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HIV stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus. HIV is the virus which, when untreated, results in an AIDS diagnosis, or Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. The virus attacks the body’s immune system, especially white blood cells called T-cells. Your immune system is what fights against infections to keep your body healthy and T-cells play a key role in keeping a person protected from infections. If your immune system is weakened, it can’t protect your body and you can easily get sick.
Who gets HIV/AIDS?
Anyone who has unprotected sex (without a condom) and/or shares needles or injection drug equipment with an infected person is at risk for getting the HIV virus. Also, babies can be born with the virus if their mother is infected. In the past, people also got infected from unscreened blood transfusions, but today donated blood is screened more efficiently.
Does everyone who has HIV get AIDS?
Not all people with HIV get AIDS. However, if a person’s T-cell numbers drop and the amount of virus in the blood stream rises (viral load), the immune system can become too weak to fight off infections, and they are considered to have AIDS. It is then possible to get sick with diseases that do not usually affect other people. One of these diseases is Kaposi Sarcoma (KS), a rare type of skin cancer. Another is a type of pneumonia called Pneumocystis Pneumonia (PCP). These diseases can be treated and a person’s T-cells and viral load can return to healthier levels with the right types of medication, although the AIDS diagnosis stays with them even when healthy.
What are the symptoms of HIV/AIDS?
Some people may get an illness within 6 weeks of HIV infection. This early period in the infection may come with some of the following symptoms:
Fever
Headache
Swollen glands
Tiredness
Aching joints and muscles
Sore throat
Since these symptoms are similar to the flu, HIV may go unnoticed. Therefore, it is important to tell your health care provider if you don’t use condoms during sex and/or if you share needles. That’s a good reason to get tested for HIV!
When HIV progresses to AIDS, a person may have any of the following symptoms:
Millions of people get infected with pubic lice every year. They are tiny insects that look like tiny versions of the crabs you see at the beach. They live on the skin and coarse hairs that are around your genitals, and they feed on your blood. Pubic lice spread really easily during sexual contact.
Public lice symptoms include pretty intense itching. But even though pubic lice can be uncomfortable, they don’t cause any serious health problems. It’s usually easy to get rid of them with over-the-counter medicines.
Getting pubic lice doesn’t mean you’re dirty — it has nothing to do with hygiene or cleanliness. Anybody can get pubic lice if they have close, personal contact with someone who has them. About 3 million people in the U.S. get pubic lice every year.
How do you get pubic lice (crabs)?
Crabs are usually spread through sex, because they like to live in pubic hair. Pubic lice move easily from one person’s hairs to another person’s hairs when their genitals touch or are very close to each other.
Most people get crabs during sex, but sometimes they’re spread through other kinds of close, personal contact. You can get pubic lice where other types of coarse hair — like eyelashes, eyebrows, chest hair, armpits, beards, and mustaches — touch places on someone’s body where crabs are. Sometimes pubic lice are spread by using an infected person’s clothes, towels, or bed.
Crabs don’t spread through quick, casual touching, like handshakes or hugs. And it’s really, really rare to get crabs from a toilet seat — crabs don’t live very long when they’re away from a human body, and they can’t hang onto smooth surfaces.
Even though crabs are into hair, they usually don’t like to hang out in the hair on top of your head. Pubic lice are different than head lice, and you usually don’t get crabs in the hair on your head. Head lice usually don’t show up in the pubic area, either.
About 50 percent of men with gonorrhea do not experience any symptoms at all. If symptoms do present themselves, it is often in the form of painful urination or a yellow or green tinted white discharge from the penis. Less common symptoms include itching or burning around the urethra. Other symptoms are often mild and unnoticeable. An untreated gonorrhea infection can lead to serious complications like intense testicular or scrotal pain (epididymitis).
How long do gonorrhea symptoms take to appear?
Although some people do not experience any gonorrhea symptoms, they may appear 10 days after being exposed to the gonorrhea bacterium. Typically gonorrhea symptoms can be mild or confused with a long-lasting flu. In some cases, symptoms may be severe and lead to serious complications such as PID for women and epididymitis for men.
Gonorrhea and health complications
Some health complications, like pelvic inflammatory disease for women, are not symptomatic of gonorrhea, but are a serious health complication. You should seek medical attention if you feel sick, have a fever or pelvic pain, or experience pain during sex.
