Cholesterol

Cholesterol and triglycerides


Today risk of heart attack has cautioned the world to control hyperlipidaemia – high level of lipids (fat or cholesterol or triglycerides) in blood. Obesity also blames hyperlipidaemia. Likewise, cholesterol or fat is now blamed for all sorts of problems from acne, ulcers, gall stones, heart diseases, vascular diseases, cerebrovascular disorders, impotency, deranged mental health, increased blood pressure, ulcers and even indigestion.
Cosmopolitan people prefer a lean body structure without any fatness. But no one can deny the need of fat for good structuring of our body and its functions. Fat is very essential and found everywhere in the body i.e. in the skin, nerves, tissues, other organs, blood, etc. It provides lots and lots of benefits for the body:

• It covers our body like an insulating blanket (layer) and acts as the energy-giving heater. Emaciated persons, who have less fat covering, will usually have low body temperature and feel cold very easily.
• It gives a cushioning effect to the body.
• It is very essential for our body functions and health.
• It acts as a reservoir of energy, more than sugar, i.e. stored fat may be utilised for 3-6 weeks in case of starvation or fasting. As they say, butter is better for longer trips.
• It aids in absorption of fat soluble vitamins A, D, E & K.
• Fat metabolism is an alternative metabolism during lack of carbohydrates.
• It is very essential for synthesis of hormones and bile salts.
• It controls the water permeability of the skin cells, so it controls excess evaporation.
• Lipid is essential for clotting, if platelet is deprived of it, blood will not coagulate.

Equal to its goodness, cholesterol in excess is harmful. Cholesterol itself is not harmful but becomes harmful when it gets oxidised by free radicals.
Cholesterol required for our body is usually sourced from foods (vegetable or animal) or can be synthesised in the liver. The excess intake of fats initially gets deposited in the adipose layer of the skin. Then, it is stored in the liver. The excess fat stored in the liver makes liver fatty and hard. It then gradually gets released in a sustained manner according to the requirements, if there is any. The rich sources of fat are the liver of sheep, beef, fish oils, meat, butter, ghee, nuts, seeds, grains, cereals and pulses. Continuous deposition of fat can cause weight gain.
All fat people will not have high cholesterol in blood, since obesity may be part of their constitution. Likewise, even a lean person can have high cholesterol level in blood. So, it is more concerned with mobilisation & utilisation of fat.
Types of fats
Fats based on our foods intake are classified into two categories:
1) Saturated fats which are again classified as

• Short chain fatty acids- somewhat easily digestible
• Long chain fatty acids – hard to digest – animal fats

2) Unsaturated fats which are again classified as

• Mono unsaturated fatty acids – very easily digestible – olive, corn oil and soya.
• Poly unsaturated fatty acids – Essential fatty acids

The saturated fats are more dangerous than unsaturated fats.
Fats are stored in the body as triglycerides, phospholipids and chylomicrons and transported in the blood to various organs as
1. LDL cholesterol (low density lipoprotein) is also called bad cholesterol, due to its bad effect on the heart. This LDL cholesterol gets deposited on the walls of the arteries and makes blood vessels hard and narrow – a condition called atherosclerosis. The risk of deprivation of blood supply to heart, kidney, extremities, brain, etc., may occur due to the blockage or the narrowing of blood vessels with this fat deposits. When the same condition occurs in the coronary artery (which supplies blood to the heart), it causes ischaemic heart diseases (IHD).
2. HDL cholesterol (high density lipoprotein) is also named as good cholesterol since it is good for the heart. It can remove the fat deposits from the arteries and bring them back to the liver.
3. VLDL cholesterol (very low density lipoprotein) is the smallest mass of lipoproteins synthesised by the liver from carbohydrates. They are carried to other tissues for storage.
Total cholesterol is the sum of LDL + HDL + VLDL
Triglycerides are a form of neutral fats which is the usual form of storage.
Phospholipids are the lipoproteins which is very essential for functions of cell membrane
Chylomicrons are protein coated small fat droplets which are produced by the intestines, during and after meals. They are carried as milky white fluid by lymph vessels for circulation.
Causes and incidences that favour hyperlipidaemia Mostly diet and heredity control lipid levels. So, the primary cause may be due to overeating or familial condition. The secondary causes are due to diseases like diabetes, hypothyroidism, alcohol addiction, kidney failure, gall bladder diseases, etc. Other factors have fewer influences.

• Familial – High cholesterol, like diabetes, hypertension, etc., is often found to run in families. Familial hypercholesterolemia is an inherited tendency to develop atherosclerosis and heart attacks in a young age. Also, the chances of risk are more when both parents have high cholesterol.
• Age – As age advances, everyone retires and takes rest with good meal, which tends to increase cholesterol levels. Also, naturally, there is a tendency to have raised value of cholesterol as age advances. After the age of 40, the incidence is more common and after 60, it is found to be higher. Males suffer more commonly than females but after the menopausal age, they suffer equally.
• Diet – Food rich in saturated fats will raise the bad cholesterol level in the blood. For example – meat, chicken, egg, oil, etc.
• Habits of smoking, drinking, sedentary work can also raise cholesterol levels.
• Diseases – Hypertension, diabetes mostly co-exist with high cholesterol level. Hypothyroidism can also cause high cholesterol level.

Symptoms – Awareness of cholesterol is now increasing day by day. Mostly there is no symptom at all for high levels of blood cholesterol. But, carelessness even after diagnosing it will lead one to obesity, hypertension and diseases that involve the heart, kidney, liver, etc. It can cause various symptoms or complications according to the parts involved. Commonly, giddiness, headache, palpitation, vomiting and indigestion are the accompanying symptoms of high blood cholesterol. Most complaints of high blood pressure, diabetes and heart diseases are closely associated with this lipid abnormality.
Diagnosis – Nowadays, cholesterol level and triglycerides levels are checked more cautiously, due to higher incidence of heart attacks. Even without any symptoms or complaints, most people opt for routine yearly master health check-ups after the age of 40. Also, a check-up during high BP or diabetes often reveals high levels of cholesterol in blood. Once the blood shows a high level of cholesterol, it should be thoroughly investigated by a lipid profile. This blood test should be done after 12 hours of fasting. Further to rule out heart involvement, ECG must be analysed to care for the heart.
LIPID PROFILE – Normal expected levels are
Serum total cholesterol – 150 – 240mg/dl – better to have below 200mg/dl
Serum triglycerides – 70 – 150 mg / dl – better to have below 130mg/dl
Serum HDL cholesterol – 30 -70 mg / dl – better to have above 50mg/dl
Serum LDL cholesterol – 70 -130 mg / dl – better to have below 100mg/dl
Serum VLDL cholesterol – 20 – 40 mg / dl – better to have below 30mg/dl
LDL/HDL ratio – 2.5 – 4.0 – better to have below 3.0
Complications – High level of cholesterol and triglycerides usually lead to complications if there is no proper care. Mainly, cholesterol deposits in the blood vessels cause hardening of arteries i.e., atherosclerosis, which will be the main reason or cause for hypertension getting worse (by narrowing the blood vessels), ischaemic heart disorders (by blocking the coronary arteries) and stroke (by thrombus formation). Likewise, high levels of cholesterol also complicate diabetes.
Prevention – You can live pleasantly and cheerfully with cholesterol if you keep it under your control.
Do not take any food in excesss.
Utilise intake of food properly – don’t let it to go for storage
Do’s

• Regular exercise and reduce weight. Doing exercise regularly will keep LDL cholesterol at low level and HDL cholesterol at high level, which is good for the heart.

