Most people are unaware of how widespread smoking is and of the pattern it takes among the American people. From the most comprehensive survey of the U.S. Public Health Service, it is estimated that of the approximately 50 million men
Most people are unaware of how widespread smoking is and of the pattern it takes among the American people. From the most comprehensive survey of the U.S. Public Health Service, it is estimated that of the approximately 50 million men in our civilian population, about 39 million, or 78 percent, have a history of tobacco use. While the percentage of men smokers has in recent years been relatively stable, the proportion of women smokers has been showing a steady increase. From 1880 to 1955 the annual total consumption of tobacco per person over fourteen years of age more than doubled, from 5.41 pounds a year to 11.92 pounds, but during the same period cigarette consumption multiplied about 204 times, from .047 to 9.57 pounds per person. Although there is some variation in the different studies on when North Americans begin to smoke, a consensus of the findings indicates that by age thirteen about one out of six youngsters has begun to experiment with smoking, by fourteen one out of four, and by eighteen virtually one out of two has the smoking habit. Girls do not lag far behind boys in early adoption of smoking, but the boys appear to be consistently heavier smokers. Adolescent smoking is by no means a recent phenomenon, yet the last decade has seen a highly accelerated shift to an earlier age for beginning smoking, and young teen-agers characteristically smoke cigarettes
The nature of the problem - Asthma
The nature of the problem Asthma is a chronic inflammation of the bronchial tubes (airways) that causes swelling and constriction of the airways, which results in breathing difficulties. The bronchial narrowing is usually either totally or at least partially reversible with treatments. In an asthma attack, contraction of the smooth muscle of the bronchial walls is accompanied by swelling of the bronchial tubes and the excessive secretion of mucus by the bronchial glands. The mucus in turn obstructs or plugs the bronchial airways, thus causing the symptoms of an asthma attack. Bronchial tubes that are chronically inflamed may become overly sensitive to allergens or irritants. Asthma ranges in severity from intermittent mild symptoms to a severe, incapacitating, and life-threatening disorder. The symptoms are reversible, either spontaneously or with treatment; however, death may result if the asthmatic episode is not managed properly. The symptoms of asthma vary from person to person and in any individual from time to time. Some of the symptoms can be present in other respiratory, and sometimes, in heart conditions. Identifying the settings in which the symptoms occur and diagnostic testing is very important in recognizing asthma. The four major recognized symptoms are shortness of breath especially with exertion or at night. Wheezing, the distinctive wheezing sound made by
What are the symptoms of Anorexia and Bulimia and who gets it? What are the causes and how can it be treated?
Felice 28.10.2003 What are the symptoms of Anorexia and Bulimia and who gets it? What are the causes and how can it be treated? A common misconception of an eating disorder is that it is simply dieting which has gone out of control. However this is not true, food is only one factor. The true definition of an eating disorder is that it is a condition where a person adopts extremely harmful and unhealthy eating habits, this can mean either excessive or restrained eating. Over the past forty years, society has become more aware of eating disorders, and has lost some ignorance it once had surrounding the issue. Most people relate eating disorders as being only a problem for women, however 1 in 10 sufferers are men. Two examples of eating disorders are anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. Anorexia Nervosa The term Anorexia Nervosa literally means 'loss of appetite', however this is not usually the case. People with anorexia have normal appetites and often feel hungry, but they drastically control their eating habits. In fact, anorectics are quite engrossed by food, in the sense that they often read cookery books and enjoy preparing food for others. This disorder most commonly affects teenagers between the ages of 12 and 18, however there are cases which found that anorexia can start much earlier (as young as 8) or much later (in the 30s and 40s). Clinical Characteristics of
Schizophrenia is a group of disorders that effect many elements by a loss of contact with reality.
