tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23811042265811205172024-03-28T04:39:33.227-07:00CENTRAL LIBRARY, NEIGRIHMSCENTRAL LIBRARY- NEIGRIHMShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18323373576321059030noreply@blogger.comBlogger1911125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2381104226581120517.post-86490017203218163232024-03-28T04:39:00.000-07:002024-03-28T04:39:00.136-07:00All about the central nervous system<p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> <span style="font-size: medium;">The central nervous system consists of the brain and spinal cord. The central nervous system controls thought, movement, and emotion, as well as breathing, heart rate, hormones, and body temperature.</span></span></p><div class="css-1u22pos" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The central nervous system (CNS) is referred to as “central” because it combines information from the entire body and coordinates activity across the whole organism.</span></p><div data-preamp="serena-chatbot" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></div><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This article briefly overviews the CNS. It looks at the types of cells involved, different regions within the brain, spinal circuitry, and how the CNS can be affected by disease and injury.</span></p><h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; line-height: 30px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 35px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Fast facts on the central nervous system</span></h3><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Here are some key points about the central nervous system. More detail and supporting information are in the main article.</span></p><ul style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; list-style-image: url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg width='10' height='10' xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%3E%3Ccircle cx='5' cy='5' r='2.5' fill='%23000'/%3E%3C/svg%3E");"><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The CNS consists of the brain and spinal cord.</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The brain is the most complex organ in the body and uses 20% of the total oxygen we breathe.</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The brain consists of an estimated 100 billion neurons connected to thousands more.</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The brain can be divided into four main lobes: temporal, parietal, occipital, and frontal.</span></li></ul><div><a class="chartbeat-section" name="what-is-the-cns" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-weight: 700; outline-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">What is the central nervous system?</span></a></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;">The CNS consists of the brain and spinal cord.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;">The brain is protected by the skull (the cranial cavity) and the spinal cord travels from the back of the brain, down the center of the spine, stopping in the lumbar region of the lower back.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;">The brain and spinal cord are housed within a protective triple-layered membrane called the meninges.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;">The central nervous system has been thoroughly studied by anatomists and physiologists, but it still holds many secrets; it controls our thoughts, movements, emotions, and desires. It also controls our breathing, heart rate, the release of some hormones, body temperature, and much more.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;">The retina, optic nerve, olfactory nerves, and olfactory epithelium are sometimes considered to be part of the CNS alongside the brain and spinal cord. This is because they connect directly with brain tissue without intermediate nerve fibers.</p><div class="css-0" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;">Now we will look at some of the parts of the CNS in more detail, starting with the brain.</p></div><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"></p><div class="css-0" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 0px; line-height: 0;"></span><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-size: 38px; line-height: 42px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 45px; position: relative;"></h2></div></div><p></p><div class="css-0" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 0px; line-height: 0;"></span><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-weight: bold; line-height: 42px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 45px; position: relative;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><a class="chartbeat-section" name="brain" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">The brain</span></a></div></h2></div><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 0px; line-height: 0;"></span><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;">The brain is the most complex organ in the human body; the cerebral cortex (the outermost part of the brain and the largest part by volume) contains an estimated 15–33 billion neurons, each of which is connected to thousands of other neurons.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;">In total, around<span> </span>100 billion neurons<span> </span>and 1,000 billion glial (support) cells make up the human brain. Our brain uses around<span> </span>20%<span> </span>of our body’s total energy.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;">The brain is the central control module of the body and coordinates activity. From physical motion to the secretion of hormones, the creation of memories, and the sensation of emotion.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;">To carry out these functions, some sections of the brain have dedicated roles. However, many higher functions — reasoning, problem-solving, creativity — involve different areas working together in networks.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;">The brain is roughly split into four lobes:</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Temporal lobe (green):</strong><span> </span>important for processing sensory input and assigning it emotional meaning.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;">It is also involved in laying down long-term memories. Some aspects of language perception are also housed here.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Occipital lobe (purple):</strong><span> </span>visual processing region of the brain, housing the visual cortex.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Parietal lobe (yellow):<span> </span></strong>the parietal lobe integrates sensory information including touch, spatial awareness, and navigation.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;">Touch stimulation from the skin is ultimately sent to the parietal lobe. It also plays a part in language processing.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Frontal lobe (pink):<span> </span></strong>positioned at the front of the brain, the frontal lobe contains the majority of dopamine-sensitive neurons and is involved in attention, reward, short-term memory, motivation, and planning.</p><h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-size: 26px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 30px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 35px;">Brain regions</h3><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;">Next, we will look at some specific brain regions in a little more detail:</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Basal ganglia:</strong><span> </span>involved in the control of voluntary motor movements, procedural learning, and decisions about which motor activities to carry out. Diseases that affect this area include<span> </span>Parkinson’s disease<span> </span>and<span> </span>Huntington’s disease.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Cerebellum:<span> </span></strong>mostly involved in precise motor control, but also in language and attention. If the cerebellum is damaged, the primary symptom is disrupted motor control, known as ataxia.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Broca’s area:</strong><span> </span>this small area on the left side of the brain (sometimes on the right in left-handed individuals) is important in language processing. When damaged, an individual finds it difficult to speak but can still understand speech. Stuttering is<span> </span><hl-trusted-source class="css-ngo64e" rationale="Highly respected database from the National Institutes of Health" source="PubMed Central" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline;">sometimes associated<span class="css-1a8rnix icon-hl-trusted-source-after" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; text-decoration: none;"><span class="sro" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; height: 1px; left: -10000px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 1px;">Trusted Source</span></span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></span></hl-trusted-source><span> </span>with an underactive Broca’s area.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Corpus callosum:</strong><span> </span>a broad band of nerve fibers that join the left and right hemispheres. It is the largest white matter structure in the brain and allows the two hemispheres to communicate.<span> </span>Dyslexic<span> </span>children have smaller corpus callosums; left-handed people, ambidextrous people, and musicians typically have<span> </span>larger ones.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Medulla oblongata:<span> </span></strong>extending below the skull, it is involved in involuntary functions, such as vomiting, breathing, sneezing, and maintaining the correct<span> </span>blood pressure.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Hypothalamus:</strong><span> </span>sitting just above the brain stem and roughly the size of an almond, the hypothalamus secretes a number of neurohormones and influences body temperature control, thirst, and hunger.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Thalamus:<span> </span></strong>positioned in the center of the brain, the thalamus receives sensory and motor input and relays it to the rest of the cerebral cortex. It is involved in the regulation of consciousness, sleep, awareness, and alertness.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Amygdala:<span> </span></strong>two almond-shaped nuclei deep within the temporal lobe. They are involved in decision-making, memory, and emotional responses; particularly negative emotions.</p><div class="css-0" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; line-height: 42px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 45px; position: relative;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><a class="chartbeat-section" name="spinal-cord" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Spinal cord</span></a></div></h2></div><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 0px; line-height: 0;"></span><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;">The spinal cord, running almost the full length of the back, carries information between the brain and body, but also carries out other tasks.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;">From the brainstem, where the spinal cord meets the brain, 31 spinal nerves enter the cord.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;">Along its length, it connects with the nerves of the peripheral nervous system (PNS) that run in from the skin, muscles, and joints.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;">Motor commands from the brain travel from the spine to the muscles and sensory information travels from the sensory tissues — such as the skin — toward the spinal cord and finally up to the brain.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;">The spinal cord contains circuits that control certain reflexive responses, such as the involuntary movement your arm might make if your finger was to touch a flame.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;">The circuits within the spine can also generate more complex movements such as walking. Even without input from the brain, the spinal nerves can coordinate all of the muscles necessary to walk. For instance, if the brain of a cat is separated from its spine so that its brain has no contact with its body, it will start spontaneously walking when placed on a treadmill. <hl-trusted-source class="css-ngo64e" rationale="Highly respected database from the National Institutes of Health" source="PubMed Central" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline;">The brain is only required<span class="css-1a8rnix icon-hl-trusted-source-after" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="sro" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; height: 1px; left: -10000px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 1px;">Trusted Source</span></span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></span></hl-trusted-source> to stop and start the process, or make changes if, for instance, an object appears in your path.</p></div><div class="css-0" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 0px; line-height: 0;"></span><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; line-height: 42px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 45px; position: relative;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><a class="chartbeat-section" name="white-and-gray-matter" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">White and gray matter</span></a></div></h2></div><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 0px; line-height: 0;"></span><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;">The CNS can be roughly divided into white and gray matter. As a very general rule, the brain consists of an outer cortex of gray matter and an inner area housing tracts of white matter.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;">Both types of tissue contain glial cells, which protect and support neurons. White matter mostly consists of axons (nerve projections) and oligodendrocytes — a type of glial cell — whereas gray matter consists predominantly of neurons.</p><div class="css-0" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 400;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; line-height: 42px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 45px; position: relative;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><a class="chartbeat-section" name="central-glial-cells" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Central glial cells</span></a></div></h2></div><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 0px; line-height: 0; line-height: 0;"></span><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;">Also called neuroglia, glial cells are often called support cells for neurons. In the brain, they outnumber nerve cells 10 to 1.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;">Without glial cells, developing nerves often lose their way and struggle to form functioning synapses.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;">Glial cells are found in both the CNS and PNS but each system has different types. The following are brief descriptions of the CNS glial cell types:</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Astrocytes: </span>these cells have numerous projections and anchor neurons to their blood supply. They also regulate the local environment by removing excess ions and recycling neurotransmitters.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Oligodendrocytes: </span>responsible for creating the myelin sheath — this thin layer coats nerve cells, allowing them to send signals quickly and efficiently.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Ependymal cells:</span> lining the spinal cord and the brain’s ventricles (fluid-filled spaces), these create and secrete cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and keep it circulating using their whip-like cilia.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Radial glia: </span>act as scaffolding for new nerve cells during the creation of the embryo’s nervous system.