Untreated gonorrhea can lead to Disseminated Gonococcal Infection (DGI)
There are many reasons to treat gonorrhea infection including the risk of DGI. Also known as gonococcal arthritis, DGI is caused by the spread of gonorrhea to the body, including the blood, skin, heart, or joints. This rare condition occurs in only 1 out of 100 people infected with gonorrhea, but DGI can be deadly. DGI can develop as soon as 2-14 days after you are infected with gonorrhea. Symptoms usually include chills, fever, joint pain or swelling, painful wrist and heel tendons, skin rash, and symptoms of meningitis (such as headaches, stiff and painful neck, vomiting, confusion and seizures). Our doctors recommend seeking medical attention if you experience any of these symptoms in order to avoid any serious or deadly complications.
Gonorrhea Symptoms in Men
Most Common
Silent or no symptoms (50% of the time men do not show signs)
Yellow-white, or green-white discharge from the penis
Painful, frequent urination
Rectal pain, discharge, or bleeding
Inflamed eye
Less Common
Testicular or scrotal pain
Burning and itching around the opening of the penis
Sore throat
Gonorrhea Symptoms in Women
Most Common
Silent or no symptoms
Less Common
Unusual, increased bloody yellowish or watery green vaginal discharge
Truth or not, Real or fake, How do you explain a person who wants to be a leader in the footsteps of bill Clinton her husband? How can you judge the out come of change? would she of been a better leader then Donald Trump or her husband or Obama? Does money speak for it self? Is words of mouth a action to be surprised by? would there have been an exchange in a purpose of choice? Is politics a justice or a vision for self belief? Who holds the key to the golden door? Why do people explain things they don’t understand? Keeps your words to your self??! Hold your head down? Keep your head up high when stages change in your life? Fight for a purpose? Give it all you got?? These questions ask an answer?
Help keep your heart in tip-top shape with this delicious heart healthy meal plan.
It has long been understood that a healthy diet and lifestyle are the best weapons to protect against heart disease. Research shows that eating healthfully, exercising more, maintaining a healthy weight and not smoking can help reduce heart disease-related deaths by 50 percent. Adopting heart-healthy eating habits just got easier with the help of this delicious 7-day, 1,200-calorie meal plan. The meals and snacks in this plan incorporate heart-healthy foods: fiber-rich fruits, vegetables and whole grains, lean protein and heart-healthy fats like olive oil and avocado. Dishes are seasoned with just a little salt and lots of herbs and spices, to keep things flavorful without adding too much sodium. We made sure that each day is within the recommended limits established by the American Heart Association for sodium, saturated fat and added sugars—nutrients to limit in a heart-healthy diet. Reducing your risk of heart disease is about more than just your diet. Talk to your doctor about adding in an exercise program and other healthy lifestyle factors (think, not smoking or decreasing daily stress).
Breakfast
(266 calories)
Egg Toast • 1 slice whole-wheat bread, toasted • 1 large egg, cooked in 1/4 tsp. olive oil or coat pan with a thin layer of cooking spray (1-second spray). Season with a pinch each of salt and pepper. • 2 Tbsp. salsa Top toast with egg and salsa. • 1 medium banana
A.M. Snack (63 calories)
• 3/4 cup blueberries
Lunch (319 calories)
Chickpea & Veggie Salad • 2 cups mixed greens • 3/4 cup veggies of your choice (try cucumbers and tomatoes) • 2/3 cup chickpeas, rinsed • 1 Tbsp. almonds, chopped Combine ingredients and top salad with 1 Tbsp. red-wine vinegar, 2 tsp. olive oil and freshly ground pepper.
P.M. Snack (62 calories)
• 1 medium orange
Dinner (470 calories) Meal Prep Tip
Pack up the leftovers from dinner tonight to take for lunch on Day 3.
Breakfast (287 calories)
• 1 cup bran cereal • 1 cup skim milk • 1/2 cup blueberries
A.M. Snack (95 calories)
• 1 medium apple
Lunch (330 calories)
Veggie-Hummus Sandwich • 2 slices whole-grain bread • 3 Tbsp. hummus • 1/4 avocado, mashed • 1/4 cup cucumber slices • 1/4 medium red bell pepper, sliced • 1/4 cup shredded carrots • 1 cup mixed greens Spread bread with hummus and avocado and layer on vegetables.
P.M. Snack (80 calories)
• 3/4 medium red bell pepper, sliced • 2 Tbsp. hummus
The biology of the eye is extremely complex, especially when you consider the human eye only has the rough diameter of 2.54 cm and weighs approximately 7.5 grams. It is made up of around 15 distinct parts, all with different roles to play in receiving light into the eye and transmitting the electrical impulses, which ultimately relay image information to our brains so that we can perceive the world we live in.
The eye is often compared to a basic camera, and indeed the very first camera was designed with the concept of the eye in mind. We can reduce the complex process that occurs to process light into vision within the eye to a relatively basic sequence of events. First, light passes through the cornea, which refracts the light so that it enters the eye in the right direction, and aqueous humour, into the main body of the eye through the pupil. The iris contracts to control pupil size and this limits the amount of light that is let through into the eye so that light-sensitive parts of the eye are not damaged.