Schizophrenia is a group of disorders that affects many mental and physical elements such as a loss of contact with reality, a deterioration of social functioning and a loss of logic. Schizophrenia is not a disease where everyone diagnosed with the disease experiences the same symptoms. There are many different types of schizophrenics. Scientists have identified five types of schizophrenia: disorganized, paranoid, catatonic, residual and undifferentiated. (DSM-IV -TR, 2000) These five types of schizophrenics experience many symptoms, positive and negative. Many of those diagnosed can live independently and others need to have every one of their basic needs cared for. There are many different diagnoses of schizophrenia not only one type, each type showing different symptoms. When a doctor diagnoses a patient with schizophrenia the patient will either be deemed a positive or negative schizophrenic or a combination of both (DSM -IV -TR, 2000). Positive schizophrenia is a much better diagnoses with a better chance of eventual recovery or a chance of remission. Positive symptoms are delusions and hallucinations, these symptoms are considered positive because most of these individuals can live an independent life and interact in an occupational setting. Negative symptoms on the other hand are seen as something that is taken away from the individual. "Negative Symptoms of
Through this essay the spread and development of AIDS will be examined.
Through this essay the spread and development of AIDS will be examined. AIDS stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. Acquired means you can catch it; Immune Deficiency means a weakness in the body's system that fights diseases. Finally, Syndrome means a group of health problems that make up the disease. AIDS is caused by a virus called HIV: Human Immunodeficiency Virus. If a person gets infected with HIV, the body will try to fight the infection. It will make "antibodies" , special molecules that are supposed to fight HIV. If blood tests show that there are antibodies in the blood, it will mean that the person is infected with the HIV infection. People who have the HIV antibodies are called "HIV- Positive". Being HIV- positive, or having the HIV disease, is not the same as having AIDS. Many people are HIV- positive but do not get sick for many years. As HIV disease continues, it slowly wears down the immune system. Viruses, parasites, fungi and bacteria that usually don't cause any problems can make people very sick if their immune system is damaged. These are called "opportunistic infections". In this essay I will examine the spread and effects of HIV/AIDS through the following case studies, Africa, China. AIDS is transmitted by the following ways; by blood, semen, and breast milk of people infected with HIV has enough of the virus in it to infect other
The Role of Pharmacist in Obesity Management
Student Name: YULLIS HEWIS RN: 07152898 Word Count: 1572 (excludes references) Programme: MSc Advancing Pharmacy Practice Module: Therapeutics Assignment: Essay Title: The Role of Pharmacists in Obesity BACKGROUND Obesity Body Mass Index (BMI) is the traditional method to determine whether a person is considered obese. It is quite simple to calculate BMI by a comparison of a person's height and weight. BMI = Weight in kilograms / (Height in metres x Height in metres). A person is considered overweight if the BMI is between 25.0 and 29.9, and if the BMI is greater than 30, then considered as obese (WHO, 1997; NICE, 2007). The BMI, however has limitations as it does not take into account whether the person's weight is fat accumulation or muscle mass, for instance of athletes (Garn et al, 1986). Body composition is the amount of lean body mass and body fat that makes up total body weight. The practical method to measure body fat is using bioelectrical impedance technology, designed as home use body fat monitor. Below is the table of normal range body fat percentage (Gallagher et al, 2000): Age Total Fat % Range Male Female Under 30 2 - 18 20 - 26 31 to 40 3 - 19 21 - 27 41 to 50 4 - 20 22 - 28 51 to 60 6 - 20 22 30 Over 60 7 - 21 Another method to determine obesity is through the use of the waist-to-hip ratio. Waist
Individuals and Medical Change Test. I have chosen to investigate the anthrax vaccine - who discovered it, how they discovered it, the factors that contribute to the discovery and how important was this discovery in the development of medicine.