</p></div><div class="css-0" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 400;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 0px; line-height: 0; line-height: 0;"></span><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; line-height: 42px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 45px; position: relative;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><a class="chartbeat-section" name="cranial-nerves" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Cranial nerves</span></a></div></h2></div><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 0px; line-height: 0; line-height: 0;"></span><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;">The cranial nerves are 12 pairs of nerves that arise directly from the brain and pass through holes in the skull rather than traveling along the spinal cord. These nerves collect and send information between the brain and parts of the body – mostly the neck and head.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;">Of these 12 pairs, the olfactory and optic nerves arise from the forebrain and are considered part of the central nervous system:</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Olfactory nerves (cranial nerve I):</span> transmit information about odors from the upper section of the nasal cavity to the olfactory bulbs on the base of the brain.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Optic nerves (cranial nerve II):</span> carry visual information from the retina to the primary visual nuclei of the brain. Each optic nerve consists of around 1.7 million nerve fibers.</p></div><div class="css-0" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 400;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 0px; line-height: 0; line-height: 0;"></span><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; line-height: 42px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 45px; position: relative;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><a class="chartbeat-section" name="cns-diseases" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Central nervous system diseases</span></a></div></h2></div><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 0px; line-height: 0; line-height: 0;"></span><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;">Below are the major causes of disorders that affect the CNS:</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Trauma:</span> depending on the site of the injury, symptoms can vary widely from paralysis to mood disorders.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Infections:</span> some micro-organisms and viruses can invade the CNS; these include fungi, such as cryptococcal meningitis; protozoa, including malaria; bacteria, as is the case with Hansen’s disease (leprosy), or viruses.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Degeneration: </span>in some cases, the spinal cord or brain can degenerate. One example is Parkinson’s disease which involves the gradual degeneration of dopamine-producing cells in the basal ganglia.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Structural defects:</span> the most common examples are birth defects; including anencephaly, where parts of the skull, brain, and scalp are missing at birth.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Tumors:</span> both cancerous and noncancerous tumors can impact parts of the central nervous system. Both types can cause damage and yield an array of symptoms depending on where they develop.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Autoimmune disorders: </span>in some cases, an individual’s immune system can mount an attack on healthy cells. For instance, acute disseminated encephalomyelitis is characterized by an immune response against the brain and spinal cord, attacking myelin (the nerves’ insulation) and, therefore, destroying white matter.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Stroke: </span>a stroke is an interruption of blood supply to the brain; the resulting lack of oxygen causes tissue to die in the affected area.</p><h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-size: 26px; line-height: 30px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 35px;">Difference between the CNS and peripheral nervous system</h3><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;">The term peripheral nervous system (PNS) refers to any part of the nervous system that lies outside of the brain and spinal cord. The CNS is separate from the peripheral nervous system, although the two systems are interconnected.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;">There are a number of differences between the CNS and PNS; one difference is the size of the cells. The nerve axons of the CNS — the slender projections of nerve cells that carry impulses — are much shorter. PNS nerve axons can be up to 1 meter long (for instance, the nerve that activates the big toe) whereas, within the CNS, they are rarely longer than a few millimeters.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;">Another major difference between the CNS and PNS involves regeneration (regrowth of cells). Much of the PNS has the ability to regenerate; if a nerve in your finger is severed, it can regrow. The CNS, however, does not have this ability.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;">The components of the central nervous system are further split into a myriad of parts. Below, we will describe some of these sections in a little more detail.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;">Source - <a href="https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/2381104226581120517/8649001720321816323">Medical News Today</a></p></div><div class="css-20w1gi" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; margin: 40px auto 30px; min-height: 90px; width: 728px;"><aside class="css-0 css-0" data-sticky="false" data-testid="sticky-inline-ad" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="css-1sq15os" data-empty="true" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; min-height: 90px; position: relative; text-align: center; width: 728px; z-index: 0;"><div class="css-1hjaa0k" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; 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margin: 40px auto 30px; min-height: 90px; width: 728px;"><aside class="css-0 css-0" data-sticky="false" data-testid="sticky-inline-ad" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="css-1sq15os" data-empty="true" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; min-height: 90px; position: relative; text-align: center; width: 728px; z-index: 0;"><div class="css-1hjaa0k" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; position: fixed;"></div><div class=" css-1t05dkn" data-ad="true" data-adbridg-ad-class-ctr="4" data-adbridg-ad-class-loaded="inline2" data-adbridg-phase="detected@1440143ms;gpt_define@1440152ms;gpt_render:138320074638@1731310ms" data-google-query-id="CP2pjvTrkYUDFYFNnQkdD_EBPg" id="t3_inline2__slot" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; justify-content: center; min-height: 90px; width: 728px;"><div id="google_ads_iframe_/4788/mnt/pagenumber4/4DLB2_0__container__" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0pt none; box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><iframe aria-label="Advertisement" data-google-container-id="1f" data-load-complete="true" frameborder="0" height="90" id="google_ads_iframe_/4788/mnt/pagenumber4/4DLB2_0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" name="google_ads_iframe_/4788/mnt/pagenumber4/4DLB2_0" scrolling="no" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border-style: initial; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: bottom;" tabindex="0" title="3rd party ad content" width="728"></iframe></span></div><div><br /></div></div></div></div></aside></div></div><div class="css-0" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-family: "Proxima Nova", "Proxima Nova Fallback", sans-serif; font-size: 0px; line-height: 0;"></span><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-family: "Proxima Nova", "Proxima Nova Fallback", sans-serif; font-size: 18px;"><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-size: 38px; line-height: 42px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 45px; position: relative;"></h2></div></div>CENTRAL LIBRARY- NEIGRIHMShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18323373576321059030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2381104226581120517.post-75554595844180207452024-03-27T04:29:00.000-07:002024-03-27T04:29:00.137-07:00Where are the kidneys located, what do they do, and what do they look like?<p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"> <span style="color: #231f20;">The kidneys are a pair of bean-shaped organs located below the rib cage, one on each side of the spine. The kidneys help remove waste products from the body, maintain balanced electrolyte levels, and regulate blood pressure.</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The kidneys are some of the most important organs in the body. The ancient Egyptians left only the brain and kidneys in position before embalming a body, inferring that they held a higher value than other organs.</span></p><div data-preamp="serena-chatbot" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px;"></div><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In this article, we look at the structure and function of the kidneys, the diseases that affect them, and how to keep them healthy.</span></p><div class="css-0" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; line-height: 42px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 45px; position: relative;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><a class="chartbeat-section" name="location" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">Location</span></a></div></h2></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 0px; line-height: 0; line-height: 0;"></span></span><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The <hl-trusted-source class="css-ngo64e" rationale="Governmental authority" source="National Cancer Institute " style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline;">positioning<span class="css-1a8rnix icon-hl-trusted-source-after" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="sro" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; height: 1px; left: -10000px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 1px;">Trusted Source</span></span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></span></hl-trusted-source> of the kidneys is just below the rib cage, with one on each side of the spine. The right kidney is generally slightly lower than the left kidney to make space for the liver.</span></p><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; line-height: 42px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 45px; position: relative;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><a class="chartbeat-section" name="structure" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">Structure</span></a></div></h2></div><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The kidneys are two bean-shaped organs that are roughly the size of a fist. A tough, fibrous renal capsule surrounds each kidney and provides support for the soft tissue inside. Beyond that, two layers of fat serve as further protection. The adrenal glands lie on top of the kidneys.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Inside the kidneys are a number of pyramid-shaped lobes. Each consists of an outer renal cortex and an inner renal medulla. Nephrons flow between these sections. Each nephron includes a filter, called the glomerulus, and a tubule. The glomerulus filters blood, which enters the kidneys through the renal arteries and leaves through the renal veins. The kidneys are relatively small organs, but they receive <hl-trusted-source class="css-ngo64e" rationale="Highly respected database from the National Institutes of Health" source="PubMed Central" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline;">20–25%<span class="css-1a8rnix icon-hl-trusted-source-after" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="sro" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; height: 1px; left: -10000px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 1px;">Trusted Source</span></span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></span></hl-trusted-source> of the heart’s output.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The tubule returns necessary substances to the blood and removes waste that then becomes urine. The kidneys excrete urine through the ureter, a tube that leads to the bladder.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 0px; line-height: 0;"></span></span></p><h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-size: 26px; line-height: 30px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 35px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">What does a kidney look like?</span></h3><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Each kidney is approximately 3 centimeters (cm) thick, 6 cm wide, and 12 cm long. In males, the <hl-trusted-source class="css-ngo64e" rationale="Highly respected database from the National Institutes of Health" source="PubMed Central" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline;">average weight<span class="css-1a8rnix icon-hl-trusted-source-after" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="sro" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; height: 1px; left: -10000px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 1px;">Trusted Source</span></span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></span></hl-trusted-source> of the kidneys is roughly 129 grams (g) for the right one and 137 g for the left. In females, the <hl-trusted-source class="css-ngo64e" rationale="Highly respected database from the National Institutes of Health" source="PubMed Central" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline;">average weight<span class="css-1a8rnix icon-hl-trusted-source-after" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="sro" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; height: 1px; left: -10000px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 1px;">Trusted Source</span></span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></span></hl-trusted-source> of these organs is 108 g for the right kidney and 116 g for the left kidney.</span></p></div><div class="css-0" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 0;"></span></span><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; line-height: 42px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 45px; position: relative;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><a class="chartbeat-section" name="anatomy" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">Anatomy</span></a></div></h2><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-weight: bold; line-height: 42px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 45px; position: relative;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><a class="chartbeat-section" name="function" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">Function</span></a></div></h2><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; line-height: 42px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 45px; position: relative;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><a class="chartbeat-section" name="anatomy" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; font-weight: 400;"></div><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 0px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 0;"></span><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;">The main role of the kidneys is maintaining homeostasis. They manage fluid levels, electrolyte balance, and other factors that keep the internal environment of the body consistent and comfortable.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;">These organs carry out a wide range of bodily functions.