Blood How it works on body care?

BLOOD

Blood, the body's transport medium, consists of about equal parts of a watery fluid called plasma and a mixture of red cells, white cells, and platelets. The red cells give blood its color and there are some 25 trillion of them. Each lasts about four months, wearing out and breaking up. And new cells to replace the old are produced in the bone marrow at a rate of about one million a second. The red color of the cells comes from hemoglobin, a combination of protein and an iron pigment. It is the hemoglobin that actually carries oxygen from the lungs to the capillaries and then carries carbon dioxide to the lungs, where it is exhaled.

Hemoglobin is a substance with an ability to hold very large quantities of oxygen. If it didn't exist, and if oxygen had to be dissolved in blood plasma, the body would require 300 quarts of blood instead of 5. White cells are less numerous than red but still there are 20 to 50 billion of them. Typically, in a pinprick of blood there may be some 10,000 white cells and as many as 5 million red cells. There are several kinds of white cells. One type, the granular leukocyte, is produced in the bone marrow along with red cells. Another, the lymphocyte, is produced in the lymph nodes, tonsils, and adenoids. White cells have an important role in the body's defense against invasive bacteria. Unlike the red cells, the white ones can move. They usually move along the sides of blood vessels rather than being pushed along with the red cells in the middle. They move by pushing out part of themselves ahead, then sliding the rest into the advanced area.

They can flow around and engulf bacteria. The battle, however, is not all one-sided. White cells can be destroyed by bacterial poisons, and pus is an accumulation of dead white cells and bacteria. But while bacteria sometimes can overwhelm the white cells, much more often the outcome is the other way, and most bacterial invasions (and they occur almost constantly) are repulsed. The blood platelets, which are smaller than the red cells, help blood to coagulate or clot. They collect at the site where a blood vessel is cut or otherwise injured, and they produce tiny fibrin threads, which lead to clot formation, helping to minimize blood loss. Plasma, which constitutes about half of whole blood, and is the part without cells, is itself about 91 percent water.

The remainder is made up of such minerals as sodium, calcium, potassium, and phosphorus, plus fats, sugars, plasma proteins, and antibodies. Antibodies are another part of the body's defense mechanism. Micro- organisms entering the body stimulate the production of antibodies which then, in very specific fashion, lock on to and incapacitate them. And it is by causing the body to produce antibodies specific against a particular disease organism that vaccines work. After use of a vaccine, the antibodies are in the plasma, ready and waiting to attack immediately if the disease organism should appear.

American Women smoking and the problems for non-smokers

 Women smoking a pack or more a day the risk is more than 4 times as great as the other women. Inhaling is a significant factor. Every smoker gets some smoke into his Lung, but purposeful inhalation multiplies the amount. Men who think they do not inhale or inhale only slightly have 8 times the risk and men who inhale deeply have 14 times the risk of lung cancer as against non-smokers. Women who do not inhale or who inhale only slightly have it and women who inhale moderately or deeply 3.7 times the risk in comparison with those who do not smoke. 

The earlier smoking starts, the greater the risk. Men who begin before 10 years of age have nearly 5 times as much risk as those who start after the women who start before 25 run twice the risk of women who start Liter. Although lung cancer sometimes does occur in nonsmokers, this is so relatively rare that it is estimated by authorities that at least 90 percent of lung cancer deaths would not occur if there were no smoking of cigarettes. Other cancers are associated with smoking.

The incidence of cancer of the larynx is 6 times as great and that of cancer of the esophagus 4 times as great in men cigarette smokers, aged 45 to 64, as in nonsmokers. Similarly, cancer of the pancreas is 2.7 times as great, cancer of the liver and biliary passages 2.8 times, cancer of the urinary bladder 2 times, cancer of stomach and kidney 1.4 times, and leukemia 1.4 times as great. 

Women smokers have death rates 1.8 times as high as nonsmokers for cancer of the mouth, larynx, esophagus, and pancreas. Pipe and cigar smokers have rates for lung cancer twice as high as nonsmokers; for cancer of the oral cavity, 4.9 times as great; for cancer of esophagus and larynx, 3 to 4 times as high. While the cancer death rates associated with smoking are not as high in women as in men, it seems likely that they will catch up because of the great increase of smoking by women in recent years. 

How to avoid insects on vacation for relaxation of your body?

Insects can ruin vacations. Spraying with insecticides will help get rid of most insects, and among the most effective are the space sprays such as Flit Aerosol Bomb, Special Gulf spray, Raid, Black Flag, and Slug-a- Bug. All insecticides contain material poisonous to human beings so use them with care, following directions exactly. Commercial insect repellent preparations are available. Some can be applied directly to the skin.

The U.S, Department of Agriculture has carried out studies of the most effective means of keeping insects from biting humans. Department scientists have developed formulas which can repel insects for about two hours. The following materials have been found to be safe and generally effective. They can be used separately, although combinations of them provide more protection against a larger variety of pests.

