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A pneumothorax (noo-moe-THOR-aks) is a collapsed lung. A pneumothorax occurs when air leaks into the space between your lung and chest wall. This air pushes on the outside of your lung and makes it collapse. In most cases, only a portion of the lung collapses.
Niemann-Pick disease is a condition that affects many body systems. It has a wide range of symptoms that vary in severity. Niemann-Pick disease is divided into four main types: type A, type B, type C1, and type C2. These types are classified on the basis of genetic cause and the signs and symptoms of the condition. Infants with Niemann-Pick disease type A usually develop an enlarged liver and spleen (hepatosplenomegaly) by age 3 months and fail to gain weight and grow at the expected rate (failure to thrive). The affected children develop normally until around age 1 year when they experience a progressive loss of mental abilities and movement (psychomotor regression). Children with Niemann-Pick disease type A also develop widespread lung damage (interstitial lung disease) that can cause recurrent lung infections and eventually lead to respiratory failure. All affected children have an eye abnormality called a cherry-red spot, which can be identified with an eye examination. Children with Niemann-Pick disease type A generally do not survive past early childhood.
Dopamine is the one neurotransmitter that everyone seems to know about. Vaughn Bell once called it the Kim Kardashian of molecules, but I don’t think that’s fair to dopamine. Suffice it to say, dopamine’s big. And every week or so, you’ll see a new article come out all about dopamine.
Medulloblastoma is a fast-growing, high-grade tumor. It is the most common of the embryonal tumors—tumors that arise from “emybryonal” or “immature” cells at the earliest stage of their development. The most common symptoms of medulloblastoma include behavioral changes, changes in appetite, symptoms of increased pressure on the brain (eg, headache, nausea, vomiting, and drowsiness, as well as problems with coordination). Unusual eye movements may also occur. Like many tumor types, the exact cause of medulloblastoma is not known. However, scientists are making significant strides in understanding its biology. Changes have been identified in genes and chromosomes (the cell’s DNA blueprints) that may play a role in the development of this tumor. There are also a few rare, genetic health syndromes that are associated with increased risk for developing this tumor.
Bacterial abscess of the liver is relatively rare; however, it has been described since the time of Hippocrates (400 BCE), with the first published review by Bright appearing in 1936. In 1938, Ochsner's classic review heralded surgical drainage as the definitive therapy; however, despite the more aggressive approach to treatment, the mortality remained at 60-80%. [1] The development of new radiologic techniques, the improvement in microbiologic identification, and the advancement of drainage techniques, as well as improved supportive care, have reduced mortality to 5-30%; yet, the prevalence of liver abscess has remained relatively unchanged. Untreated, this infection remains uniformly fatal.
Ultrasound or ultrasonography is a medical imaging technique that uses high frequency sound waves and their echoes. The technique is similar to the echolocation used by bats, whales and dolphins, as well as SONAR used by submarines. In ultrasound, the following events happen: The ultrasound machine transmits high-frequency (1 to 5 megahertz) sound pulses into your body using a probe. The sound waves travel into your body and hit a boundary between tissues (e.g. between fluid and soft tissue, soft tissue and bone). Some of the sound waves get reflected back to the probe, while some travel on further until they reach another boundary and get reflected. The reflected waves are picked up by the probe and relayed to the machine. The machine calculates the distance from the probe to the tissue or organ (boundaries) using the speed of sound in tissue (5,005 ft/s or1,540 m/s) and the time of the each echo's return (usually on the order of millionths of a second). The machine displays the distances and intensities of the echoes on the screen, forming a two dimensional image like the one shown below.
Scoliosis (pronounced sko-lee-o-sis) is a three-dimensional deformity that occurs when the spine becomes abnormally rotated and curved sideways. Most often this deformity has no known cause, in which case it is called idiopathic scoliosis. While the cause is unknown, idiopathic scoliosis does tend to run in families. The specific genes involved have not all been identified yet, and there could be factors beyond genetics as well
Experts once believed that atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries, developed when too much cholesterol clogged arteries with fatty deposits called plaques. ... Researchers have discovered how diabetes, by driving inflammation and slowing blood flow, dramatically accelerates atherosclerosis.Mar 17, 2008 Past studies had shown diabetes to worsen atherosclerosis, but its exact link to related inflammation had remained unclear. The current results provides the first mechanistic description of how diabetes takes away the ability of fast blood flow force to protect blood vessels, arguing that it does so by interfering with ERK5 and its signaling partners.
Anemia is a condition in which the body does not have enough healthy red blood cells. Red blood cells provide oxygen to body tissues. There are many types of anemia. Pernicious anemia is a decrease in red blood cells that occurs when the intestines cannot properly absorb vitamin B12.