</p></span></a></div></h2><h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-size: 26px; line-height: 30px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 35px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Waste excretion</span></h3><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; line-height: 42px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 45px; position: relative;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><a class="chartbeat-section" name="anatomy" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;">The kidneys <hl-trusted-source class="css-ngo64e" rationale="Highly respected database from the National Institutes of Health" source="PubMed Central" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline;">remove<span class="css-1a8rnix icon-hl-trusted-source-after" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="sro" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; height: 1px; left: -10000px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 1px;">Trusted Source</span></span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></span></hl-trusted-source> various waste products and get rid of them in the urine. Some major compounds that the kidneys remove are:</p><ul style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; font-weight: 400; list-style-image: url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg width='10' height='10' xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%3E%3Ccircle cx='5' cy='5' r='2.5' fill='%23000'/%3E%3C/svg%3E");"><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;">urea, which results from the breakdown of proteins</li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;">uric acid from the breakdown of nucleic acids</li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;">drugs and their metabolites</li></ul></span></a></div></h2><h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-size: 26px; line-height: 30px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 35px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Reabsorption of nutrients </span></h3><h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-size: 26px; line-height: 30px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 35px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: 400;">The kidneys </span><hl-trusted-source class="css-ngo64e" rationale="Governmental authority" source="National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline; font-size: 18px; font-weight: 400;">reabsorb<span class="css-1a8rnix icon-hl-trusted-source-after" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="sro" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; height: 1px; left: -10000px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 1px;">Trusted Source</span></span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></span></hl-trusted-source><span style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: 400;"> nutrients from the blood using tubules and transport them to where they will best support health. They also reabsorb other products to help maintain homeostasis. Reabsorbed products include:</span></span></h3><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; line-height: 42px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 45px; position: relative;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><a class="chartbeat-section" name="anatomy" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><ul style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; font-weight: 400; list-style-image: url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg width='10' height='10' xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%3E%3Ccircle cx='5' cy='5' r='2.5' fill='%23000'/%3E%3C/svg%3E");"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;">glucose</li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;">amino acids</li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;">bicarbonate</li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;">water</li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;">phosphate</li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;">chloride, sodium, magnesium, and potassium ions</li></span></ul></a></div></h2><h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-size: 26px; line-height: 30px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 35px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Maintaining pH</span></h3><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; line-height: 42px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 45px; position: relative;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><a class="chartbeat-section" name="anatomy" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;">In humans, the range of acceptable pH levels is 7.35–7.45. At levels below or above this range, the body enters a state of acidemia or alkalemia, respectively. In these states, proteins and enzymes break down and can no longer function. In extreme cases, this can be fatal.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;">The kidneys and lungs help keep the body’s pH stable. The lungs achieve this by moderating the concentration of carbon dioxide in the blood. The kidneys manage the pH by reabsorbing and producing bicarbonate from urine, which helps neutralize acids.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;">The kidneys can <hl-trusted-source class="css-ngo64e" rationale="Highly respected database from the National Institutes of Health" source="PubMed Central" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline;">retain<span class="css-1a8rnix icon-hl-trusted-source-after" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="sro" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; height: 1px; left: -10000px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 1px;">Trusted Source</span></span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></span></hl-trusted-source> bicarbonate if the pH is tolerable and release it if acid levels rise. They can produce new bicarbonate by <hl-trusted-source class="css-ngo64e" rationale="Highly respected database from the National Institutes of Health" source="PubMed Central" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline;">excreting<span class="css-1a8rnix icon-hl-trusted-source-after" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="sro" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; height: 1px; left: -10000px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 1px;">Trusted Source</span></span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></span></hl-trusted-source> acid.</p></span></a></div></h2><h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-size: 26px; line-height: 30px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 35px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Osmolality regulation</span></h3><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; line-height: 42px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 45px; position: relative;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><a class="chartbeat-section" name="anatomy" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;">Osmolality is a measure of the body’s electrolyte-water balance, which is the ratio between fluids and minerals in the body. Dehydration is a primary cause of electrolyte imbalance.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;">If osmolality rises in the blood plasma, the hypothalamus in the brain responds by passing a message to the pituitary gland. This gland releases antidiuretic hormone (ADH). In response to ADH, the kidney makes several changes, including:</p><ul style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; font-weight: 400; list-style-image: url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg width='10' height='10' xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%3E%3Ccircle cx='5' cy='5' r='2.5' fill='%23000'/%3E%3C/svg%3E");"><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;">increasing urine concentration</li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;">increasing water reabsorption</li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;">reopening portions of the collecting duct that water cannot normally enter, allowing water back into the body</li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;">retaining urea in the medulla of the kidney rather than excreting it, as this compound draws in water</li></ul></span></a></div></h2><h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-size: 26px; line-height: 30px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 35px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Regulating blood pressure</span></h3><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; line-height: 42px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 45px; position: relative;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><a class="chartbeat-section" name="anatomy" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;">The kidneys regulate blood pressure when necessary, but they are responsible for slower adjustments.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;">They adjust long-term pressure in the arteries by causing changes in the fluid outside of cells. The medical term for this fluid is extracellular fluid. These fluid changes occur after the release of a vasoconstrictor called angiotensin II. Vasoconstrictors are hormones that cause blood vessels to narrow.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;">These hormones play a role in increasing the kidneys’ absorption of sodium chloride, or salt. This absorption effectively increases the size of the extracellular fluid compartment and raises blood pressure. Anything that alters blood pressure, including excessive alcohol consumption, smoking, and obesity, can <hl-trusted-source class="css-ngo64e" rationale="Governmental authority" source="National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline;">damage the kidneys<span class="css-1a8rnix icon-hl-trusted-source-after" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="sro" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; height: 1px; left: -10000px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 1px;">Trusted Source</span></span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></span></hl-trusted-source> over time.</p></span></a></div></h2><h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-size: 26px; line-height: 30px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 35px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Secretion of active compounds</span></h3><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; line-height: 42px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 45px; position: relative;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The kidneys release several important compounds, including:</span></p><ul style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; font-weight: 400; list-style-image: url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg width='10' height='10' xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%3E%3Ccircle cx='5' cy='5' r='2.5' fill='%23000'/%3E%3C/svg%3E");"><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Erythropoietin:</span> This controls erythropoiesis, which is the production of red blood cells. The liver also produces erythropoietin, but the kidneys are its main producers in adults.</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Renin:</span> This enzyme helps manage the expansion of arteries and the volumes of blood plasma, lymph, and interstitial fluid. Lymph is a fluid that contains white blood cells, which support immune activity, and interstitial fluid is the main component of extracellular fluid.</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Calcitriol:</span> This is the hormonally active metabolite of vitamin D. It increases both the amount of calcium that the intestines can absorb and the reabsorption of phosphate in the kidney.</span></li></ul></div></h2><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-weight: bold; line-height: 42px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 45px; position: relative;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><a class="chartbeat-section" name="diseases" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">Diseases</span></a></div></h2><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; line-height: 42px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 45px; position: relative;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><div><div class="css-0" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 0px; line-height: 0;"></span></span><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A range of diseases can affect the kidneys. Environmental or medical factors may lead to kidney disease, and they can cause functional and structural problems from birth in some people.</span></p></div></div></div></h2><h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-size: 26px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 30px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 35px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Diabetic nephropathy</span></h3><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; line-height: 42px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 45px; position: relative;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><div><div class="css-0" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In people with<span> </span>diabetic nephropathy, damage occurs to the capillaries of the kidney as a result of long-term<span> </span>diabetes. The symptoms may not become apparent until years after the damage starts to develop. They<span> </span>can include:</span></p><ul style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; list-style-image: url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg width='10' height='10' xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%3E%3Ccircle cx='5' cy='5' r='2.5' fill='%23000'/%3E%3C/svg%3E");"><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">fluid buildup</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">sleep difficulty</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">poor appetite</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">upset stomach</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">weakness</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">difficulty concentrating</span></li></ul></div></div></div></h2><h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-size: 26px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 30px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 35px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Kidney stones</span></h3><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; line-height: 42px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 45px; position: relative;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><div><div class="css-0" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Stones<span> </span>can form as a solid buildup of minerals in the kidneys.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">They can cause intense pain and might affect kidney function if they block the ureter.</span></p></div></div></div></h2><h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-size: 26px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 30px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 35px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Kidney infections</span></h3><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; line-height: 42px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 45px; position: relative;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><div><div class="css-0" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Kidney infections<span> </span>tend to result from bacteria in the bladder that transfer to the kidneys.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The symptoms can include lower<span> </span>back pain, painful urination, and, sometimes,<span> </span>fever. Changes in the urine may include the presence of blood, cloudiness, and an unusual odor.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Kidney infections are<span> </span><hl-trusted-source class="css-ngo64e" rationale="Governmental authority" source="National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline;">more common<span class="css-1a8rnix icon-hl-trusted-source-after" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; text-decoration: none;"><span class="sro" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; height: 1px; left: -10000px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 1px;">Trusted Source</span></span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></span></hl-trusted-source><span> </span>in females than in males and more likely to affect those who are pregnant. The infection often responds well to<span> </span>antibiotics.