Avoid

• Smoking and drinking
• Saturated fats and cholesterol foods like meat, chicken, eggs, cakes, pastries, cookies, milk products and fried foods
• Nuts containing saturated fatty acids in large doses
• Using coconut oil and palm oil for cooking and try to use mono unsaturated fatty acids like safflower oil, corn oil, mustard oil, olive oil, etc.
• Butter and ghee

Take

• Omega 3 unsaturated fatty acids supplements or use oil which contains it
• Plenty of vegetables, fruits, cereals, pulses and grains
• Regular treatment for high BP, heart disorders and diabetes

General treatment – All physicians will usually advice more on diet habits and living habits i.e. more concentration is given to weight reduction, diet restriction and exercises. The aim of the treatment is to reduce fats in the blood and deposition in the arteries. Also, it is a must for arresting new deposits.
From olden days, using garlic in food has been considered as traditional medicine for controlling cholesterol. Treatment based on drugs, once started, must be continued for life. Now, doctors commonly recommend Omega-3 supplements for high cholesterol levels, along with their treatments. Blood pressure and sugar should be carefully watched during the treatment.

Homeopathic approach to controling fats – Hyperlipidaemia is supposed to be a constitutional disease, so treatment also should be constitutional. If the cause is secondary, treatment should be aimed at the causative factor. Normal levels can be surely claimed and maintained if the treatment is started earlier. Treatment should be followed for quite a long time to treat hyperlipidaemia. Unlike other systems of medicine, which are toxic in nature during continuous usage, drugs used in Homeopathy are safe and offer betterment without any side-effects. Discover health and happiness with peace of mind and proper treatment.
In Homeopathy, medicines are selected constitutionally according to the patient and his symptoms. Like all other system of medicines, in Homeopathy also, medicines are given second importance only compared to diet and exercises. Homeopathic medicines commonly used in cases of high level of cholesterol or triglycerides are Allium Sativa, Allium Ursinum, Baryta mur, Calc carb, Cholestrinum, Crataegus, Kali Brom, Lycopodium, Nat sulp, Nux vom, Pulsatilla, Rauwolfia, Sulphur, Thuja, etc. These Medicines should be taken under the advice and diagnosis of a qualified Homeopath.

for new hope

Dr. S. Chidambaranathan, BHMS, MD (Homeo)

Laxmi Homeo Clinic

24 E. New Mahalipatti Road

Madurai, TN 625 001

India

Tel:  +91-452-233-8833 | +91-984-319-1011 (Mob)

Fax: +91-452-233-0196

E-mail:  drcheena@yahoo.com

www.drcheena.com / www.drcheena.in

(Disclaimer: The contents of this column are for informational purpose only. The content is not intended to be a substitute for professional healthcare advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of healthcare professional for any health problem or medical condition.)

Toxoplasmosis Pregnancy

Cats With Pregnant Women

The myth about cats giving pregnant women toxoplasmosis has been causing misery for a long time. Pregnant women can transmit toxoplasmosis, a rare parasitic disease .If you are pregnant you have probably heard that you should not change cat litter during your pregnancy. You may be wondering why. Changing cat litter puts you at .Find out what you need to know about toxoplasmosis during pregnancy, including how to avoid getting infected and what the risks are if you do..Toxoplasmosis in pregnancy 1. Benha University Hospital, EGYPT E mail: elnashar53@hotmail. com TOXOPLASMOSIS IN PREGNANCY Aboubakr Elnashar.Toxoplasmosis is a rare, but serious blood infection. Learn about the risks of toxoplasmosis during pregnancy and ways to prevent an infection..Toxoplasmosis is considered to be a leading cause of attributed to foodborne illness in the United States. More than 60 million men, women, and children in the .Toxoplasmosis is a parasitic disease caused by Toxoplasma gondii. Infections with toxoplasmosis usually cause no symptoms in adult humans. Occasionally there may be a .Toxoplasmosis is an infection with a parasite, which, rarely, can be harmful in pregnancy. Find out more. - BabyCentre.Test Overview. A toxoplasmosis test is a blood test that checks for antibo.s to the Toxoplasma gondiiparasite. Your body's natural defense system immune .Toxoplasmosis, a parasitic infection, is very dangerous during pregnancy. Learn more from WebMD about toxoplasmosis prevention, symptoms, and treatment..

Cats With Pregnant Women

Ocular Toxoplasmosis

Find out what you need to know about toxoplasmosis during pregnancy, including how to avoid getting infected and what the risks are if you do..Toxoplasmosis, a parasitic infection, is very dangerous during pregnancy. Learn more from WebMD about toxoplasmosis prevention, symptoms, and treatment..Toxoplasmosis is a parasitic disease caused by Toxoplasma gondii. Infections with toxoplasmosis usually cause no symptoms in adult humans. Occasionally there may .Toxoplasmosis is a rare, but serious blood infection. Learn about the risks of toxoplasmosis during pregnancy and ways to prevent an infection..The myth about cats giving pregnant women toxoplasmosis has been causing misery for a long time. Pregnant women can transmit toxoplasmosis, a rare parasitic disease . Toxoplasmosis in pregnancy 1. Benha University Hospital, EGYPT E mail: elnashar53@hotmail. com TOXOPLASMOSIS IN PREGNANCY Aboubakr .If you are pregnant you have probably heard that you should not change cat litter during your pregnancy. You may be wondering why. Changing cat litter puts you at .Toxoplasmosis is considered to be a leading cause of attributed to foodborne illness in the United States. More than 60 million men, women, and children in the .Toxoplasmosis is an infection with a parasite, which, rarely, can be harmful in pregnancy. Find out more. - BabyCentre. Test Overview. A toxoplasmosis test is a blood test that checks for antibo.s to the Toxoplasma gondiiparasite. Your body's natural defense system .

Week 39 Pregnancy

39 Weeks Pregnant

Printables, coloring pages, recipes, crafts, and more from your child's favorite Nickelodeon and Nick Jr. shows..TODAY Parents is the premiere destination for parenting news, advice community. Find the latest parenting trends and tips for your kids and family on TODAY.com..

