Nitrates and nitrites, widely used as food additives in products such as smoked meats and fish, can undergo reactions in the stomach to yield nitrosamines, which are considered to be carcinogenic. The reaction is encouraged when the compounds are subjected to high heat, such as takes place when bacon is cooked. Since both nitrates and [...]
A number of factors may combine to cause bronchial asthma. Of these, allergy, infection, genetic constitution, and emotional influences are the most important. However, as is often the case in the history of medicine, the last twenty or thirty years have seen an overemphasis on one of these factors at the expense of the others. [...]
One of the commonest symptoms associated with period pain, both the cramps and the aching miseries is a headache, and the pain ranges from grumbling discomfort to blinding migraine. Some women have oppressive pain behind their eyes or across their foreheads; some have pain at or above the nape of their necks; others have a [...]
Jim Carry was a typical American teenager; he was an average student, who enjoyed sports and was beginning to take an interest in girls. His diet, however, left much to be desired. He would fill up on snacks and down endless glasses of an artificially flavored and colored grape drink. Over a period of more [...]
Wounds of the skin are classified as abrasions (scrapes), punctures, and lacerations. A laceration is a cut of any size and depth and can be located anywhere on the body. Signs and symptoms A cut is obvious from its appearance and the bleeding that occurs. However, there are signs and symptoms you should look for [...]
Don’t eat the following foods to the exclusion of all others, says Edward Giovannucci, M.D., Sc.D., assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. But these are super-foods that you should include on your shopping list each week and find ways to work into your meals because they increase immunity, build healthy hearts and strong [...]
Visit by the surgeon The surgeon who is to perform your operation may also visit you on the ward to check that all is well. Visit by the anesthetist The anesthetist will probably come to see you to ask you about anything that may be relevant to the choice of anesthetic given to you. Anesthetics [...]
Can other symptoms occur as a consequence of endometriosis? Because some of the symptoms of endometriosis such as pain and infertility can make the sufferer feel tired, miserable and out of control, women may also experience lethargy, malaise, depression, premenstrual syndrome (PMS), or insomnia. Is endometriosis a progressive condition? No one really knows what happens [...]
Rather like breathing sleep is something we all tend to take for granted As long as we are managing to sleep we don’t think too much about it. But depression and stress affect sleep profoundly, and both are affected by inadequate sleep, so it makes sense to try to get the best possible sleep to [...]
Little things mean a lot, especially when it comes to weight loss. Just ask Barbara Rodriguez. The 23-year-old Miami resident had never been seriously overweight, “just a bit chunky,” she says. But when she got engaged in 1997, she decided that she wanted to look just right for her wedding. That meant slimming down—the right [...]