Rotavirus Infection

 Hi everyone! Since my school started, I was very busy with the homework assignments and exams. Finally we are in holiday for Christmas and after a long break, I'm here. Today, I will write about an illness which is very dangerous for young adults, but especially for infants and children. It is called "Rotavirus Infection". A few weeks ago, I had the same illness and it was terrible. Even words are not enough to describe it. I stayed in hospital for a few days and they gave me 3 serums.The salt ratio in my body was near to zero and I learned that nearly 500,000 children under five years of age still die from rotavirus infection each year. So directly proportional with my age and being aware of my illness early, I turned into normal in 6 days. After I came home from hospital, I immediately made a research about Rotavirus Infection and I wanted to share it with you. So, here it is:

                                                                              Rotavirus

                       
      The symptoms of Rotavirus Infection are diarrhea, nausea and a low-grade fever 
  

Serums can balace the ratio of salt and water that you lost because of vomiting and diarrhea by dehydration therapy

                                                        


 -Rotavirus is the virus which causes nausea and diarrhea at the same time. It was first discovered in 1973. It is a genus of double-stranded RNA virus in the family of Reoviridae. 


Signs and Symptoms:
If a person has a rotavirus infection. She or he vomits all the time just like seen in food poisoning, has a watery diarrhea and a low-grade fever. The stomach doesn't accept any kind of food or medicine. 


Transmission:
It can be transmitted by  the respiratory route, the foods that we eat and the drinks that we drink, via contact with unhygienic hands and surfaces of objects. So, rotavirus can be everywhere. It usually appears in cold weather.


Treatment:
There is no medicine for rotavirus. First, if you get an antibiotic or an antiseptic for your intestine, (for an example, Ercefuryl) it will not work because it is a virus, not a bacteria. Second, if you get a medicine for nausea or fever again, it will not work because you will also throw it up. The only way to be healthy again is going to a hospital and getting a serum so that it can balance the ratios of water and salt that you lose because of diarrhea and vomiting by dehydration therapy. Also if you are not ill yet, there is a vaccination to prevent the disease. Be careful, Rotavirus causes death and it is everywhere! Please, be careful, be hygienic, be healthy and be happy. 

Here is a video above which is about Rotavirus. Don't forget it, an early detection can always save lives.


Happy New Year and Christmas Everyone! Take care...


Source: Google Images, YouTube

Malignant Melanoma

As you can see from the topics, less than three weeks ago, I wrote about Tanorexia and sunburn. Now, this new topic is related to Tanorexia. That is why I wanted to share it with you.

Malignant melanoma (also known as melanoma) is a malignant (which means bad)tumor of melanin-producing cells. Melanin-producing cells are called melanocytes. Melanocytes produce dark pigment

and they give colour to our skin. Melanoma is one of the types of skin cancer but it is less common and also the most dangerous one.

The treatment includes surgery which is necessary to remove the malignant tumor, chemotherapy and radiation therapy.

Causes:

1. Ultraviolet radiation from tanning beds (Sunbathing without protection which is related to Tanorexia and sunburn)

2.Genetic mutations

3. Genes (which comes from your family and ancestors)

-You have higher risk if you have:

1. Too much freckles and moles on your skin (More than fifty)

2. White skin

3. Red hair

4. Too big and dark blemishes on your skin

5. Asymmetry and different colours (on your moles, blemishes or freckles)

Images: Google Images

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4jgUcxMezM

Please check the video above. It is about people who had the illness melanoma.

Video: YouTube-www.dcmf.ca

Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease,Symptoms and Prevention

Today, I will write about one of the diseases of our age. Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD). Generally, people call it Reflux because it is the easiest way to say that. Also the other names for this disease are Gastro-Oesophageal Reflux Disease (GORD), Gastric Reflux Disease, or Acid Reflux Disease.

The valve of the stomach is the barrier between our stomach and esophagus. It holds the top of the stomach closed and helps to stomach to keep the food inside for the digestion with the hydrochloric acid.

If the valve of the stomach cannot work properly and the food and the stomach acid comes through to the esophagus, and it happens too often, it means that you have the disease reflux.

Symptoms:

1. Heartburn

2.Regurgitation (Burping)

3.Trouble swallowing (Dysphagia)

4.Nausea

5.Chest Pain

6. Coughing

If you have these symptoms and they are too often, please go and see your doctor. You may have the disease reflux.

Prevention:

1. Sleep on the left side, or with your upper body raised.

2. Don’t drink alcohol or fizzy drinks like coke. Especially when you are hungry and haven’t eaten anything.

3. Lose weight

4. Eat smaller meals.

5. Don’t eat anything before 3 hours when you go to bed. If you are too hungry prefer the foods which are easy to digest.

