Sperm Meets Egg: Weeks 1 to 3 of Pregnancy. Something magical is about to happen! Watch as the ovulation process occurs, and then millions of sperm swim upstream on a quest to fertilize an egg. ... The egg travels down the fallopian tube, pushed by tiny hairs and awaits the arrival or sperm.

Most people start smoking when they are in their teens and are addicted by the time they reach adulthood. Some have tried to quit but have returned to cigarettes because smoking is such a strong addiction. It is a habit that is very difficult to break. There are many different reasons why people smoke.

Inner Workings tells the story of the ceaseless pull of the human heart — even as it works against the very stoic realism of the brain.

A simple test of fingernail clippings could replace a blood draw as a way to diagnose and monitor type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), with huge implications for tracking the disease in the developing world. Research on this method by a team of Belgian researchers was reported July 28, 2015, at the 2015 American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC) Annual Meeting and Clinical Lab Expo in Atlanta. The team, led by Joris R. Delanghe, MD, PhD, of the Department of Global Chemistry, Microbiology and Immunology at Ghent University, collected nail clippings from 25 people with T2DM and 25 without the disease. The clippings were ground into a powder and tested with an inexpensive FT-IR photometer to measure how much the protein in the nails had bonded with sugar molecules, a process known as glycation. “We found a striking difference in the measurements between the control group and the patients with diabetes,” Delanghe said. In an interview with Evidence-Based Diabetes Management, he said replacing the standard blood test to measure glycated hemoglobin is a huge advantage. In many cultures, he said, “Taking blood is something that cannot be tolerated.” - See more at: http://www.ajmc.com/journals/evidence-based-diabetes-management/2015/september-2015/fingernail-tests-may-offer-cheap-simple-way-to-diagnose-diabetes#sthash.XQxnBcNO.dpuf

Problems that affect ovulation, and the hormones involved with ovulation, are the most common cause of female infertility. They include: Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS). Women with PCOS do not ovulate regularly and they experience infrequent or absent menstrual cycles.

This video: Tennis elbow or lateral epicondylitis is a condition in which the outer part of the elbow becomes sore and tender. The forearm muscles and tendons become damaged from overuse — repeating the same strenuous motions again and again.

Sarcoidosis is an inflammatory disease that affects multiple organs in the body, but mostly the lungs and lymph glands. In people with sarcoidosis, abnormal masses or nodules (called granulomas) consisting of inflamed tissues form in certain organs of the body. These granulomas may alter the normal structure and possibly the function of the affected organ(s).

systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS). This is most likely secondary to sepsis from an infection of the patient's Hickman catheter given the associated skin findings, although culture results are needed to confirm this diagnosis. The patient's low blood pressure is likely secondary to developing septic shock, and he has already appropriately been treated with intravenous fluids. Catheter removal is indicated given his hemodynamic instability. Catheter removal is also indicated in patients with severe sepsis with organ hypoperfusion, endocarditis, suppurative thrombophlebitis, or persistent bacteremia after 72 hours of appropriate antibiotic therapy. Long term catheters should also be removed if culture results are positive for S. aureus, P. aeruginosa, fungi, or mycobacteria.

Premature ventricular contractions (PVCs) are extra, abnormal heartbeats that begin in one of your heart's two lower pumping chambers (ventricles). These extra beats disrupt your regular heart rhythm, sometimes causing you to feel a flip-flop or skipped beat in your chest.

Here we’ll explain the symptoms of pancreatitis, how alcohol causes the condition and the other health problems it can lead to. You probably don’t pay much attention to your pancreas. But that small, tadpole-shaped organ behind your stomach and below your ribcage is pretty important. It produces two essential substances: digestive juices which your intestines use to break down food, and hormones that are involved in digestion, such as insulin, which regulates your blood sugar levels. Pancreatitis is when your pancreas becomes inflamed and its cells are damaged. Heavy drinking can cause pancreatitis. But if you drink within the government’s low risk unit guidelines, you should avoid upsetting this important organ.

Ten percent of all pregnancies are complicated by hypertension. Eclampsia and preeclampsia account for about half of these cases worldwide, and these conditions have been recognized and described for years despite the general lack of understanding of the disease. [1] In the fifth century, Hippocrates noted that headaches, convulsions, and drowsiness were ominous signs associated with pregnancy. In 1619, Varandaeus coined the term eclampsia in a treatise on gynecology. [2, 3]

Cerebral palsy refers to brain damage that occurs before a child is five years old. Therefore, adults cannot develop cerebral palsy. However, cerebral palsy does not get better or worse with age, so when a child has the condition, he or she will continue to have the condition into adulthood.

You get motion sickness when one part of your balance-sensing system (your inner ear , eyes, and sensory nerves) senses that your body is moving, but the other parts don't. For example, if you are in the cabin of a moving ship, your inner ear may sense the motion of waves, but your eyes don't see any movement.

A facet joint injection is a relatively simple, straightforward procedure, and is usually performed in an office based procedure suite or in an ambulatory surgical center. As with many spinal injections, facet joint injections are best performed using fluoroscopy (live X-ray) for guidance to properly target and place the needle (and to help avoid nerve injury or other injury).

The fovea was moved 425 to 1,700 microm (965+/-262 microm) superiorly or inferiorly. Follow-up time was 2 to 12 months (median 8 months). Complications included macular pucker (3 eyes), subfoveal hemorrhage (2 eyes), macular hole (1 eye), and progression of cataract in phakic eyes (3 eyes). Thirteen of 20 eyes showed various degrees of proliferative vitreoretinopathy with epiretinal membrane formation over the inferior peripheral retina with the inferior retinal detachment stabilized by the silicone oil. One eye progressed to phthisis bulbi. Initial visual acuity ranged from 20/80 to 20/800 (median 20/150) and final visual acuity ranged from light perception to 20/200 (median 20/1000).

UW Health orthopedic surgeon Richard Illgen has pioneered robotic-assisted knee replacement and serves as a regional and national expert in these techniques. Learn more: http://www.uwhealth.org/49421

The menstrual cycle is the regular natural change that occurs in the female reproductive system like the uterus and ovaries that make pregnancy possible. The cycle is required for the production of ovocytes, and for the preparation of the uterus for pregnancy.

How to Check Cervical Mucus

The usual reason given for people getting fat is that they eat too much and/or exercise too little. That reflects one of the basic laws of thermodynamics—I forget which one. The amount of energy you put into a system minus the energy you take out has to be stored somewhere i.e. FAT! This formulation—true though it is—does not entirely explain obesity since some people seem to eat more than fat people and exercise no more than these same fat people, and yet they are not fat! Chalking this fact up to the general perversity of the universe is not sufficient explanation. Other factors must come into play. I mention below some of the ideas thoughtful people have proposed to explain why fat people become fat: