Medical Insight.
- Thread starter yudansha
- Start date
yudansha
TheGreatOne
Smallpox – the viral smoke demon
(composed after reading an amazing book by Richard Preston - The Demon in the Freezer)
Virus is the nature’s crowd control. A virus uses the machinery and energy of its host cell to make copies of itself as it cannot live an independent existence outside the cell of its host. Smallpox was the first urban virus. To survive, smallpox needs a population of at least 200,000 with a maximum of 14 days of travel within one another. Smallpox is also known as Variola, and its weakness is that it can only replicate inside the human body. The incubation period for variola is 11-14 days. Smallpox particles are of the same size as smoke particles and behave (i.e. spread) in the same manner. Having caused over a billion deaths in the last 100 years, smallpox is considered to be the most dangerous and devastating virus of all to the human species. Smallpox is the mother of all biological weapons.
At first, smallpox looks like flu, but one who’s affected with smallpox remains in the state of wakefulness as the host sees and feels everything what’s happening. It is a perfectly horrifying experience. Each of the infected might directly infect between 3 and 20 others. Therefore, millions can be affected in a few months if control is absent. For example, approximately 20 years are required for 50 million AIDS cases, but for smallpox, the same amount of cases would occur in just about 10 to 20 weeks. There are 200 genes that constitute smallpox versus 10 of HIV. Smallpox is a potential biological chain reaction.
Smallpox virus interacts with the victim’s immune system in different ways, and so it triggers different forms of disease in the human body. There is a mild type of smallpox called a varioloid rash. There is classical ordinary smallpox, which comes in two basic forms: the discrete type and the confluent type. In discrete ordinary smallpox, the pustules stand out on the skin as separate blisters, and the patient has a better chance of survival. In confluent type ordinary smallpox, the blisters merge into sheets, and it is typically fatal. Finally, there is hemorrhagic smallpox, in which bleeding occurs in the skin. Hemorrhagic smallpox is virtually one hundred percent fatal. The blood in the eyes of a smallpox patient deteriorates over time, and if the patient lives long enough the whites of the eyes will turn solid black. The most extreme type is flat hemorrhagic smallpox, in which the skin does not blister but remains smooth. It darkens until it can look charred, and it can slip off the body in sheets. With flat hemorrhagic smallpox, the immune system goes into shock, and cannot produce pus, while the virus amplifies with incredible speed and appears to sweep through the major organs of the body. Doctors in the old days used to call it black pox. Hemorrhagic smallpox seems to occur in about three to twenty-five percent of the fatal cases, depending on how hot or virulent the strain of smallpox is. For some reason black pox is more common in teenagers. The exact cause of death for the fatal smallpox is unknown to science.
Smallpox was needed to be eradicated as the vaccine itself rarely but did pose a fatal threat (it also cost too much to deal with the epidemics). From Latin, virus means “poison” and vaccine means “cow.” Smallpox was defeated with a “vaccine virus” (cowpox – cow virus). A discovery at the time was made that immunity is strengthened to a disease causing virus by infection with a milder similar virus. Each successfully vaccinated person would become infected with vaccinia (mild cousin of variola). They would develop a single pustule on the upper arm at the site of vaccination. The pustule is an ugly blister that would leak pus, ooze, and crust, and many would feel woozy and a little feverish for a couple of days afterwards as vaccinia replicates in the skin and a scar would develop on the upper arm. Meanwhile, the immune system would go into a system of screaming alarm. Vaccinia and smallpox are so much alike that the immune system has trouble telling them apart. Within days, a vaccinated person’s resistance to smallpox begins to rise. Unfortunately, the immune system’s “memory” of the vaccinia infection fades and the vaccination begins to wear off after about five years. The vaccine is useless if applied to the host more than 4 days after being infected as the virus spreads too quickly and the immune system wouldn’t work fast enough to heal the body. Today, almost everyone who was vaccinated against smallpox in childhood has lost much or all of their immunity to it.
No fossil evidence was ever found of viruses, so their origin remains a great mystery.
