Caisson Disease Also Known As Acute Decompression Sickness Or Compressed Air Illness

Caisson disease is a disorder which occurs in divers who have been brought to the surface rapidly without conforming to the safety precautions. Some workmen are particularly susceptible. Nitrogen being more lipid soluble, more bubbles are formed in the nervous tissue and hence neurological symptoms predominate. The spinal cord is most commonly affected, the brainstem and cerebral hemispheres are affected to a lesser extent. Autopsy shows hemorrhages in the white matter and micro infarcts. Other tissues involved include the joints, skin and lungs.

Clinical features: Symptoms start within three hours of surfacing, but rarely they may be delayed by several hours. Mild cases show pains and cutaneous lesions. In the severe types neurological and pulmonary lesions are prominent. An apparently mild case may rapidly become severe and hence the initial presentation may be misleading. Early cutaneous manifestations include pruritis, erythematous skin lesions and cyanotic patches, and these should alert the physician of the impending disease. The commonest presenting symptom is joint pain (bends) felt over the knees, shoulder, hips and elbows.

More serious features are retrosternal pain (chokes) and neurologic manifestations. Tachypnoea, hypotension and shock may follow the onset of chest pain and the patient may die in coma. The neurologic symptoms include parasthesiae, girdle pains, varying degrees of motor and sensory deficits, headache blurring of vision, diplopia, papillary abnormalities, dysarthria, and vestibular dysfunction characterized by vertigo, nystagmus, nausea and vomiting (staggers).

Diagnosis: The condition is likely to be missed by the unwary physician. History, the circumstance of the case and the physical manifestations should suggest the possibility of decompression sickness. Delay in onset of symptoms should not go against the diagnosis if other features are suggestive.

Course and prognosis: The course is unpredictable sine mild cases may rapidly become serious and die. Prognosis depends upon the promptness and adequacy of recompression and graded decompression. This measure should be instituted without delay even in hopeless cases. Many a time, the recovery is remarkable. Neurological deficits tend to persist if treatment is delayed. Early recompression can prevent the development of neurological lesions. In fairly suggestive cases, valuable time should not be wasted by undertaking detailed clinical examination before recompression.

Treatment: Specific treatment is to institute immediate recompression in a pressure chamber as an emergency measure. Respiratory depressants like morphine should be avoided. The pressure equivalent and the duration of recompression have to be decided by personnel trained in recompression techniques. Usually, a pressure of 2.8 atmospheres (283.7 KPa) is beneficial. Hyperbaric oxygen helps in improving oxygenation of ischemic tissues.

In patients with neurological deficits, shock, or cerebral edema, corticosteroids are beneficial. Low molecular weight dextran (dextran 40) helps in reducing vascular sludging. Infusion of appropriate fluids helps in restoring blood volume, improve the circulatory state, and mobilize trapped bubbles. After suitable recompression, the patient should be carefully decompressed, allowing sufficient periods at each stages to prevent recurrence of bubble formation. Susceptible persons should refrain from diving till recovery is complete.

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How Lifestyle Affects Macular Disease

Age related Macular Degeneration (ARMD) affects the older populations, as there are a tendency because of it to happen mostly in whites and females. Sometimes, the ARMD can be a side effect some drugs as well as it is hereditary.

There are other factors associated with ARMD, and new evidence linked lifestyle and habits as causes of ARMD that adds about the possible reasons. Some scientists even suggested that over-exposure to sunlight can be a cause for growth and development of ARMD.

Aging

It's reported from the Canadian Medical Association Journal that advanced AMD increases from fewer than 1 percent for all in the 60s and increase to more than 15 percent for individuals who reach their 90s. In the us, ARMD affects over 1.75 million people that year 2004, and likely to increase to almost 3 million by year 2020.

Obesity & Sedentary Lifestyle

A survey in June 2003 in Archives of Ophthalmology says individuals who are overweight face double the risks of developing macular disease than these with normal bodyweight. Those who performed activities rigorously not less than three times weekly will reduce their likelihood of developing advanced ARMD than these who lead a sedentary lifestyle.