35 Weeks Pregnant Swollen Ankles And Feet

39 Weeks Pregnant Belly

TODAY Parents is the premiere destination for parenting news, advice community. Find the latest parenting trends and tips for your kids and family on TODAY.com..Printables, coloring pages, recipes, crafts, and more from your child's favorite Nickelodeon and Nick Jr. shows..

Tonic water Quinine

On the basis that all tips are useful, especially if they're easy and cheap and unlikely to do you any harm, I found this one on Wellsphere.com I'll certainly try it out myself.

neuropathy remedy: tonic water/quinine Posted Jan 18 2010 12:00am
In reading about remedies for neuropathy, one of the side effects of Taxol, I came across a number of suggestions. One of them, available over the counter, was tonic water, which contains quinine. As a drug, quinine is used to treat malaria. It also has some followers who use a non-prescriptive low dose for other applications, namely neuropathy and leg cramps. The medical dose seems to be something over 300 mg; tonic water contains 40 mg per eight ounces. Some people who drink tonic water report improvements in neuropathy after only a few days.

My fingers are worse with pain while my toes are still just numb and tingly. When the fingers first got worse, it was sudden and it feels like I have a bad hangnail, causing pain when I press a clawed finger against something–like pressing the button of my iPhone. Typing on a keypad does not seem to cause much of a problem. Gripping items is a challenge, and I have to concentrate to avoid dropping them.

Anyway, I’m drinking tonic water and hoping that it will reduce the neuropathy in my fingers and toes. Of course, I’ll also be doing further research on other remedies and will report back here

2004-2010 Donna Peach:
http://www.wellsphere.com/breast-cancer-article/neuropathy-remedy-tonic-160-water-quinine/953571

Idiopathic Neuropathy

 Today's post from neuropathy.org (see link below) talks about what happens when you are diagnosed with Idiopathic neuropathy. 'Diagnosed' is not quite the right word because idiopathic neuropathy is the conclusion reached when other forms are ruled out, or the doctor can't establish a definitive cause for your problems. You then go away feeling slightly cheated and maybe even not believed but the fact is that between 20% and 50% of people with neuropathy are diagnosed as being idiopathic. It really just shows how limited the testing procedures still are in the field of neurology/neuropathy. Many people, for instance, can point to chemotherapy, or diabetes, or HIV as logical causes for their neuropathy but it's by no means an exact science. Even if one cause seems obvious; with over 100 possible causes and over 100 forms of neuropathy, you may have combinations, or the one you thought may only be a co-morbidity with something else. Testing will need to improve as numbers continue to grow but you should always remember that an idiopathic diagnosis does not lessen your symptoms or validity in any way.
 

 

 
You’ve Been Given An “Idiopathic” Neuropathy Diagnosis. What’s Next?
By Shanna K. Patterson, MD

The term idiopathic neuropathy means that the cause of neuropathy is not known.

Unfortunately, this label currently applies to approximately 20% of patients with neuropathy, and up to 50% of patients with small fiber neuropathy. This can be a source of great frustration for both patients and neurologists.

Naturally, many patients with idiopathic neuropathy ask, “Is there anything else that can be done to search for the cause of my neuropathy?” The answer depends on the details of each person’s case. For some patients who have been given an idiopathic neuropathy diagnosis, the answer may be “yes.”

Here are a couple questions to think about when deciding whether to discuss this question further with your physician:

1. How long has it been since you underwent testing for potential causes of neuropathy?

• Repeat testing can be informative if a slowly developing or mild condition was previously below the threshold for detection.

• New genetic testing may be available, and could be appropriate in some cases.

• While there is no official recommended time interval when testing should be repeated, raise the possibility of repeating tests if neuropathy symptoms are significant, progressing, or several years have passed since the initial work-up was done.

2. Have you been evaluated by a neuropathy specialist?
Most commonly, physicians think about diabetes, thyroid dysfunction, and certain nutritional deficiencies as causes for neuropathy. However, a neuropathy specialist—neurologists with a focus on neuromuscular diseases such as neuropathy—may be able to determine the underlying cause for some patients who have been given an idiopathic neuropathy diagnosis. In some cases additional detailed history, additional testing, or other analysis of the existing information for an individual patient could be helpful:

• A neuropathy specialist may be able to recognize how certain known medical conditions could be causing neuropathy. For example, kidney or liver diseases, past gastric bypass surgery (which can lead to nutritional deficiencies), or certain rheumatologic disorders can be associated with neuropathy.

• A neuropathy specialist may be able to reveal the underlying cause of neuropathy by taking a more detailed history. For example, asking about past and current medication use can reveal the cause of neuropathy. Medications such as statins (a class of medications used to treat high cholesterol), certain types of chemotherapy, immunosuppressants, and certain HIV medications can cause neuropathy. Also, discussing possible toxic exposures, such as heavy metals or environmental toxins, can be useful in some cases.

• Diabetes is a well recognized and common cause of neuropathy. However, neuropathy can be caused by a milder form of elevated blood sugar levels, known as glucose intolerance. Essentially, this is when blood sugar levels are higher than normal but below the cutoff to diagnose diabetes. Early recognition and treatment of this condition can lead to improvement in neuropathy in some cases.

• A neuropathy specialist may consider testing for less common causes of neuropathy, such as autoimmune or hereditary conditions, when appropriate.

In conclusion, idiopathic neuropathy can seem like a hopeless situation—an incomplete diagnosis—and for these patients symptom management is key. It is important to remember that for some patients, further evaluation by a neuropathy specialist can help determine the underlying cause of neuropathy. This can guide treatment choices, and lead to eventual symptom improvement. For some patients the underlying cause of neuropathy may not be evident even after further evaluation, but on-going research helps us to learn more about neuropathy’s various causes, develop new tests, and consider new treatment approaches for neuropathy. If your neuropathy symptoms are persistent, a cause of significant distress, or steadily worsening, then partnering with a neurologist with experience in evaluating neuropathy can be worthwhile.

http://www.neuropathy.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=8269

Cottonwood Tree Medicine an Aromatic Panacea

Cottonwood Tree Medicine: an Aromatic Panacea

Some tips from my harvesting adventure on identification, harvesting, and preparation.

Also the launch of my Goddess Devotional Plant Perfume membership

Enjoy! 

