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During normal sleep, you cycle through REM and four stages of non-REM (NREM) sleep numerous times a night. Stage 1 of NREM sleep is the lightest, while stage 4 is the deepest. When you're repeatedly interrupted and can't cycle normally through these types and stages of sleep, you may feel tired, fatigued, and have trouble concentrating and paying attention while you're awake. Sleepiness puts you at greater risk for car wrecks and other accidents.
Heart sounds are the noises generated by the beating heart and the resultant flow of blood through it. Specifically, the sounds reflect the turbulence created when the heart valves snap shut. In cardiac auscultation, an examiner may use a stethoscope to listen for these unique and distinct sounds that provide important auditory data regarding the condition of the heart. In healthy adults, there are two normal heart sounds often described as a lub and a dub (or dup), that occur in sequence with each heartbeat. These are the first heart sound (S1) and second heart sound (S2), produced by the closing of the atrioventricular valves and semilunar valves, respectively. In addition to these normal sounds, a variety of other sounds may be present including heart murmurs, adventitious sounds, and gallop rhythms S3 and S4. Heart murmurs are generated by turbulent flow of blood, which may occur inside or outside the heart. Murmurs may be physiological (benign) or pathological (abnormal). Abnormal murmurs can be caused by stenosis restricting the opening of a heart valve, resulting in turbulence as blood flows through it. Abnormal murmurs may also occur with valvular insufficiency (regurgitation), which allows backflow of blood when the incompetent valve closes with only partial effectiveness. Different murmurs are audible in different parts of the cardiac cycle, depending on the cause of the murmur.
Smoking causes: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a disease that gets worse over time and causes wheezing, shortness of breath, chest tightness, and other symptoms. Emphysema, a condition in which the walls between the air sacs in your lungs lose their ability to stretch and shrink back.
Scoliosis is a sideways curvature of the spine that occurs most often during the growth spurt just before puberty. While scoliosis can be caused by conditions such as cerebral palsy and muscular dystrophy, the cause of most scoliosis is unknown.
The term subclavian steal describes retrograde blood flow in the vertebral artery associated with proximal ipsilateral subclavian artery stenosis or occlusion, usually in the setting of subclavian artery occlusion or stenosis proximal to the origin of the vertebral artery. Alternatively, innominate artery disease has also been associated with retrograde flow in the ipsilateral vertebral artery, particularly where the subclavian artery origin is involved. Subclavian steal is frequently asymptomatic and may be discovered incidentally on ultrasound or angiographic examination for other indications, or it may be prompted by a clinical examination finding of reduced unilateral upper limb pulse or blood pressure. In some cases, patients may develop upper limb ischemic symptoms due to reduced arterial flow in the setting of subclavian artery occlusion, or they may develop neurologic symptoms due to posterior circulation ischemia associated with exercise of the ipsilateral arm.[1] Treatment has traditionally consisted of open subclavian artery revascularization, typically via carotid-subclavian bypass or subclavian artery transposition, which are generally durable procedures. Newer, less invasive options include endovascular intervention with recanalization as appropriate and angioplasty and stenting if required. The clinical relevance of subclavian steal was described in 1961 by Reivich, Holling and Roberts; however, the recognition of retrograde vertebral artery flow dates back another 100 years to Harrison and Smyth. Some papers, including a previous version of this article, advocate restricting the term subclavian steal to patients with neurologic symptoms only, but this is incorrect in view of the substantial literature using this term to describe the hemodynamic scenario of retrograde vertebral flow and proximal subclavian artery disease.
Your body's immune system protects you from disease and infection. But if you have an autoimmune disease, your immune system attacks healthy cells in your body by mistake. Autoimmune diseases can affect many parts of the body. No one is sure what causes autoimmune diseases. They do tend to run in families. Women - particularly African-American, Hispanic-American, and Native-American women - have a higher risk for some autoimmune diseases. There are more than 80 types of autoimmune diseases, and some have similar symptoms. This makes it hard for your health care provider to know if you really have one of these diseases, and if so, which one. Getting a diagnosis can be frustrating and stressful. Often, the first symptoms are fatigue, muscle aches and a low fever. The classic sign of an autoimmune disease is inflammation, which can cause redness, heat, pain and swelling. The diseases may also have flare-ups, when they get worse, and remissions, when symptoms get better or disappear. Treatment depends on the disease, but in most cases one important goal is to reduce inflammation. Sometimes doctors prescribe corticosteroids or other drugs that reduce your immune response.
CPAP, or continuous positive airway pressure, is a treatment that uses mild air pressure to keep the airways open. CPAP typically is used by people who have breathing problems, such as sleep apnea. CPAP also may be used to treat preterm infants whose lungs have not fully developed.
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a disease of the central nervous system estimated to affect 2.3 million people worldwide. It is a chronic disease in which the immune system abnormally attacks the insulation and support around the nerve cells (myelin sheath) in the brain, spinal cord and optic nerves, causing inflammation and consequent damage. MS is a leading cause of non-traumatic disability in young people, usually striking between 20 and 40 years of age. There is no cure for MS, but research continues to better understand and treat the disease.