The pupil can vary in size between 2 mm and 8 mm, increasing to allow up to 30 times more light in than the minimum. The light is then passed through the lens, which further refracts the light, which then travels through the vitreous humour to the back of the eye and is reflected onto the retina, the centre point of which is the macula.
The retina is where the rods and cones are situated, rods being responsible for vision when low levels of light are present and cones being responsible for colour vision and specific detail. Rods are far more numerous as more cells are needed to react in low levels of light and are situated around the focal point of cones. This focal gathering of cones is collectively called the fovea, which is situated within the macula. All the light information that has been received by the eye is then converted into electrical impulses by a chemical in the retina called rhodopsin, also known as purple visual, and the impulses are then transmitted through the optic nerve to the brain where they are perceived as ‘vision’. The eye moves to allow a range of vision of approximately 180 degrees and to do this it has four primary muscles which control the movement of the eyeball. These allow the eye to move up and down and across, while restricting movement so that the eye does not rotate back into the socket.
Emphysema, also known as chronic obstructive lung (pulmonary) disease, or COPD, refers to a group of diseases characterized by narrow, obstructed, or destroyed airways within the lungs. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, in 2003, nearly 11 million adults were afflicted with COPD.
Emphysema is one type of COPD. In emphysema, air sacs (alveoli) in the lungs are damaged. The damage results in permanent "holes" in the lung tissue. These holes trap air in the lungs, and also cause the lung tissue to become less elastic and distended, like an overused rubber band.
The pressure from the distended areas of the lung compresses the nearby healthy lung tissue. This makes it difficult to exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide when exhaling.
Symptoms of emphysema include cough, shortness of breath, and difficulty tolerating exercise. As the disease progresses, patients with emphysema may require supplemental oxygen and eventually rely on mechanical respiratory assistance. Severe emphysema can lead to respiratory failure and death.
Drinking too much – on a single occasion or over time – can take a serious toll on your health. Here’s how alcohol can affect your body:
Brain: Alcohol interferes with the brain’s communication pathways, and can affect the way the brain looks and works. These disruptions can change mood and behavior, and make it harder to think clearly and move with coordination.
Heart: Drinking a lot over a long time or too much on a single occasion can damage the heart, causing problems including:
Cardiomyopathy – Stretching and drooping of heart muscle
Arrhythmias – Irregular heart beat
Stroke
High blood pressure
Research also shows that drinking moderate amounts of alcohol may protect healthy adults from developing coronary heart disease.
Liver: Heavy drinking takes a toll on the liver, and can lead to a variety of problems and liver inflammations including:
Steatosis, or fatty liver
Alcoholic hepatitis
Fibrosis
Cirrhosis
Pancreas: Alcohol causes the pancreas to produce toxic substances that can eventually lead to pancreatitis, a dangerous inflammation and swelling of the blood vessels in the pancreas that prevents proper digestion.
Cancer: Drinking too much alcohol can increase your risk of developing certain cancers, including cancers of the:
Mouth
Esophagus
Throat
Liver
Breast
Immune System: Drinking too much can weaken your immune system, making your body a much easier target for disease. Chronic drinkers are more liable to contract diseases like pneumonia and tuberculosis than people who do not drink too much. Drinking a lot on a single occasion slows your body’s ability to ward off infections – even up to 24 hours after getting drunk.
Alzheimer's disease is caused by immune cells in the brain triggered by inflammation, according to a breakthrough discovery. The new research could lead to the development of a drug that treats or even prevents the condition within five years, say scientists.
Experiments found destroying specific cells - known as microglia - reduced the formation of clumps of amyloid beta that form in Alzheimer's and destroy memory.
These are the rogue proteins believed to lie at the root of the devastating neurological illness.
Human trials of all therapies have failed in the past. Most have targeted the amyloid plaques that build up in the brains of patients.
The German team say the breakthrough is exciting as it sheds fresh light on a classic hallmark of Alzheimer's. It also offers hope of an effective medication aimed at the 'microglia' cells - instead of amyloid-beta itself.
Prof Michael Heneka and colleagues say the amyloid beta plaques are fuelled by inflammation.
In Alzheimer's patients these proteins collect together - leading to cell damage and confusion.
For years inflammation has been suspected of having a role but the exact nature of its involvement has been hard to pin down - until now.
The researchers found the microglia release specks of a protein called ASC in response to it. They stick to the amyloid beta protein - boosting its production.
Prof Heneka, of the University of Bonn, Germany, said this may even occur in the very early stages of Alzheimer's.