Below: A false-color electron micrograph shows the smallpox variola virus. Formerly an epidemic infectious disease that resulted in permanent scarring and often in death, smallpox was eradicated by 1979 through a worldwide program of vaccination. Today only two laboratories in the world keep stocks of the virus, for research purposes and to make new vaccine should the need for it ever again arise. (From: Photo Researchers, Inc./London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine/Science Source)
(composed after reading an amazing book by Richard Preston - The Demon in the Freezer)
Virus is the nature’s crowd control. A virus uses the machinery and energy of its host cell to make copies of itself as it cannot live an independent existence outside the cell of its host. Smallpox was the first urban virus. To survive, smallpox needs a population of at least 200,000 with a maximum of 14 days of travel within one another. Smallpox is also known as Variola, and its weakness is that it can only replicate inside the human body. The incubation period for variola is 11-14 days. Smallpox particles are of the same size as smoke particles and behave (i.e. spread) in the same manner. Having caused over a billion deaths in the last 100 years, smallpox is considered to be the most dangerous and devastating virus of all to the human species. Smallpox is the mother of all biological weapons.
At first, smallpox looks like flu, but one who’s affected with smallpox remains in the state of wakefulness as the host sees and feels everything what’s happening. It is a perfectly horrifying experience. Each of the infected might directly infect between 3 and 20 others. Therefore, millions can be affected in a few months if control is absent. For example, approximately 20 years are required for 50 million AIDS cases, but for smallpox, the same amount of cases would occur in just about 10 to 20 weeks. There are 200 genes that constitute smallpox versus 10 of HIV. Smallpox is a potential biological chain reaction.
Smallpox virus interacts with the victim’s immune system in different ways, and so it triggers different forms of disease in the human body. There is a mild type of smallpox called a varioloid rash. There is classical ordinary smallpox, which comes in two basic forms: the discrete type and the confluent type. In discrete ordinary smallpox, the pustules stand out on the skin as separate blisters, and the patient has a better chance of survival. In confluent type ordinary smallpox, the blisters merge into sheets, and it is typically fatal. Finally, there is hemorrhagic smallpox, in which bleeding occurs in the skin. Hemorrhagic smallpox is virtually one hundred percent fatal. The blood in the eyes of a smallpox patient deteriorates over time, and if the patient lives long enough the whites of the eyes will turn solid black. The most extreme type is flat hemorrhagic smallpox, in which the skin does not blister but remains smooth. It darkens until it can look charred, and it can slip off the body in sheets. With flat hemorrhagic smallpox, the immune system goes into shock, and cannot produce pus, while the virus amplifies with incredible speed and appears to sweep through the major organs of the body. Doctors in the old days used to call it black pox. Hemorrhagic smallpox seems to occur in about three to twenty-five percent of the fatal cases, depending on how hot or virulent the strain of smallpox is. For some reason black pox is more common in teenagers. The exact cause of death for the fatal smallpox is unknown to science.
Smallpox was needed to be eradicated as the vaccine itself rarely but did pose a fatal threat (it also cost too much to deal with the epidemics). From Latin, virus means “poison” and vaccine means “cow.” Smallpox was defeated with a “vaccine virus” (cowpox – cow virus). A discovery at the time was made that immunity is strengthened to a disease causing virus by infection with a milder similar virus. Each successfully vaccinated person would become infected with vaccinia (mild cousin of variola). They would develop a single pustule on the upper arm at the site of vaccination. The pustule is an ugly blister that would leak pus, ooze, and crust, and many would feel woozy and a little feverish for a couple of days afterwards as vaccinia replicates in the skin and a scar would develop on the upper arm. Meanwhile, the immune system would go into a system of screaming alarm. Vaccinia and smallpox are so much alike that the immune system has trouble telling them apart. Within days, a vaccinated person’s resistance to smallpox begins to rise. Unfortunately, the immune system’s “memory” of the vaccinia infection fades and the vaccination begins to wear off after about five years. The vaccine is useless if applied to the host more than 4 days after being infected as the virus spreads too quickly and the immune system wouldn’t work fast enough to heal the body. Today, almost everyone who was vaccinated against smallpox in childhood has lost much or all of their immunity to it.
No fossil evidence was ever found of viruses, so their origin remains a great mystery.
Below: A false-color electron micrograph shows the smallpox variola virus. Formerly an epidemic infectious disease that resulted in permanent scarring and often in death, smallpox was eradicated by 1979 through a worldwide program of vaccination. Today only two laboratories in the world keep stocks of the virus, for research purposes and to make new vaccine should the need for it ever again arise. (From: Photo Researchers, Inc./London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine/Science Source)
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Maybe it's because I'm a nurse 
, but that was fascinating, Yudansha! I know smallpox has been essentially wiped out (as of 1979, according to your info here), but the fact that it "needs a population of at least 200,000 with a maximum of 14 days of travel within one another", makes you realize how quickly devastating that would be in this day and age, with people traveling all around the world every day.
Rather chilling to read that almost everyone who was vaccinated against smallpox in childhood has lost much or all of their immunity to it! And even more so to realize that there are two laboratories in the world who still store the virus. I realize why, of course, but hopefully those places are more guarded than Fort Knox!
I know many people don't realize, but TB (tuberculosis) is still active. Most all of the bigger cities have an active TB ward still their major hospitals--although it's not a widely publicized fact. But it is the reason why all hospital personnel must have a TB tine skin test annually.
Good thread, Yudansha--interesting read. Thanks!
, but that was fascinating, Yudansha! I know smallpox has been essentially wiped out (as of 1979, according to your info here), but the fact that it "needs a population of at least 200,000 with a maximum of 14 days of travel within one another", makes you realize how quickly devastating that would be in this day and age, with people traveling all around the world every day. Rather chilling to read that almost everyone who was vaccinated against smallpox in childhood has lost much or all of their immunity to it! And even more so to realize that there are two laboratories in the world who still store the virus. I realize why, of course, but hopefully those places are more guarded than Fort Knox!
I know many people don't realize, but TB (tuberculosis) is still active. Most all of the bigger cities have an active TB ward still their major hospitals--although it's not a widely publicized fact. But it is the reason why all hospital personnel must have a TB tine skin test annually.
Good thread, Yudansha--interesting read. Thanks!
GlimmerMan
Huge Member
Serena - I think I am getting shin splints - will you nurse me?
yudansha
TheGreatOne
Escherichia Coli
Rod shaped, prokaryotic bacteria
Enterobacteriaceae family - from Greek “enterikos” = “intestine”
Resides in digestive tracts (0.1% of total intestine bacteria) of mammals
Source of vitamin K and B (absorbed by the body) in intestines
Common in water, milk, and soil
Model organism and test subject for research studies
Spontaneous mutation rate (10-9) relative to genome size (4e6 bp) = 1 nucleotide alteration per 100 cycles of replication - similar to humans
Originally used to work out mechanisms pertaining to replication, transcription, and translation
Doubling time = 20 minutes when grown under optimal conditions (Luria-Bertani broth)
Quick growth of bacterial colonies allows for rapid establishment of patterns needed to pose specific conclusions to large variety of research studies conducted (e.g. DNA cloning using bacterial plasmids).
Living factories for scarce biological products such as human insulin, interferon, and growth hormone
Mechanisms of resistance and gains of function
Extra-chromosomal elements (plasmids and transposons) have genes conferring resistance to antibiotics
Plasmid Tn3 has a gene called bla encoding an enzyme, ß-lactamase, which breaks down ampicillin
Serotypes – set of related organisms with a set of strain specific ‘islands’ of sequences
E. coli characterized based on 3 types of ‘islands’
O (somatic, pathogenic: lipopolysaccharides of cell wall)
K (capsular, non-pathogenic: acidic polysaccharides)
H (flagellar: characteristically motile)
At least 173O, 103K, and 56H islands have been identified
Thousands of different serotypes are possible
Showcases specific pathogenicity/virulence factors of the studied strain
O157:H7 causes haemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) – potentially fatal kidney failure - and haemorrhagic colitis
Releases endotoxins - broken down by the body resulting in fever, chills, shock and even death
Most frequent cause of urinary tract infection
Cause of 75,000 annual cases of infection in the United States
Biotyping – to prevent epidemic progression (e.g. Walkerton outbreak)
Traditional methods
Use abilities of E. coli to ferment carbohydrate substrates as well as decarboxylate amino acids as means to differentiate between strains belonging to various serotypes.
