Glomerulonephritis: How to Diagnose and Prevent It at Various Levels

Glomerulonephritis is an inflammation of the glomeruli in the kidney. The glomeruli is constellation of small blood vessels in the kidney that act as a filter to remove excess fluid, electrolytes and nitrogenous wastes from the blood into the urine.

It is divided into:

  • Acute Glomerulonephritis- The symptoms develop suddenly.
  • Chronic Glomerulonephritis- The symptoms develop gradually.
  • In glomerulonephritis, the glomeruli lose their filtering capacity thus blood proteins and red cells are excreted in the urine in various quantities depending on the severity of the glomerular damage.

DIAGNOSIS OF GLOMERULONEPHRITIS

Accurate diagnosis is essential in the successful treatment of glomerulonephritis.

Diagnosis is highly dependent on the clarity of symptoms, examination and investigation findings.

SYMPTOMS

  • Passage of coca-colored urine due to the presence of red blood cells in the urine. This is called haematuria.
  • Passage of foamy urine due to excess amount of proteins in the urine. This is called proteinuria.
  • Presence of peri-orbital and ankle swelling.

EXAMINATION FINDINGS

  • Peri-orbital and pedal edema.

ยท Elevated blood pressure.

INVESTIGATIONS

  • Urinalysis-This reveals diagnostic findings such as red blood cells, casts, white blood cells and proteins in the urine.
  • Blood test- Blood level of electrolytes, urea and creatinine. This is mainly done to assess the extent of kidney damage.
  • Radiological imaging tests-This is done usually when the blood tests suggest some level of kidney damage. E.g Renal scan or abdominal CT scan is done.
  • Kidney biopsy- This entails using a clinical procedure to extract some pieces of kidney tissues for microscopic examination. This is the only test that confirms glomerulonephritis.

TREATMENT

This is based on the following principles:

  • Treat underlying health conditions quickly.
  • Use of corticosteroids to reduce the degree of inflammation and immunological responses.
  • Dialysis- This is used for individuals with acute kidney injury or kidney failure.
  • Anti-hypertensives such as ACEI, ARBs- This is used to control hypertension in some selected individuals.

PREVENTION STRATEGIES

There are 3 levels of prevention namely: primary, secondary and tertiary.

PRIMARY PREVENTION

The aim of this is to prevent the onset of glomerulonephritis.

It entails the following:

  • Throat swab should be done for suspected bacteria cause of sore throat. If streptococcus is suspected, oral penicillin should be commenced as soon as possible.
  • Prompt treatment of individuals with bacteria endocarditis.

SECONDARY PREVENTION

This involves early diagnosis and prompt treatment of glomerulonephritis.

It specifically entails the following:

  • Routine urinalysis to be done periodically for individuals at risk of streptococci infections and for individuals greater than 40 years.
  • Periodic monitoring of blood urea and creatinine levels should be done for individuals with compromised kidney function.

TERTIARY PREVENTION

This involves activities and interventions put in place for individuals with glomerulonephritis from developing complications such as kidney failure and to reduce the disease progression.

  • Optimal control of co-morbidities like hypertension and diabetes mellitus.
  • Reduce intake of high protein diet.
  • Restrict salt intake.
  • Cessation of smoking.
  • Regular clinic follow up by a Nephrologist.

Finally, glomerulonephritis is a very lethal kidney disease of which the onset and progression can be prevented if an individual adheres to the activities in the various levels of prevention highlighted above.

What Is Health Care?

What is Health? A good question every one have there opinion, but from my point of view health is combination of physically, mentally and socially strong. It’s means a men that is Physically strong can not be called that he is healthy similarly all the three things must be present in a men that it is called a healthy men.

For physically strong there are things that have to be done are regular exercise, proper diet and nutrition and also proper rest for physical recovery. And a men is called Mentally strong when he is individual’s emotional and psychological well-being. And socially depends upon the well culture and behavior towards other comes in this.

We can guess about a man is mentally healthy depends upon how effectively and successfully a person functions. Now we take little thing about the Nutrition. Nutrition is science that helps to get the reason that affects to men for their health and performance, such as foods or food components that cause diseases or deteriorate health. Just like the food that the men eating have enough protein and another balance diet just like if we take a food that have too much calories, which have bed effects just like obesity, diabetes, and heart disease would increase other thing that also effects the health is Hygiene.

Hygiene keeps the body clean to prevent infection and illness. There are some rules regarding these just like bathing, brushing and flossing teeth, washing hands. Stress also play there roles in Health a mentally strong people have tolerance to stress. Lot of stress also effect health another factor to keep people healthy is natural health means self-care system of natural therapies concerned with building and restoring health at end a say Health science.

Health Care: Health science is the science that is focused on health care, and science have many rules or we can call them sub disciplines. Combination of both is called as total health care. There are mainly two approaches to health science one is study and other is research of the human body.

Take Charge Of Your Health Now So You Don’t Become A Victim Of The Health Care System

Allopathic medicine is based on a scientific model of disease diagnosis and treatment. Medical doctors are solely interested in identifying symptoms and alleviating them through heroic intervention. This mainstream system of medicine only offers palliative treatments, not anything curative. This is what your doctor won’t tell you. Under this system, they wait for disease to happen and then try to help a patient to live with their condition.

This is the corporate model of health care, which is designed from beginning to end to generate profits for doctors, hospitals, pharmaceutical and medical equipment manufacturers and legions of support personnel. It does not operate in your best interest. In fact, if it did, it would collapse under its own weight from its structural costs combined with the revenue shortfalls produced from curing patients.

Contrast this system with the evidence based model of disease, its causes and cures. This approach is used by naturopaths, herbalists, chiropractors and other natural healers. They place an emphasis on preventing disease. Healers take a wholistic approach, looking at the whole person, including their body, mind and spirit.

Obviously, the best approach is one of proactive prevention. In the absence of prevention, then mitigation and remediation are necessary, if even possible.

I’ll provide an illustration of why the medical system is broken and how you can avoid being a victim of it.

Allopathic physicians are so enamored with the science and technology they use that they often don’t see the forest for the trees. Here’s an example. Scientifically, every diseased cell, tissue, organ, system and ultimately, individual, has five characteristics. All diseased tissue is toxic, hypoxic, acidotic, infected and inflamed.

You can take these steps yourself to prevent disease or even reverse it:

Toxicity: Drink and cook with purified water. Eat only organic food.

Hypoxia: Protect your mitochondria.

Acidotic: Take care of your digestive system. Get plenty of minerals.

Infection: Don’t get vaccines. Do get natural antioxidants.

Inflammation: Don’t eat supermarket garbage. Get plenty of healthy fats.

I plan to expound on these topics in the future.

For now, let’s start at the beginning, with taking charge of your health by producing and consuming pure water. I undertook an exhaustive research to identify the single most effective way for anyone to have as much purified water as they want, right in their own home.

I hope you find this very brief introduction to be of benefit for you and your loved ones.

Hernia Treatment Without Surgery Is Becoming Widespread

Generally, hernia requires surgery. But, these days, hernia treatment without surgery is becoming widespread. Yoga hernia exercises are useful for hernia treatment without surgery because it is found that over 30% hernia surgery patients end up with pain and discomfort afterwards. Inserting a foreign net can cause complications later in your 30 to 40 years of post-operation life. Instead of immediate surgery, you can try out gentle yogic stretching in static and dynamic form. This is good for gradually strengthening weak abdominal muscles as it supplies abundant amount of oxygenated blood that nourishes, activates, tones and strengthens. This in turn improves muscle tensile strength which prevent displacement of internal organs. Exercising as a solution for hernia will also safeguard that the hernia does not recur in adjacent area.

You can ask a physical therapist for guidance on exercises that fit your unique condition as patient education & training are key factors in the overall process of physiotherapy treatment. Hernia treatment without surgery will need 1 to 3 months of committed effort and patience to heal.

Piles

Piles are usually inflamed and swollen collections of tissue in the anal area. They can be of any sizes and may be internal or external. Piles are usually caused by increased pressure in the lower rectum. The blood vessels around the anus and in the rectum generally stretch under pressure and may swell, thus forming piles. The symptoms of piles are:

  • Hard stool and constipation,
  • Diarrhea and frequent bowel movements.

Doctors usually diagnose piles after carrying out some physical examinations like digital rectal examination or colonoscopy.

In most cases, piles dissolve on their own without the need for any treatment. But, some piles become severe. Read on to discover some piles treatment that will help significantly to reduce the discomfort and itching.