Love,

Ananda

Cervical Pain

The cervical spine is really a marvelous and complex structure. It's capable of supporting a head weighing 15 or even more pounds while relocating several directions. Not one other region of the spine has such freedom of motion. This combination however, complexity and mobility, result in the neck susceptible to pain and injury. This complex structure includes 7 small vertebrae, intervertebral discs to soak up shock, joints, the spinal-cord, 8 nerve roots, vascular elements, 32 muscles, and ligaments. The nerve roots stem in the spinal cord like tree branches through foramen within the vertebrae. Each nerve root transmits signals (nerve impulses) back and forth from the brain, shoulders, arms, and chest. A vascular system of four arteries and veins tell you the neck to flow blood between the brain and also the heart. Joints, muscles, and ligaments facilitate movement and actually stabilize the structure.
Neck mobility is matchless. It's capable of moving the top in many directions: 90 examples of flexion (forward motion), 90 examples of extension (backward motion), 180 examples of rotation (side to side), and almost 120 examples of tilt to either shoulder.
Anatomy of Neck Pain
Your face is a lot to carry around-it can weigh 8 pounds or even more. Not only does your neck fully support everything weight, it allows you to nod your head, shake your face, and turn your face. No other part of your spine is able to move so much: 90° of forward motion, 90° of backward motion, 180° of side-to-side motion, and almost 120° of tilt either to shoulder.

Technically, your neck is known as the cervical spine, also it begins at the base of the skull. It contains 7 small bones (vertebrae), which doIn in between each vertebra are tough fibrous shock-absorbing pads known as the intervertebral discs. Each disc consists of a tire-like outer band (annulus fibrosus) along with a gel-like inner substance (nucleus pulposus).
Aside from the bones and the discs, your neck has joints, muscles, and ligaments. They're what make your neck so moveable. Additionally they stabilize your neck.

Your neck houses top of the part of your spinal-cord, nerve roots, as well as an elaborate system of arteries and veins. The nerves inside your neck help the brain talk with your shoulders, arms, and chest. The arteries and veins circulate blood between your brain and the heart.
Overall, your neck is amazing and intricate. However, since it has such freedom of motion, it's at a high-risk for pain and injury.ctors label C1 to C7 (the 'C' means cervical). The numbers 1 to 7
indicate the amount of the vertebrae. C1 is nearest the skull, while C7 is nearest the chest.
Causes of neck pain
have to know what's causing your neck pain because that impacts your treatments. As you probably know, there are plenty of ways to experience neck pain. It might be mild or severe, numbing or burning, inside your neck or in you. There's a variety of symptoms due to there being a variety of causes of neck pain. Several common causes are:
Everyday life: Just getting through every single day takes its toll in your body - you almost certainly know that from first-hand experience. Stress and emotional tension may cause muscles to then contract, resulting in pain and stiffness. You are able to sleep wrong and awaken with a crick in your neck. You are able to sit too long at the desk, staring at your pc, and give yourself a stiff neck. Also, the way in which you're living might be causing your neck pain. Poor posture, obesity, and weak stomach muscles often disrupt the spine's balance, causing your neck to bend uncomfortably to pay. Even healthy, normal activities may cause neck sprains and strains, be responsible for pain. Gardening, tennis, an amiable game of touch football, as well as golf can all potentially hurt your neck. Getting older: Age-related disorders, such as osteoarthritis, spinal stenosis, and degenerative disc disease, have an effect on the cervical spine.
Degenerative disc disease (DDD) may cause the intervertebral discs being less hydrated, plus they lose their flexibility, elasticity, and shock-absorbing abilities. And also over time, you may create a bulging disc or perhaps a herniated disc. With both bulging and herniated discs, the disc material can press on nerve roots, causing neck pain that could run into the arm, tingling, and/or numbness.
Osteoarthritis is a very common joint disorder that triggers progressive deterioration of cartilage. With no cartilage, your bones rub together. Your body reacts by forming bone spurs (osteophytes), a self-protection step. However, the bone spurs can press in your nerves, causing neck pain.
stenosis causes the little nerve passageways between the vertebrae to narrow, which could compress and trap the spinal-cord and/or spinal nerve roots. Stenosis could cause neck, shoulder, and arm pain and numbness when these nerves cannot function normally.
Injury and Accidents: That's right-whiplash. An abrupt forced movement from the head or neck in almost any direction and the resulting "rebound" from the head or neck within the opposite direction is known as whiplash. The sudden "whipping" motion causes problems for the surrounding and supporting tissues of the neck and head. Muscles react by tightening and contracting, creating muscle fatigue that leads to pain and stiffness. Severe whiplash may also involve injury to the intervertebral discs, joints, ligaments, muscles, and nerve roots. Automobile accidents are the most common reason for whiplash. If you've had a head trauma, more than likely, your neck continues to be affected, too, even though you don't feel it immediately. It's wise to seek medical assistance immediately.
Other Disorders: Prolonged pain and/or decreased purpose of your brain, spinal cord, muscles, or nerves might be an indication of some thing serious. Seek medical assistance immediately because occasionally, these symptoms could be the result of a spinal infection, spinal-cord compression, spinal tumor, fracture, or any other disorder.
Symptoms of Neck Pain
For the greatest treatment for your neck, you need to recognize and comprehend the symptoms. With neck pain, you might have symptoms such as:
Neck soreness on a single or both sides
Burning pain
Tingling sensations
Stiffness
Pain around your neck
Pain, numbness, or weakness inside your arm
Trouble swallowing, talking, writing, or walking
Headache
Dizziness
Nausea
Blurred vision
Fever
Sweating
Tiredness
Unintentional weight reduction
You must treat your neck pain properly. Seek medical assistance if your pain or related symptoms persists for over a few days-and seek immediate attention for those who have neck pain with the following emergency signs:
High fever
Sensitivity to light
Irritability
Severe tenderness with neck movement
Numbness, weakness, and/or tingling
You've recently sustained a head or neck injury
Exams and Tests for Neck Pain
your spine specialist for those who have neck pain that persists lots of days or is severe and combined with other symptoms. (If you do not already have a spine specialist, you'll find one using our Look for a Professional in Your Area feature.)
On your visit, your spine specialist asks you questions and carry out some basic exams. This really is to try to identify the reason for your neck pain and create a treatment plan for you-a way to manage your pain along with other symptoms and to assist you to recover.
First, your spine specialist asks about your current symptoms and remedies you've already tried.
Your spine specialist will even perform physical and neurological exams. Within the physical exam, your physician will observe your posture, flexibility, and physical condition, noting any movement that triggers you pain. Your physician will feel your spine, note its curvature and alignment, and sense of muscle spasm. He or she will even check your shoulder area. Throughout the neurological exam, your spine specialist will test out your reflexes, muscle strength, other nerve changes, and pain spread. To identify the cause of your neck pain, you may want to have some imaging tests done. You might have an x-ray, which can show narrowed disc space (spinal stenosis), fractures, bone spurs (osteophytes), or osteoarthritis. A mechanical tomography (CT) scan or a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) test can display a bulging disc or perhaps a herniated disc.
You also might be asked to undergo additional tests.
Bone scan: To assist your doctor detect spinal problems for example osteoarthritis, fractures, or infections, you might have a bone scan. You'll have a very small amount of radioactive material injected right into a blood vessel. That will traverse your blood stream and become absorbed by your bones. More radioactive material is going to be absorbed by a place where there is abnormal activity-like an inflammatory reaction. A scanner can detect the quantity of radiation in all your bones and show the "hot spots" (areas with more radioactive material) to assist your doctor figure out in which the problem is.
Discogram: This is a method that confirms or denies the disc(s) because the source of your pain. You'll have a harmless dye injected into your discs. If there is a problem with your disc-like it's herniated-the dye will leak from the disc. The doctor can see that on an x-ray, which will show him/her that there's a problem with your disc.
Electromyograph (EMG): Whether it's possible you have nerve damage, you might need this special test to measure how fast your nerves respond. Usually, this test isn't ordered immediately because it may take weeks before you notice that you're having nerve problems (for example abnormal reflexes or weakness).
Myelogram: To ascertain if you have a spinal canal or spinal-cord disorder-perhaps nerve compression causing pain and weakness-you could have a myelogram. In this test, you will have a special dye injected in to the area around your spinal-cord and nerves. (Before that occurs, the area will be numbed.) Then you will have an x-ray or a CT scan. The look will provide a detailed anatomic picture of the spine, especially from the bones, and the doctor will appear at that to see if anything's pressing in your nerves.
Diagnosing neck pain could be tricky. Because there are many possible reasons for neck pain, there might be overlapping symptoms along with other conditions. Be a good patient-and have patience.