O157:H- unable to ferment carbohydrate substrates that most
E. coli ferment
Examine presence/absence of outer membrane proteins since extensive polymorphism is present among the OMP and allows for discriminatory method of differentiating bacterial strains.
New clinical application – denaturing gel electrophoresis (DGGE).
Powerful genetic analysis technique for detecting single base mutations causing disease
Differentiation of bacterial strains based on polymorphisms in the uidA gene sequences
Wild type and mutant DNA migrate at different speed in a denaturing gradient gel since have different melting temperatures
Partially melted DNA – by highly concentrated urea salt – migrates slower
Rod shaped, prokaryotic bacteria
Enterobacteriaceae family - from Greek “enterikos” = “intestine”
Resides in digestive tracts (0.1% of total intestine bacteria) of mammals
Source of vitamin K and B (absorbed by the body) in intestines
Common in water, milk, and soil
Model organism and test subject for research studies
Spontaneous mutation rate (10-9) relative to genome size (4e6 bp) = 1 nucleotide alteration per 100 cycles of replication - similar to humans
Originally used to work out mechanisms pertaining to replication, transcription, and translation
Doubling time = 20 minutes when grown under optimal conditions (Luria-Bertani broth)
Quick growth of bacterial colonies allows for rapid establishment of patterns needed to pose specific conclusions to large variety of research studies conducted (e.g. DNA cloning using bacterial plasmids).
Living factories for scarce biological products such as human insulin, interferon, and growth hormone
Mechanisms of resistance and gains of function
Extra-chromosomal elements (plasmids and transposons) have genes conferring resistance to antibiotics
Plasmid Tn3 has a gene called bla encoding an enzyme, ß-lactamase, which breaks down ampicillin
Serotypes – set of related organisms with a set of strain specific ‘islands’ of sequences
E. coli characterized based on 3 types of ‘islands’
O (somatic, pathogenic: lipopolysaccharides of cell wall)
K (capsular, non-pathogenic: acidic polysaccharides)
H (flagellar: characteristically motile)
At least 173O, 103K, and 56H islands have been identified
Thousands of different serotypes are possible
Showcases specific pathogenicity/virulence factors of the studied strain
O157:H7 causes haemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) – potentially fatal kidney failure - and haemorrhagic colitis
Releases endotoxins - broken down by the body resulting in fever, chills, shock and even death
Most frequent cause of urinary tract infection
Cause of 75,000 annual cases of infection in the United States
Biotyping – to prevent epidemic progression (e.g. Walkerton outbreak)
Traditional methods
Use abilities of E. coli to ferment carbohydrate substrates as well as decarboxylate amino acids as means to differentiate between strains belonging to various serotypes.
O157:H- unable to ferment carbohydrate substrates that most
E. coli ferment
Examine presence/absence of outer membrane proteins since extensive polymorphism is present among the OMP and allows for discriminatory method of differentiating bacterial strains.
New clinical application – denaturing gel electrophoresis (DGGE).
Powerful genetic analysis technique for detecting single base mutations causing disease
Differentiation of bacterial strains based on polymorphisms in the uidA gene sequences
Wild type and mutant DNA migrate at different speed in a denaturing gradient gel since have different melting temperatures
Partially melted DNA – by highly concentrated urea salt – migrates slower
GlimmerMan
Huge Member
Serena said:I'd either cure you or kill you.
Oh dear... not quite the answer I was looking for...
but hang on... I've just read another possible meaning into it... Hmmm... maybe this is what I'm looking for after all! 
My shins are agony though. I almost beat the hell out of a shoplifter today for making me chase him. I run 5 kms on the treadmill every other night... I'm starting to think I need to rest up for a bit... Don't want to do myself (or anyone else) any serious damage...
I'll leave the interpretation up to your vivid imagination.GlimmerMan said:Oh dear... not quite the answer I was looking for...
My shins are agony though. I almost beat the hell out of a shoplifter today for making me chase him. I run 5 kms on the treadmill every other night... I'm starting to think I need to rest up for a bit... Don't want to do myself (or anyone else) any serious damage...
