A subdural hematoma (SDH) is a collection of blood below the inner layer of the dura but external to the brain and arachnoid membrane (see the images below). Subdural hematoma is the most common type of traumatic intracranial mass lesion. Subdural hematoma occurs not only in patients with severe head injury but also in patients with less severe head injuries, particularly those who are elderly or who are receiving anticoagulants. Subdural hematoma may also be spontaneous or caused by a procedure, such as a lumbar puncture (see Etiology). Rates of mortality and morbidity can be high, even with the best medical and neurosurgical care (see Prognosis). Subdural hematomas are usually characterized on the basis of their size and location and the amount of time elapsed since the inciting event age (ie, whether they are acute, subacute, or chronic). When the inciting event is unknown, the appearance of the hematoma on neuroimaging studies can help determine when the hematoma occurred. These factors, as well as the neurologic and medical condition of the patient, determine the course of treatment and may also influence the outcome. Generally, acute subdural hematomas are less than 72 hours old and are hyperdense compared with the brain on computed tomography scans. The subacute phase begins 3-7 days after acute injury. Chronic subdural hematomas develop over the course of weeks and are hypodense compared with the brain. However, subdural hematomas may be mixed in nature, such as when acute bleeding has occurred into a chronic subdural hematoma. Presentation varies widely in acute subdural hematoma (see Clinical). Many of these patients are comatose on admission. However, approximately 50% of patients with head injuries who require emergency neurosurgery present with head injuries that are classified as moderate or mild (Glasgow Coma Scale scores 9-13 and 14-15, respectively). Many of these patients harbor intracranial mass lesions. In a large series of patients who developed intracranial hematomas requiring emergent decompression, more than half had lucid intervals and were able to make conversation between the time of their injury and subsequent deterioration. In a more comprehensive review of the literature on the surgical treatment of acute subdural hematomas, lucid intervals were noted in up to 38% of cases. These patients may be more likely to benefit from medical and surgical intervention when instituted in a timely fashion (ie, before further neurological deterioration).

Cardiac tamponade Email this page to a friend Print Facebook Twitter Bookmark & Share Cardiac tamponade is pressure on the heart that occurs when blood or fluid builds up in the space between the heart muscle (myocardium) and the outer covering sac of the heart (pericardium). Causes In this condition, blood or fluid collects in the pericardium, the sac surrounding the heart. This prevents the heart ventricles from expanding fully. The excess pressure from the fluid prevents the heart from working properly. As a result, the body does not get enough blood. Cardiac tamponade can occur due to: Dissecting aortic aneurysm (thoracic) End-stage lung cancer Heart attack (acute MI) Heart surgery Pericarditis caused by bacterial or viral infections Wounds to the heart

