Thursday, July 30, 2009

Fibroadenoma of Breast

Fibroadenomas are benign tumors composed of stromal and epithelial elements. The stroma varies from myxoid and hypocellular to fibrous and moderately cellular. Involution is common with increasing age of the lesion. The stroma becomes less cellular, more fibrotic and hyalinized. Hence, fibroadenoma with mixoid features should be seen normally in young age women. The cause of these tumors is unknown. Approximately 10% of fibroadenomas disappear spontaneously each year, and most stop growing after they reach 2-3 cm. In 72% of cases, they spontaneously resolve over a period of 7 years.
In most cases, fibroadenoma is considered to be abberation of normal breast development.
However, it is an abnormal variant of mixoid fibroadenoma, when it is associated with Carney's Syndrome, a rare inherited (autosomal dominant) abnormality that involve the following conditions: (1) adrenal gland, a small gland located above each kidney, over produces cortisol hormone with various manifestation such as skin easily bruises, obesity, and menstrual irregularities; (2) multiple pigmented lesions/spots of the skin (e.g. face, eyelid) or mucosa (e.g. conjunctiva, mouth); and (3) a variety of tumors (i.e. mixoid features of benign breast tumour/fibroadenoma is one of them).

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Acoustic Radiation to Relieve Pain

Extracorporeal shockwave therapy (ESWT) is a method of treatment by application of high-density acoustic radiation that literally breaks the speed of sound, thereby creating a shockwave. This technique is commonly used for treatment of certain clinical conditions (e.g. musculoskeletal conditions like Achilles tendinopathy). Clinical studies done worldwide reported that ESWT is an effective and
safe treatment modality for chronic and painful lesions at bone-tendon junctions.

Extracorporeal shockwave therapy (ESWT) is sometimes alternatively known as shockwave biosurgery, although ESWT isn't surgery as the “surgery” word that people usually understand. It’s called that way because of how the therapy works, as follows:

* Trigger the body's repair mechanism. One of the manifestations of this is the gradual formation of new blood vessels in the targeted area. This shockwave exerts a mechanical pressure and tension force on the afflicted tissue. This has been shown to create an increase in cell membrane permeability, thereby increasing microscopic circulation (right) to the tissues and the metabolism within the treated tissues, both of which promote healing and subsequent dissolution of pathological deposits of calcification. Also, the ESWT shock waves pressure creates what are known as "cavitation bubbles", simply small empty cavities, which tend to expand to a to a maximum size, then collapse, much like a bubble popping. As these bubbles burst, a resultant force is created. In the human body, this force is strong enough to help break down pathological deposits of calcification in soft tissues, which can be the cause of chronic inflammation/pain in the affected soft tissue. ESWT shockwaves have also been shown to stimulate fibroblasts, the cells responsible for the healing
of connective tissues such as tendon, and ligaments.

*Over-stimulate pain transmission nerves. This leads to an immediate reduction in pain and sensitivity. This is where the nerves sending signals of pain to the brain are stimulated so much that their activity diminishes, thereby decreasing or eliminating pain. It is also sometimes thought of as activating a sort of "reset" button that recalibrates pain perception that set higher pain tolerance/threshold.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Early Puberty

Precocious puberty is an unusually early onset of puberty, the process of sexual maturation triggered by the brain or exogenous chemicals, which usually begins in late childhood and results in reproductive maturity and completion of growth. There are two following types:
* Early puberty which is natural in every way except age is termed idiopathic central precocious puberty (i.e. normal MRI scan brain, normal thyroid gland, normal physical examination, no abnormal symptom except her pubertal growth). There is no underlying medical problem. In other words, this early puberty is a variation of normal development.
* Secondary sexual development induced by sex steroids from other abnormal sources (gonadal or adrenal tumors, congenital adrenal hyperplasia, etc.) is referred to as peripheral precocious puberty or precocious pseudopuberty.
The goal of treating precocious puberty is to halt or even reverse sexual development and stop the rapid growth and bone maturation that can eventually result in adult short stature. In the idiopathic case, there is no medical underlying cause to be treated. The medications (e.g. decapeptyl and cyproterone acetate) are to lower the high levels of sex hormones to stop sexual development from progressing. It is generally safe and usually causes no side effects in kids. With the treatments, the child's behavior usually becomes more age appropriate as well.