Images: Google Images

Source: Mayo-Clinic Encyclopedia

Sunburn,Tanorexia,Symptoms and Treatment

As you all know, during the summer time, getting a tan skin is an important issue for people who love spending time outside and swimming. We see people with reddish skins often while we are walking on the streets. It is also another symbol of being popular for some of the teenagers. But, there is a fact that everybody should never forget: sunburn can be very dangerous and also it can cause to skin cancer, so people should be very careful while they are spending their time under the sunlight.

A sunburn is a burn on the living tissue on skin. Ultraviolet radiation which comes from the sun reaches our skin and if we stay too long under the sun without protection, it can damage our skin and our skin become red and it would be hard and hot to touch. It gives pain to touch to a sunburn. To protect our skin, you should use suncream which has the best factor for our skin, you should wear hats and sunglasses to protect our eyes and head. You should use the suncream 30 minutes  before when you go outside so that it can start to protect your skin.

Today, when I read the newspaper I saw a disease which was very interesting but also very dangerous. The disease is called “TANOREXIA”. Tanorexia the name of  the addiction of tanning. Sunbathing and using tanning beds out of control. This illness causes to skin cancer and the patient knows that and still wants to get a tan skin. It is an addiction just like using alcohol and drugs. The University of Texas Southeast Medical Hospital says that the people who have the illness tanorexia have the same features with the  people who are addictive to drug and alcohol. Although they have the risk of skin cancer, they are still sunbathing and then, the ultraviolet rays creates the same effects with drugs and alcohol in brain. It makes the blood flow faster so that, the feeling of addiction increases.

The symtoms are typically the redness on skin (erythema),nausea,fever,itching and peeling skin. The sunburn will dissapear by the time pass but if you want to reduce the pain of  it, you can take an aspirin or use diaper rash cream.But if your sunburns are too much and deep, and if you have a habit like sunbathing without protection nearly every day, you should immediately go to a doctor because skin cancer and tanorexia are sneaky illnesses and people cannot recognize them easily. Be careful and don’t spend time outside without protection too much. Take care… J

                                                    Peeling Skin

                                                These materials are good for protection
Pictures: Google Images

Food Poisoning

Today, I will give you some information about food poisoning because these days, I heard that some of my friends had food poisoning because of the  foods that they ate. I know how terrible that illness is because when I was 5 years old, I had that illness because of a bar of chocolate which is expiry day has passed.

Food poisoning is an illness which occurs when people eat foods or drink liquids which are corrupted because of many various reasons.

Here are some of these reasons:

1.Bacterias:  If people  eat food  which includes bad bacterias in it, it will affect their stomach and the whole digestion system in a bad way and they will have the illness food poisoning. Bad bacterias are very harmful for human health and they make people ill.These bad bacterias will occur in these foods by the time pass and there are three other facts and factors for bacterias to hide in those foods.

You can see these facts and factors below:

a.Hygiene- If people do not consume hygenic foods, that will be another reason for being ill because of food poisoning. The word hygenic means clean, so we should keep our food clean and before we eat, we should be sure that our food is clean. For example, if we buy a vegetable from a green grocer, we should wash it carefully before we eat unless the bad bacterias will be on these vegetables and make us sick.

b. Expiration Date- There is a reason for every single food that we buy from market  to have expiration date on them. If we don’t consume these foods before their expiration dates, the illness food poisoning will occur and the food will be corrupted and include bad bacterias in it after it’s expiration date past.

c. Weather- The weather is another fact for food to include bad bacterias and corrupt.  Hot weather makes the food corrupted and also disrupts the chemistry of the food. If we put a food which corrupts easily outside the sun will affect it and it will corrupt quickly and if we eat it, we will have food poisoning. For example, the city where I live in is famous with it’s hot weather and when I put a food outside it corrupts easily and immediately goes into the bin.

2.Chemicals: And also the chemical substances that are used in the food sometimes  can react with the food by the time pass. This reaction makes us ill and causes food poisoning.

3. Allergic Reactions:  If a person has an allergy to a substance which  the food includes, it can also cause food poisoning. But sometimes, the food itself can include its own poison in it. Just like mushrooms. The %50 of people who eat poisonous mushrooms  are dying because of that.