What is Venipuncture? While venipuncture can refer to a variety of procedures, including the insertion of IV tubes into a vein for the direct application of medicine to the blood stream, in phlebotomy venipuncture refers primarily to using a needle to create a blood evacuation point. As a phlebotomist, you must be prepared to perform venipuncture procedures on adults, children, and even infants while maintaining a supportive demeanor and procedural accuracy. Using a variety of blood extraction tools, you must be prepared to respond to numerous complications in order to minimize the risk to the patient while still drawing a clean sample. In its entirety, venipuncture includes every step in a blood draw procedure—from patient identification to puncturing the vein to labeling the sample. Patient information, needle placement, and emotional environment all play a part in the collection of a blood sample, and it's the fine details that can mean the difference between a definite result and a false positive. After placing the tourniquet and finding the vein, it's time for the phlebotomist to make the complex choice on what procedure will best suit the specific situation. Keeping this in mind, it should be noted that the following information is not an instructional guide on how to perform these phlebotomy procedures. Rather, the information below is intended to serve as an educational resource to inform you of the equipment and procedures you will use. Venipuncture Technqiues Venipuncture with an Evacuated or Vacuum Tube: This is the standard procedure for venipuncture testing. Using a needle and sheath system, this procedure allows multiple sample tubes to be filled through a single puncture. This procedure is ideal for reducing trauma to patients. After drawing the blood, the phlebotomist must make sure the test stopper is correctly coded and doesn't contact exposed blood between samples. Venipuncture with a Butterfly Needle : This is a specialized procedure that utilizes a flexible, butterfly needle adaptor. A butterfly needle has two plastic wings (one on either side of the needle) and is connected to a flexible tube, which is then attached to a reservoir for the blood. Due to the small gauge of the needle and the flexibility of the tube, this procedure is used most often in pediatric care, where the patients tend to have smaller veins and are more likely to move around during the procedure. After being inserted into a vein at a shallow angle, the butterfly needle is held in place by the wings, which allow the phlebotomist to grasp the needle very close to the skin. Phlebotomists should be careful to watch for blood clots in the flexible tubing. Venipuncture with a Syringe: This technique is typically only used when there is a supply shortage, or when a technician thinks it is the appropriate method. It uses the classic needle, tube, and plunger system, operating in a similar manner to the vacuum tube but requiring multiple punctures for multiple samples. Additionally, after the blood is drawn it must be transferred to the appropriate vacuum tube for testing purposes. If you choose to use this method, remember to check for a sterile seal, and use a safety device when transferring the sample. Fingerstick (or Fingerprick): This procedure uses a medical lance to make a small incision in the upper capillaries of a patient's finger in order to collect a tiny blood sample. It is typically used to test glucose and insulin levels. When performing a Fingerstick, the phlebotomist should remember to lance the third or fourth finger on the non-dominant arm. Never lance the tip or the center of the finger pad; instead, lance perpendicular to the fingerprint lines. Heelstick (or Heelprick): Similar to the Fingerstick procedure, this process is used on infants under six months of age. A medical lance is used to create a small incision on the side of an infant's heel in order to collect small amounts of blood for screening. As with a Fingerstick, the incision should be made perpendicular to the heel lines, and it should be made far enough to the left or right side of the heel to avoid patient agitation. Before performing a Heelstick, the infant's heel should be warmed to about 42 degrees Celsius in order to stimulate capillary blood and gas flow. Therapeutic Phlebotomy: This involves the actual letting of blood in order to relieve chemical and pressure imbalances within the blood stream. Making use of a butterfly needle, this therapy provides a slow removal of up to one pint of blood. Though the blood removed is not used for blood transfusions, the procedure and concerns are the same as with routine blood donation. As with any phlebotomy procedure, one should pay close attention to the patient in order to prevent a blood overdraw. Bleeding Time: A simple diagnostic test that is used to determine abnormalities in blood clotting and platelet production. A shallow laceration is made, followed by sterile swabbing of the wound every 30 seconds until the bleeding stops. Average bleed times range between one and nine minutes. As a phlebotomist, you should familiarize yourself with the application and cross-application of these procedures in order to recognize when a procedure is necessary, and what the risks are for each.

Retropharyngeal abscess (RPA) produces the symptoms of sore throat, fever, neck stiffness, and stridor. RPA occurs less commonly today than in the past because of the widespread use of antibiotics for suppurative upper respiratory infections. The incidence of RPA in the United States is rising, however. Once almost exclusively a disease of children, RPA is observed with increasing frequency in adults. It poses a diagnostic challenge for the emergency physician because of its infrequent occurrence and variable presentation.

intracranial hematoma occurs when a blood vessel ruptures within your brain or between your skull and your brain. The collection of blood (hematoma) compresses your brain tissue. An intracranial hematoma may occur because the fluid that surrounds your brain can't absorb the force of a sudden blow or a quick stop. Then your brain may slide forcefully against the inner wall of your skull and become bruised. Although some head injuries — such as one that causes only a brief lapse of consciousness (concussion) — can be minor, an intracranial hematoma is potentially life-threatening and often requires immediate treatment. An intracranial hematoma often, but not always, requires surgery to remove the blood.