I worked in orthopedics (specializing in athletic medicine) for a few years before settling into pediatric oncology. You probably won't want to hear this--most don't
--but about the most you can do for shin splints is rest. You must lay off at least the running (recreationally, anyway--not necessarily the bad guys occasionally ). Ice, ice, ice. It's so important, so beneficial, yet so many people don't like to do it as it's uncomfortable. It's only uncomfortable for the first 2 minutes, then your skin goes numb. Using an ice bag, or some kind of material between your skin and the ice, ice for NO MORE than 3-4 times a day, NO MORE than 15 minutes at a time. That, plus an over-the-counter anti-inflammatory for a couple weeks--with food--or a prescription strength if your stomach can tolerate it, are the best things you can do for shin splints. Don't mean to sound like a know-it-all. :indiffere It's just I was involved with athletes for a few years and am familiar with the ongoing, unrelenting pain they went through.
GlimmerMan
Huge Member
Excellent, Serena. Thanks. I wish I could call myself an 'athlete', like. I don't think you sound like a know-all - not at all - I appreciate the advice. Thankyou. I am going to hit the gym now but will leave the running and maybe do some low impact cardio training such as the bike or the rower before doing my usual weights routine.
Even the occasional running after a shoplifter is giving me grief - damn - the pain in my shins makes me furious! I chased some fool into McDonalds today - he had stolen 10 t-shirts from a nearby clothing store. He didn't know I was following him and thought he had gotten away with it. I dragged him out of the disabled toilets where he was trying to shoot up heroin, the dirty scumbag. "Want to be disabled do you?!" I said as I pushed him over the bonnet of his sh*tty, beat up car, before 'accidentally' banging his head into the side of it. I might have let up on him if not for the pain in my shins... but somehow it made me stronger! I thought about any kids who may have used the toilet after he had been in there cooking up his smack and it made me feel pure rage!!! Oooh - he didn't like me when I was angry. I told the site security guys to turn their cctv cameras off me for a minute while I taught him the error of his ways! Then I locked the sh*t out of his arm and held him there until the police came. I could see families in McDonalds looking at me with a mixture of fear and awe... Haaahahahahahahaha!!!
And as for my imagination... well...
GMan (calm now...)
I don't think you sound like a know-all - not at all - I appreciate the advice. Thankyou. I am going to hit the gym now but will leave the running and maybe do some low impact cardio training such as the bike or the rower before doing my usual weights routine.Even the occasional running after a shoplifter is giving me grief - damn - the pain in my shins makes me furious! I chased some fool into McDonalds today - he had stolen 10 t-shirts from a nearby clothing store. He didn't know I was following him and thought he had gotten away with it. I dragged him out of the disabled toilets where he was trying to shoot up heroin, the dirty scumbag. "Want to be disabled do you?!" I said as I pushed him over the bonnet of his sh*tty, beat up car, before 'accidentally' banging his head into the side of it.
I might have let up on him if not for the pain in my shins... but somehow it made me stronger! I thought about any kids who may have used the toilet after he had been in there cooking up his smack and it made me feel pure rage!!! Oooh - he didn't like me when I was angry. I told the site security guys to turn their cctv cameras off me for a minute while I taught him the error of his ways! Then I locked the sh*t out of his arm and held him there until the police came. I could see families in McDonalds looking at me with a mixture of fear and awe... Haaahahahahahahaha!!!And as for my imagination... well...
GMan (calm now...)
Well, I guess this kind of fits in the medical theme of the thread.GlimmerMan said:Excellent, Serena. Thanks. I wish I could call myself an 'athlete', like.
Even the occasional running after a shoplifter is giving me grief - damn - the pain in my shins makes me furious! I chased some fool into McDonalds today - he had stolen 10 t-shirts from a nearby clothing store. He didn't know I was following him and thought he had gotten away with it. I dragged him out of the disabled toilets where he was trying to shoot up heroin, the dirty scumbag. "Want to be disabled do you?!" I said as I pushed him over the bonnet of his sh*tty, beat up car, before 'accidentally' banging his head into the side of it.
And as for my imagination... well...
GMan (calm now...)
First--Thanks.
Secondly--You ARE an athlete. You're working out, keeping yourself in shape, going to a gym. You're not an athlete on a competitive level is the only difference.
The orthopedic doctors I worked with HATED the term, "No pain, no gain." They always stressed if you're feel more than a mild amount of discomfort, listen to your body's warnings. But especially with shin splints. It's not like a torn meniscus or ligament that can be repaired arthroscopically, such as Littledragon had performed. Rest, ice, anti-inflammatories, and time are your best course of treatment.