Organizer Treatment for sciatica nerve problems

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Watch Out For Ticks

Although it may seem early in the year as far as the Northern hemisphere is concerned, this article from health.usnews.com (see link below) warns yet again about the danger of ticks. Via Lyme disease that tick bites can cause, people can suffer nerve damage including neuropathy. The bites themselves  are both difficult to find and eradicate. If neuropathy ensues, tracing it back to a tick bite may also be very difficult, so it's sensible to at least do your best to avoid being bitten, or treat the bite as quickly as possible after it's discovered.

Prevent Tick Bites While Enjoying the Outdoors
By Robert Preidt, HealthDay Reporter HealthDay April 13, 2014 

SUNDAY, April 13, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- With spring's arrival, many Americans will begin enjoying outdoor activities such as hiking, camping and gardening -- and they need to protect themselves from tick bites, an expert says.

"There aren't any vaccines for tick-borne diseases like Lyme, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, ehrlichiosis and anaplasmosis, so the only way to prevent infection is to not get bitten in the first place," Dr. Christopher Ohl, a professor of infectious diseases at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, said in a Wake Forest news release.

Ohl, who is also the medical director of communicable diseases for the Forsyth County, N.C. Health Department, offered the following tips:

Use an insect repellant containing DEET on exposed skin, and treat clothing and footwear with a permethrin-based repellant that provides weeks of protection and remains through several washings.

Tuck your pants into socks to reduce the amount of exposed skin. When hiking, stay on well-worn paths and out of tall grass or bushy areas.

Check for ticks immediately after being outdoors. The longer a tick is attached, the greater your risk of infection.

If you discover a tick, use tweezers to remove it as close to the skin as possible. Don't grab it with your fingers and squeeze it. That injects the tick fluids into you and increases the risk of infection, Ohl warned.

If you suffer a tick bite and develop a fever one to two weeks later, see a doctor. The incubation period for tick-borne diseases is eight to 14 days, he said.

Protect your dog with tick collars or monthly treatments. This will prevent ticks from being brought into your home by the dog.

More information

Visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to learn more about tick bite prevention.

http://health.usnews.com/health-news/articles/2014/04/13/prevent-tick-bites-while-enjoying-the-outdoors

SKIN CELLS CAN BE ENGINEERED IN TO PULMONARY VALVES FOR PEDIATRIC PATIENTS

Researchers have found a way to take a pediatric patient's skin cells, reprogram the skin cells to function as heart valvular cells, and then use the cells as part of a tissue-engineered pulmonary valve. A proof of concept study published in the September 2014 issue of The Annals of Thoracic Surgery provides more detail on this scientific development

"Current valve replacements cannot grow with patients as they age, but the use of a patient-specific pulmonary valve would introduce a 'living' valvular construct that should grow with the patient. Our study is particularly important for pediatric patients who often require repeated operations for pulmonary valve replacements," said lead author David L. Simpson, PhD, from the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore.

Dr. Simpson, senior co-author Sunjay Kaushal, MD, PhD, and colleagues designed a process to transform skin cells from a simple biopsy into cells that become an important ingredient in a tissue-engineered pulmonary valve.

The pulmonary valve is a crescent-shaped valve that lies between the heart's right ventricle and pulmonary artery. It is responsible for moving blood from the heart into the lungs.

While the study was conducted in vitro (outside of the body), the next step will be implanting the new valves into patients to test their durability and longevity.

"We created a pulmonary valve that is unique to the individual patient and contains living cells from that patient. That valve is less likely to be destroyed by the patient's immune system, thus improving the outcome and hopefully increasing the quality of life for our patient," said Dr. Kaushal. "In the future, it may be possible to generate this pulmonary valve by using a blood sample instead of a skin biopsy."

Dr. Simpson added that he hopes the study will encourage additional research in tissue engineering and entice more people to enter the field, "Hopefully, growing interest and research in this field will translate more quickly into clinical application."

It is estimated that nearly 800 patients per year could potentially benefit from bioengineered patient-specific pulmonary valves, according to data from the STS Congenital Heart Surgery Database. The Database, which collects information from more than 95% of hospitals in the US and Canada that perform pediatric and congenital heart surgery, shows that approximately 3,200 patients underwent pulmonary valve replacement during a 4-year period from January 2010 to December 2013.

LASER DEVICE MAY END PINPRICKS FOR DIABETICS

Princeton University researchers have developed a way to use a laser to measure people's blood sugar, and, with more work to shrink the laser system to a portable size, the technique could allow diabetics to check their condition without pricking themselves to draw blood

We are working hard to turn engineering solutions into useful tools for people to use in their daily lives," said Claire Gmachl, the Eugene Higgins Professor of Electrical Engineering and the project's senior researcher. "With this work we hope to improve the lives of many diabetes sufferers who depend on frequent blood glucose monitoring."

In an article published June 23 in the journalBiomedical Optics Express, the researchers describe how they measured blood sugar by directing their specialized laser at a person's palm. The laser passes through the skin cells, without causing damage, and is partially absorbed by the sugar molecules in the patient's body. The researchers use the amount of absorption to measure the level of blood sugar.

Sabbir Liakat, the paper's lead author, said the team was pleasantly surprised at the accuracy of the method. Glucose monitors are required to produce a blood-sugar reading within 20 percent of the patient's actual level; even an early version of the system met that standard. The current version is 84 percent accurate, Liakat said.

"It works now but we are still trying to improve it," said Liakat, a graduate student in electrical engineering.