The hepatitis E virus, responsible for major epidemics of viral hepatitis in subtropical and tropical countries, was cloned only 7 years ago.1 Hepatitis E was found to belong to the family of Caliciviridae, which includes the Norwalk virus—a common cause of gastroenteritis in humans—and consists of a single, plus-strand RNA genome of approximately 7.2 kb without an envelope (Fig. 1). The virus contains at least three open reading frames encoding viral proteins against which antibodies are made on exposure. These antibodies, especially those against the capsid protein derived from the second open reading frame2 and a protein of unknown function derived from the third open reading frame, are detected by currently available serologic assays. Retrospective studies on stored sera of past epidemics of viral hepatitis in Mexico, Africa, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Burma, Nepal, and Borneo have revealed that all were caused by strains of hepatitis E. In addition, hepatitis E was found to be responsible for the hepatitis epidemic in the southern part of Xinjiang, China, in which 120,000 persons became infected between September 1986 and April 1988.3 Hepatitis E predominantly affects young adults (15 to 40 years old). The symptoms of hepatitis E are similar to those of hepatitis A. Frequently, a prodrome consisting of anorexia, nausea, low-grade fever, and right upper abdominal pain is present 3 to 7 days before jaundice develops. Aminotransferase levels peak (usually between 1,000 and 2,000 U/L) near the onset of symptoms; bilirubin levels (10 to 20 mg/dL) peak later. Jaundice usually resolves after 1 to 2 weeks. In about 10% of cases, the disease is fulminant—especially in pregnant women, among whom mortality rates as high as 20% due to hemorrhagic and thrombotic complications have been reported. No evidence has suggested that hepatitis E can cause chronic infection. Transmission is by the fecal-oral route, predominantly through fecally contaminated drinking water supplies. In addition, however, preliminary reports have suggested transmission of the hepatitis E virus through blood transfusions. Volunteer studies confirmed the presence of the virus in serum and feces before and during clinical disease.4 The virus is shed into feces approximately 1 week before symptoms develop. The incubation period varies from 2 to 9 weeks (mean duration, approximately 45 days). Until now, a few reports had described symptomatic hepatitis E acquired in Europe;5, 6 all patients with symptomatic hepatitis E in the United States were travelers returning from Mexico, Africa, or the Far East, in whom hepatitis E developed after their return home.7 In this issue of the Mayo Clinic Proceedings (pages 1133 to 1136), Kwo and associates describe a case of hepatitis E in a man who had not left the United States during the previous 10 years. Specific serologic tests for hepatitis E virus IgG (enzyme immunoassays and a fluorescent antibody blocking assay) and IgM8 (US strain-specific enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay with use of synthetic polypeptides deduced from the viral genome, as shown in Figure 1), developed at Abbott Laboratories (IgG and IgM) as well as at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (IgG), were used to prove that the patient indeed had acute hepatitis E. Researchers at Abbott Laboratories have prepared a report that describes most of the viral genome in this patient (Fig. I).8 Their results are interesting because this strain from the United States differs considerably from hepatitis E strains isolated in Mexico, Burma, Pakistan, or China. Furthermore, the sequence of the US strain is highly homologous (98% and 94% homology at the amino acid level to the second and third open reading frames, respectively) to a recently isolated hepatitis E strain from American swine.9 This finding suggests that, in the United States, hepatitis E is a zoonosis with the swine population as one of its hosts. This relationship would confirm earlier studies in Asia, where swine were also found to carry variants of the hepatitis E virus.10 Why are these two recent discoveries important for medicine in the United States? First, other sporadic, locally acquired cases of acute hepatitis may be caused by hepatitis E. Second, these back-to-back discoveries strongly suggest that a common natural host for hepatitis E is present in countries with more moderate climates. Because swine do not seem to experience any symptoms associated with infection and because symptoms in humans can be minor or absent, we now may also have an explanation for the 1 to 2% of positive hepatitis E serologic results in blood donors in the United States,11 Netherlands,12 and Italy,6 countries with large swine staples. Clearly, more research needs to be done to confirm this hypothesis. Third, in countries with more moderate climates, hepatitis E may often result in a subclinical infection. Is this variation in manifestation due to less virulent strains, and do sequence variations determine virulence? Fourth, swine may be used as an animal model for study of the disease as well as vaccine development.

