medical

                                                                                              SLEEP PARALYSIS Sleep paralysis  is characterized by the sensation of being unable to move while awakening from sleep .  Sleep paralysis is described as a transitional state that occurs when a person experiences a temporary inability to react, move, or speak while asleep, falling asleep, or on awakening from sleep. Symptoms of Sleep Paralysis Unfortunately, sleep paralysis can be accompanied by frightening hallucinations during sleep   whereby, due to the paralysis and physical experiences (which could be a forceful current running through the upper body), the person is left physically unable to react. These hallucinations can be very scar...

Hypertension  Hypertension is another name for high blood pressure. It can lead to severe health complications and increase the risk of heart disease, stroke, and sometimes death Hypertension continues to be the major risk factor for premature cardiovascular disease (CVD) worldwide. Hypertension is a primary risk factor for cardiovascular disease, including stroke ,  heart attack  , heart    failer , and aneurysm  . Keeping blood pressure under control is vital for preserving health and reducing the risk of these dangerous conditions. Measurement of Blood Pressure Blood pressure is measured in units of millimeters of mercury (mmHg). The readings are always given in pairs, with the upper (systolic) value first, followed by the lower (diastolic) value. So someone who has a reading of 132/88 mmHg (often spoken “132 over 88”) has a systolic blood pressure of 132 mmHg, and a diastolic blood pressure of 88 mmHg. Symptoms of Severe High Blood Pressure If...

Folate deficiency anemia -  Folic acid is present in all food staffs but readily destroyed by 10-15 minutes of cooking. Thus fresh fruits and vegetables are good source of folates. Food folates are mostly in polyglutamate form and must be split into monoglutamate for absorption. Acidic foods and beans and other legumes block the intestinal absorption by inhibiting the enzyme that catalase the polyglutamate into monoglutamate. Pheytoin also inhibit folate absorption. -  The absorption of the folate occurs in the upper third of the intestine. thus malabsorption affecting this site produces folate deficiency. -  The folate is transported in the blood as monoglutamate form and within the cells it is mainly reduced into tetrahydrofolate by an enzyme, a reductase. This reductase is sensitive to inhibition by folate analogues such as methotrexate. The action of this enzyme deprives the cells of folates and hence the capacity to rapidly divide, a property that is the basis for th...

Cor Pulmonale Cor pulmonale is right ventricular hypertrophy and dilation associ ated with pulmonary hypertension. Increased resistance to flow into the pulmonary arteries or arterioles results in pressure over load on the right ventricle with subsequent compensatory hyper trophy. In addition to increased resistance within the pulmonary vessels, hypoxia, acidosis, and hypercapnia contribute to pulmo nary vasoconstriction. Cor pulmonale may occur in the setting of lung parenchymal disease, pulmonary vascular disease, congenital heart disease, or impaired mobility of the thorax (Table 11-8). Cor pulmonale may be acute or chronic. Acute cor pulmonale is the sudden occurrence of pulmonary hypertension, which most often occurs in the setting of massive pulmonary emboli. Chronic cor pulmonale, in contrast, is much more common and is often associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and pulmo nary fibrosis. Grossly, the right ventricle is hypertrophic with a wall thick ness o...

Classification of Congenital Heart Disease Initial left-to-right shunt Ventricular septal defect Atrial septal defect Patent ductus arteriosus Persistent truncus arteriosus Anomalous pulmonary venous drainage Hypoplastic left heart syndrome Right-to-left shunt Tetralogy of Fallot Tricuspid atresia No shunt Complete transposition of the great vessels Coarctation of the aorta Pulmonary stenosis Aortic stenosis Coronary artery origin from pulmonary artery Ebstein malformation Complete heart block Endocardial fibroelastosis

Acute Inflammation:  def.  lasts minutes to days and characterized by exudation of fluid and plasma proteins and emigration of leukocytes, predominantly neutrophils. 1.  Alterations in vascular caliber that lead to increased blood flow: vasodilation 2.  Microvascular structural changes that allow exudation of plasma protens and leukocytes: increased permeability mediated by histamine, bradykinin, leukotrienes, substance P, endothelial retraction exudate (s.g. > 1.012) vs. transudate (s.g. < 1.012) 3.  Emigration of leukocytes: margination, rolling, adhesion, diapedesis, migration neutrophils predominate (6-24 hours) and replaced by monocytes (24-48 hours) E-selectin (endothelium) - rolling, adhesion [induced by IL-1 and TNF] P-selectin (endothelium, platelets) - rolling [present in Weibel-Palade bodies] L-selectin (leukocytes) - homing ICAM (interacts with integrins LFA-1 on leukocytes) - adhesion, arrest, transmigration VCAM (interacts wit...

Frank-Starling Law of the Heart Two physiologists, Otto Frank and Ernest Starling, demonstrated that the strength of ventricular contraction varies directly with the end-diastolic volume (fig. 14.2). Even in experiments where the heart is removed from the body (and is thus not subject to neural or hormonal regulation) and where the still-beating heart is filled with blood flowing from a reservoir, an increase in EDV within the physiological range results in increased contraction strength and, therefore, in increased stroke volume. This rela- tionship between EDV, contraction strength, and stroke volume is thus a built-in, or intrinsic, property of heart muscle, and is known as the Frank-Starling law of the heart.