Naegleria Infection from Tap water Used for Neti

Naegleria is an amoeba (single-celled living organism) that can be seen under a microscope. It can cause a very rare, but severe and life threatening infection of the brain called primary amoebic meningoencephalitis.
The amoeba is commonly found in warm freshwater lakes, rivers, and hot springs; and also in soil. Only one species (type) of Naegleria infects people: Naegleria fowleri.

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In very rare instances, Naegleria infections may also occur when contaminated water from other sources (such as inadequately chlorinated swimming pool water or heated tap water <47°C).
A 51-year-old woman from DeSoto Parish and a 20-year-old man from St. Bernard Parish, a suburb of New Orleans, died after using Neti pots containing tap water to flush their sinuses. Both became infected with Naegleria fowleri.
Naegleria fowleri enters the body through the nose travelling along the sensory nerve that carries smell to the brain; and cause primary amoebic meningoencephalitis; a brain infection with symptoms similar to those of bacterial meningitis.

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Primary amoebic meningoencephalitis is characterized by headache, fever, nausea, stiff neck, confusion, loss of balance, seizures, hallucinations and coma. And if left untreated, the infection can cause death within one to 12 days. The most unfortunate part is that even if diagnosed, the treatment is also not that effective and death rate is 98%.

It can be diagnosed from the fluid that cushions the central nervous system in the bony case called cerebrospinal fluid, put to culture media.
Treatment is by amphoterecin B, an antibiotic that may not help always.
It is better to be in the preventive side tan trying to cure the infection when it establishes in the brain.

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Use of Acetaminophen in Children Suffering from Asthma Or Predisposed It may not be a Good Idea

We commonly use acetaminophen for fever, headache as an analgesic and antipyretic. It is also used in children for the purpose. It is considered as a safe drug for fever and chill; alone or in combination with other drugs.

An article published in the Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, shows that use of acetaminophen in pediatric age group having asthma or predisposed to asthma may worsen their condition.

Their study on thousands of children in more than 54 countries having different cultures concludes that the drug might have contributed to steep increase in incidence of asthma.

Image by liliazdad via Flickr

The prevalence of pediatric asthma in the United States increased from 3.6 in 1980 to 5.8 percent in 2003. Similar rises occurred throughout the world in areas where acetaminophen use is prevalent

National Institute of Health in 1998 recognized that there can be a casual link between use of acetaminophen and incidence of asthma.

Tylenol maker Johnson & Johnson maintains that acetaminophen is safe for children and says there are no randomized studies showing a causal link between the drug and asthma.

Use of acetaminophen rode popularity in early 1980s, when it was recognized that use of aspirin in case of chickenpox might cause Reye's Syndrome, where there could be fatal damage to liver and brain.

Acetaminophen might increase airway inflammation in asthmatic patients or people with a genetic predisposition to the condition. And exposure to acetaminophen in utero or during the first year of life might increase the likelihood of suffering from asthma later.

Till new researches, randomized double-blind studies come up on the subject, perhaps, it is better to find alternative treatment option for the children suffering from fever.

Fevers are body's natural response to infection and do not always point to an emergency. A child has a fever, if a rectal temperature is above 100.4 degrees.

Perhaps, one must be more cautious while using on the counter acetaminophen; and rather should consult their doctor and possibly opt for ibuprofen, if doctor thinks suitable.

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Environmental Risk Factors for Breast Cancer Development

Apart from genetically predisposed breast cancers, which are very difficult to control at present; there are many other factors, which can be controlled effectively to prevent breast cancer development. This was discussed in San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS) presented by the Institute of Medicine (IOM).

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There were 230,480 new cases of invasive disease in 2011. But, less than 10 percent of cases are due to inherited genes.

There are some recognized factors associated with risk of developing breast cancer;

• Ionizing radiation,
• Combination hormone replacement therapy,
• Smoking,
• Obesity and overweight,
• Unwillingness to breast feed babies,
• Sedentary lifestyle,
• Diabetes and,
• Alcohol.

Use of oestrogen-progesterone combination in oral contraceptives and hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for longer duration has been linked with development of breast tumours.
Overweight and obese post-menopausal women have an increased risk of developing breast cancer because fat cells make oestrogen, and that hormone fuels the growth of most of breast cancers.

Researchers from departments of oncology and cancer epidemiology at Lund University evaluated health care data from a region of 1.5 million people living in South western Sweden.

They examined the records of 2,724 patients up to 10 years before they developed cancer and 20,542 patients who never developed the disease.

It was found that obesity in women after age 60 increased the risk of developing breast cancer by 55 percent. The chance of getting breast cancer is 15% in obese women in comparison to slightly less than 10% in the general population.

Women suffering from diabetes for 4 years had a 37% increased risk of developing breast cancer.

Too many medical tests, where there is risk of exposure to radiation exists, especially during childhood can have a role in DNA damage and initiation of breast cancer. Though how much radiation is too much has not been clearly defined, according to scientists two or three abdominal CT scans give as much as atomic bomb survivors received. Mammograms use minuscule amounts and should not be avoided. But, too many mammograms should e avoided at the same time.