</span></p></div></div></div></h2><h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-size: 26px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 30px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 35px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Renal failure</span></h3><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; line-height: 42px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 45px; position: relative;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><div><div class="css-0" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In people with<span> </span>renal failure, the kidneys become unable to filter out waste products from the blood effectively.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">If an injury or another factor, such as the overuse of medication, causes kidney failure, the condition may be reversible with treatment.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">If the cause is a disease, however, kidney failure often does not have a full cure.</span></p></div></div></div></h2><h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-size: 26px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 30px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 35px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Kidney hydronephrosis</span></h3><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; line-height: 42px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 45px; position: relative;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><div><div class="css-0" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Hydronephrosis<span> </span>means “water on the kidney.”</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It usually occurs when an obstruction prevents urine from leaving the kidney, causing intense pain.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In time, untreated hydronephrosis can put pressure on a person’s kidneys and<span> </span>may result<span> </span>in kidney damage.</span></p></div></div></div></h2><h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-size: 26px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 30px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 35px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Interstitial nephritis</span></h3><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; line-height: 42px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 45px; position: relative;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><div><div class="css-0" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A reaction to medications or infection can cause<span> </span>inflammation of the nephrons.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The treatment usually involves addressing the cause of<span> </span>inflammation<span> </span>or changing a course of medication.</span></p></div></div></div></h2><h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-size: 26px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 30px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 35px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Kidney tumor</span></h3><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; line-height: 42px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 45px; position: relative;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><div><div class="css-0" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">These tumors can be benign or malignant. Benign<span> </span>cancers<span> </span>do not spread or attack tissue, but malignant cancers can be aggressive.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The most common malignant<span> </span>kidney cancer<span> </span>is renal cell carcinoma.</span></p></div></div></div></h2><h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-size: 26px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 30px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 35px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Nephrotic syndrome</span></h3><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; line-height: 42px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 45px; position: relative;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><div><div class="css-0" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; font-weight: 400;"><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">When damage to the kidney affects its function, this causes protein levels in the urine to increase. This effect leads to a protein shortage throughout the body, which draws water into the tissues. The symptoms of nephrotic syndrome can <hl-trusted-source class="css-ngo64e" rationale="Governmental authority" source="National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline;">include<span class="css-1a8rnix icon-hl-trusted-source-after" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="sro" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; height: 1px; left: -10000px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 1px;">Trusted Source</span></span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></span></hl-trusted-source>:</span></p><ul style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; list-style-image: url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg width='10' height='10' xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%3E%3Ccircle cx='5' cy='5' r='2.5' fill='%23000'/%3E%3C/svg%3E");"><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">puffy eyes</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">increased cholesterol levels</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">weight gain</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">fatigue</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">loss of appetite</span></li></ul><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Lower back pain and changes in urination, especially on one side, may be signs of kidney problems.</span></p></div></div></div></h2><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; line-height: 42px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 45px; position: relative;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><a class="chartbeat-section" name="causes" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">Causes</span></a></div></h2><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; line-height: 42px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 45px; position: relative;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="css-0" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 0px; line-height: 0;"></span></span><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 0px; line-height: 0;"></span></span><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Some common causes of kidney damage may include:</span></p><ul style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; list-style-image: url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg width='10' height='10' xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%3E%3Ccircle cx='5' cy='5' r='2.5' fill='%23000'/%3E%3C/svg%3E");"><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Analgesics:</span> Using pain medication over a long period might result in chronic analgesic nephritis. Examples include aspirin, acetaminophen, and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">IgA nephropathy:</span> Also known as Berger disease, this occurs when immunoglobin A (IgA) antibodies build up in the kidney. IgA forms a vital part of the immune system, but a buildup can be harmful. The disease progresses slowly, sometimes taking as long as <hl-trusted-source class="css-ngo64e" rationale="Governmental authority" source="National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline;">20 years<span class="css-1a8rnix icon-hl-trusted-source-after" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer;"><span class="sro" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; height: 1px; left: -10000px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 1px;">Trusted Source</span></span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></span></hl-trusted-source> to develop. The symptoms include abdominal pain, a rash, and arthritis. It can result in kidney failure.</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Lithium:</span> Doctors prescribe lithium to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. However, lithium <hl-trusted-source class="css-ngo64e" rationale="Highly respected database from the National Institutes of Health" source="PubMed Central" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline;">might cause nephropathy<span class="css-1a8rnix icon-hl-trusted-source-after" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer;"><span class="sro" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; height: 1px; left: -10000px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 1px;">Trusted Source</span></span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></span></hl-trusted-source> with long-term use. Close medical supervision can help a person avoid the negative effects of lithium.</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Chemotherapy agents:</span> The most common type of kidney issue in people with cancer is acute kidney injury. This might be due to the intense vomiting and diarrhea that are common side effects of chemotherapy.</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Alcohol:</span> Alcohol alters the kidneys’ ability to filter the blood. It also dehydrates the body, making it harder for the kidneys to redress internal balances, and increases blood pressure, which can also hinder the kidneys.</span></li></ul></div></div></h2><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; line-height: 42px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 45px; position: relative;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><a class="chartbeat-section" name="dialysis" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">Dialysis</span></a></div></h2><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; line-height: 42px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 45px; position: relative;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="css-0" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 0px; line-height: 0;"></span></span><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 0px; line-height: 0;"></span></span><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In the case of severe kidney damage, dialysis might be an option. Doctors only use this treatment for end stage kidney failure involving the loss of 85–90% of kidney function. Kidney dialysis aims to complete some of the functions of a healthy kidney. These include:</span></p><ul style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; list-style-image: url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg width='10' height='10' xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%3E%3Ccircle cx='5' cy='5' r='2.5' fill='%23000'/%3E%3C/svg%3E");"><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">removing waste, excess salt, and water</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">maintaining the correct levels of chemicals in the blood, including sodium, bicarbonate, and potassium</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">maintaining blood pressure</span></li></ul><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The two most common types of kidney dialysis are:</span></p></div></div></h2><h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-size: 26px; line-height: 30px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 35px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Hemodialysis</span></h3><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; line-height: 42px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 45px; position: relative;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="css-0" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; font-weight: 400;"><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">An artificial kidney, or <hl-trusted-source class="css-ngo64e" rationale="Governmental authority" source="National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline;">hemodialyzer<span class="css-1a8rnix icon-hl-trusted-source-after" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="sro" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; height: 1px; left: -10000px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 1px;">Trusted Source</span></span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></span></hl-trusted-source>, removes waste, additional fluids, and chemicals. The treating doctor makes an entry point in the body by connecting an artery and a vein under the skin to create a larger blood vessel.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Blood travels into the hemodialyzer, receives treatment, and then returns to the body. This process usually takes place three or four times a week.</span></p></div></div></h2><h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-size: 26px; line-height: 30px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 35px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Peritoneal dialysis</span></h3><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; line-height: 42px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 45px; position: relative;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="css-0" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; font-weight: 400;"><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The doctor inserts a sterile cleansing solution into the abdominal cavity around the intestine. This is the peritoneum, and a protective membrane surrounds it.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In continuous peritoneal dialysis, the fluid drains through a catheter. The individual discards these fluids four or five times a day. In automated peritoneal dialysis, the fluid also drains through a catheter, and the exchanges usually occur throughout the night while the person sleeps.</span></p></div></div></h2><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; line-height: 42px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 45px; position: relative;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><a class="chartbeat-section" name="maintaining-kidney-health" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">Maintaining kidney health</span></a></div></h2><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; line-height: 42px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 45px; position: relative;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="css-0" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 0px; line-height: 0; line-height: 0;"></span></span><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 0px; line-height: 0; line-height: 0;"></span></span><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The following are <hl-trusted-source class="css-ngo64e" rationale="Governmental authority" source="National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline;">suggestions<span class="css-1a8rnix icon-hl-trusted-source-after" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="sro" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; height: 1px; left: -10000px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 1px;">Trusted Source</span></span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></span></hl-trusted-source> for keeping the kidneys healthy and helping avoid kidney disease:</span></p><ul style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; list-style-image: url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg width='10' height='10' xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%3E%3Ccircle cx='5' cy='5' r='2.5' fill='%23000'/%3E%3C/svg%3E");"><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Eating a balanced diet:</span> Many kidney problems result from high blood pressure and diabetes. As a result, maintaining a nutritious, well-balanced diet can prevent several common causes of kidney disease. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute recommends the <hl-trusted-source class="css-ngo64e" rationale="Governmental authority" source="National Heart Lung and Blood Institute " style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline;">DASH diet<span class="css-1a8rnix icon-hl-trusted-source-after" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer;"><span class="sro" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; height: 1px; left: -10000px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 1px;">Trusted Source</span></span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></span></hl-trusted-source> for maintaining healthy blood pressure.</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Getting enough exercise:</span> Exercising for 30 minutes every day can reduce the risk of high blood pressure and obesity, both of which put pressure on kidney health.</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Drinking plenty of water:</span> Fluid intake, especially of water, is important. Many factors can affect how much water people should drink, but about 4–6 glasses per day can help improve and maintain kidney health.</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Taking supplements:</span> Be careful when taking supplements, as not all dietary supplements and vitamins are beneficial. Some can harm the kidneys if a person takes too many.</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Limiting salt:</span> Limit sodium intake to a maximum of <hl-trusted-source class="css-ngo64e" rationale="Governmental authority" source="National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline;">2,300 milligrams (mg)<span class="css-1a8rnix icon-hl-trusted-source-after" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer;"><span class="sro" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; height: 1px; left: -10000px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 1px;">Trusted Source</span></span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></span></hl-trusted-source> of sodium, and <hl-trusted-source class="css-ngo64e" rationale="Highly respected national organization" source="American Heart Associaiton" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline;">ideally 1,500 mg<span class="css-1a8rnix icon-hl-trusted-source-after" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer;"><span class="sro" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; height: 1px; left: -10000px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 1px;">Trusted Source</span></span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></span></hl-trusted-source>, each day.</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Moderating alcohol:</span> Consuming more than one drink per day for females and two per day for males can harm the kidneys and impair renal function.</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Avoiding smoking:</span> Tobacco smoke restricts blood vessels. Without an adequate blood supply, the kidneys will not be able to complete their normal work.</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Taking over-the-counter (OTC) medications:</span> A drug is not harmless simply because a person does not need a prescription to get it. Overusing OTC drugs, such as ibuprofen and naproxen, can damage the kidneys.</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Screening for health conditions:</span> Anyone with high blood pressure or diabetes should consider discussing regular kidney screening with a doctor to help spot any possible health issues.</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Managing diabetes and heart disease:</span> Following a doctor’s recommendations for managing these conditions can help protect the kidneys in the long term.</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Taking steps to get quality sleep and control stress:</span> The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) recommends getting <hl-trusted-source class="css-ngo64e" rationale="Governmental authority" source="National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline;">7–8 hours of sleep<span class="css-1a8rnix icon-hl-trusted-source-after" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer;"><span class="sro" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; height: 1px; left: -10000px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 1px;">Trusted Source</span></span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></span></hl-trusted-source> each night and seeking out activities to reduce stress.</span></li></ul><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Keeping the kidneys in full working order is essential for overall health.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Source - <a href="https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/2381104226581120517/7555459584418020745">Medical News Today</a></span></p></div></div></h2></div></div>CENTRAL LIBRARY- NEIGRIHMShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18323373576321059030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2381104226581120517.post-38300455102865723902024-03-26T04:23:00.000-07:002024-03-26T04:29:43.547-07:00Pancreas: Functions and possible problems<p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> <span style="color: #231f20;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The pancreas is a gland organ in the abdomen. It forms part of the digestive system. It produces insulin and secretes fluid that helps break down food. Problems with the pancreas can lead to diabetes, pancreatitis, and other health issues.</span></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The pancreas secretes enzymes, or digestive juices, into the small intestine. There, it continues breaking down food that has left the stomach. The pancreas also produces the hormone insulin and secretes it into the bloodstream, where it regulates the body’s glucose or sugar level.</span></p><div data-preamp="serena-chatbot" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px;"></div><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Problems with insulin control can lead to secondary diabetes, and inflammation of the pancreas can lead to pancreatitis. Noncancerous and malignant tissue can also grow on the pancreas.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><a class="chartbeat-section" name="anatomy" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 700; outline-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">Anatomy</span></a></p><div class="css-0" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px;"><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The pancreas is an organ extending horizontally across the abdomen.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The largest part lies on the right side of the abdomen, where the stomach attaches to the first part of the small intestine, the duodenum. The narrow part of the pancreas extends to the left side of the abdomen next to the spleen.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A duct runs the length of the pancreas and connects to the organ at several points. At its end, this duct joins a common bile duct that extends down from the liver. This joint pathway delivers bile to the duodenum.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Around 95% of the pancreas is exocrine tissue. Exocrine tissue secretes substances into tissues and body parts other than the bloodstream.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The remaining 5% comprises hundreds of thousands of endocrine cells known as <hl-trusted-source class="css-ngo64e" rationale="Highly respected database from the National Institutes of Health" source="PubMed Central" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline;">islets of Langerhans<span class="css-1a8rnix icon-hl-trusted-source-after" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="sro" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; height: 1px; left: -10000px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 1px;">Trusted Source</span></span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></span></hl-trusted-source>. Endocrine tissue secretes substances into the bloodstream. These grape-like cell clusters produce important hormones that regulate pancreatic secretions and control blood sugar.</span></p></div><div class="css-0" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 0px; line-height: 0; line-height: 0;"></span></span><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; line-height: 42px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 45px; position: relative;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><a class="chartbeat-section" name="function" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">Function</span></a></div></h2></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 0px; line-height: 0; line-height: 0;"></span></span><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A healthy pancreas produces chemicals to digest the food we eat.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The exocrine tissues secrete a clear, watery, alkaline juice into the common bile duct and, ultimately, the duodenum. This substance contains several enzymes that break down food into small molecules. The intestines can then absorb these smaller molecules.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The enzymes include:</span></p><ul style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; list-style-image: url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg width='10' height='10' xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%3E%3Ccircle cx='5' cy='5' r='2.5' fill='%23000'/%3E%3C/svg%3E");"><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">trypsin and chymotrypsin to digest proteins</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">amylase to break down carbohydrates</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">lipase to break down fats into fatty acids and cholesterol</span></li></ul><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The endocrine tissue secretes insulin and other hormones into the bloodstream. Pancreatic beta cells release insulin when blood sugar levels rise.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Insulin moves glucose from the blood into muscles and other tissues for use as energy. Insulin also helps the liver absorb glucose, storing it as glycogen in case the body needs energy during stress or exercise. When blood sugar falls, pancreatic alpha cells release the hormone glucagon.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Glucagon triggers the breakdown of glycogen into glucose in the liver. The glucose then enters the bloodstream, restoring blood sugar levels to normal.</span></p><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; line-height: 42px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 45px; position: relative;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><a class="chartbeat-section" name="disorders" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">Disorders</span></a></div></h2></div><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Problems with the pancreas can affect the whole body.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">If the pancreas does not produce enough digestive enzymes, for example, the digestive system will not absorb nutrients as intended. This can lead to weight loss and diarrhea.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Additionally, too little insulin production will increase the risk of diabetes, and blood glucose levels will rise.</span></p><h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-size: 26px; line-height: 30px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 35px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Pancreatitis</span></h3><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Pancreatitis refers to an acute or chronic inflammation of the pancreas. It can lead to secondary diabetes.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Inflammation can occur if gallstones or tumors block the main duct from the pancreas. Pancreatic juices will accumulate in the pancreas, causing damage. The pancreas may start to digest itself.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Pancreatitis can happen as a result of mumps, gallstones, trauma, and the use of alcohol, steroids, and drugs.</span></p><h4 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 22px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Acute pancreatitis</span></h4><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Acute pancreatitis is the sudden, rapid inflammation of the organ. The condition is rare, but it needs immediate medical attention.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Symptoms include:</span></p><ul style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; list-style-image: url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg width='10' height='10' xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%3E%3Ccircle cx='5' cy='5' r='2.5' fill='%23000'/%3E%3C/svg%3E");"><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">intense abdominal pain, tenderness, and swelling</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">nausea and vomiting</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">fever</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">muscle aches</span></li></ul><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Immediate treatment is normally with fluids and painkillers. If a secondary infection occurs, surgery may be necessary.</span></p><h4 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 22px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Chronic pancreatitis</span></h4><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Chronic pancreatitis can develop if acute pancreatitis repeatedly happens, resulting in permanent damage.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The most common cause is alcohol abuse, and it mostly affects middle-aged men.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Symptoms include:</span></p><ul style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; list-style-image: url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg width='10' height='10' xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%3E%3Ccircle cx='5' cy='5' r='2.5' fill='%23000'/%3E%3C/svg%3E");"><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">persistent pain in the upper abdomen and back</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">weight loss</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">diarrhea</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">diabetes</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">mild jaundice</span></li></ul><h4 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 22px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Hereditary pancreatitis</span></h4><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A person may experience pancreatitis due to inheriting misfunctioning PRSS1 and SPINK1 genes.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It is a progressive condition that can lead to permanent damage. The person may experience pain, diarrhea, malnutrition, or diabetes. Treatment aims to control pain to replace lost enzymes.