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Popular Articles

Healthy Vision Month Focuses On Refractive Eye Errors
May is Healthy Vision Month, which in 2009 focuses on the 60 percent of Americans who have refractive vision problems.
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Researchers Suggest That Oxidative Stress Is Strongly Evident In The In-Utero Environment Of The Fetus With Down Syndrome
A paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by Tufts Medical Center and Tufts University researchers reports that amniotic fluid surrounding Down syndrome fetuses shows oxidative stress, a condition that could harm fetal cells and play a role in affected individuals. The results demonstrate secondary adverse consequences of Down syndrome and suggest potential prenatal therapies.
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Tiller's Patients, Not Critics, Should Be Ones To 'Define His Memory,' Opinion Piece Says
In a "portrayal that defied logic," George Tiller -- the Kansas abortion provider who was murdered last month -- has been depicted "on Web sites, TV and radio talk shows and in legislative hearings as the reckless "abortionist," willing to euthanize babies close to birth just so the mother could fit into a prom dress or attend a rock concert," Barbara Shelly, a member of the Kansas City Star editorial board, writes in a Star opinion piece. She asks, "Would someone in the third trimester of pregnancy travel to the heart of Kansas and pay a $6,000 fee just to fit into a size six party dress?" Shelly adds that the "overwhelming majority of the 250 to 300 women a year" that sought abortions from Tiller in the second and third trimesters had planned their pregnancies. She profiles a Missouri college professor, pregnant with twins, who traveled to Tiller"s clinic with her husband to obtain an abortion after an amniocentesis revealed that neither fetus would survive and that she faced potentially life-threatening complications if the pregnancy continued. Shelly writes that the woman and others like her went to Tiller "heartbroken and afraid, carrying fetuses with malfunctioning kidneys, missing organs and syndromes certain to cause death in the womb or soon after birth." A smaller number were survivors of rape and incest, including young girls, according to Shelly. The "prom queen who talked her way into a late-term abortion" is a "creation of Tiller"s enemies," Shelly writes, concluding that the "real people" affected by his death are the "thousands who wrote the notes that now serve as a memorial wall to a fallen physician. They are the ones who should define his memory" (Shelly, Kansas City Star, 6/9).
Diagnostics

What Is A Virus? What Is A Viral Infection?

A virus (from the Latin virus meaning toxin or poison) is a microscopic organism consisting of genetic material (RNA or DNA) surrounded by a protein, lipid (fat), or glycoprotein coat. Viruses are unique organisms because they cannot reproduce without a host cell. After contacting a host cell, a virus will insert genetic material into the host and take over the host"s functions. The cell, now infected, continues to reproduce, but it reproduces more viral protein and genetic material instead of its usual products. It is this process that earns viruses the classification of "parasite". How are viruses spread? Viruses may spread vertically (from mother to child) or horizontally (from person to person). A virus"s ability to spread depends on the makeup of the virus. Interesting articles What are bacteria? What is fungus? What are fungi? What is herpes? What is genital herpes? What is hepatitis? Symptoms, causes and treatments. What is swine flu? What is measles? What are the symptoms of measles? What is polio? What causes polio? What is flu (influenza)? What are the symptoms of flu? Some viruses can spread by simple contact, exchanges of saliva, coughing, or sneezing. Some require sexual contact, while others go through the fecal-oral route via contaminated food or water. Still other viruses require an insect like a mosquito to carry the virus from person to person. What diseases are caused by viruses? Several human diseases are caused by viruses. These include: *Smallpox *The common cold *Measles *Chickenpox *Hepatitis *Influenza *Human papilloma virus *Shingles *Herpes *Polio *Rabies *Ebola *Hanta fever *HIV (the virus that causes AIDS) *Cold sores *SARS (Severe acute respiratory syndrome) *Dengue *Epstein-Barr virus *Some types of cancer How do we fight viruses? When the body"s immune system detects a viral infection, it begins to respond in a generic way. A process begins called RNA interference, which is crucial to fighting viruses because it degrades the viral genetic material and enables cells to survive the infection. The immune system also produces specific antibodies that are capable of binding to viruses and making them non-infectious. In addition, the body"s T cells are sent to destroy the virus. Although most viral infections result in a protective response from the immune system, viruses such as HIV specialize in evading the immune system by using a number of different techniques. Neurotropic viruses are also very capable of avoiding our natural immune system"s response to infection. How are viruses prevented and treated? Whereas bacterial infections can be treated with antibiotics, viral infections require either vaccinations to prevent them or antiviral drugs to treat them. Vaccinations are generally the cheapest and most effect way to prevent viruses. Currently, vaccinations exist for polio, measles, mumps, rubella, and smallpox among others. In fact, vaccinations have been instrumental in eliminating diseases such as smallpox and reducing other viral diseases to extremely rare status. Virus vaccinations consist of a weakened form of the virus (live-attenuated viruses) or viral proteins called antigens. Live-attenuated vaccines carry the risk causing the original disease in people with weak immune systems. Antiviral drugs have been developed largely in response to the AIDS pandemic. These drugs do not destroy the pathogen but instead inhibit their development. Antiviral medications are relatively harmless to the host. Written by Peter Crosta M.A. Copyright: Medical News Today Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today


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