A blog for Biomedical Laboratory Science, Clinical Laboratory Medicine, Medical Laboratory Technology with relevant news, abstracts, articles, publications and pictures for lab medicine professionals, students and others
For some people, itchy skin is a constant battle. It can be difficult to understand exactly what is causing the skin to itch.
Itchy skin can be the result of a rash or another skin condition. It can also be a symptom of a more serious condition such as liver disease or kidney failure. To get relief, it is important to identify the problem and treat the underlying cause.
Skin, rashes, and itches
Skin serves a vital purpose as a barrier, protecting the inside of the body.
Nicole Abi-Najem, a 28-year old student from Toronto, has interstitial cystitis, an extremely painful bladder condition that has been likened to having a permanent urinary tract infection.
In 2012, I was working out and I went to the bathroom. When I finished peeing, I still felt like I had to go, but I knew that my bladder was empty. Doctors initially thought it was a urinary tract infection, but a test showed there wasn’t any bacteria. They gave me antibiotics, but the feeling didn’t go away. I went to a urologist, and he performed a cystoscopy to examine the inside of my bladder. He saw nothing. With both those tests clear, a specialist at Women’s College Hospital in Toronto eventually concluded that I had interstitial cystitis.
We are increasingly relying on smartphone apps to help keep track of our health; a recent survey found that more than half of smartphone users in the United States have downloaded such a tool. But according to a new study, when it comes to fertility apps, they are unlikely to help users avoid or achieve a pregnancy.
Lead researcher Dr. Marguerite Duane, of Georgetown University School of Medicine in Washington, D.C., and colleagues came to their conclusion after conducting a review of almost 100 fertility apps.
According to Dr. Duane, the use of such apps is gaining popularity, as an increasing number of reproductive-age women look to use fertility awareness-based methods (FABMs) as a way of having greater control over whether or not they become pregnant.
A “superathlete” gene that helps Sherpas and other Tibetans breathe easy at high altitudes was inherited from an ancient species of human. That’s the conclusion of a new study, which finds that the gene variant came from people known as Denisovans, who went extinct soon after they mated with the ancestors of Europeans and Asians about 40,000 years ago. This is the first time a version of a gene acquired from interbreeding with another type of human has been shown to help modern humans adapt to their environment.
Researchers have long wondered how Tibetans live and work at altitudes above 4000 meters, where the limited supply of oxygen makes most people sick. Other high-altitude people, such as Andean highlanders, have adapted to such thin air by adding more oxygen-carrying hemoglobin to their blood. But Tibetans have adapted by having less hemoglobin in their blood; scientists think this trait helps them avoid serious problems, such as clots and strokes caused when the blood thickens with more hemoglobin-laden red blood cells.
Prevent the most common type of cancer by simply knowing its causes and signs
Each year more new cases of skin cancer are diagnosed than the combined incidence of cancers of the breast, prostate, lung and colon, according to the Skin Cancer Foundation. The occurrence continues to rise. One in five Americans will develop skin cancer in the course of a lifetime.
This may be due to common misconceptions that sunscreen lotions provide adequate protection and that tanning booths are harmless. Brazil and Australia have banned indoor tanning altogether, and many more don't allow it for people under 18.
But melanoma, the deadliest type of skin cancer, is also the least common, Dr. Elizabeth Hale, senior vice president of the Foundation and board-certified dermatologist, says. All types are easily treatable if caught in advance. “Men have the highest mortality rate because they don’t get their skin checked often enough,” she adds.
Also, while 90 percent of non-melanoma skin cancers are associated with exposure to ultraviolet radiation from the sun, studies have shown that benign lesions have been the cause of a large increase in reported incidence of the disease.
A team of researchers from UConn Health and The Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine found that eating walnuts can reduce one's risk of getting colon cancer.
In the study, mice that were fed walnuts (totaling seven percent to 10.5 percent of their total calories) developed fewer instances of colon cancer.
Seven to 10.5 percent of daily total calories coming from walnuts is equivalent to a human eating about an ounce of walnuts every day.
Walnut consumption
"Our results show for the first time that walnut consumption may reduce colon tumor development," said Daniel W. Rosenberg of UConn Health, principal investigator on the study.
Access to birth control is improving, but there are a few things to be aware of before proceeding.
While the issue of whether to allow hormonal contraceptives to be sold over the counter continues to be a political lightning rod, an access-improving development has quietly taken root without attracting controversy: An array of new apps and websites now make it possible for women to obtain prescription contraceptives in many states without having to schedule a doctor’s appointment.
Thanks to game-changing program offerings from Nurx, Maven, Lemonaid, Virtuwell and Prjkt Ruby, women can answer questions about their health online or by video; the information is then reviewed by a doctor or nurse practitioner who will write a three-month prescription for oral contraceptives that patients can pick up at a nearby pharmacy or in some cases have delivered right to their homes.
The heart sits in the middle of the chest behind the sternum, and extends towards the left side. It is a strong muscular pump, about the size of its owner’s clenched fist. It has four chambers:
two atria, which receive blood to pump to the ventricles
two ventricles, one that pumps blood to the lungs (right), and another that pumps blood to the body (left)
In the average adult, the heart beats around 60 – 100 times per minute, sending about six litres of blood through well over 1,000 complete circuits of the body each day.
During a lifetime of 70 years, the heart will beat more than 2.5 billion times. The only rest it gets or needs is a split-second pause between beats.
A clinical trial that tested a simple seven-item list of predictive factors finds it is an effective screening tool for helping doctors identify patients at risk for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease - a progressive lung disease where it becomes hard to breathe. The screening tool works even when patients are not experiencing symptoms.
The trial, which took place in primary care settings in four Latin American countries: Argentina, Colombia, Venezuela, and Uruguay, is part of the Prevalence Study and Regular Practice, Diagnosis and Treatment (PUMA) study and is reported in the journal Respirology.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a progressive disease that makes it hard to breathe. As symptoms progress, patients experience wheezing, shortness of breath, chest tightness, and they cough up large amounts of mucus.
The leading cause of COPD is smoking - most people with COPD are smokers or ex-smokers. However, long-term exposure to other lung irritants - such as chemical fumes, air pollution, dust, and smoke from woodstoves or cookstoves (biomass smoke) - also raise the risk of COPD.