The symptoms of food poisoning:

1.Stomach ache

2.Vomiting

3.Diarreha

4.Fever

The Treatment for Food Poisoning:

If you had food poisoning, you should immediately go to a doctor and the doctor should find out that what caused your food poisoning. If it is caused by a bacteria, antibiotics can be necessary but if it is caused by a virus, the antibiotics will not be effective. Sometimes  there is no need to a remedy and the poisoning will stop in between 12 or 24 hours , but in this time period, the patients will vomit and have stomach aches. The best thing to do for them is a home rest. They should not eat oily foods but they also shouldn’t  eat foods which have sediments. They should just eat foods which make their digestive systems work properly. So, try to eat carefully and don't have food poisoning...That's all :)

Pictures: Google Images

Breaking The EVIL Habits…

Everybody has habits in this World. These habits can be good or bad. It depends on how these habits affect our life and change our behaviour and personalities. Our bad habits sometimes can ruin our lives. No one wants to turn her or his own World to hell from a heaven . It is our decision to leave these bad habits. Now here is the most important question: “How can we understand that a habit is good or bad?” Bad habits affect people in a bad way. They are harmful for human health. They make people aggresive and change their behaviour  and personalities in a negative way.

Nowadays we hear that death ratios increase because of using drugs , drinking alcohol too much and smoking. Especially teenagers have these bad  habits these days. Parent’s divorcing, growing up in bad circumstances, wanting to be accepted into a society of teeangers or friends, depression , don’t want to be responsible from anything… are some of the reasons for having bad habits. But of course there are many ways to break these bad habits. If a person is not an addict yet, he or she can leave their bad habits such as using drugs, drinking alcohol and smoking. It is enough for them to be determined about that. If people are addicts, they should immediately get support from their families and doctors. I made a list for people who want to get rid of from their bad habits. Here are the steps  which make leaving the bad habits easy for people:

1. First of all, you should recognize what your bad habit is.

2. Then write it on a sheet of paper and also write why do you do the habit.

3. Encourage yourself to leave your bad habit and ask yourself are you determined about it or not.

4. Make an observation about how were you behaving before you had that bad habit and compare it with now. List the facts that what did you gain or loose with doing that habit.

5. Make a list about what kind of life do you want to live and make another list for things that you really enjoy to do. It can be your hobbies like sports, music, feeding pets etc…

6. Treat yourself for every single achievement. Try to make yourself  happy all the time. You cannot break a habit in one day. You need time.

7. Get support from people who love and help you.

8. If you are still doing the bad habit, stop and think for a minute and decide not to do it. For example if you really want to drink beer, do not drink it. Go and drink an orange juice and feel like you are drinking beer.

9. Be calm and patient. Focus on the good sides of life and what you were born for. Be aware of your talents and don’t forget that every humanbeing has a bright shining sun inside of him or her.

PS: Do not forget that having a bad habit can be a kind of weakness but it never makes you a bad  person. The elixir of time and decision is enough for you to beat your evil habit. Do not forget you are playing gamble against your evil habit and the price is your life, so you don’t want to loose it do you?

Pictures: Google Images

Bodies...The Exhibition

Great news for people who are interested in human bodies. Seven days ago, before I turn back to Turkey, while I was walking in Manhattan I saw a poster. It was saying "Celebrate The Wonder Of The Human Form "Bodies...The Exhibition"". I thought it was the best place for people who are interested in human bodies, organs,tissues,muscles etc. The following day, I went to The South Street Seaport to see the exhibition. I felt like I was in another side of the world. It was amazing. I spent 4 hours and I couldn't believe that they were %100 real human bodies. I get closer and closer to them but it was forbidden to touch. There were different games about controlling stress and a machine for making a health check. I saw my blood pressure, oxygen in my blood and biomass. There were rooms for each human organ and there were lots of information about each of them. But the most interesting room was the room which included fetus. It was pretty amazing because you could see that how a human grew up from an embryo to a baby. The words are not enough to tell that place.Taking pictures was forbidden but if it wasn't I would probably fill the memory of my camera with the exhibition's pictures. If you have a chance, I STRONGLY suggest you to visit Bodies...The Exhibition. There are branches of Bodies...The Exhibition around the world, in different places. For example, Bodies Tulsa, Bodies New York, Bodies Las Vegas, Bodies Atlanta, Bodies Idaho Falls...
If you are interested, here is the link: http://www.bodiestheexhibition.com/ 
PS: In 11th June 2010, the exhibition named Body Worlds first opened in Istanbul-Turkey by a German scientist named Gunther von Hagens. Gunther on Hagens used a different technique called plastination on corpses against decay. They were very similar with Bodies...The Exhibition. Both of them are miracles for science and humanity.

Here are some pictures from Bodies...The Exhibition--Photos Source:Google Images
Take care...

Hi Everyone!

Welcome to MedicineHealthBiology. If you are interested in medicine, human nature, health issues & illnesses and biology, you are exactly on the right blog...I am Gulsen Oztosun and this page will include recent news about medicine, illnesses and healing techniques,questions, human body and places related to science (museums,science fair etc.)
Medicine, Health and Biology trio takes a big place in my life and life is unbearable for me without these facts. I want to share my knowledge and interests about biology and medicine with the whole world.
I will try to write on this page every Saturday
So, I wish you a healthy and a happy summer time...
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