The materials: Dimethyl phthalate Dimethyl carbateIndalone 2-Ethyl-l, 3-hexanediol (Rutgers 612) Most druggists can supply dimethyl phthalate. They may also be able to provide the following combination which is sometimes referred to as "5-22": dimethyl phthalate, 60 percent; Indalone, 20 percent; dimethyl carbate, 20 percent. Always try these materials on a small area of your arm or leg before them liberally, to make certain that you are not unduly sensitive pain. As a rule, they do not cause irritation.

Some people object to consistency of these repellents, but most people find that a small amount to pay for protection against black flies, gnats, mosquitoes, and other pests. When your vacation ends you took it for change of pace, relaxation, rejuvenation. Don't spoil extending it to the last possible minute if that means having to that heavy Sunday traffic so you arrive home tense and exhausted. 

Give yourself time to take it easy on the way home, to arrive in time. Read your mail, make any phone calls you must attend to before falling to bed. By so doing, you will get the full benefit of what ought to have been some of the healthiest weeks of your life-sustenance for to return to regular daily life with new zest. 

What are the medicines to use in Vacations to relax your mind?

Some people never develop a tan but burn every time they stay out in the sun, and some others merely freckle. Fifteen minutes, for most people, is long enough for the first sunbath. Each day after that, exposure time can be gradually extended, perhaps by as much as 15 minutes. Time your sunbaths. Use a suntan preparation. 

Such a preparation can help guard your skin against burning, but even the best one will not provide complete protection, so watch the clock. If you want to stay in the sun without tanning or freckling, you will need a heavier preparation than the usual commercial ones.

Your druggist can make up a cold cream containing 15 to 20 percent zinc oxide, or titanium oxide, or calamine. A heavy cream of this type may be helpful for people with skin troubles that are exacerbated by sunlight, but should be used only on their own physician's recommendation. Drink plenty of water when sun tanning, to make up for fluid you lose. Even though you do not realize it, you can perspire profusely on a dry, sunny day. It's wise to replenish salt, too, by taking salt tablets or salty crackers, or tomato juice with salt added to it.

If you are called upon to help a person badly burned by the sun, don't hesitate about calling a doctor. Extensive, large blisters always need medical attention; there is danger of infection. In mild cases where the skin turns red, use a dusting powder containing equal parts of zinc oxide, boric acid, and talcum. For moderately bad burns, where the skin is red and slightly swollen, apply wet dressings of gauze dipped in a solution of aluminum acetate, 1 part in 500 parts of water. Another soothing dressing is made by soaking gauze in cold white mineral oil.

After the swelling goes down, replace the dressings with a soothing cream containing cold cream, 88 parts; methyl salicylate, 10 parts; and benzocaine, 2 parts. Any druggist will make these preparations for you. Being Wise about the Water It's essential today to make certain any body of water in which you are going to swim is not polluted. A clear blue lake or silver brook may be contaminated by germs capable of causing typhoid fever or dysentery. 

A swimming pool may be too crowded or its water changed too infrequently to protect you against many diseases. The local health department will know about the safety of pools and bathing beaches in its territory. Feel free to check with it. Don't venture into the water immediately after meals or when over- heated or tired from other activities. Always come out before you become tired or chilled. 

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. 

How taking body temperature helps to prevent certain diseases?

FEVER

Fever most commonly signals infection or inflammation somewhere in the body. The temperature is likely to be highest during a bacterial or severe viral infection. With a mild infection such as a cold, temperature elevation may be slight and fleeting. When fever is high, there is usually no hesitancy about calling the physician. But there may be other occasions when the physician should be consulted.

First

A few facts about taking temperature

Aspirin and aspirin-containing medications bring down elevated temperature and tend to keep it down for as long as four hours. So for accurate determinations, temperature should be taken before use of such medications or four or five hours afterward. Remember, too, that if temperature is taken immediately after smoking, it may be higher than normal; and conversely, if taken by mouth just after a cold drink, it may be lower than normal. Before taking temperature, rinse the thermometer in cool water and shake it until the mercury falls below the 95-degree mark. If you use an oralthermometer, hold it under the tongue, with mouth shut, for at least three minutes.

A rectal thermometer, after lubrication, should be inserted up to the 98.6-degree line while the patient lies on his side. It should remain in place for three to five minutes. For the average person, mouth temperature normally is 98.6 degrees, and rectal tends to be about one degree higher. When fever is mild-under 100 degrees orally or 101 rectally-and the only other symptom is nasal congestion, a slight cough, or a scratchy throat, there is no urgency about calling the physician. But take the temperature every three or four hours and note the severity of symptoms. If symptoms become worse or if the temperature moves up to 101 orally or 102 rectally, then notify your physician. Always when fever is present it is important to note the accompanying.