  1. Diet – Diet change is a must to keep the stools regular and soft. This means you need to eat more fiber, such as fruit and vegetables or bran-based breakfast cereals. You should increase water consumption.
  2. Body weight – Exercising and losing weight help in reducing the severity of piles.
  3. Medicines – Over-the-counter medicines like painkillers, ointments, creams, and pads help to soothe redness and swelling around the anus. Corticosteroids medicines can reduce inflammation and pain. Laxatives are prescribed if a person with piles suffers from constipation.
  4. Surgery – An elastic band is placed around the base of the pile, cutting off its blood supply. In sclerotherapy, medicine is injected to make the hemorrhoid shrink. Infrared coagulation is a device that is used to burn the hemorrhoid tissue. The excess tissue that is causing the bleeding can be surgically removed. Hemorrhoid stapling is done to block the blood flow to the hemorrhoid tissue. Laser surgery is the latest technique for treating piles.

So, multi specialty hospitals have well known doctors for piles treatment where you can get yourself completely cured.

Dental Health for Kids

Dental care is an essential, yet sometimes neglected, aspect of a kid?s overall health. Tooth decay affects in excess of one-fourth of U.S. children aged 2-5 and half of those aged 12-15. The key to effective brushing habits in kids is to start an oral health care program early itself. Good oral hygiene habits should be insisted as early as infancy and constant right through the life. This ensures that kids are not infected with cavities or gingivitis.

The American Dental Association advises parents to start cleaning their baby’s mouth the first few days after birth. Healthy teeth and gums in kids are important for proper chewing of food and clarity of speech. Parents should schedule regular oral health appointments starting around the child’s first birthday. A pediatric dentist may be more suited to your child’s needs during the early years. After each meal the baby’s gums should be wiped with a wet washcloth. This is helpful in removing plaque that accumulates on the gums. When the baby’s teeth begin to erupt, brush them gently with a small, soft-bristled toothbrush using a pea-sized amount of fluoridated toothpaste.

Parents should encourage the kids to spit out the toothpaste at a young age. The other alternative for young children is to use non-fluoridated toothpaste, until they are spitting the toothpaste out. Kids require supplemental fluoride after they are six months old to help prevent cavities. At the age of two or three, parents can begin to teach their kids proper brushing techniques. Parents will need to follow up with brushing and gentle flossing until the age of eight or nine, till the child develops the capability to do it all alone.

An early visit to the dentist can educate you about your child?s oral health and proper hygiene, including avoiding nighttime bottles, proper brushing, and a diet that promotes good dental health. Parents must emphasize the importance of good, healthy eating habits and teach children how to eat properly.

Understanding Arthroscopy Surgery

Arthroscopy can be the solution to many types of arthritis and various injuries inside the joint. Also called as key hole surgery, it is the minimally invasive procedure used to examine the inside structure of the joint for the diagnosis and treatment.

The instrument used for this is called arthroscopy. The surgeons can view the area using the video monitor to diagnose and treat the joint tissues. Majorly all the joints in the body can be examined using the arthroscopy. Apart from examining the joint if any other procedure is performed using this, we call it arthroscopic surgery. This kind of surgeries requires lesser recovery times and pain. The tissue trauma will also be minimum. Because of the benefits, it offers arthroscopy is becoming essential for many orthopedic surgeries.

In the arthroscopy procedure, there is no blood loss expected and will have no or minimal complications. Only small incisions are made to examine and insert the arthroscopy. There is no need for opening the joint fully. The incisions are relatively very small and should be maintained dry for few days. And after the surgery, the patients need to stay for little time in the hospital will be recommended different exercises for strengthening the joints.

As said above, arthroscopy is considered in treating many types of arthritis like non-inflammatory and inflammatory. For example, patients with rheumatoid arthritis who have isolated joint swelling can be benefited with this by removing the inflamed joint tissue and examining it to discover any type of infections. This helps the doctors get more information where the diagnosis is difficult just by analyzing joint fluid alone for treatment.

Arthroscopy is also used for treating many knee joint injuries like ligament strains, meniscustears, posterior cruciate ligament, ligament strains etc; not only to treat knee joints and arthritis, arthroscopy is also considered to treat and examine many hips, wrist, feet, spine, ankle and elbow conditions. The arthroscopy is used to treat the wide range of sports injuries involving hips, wrists, ankles, and elbows as well.