</span></p><h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-size: 26px; line-height: 30px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 35px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Pancreatic cancer</span></h3><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Cancer can develop in the pancreas. The exact cause is often unknown, but <hl-trusted-source class="css-ngo64e" rationale="Highly respected international organization" source="American Cancer Society" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline;">risk factors for pancreatic cancer<span class="css-1a8rnix icon-hl-trusted-source-after" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="sro" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; height: 1px; left: -10000px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 1px;">Trusted Source</span></span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></span></hl-trusted-source> include:</span></p><ul style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; list-style-image: url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg width='10' height='10' xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%3E%3Ccircle cx='5' cy='5' r='2.5' fill='%23000'/%3E%3C/svg%3E");"><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">smoking</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">alcohol use</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">diabetes</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">overweight and obesity</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">chronic pancreatitis</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">liver problems</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">stomach infections</span></li></ul><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Symptoms include:</span></p><ul style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; list-style-image: url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg width='10' height='10' xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%3E%3Ccircle cx='5' cy='5' r='2.5' fill='%23000'/%3E%3C/svg%3E");"><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">pain in the upper abdomen as the tumor pushes against the nerves</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">jaundice</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">loss of appetite, nausea, and vomiting</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">significant weight loss and weakness</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">pale or gray stool, and excess fat in the stool</span></li></ul><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Pancreatic cancer symptoms may not appear until the cancer is in the advanced stages. By then, it may be too late for successful treatment. The outlook for pancreatic cancer tends to be poor. The 5-year survival rate is <hl-trusted-source class="css-ngo64e" rationale="Highly respected international organization" source="American Cancer Society" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline;">around 42%<span class="css-1a8rnix icon-hl-trusted-source-after" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="sro" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; height: 1px; left: -10000px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 1px;">Trusted Source</span></span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></span></hl-trusted-source> for localized pancreatic cancer. This rate drops to 3% if the cancer is present in other organs. The overall 5-year survival rate is 11%.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Treatment usually involves surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, or a combination. Palliative treatment will focus on reducing the pain.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 0px; line-height: 0;"></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Pancreatic cancer accounts for <hl-trusted-source class="css-ngo64e" rationale="Highly respected international organization" source="American Cancer Society" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline;">around 3%<span class="css-1a8rnix icon-hl-trusted-source-after" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="sro" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; height: 1px; left: -10000px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 1px;">Trusted Source</span></span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></span></hl-trusted-source> of all cancer cases in the United States and around 7% of cancer deaths.</span></p><div class="css-0" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px;"><h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-size: 26px; line-height: 30px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 35px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Diabetes</span></h3><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease. It occurs when the immune system attacks and destroys the beta cells in the pancreas so that they can no longer produce insulin. The exact cause remains unknown, but it may be due to genetic and environmental factors, including viruses.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Type 2 diabetes begins when the body’s muscle, fat, and liver cells <hl-trusted-source class="css-ngo64e" rationale="Governmental authority" source="National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline;">cannot<span class="css-1a8rnix icon-hl-trusted-source-after" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="sro" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; height: 1px; left: -10000px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 1px;">Trusted Source</span></span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></span></hl-trusted-source> process glucose adequately. This happens when cells cannot utilize the insulin the pancreas makes properly, or the pancreas cannot make enough insulin. As a result, the body can no longer control blood glucose levels.</span></p><h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-size: 26px; line-height: 30px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 35px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Other issues</span></h3><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Other problems that can occur in relation to the pancreas include:</span></p><ul style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; list-style-image: url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg width='10' height='10' xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%3E%3Ccircle cx='5' cy='5' r='2.5' fill='%23000'/%3E%3C/svg%3E");"><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Exocrine pancreatic insufficiency:</span> This occurs when the pancreas does not produce enough enzymes.</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Pancreatic cysts:</span> These are fluid-filled sacs that can grow on the pancreas. The growths are typically noncancerous but can be malignant.</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Pancreatic fluid collections:</span> An inflamed pancreas can leak digestive enzymes. This fluid can build up around the pancreas, causing abdominal pain, fever, and other symptoms.</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Zollinger-Ellison syndrome:</span> In this condition, tumors develop in the pancreas or duodenum. These cause the stomach to produce too much acid.</span></li></ul></div><div class="css-0" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 0px; line-height: 0; line-height: 0;"></span></span><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; line-height: 42px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 45px; position: relative;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><a class="chartbeat-section" name="maintaining-a-healthy-pancreas" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">Maintaining a healthy pancreas</span></a></div></h2></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 0px; line-height: 0; line-height: 0;"></span></span><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Following a balanced diet and avoiding smoking and excessive drinking will help keep the pancreas healthy.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The National Pancreatic Foundation recommends:</span></p><ul style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; list-style-image: url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg width='10' height='10' xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%3E%3Ccircle cx='5' cy='5' r='2.5' fill='%23000'/%3E%3C/svg%3E");"><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">consuming no more than 20 grams of fat a day</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">avoiding alcohol</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">drinking plenty of water to keep hydrated</span></li></ul><div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; line-height: 42px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 45px; position: relative;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><a class="chartbeat-section" name="summary" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">Summary</span></a></div></h2></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 0px; line-height: 0; line-height: 0;"></span></span><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The pancreas is a large gland that plays a vital role in the digestive system. It secretes enzymes that help break down food and produces insulin, which is vital for managing blood sugar.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Inflammation of the pancreas is known as pancreatitis. This can lead to pain, discomfort, and many health complications.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Avoiding smoking and excessive drinking and eating a balanced, healthful diet are the best ways of maintaining pancreatic health.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Source - <a href="https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/2381104226581120517/3830045510286572390">Medical News Today</a></span></p></div></div></div>CENTRAL LIBRARY- NEIGRIHMShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18323373576321059030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2381104226581120517.post-38397868128102286462024-03-25T04:10:00.000-07:002024-03-26T04:18:07.866-07:00Organs and organ systems in the human body<p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"> <span style="color: #231f20;">The five vital organs in the human body are the brain, heart, lungs, kidneys, and liver. Other organs include the gallbladder, pancreas, and stomach. Organ systems, such as the nervous system, support these organs.</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Keep reading to learn more about the organs of the body, the various organ systems, and some guidelines on how to maintain optimum health.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a class="chartbeat-section" name="organs-and-their-functions" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 700; outline-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Organs of the body and their functions </span></a></p><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; line-height: 42px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 45px; position: relative;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><a class="chartbeat-section" name="vital-organs" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">Vital organs </span></a></div></h2></div><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The vital organs are those that a person needs to survive. A problem with any of these organs can quickly become life threatening. The five vital organs are as follows:</span></p><ul style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; list-style-image: url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg width='10' height='10' xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%3E%3Ccircle cx='5' cy='5' r='2.5' fill='%23000'/%3E%3C/svg%3E");"><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">brain</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">heart</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">lungs</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">liver</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">kidneys</span></li></ul><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It is not possible to live without these organs. That said, in the case of the paired kidneys and lungs, a person can live without one of the pair.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The sections below will look at the five vital organs in more detail.</span></p><h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-size: 26px; line-height: 30px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 35px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Brain</span></h3><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The brain is the body’s control center. It forms the core of the central nervous system by creating, sending, and processing nerve impulses, thoughts, emotions, physical sensations, and more.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The brain consists of three main subparts: the cerebrum, the cerebellum, and the brainstem. Within these areas, there are several key components of the brain that, together with the spinal cord, comprise the central nervous system.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The <hl-trusted-source class="css-ngo64e" rationale="Governmental authority" source="National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline;">major areas<span class="css-1a8rnix icon-hl-trusted-source-after" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="sro" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; height: 1px; left: -10000px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 1px;">Trusted Source</span></span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></span></hl-trusted-source> of the brain include:</span></p><ul style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; list-style-image: url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg width='10' height='10' xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%3E%3Ccircle cx='5' cy='5' r='2.5' fill='%23000'/%3E%3C/svg%3E");"><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">The medulla:</span> This is the lowest part of the brainstem. It helps control heart and lung function.</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">The pons:</span> Located above the medulla in the brainstem, this area helps control eye and facial movement.</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">The parietal lobe:</span> Situated in the middle of the brain, the parietal lobe supports identifying objects and doing spatial reasoning.</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">The frontal lobe: </span>The frontal lobe, in the front of the head, is the largest section of the brain. It plays a role in many conscious functions, including personality and movement.</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">The occipital lobes:</span> Positioned near the back of the brain, the occipital lobe primarily interprets vision signals.</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">The temporal lobes: </span>Located on either side of the brain, the temporal lobes play a role in numerous functions, including speech, scent recognition, and short-term memory.</span></li></ul><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The brain’s two halves are called the right and left cerebral hemispheres. The corpus callosum connects these two hemispheres.</span></p><h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-size: 26px; line-height: 30px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 35px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Heart</span></h3><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The heart is the <hl-trusted-source class="css-ngo64e" rationale="Governmental authority" source="National Heart Lung and Blood Institute " style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline;">most important organ<span class="css-1a8rnix icon-hl-trusted-source-after" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="sro" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; height: 1px; left: -10000px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 1px;">Trusted Source</span></span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></span></hl-trusted-source> of the circulatory system, which helps deliver blood to the body. It has four chambers. The two upper chambers are called atria, and the two lower chambers are called ventricles.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Blood flows into the right atrium from the veins of the heart and body (except the lungs) and then flows into the right ventricle. From there, it flows into the pulmonary artery, which has branches that reach the lungs. The lungs then oxygenate the blood.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This oxygenated blood travels from the lungs through pulmonary veins that lead back and join together to the left atrium and then through the left ventricle. From there, the heart pumps the blood through an artery that branches to distribute blood to itself and other body parts (except the lungs).