Patient History and Physical Examination can be Physician’s tool to Prevent Diseases

Patient History and Physical Examination can be Physician’s tool to Prevent Diseases

One patient who experienced a slight change in urination-dribbling a little during the night- passed it off as a joke, kidding with his wife that somehow, though he was still a young and vigorous man, he had entered second childhood. He had actually developed an enlargement of the prostate gland. A year of delay made the operation he needed more difficult and led to a complication, kidney infection, caused by backing up of urine. In reporting symptoms to the doctor, don't grope for medical words; use simple English. Many diseases have strong psychological aspects, and symptoms may recede the moment you are in the doctor's office. Still, tell the doctor you have the symptoms even though it may seem silly to talk about them when they are not immediately present. You can be certain the doctor will understand the phenomenon.

THE PHYSICAL EXAMINATION 'Even as he shakes hands with you, an alert physician may pick up some clues. Are your hands warm and moist, with a fine tremor? These characteristics may suggest over activity of the thyroidgland. If the hands are cold and the skin is coarse and puffy, the thyroid could be under- active. Red fingertips may signal some abnormal flow of blood in the heart; flushing of the nail beds in time with the heartbeat may indicate another type of heart problem called aortic regurgitation. As he observes the body, the physician can learn a great deal. The color of lips and ears may indicate possible anemia.

The Promise and Nature of Preventive Medicine

 One leg is slightly shorter than the other-enough in some cases to account for a backache problem. He may note leg swellings traceable to a heart problem, and any enlarged glands, tumors, or abnormal pigmentation resulting from internal disease. In his examination, the physician will be looking to see if the body is symmetrical. Lack of symmetry is almost always a sign of some dis- ability or disease. If the left side of the neck looks different from the right, it may be because of a tumor which is pushing out on that side. If the thyroid is not symmetrical, it may be because of a benign tumor which has enlarged one lobe ofthe gland. In the retina at the back of the eyes, small blood vessels-arteries and veins-lie are almost naked, devoid of covering material.

And there, very quickly, with an instrument called the Ophthal-mo-scope, the physician by looking through the pupil of the eye can detect any blood vessel changes which may provide clues to diabetes or kidneydisease. Women need a breast examination for any tenderness, abnormal lump, or nipple discharge. During a vaginal examination, a smear of cells for the "Pap" test is usually taken; this is a test to detect early cancer in the area. Both men and women should have a rectal examination to detect any local disturbances. With an instrument, the Sigmoido-Scope, the physician can see and check the lower portion of the colon for any growths.

As a patient, you can help greatly by insisting that the physician do a thorough inspection, by reassuring him that you have no squeamishness. Some doctors feel that patients’ are resistant to rectal andgenital examination and omit these vitally important checks. 

How a Patient History Can be used in Preventive Health Care? follow 1000 posts

It is not essential that you have a detailed knowledge of modern examining and testing procedures. But some awareness of the basic, long-established methods and tests and the newest x-ray and laboratory tools, and what they can do, will be useful.

THE CASE HISTORY

The patient's history, always an invaluable guide in disease diagnosis, is equally valuable in prevention. We have mentioned earlier, in passing, some of the reasons. Occupational data-facts about the work you do and possibly the circumstances under which you do it-may reveal some hazards, physical or psychological, to which you are exposed. An account of family health-the illnesses of parents and grandparents, their longevity, the state of health of brothers and sisters-can provide clues to hereditary strengths and weaknesses.

Your own past illnesses are 'an. important part of the record. Some childhood episodes of illness, if severe, may have left a mark. Rheumatic fever, for example, may strike a child at 15 or earlier and may produce some heart damage. Yet, very often, the effects of the heart damage are not felt until age 35, 40, or even later. A record of the rheumatic fever incident may be of vital importance in accurate diagnosis of a heart condition. 

The case history-which includes what the patient reports about present problems-sometimes, provides the first indication of onset of a serious illness. For example, angina pectoris (chest pain) is associated with coronary heart disease. In coronary heart disease, the coronary arteries feeding the heart muscle become narrowed. There are sophisticated techniques now-including x-ray movies of the coronary arteries -to show up the narrowing. But in some early cases, angina may occur before there are sufficient changes to show up on the x-ray studies.

If in taking the history the physician determines that there have been angina episodes-perhaps after some sudden unusual exertion, perhaps upon leaving the house on a particularly cold morning-he can confirm the anginadiagnosis by giving the patient some nitroglycerin tablets to take when the next incident occurs; and if there is immediate relief of pain, the diagnosis is virtually 99.9 percent certain. During history taking, be accurate, don't make wild guesses, but do report things you may think are only minor, like a sense of just not feeling well. It's important to indicate any change because it may be an early warning of something potentially serious. 

