Osteoporosis: Prevention, Prognostication, and Treatment Options

One of the most common and serious conditions involving the skeletal bones is osteoporosis. In many cases of this condition, the skeletal bones lose their natural toughness that they break, causing very little trauma or none at all. The bones of the wrist, hip, and spine are those most likely to fracture in osteoporosis.

As it is, the complicated nature of osteoporosis is not completely understood, although it appears that certain factors - or a combination thereof - play an important role in effecting the diminishing by degrees of the robustness of the bones, this being the distinguishing characteristic of osteoporosis.

Many of those who have the disease do not realize that the condition is present in them until the same has become well settled. A break in the bones of the wrist or hip, which occurs as a consequence of a natural tendency, may be an early sign of the existence of the condition. Pain in the lower back, caused by vertebral crush fracture - the collapse of a vertebra - is a typical sign in some cases. But the most perceptible consequence of the disintegration of the vertebrae is widow's hump, a condition characterized by the forward-curving of the spine in the upper back, resulting further to the tapering of the individual's height.

In measuring bone density in the wrist, hip, and spine, doctors use a couple of medical techniques: dual-photon absorptiometry, or DPA, and quantitative CT scanning. As far as high-risk subjects are concerned, these two medical techniques are very useful in assessing the extent of the loss of bodily minerals that has occurred. But in normal subjects, the prognosticative value of these techniques may be limited. It is for this reason that the use of these medical techniques for screening purposes is not deemed cost-effective.

While researchers and medical experts do not fully agree on how best to deal with osteoporosis medically, they are united in one important point: Prevention is a vital prelude to any program of actions necessary to take in keeping osteoporosis in check. Some preventive measures must be mentioned in this regard: ensuring that the body has a sufficient supply of dietary calcium; shunning the two well-identified risk factors - excessive drinking and smoking; and engaging in some moderate bone-stressing exercises as jogging. It must likewise be made clear here that engaging in immoderate exercise or weight loss programs can bring about susceptibility to osteoporosis in the individual concerned.

In high-risk subjects involving post-menopausal women, hormone-replacement therapy is considered an ideal treatment. However, for those with a history of certain conditions, such as uterine cancer, liver disease, or stroke, estrogen therapy may not be appropriate. Also, this therapy has been pointed to as a factor in increasing slightly the occurrence of uterine cancer specifically in women who have not had a hysterectomy, the surgical removal of the uterus. It may help lessen the risk if progestogen is given at the same time, but the combination may present another risk in the form of cyclic bleeding which is much like menstruation.

Other treatment techniques have been tried or used on women who have lost bone sturdiness and are experiencing instances of fracture. For example, a combination vitamin D-calcium-sodium fluoride medication or an injection of calcitonin (a hormone that lowers level of calcium in the blood plasma) has been successfully used in such cases of osteoporosis. [Read the Original Article]

Sources:

http://www.nof.org/osteoporosis/index.htm
http://www.medicinenet.com/osteoporosis/article.htm

Eggs and Cholesterol: Studies Differ on Whether to Limit Egg Consumption

If we are to enumerate some of the good things about eggs, these three will come out on top of the list: delicious, nourishing, and cost little. Turning to a couple of their drawbacks, eggs are high in cholesterol and can cause certain illnesses if consumed undercooked or, worse, raw. While the latter drawback appears quite easy to address with proper cooking, it is the former, ranged against the mentioned advantages, that causes much uncertainty to many people as to whether they should indulge or limit their intake.

In the late 1960's, the American Heart Association (AHA) advised that people should limit their weekly intake of eggs to three. This medical advisory was the result of several scientific studies which showed that having a continuously high level of blood cholesterol can pave the way for the development of atherosclerosis, the accumulation of cholesterol in the blood vessel walls that causes hardening of the arteries. This condition is a major underlying cause of stroke and heart attack.

But an analysis of more comprehensive studies undertaken much later by epidemiologists proved that healthy people can actually consume an egg every day and this won't likely have any considerable impact on their risk of having stroke or coronary heart disease. Because of this, the AHA withdrew its earlier advisory, declaring almost thirty years later from its issuance thereof that it was "...no longer making any new recommendation as to the number of eggs a person should consume each week..."; it further issued a revised guideline, advising people to "...limit (instead) their intake of cholesterol from foods having a high content of animal fats." In this way, the AHA said that the dietary guidelines for the intake of saturated fat can easily be met even when a person consumes eggs periodically.

On the average, a whole egg has only seventy calories; yet it supplies approximately ten percent of a person's daily protein requirements, on top of providing generous portions of other nourishing substances. An egg's yolk has about two hundred fifteen milligrams of dietary cholesterol, while the whole egg itself has about two grams of saturated fat. As has been established in many studies, high cholesterol levels are caused by saturated fat and not dietary cholesterol. These same studies point to the findings that consuming three eggs daily had virtually no effect on the blood cholesterol of the healthy young people who were tested.

It is evident from all these that our body acts toward cholesterol from eggs in a different way from how it reacts to cholesterol derived from other animal products. It is also possible, according to some health experts, that the other healthful nutrients in eggs - particularly choline (an alkaline compound that acts as a fat emulsifier) - have an opposing effect on what cholesterol does to the body.

