BACTERIA- VIRUSES infections and bodily defences

BACTERIA

Visible only under a microscope, bacteria are so tiny that you may best get an idea of their size through an analogy: If you can imagine for a moment that all eight million inhabitants of New York City are reduced to the size of bacteria, all eight million would fit comfortably into a single drop of water. Different types of bacteria differ considerably in size, shape, and habits. 

For example, streptococci form chains like strings of beads; others, such as those that produce boils, live in clusters, like bunches of grapes. Bacteria have a bad press, which only some of them deserve. More of them are beneficial than destructive. Bacteria, for example, are industrious workers in sewage plants, helping to dispose of waste.

Bacteria, too, help the growth of many plants on which all other plants and animals depend. But certainly life would be more pleasant without those varieties that cause syphilis, pneumonia, boils, abscesses, strep sore throats, tuberculosis, and many other diseases.

VIRUSES 

Far smaller even than bacteria; viruses are not visible under an ordinary microscope, only under the far more powerful electron microscope. Much that is known about viruses has been learned only recently. Once considered nonliving bits of matter, they are now regarded as the lowest forms of life-parasites that do not grow unless they can occupy living cells in which they set up reproductive housekeeping. If dried or frozen, they look like lifeless chemicals and remain inactive for years only to resume activity again when favorable conditions are provided. 

About 500 of them have been identified by the electron microscope, which magnifies them 25,000 times or more.

They look much like pearls, beautifully cut gems, bricks, or rods when seen this way. They are extremely potent. Small numbers of them, given ideal conditions, can start a disease. They cause many diseases including polio, influenza, yellow fever, rabies, infectious hepatitis, smallpox, chickenpox, measles, mumps and the common cold. 

Heart problems and Sugar intake - Bodily reactions

SUGAR AND THE HEART 

Can consumption of large amounts of sugar be as much of a factor in coronary heart disease as cholesterol? So British investigators led by Dr. John Yudkin of the University of London maintain. They note that over the past 200 years in Great Britain sugar consumption has gone up almost 25-fold, from an average of 5 pounds per person in 1760 to 25 in 1860 and to 120 pounds in 1960. 

A sizable increase in sugar consumption in the United States also has been noted by American investigators. The British workers note that increasing affluence anywhere is accompanied by increased incidence of heart attacks and by diet changes which include greater consumption not only of fat but of sugar.

They point to studies showing that recent Yemeni immigrants to Israel have little coronary thrombosis but those who have been in Israel 20 years or more become prone to the disease-s-and the major change in their diet is increased sugar consumption. 

Among their own studies, Yudkin and his co-workers report one covering three groups of men, aged 45 to 66. Twenty had recently suffered first heart attacks, 25 had hardening of leg arteries, and 25 others had no health problems. The sugar intake of the first two groups customarily had been roughly twice that of the healthy group. 

Not all doctors agree with Dr. Yudkin. Much work remains to be done to identify the mechanism by which sugar in excess may produce artery disease. And a big question to be answered is whether reduction of sugar intake will reduce risk of artery disease. Still, even the possibility that sugar may be involved in this major disease adds another reason why moderation in its use appears warranted. Ordinary refined sugar is what nutritionists call an "empty calorie" substance. 

It provides energy-but no protein, no vitamins, no minerals. It can add to body weight but does not help the body repair itself. Sugar, as contrasted, say, with cereal, puts the body at a nutritional dis- advantage. 

THE IRON-DEFICIENCY PROBLEM And the Causes in Our Body system

THE IRON-DEFICIENCY PROBLEM

 A deficiency of iron in the diets of young girls and women is a cause of growing concern. Iron deficiency can produce anemia, and the need for iron is universal. Generally, there is no problem in men, who require only 10 milligrams (1/3,000 of an ounce) of iron a day to maintain adequate body stores. 

But menstruating and pregnant women require 18 milligrams a day, and dietary analyses indicate that many adolescent girls and menstruating women have an iron intake of only 10 milligrams a day. Some studies reveal iron-deficiency anemia in as many as 60 percent of pregnant women. The problem centers around the fact, that overall iron content of foods on the market runs around 10 milligrams for every 2,000 calories.

Thus, unless she is paying particular attention to iron, a woman consuming 2,000 calories a day will not be getting adequate amounts of the mineral. The fact is that 50 to 60 percent of iron in the diet comes from cereals and meats, with nearly equal contributions from each, but the proportion of cereals and meats consumed by women varies widely. 

Whenever weight is a problem, too, the tendency is to reduce consumption of cereal products. Most meats provide 2 to 3 milligrams of iron per 3-ounce serving. Dry beans and nuts provide about 5 milligrams per cup. Most leafy green vegetables contain from 1 to 4 milligrams per cup.

Egg yolk, whole grain and enriched bread, potatoes, oysters, dried fruits, and peas are other good sources. There are on the market a number of prepared breakfast foods fortified with high levels of iron; some provide 8 to 10 milligrams per one-ounce serving. The use of iron-fortified food items when necessary to achieve adequate iron intake can be an important aid to health. For some women with high iron requirements-during pregnancy or because of abnormal menstrual losses-physicians may need to prescribe supplemental iron preparations.

How Vitamins act and their influence in our body care?

VITAMINS

 About $1.5 billion is spent yearly for vitamins, much of it by healthy people convinced by high-powered advertising that they need extra vitamins. While essential, vitamins are required only in minute amounts, and a fully adequate supply is provided by a balanced, varied diet. To be sure, some people, relatively few, may need vitamin supplementation because they do not absorb certain vitamins properly when they are on vigorous reducing diets. In such cases, medical advice is required. 