How does a preventively minded physician function? Follow 1000 posts in the series

You can expect that in working with you he will get to know you thoroughly-past medical history, family medical history, job, working habits, living habits-so he can weigh any possibility that you-as a member of a specific group based on heredity, environment, age, sex, color, personal habits-may face certain specific health hazards.

In his regular periodic examinations, he will follow your health progress in general and will be alert for the slightest early indication of anything wrong in any area of special risk for you. He may, in fact, from time to time use special tests to make certain all is going well in a special risk area.

During your visits, he will be concerned, of course, with any physical complaints and also with any mental or emotional problems (job, marital, and others), since these can affect health.

He will be interested in any changes in your habits and their possible effects, for good or ill, on your health. From time to time, he may have suggestions for an alteration, perhaps minor, of diet, exercisepattern, sleep, relaxation, etc.

As he regularly checks you, alert for earliest indications, even pre-indications, of possible trouble, he will be prepared to intervene without delay. Rather than wait, say, for obvious symptoms of diabetes to develop-especially if you belong to the group with greater than average probability of developing the disease-he will intervene to try to correct, if they appear, the very first changes that could possibly lead to diabetes.

As medicine has been practiced generally to now, it has been the patient who, in effect, has turned up after making a self-diagnosis. It has been the patient who has decided, "I think I am or may be sick or becoming sick," and then has sought help.

How it will be the preventively minded physician who increasingly will be able to tell the patient, "You are about to become sick and we are going to take a few measures in advance so you won't actually develop the sickness." 

How to prevent Kidney failure? 1000 posts preventive medicare

Preventive medicare avoid side effects. To days medicines cannot be trusted completely that they are free from side effects. To avoid side effects, we need to take due care to prevent any diesease before it reaches us. Take control of your body and follow the suggestions in these posts and you can aovid the complications. Follow our all 1000 posts following to safeguard your body and mind. 

Promising work is being done in detecting people with pre-diabetes-those who have no symptoms of diabetes but do have changes in body chemistry that may forecast eventual onset of overt diabetes. Early results of treating such patients with anti-diabetic agents are regarded by some investigators as promising, suggesting it may be possible to prevent the development of diabetes and such complications as visual disturbances, circulatory disturbances, and increased risk of coronary heart disease.

As we have noted earlier, kidney machines can be lifesavers for patients with kidney failure-but it would be far 'better to prevent the failure. And there is growing hope now that in many cases failure maybe prevented by attention to asymptomatic bacteria. Asymptomatic bacteriuria simply means the presence of sizable numbers' of bacteria in the urine without causing symptoms. The condition may occur at any age and in either sex but is especially frequent in females, affecting 1.2 percent of schoolgirls and 6 percent of pregnantwomen. There is evidence that if left untreated bacteriuria may eventually cause the kidney disease pyelonephritis, which in turn may result in kidney failure.

Bacteriuria can be treated effectively once detected and newer tests now make its detection simpler and more practical. Today, as the next post will show, many testing procedures are available to make it possible for the physician increasingly to anticipate and prevent diseases rather than wait for it to appear. 

Prevention is better than cure, Nature care series 1000 posts

"To CURE sometimes, to relieve often, to comfort always"-so the physician's role was described in the fifteenth century. So it remained until this century. Comfort he did because there was little else he' could do. More progress made in a few decades than in thousands of years before.

And while some of this progress as seen in heart Surgery, brain surgery, antibiotics, hormonal treatments-even more basic advances were made at the same time.

                

Medicine began to penetrate the mysteries of psychic disease and to gain understanding of the interrelationships of mind and body. It explored the influence and mechanisms of heredity in disease. It established the mechanisms of body chemistry and of inborn chemical error. It allied itself with many other sciences-drawing, for example, from physics and biochemistry new electronic equipment and test tube procedures for detecting and monitoring disease. 

The crystal ball may seem less glamorous than the wonder drug and the miracle in the operating room. But medicine has been developing a kind of scientific crystal ball that promises to make far greater inroads on disease that can be rubbed to see the portents for the individual patient and used to help guide him around the health-hazards he faces. Preventive medicine becomes inevitable as the new diseases and conditions started to occupy the human being. The speed of medical inventions is defeated by the newly accumulated diseases and abnormal conditions.

Hence the preventive medicine has gets its importance against the conventional method of finding the diseases and cure them. Vaccines are a part of preventive medicine, but nowadays the whole concept of preventive medicine changes and prevention is better understandable to prevent the diseases without any medications to avoid the side effects and its consequences.

Read the coming posts to understand how to prevent almost all ailments in our life. We will take up the writing on body parts as well as case to case of diseases and how to prevent better without medicines. A complete 1000 page guide ensures covering all aspects of body illnesses and conditions in human ailment. Starts from headache to diabetes, muscle pain to heart attack, How to avoid viral diseases? also will be taken care during the writing.