Individuals and Medical Change Test. I have chosen to investigate the anthrax vaccine - who discovered it, how they discovered it, the factors that contribute to the discovery and how important was this discovery in the development of medicine. Louis Pasteur is the man who discovered and proved the anthrax vaccine. Anthrax was, and still is, a very dangerous disease in animals such as sheep and cows that can be transferred to humans. In one area of France, the disease killed 9% of the sheep and 7% of the cows every year. The anthrax disease can also kill humans. He and his team of scientists announced they had produced a weaker version of the anthrax which, when used as an inoculation would immunise the sheep, cows and even humans against catching the anthrax disease. As treatment and new medical findings were rarely heard of at this time, Louis Pasteur was invited to give a public display to prove his recently discovered findings. Pasteur accepted this invitation and conducted his display on the 5 May 1881. For his display, Pasteur was given sixty sheep for his experiment and the event took place with many onlookers to prove his theory. Ten of the sheep were left without any treatment by Louis Pasteur so that they could later serve for comparisons for the other sheep. From the remaining fifty sheep, they were split into two groups. One group were to be inoculated
Malaria - a detailed and descriptive review
Malaria Contents Page Contributor Introduction Description of malaria and its symptoms The illness and its relevance on both a national and international basis The mode of spread of the disease Strategy and control measures Conclusion References Appendix A: Minutes of meetings 2 2 3 6 9 2 3 5 N0193371, N0202908 N0193371 N0167754 N0202908 N0193371 N0193371,N0202908, N0167754 N0193371,N0202908, N0167754 Introduction Of all the insect borne diseases, malaria can be considered the most serious public health issue, even though deaths from malaria are generally preventable. (Perlmann, 1999: 22) This report firstly describes the malaria disease and its symptoms, the disease is then considered on a national and international basis. A detailed description of how the disease is transferred, before considering strategy and control measures. Description of malaria and its symptoms Malaria is an acute febrile illness with an incubation period of seven days or longer (Chiodini et al, 2007: 59). The most severe form is caused by Plasmodium falciparum (P. falciparum), in which variable clinical features include fever, chills, headache, muscular aching, weakness, vomiting, cough, diarrhoea, and abdominal pain. Other symptoms may supervene, such as acute renal failure, generalised convulsions, circulatory collapse, followed by coma and ultimately death. (WHO,
Thomas Szasz's work.
If you asked a psychiatrist what he thought of Thomas Szasz's work he would most probably say 'he's mad!' This in itself illustrates Szasz's argument that labels such as 'mad' are used to stigmatize people whose behaviour or thoughts offend or disturb us. According to Szasz mental illness is nothing but a 'myth' that's purpose is to disguise the bitterness of reality! Szasz suggests that collaboration between psychiatrist and the government has successfully disguised this 'social problem' and presented it as a 'medical problem', a 'disease' of the brain. How true are these claims made by Szasz? This essay will go on to explore further into the validity of this argument made by Szasz. Many contemporary psychiatrist, physicians and scientist hold the view that some even if a very subtle, neurological defect will be found for all disorders of thinking and behaviour. All mental illnesses are an attribute to physiochemical processes. The difference they see between a mental and a physical disease is that a mental disease manifest's itself by mental symptoms. Szasz argues, what central nervous system symptom would correspond to a skin eruption or a fracture? It would not be some emotion or complex bit of behaviour. Rather it would be blindness or paralysis of some part of the body', Szasz (1960). He suggests that there are diseases of the brain like 'Parkinson's disease'
Can Psychological Stress Cause Physical illness?
Can Psychological Stress Cause Physical illness? Stress is a fundamental human coping mechanism for dealing with threats and adjusting to new (often sudden) changes in the demands of the environment. Fundamentally it can be described as an individual's perception of the balance between the demands placed on them and their ability to cope with those demands. Stress is supposed to engage the sympathetic-adrenal-medullary (SAM) system infrequently and in short bursts, as a survival technique. In this capacity it is highly useful and generally has no long term physiological consequences. It is only when the stress becomes chronic, being activated intensely and frequently, that problems can arise. Seyle (1973) describes the affect of prolonged stress as a three-stage process, which he calls 'General Adaptation Syndrome' (GAS). The first stage is alarm reaction, in which the fight or flight response is activated, causing blood pressure, heart rate and breathing rate to all rise to levels which cannot be maintained long term. The second stage is resistance, this is where the body attempts to compensate for these increased levels, but they remain well above normal. Finally, the exhaustion stage is suggested to see the suppression of the immune system as well as illness and possible psychological damage. Much research has established that there is a significant correlation between