Vitamins in excess cannot restore the vigor of youth or perform other assorted health miracles. If diet is poor, vitamin-deficiency diseases may result: scurvy, with its gum bleeding, muscle aching, general weakness caused by deficiency of vitamin C; rickets with its bone deformities from deficiency of vitamin D; pellagra with its mental deterioration from deficiency of one of the B vitamins (niacin).

Correction of a deficiency when it exists may produce near-miraculous changes. But unless there is an actual deficiency, increasing vitamin intake with supplements-adding more to what is already adequate---can be useless, needlessly expensive, and in the case of some vitamins such as A and D can be harmful, since these two vitamins can accumulate in the body to poisonous levels. Some interesting, though not definitive, reports on the possible value of large doses of vitamin C taken early during a common cold have appeared recently.

The following table lists excellent sources of principal vitamins: Vitamin E Vegetable greens: beets, kale, chard, mustard, spinach, turnips Yellow vegetables: carrots, yellow squash, sweet potatoes Beef liver Cod-liver oil, halibut-liver oil  Vitamin B (several vitamins, including niacin and thiamine, make up the B family) Liver, pork, beef, salmon Whole-wheat bread, enriched bread, oatmeal and other cereals Peanuts, peanut butter Vitamin C Citrus fruits: oranges, lemons, grapefruits, limes Tomato juice (fresh or canned) Strawberries, raspberries, gooseberries, currants Vitamin D Halibut-liver oil and other refined fish-oil preparations Vitamin D milk Exposure of the skin to sunlight 

Administering Drugs with care - Preventive adverse and side effects

First read the label when you take the drug container from the medicine cabinet; read it again when you take the drug itself; and finally, read the label a third time when you put the container away. That last reading is an extra check to make certain you read the label properly the first two times. If you did happen to make a mistake, you have a chance to do something about it at once.

  

TRICKS FOR PROPER DOSAGE made by machines that produce attractive roundedness

 For the most part, are more attractive-looking and less expensive than those that were made individually by a druggist to a special prescription of a physician. The trouble with machine-made articles of medicine, as with mass- produced clothes, is that tailoring to each individual's needs cannot be built in. Thus, it's known that the amount of medicine required varies almost directly with the weight of a person.

Most machine-made capsules and pills are made for a standard person of about 150 pounds so they are apt to contain just a bit too much for most women, a bit too little for most men. Doctors have learned how to adjust dosages even with the limitations of machine-made medicines. For example, consider pills of phenobarbital often prescribed for nervousness, tension, headaches with a psychogenic component. Phenobarbital is commonly available in 1/8, 1/4, and 1/2 grain sizes. Suppose phenobarbital in 1/4 grain dosage is prescribed for a woman and it helps her tension but makes her just a bit too forgetful and drowsy to do her work properly.

The doctor tries 1/8 grain, but that doesn't help her tension enough. The solution lies in going back to the 1/4 grain dosage and proper use of a fingernail file. The patient is instructed to consider a tablet as a circle, and to gently file away one fourth of the circle, to get a tablet that is just halfway between 1/8 and 1/4 grain sizes. 

Usually, the patient "plays around" a bit and finds just the right tailor made size for her needs. When it comes to capsules-especially of sleeping medicines such as Nembutal, Seconal, and Amy talit's a help to learn how to take apart a capsule gently and pour out a portion to adjust the dosage to individual needs, then rejoin the capsule.

 Many people find a standard 1-1/2 grain capsule ineffective; on the other hand, when they take two capsules, they may experience hangovers. One full capsule and half of another may be the right dosage. 

Persistent Cough may mean Infection, Obstruction, accumulation of fluid, or in lungs

Coughing may indicate only a minor temporary throat irritation. But a persistent cough may mean infection, obstruction, or accumulation of fluid in the air passages or lungs, and so it deserves medical attention.  

 The Promise and Nature of Preventive Medicine 50 does a cough that developed during a respiratory infection but then persists long afterward. 

Urinary changes: We have already noted that blood in the urine re- quires investigation. Frequent urination may be the result of infection or, in some cases, nervous irritability of the bladder. Frequent and voluminous urination may be an indication of a relatively rare type of diabetes, diabetes insipidus. In older men, the need to get up several times a night for urination may indicate an enlarging prostate.

Difficulty in starting urination may indicate sufficient prostate enlargement to require treatment to prevent backup of urine and impairment of kidney function. Actually, any marked change in the urine-in its volume, color, or number of times it must be passed-calls for medical study. 

Nausea may stem, of course, from a gastrointestinal disturbance, but it may also arise from an infection almost anywhere in the body or from disturbance of the balance mechanism in the ear. If the nausea is mild, you can delay a little before consulting a physician, for it may disappear in a short time and not return. But severe and persistent nausea, or nausea that keeps recurring, calls for medical attention.

Jaundice, or yellowing of the skin, may be due to a viralinfection and is especially likely to be seen in younger people. It may signal gallstones, and this is especially likely to be the case for middle-aged women. In older people, it sometimes is due to cancer of the pancreas or to cancer that has spread into the liver from elsewhere. The safe rule is always to regard jaundice as a signal calling for immediate medical attention. In some people with sallow complexion, jaundice may not be readily discernible on the basis of the appearance of the skin; in such cases, look at the whites of the eyes-if they are distinctly yellow, jaundice is present.