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Fermented foods and beverages were among the first processed foods consumed by humans. Improved shelf life, safety and properties of fermented foods added to their value. Investigators have found strong associations between the consumption of fermented foods and diseases. In humans, further understanding is needed for the potential benefit of apple cider vinegar and weight loss.
HIV-1 infected individuals are treated with lifelong antiretroviral drugs to control the infection. A means to strengthen the antiviral T cell response might allow them to control viral loads without antiretroviral drugs. The results support the development of this approach as a therapeutic vaccine that might allow HIV-1 infected individuals.
Researchers at the University of Copenhagen have found autoreactive cells in people who suffer from narcolepsy. This is an important breakthrough that proves narcolepsy is indeed an autoimmune disease. For years doctors have suspected that narcolepsy had some connection between the area that controls wakefulness and the autoimmune system. They have found cytotoxic CD8 T-cells in the blood of narcoleptics. At this point, they know that the immune cells of the patient's body sees normal cells in the body as invaders and attacks them. This results in them having narcolepsy. Researchers have found a combination of genetics, autoimmune cells, and some type of trigger (like a virus) that then leads to this disease.
Interstitial Lung Disease (ILD) has many lung disorders that fall under that term. One of them Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF), is the most common of these disorders. Asbestosis is diffuse pulmonary fibrosis resulting in a slowly progressing disease that can take from 15 to 40 years after exposure to be encountered physical symptoms. And while in most developing countries it has been banned, the exposure-related diagnoses are still being cared for.
Duchenne muscular dystrophy is an inherited neuromuscular disorder primarily occurring in boys and caused by mutations in the dystrophin gene. New treatments other than the classic glucocorticoids have started phase 2 testing. This brings hope to patients and families currently dealing with Duchennes.
Glioblastoma and its variants are, at present, unable to be cured. Once diagnosed the life expectancy is only 15 months or so. They can occur at any age but most are seen in people between the ages of 50 and 70. In just the past two years studies have been moved from animal trials to human trials and are showing promise. No matter what their outcomes, further research is needed.
Duchenne muscular dystrophy is the most common form of muscular dystrophy. It is a sex-linked disorder residing on the X chromosome. It affects primarily boys and men and is always lethal. There are few treatments to this disorder that affects 1 in every 3500 to 5000 boys born. There are no cures and few treatments for this disorder.
ACA has had little effect on the financial burden of households with chronic health conditions. The rise in treatment costs and associated cost sharing for individuals and families are causing medical debt that often has caused these families to deplete their savings. It often also causes these families to forgo necessities like food, heat or rent in order to pay their medical bills. In these cases, the families are forced to file for bankruptcy in order to have a roof over their heads.
Despite numerous national programs intended to ensure patients receive the best quality care, it is limited by how best to define quality. It is also dependent on your insurance. Those with government-sponsored programs such as Medicaid or Medicare are often given the barest minimum of care while those with private insurance are provided every option possible.
With the increased use of e-cigarettes and/or vapes by high school students, authorities are trying to determine what if any safety these devices contain. In addition, the FDA is addressing the need for stricter regulation of who is allowed to purchase both devices.
Being able to reach a reasonable conclusion of the internal states of others is called mentalization and is critical for successful social interactions. The main components of this system are the medial prefrontal cortex and the temporal-parietal junction. These areas show similar patterns during both the performance and observations of actions. People with autism have trouble mentalizing. This is important as difficulties with this in adults with autism; this is evident in tasks involving action processing. In addition, this issue can impair the understanding of the social intentions of others and this can lead to inappropriate social decisions. These decisions then can lead to maltreatment by others. This study was done to see if there was connectivity between regions of mentalization system when inferring the social intention of others from their actions. Adults with autism are significantly impaired on tasks that involve integrating information regarding others’ intended states with the surrounding context.
Medication prices continue to rise faster than many people can keep up with. Long told that pharmaceutical companies needed to recoup their costs from research and development, recent studies have found this is not true. The price of research and development are often covered within the first few years the medication is released to the public. The companies, however, rarely lower the retail price they charge the patients who are in need of the medicine.
With a rise in kidney illnesses, it is more important than ever to look for the underlying causes to slow its occurrence. One of the easiest ways we can influence our kidney function is to be mindful of how much sugary drinks like soda (soft drinks) we consume on a daily basis. This can decrease our propensity for obesity, diabetes, and other metabolic disorders that can place undue stress on our kidneys.
A large group of researchers have uncovered a novel mechanism of neurotransmitters is released in the brain during schizophrenia. This elevated protein was noted not only schizophrenia but also other mental illnesses. the study was the first to study the relationship between mental illness and the level of protein. This is important as schizophrenia affects nearly one in 100 American adults and remains poorly understood.
Collection of dietary intake data can be challenging with the potential of errors in validity and reliability. Nutritional assessments are important to determine dietary strategies. There are limitations with these methodologies as not all nutrients have reliable markers of status.