Using arthroscopic procedures we can treat spine conditions like spinal deformity, tumors, spine trauma, spine disc herniation and degenerative discs.

The common conditions we treat using arthroscopy include shoulder dislocations, inflammation in knees, shoulders, elbows, and ankles, unstable shoulders, cartilage tears, rotator cuff tears, arthritis and shoulder joint degeneration, shoulder capsule release, cartilage tears and many more.

Arthroscopy surgery is generally performed by orthopedic surgeons. Even though it is a low risk surgery it is highly recommended to get it done by the expert surgeons for the speedy recovery and complete results. So considering arthroscopy over traditional surgery to treat any of the above conditions will assure the patients less pain, minimal complications and faster recovery.

The Health Care System is Broken – Should Big Parma Buy Hospitals?

We all know that the health-care system in the United States of America is broken and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that out. As podium pushers and politicians tell us that they will give us universal health care we all know that that is impossible. We also know that the Social Security system is running dry and we can barely afford that.

We know that there are all kinds of lobbyists from the health-care industry in Washington, DC trying to keep it going and keep the government paying for all these health services in our hospitals. The truth this is the Medicare system in the United States was originally ill-conceived and it is only gotten worse throughout the years. Today it represents a huge cost that we can no longer afford.

Indeed the health-care system is broken, but who is coming to the rescue and how come these politicians keep promising us universal health care – a scheme that would clearly bankrupt our nation? So who is going to bail out all the hospitals if the government stops footing the bill?

Maybe big Pharma and the pharmaceutical companies might buy up all the hospitals in order to make sure that those hospitals only sell their drugs? America is on drugs there is no doubt about that and the average Grandma now is probably taking 13 different medications all counter-acting each other, wow, now that is certainly quality of life.

It is incredible this crisis – maybe we should combine these two crisis – the health-care industry and big Pharma and put them together so we can manage them better as we cut off some of this excessive corporate welfare? Too hard hitting for you? So, what’s your solution then?

Antibiotics And The Mode Of Action

Technically, an antibiotic is a substance that is produced by one microorganism and it is capable of killing or inhibiting the growth of another microorganism which can a virus, bacteria, fungi, yeast, protozoan or any other pathogen.

The first antibiotic that was developed was Penicillin, a biological compound that is produced by fungi in the genus Penicillium. It was discovered by Alexander Fleming in the year 1928. After that, several other types of antibiotics produced by different species of bacteria and fungi were isolated. Some of these include cephalosporins; aminoglycosides such as streptomycin, gentamicin and kanamycin; ansamycins such as geldanamycin and carabecephems; glycopeptides like vancomycin; macrolides like erythromycin and azithromycin, penicillin, quinolone, polypeptide and sulfonamide.

All these antibiotics have different mode of action by which they act as therapeutic agents. Some of the modes of action by different antibiotics are mentioned below:

Cell Wall Synthesis Inhibitors:

Bacteria contain murein or peptidoglycan that is highly essential in maintaining the cell wall structure. Cell wall synthesis inhibitors such as beta-lactams, cephalosporins and glycopeptides block the ability of microorganisms to synthesize their cell wall by inhibiting the synthesis of peptidoglycan.

Interfering with Protein Synthesis:

These classes of antibiotics inhibit the protein synthesis machinery in the cell. Some examples include tetracyclines, chloramphenicol, aminoglycosides and macrolides.

Cell Membrane Inhibitors:

Antibiotics such as polymyxins disrupt the integrity and structure of cell membranes, thereby killing them. These set of antibiotics are mostly effective on gram negative bacteria because these are the bacteria that contain a definite cell membrane.

Effect on Nucleic Acids:

DNA and RNA are extremely essential nucleic acids present in every living cell. Antibiotics such as quinolones and rifamycins bind to the proteins that are required for the processing of DNA and RNA, thus blocking their synthesis and thereby affecting the growth of the cells.

Competitive Inhibitors:

Also referred to as anti-metabolites or growth factor analogs, these are antibiotics that competitively inhibit the important metabolic pathways occurring inside the bacterial cell. Important ones in this class are sulfonamides such as Gantrisin and Trimethoprim.