Monday, July 27, 2009

Terapi Hormon Progesterone untuk Wanita Hamil

Pengobatan wanita yang sedang hamil dengan hormone progesterone (seperti Crinone, Cygest) bertujuan untuk meningkatkan atau menstabilkan kadar hormone progesterone di dalam tubuh wanita hamil. Dalam hal ini, Progesterone therapy ditujukan untuk menguatkan kandung / mencegah keguguran / mencegah kelahiran prematur.

Pengobatan dengan progesterone untuk wanita hamil bisa sampai 16 minggu atau bahkan sampai 20 minggu usia kehamilan. Hal ini berdasarkan pertimbangan bahwa:
* kadar progesterone cenderung menurun dalam masa transisi dari trimester pertama ke trimester kedua (13-16 minggu)
* sekiranya ada risiko lahir prematur, semakin besar umur kandungannya (>20 minggu) semakin baik untuk kondisi kesehatan ibu dan bayinya

Selama menjalani terapi dengan progesterone, efek samping yang sering dialami pasien yang hamil adalah rasa sakit di daerah perut (abdominal pain), kembung (bloating), dan sembelit (constipation). Untuk mengurangi keluhan akibat efek samping tersebut, biasanya dokter memberi pasien yang hamil obat anti maag. Kalau keluhan semacam tersebut di atas masih berlanjut kendati sudah minum obat anti maag dari dokter, sebaiknya pasien periksa lebih lanjut dengan dokter kandungannya. Sementara itu, mengurangi konsumi makanan / minuman dari kacang-kacangan juga dapat membantu mengurangi rasa kembung dan rasa sakit di daerah perut.

Selain itu, pasien yang hamil perlu juga dimonitor:
* Kadar hormon progesterone di dalam darahnya ( sekitar 2 minggu sekali)
* Fungsi liver / hati (seperti kadar SGOT, SGPT, Billirubin, GGT dalam darah), sekitar 4 minggu sekali
* Fungsi ginjal (seperti kadar Kreatinin, BUN dalam darah), sekitar 4 minggu sekali

Kalau ada hal lain yang masih kurang jelas, sebaiknya didiskusikan lebih lanjut dengan dokter ahli kandungan.

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Sources of Stem Cells

Stem cells have the remarkable potential to develop into many different cell types in the body during early life and growth. In many tissues, they serve as a sort of internal repair system, dividing essentially without limit to replenish other cells.
There are two kinds of stem cells:
* Embryonic stem cells are derived from embryos that develop from eggs that have been fertilized (found in 4-5 days old embryos). They can become all cell types of the body.
* Non embryonic/adult stem cells are found in a tissue or organ that can renew itself and can differentiate to yield some or all of the major specialized cell types of the tissue or organ. For example: for adult stem cell transplant, the stem cell source is from bone marrow, and it's known as a bone marrow transplant. If the stem cell source is from an umbilical cord, then it's called as umbilical cord blood transplant.

Fitness with Fat burners

Be aware of possible unwanted effects from taking Fish Oil.
Fish oil contains Omega 3 fatty acids including both docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA). These are good fats. If the fish oil you are taking is very low in EPA and DHA and rich in useless fats that the human body often has a hard time metabolizing, hence it may lead to weight gain. Also be aware that low grade fish oil may contain mercury that could cause cancers.

If you are taking a more purified EPA and DHA concentrate, at about 5 grams of EPA and DHA per day, there will be four primary benefits. First, is the reduction of inflammation in the adipose tissue that causes weight gain. The second is the reduction of endocannabinoids in the brain that generate constant hunger signals. Third is the increase in the hormone adiponectin that reduces insulin resistance and eventually enable the body to use these fats into energy which will make way for "burned" fats. Finally, the fish oil will increase the production of enzymes to burn fat faster. It eventually helps you to lose weight.
Evidence from several studies has also suggested that amounts of DHA and EPA in the form of fish or fish oil supplements lowers triglycerides (bad cholesterole), slows the buildup of atherosclerotic plaques ("hardening of the arteries"), lowers blood pressure slightly, as well as reduces the risk of death, heart attack, dangerous abnormal heart rhythms, and strokes in people with known heart disease. However, high doses may have harmful effects, such as an increased risk of bleeding.

If you start incorporating fish oil in your daily fitness regimen, please look for a high grade supplement. Please also remember that fish oil for weight loss will work well if you combine it with exercise. Regular exercise will make the fat burning process possible. And unlike the other weight loss pills, fish oil as supplement will provide you with untiring energy levels and promote healthy feelings of self-worth.

The above long description of fish oil as supplement should also make you aware about need of taking other fat burner supplements. They could help but may also have functions that overlap one to another. Hence, be wary of overdoses!!.
 

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