Blood pressure levels

Surely we can't dismiss the fact most folks who lead a sedentary lifestyle includes a high risk of besides obesity, but in addition high blood pressure. Hypertension has been said to be a source of ARMD, and the Investigative Ophthalmology and vision Science reported the outcome of an European study to back up this view in September 2003.

Genetic Inheritance

Yes, studies found out that there are several genes that could determine the roll-out of macular disease. Studies of identical and fraternal twins may demonstrate that macular degeneration might be caused by inherited genetics as well as determine how bad it might be.

Smoking

Smoking is considered a reason for a lot of health problems, including macular degeneration. You are able to to be a major ARMD risk factor in fact it is said that smoking is related to 25 percent of ARMD that creates severe vision loss. This became reported within the British Journal of Opthalmology in year 2006.

Lighter Eye Color

Some people theorised that macular degeneration is a lot more popular among people that have lighter eye colors. This might be because macular degeneration might be more profound in Caucasians with ligher skin color and the color of eyes. However, a 2006 report from the British Journal or Opthalmology revealed no relation between lighter skin and eye colors to ARMD. Perhaps there ought to be more studies with better tests solutions to examine whether there's or there's no association between these factors and macular degeneration.

Drug Unwanted side effects

It is said that uncomfortable side effects from some drugs could cause macular degeneration, such as the anti-malarial drug Aralen and anti-psychotic drug Phenothiazine.

There are lots of inconsistencies with regards to the results and findings in the risks factors of macular degeneration. This can be acknowledged with the American Academy of Ophthalmology, and also the only consistency possibly the relationship of aging and smoking to the disease.

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Inflammatory Bowel Disease - An Immune System Disorder That You Don't Get If You Smoke?

Inflammatory bowel disease is a catchall that describes certain strange and troublesome stomach conditions with names like Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. Why are these strange? Anytime a disease comes with the name of a scientist attached, you know that there is something about it that is out of the ordinary. And sure enough, inflammatory bowel disease certainly is a mystifying problem - not only is it something you live with your whole life once you get it, coming under the species of an autoimmune disorder as it does, most regular attempts at a cure elude both doctors and those who suffer from it. What does it feel like to have IBD? The abnormal immune reaction that your body reacts with gives you diarrhea, bleeding down there, cramping, a fever, tiredness with no end and most disturbing of all, terrible complications that can require that you go in for surgery to be relieved of your colon.

So what exactly causes inflammatory bowel disease? As far as scientists can tell, it comes to you for reasons of an inscrutable combination of environmental factors and unfortunate genetic disposition. Let's look a little more closely at what kinds of things can actually set off an attack.

For some reason, traditionally, it is people who live in the West who usually come down with IBD. If you happen to live in Europe or North America, you run a higher risk of an association with the disease. What could it be about living in these places? It could be a kind of diet the culture in these places have or it could be something to do with the way smoking and drinking are a part of the culture in the West. Interestingly enough, that's only how it has traditionally been. A new development points to how it isn't anything to do with geographical location. The disease affects those in other parts of the world who Pick a westernized culture by choice - places like Japan, Latin America or the Far East. Of late, these parts of the world have reported such a great spurt in the number of people coming down with IBD each year. Surprisingly, inflammatory bowel disease can also have a lot to do with how in the West, we place a great deal of importance on cleanliness and sanitation. Doctors and scientists suspect that the body doesn't really take well to being denied a little bit of natural dirt in the environment.

Scientists notice that there are other factors that seem to affect the course a case takes as well. For instance, the earlier in life someone gets the disease, the more doctors suspect that genetic predisposition has something to do with it. And the prognosis can be pretty grave - a serious lifelong affliction. How about smoking? The moment you hear about a stomach disorder and smoking, you're probably ready to jump to the conclusion that smoking can only make it worse. With inflammatory bowel disease though, the connection isn't quite as simple as that. With one kind of IBD, ulcerative colitis, smokers actually have it better than non-smokers - they are at a lower risk of getting it. But it doesn't really do you any good getting lucky with the one kind when you are about to get unlucky with the other. With Crohn's disease, your risk multiplies if you smoke.

As with all autoimmune diseases, inflammatory bowel disease can be terribly difficult to track down.

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