Dementia is a syndrome usually progressive and chronic in nature. Global incidences of dementia is increasing at a rate of one new case every three seconds with associated medical social and health care costs far exceeding the capacity of most countries. Because of the degenerative nature of the disease sufferers lose their ability to perform routine tasks, experience poor quality of life and loss of autonomy. The role of vitamin D in the etiology of cognitive impairment and dementia is plausible and has been supported substantial mechanistic and epidemiological data. As people age, they tend to spend less and less time outdoors in the sun. It is of great importance as vitamin D deficiency is a worldwide pandemic and is seen most commonly in older adults residing in northerly latitudes, particularly during winter months. Further research needs to be done to see if increasing vitamin D level will improve cognitive health (Aspell, Lawlor, O'Sullivan, 2018).
This study found that a daily hydroxyurea pill may finally bring some relief for young children living with sickle cell anemia. This could be a big game changer for resource-challenged sub-Saharan Africa where the disease is prevalent and health care is suboptimal (Ware et al, 2018). Few studies had been done where the burden is greatest. The study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found treatment was feasible and safe in children living in the area of Africa most affected. It proved to reduce vaso-occlusive events, infections, malaria, transfusions, and death. These results illustrate a need for more access to treatments. In the US and Europe early identification of children with sickle cell by means of neonatal screening. This allows these children to be given simple effective, and lifesaving interventions (Tshilolo et al, 2018).
Optimal pharmacological treatment for COPD patients reduces symptoms, reduces the frequency and severity of exacerbations, improve health status and increases exercise tolerance. Unfortunately, despite frequent changes in COPD classification systems and the emergence of new inhaled therapies recommended from evidence-based guidelines, poor adherence to treatment due to the cost of medication and lack of availability of medications create a gap in real-life prescribing patterns (Cases et al, 2018).
Autistic Spectrum Disorders are a complex pervasive neurodevelopmental condition associated with lifelong difficulties. these difficulties cross social, emotional and behavioral domains. The lastest version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V) finally put all aspects of autism under one umbrella of autistic spectrum disorder. Since this happened questions have been raised if this has helped by moving toward a broader categorization of the disorder is clinically useful (Montgomery et al, 2016).
It is estimated that there are over 338,000 new cases of pancreatic cancer worldwide. in 2012, 331,000 people died from pancreatic cancer. Because the therapies for other cancers have been showing more advancement the researchers feel that pancreatic cancer is liable to become the second leading cause of cancer death worldwide. Patients with advanced pancreatic cancer, to survive more than a year is only slightly improved due to use of systemic chemotherapy and the combining use of other chemotherapies already available. This trial that adjuvant therapy using gemcitabine is the standard of care based on similar survival to and less toxicity than paired with 5-fluorouracil/folinic acid in patients with resected pancreatic cancer (meaning they have had all or part of the tumor removed surgically). In addition, other trials have shown better survival and tumor response with gemcitabine and capecitabine as opposed to gemcitabine used alone in advanced or metastatic pancreatic cancer. The outcome of the study found promise with the use of gemcitabine and capecitabine resulting in an increase in survival times to between two and five years without relapse (Neoptolemos et al, 2017)
In high-income countries, cancer remains the commonest cause of disease-related death in adolescent and young adults despite survival improvements. With more than one million new diagnoses of cancer in adolescents and young adults annually worldwide, and their number of life-years affected by cancer being greatest of all ages, the global burden of cancer in adolescents and young adults exceeds all other ages. In low- and middle-income countries, where the great majority of the worlds adolescents and young adults reside the needs of those with cancer have been identified and demand attention. Unique to this age group, the psychosocial challenges they face are the utmost across life's spectrum (Brunet et al, 2018)
Financial concerns are often cited by doctors as a barrier to administering routinely recommended vaccines to adults. Survey respondents answered questions on payment and profit for various public and private payer types. Over half of respondents reported losing money vaccinating adult Medicaid beneficiaries. Few respondents reported negotiation with manufacturers or insurance plans on vaccine purchase prices or payments for vaccinations. Claim denial is a major reason many adults don't inquire about vaccinations or seek them out with their doctors (Lindley et al, 2018; Potter et al, 2018).
The medical billing industry is expected to grow at a CAGR of 6.5% by 2023 according to market research analysis predictions. Medical billing and coding specialists offer a wealth of medical billing benefits to both the medical professional and the patient. In this article, we will examine many medical billing benefits.
Chronic coughing should be investigated by a trip to the doctor as it could be a sign of something deadly: the danger of asbestos.
Rainwater harvesting methods are experiencing an exponential explosion in market growth as a global solution to falling groundwater levels, drought, and agricultural challenges posed to farmers worldwide.
Many people drink water from bottles, but is bottled water really healthier than tap water?
Our body is at its best when we stick to a certain schedule. However, sometimes if we break away from our usual habits, the body can become confused, and this can lead to problems with the intestine. Here are some of the most common causes of having constipation in the winter and chewable tablets that help.
A team of young scientists in Russia introduced a new therapeutic material based on nanofibers made of polycaprolactone, modified with a thin film with antibacterial composition and components of human blood plasma. Biodegradable dressings from such fibers increase the growth of tissue cells, which contributes to the normal regeneration of damaged tissues and also prevents the formation of scars in severe burns.
Fabio Nachman, a gastroenterologist from Argentina, talks about the most common gastrointestinal problems, explains what is the gastric pain and in which cases endoscopy is needed.
While the ills of drinking too much alcohol and smoking cigarettes are well known risk factors of esophageal cancer, research shows that adding on a particular tea drinking habit actually increases the risk of esophageal cancer even higher.