</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The heart has four valves that ensure blood flows in the right direction. The heart valves are:</span></p><ul style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; list-style-image: url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg width='10' height='10' xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%3E%3Ccircle cx='5' cy='5' r='2.5' fill='%23000'/%3E%3C/svg%3E");"><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">the tricuspid valve</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">the pulmonary valve</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">the mitral valve</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">the aortic valve</span></li></ul><h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-size: 26px; line-height: 30px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 35px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Lungs</span></h3><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The lungs <hl-trusted-source class="css-ngo64e" rationale="Governmental authority" source="National Heart Lung and Blood Institute " style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline;">work with the heart<span class="css-1a8rnix icon-hl-trusted-source-after" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="sro" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; height: 1px; left: -10000px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 1px;">Trusted Source</span></span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></span></hl-trusted-source> to oxygenate blood. They do this by extracting oxygen from inhaled air and exhaling carbon dioxide released from the tissues.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Several parts of the lungs help the body take in air, filter it, and then oxygenate the blood. These are:</span></p><ul style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; list-style-image: url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg width='10' height='10' xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%3E%3Ccircle cx='5' cy='5' r='2.5' fill='%23000'/%3E%3C/svg%3E");"><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">The left and right bronchi:</span> The trachea splits into these tubes, which extend into the lungs and have branches. These smaller bronchi split into even smaller tubes called bronchioles.</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">The alveoli:</span> The alveoli are tiny air sacs at the end of the bronchioles. They work like balloons, expanding when a person inhales and contracting when they exhale.</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">The blood vessels:</span> There are numerous blood vessels in the lungs for carrying blood to and from the heart.</span></li></ul><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The diaphragm is a thick band of muscle directly under the lungs. It helps the lungs expand and contract when a person breathes.</span></p><h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-size: 26px; line-height: 30px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 35px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Liver</span></h3><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The liver is the most important organ of the metabolic system, but it also plays a role in <hl-trusted-source class="css-ngo64e" rationale="Highly respected database from the National Institutes of Health" source="PubMed Central" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline;">almost every<span class="css-1a8rnix icon-hl-trusted-source-after" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="sro" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; height: 1px; left: -10000px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 1px;">Trusted Source</span></span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></span></hl-trusted-source> other organ system. It helps convert nutrients into usable substances and filters blood coming from the digestive tract through a vein before it joins venous blood flow from other parts of the body. Oxygenated blood reaches the liver via an artery.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Most liver mass is in the upper right side of the abdomen, just under the rib cage.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The liver plays many roles in digestion and filtering the blood, including:</span></p><ul style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; list-style-image: url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg width='10' height='10' xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%3E%3Ccircle cx='5' cy='5' r='2.5' fill='%23000'/%3E%3C/svg%3E");"><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">producing bile</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">helping the body filter out toxic substances</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">making cholesterol</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">aiding immune function</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">clearing bilirubin from the blood</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">regulating blood clotting</span></li></ul><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The liver partners with the gallbladder to deliver bile to the small intestine. The liver pours bile into the gallbladder, which then stores it and later releases it when the body needs it to help with digestion.</span></p><h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-size: 26px; line-height: 30px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 35px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Kidneys</span></h3><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The kidneys are a pair of bean-shaped organs, each about the size of a fist. They are located on either side of the back, protected inside of the lower part of the rib cage. They help filter blood and remove waste from the body.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Blood flows from the renal artery into the kidneys. Each kidney contains about <hl-trusted-source class="css-ngo64e" rationale="Governmental authority" source="National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline;">a million<span class="css-1a8rnix icon-hl-trusted-source-after" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="sro" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; height: 1px; left: -10000px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 1px;">Trusted Source</span></span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></span></hl-trusted-source> tiny units for filtration, known as nephrons. They help filter waste into the urine and then return the filtered blood to the body through the renal vein.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A person can live with just one kidney. When a person is experiencing severe kidney failure, dialysis can filter the blood until they get a kidney transplant or their kidney recovers some function. Some people need to undergo hemodialysis long term.</span></p><div class="css-0" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; line-height: 42px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 45px; position: relative;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><a class="chartbeat-section" name="non-vital-organs" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">Non-vital organs</span></a></div></h2></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 0px; line-height: 0; line-height: 0;"></span></span><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Non-vital organs are those that a person can survive without. However, this does not mean that conditions affecting these organs are never life threatening or dangerous. Many infections and cancers in non-vital organs are life threatening, especially without prompt treatment.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The non-vital organs are the:</span></p><ul style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; list-style-image: url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg width='10' height='10' xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%3E%3Ccircle cx='5' cy='5' r='2.5' fill='%23000'/%3E%3C/svg%3E");"><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">gallbladder</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">pancreas</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">stomach</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">large intestine</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">appendix</span></li></ul><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Injuries to non-vital organs may also affect vital organs, such as when a gallstone undermines liver function.</span></p><h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-size: 26px; line-height: 30px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 35px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Gallbladder</span></h3><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The gallbladder is small and pear-shaped. It sits in the right upper quadrant of the abdomen, just under the liver. It contains cholesterol, bile salts, bile, and bilirubin.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In a healthy person, the liver releases bile into the gallbladder, which the gallbladder stores and then releases to travel down the common bile duct into the small intestine <hl-trusted-source class="css-ngo64e" rationale="Highly respected database from the National Institutes of Health" source="PubMed Central" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline;">to aid digestion<span class="css-1a8rnix icon-hl-trusted-source-after" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="sro" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; height: 1px; left: -10000px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 1px;">Trusted Source</span></span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></span></hl-trusted-source>.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">However, some people develop gallstones that block the gallbladder or biliary tree, causing intense pain and interfering with digestion. Also, this can sometimes interfere with liver or pancreas function.</span></p><h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-size: 26px; line-height: 30px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 35px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Pancreas</span></h3><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The pancreas is located in the upper left portion of the abdomen. It has two important roles: It <hl-trusted-source class="css-ngo64e" rationale="Highly respected database from the National Institutes of Health" source="PubMed Central" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline;">functions<span class="css-1a8rnix icon-hl-trusted-source-after" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="sro" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; height: 1px; left: -10000px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 1px;">Trusted Source</span></span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></span></hl-trusted-source> as both an exocrine gland and an endocrine gland.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">As an exocrine gland, the pancreas produces enzymes a person needs to help digest their food and convert it into energy. As an endocrine gland, the pancreas also produces and releases insulin, which helps the body remove glucose from the blood and convert it into energy.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Problems with insulin can lead to a dangerously high level of blood glucose and the onset of diabetes. The pancreas also produces and releases glucagon, which raises blood glucose levels.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The main pancreatic duct connects to the common bile duct, which flows from the liver and gallbladder. Therefore, problems within the biliary tree, liver, or gallbladder may also affect the pancreas.</span></p><h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-size: 26px; line-height: 30px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 35px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Stomach</span></h3><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The stomach is a J-shaped organ near the top of the abdomen.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The muscles of the stomach <hl-trusted-source class="css-ngo64e" rationale="Governmental authority" source="National Cancer Institute " style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline;">help break down<span class="css-1a8rnix icon-hl-trusted-source-after" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="sro" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; height: 1px; left: -10000px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 1px;">Trusted Source</span></span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></span></hl-trusted-source> and digest food. Within its lumen lining, certain stomach regions also produce enzymes that help digest food. The enzyme pepsin, for example, breaks down proteins so they can become amino acids.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The stomach also helps store chyme until it moves to the intestines. Chyme refers to food that is mixed with stomach secretions.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Anatomists usually divide the stomach into five subparts. These are:</span></p><ul style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; list-style-image: url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg width='10' height='10' xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%3E%3Ccircle cx='5' cy='5' r='2.5' fill='%23000'/%3E%3C/svg%3E");"><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">The cardia:</span> This portion of the stomach is located just beneath the esophagus. It includes the cardiac sphincter. The sphincter prevents food from flowing back up the esophagus or into the mouth.</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">The fundus:</span> This is situated to the left of the cardia and underneath the diaphragm.</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">The body:</span> This is where food begins breaking down. It is the largest part of the stomach.</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">The antrum:</span> This is the lower part of the stomach. It contains partially digested food before it flows to the small intestine.</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">The pylorus: </span>This portion of the stomach connects to the small intestine. It includes a muscle called the pyloric sphincter, which controls when and how much stomach content flows into the small intestine.</span></li></ul><h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-size: 26px; line-height: 30px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 35px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Intestines</span></h3><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The intestines are a group of tubes that help filter out waste, absorb water and certain electrolytes, and digest food.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Partially digested food first travels through the small intestine, which comprises three parts: the <hl-trusted-source class="css-ngo64e" rationale="Governmental authority" source="National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline;">duodenum, the jejunum, and the ileum<span class="css-1a8rnix icon-hl-trusted-source-after" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="sro" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; height: 1px; left: -10000px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 1px;">Trusted Source</span></span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></span></hl-trusted-source>. Most digestion and absorption of food happens here.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Food then becomes feces as it travels within and through the large intestine. This begins with the cecum, extends to the rest of the colon, and ends with the rectum. The rectum is the last stop for feces before expulsion occurs from the anus.