Thirdly--Are you crazy??
Chasing some punk drug addict? When you said it somehow made you stronger--sounds like a pure adrenaline rush! "He didn't like me when I was angry" reminded me of the Hulk in the TV show. Still, all that said--I kinda like how you "taught him the error of his ways"! 
I bet those families were staring! Dinner and a show. You don't get THAT in a Happy Meal! Well done on getting the jerk!Now, back to the real medical stuff.
GlimmerMan
Huge Member
Serena,
Thankyou very much for your kind words. I have been resting my shin as much as possible, but it ain't easy when I'm on my feel all day. In the evenings I put a nice cold ice pack on it and neck a couple of beers to take my mind off the initial discomfort!
I tried 10 minutes of light jogging in the gym tonight and the pain wasn't anywhere as bad as it has been. I'm going to give it a week and see how it is. I bought some new trainers also, as the ones I was wearing were about six months old. The new ones are Nike Air and have a crazy high ridge in the middle, which is supposed to help by taking some of the pressure off your joints when you plant your foot while jogging - and they do seem to make a difference. I have just been doing low impact stuff - cycling, rowing, cross trainer and stepper. However, I was horrified when I arrived at the gym tonight and pulled my towel out of my bag - it had changed from white to a curious, and rather fruity lilac colour! I thought it was blue when I looked at it through my bleary, tired eyes at 6am this morning... so I had to mop my brow with a lilac towel while working out like some kind of enraged monster. Shameful.
I think I might be crazy... but I can't stand people who don't abide by a moral code - and this shoplifter/junkie/asshole had it coming! Hahahaha! I like your comment about the McDonalds families. They were probably quietly eating a lovely (ahem) Big Mac meal when some crazed dude wanders in and starts shooting up in the bogs, closely followed by another even more crazed dude, dressed all in black, with a freshly shaven head, wearing a pair of Oakleys(!), who turfs him out of the toilets and starts taunting him and slapping him around in the carpark! It's enough to make me choke on my filet o' fish with glee!
GMan
Thankyou very much for your kind words. I have been resting my shin as much as possible, but it ain't easy when I'm on my feel all day. In the evenings I put a nice cold ice pack on it and neck a couple of beers to take my mind off the initial discomfort!
I tried 10 minutes of light jogging in the gym tonight and the pain wasn't anywhere as bad as it has been. I'm going to give it a week and see how it is. I bought some new trainers also, as the ones I was wearing were about six months old. The new ones are Nike Air and have a crazy high ridge in the middle, which is supposed to help by taking some of the pressure off your joints when you plant your foot while jogging - and they do seem to make a difference. I have just been doing low impact stuff - cycling, rowing, cross trainer and stepper. However, I was horrified when I arrived at the gym tonight and pulled my towel out of my bag - it had changed from white to a curious, and rather fruity lilac colour! I thought it was blue when I looked at it through my bleary, tired eyes at 6am this morning... so I had to mop my brow with a lilac towel while working out like some kind of enraged monster. Shameful.
I think I might be crazy... but I can't stand people who don't abide by a moral code - and this shoplifter/junkie/asshole had it coming! Hahahaha! I like your comment about the McDonalds families. They were probably quietly eating a lovely (ahem) Big Mac meal when some crazed dude wanders in and starts shooting up in the bogs, closely followed by another even more crazed dude, dressed all in black, with a freshly shaven head, wearing a pair of Oakleys(!), who turfs him out of the toilets and starts taunting him and slapping him around in the carpark! It's enough to make me choke on my filet o' fish with glee!
GMan
Hey, GlimmerMan! Sounds like you're on a real sensible program there, so good for you! Well, except for the purple towel. Training shoes every few months is also highly recommended, so good idea there.
Not sure if this is the right thread, but I think a good idea for a thread would be some tips from the guys and gals who work out regularly. Basic common sense warm-up routines and the like, things that can be done to help prevent injuries in your chosen exercise regimen.