What is an Aneurysm? A cerebral or intracranial aneurysm is an abnormal focal dilation of an artery in the brain that results from a weakening of the inner muscular layer (the intima) of a blood vessel wall. The vessel develops a "blister-like" dilation that can become thin and rupture without warning. The resultant bleeding into the space around the brain is called a subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). This kind of hemorrhage can lead to a stroke, coma, and/or death. Aneurysms are usually found at the base of the brain just inside the skull, in an area called the subarachnoid space. In fact, 90 percent of SAHs are attributed to ruptured cerebral aneurysms and the two terms are often used synonymously.

Calcium channel blockers prevent calcium from entering cells of the heart and blood vessel walls, resulting in lower blood pressure. Calcium channel blockers, also called calcium antagonists, relax and widen blood vessels by affecting the muscle cells in the arterial walls. Some calcium channel blockers have the added benefit of slowing your heart rate, which can further reduce blood pressure, relieve chest pain (angina) and control an irregular heartbeat. Examples of calcium channel blockers Some calcium channel blockers are available in short-acting and long-acting forms. Short-acting medications work quickly, but their effects last only a few hours. Long-acting medications are slowly released to provide a longer lasting effect. Several calcium channel blockers are available. Which one is best for you depends on your health and the condition being treated. Examples of calcium channel blockers include: Amlodipine (Norvasc) Diltiazem (Cardizem, Tiazac, others) Felodipine Isradipine Nicardipine Nifedipine (Adalat CC, Afeditab CR, Procardia) Nisoldipine (Sular) Verapamil (Calan, Verelan) In some cases, your doctor might prescribe a calcium channel blocker with other high blood pressure medications or with cholesterol-lowering drugs such as statins.

Skin changes are among the most visible signs of aging. Evidence of increasing age includes wrinkles and sagging skin. Whitening or graying of the hair is another obvious sign of aging. Your skin does many things. It: Contains nerve receptors that allow you to feel touch, pain, and pressure Helps control fluid and electrolyte balance Helps control your body temperature Protects you from the environment Although skin has many layers, it can generally be divided into three main parts: The outer part (epidermis) contains skin cells, pigment, and proteins. The middle part (dermis) contains blood vessels, nerves, hair follicles, and oil glands. The dermis provides nutrients to the epidermis. The inner layer under the dermis (the subcutaneous layer) contains sweat glands, some hair follicles, blood vessels, and fat. Each layer also contains connective tissue with collagen fibers to give support and elastin fibers to provide flexibility and strength.

Fainting occurs when the blood supply to your brain is momentarily inadequate, causing you to lose consciousness. This loss of consciousness is usually brief. Fainting can have no medical significance, or the cause can be a serious disorder. Therefore, treat loss of consciousness as a medical emergency until the signs and symptoms are relieved and the cause is known. Discuss recurrent fainting spells with your doctor. If you feel faint Lie down or sit down. To reduce the chance of fainting again, don't get up too quickly. Place your head between your knees if you sit down. If someone else faints Position the person on his or her back. If the person is breathing, restore blood flow to the brain by raising the person's legs above heart level — about 12 inches (30 centimeters) — if possible. Loosen belts, collars or other constrictive clothing. To reduce the chance of fainting again, don't get the person up too quickly. If the person doesn't regain consciousness within one minute, call 911 or your local emergency number. Check the person's airway to be sure it's clear. Watch for vomiting. Check for signs of circulation (breathing, coughing or movement). If absent, begin CPR. Call 911 or your local emergency number. Continue CPR until help arrives or the person responds and begins to breathe.

A drug allergy is the abnormal reaction of your immune system to a medication. Any medication — over-the-counter, prescription or herbal — is capable of inducing a drug allergy. However, a drug allergy is more likely with certain medications. The most common signs and symptoms of drug allergy are hives, rash or fever. A drug allergy may cause serious reactions, including anaphylaxis, a life-threatening condition that affects multiple body systems. A drug allergy is not the same as drug side effects, the known possible reactions that are listed on a drug label. A drug allergy is also distinct from drug toxicity caused by an overdose of medication.