Most health experts now say that consuming four to five eggs a week is safe for a person whose blood cholesterol is in the normal level. On the other hand, the same experts advise people with high levels of blood cholesterol to limit their consumption of eggs, and that they should focus on lowering saturated fat in their diet and on shedding excess weight. [Read the Original Article]

Sources: http://www.annecollins.com/diet_news/cholesterol-eggs.htm and "The Truth About Eggs" by Sebastien Stefanoy at http://www.askmen.com/sports/foodcourt_60/66b_eating_well.html

Breast Milk as Sole Nutrition of Infants is Deficient in Some Respects

When an infant is born, the umbilical cord still connects the baby with the placenta, which remains joined to the uterine wall. It is important for the umbilical cord to be tied and cut immediately after birth. At this point, the infant is said to be "on its own" as far as food and water supplies are concerned, since these substances are not anymore obtainable from the placenta; the infant now has to take them by mouth.

Mother's milk is the normal food of infants. In fact, pediatricians and dietitians recommend that infants receive only breast milk for the first four to six months. For infants, breast milk is considered an excellent food, as it contains the proper kinds and right proportions of proteins, carbohydrates, fatty acids, lactose, water, trace minerals, vitamins, amino acids, and almost all of the required salts.

Known for having at least a hundred ingredients which even an infant formula cannot provide (some of the ingredients are in fact not possible to replicate), breast milk aids in maintaining the normal functioning of the immune system. It also helps in protecting infants against such disorders as diarrhea, allergies, rashes, and certain infections, as those of the ear, respiratory system, and urinary tract. Breast milk is likewise known to help in tooth development and in improving response to vaccines.

But inspite of all these qualities, breast milk is still deficient in some respects. Unless the infant's breast milk diet is supplemented rather early, dietary deficiencies may develop in infants even before the time of weaning. As a matter of fact, the same pediatricians and dietitians aver that infants may continue receiving breast milk well into their second year of life but only with additional foods.

Being low in iron content is the most notable deficiency in breast milk. Inasmuch as red blood cells are continually destroyed in both infants and adults, and since iron is absolutely necessary for the production of the hemoglobin (iron-containing respiratory pigments) in the red cells replacing those that are normally destroyed in the natural body processes, a sufficient source of iron must be available to the highly-active red bone marrow.

The embryo stores iron in the liver during its intrauterine life provided however that the mother's iron intake is sufficient. In early infancy, these iron reserves provide the requirements of the bone marrow. But unless some rich source of iron is soon added to the iron-deficient breast milk diet, a severe anemia will develop in the infant. Most pediatricians say that egg yolk is the best source of iron for infants; this must be added to the infant's diet at about four months of age.

While breast milk is known to contain both vitamins C and D, in some instances these are inadequate for the needs of growing infants. It is recommended that at one month old, the infant's diet must be supplemented with tomato or orange juice (for vitamin C) and cod-liver oil (for vitamin D). [Read the Original Article]

Rabbit Fever: How Humans Can Contract the Disease Tularemia

Arriving home from school one afternoon, my youngest daughter, then only 8, asked me if she could take home a rabbit. My answer was a firm "no," knowing fully well that she was referring to that rabbit the parents of one of her classmates were letting go (i.e., turned over to a veterinarian for proper handling or disposition) because the animal was found to be the cause of her classmate's being ill with tularemia. In fact, that incident became the talk in my daughter's school for several days, and some of the children - my daughter included - thought they can make a bid to have the rabbit for them to take care.

Tularemia, or rabbit fever, is an infectious disease having such severe symptoms as chills, fever, vomiting, and prostration, all of which develop about three days after the specific germ has invaded the tissues. A couple of days from the occurrence of these symptoms, an elevated lesion develops at the infection's site which later becomes ulcerous. It is possible that there is more than one lesion, especially in cases when either the eye or mouth is involved.

The lymph nodes adjacent to the ulcer/s form abscesses and become enlarged. Within the next three days, high fever occurs; in a lot of cases, a lung may become involved much like in pneumonia. At this stage, the spleen usually becomes enlarged. This sequence of development of rabbit fever was explained to me by the mother of my daughter's classmate during a conversation I had with her several weeks after her daughter had recovered completely from the illness and resumed attending her classes.

Untreated cases of rabbit fever can cause the body's temperature to remain high for four weeks, declining slowly on the fifth week. The tularemia-causing germs penetrate the body through a break in the skin; in other cases, it may be by contact with the internal membranes. Despite the fact that these germs occur generally in nature, most cases of rabbit fever result from contact with infected rabbits, hence the name given to this infectious disease.

But contact with infected rabbits is not the only cause in many other cases of tularemia; it is also possible for a person to acquire rabbit fever through any of the following: insect bites, eating inadequately-cooked meats of infected animals, or drinking contaminated water. It is important, therefore, to take great caution when handling rabbits or any other rodent; the animals' fur may be carrying the germs. Meats, especially poultry and flesh of wild fowl, should be sufficiently cooked before they are eaten. Drinking water of suspicious purity should be appropriately purified before use.

Cases of rabbit fever in which the lungs are affected are particularly serious. Such cases, if not treated at once, can be fatal. Doctors often prescribe streptomycin for antibiotic, the same one prescribed to my daughter's classmate. The patient should stay in bed, have a liberal diet of foods that can be digested easily, and be given sufficient amounts of fluid. Applying an ice bag over lymph nodes or ulcerated areas for about fifteen to twenty minutes every hour can somehow alleviate the condition. The doctor will prescribe a special medication or treatment in cases when tularemia has affected one or both eyes. [Read the Original Article]

Source: http://www.idph.state.il.us/public/hb/hbtulare.htm