Risk Factors for Kidney Cancer

Risk Factors for Kidney Cancer

There are many risk factors for kidney cancer. Among a few of the top risks are smoking, an inactive life style, exposure to chemicals at home or where you work, being overweight and family history. There are other risk factors that can lead to kidney cancer also, such as, high blood pressure, taking diuretics, race, gender and certain medications. The thing to remember is just because risk factors are present does not mean the disease will form. Risk factors give the physician a better idea on how to assess symptoms and how closely to watch a patient. A patient with a higher amount of risk factors will be watched more closely when symptoms of the disease arise than those without risk factors.
It is also important to know risk factors to help aid in preventing the disease from occurring. If there are risk factors you can prevent such as smoking or increasing vitamin intake, you maybe able to help lower your chance of getting the disease. If you stop smoking, the chances of you contracting kidney cancer are greatly reduced by as much as 40%.
Some risk factors can not be avoided; such as genetic factors. As with many forms of kidney cancer, losing weight and maintaining daily exercise will definitely help your cause. Obesity is the most common reason for adult onset diabetes and juvenile diabetes, causing the need for dialysis or kidney failure. Dialysis is inevitable in most patients with type 1 or type 2 diabetes.
Among these common risk factors are also Tuberous Sclerosis, Von Hippel Lindau disease and low vitamin E intake. Von Hippel-Lindau disease is a disease of tumors, which cause complications in the nervous system. It causes continuous growth of tumors in the brain; causing problems with common things like walking, vision loss and retinal problems. It also causes tumors in the kidneys and pancreas. Von Hippel Lindau disease in very rare and is found in only 1 of 36,000 cases and commonly diagnosed in the mid to upper twenties. Symptoms of the disease are mostly finding multiple tumors in common areas, or one tumor in named areas and a definite family history of the disease.

Autism Spectrum Disorder

Autism Spectrum Disorder

Autism spectrum disorders are a spectrum of psychological conditions that are characterized by widespread abnormalities of social interactions and communication along with severely restricted interests and repetitive behavior. A study performed in 2005 revealed that anywhere from 6.0-6.5 people per 1,000 people have Autism Spectrum Disorder. The vast majority of the people in the study had pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS). Autism was 1.3 per 1,000 people and Asperger Syndrome was 0.3 per 1,000 people in the study released in 2005. The rarer forms in the study were childhood disintegrative disorder and Rett syndrome.
There are three main forms of Autism Spectrum Disorder and they are autism, Asperger syndrome, and PDD-NOS. The signs and symptoms of Autism Spectrum Disorder include communication problems, social problems, and repetitive behaviors. The indicators of autism include children that do not babble, point, or make gestures by the age of one; do not speak one word by 16 months; does not combine two words by two years old; does not respond to his or her name; loses language or social skills; poor eye contact; doesn't know how to play with toys; excessively lines up toys or other objects; is attached to one toy or object; doesn't smile and at times seems to be hearing impaired.
There are four main problems that are associated with Autism Spectrum Disorder and they are sensory problems, mental retardation, seizures, fragile X syndrome and tuberous sclerosis. The sensory problems that develop in children with ASD can be devastating. The sounds, smells, and textures that most children are not bothered by will bother children with ASD. For example, a ringing telephone or thunder during a storm can cause a child with ASD to scream and throw a hissy fit. In children with ASD, the brain does not know how to balance the senses appropriately.

Common Radiological Abnormalities in Diseases of the Respiratory System

Common Radiological Abnormalities in Diseases of the Respiratory System

Consolidation, collapse, fibrosis, pleural effusion, pneumothorax, cavities and Opacities in the lungs are all common radiological abnormalities. What are their significance?
Consolidation
The presence of homogenous opacities with well defined margins indicates pulmonary consolidation, since there is no change in the volume of the lung the trachea and mediastinum are not shifted.
Collapse
Pulmonary collapse throws a homogenous opacity with clear-cut concave margins. The trachea, mediastinum, and interlobar fissure are shifted towards the area of collapse. The dome of the diaphragm on the affected side is elevated. The unaffected portions of the lung show hyper-translucency due to compensatory emphysema.
Fibrosis
Presence of streaky linear or reticular shadows with shift of trachea and mediastinum to the same side and compensatory emphysema of the unaffected regions is suggestive of fibrosis.
Pleural effusion
The presence of small quantities of fluid (less than 300ml) in the pleura causes only obliteration of the costophrenic angle. As the quantity of fluid increases, more extensive homogenous opacity appears with obliteration of the costophrenic and cardiophrenic angles. The upper margin tends to be concave with its higher level towards the axilla and the lower level towards the mediastinum. Midline structures are shifted to the opposite side. The presence of fluid and air (hydropneumothorax) is diagnosed by the presence of a horizontal level of fluid below, with hypertranslucency (due to air) above. The lung markings are not visible since the lung is collapsed towards the helium.

Tuberculosis - The Lung Attacker

Tuberculosis - The Lung Attacker

(Latin tuber cuius, little bump). Infectious disease of world-wide incidence. As a disease of the lung it was known to the physicians of ancient Greece as a wasting disease; hence its other name, phthisis. The cause is a micro-organism called the tubercle bacillus, or the bacillus of Koch, the physician who discovered it. There are three known types of bacilli - human, bovine, and avian. The first two attack the human race, the human type producing infection by inhalation, the bovine by ingestion of the milk of tuberculous cows. Efficient pasteurisation, and proper handling, of milk protect man from bovine tuberculosis. The bovine bacillus can cause widespread disease in animals, especially cows and pigs.
No child is born with tuberculosis, the disease is the result of direct infection. It affects glands, bones, joints, and the genito-urinary system (bladder, testicle, and kidney), when it is often referred to as surgical tuberculosis. When present in the lungs it is called pulmonary tuberculosis. These forms of disease may be intercurrent, or one can result from the other, while both can lead to tuberculous meningitis.
Whatever be its route of entry to the body, the tubercle bacillus can always reach the lungs. Usually this takes place in childhood from minimal infection. It commonly produces but little clinical effect, leaving only a small hard nodule, called a Ghon's focus, in the lung substance, and calcified glands at the root of the lung. Occasionally the child develops vague symptoms of malaise and fever during the time it is over-coming this primary infection; this illness may last several months, but in the vast majority of cases the children recover completely. But if the child's resistance is poor, or it gets repeated infections, which do not allow it to develop immunity, it gets blood-borne extension (miliary tuberculosis), or a spread of infection through the air passages (pneumonic or broncho pneumonic tuberculosis). Such forms, formerly usually fatal, can nearly always be successfully treated with anti-tuberculous drugs.