Obesity

Obesity

Being overweight can increase the risk for high blood pressure.obesity  is common among hypertensive patients, and its prevalence, especially in aging patients, can contribute to hypertension in several ways. In obese people the heart has to pump more blood to supply the excess tissue. The increased cardiac output can then raise the blood pressure. In addition, obese hypertensive individuals have a greater stiffness (resistance) in their peripheral arteries throughout the body.insulin resistance and the metabolic syndrome, which are associated with hypertension, also occur more frequently in the obese. Finally, obesity may be associated with a tendency for the kidneys to retain salt. Weight loss may help reverse obesity-related problems and may lower blood pressure. Losing as little as 10 to 20 pounds can help lower blood pressure and the risk of heart disease.

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High blood pressure facts

High blood pressure facts

• High blood pressure (hypertension) is designated as either essential (primary) hypertension or secondary hypertension and is defined as a consistently elevated blood pressure exceeding 140/90 mm Hg.
• High blood pressure is called "the silent killer" because it often causes no symptoms for many years, even decades, until it finally damages certain critical organs.
• Poorly controlled high blood pressure ultimately can cause damage to blood vessels in the eye, thickening of the heart muscle and heart attacks, hardening of the arteries (arteriosclerosis),kidney failure, and strokes.
• Most antihypertensive medications can be used alone or in combination. Some are used only in combination. Some are preferred over others in certain specific medical situations. And some are not to be used (contraindicated) in other situations.
• Several classes of antihypertensive medications are available, including acb inhibitors, ARB drugs, beta-blockers, diuretics, calcium channel blockers, alpha-blockers, and peripheral vasodilators.
• The goal of therapy for hypertension is to bring the blood pressure down below 140/85 in the general population and to even lower levels in diabetics, African Americans, and people with certain chronic kidney diseases.
• High blood pressure (hypertension) in pregnancy can lead topreeclampsia or eclampsia (toxemia of pregnancy). Pregnant women should be monitored closely by their obstetrician for complications of high blood pressure.
• Lifestyle adjustments in diet and exercise and compliance with medication regimes are important factors in determining the outcome for people with hypertension.
• High salt intake, obesity, lack of regular exercise, excessive alcohol or coffee intake, and smoking may all adversely affect the outlook for the health of an individual with high blood pressure.

  High Blood Pressure 

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Eczema

Eczema: A particular type of inflammatory reaction of the skin in which there are typically vesicles (tiny blister-like raised areas) in the first stage followed by erythema (reddening), edema (swelling), papules (bumps), and crusting of the skin followed, finally, by lichenification (thickening) and scaling of the skin. Eczema characteristically causes itching and burning of the skin.

Eczema, which is also called atopic dermatitis, is a very common skin problem. It may start in infancy, later in childhood, or in adulthood. Once it gets underway, it tends not to go quickly away.

There are numerous types of eczema, including:

• Atopic dermatitis -- a chronic skin disease characterized by itchy, inflamed skin
• Contact eczema -- a localized reaction that includes redness, itching, and burning where the skin has come into contact with an allergen (an allergy-causing substance) or with an irritant such as an acid, a cleaning agent, or other chemical
• Allergic contact eczema -- a red, itchy, weepy reaction where the skin has come into contact with a substance that the immune system recognizes as foreign, such as poison ivy or certain preservatives in creams and lotions
• Seborrheic eczema -- a form of skin inflammation of unknown cause that presents as yellowish, oily, scaly patches of skin on the scalp, face, and occasionally other parts of the body
• Nummular eczema -- coin-shaped patches of irritated skin - most commonly on the arms, back, buttocks, and lower legs - that may be crusted, scaling, and extremely itchy
• Neurodermatitis -- scaly patches of skin on the head, lower legs, wrists, or forearms caused by a localized itch (such as an insect bite) that becomes intensely irritated when scratched
• Stasis dermatitis -- a skin irritation on the lower legs, generally related to circulatory problems
• Dyshidrotic eczema -- irritation of the skin on the palms of hands and soles of the feet characterized by clear, deep blisters that itch and burn.

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Shingles

Shingles

 An acute infection caused by the herpes zoster virus, the same virus as causes chickenpox. Shingles is most common after the age of 50 and the risk rises with advancing age. Shingles occurs because of exposure to chickenpox or reactivation of the herpes zoster virus. The virus remains latent (dormant) in nerve roots for many years following chickenpox.

Shingles is an extraordinarily painful condition that involves inflammation of sensory nerves. It causes numbness, itching or pain followed by the appearance of clusters of littles blisters in a strip pattern on one side of the body. The pain can persist for weeks, months or years after the rashheals and is then known as post-herpetic neuralgia.

People with shingles are contagious to persons who have not had chickenpox and can catch chickenpox from close contact with a person who has shingles.

The term shingles has nothing to do with a shingle on a roof or the small signboard outside the office of a doctor but is derived from the Latin cingulum meaning girdle, the idea being that shingles often girdles part of the body.

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sickle cell anemia

What conditions promote the sickling (distortion) of the red blood cells in sickle cell anemia?

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sickle cell anemia

What is sickle cell anemia?

Sickle cell anemia is one of the most common inherited blood anemias. The disease primarily affects Africans and African Americans. It is estimated that in the United States, some 50,000 African Americans are afflicted with the most severe form of sickle cell anemia. Overall, current estimates are that one in 1,875 U.S. African American is affected with sickle cell anemia.Sickle cell anemia (sickle cell disease) is a disorder of the blood caused by an inherited abnormalhemoglobin (an oxygen-carrying protein within the red blood cells). The abnormal hemoglobin causes distorted (sickled) red blood cells. The sickled red blood cells are fragile and prone to rupture. When the number of red blood cells decreases from rupture (hemolysis), anemia is the result. This condition is referred to as sickle cell anemia. The irregular sickled cells can also block blood vessels causing tissue and organ damage and pain.

How is sickle cell anemia inherited?

Sickle cell anemia is inherited as an autosomal (meaning that the gene is not linked to a sex chromosome) recessive condition whereas sickle cell trait is inherited as an autosomal dominant trait. This means that the gene can be passed on from a parent carrying it to male and female children. In order for sickle cell anemia to occur, a sickle cell gene must be inherited from both the mother and the father, so that the child has two sickle cell genes.

The inheritance of just one sickle gene is called sickle cell trait or the "carrier" state. Sickle cell trait does not cause sickle cell anemia. Persons with sickle cell trait usually do not have many symptoms of disease and have normal hospitalization rates and life expectancies. Sickle cell trait is present in some two million blacks in the United States (8% of the U.S. black population at birth). When two carriers of sickle cell trait mate, their offspring have a one in four chance of having sickle cell anemia. (In some parts of Africa, one in five persons is a carrier for sickle cell trait.)

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