When the team first started, the laser was an experimental setup that filled up a moderate-sized workbench. It also needed an elaborate cooling system to work. Gmachl said the researchers have solved the cooling problem, so the laser works at room temperature. The next step is to shrink it.

"This summer, we are working to get the system on a mobile platform to take it places such as clinics to get more measurements," Liakat said. "We are looking for a larger dataset of measurements to work with."

The key to the system is the infrared laser's frequency. What our eyes perceive as color is created by light's frequency (the number of light waves that pass a point in a certain time). Red is the lowest frequency of light that humans normally can see, and infrared's frequency is below that level. Current medical devices often use the "near-infrared," which is just beyond what the eye can see. This frequency is not blocked by water, so it can be used in the body, which is largely made up of water. But it does interact with many acids and chemicals in the skin, so it makes it impractical to use for detecting blood sugar.

Mid-infrared light, however, is not as much affected by these other chemicals, so it works well for blood sugar. But mid-infrared light is difficult to harness with standard lasers. It also requires relatively high power and stability to penetrate the skin and scatter off bodily fluid. (The target is not the blood but fluid called dermal interstitial fluid, which has a strong correlation with blood sugar.)

The breakthrough came from the use of a new type of device that is particularly adept at producing mid-infrared frequencies -- a quantum cascade laser.

In many lasers, the frequency of the beam depends on the material that makes up the laser -- a helium-neon laser, for example, produces a certain frequency band of light. But in a quantum cascade laser, in which electrons pass through a "cascade" of semiconductor layers, the beam can be set to one of a number of different frequencies. The ability to specify the frequency allowed the researchers to produce a laser in the mid-infrared region. Recent improvements in quantum cascade lasers also provided for increased power and stability needed to penetrate the skin.

To conduct their experiment, the researchers used the laser to measure the blood sugar of three healthy people before and after they each ate 20 jellybeans, which raise blood sugar levels. The researchers also checked the measurements with a finger-prick test. They conducted the measurements repeatedly over several weeks.

The researchers said their results indicated that the laser measurements readings produced average errors somewhat larger than the standard blood sugar monitors, but remained within the clinical requirement for accuracy.

"Because the quantum cascade laser can be designed to emit light across a very wide wavelength range, its usability is not just for glucose detection, but could conceivably be used for other medical sensing and monitoring applications," Gmachl said.

EXERCISE BOOSTS TUMOR FIGHTING ABILITY OF CHEMOTHERAPY

Study after study has proven it true: exercise is good for you. But new research from University of Pennsylvania scientists suggests that exercise may have an added benefit for cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy

Their work, performed in a mouse model of melanoma, found that combining exercise with chemotherapy shrunk tumors more than chemotherapy alone.

Joseph Libonati, an associate professor in the School of Nursing and director of the Laboratory of Innovative and Translational Nursing Research, was the senior author on the study, which appears in the American Journal of Physiology. His collaborators included Penn Nursing's Geetha Muthukumaran, Dennis Ding and Akinyemi Bajulaiye plus Kathleen Sturgeon, Keri Schadler, Nicholas J. Thomas, Victor Ferrari and Sandra Ryeom of Penn's Perelman School of Medicine.

Exercise has long been recommended to cancer patients for its physical and psychological benefits. Libonati and colleagues were particularly interested in testing whether exercise could protect against the negative cardiac-related side effects of the common cancer drug doxorubicin. Though effective at treating a variety of types of cancer, doxorubicin has is known to damage heart cells, which could lead to heart failure in the long-term.

"The immediate concern for these patients is, of course, the cancer, and they'll do whatever it takes to get rid of it," Libonati said. "But then when you get over that hump you have to deal with the long-term elevated risk of cardiovascular disease."

Previous studies had shown that an exercise regime prior to receiving chemotherapy could protect heart cells from the toxic effects of doxorubicin, but few had looked to see whether an exercise regimen during chemotherapy could be beneficial.

To do so, Libonati's team set up an experiment with four groups of mice. All were given an injection of melanoma cells in the scruffs of their neck. During the next two weeks, two of the groups received doxorubicin in two doses while the other two groups received placebo injections. Mice in one of the treated groups and one of the placebo groups were put on exercise regimens, walking 45 minutes five days a week on mouse-sized treadmills, while the rest of the mice remained sedentary.

After the two-week trial, the researchers examined the animals' hearts using echocardiogram and tissue analysis. As expected, doxorubicin was found to reduce the heart's function and size and increased fibrosis -- a damaging thickening of tissue. Mice that exercised were not protected from this damage.

"We looked, and the exercise didn't do anything to the heart -- it didn't worsen it, it didn't help it," Libonati said. "But the tumor data -- I find them actually amazing."

The "amazing" result was that the mice that both received chemotherapy and exercised had significantly smaller tumors after two weeks than mice that only received doxorubicin.

Further studies will investigate exactly how exercise enhances the effect of doxorubicin, but the Penn team believes it could be in part because exercise increases blood flow to the tumor, bringing with it more of the drug in the bloodstream.

"If exercise helps in this way, you could potentially use a smaller dose of the drug and get fewer side effects," Libonati said.

Gaining a clearer understanding of the many ways that exercise affects various systems of the body could also pave the way for developing drugs that mimic the effects of exercise.

"People don't take a drug and then sit down all day," Libonati says. "Something as simple as moving affects how drugs are metabolized. We're only just beginning to understand the complexities."

Months Of Pregnancy

Pregnancy Stages Week By Months

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Tonto Dikeh And Her Baby

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PESTICIDES IN FRUIT AND VEGETABLES LINKED TO SEMEN QUALITY

The first study to investigate the relationship between eating fruit and vegetables containing pesticide residues and the quality of men's semen has shown a link with lower sperm counts and percentages of normally-formed sperm.

The study, which is published online today (Tuesday) inHuman Reproduction shows that men who ate the highest amount of fruit and vegetables with high levels of pesticide residue had a 49% lower sperm count and a 32% lower percentage of normally-formed sperm than men who consumed the least amount. An accompanying editorial says the findings have important implications for human health.

However, the study of 155 men showed that, overall, the total amount of fruit and vegetables consumed was unrelated to changes in any measurements of semen quality in the group as a whole.

Assistant Professor of Nutrition and Epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston (USA), Jorge Chavarro, said: "These findings should not discourage the consumption of fruit and vegetables in general. In fact, we found that total intake of fruit and vegetables was completely unrelated to semen quality. This suggests that implementing strategies specifically targeted at avoiding pesticide residues, such as consuming organically-grown produce or avoiding produce known to have large amounts of residues, may be the way to go."

Previous studies have shown that occupational exposure to pesticides might have an effect on semen quality, but so far there has been little investigation of the effects of pesticides in diet.