There is possible risk of breast cancer from exposure to chemicals such as benzene, 1.3-butadiene and ethylene oxide found in the workplace, gasoline fumes, car exhaust, and cigarette smoke; although the evidence for a link with breast cancer is more limited or contradictory for those substances.

BPA (Bisphenol A) and certain other plastics ingredients those mimic the action of oestrogen have been linked to breast cancer, mostly in animals and lab tests, but, not enough to judge whether they harm people.

Other factors are more complex. Moderate alcohol consumption may lower the risk of heart disease but seems to raise the risk of breast cancer a little. Link to second hand smoke and night-time shift work have not been conclusively proved.

Breast feeding has a negative effect on development of breast cancer in women.

On the plus side, there's good evidence that hair dyes and non-ionizing radiation from cell phones and other electronics have no impact on a woman's chances of developing breast cancer.
Fruits and vegetables reduce the chance of catching breast cancer. Exercise also reduces the risk of breast cancer in multiple ways.
We can control many factors associated with increased risk of developing breast cancer to reduce the incidence worldwide.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/cancer-articles/factors-those-can-be-controlled-for-primary-prevention-of-breast-cancer-5465990.html
About the Author
Dr. Prahallad Panda, Surgeon, Paradip Port Trust, Paradip, Odisha, India. Author of free medical blog " From A Clinician's Bioscope can be accessed from here" and "> To view "Clinician On Net", go here.

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An Attempt to Eliminate Cancer Stem Cells by RAF Inhibitors

Cancers, especially breast cancer recurs after full course of chemotherapy and neo-adjuvant therapy like tamoxifen. The resistance of the stem cells to chemotherapy, which survives the assault is said to be the cause of such recurrence.

Image via Wikipedia, Common Cancers in US in 2008

Scientists claimed to have discovered a molecule that can kills cancer all together, in fact, it can wipe out some of the most deadly forms of the disease.
A team, led by University of California, says that the drug KG5 works by making cancer cells "commit suicide"; it stops tumorous cells multiplying and then those shut themselves down.
The drug will bring new hope for the patients with aggressive and deadly tumors; and may be available within five years, say the scientists. They hope to deliver it in a pill form, and expect to have a few side effects.
The drug blocks the ability of proliferation and the malignant cells commit suicide when they can't multiply. It has been proved effective against pancreatic, breast and kidney cancers; and can have effect on many other tumors.
KG5 works in a totally different way to traditional therapies by altering the structure of a cancer growth protein, an enzyme known as RAF (A serine/threonine kinase; required for cascade reaction in the cell proliferation).
The protein has been long studied, but its role in cell division - critical to cell proliferation and tumor growth - is a surprise.
Existing treatments block RAF's activity. However, KG5 changes the entire shape of the protein and makes it ineffective without much unwanted side effects. KG5 has been tested in animals and tissue samples taken from patients.
The team has since developed variants of KG5 that are 100-fold more powerful than the original drug. They hope these powerful compounds will enter clinical trials on humans at Moores Cancer Centre in San Diego within 18 months.
Before this drug was designed, the scientists had no idea that RAF could promote tumor cell cycle progression.

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How to Ease Muscle Cramp and Get Relief from Pain

Muscle cramp is otherwise an unintended contraction of a group or single muscle of body. Most of the people might have experienced it sometime in their life. It can be very painful and make working difficult; and arose one from sleep.

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

It mostly affects the muscles of foot, painfully contacting the toes down; calf muscles, forcibly dragging the heel up; chest muscles, squeezing the chest wall making respiration difficult due to pain and many more.
There are some causes and some triggering factors for it, but in most of cases cause cannot be explained.
When a person experiences a muscle cramp, the muscle that cramps feels harder than normal to the touch or may even show visible signs of twitching. The intensity of muscle cramps range from feeling like mild twitches to excruciating pain.
It does not matter who can get muscle cramp, be the person sedentary, younger, elderly, overweight or athlete; just anybody. However, elderly, overweight and athletes are more prone to get it.
It can be due to;

• Dehydration, working under the sun and athletes; losing water and salts from body; otherwise termed as water and electrolyte imbalance. The electrolytes in the blood, such as sodium, potassium, chloride, calcium and phosphate,
• Muscle cramps can be seen in parathyroid disease, where there is defect in calcium balance in blood; a lower level or deficient state of parathyroid hormone.
• Muscle cramps are side adverse effect of certain medications, one might be taking for certain condition. Diuretics and cholesterol lowering drugs my be some of those drugs.
• Certain other diseases of nervous system and muscle can cause cramp.

The cramping muscle should be handled by the person himself quickly to abort the cramp and get relief quickly.
The trick is to stretch the cramping muscle, achieved by manually doing the opposite movement at the joint. For example, when the toes are contracting downwards, force can be applied on the toes and drag those in opposite direction, that is towards oneself.
Thereafter, moist heat can be applied on the muscle or muscle group to relax. Cold may be applied to painful sore muscle.
It is important to do regular flexibility exercises before and after you work out to stretch muscle groups most prone to cramping. It’s also a good idea to avoid dehydration as fluids help muscles contract and relax.
If there are frequent muscle cramps, it is best to see your doctor for an evaluation

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