Acute bronchitis and pneumonia share many of the same symptoms, and some people with acute bronchitis are at risk for getting pneumonia. Although acute bronchitis usually goes away within a few weeks, pneumonia can be a serious condition, especially in older adults. The following table outlines some differences between acute bronchitis and pneumonia. There are variations in symptoms of both conditions, so if you think you might have pneumonia, always check with your doctor.

Homocystinuria is an inherited disorder that affects the metabolism of the amino acid methionine. Amino acids are the building blocks of life. Causes Homocystinuria is inherited in families as an autosomal recessive trait. This means that the child must inherit a non-working copy of the gene from each parent to be seriously affected. Homocystinuria has several features in common with Marfan syndrome, including joint and eye changes. Symptoms Newborn infants appear healthy. Early symptoms, if present, are not obvious. Symptoms may occur as mildly delayed development or failure to thrive. Increasing visual problems may lead to diagnosis of this condition. Other symptoms include: Chest deformities (pectus carinatum, pectus excavatum) Flush across the cheeks High arches of the feet Intellectual disability Knock knees Long limbs Mental disorders Nearsightedness Spidery fingers (arachnodactyly) Tall, thin build

A Pap smear (Papanicolau smear; also known as the Pap test) is a screening test for cervical cancer. The test itself involves collection of a sample of cells from a woman's cervix (the end of the uterus that extends into the vagina) during a routine pelvic exam

HOW BABY GROWS IN THE WOMB DURING PREGNANCY

Image result for Stop Arterial Bleeding The Femoral Artery is located in the crease of the groin area. Pressure placed here will stop bleeding in leg wounds. Direct Pressure and Elevation should be continued while applying pressure to pressure points. Finally, A pressure bandage should be placed over the dressing and wound

Electrophysiology studies test the electrical activity of your heart to find where an arrhythmia (abnormal heartbeat) is coming from. These results can help you and your doctor decide whether you need medicine, a pacemaker, an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD), cardiac ablation or surgery.

Atrial flutter is a type of abnormal heart rate, or arrhythmia. It occurs when the upper chambers of your heart beat too fast. When the chambers in the top of your heart (atria) beat faster than the bottom ones (ventricles), it complicates your heart rhythm

Acute kidney failure occurs when your kidneys suddenly become unable to filter waste products from your blood. When your kidneys lose their filtering ability, dangerous levels of wastes may accumulate, and your blood's chemical makeup may get out of balance. Acute kidney failure — also called acute renal failure or acute kidney injury — develops rapidly over a few hours or a few days. Acute kidney failure is most common in people who are already hospitalized, particularly in critically ill people who need intensive care. Acute kidney failure can be fatal and requires intensive treatment. However, acute kidney failure may be reversible. If you're otherwise in good health, you may recover normal or nearly normal kidney function.

http://tmj-pain-relief.good-info.co What Is Tmj, Grinding Teeth While Sleeping, Tmj Disorder Treatment, Tmj Help, Tmj Night Guard. What is TMJ? The temporomandibular joint is the hinge joint of the jaw that connects the lower jaw (mandible) to the temporal bone of the skull. This joint is an articular disc composed of fibrocartilagenous tissue. It comprises, all in all, of six parts: mandibular condyles, articular surface of the temporal bone, capsule, articular disc, ligaments and lateral pterygoid. The TM Joint facilitates movement of the jaws, thereby allowing essential functions like talking, eating and swallowing. Needless to say, the slightest afflictions caused to this joint, disrupt a great deal of its basic functions. The most common affliction that occurs is the TMJ Disorder. So, what is TMJ Disorder? The TMJ Disorder is a term used to describe an acute inflammation of the TM Joint. It is categorized in three ways: 1.By myofascial pain: The fascia is the tissue that connects the different parts of your body. Fascia around the muscles is called myofascial. Thus, any injury to the myofascial, will automatically adversely affect the muscles. The most common TMJ disorder is associated with myofascial pain in the jaw muscles and neck. 2.By internal injury: Any dislocation, injury, or indeed, any derangement in the joint results in TMJ disorder.