Prof Chavarro, his student Dr Yu-Han Chiu and colleagues analysed 338 semen samples from 155 men attending a fertility centre between 2007-2012 as part of the ongoing, prospective "Environment and Reproductive Health" (EARTH) Study. The men were eligible for the study if they were aged 18-55, had not had a vasectomy, and were part of a couple planning to use their own eggs and sperm for fertility treatment.

The men's diet was assessed by means of a food frequency questionnaire, and they were asked how often, on average, they had consumed how many portions of fruit and vegetables, using standard portion sizes such as one apple, or half an avocado.

The fruit and vegetables were categorised as being high, moderate or low in pesticide residues based on data from the annual United States Department of Agriculture Pesticide Data Program. Fruit or vegetables that were low in pesticide residues included peas, beans, grapefruit and onions. Those that had high residues included peppers, spinach, strawberries, apples and pears. These data took account of usual practice in food preparation, such as whether the fruit and vegetables had been peeled and washed. [1]

The researchers divided the men into four groups, ranging from those who ate the greatest amount of fruit and vegetables high in pesticides residues (1.5 servings or more a day) to those who ate the least amount (less than half a serving a day). They also looked at men who ate fruit and vegetables with low-to-moderate pesticide residues.

The group of men with the highest intake of pesticide-heavy fruit and vegetables had an average total sperm count of 86 million sperm per ejaculate compared to men eating the least who had an average of 171 million sperm per ejaculate -- a 49% reduction. The percentage of normally formed sperm was an average of 7.5% in men in the group with the lowest intake and 5.1% in the men with the highest intake -- a relative decrease of 32%.

There were no differences seen between men in the four groups who consumed fruit and vegetables with low-to-moderate pesticide residues. In fact, there was a significant trend towards having a higher percentage of normally shaped sperm among men who consumed the most fruit and vegetables with low pesticide residues -- a relative increase of 37% from 5.7% to 7.8%. [2]

The authors write in their paper: "To our knowledge, this is the first report on the consumption of fruits and vegetables with high levels of pesticide residue in relation to semen quality." They continue: "These findings suggest that exposure to pesticides used in agricultural production through diet may be sufficient to affect spermatogenesis in humans."

However, they point out that there are a number of limitations to the study and further research is needed. "Studies of men presenting to fertility clinics like this one do over-represent men with semen quality problems. In our study almost half of the men had one or more semen parameters below the World Health Organization reference limits. Because of this, it is not possible to know whether our findings can be generalised to men in the general population. In particular, it is difficult to get an accurate picture of how large the effect in the general population might be," said Prof Chavarro.

In addition, diet was only assessed once and could have changed over time. The researchers did not have information on whether or not the food was grown conventionally or organically, and the exposure to pesticides could have been misclassified as it was not measured precisely for every individual man.

In an accompanying editorial, Dr Hagai Levine, Visiting Scientist, from Hebrew University-Hadassah, Israel, and Professor Shanna Swan, Professor of Preventive Medicine, who are both at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York (USA), write: "Despite the relatively small sample size and exposure assessment limitations, the paper makes a convincing case that dietary exposure to pesticides can adversely impact semen quality. While this finding will need to be replicated in other settings and populations, it carries important health implications."

They point out that poor semen quality "is the leading cause of unsuccessful attempts to achieve pregnancy and one of the most common medical problems among young men…it has been suggested as an important marker of male health, predicting both morbidity and mortality… it is sensitive to environmental exposures, including endocrine disrupting chemicals, heat and life-style factors, such as diet…Therefore, it can provide a sensitive marker of the impacts of modern environment on human health."

[1] Pesticide use varies from country to country, but in the USA those used on fruit and vegetables include Atrazine, Malathion, Chlorpyrifos and Carbendazim.

[2] Percentages of normally formed sperm are generally low, with the WHO giving less than 4% as the lower reference limit.

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Glossary of Terms Associated with Neuropathy

Isn't it frustrating when you're reading about a particular aspect of neuropathy and you come across a word, or words and you haven't got a clue what they mean? This alphabetical list of terms, again from the Foundation for PN (see list below) can provide a quick reference for most (though by no means not all) of those difficult medical terms. Some may seem slightly random, or general but people who read this blog have not just one chronic illness but two! It'll always be accessible in the list on the right hand side of this blog if needed.

Glossary of Terms

A

Acute pain
Pain that comes on suddenly and often accompanies illness, inflammation, or injury to tissues. It can last from a few seconds to many weeks, but generally goes away over time. The cause of acute pain can usually be diagnosed and treated.

Amino acid
A building block of proteins. There are 20 different kinds of naturally occurring amino acids.

Antibody
A protein molecule (also called an immunoglobulin) produced by white blood cells (B-cells, or B-lymphocytes) in response to an antigen (a foreign, often disease-causing, substance). The binding of antibody to antigen leads to the antigen's destruction.

Antigen
A substance or molecule that is recognized by the immune system and that causes a reaction. The molecule can be from a foreign material such as a bacterium or virus, or the molecule can be from the same organism (one's own body) and called a self-antigen.

Autoimmune disease
A condition in which the immune system mistakenly attacks the body's own organs and tissues.

Autonomic nerves
The part of the nervous system that regulates involuntary body functions such as blood pressure, heart rate, sweating, pupil size, digestion and sexual response. Damage to the autonomic nerves may result in a too fast or too slow heartbeat, difficulty swallowing, abnormal sweating, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea or constipation, problems with urination, and sexual dysfunction.

Autosome
Any of the non-sex-determining chromosomes. Human cells have 22 pairs of autosomes.

Axon
The thin, long fiber of a nerve cell (neuron) that extends from the nerve cell and carries messages from one nerve to another.

B

B-lymphocytes (B-cells)
White blood cells of the immune system. The B-cell produces antibodies that bind antigens.

Base
The basic subunit of DNA or RNA.

C

Cell
The basic subunit of any living organism. A small, watery, compartment filled with chemicals and a complete copy of the organism's genome, or genetic information (DNA).

Cell body
The part of a neuron (nerve cell) that contains the nucleus.

Central nervous system (CNS)
The part of the nervous system that consists of the brain and spinal cord.

Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)
The fluid that surrounds and protects the brain and spinal cord.

Chromosome
A rod-shaped structure, located in the nucleus of a cell, that contains genes. It is made up of DNA and proteins. Chromosomes come in pairs and humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes, 46 in all: 44 autosomes and two sex chromosomes.

Chronic pain
Chronic pain lasts for longer periods of time than acute pain and is harder to treat. The cause of chronic pain may be difficult to determine - it may hang on for months after an injury appears to have healed, or there may be an ongoing cause of pain, like arthritis or cancer. The pain may also occur without any known disease or injury. The pain may be relatively constant or it may come and go.

D

Dendrite
The branch-like extensions of a nerve cell that receive information from other cells.

Diabetic neuropathy
A nerve disorder caused by diabetes; characterized by a loss or reduction of sensation in the feet, and in some cases the hands, and pain and weakness in the feet.

DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid)
The chemical inside the nucleus of a cell that carries the genetic instructions for making living organisms. Along with RNA, the two types of molecules that carry genetic information.

Dominant
A gene that almost always results in a specific physical characteristic, for example, a disease, even though the patient's genome (DNA, genetic information) possesses only one copy. With a dominant gene, the chance of passing on the gene (and therefore the disease) to children is 50-50 in each pregnancy.

E

Enzyme
A protein that initiates a chemical reaction, but doesn't change the direction or nature of the reaction.

Etiology
The study of the causes or origins of diseases or disorders.

G

Gamma globulins
Proteins in the blood that act as immunoglobulins or antibodies that fight infection. Also known as immune globulin (Ig).

Gene
The structure inside each cell that is the basic unit of inheritance. Made of DNA, genes contain the instructions that tell our bodies how to grow and develop and determine individual characteristics such as eye color and blood type. Each person has 2 copies of each gene, one inherited from each parent.

Genome
All of the DNA in an organism or a cell; all of the DNA a person contains. It includes both the chromosomes within the nucleus and the DNA in mitochondria.

Glial cell
Cells that provide physical and nutritional support to neurons.

H

Human genome project
An international research project to map each human gene and to completely sequence human DNA.

I

Idiopathic
A disease for which the cause is unknown.

Immune system
The complex group of cells and organs that defends the body against infection and disease.

Immunoglobulins (Ig)
Also called antibodies; proteins produced by plasma cells that help fight infections. There are five classes: IgA, IgD, lgG, IgM, and IgE.

Immunotherapy
Using the immune system to treat disease, for example, in the development of vaccines. May also refer to the therapy of diseases caused by the immune system.

Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg or IgG)
Gamma globulin therapy injected directly into the vein.

Inherited
Transmitted through genes from parents to offspring.

L

Locus
The place on a chromosome where a specific gene is located, a kind of address for the gene. Also, the DNA at that position. One locus, two loci.

Lymphocyte
A type of white blood cell of the immune system.

M

MRI (magnetic resonance imaging)
A diagnostic procedure that uses a magnet in conjunction with a computer to create pictures of areas inside the body.

Mitochondria
The main energy source in cells.

Molecule
A group of atoms arranged to interact in a particular way; the smallest unit of a substance that can exist on its own and keep the character of the substance.

Mononeuritis
Inflammation of a single nerve.

Motor nerves
Motor nerves send impulses from the brain and spinal cord to all of the muscles of the body and are responsible for voluntary movement. Motor nerve damage can lead to muscle weakness, difficulty walking or moving the arms, cramps and spasms.

Mouse model
A laboratory mouse useful for medical research because it has specific characteristics that resemble a human disease or disorder. Strains of mice having natural mutations similar to human ones may serve as models of such conditions. Scientists can also create mouse models by transferring new genes into mice or by inactivating certain existing genes in them.

Mutation
A change in the number, arrangement, or molecular sequence of a gene.

Myasthenia gravis
A chronic autoimmune neuromuscular disease characterized by varying degrees of weakness of the skeletal (voluntary) muscles of the body. Myasthenia gravis is caused by a defect in the transmission of nerve impulses to muscles.

Myelin
The fatty substance around the nerve fibers (axon) that acts as insulation and improves the speed of conduction of nerve impulses. It is formed in the peripheral nervous system by Schwann cells.

N

Nerve
The cord-like bundle of fibers that is responsible for sending sensory and motor information throughout the body.

Neuron
The basic unit of the brain and nervous system. Neurons use electrical signals and chemical signals to send information to other nerve cells.

Neurotransmitter
A chemical messenger by which neurons (nerve cells) communicate with each other and with other cells.

Nucleotide
A subunit of DNA or RNA that includes one base, one phosphate molecule, and one sugar molecule (deoxyribose in DNA, ribose in RNA).

Nucleus
The central cell structure that houses the chromosomes. The organelle that contains the genetic information.

O

Organelle
A specialized structure having a definite function in a cell; for example, the nucleus, a mitochondrion, a ribosome.

P

Pathogenesis
The origin of a disease or disorder and the factors that cause the disease.

Peripheral nervous system (PNS)
The part of the nervous system that connects the brain and spinal cord (central nervous system) to the rest of the body.

Peripheral neuropathy
A common, often misdiagnosed disorder that results from damage to the peripheral nervous system. Symptoms include numbness, weakness, tingling and/or burning in the toes or fingers.

Phenocopy
A trait not caused by inheritance of a gene but that appears to be identical to a genetic trait.

Phenotype
The observable traits or characteristics of an organism, for example hair color, weight, or the presence or absence of a disease. Phenotypic traits are not necessarily genetic.

Plasma
The liquid portion of unclotted blood.

Plasma cell
A cell derived from B-cells; the main antibody producing form of B-cells.

Predisposition
To have a tendency or inclination towards something in advance.

Protein
A molecule made up of a number of amino acids arranged in a specific order determined by the genetic code. Proteins are essential for all life processes. Immunoglobulins (antibodies) are proteins.

R

Recessive
A genetic disorder that appears only in a person who has received two copies of a mutant gene, one from each parent.

Recessive gene
A gene that will be expressed only if there are 2 identical copies or, for a male, if one copy is present on the X chromosome.

RNA (ribonucleic acid)
A chemical found in cells and similar in structure to that of DNA. A single-stranded nucleic acid containing the sugar ribose. RNA delivers DNA's genetic message to the cytoplasm of a cell where proteins are made.

S

Sensory nerves
The nerves that transmit information about pain, touch, vibration, temperature and position to the brain. Sensory nerve damage often results in tingling, numbness, pain and extreme sensitivity to touch.

Serum
The liquid portion of clotted blood.

Sex chromosome
One of the two chromosomes that specify an organism's genetic sex. Humans have two kinds of sex chromosomes, one called X and the other Y. Normal females possess two X chromosomes and normal males one X and one Y.

Sex-linked
Traits or diseases associated with the X or Y chromosome. Sex-linked (or x-linked) diseases are generally seen only in males.

Synapse
The area between nerve cells or neurons that transmits nerve impulses.

Syndrome
The group or recognizable pattern of symptoms or abnormalities that indicate a particular trait or disease.

T

Toxins
Poisons produced by certain animals, plants, or bacteria.

Transgenic
An experimentally produced organism having genetic material (DNA) from another species. The genetic material becomes a part of the organism's DNA and can be transmitted from one generation to the next.

V

Vasculitis
Inflammation of the blood vessels.

Virus
An infectious agent that is composed of a protein coat around a DNA or RNA core. Viruses depend on living cells for their reproduction.

W
White blood cell (leukocyte)
A type of blood cell that helps protect the body from infection. There are 5 basic types of leukocytes

http://www.foundationforpn.org/livingwithperipheralneuropathy/glossary.cfm