the benefit of preventing the decline of the lung capacity. It was also added that vitamin E was helpful only in the heavy smokers.

Along with the antioxidants that help the lungs, the researchers said that the importance of a healthy diet has its own ground, as these supplements alone cannot help to keep the lungs strong and healthy to perform their function at the same status over the long run. So the importance of a healthy diet has its own place and that the people who are suffering from the lung problems must take a healthy diet along with the antioxidants in a combination so that the best results can be achieved.

An important note that needs to be made here is that the individuals who want to start taking beta-carotene must consult their physicians first because the individuals who are high smokers and are taking high amounts of beta-carotene are the ones who are at twice the risk of developing the tobacco related cancers. The women who are non-smoking and take high doses of beta-carotene show a reduced risk of cancer.

This research is going to help millions of people throughout the world and they will be able to live a much better life than what they had been living for quite some time.


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Air Conditioners Causing Obesity

Obesity is a worldwide problem and there are a lot of people who are falling victims to this problem. Generally speaking, people do not consider obesity as a problem, but it is a very big problem that gives rise to a lot of problems in the individuals. It is being noted that a lot of people just start to live with it rather than thinking that they should do something about it and they keep on gaining weight till they are obese and start to go through a lot of problems that are related to weight. It is being studied that there are about 30 percent of people in the US alone that are from the ages of 20 years and older, which makes the figures to go up to about 60 million individuals who are obese and these statistics are being provided by the National Center for Health Services. These figures are really alarming because this figure has risen to great numbers in the span of only about 20 years. The most alarming thing that is being seen is that about 13 percent of the individuals, which totals to about 9 million of individuals are young people who are from the ages of 6-19 who are considered to be overweight.

It is of a great concern that these numbers are not stopping there to where they are but they are constantly increasing with every tick of the clock. There are a lot of health conditions that are being related directly to the obesity that includes hypertension, dyslipidemia, which means increase in the levels of the total cholesterol and triglycerides, type 2 diabetes, coronary artery disease, stroke, gallbladder disease, osteoarthritis, sleep apnea and respiratory problems, as well as cancers that include endometrial, breast cancer, prostate cancer, as well as colon cancers. It is considered as one of the goals that by the year 2010 that the prevalence of obesity that is among the adults must be less than about 15% and as of now if the situation is being seen closely, it is being seen that the situation of obesity is continuing to worsen where it should be taking a turn to improve.

There has been a recent research that was being conducted to understand as to whether the air conditioned environments during the hot summer days that keep all of us cool and comfortable are actually the ones that are getting us gain a lot of weight and there was a general question that was being asked on an open forum for all of us to think that whether these environments are really affecting us the way it is being perceived. It was being said that when the individuals are in a house where they are in a heating system or an air conditioner environment, our bodies just do not regulate the temperature, but it is that we regulate the temperatures around us. When we are not in an environment where there is heating system or the air conditioners our bodies tend to regulate the temperatures and when they do that, they spend the amount of energy from our body to do that and thus we utilize the fat in our body to perform that function. It is being said that it can be this factor that is causing a lot of population of America to go through the epidemic of obesity and obesity is something that is just a gateway to a lot of different health problems that are taking place in a lot of individuals and this needs to be controlled and this needs to be controlled on an urgent basis.

There are a lot of factors that can be contributing to the problem of obesity, which includes lack of exercise, eating unhealthy foods, and apart from these basic things the other factors that contribute to obesity are medications that cause obesity, sleep deprivation, quitting smoking etc. All these things cause obesity and apart from the medical conditions, rest of the things are such that we can control on our own and for that matter we should be very serious about controlling them because our health must matter to us. At this day and age when we have a lot of information on so many different things, we must know as to what are the different factors that are involved in our life that are causing us to gain such weight and what we can do to prevent that because it is we who should be taking a serious step to change our lives or else we are going to go on a path that is going to be really horrific for us in the years to come.

Apart from the factors that are being explained above, there are genetic factors that are also playing a part in them gaining weight, so it is really important that the healthy lifestyle must be something that is being adopted so that a lot of individuals are able to live a healthy life and others who are seeing them can adopt a positive lifestyle. There are a lot of physicians who said that it might not be the case that air conditioned environment plays an important role in causing a lot of people to be obese but it is what the people are eating and what are their lifestyles is what matters the most. They said that there are a lot of people who are living in an air conditioned environment and they are not gaining any weight because they are having healthy lifestyles where they eat properly and they are doing exercise on a regular basis and that is what is keeping them healthy.

So it can be said that the people who are living in an air conditioned environment and they are not eating a healthy diet, as well as they are not exercising are the ones who are at the extreme risk of getting obese and if that is not managed properly, then it is going to be an epidemic that sweeps up a lot of people throughout and it will increase the cost of managing the health issues at a very high budget and that is something that can be really disastrous for us all.

Another important thing that needs to be mentioned here is that it is not only one country that is suffering from the disaster of this problem but it is the entire world that is suffering from it and it should be a joint venture throughout the world in terms of controlling this disorder and that everyone should participate and take their responsibility to control this and rather than taunting the people who are suffering from diabetes, we should encourage the individuals who are obese so that they lose weight and are able to live a healthy life.


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