In tests an antibody that blocked ASC from binding to amyloid beta stopped it from forming into damaging clumps.
The study published in Nature found this worked in live mice as well as cells grown in the laboratory.
ASC reside in a vital inflammatory pathway called the NLRP3 inflammasome which damages brain cells.
Prof Heneka said: 'In patients with Alzheimer's disease, deposition of amyloid-beta is accompanied by activation of the innate immune system and involves formation of ASC specks in microglia.'
These bind rapidly to amyloid-beta and increase the formation of clumps. He said ASC specks have been visualised in the brains of patients who died from Alzheimer's.
He said: 'The patho-physiological link between inflammasome responses and amyloid-beta plaque spreading suggests pharmacological targeting of inflammasomes could represent a novel treatment for Alzheimer's disease. Mice genetically engineered to lack the NLRP3 gene that produces ASC showed much less amyloid-beta in the brain - and performed better on spatial memory tasks.
Antibodies to ASC - which prevent the specks from binding to other proteins - also suppressed the formation of amyloid-beta clumps.
Speaking from Germany, Prof Heneka said: 'The hope would be to interfere with disease progression and spreading of pathology by counteracting or interfering with the NLRP3 inflammasome or ASC specks.
'I would hope - given it is possible to develop a safe and brain penetrant NLRP3 inhibitor - this could be tested in the next five to 10 years from now.'
His lab had previously shown mice lacking the protein NLRP3 are less likely to develop clumps of amyloid-beta - suspected of lying at the heart of Alzheimer's.
Prof Heneka said: 'Spreading and disease progression is absent in the state of the art model of disease spreading.
'If animals carry a genetic knockout for ASC one would hope blocking ASC speck formation holds therapeutic potential.'
Professor Richard Ransohoff, a cell biologist at Harvard Medical School, Boston,
reviewed the study for the journal and said the identification of specific chemicals in plaque formation is 'extremely welcome.'
They 'could accelerate the development of better therapies' but if these are to be effective it will be important to discover which part to target.
He described suppressing formation of ASC specks as a specific 'downstream aspect' but this might not sufficiently inhibit all the problems implicated in Alzheimer's.
Prof Ransohoff said: 'Despite this difficulty, which bedevils all pathway directed therapeutics, it is heartening and invigorating to have a newly discovered mechanism to consider in the quest to treat Alzheimer's disease.'
Last year University of Southampton researchers found increased numbers of microglia in the post mortem brains of people with Alzheimer's.
A drug used to block their production in the brains of mice had fewer memory and behavioural problems.
The compound also prevented the loss of communication points between nerve cells in the brain - which usually happens in people with Alzheimer's. Experts said the results were 'exciting'.
About 850,000 people in Britain have dementia, with Alzheimer's by far the most common form, with the figure set to reach a million by 2025 because of the ageing population. There is no cure.
Bacterial gastroenteritis happens when bacteria causes an infection in your gut. This causes inflammation in your stomach and intestines. You may also experience symptoms like vomiting, severe abdominal cramps, and diarrhea.
While viruses cause many gastrointestinal infections, bacterial infections are also common. Some people call this infection food poisoning.
Bacterial gastroenteritis can result from poor hygiene. Infection can also occur after close contact with animals or consuming food or water contaminated with bacteria (or the toxic substances bacteria produce). Treating bacterial gastroenteritis
Treatment is meant to keep you hydrated and avoid complications. It’s important not to lose too much salt, such as sodium and potassium Your body needs these in certain amounts in order to function properly.
If you have a serious case of bacterial gastroenteritis, you may be admitted to the hospital and given fluids and salts intravenously. Antibiotics are usually reserved for the most severe cases.
Home remedies for mild cases
If you have a milder case, you may be able to treat your illness at home. Try the following:
Drink fluids regularly throughout the day, especially after bouts of diarrhea.
Eat little and often, and include some salty foods.
Consume foods or drinks with potassium, such as fruit juice and bananas.
Don’t take any medications without asking your doctor.
Go to the hospital if you can’t keep any fluids down.
A few ingredients you may have at home can help keep your electrolyte balance and treat diarrhea. Ginger can help combat infection and make stomach or abdominal pain less severe. Apple cider vinegar and basil can also soothe your stomach as well as strengthen your stomach against future infections.
Avoid eating dairy, fruit, or high-fiber foods to keep diarrhea from getting worse.
Over-the-counter medicines that neutralize your stomach acid can help fight these infections. Medicines that treat symptoms like diarrhea, nausea, and abdominal pains can help ease the stress and pain of the infection. Don’t take over-the-counter treatments unless your doctor tells you to do so.