Sounds like you're on a real sensible program there, so good for you! Well, except for the purple towel. Training shoes every few months is also highly recommended, so good idea there. Not sure if this is the right thread, but I think a good idea for a thread would be some tips from the guys and gals who work out regularly. Basic common sense warm-up routines and the like, things that can be done to help prevent injuries in your chosen exercise regimen.
yudansha
TheGreatOne
Dairy Dividend (from rd)
In the past, doctors recommended a low-calcium diet to prevent the formation of kidenty stones, bur recent research suggests calcium may prevent stones.
For more than eight years, Harvard University researchers studied some 95,000 female nurses age 27 to 44 who had never had kidney stones. They found that the women who consumed the most dietary calcium (at least 1,100mg/day - the equivalent of 750mL of milk plus 30g of hard cheese) had a significantly lower risk of developing kidney stones than women who consumed less than 600mg per day.
In the past, doctors recommended a low-calcium diet to prevent the formation of kidenty stones, bur recent research suggests calcium may prevent stones.
For more than eight years, Harvard University researchers studied some 95,000 female nurses age 27 to 44 who had never had kidney stones. They found that the women who consumed the most dietary calcium (at least 1,100mg/day - the equivalent of 750mL of milk plus 30g of hard cheese) had a significantly lower risk of developing kidney stones than women who consumed less than 600mg per day.
Good tip about the calcium! A good intake of calcium is highly recommended anyway for women in that age group, and even beyond. And also drinking lots of water--but not excessive (2 liters a day is recommended)--is a must in people prone to developing stones, as is drinking cranberry juice. Now some urologists are recommending cranberry capsules in patients who have a history of stones, though I'm not sure what the research shows on this.yudansha said:
Good informative article, Yudansha--thanks!
yudansha
TheGreatOne
Genetics...
A mutation in a recently discovered gene is believed to be the most common cause of inherited forms of Parkinson's disease, according to a study in The Lancet last January.
Researchers say the mutation on the LRRK2 gene is responsible for five percent of inherited Parkinson's disease cases. "Our results suggest that the mutation is the most common cause of Parkinson's disease identified to date," says Tatiana Foroud, associate professor of medical and molecular genetics at Indiana University School of Medicine and principal investigator on the multi-site study.
For years it was believed that environmental factors were the primary cause of Parkinson's. It wasn't until 1997 that the first gene associated with the disease was identified.
"While a great deal of work remains to be done," says Foroud, "it is clear that any future genetic testing for Parkinson's disease must include studies of the LRRK2 gene."
The study focused on 767 Parkinson's patients from 358 families. The patients were recruited by specialists from 59 medical centres associated with the Parkinson Study Group, a nonprofit, co-operative group of Parkinson's experts from the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. For more about the study, visit http://progeni.iu.edu.
A mutation in a recently discovered gene is believed to be the most common cause of inherited forms of Parkinson's disease, according to a study in The Lancet last January.
Researchers say the mutation on the LRRK2 gene is responsible for five percent of inherited Parkinson's disease cases. "Our results suggest that the mutation is the most common cause of Parkinson's disease identified to date," says Tatiana Foroud, associate professor of medical and molecular genetics at Indiana University School of Medicine and principal investigator on the multi-site study.
For years it was believed that environmental factors were the primary cause of Parkinson's. It wasn't until 1997 that the first gene associated with the disease was identified.
"While a great deal of work remains to be done," says Foroud, "it is clear that any future genetic testing for Parkinson's disease must include studies of the LRRK2 gene."
The study focused on 767 Parkinson's patients from 358 families. The patients were recruited by specialists from 59 medical centres associated with the Parkinson Study Group, a nonprofit, co-operative group of Parkinson's experts from the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. For more about the study, visit http://progeni.iu.edu.
GlimmerMan
Huge Member
So many MILF's came into the store today... damn, I felt like I was in heaven! Hahahahahaha!!! It was like a delicatessan of boobies and I didn't know where to look!
I know this is the medical thread, but I just thought I'd post this insight here anyway. Besides, I had to chase another shoplifter today and am back to square one with my damn shins (caught the fu*ker though!).
GMan (this could be love... for fire)
I know this is the medical thread, but I just thought I'd post this insight here anyway. Besides, I had to chase another shoplifter today and am back to square one with my damn shins (caught the fu*ker though!).
GMan (this could be love... for fire)