</span></p></div><div class="css-0" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 0px; line-height: 0; line-height: 0;"></span></span><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; line-height: 42px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 45px; position: relative;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><a class="chartbeat-section" name="organ-systems" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">Organ systems</span></a></div></h2></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 0px; line-height: 0; line-height: 0;"></span></span><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Doctors usually list dozens of organs, though the definition of an organ varies from expert to expert. Most organs play a role in organ systems, which work together to perform specific functions.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The body’s organ systems are the:</span></p><ul style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; list-style-image: url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg width='10' height='10' xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%3E%3Ccircle cx='5' cy='5' r='2.5' fill='%23000'/%3E%3C/svg%3E");"><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">nervous system</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">reproductive system</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">respiratory system</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">urinary system</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">lymphatic system</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">integumentary system</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">musculoskeletal system</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">endocrine system</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">immune system</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">digestive system</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">circulatory system</span></li></ul><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The sections below will outline the body’s organ systems in more detail.</span></p><h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-size: 26px; line-height: 30px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 35px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Nervous system</span></h3><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The brain and spinal cord form the central nervous system, which works to process and send nerve signals, interpret information, and produce conscious thought. The nervous system helps the body <hl-trusted-source class="css-ngo64e" rationale="Governmental authority" source="National Cancer Institute " style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline;">regulate every function<span class="css-1a8rnix icon-hl-trusted-source-after" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="sro" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; height: 1px; left: -10000px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 1px;">Trusted Source</span></span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></span></hl-trusted-source>, including every other organ system.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The nervous system also includes an extensive network of neurons throughout the body — the peripheral nervous system. For example, nerve fibers in the hand tell the brain when there is an injury in that area.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Also, other nerves interact with muscles, which helps coordinate movement.</span></p><h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-size: 26px; line-height: 30px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 35px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Reproductive system</span></h3><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The reproductive system includes the organs that enable a person to reproduce and experience sexual pleasure. In females, the reproductive system also supports the growth of a fetus.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The male reproductive system organs include:</span></p><ul style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; list-style-image: url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg width='10' height='10' xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%3E%3Ccircle cx='5' cy='5' r='2.5' fill='%23000'/%3E%3C/svg%3E");"><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">the testes</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">the epididymis</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">the vas deferens</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">the ejaculatory ducts</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">the prostate gland</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">the seminal vesicles</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">the penis</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">the bulbourethral glands</span></li></ul><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The <a class="content-link css-185ckoq" href="https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/female-reproductive-organ-anatomy" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border-color: currentcolor; box-sizing: inherit; color: #3d5191; cursor: pointer;">female reproductive system</a> organs include:</span></p><ul style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; list-style-image: url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg width='10' height='10' xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%3E%3Ccircle cx='5' cy='5' r='2.5' fill='%23000'/%3E%3C/svg%3E");"><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">the mammary glands in the breasts</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">the ovaries</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">the fallopian tubes</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">the uterus</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">the vagina</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">the vulva</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">a system of various glands, such as the Bartholin glands, that help lubricate the vagina</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">the cervix</span></li></ul><h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-size: 26px; line-height: 30px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 35px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Skin</span></h3><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The skin is the body’s largest organ. It is part of the integumentary system, which includes skin, hair, nails, and fat.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The integumentary system helps regulate body temperature, protect the body from dangerous pathogens, make vitamin D from sunlight, and provide sensory input.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The skin comprises <hl-trusted-source class="css-ngo64e" rationale="Governmental authority" source="National Cancer Institute " style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline;">three layers<span class="css-1a8rnix icon-hl-trusted-source-after" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="sro" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; height: 1px; left: -10000px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 1px;">Trusted Source</span></span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></span></hl-trusted-source>:</span></p><ul style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; list-style-image: url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg width='10' height='10' xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%3E%3Ccircle cx='5' cy='5' r='2.5' fill='%23000'/%3E%3C/svg%3E");"><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">The epidermis:</span> This is the outer layer of skin.</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">The dermis:</span> This is the middle layer of skin.</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">The subcutaneous fat layer:</span> This is the deepest layer of the skin.</span></li></ul><h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-size: 26px; line-height: 30px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 35px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Muscular system</span></h3><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The muscular system includes a vast network of muscles. There are three types of muscles:</span></p><ul style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; list-style-image: url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg width='10' height='10' xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%3E%3Ccircle cx='5' cy='5' r='2.5' fill='%23000'/%3E%3C/svg%3E");"><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Skeletal muscles:</span> These are voluntary muscles, meaning a person can decide when to move them. The biceps and triceps are examples of skeletal muscles.</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Cardiac muscles:</span> These are involuntary muscles that help the heart pump blood.</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Smooth muscles:</span> These are also involuntary muscles. Smooth muscles line the bladder, intestines, and stomach.</span></li></ul><h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-size: 26px; line-height: 30px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 35px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Endocrine system</span></h3><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The endocrine system is a network of glands throughout the body. These glands release important chemicals called hormones, which help regulate the function of virtually every organ and organ system in the body.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The endocrine system includes several major glands, including:</span></p><ul style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; list-style-image: url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg width='10' height='10' xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%3E%3Ccircle cx='5' cy='5' r='2.5' fill='%23000'/%3E%3C/svg%3E");"><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">the pancreas</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">the thyroid</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">the adrenal glands</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">the pituitary</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">the parathyroid</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">the thyroid</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">the hypothalamus</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">the pineal gland</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">the ovaries</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">the testes</span></li></ul><h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-size: 26px; line-height: 30px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 35px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Immune system</span></h3><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The immune system helps the body prevent infections and fights them off when they do occur.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Many organs play a role in the immune system. For example, the skin prevents dangerous pathogens from entering the body, and the salivary glands release saliva that can help break down some dangerous sources of infection in food.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The lymphatic system plays a key role in the immune system by releasing lymphocytes that fight disease. There are many lymph nodes throughout the body. Some people notice that their lymph nodes enlarge when they get sick.</span></p><h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-size: 26px; line-height: 30px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 35px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Digestive system</span></h3><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The <hl-trusted-source class="css-ngo64e" rationale="Governmental authority" source="National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline;">digestive system<span class="css-1a8rnix icon-hl-trusted-source-after" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="sro" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; height: 1px; left: -10000px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 1px;">Trusted Source</span></span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></span></hl-trusted-source> is the group of organs that digest food, as well as the various structures within that release substances to aid digestion and absorption.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It includes:</span></p><ul style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; list-style-image: url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg width='10' height='10' xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%3E%3Ccircle cx='5' cy='5' r='2.5' fill='%23000'/%3E%3C/svg%3E");"><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">the mouth</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">the esophagus</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">the salivary glands</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">the gallbladder</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">the liver</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">the pancreas</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">the stomach</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">the small and large intestines</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">the appendix</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">the rectum</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">the anus</span></li></ul><h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-size: 26px; line-height: 30px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 35px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Circulatory system</span></h3><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The circulatory system includes the many blood vessels circulating throughout the body. It includes veins, arteries, capillaries, venules, and arterioles.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The lymphatic system is also part of the circulatory system. It helps maintain the body’s fluid balance by collecting excess fluid and other particles from the blood. Lymph nodes are present within this system.</span></p><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; line-height: 42px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 45px; position: relative;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><a class="chartbeat-section" name="summary" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">Summary</span></a></div></h2></div><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Each organ in the body is a complex system made up of numerous smaller parts. Many organs also depend on several other body parts. For example, to properly breathe, the lungs must work with the nose, mouth, throat, windpipe, and sinuses.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This complexity of each organ and organ system means that some doctors specialize in a single organ or organ system. For example, cardiologists treat heart issues, while pulmonologists study the lungs.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 0px; line-height: 0;"></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Anyone suspecting a problem with one of their organs or organ systems should consult a specialist or ask a healthcare professional for a referral.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Source - <a href="https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/2381104226581120517/3839786812810228646">Medical News Today</a></span></p></div><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a class="chartbeat-section" name="organs-and-their-functions" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 700; outline-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 0px; line-height: 0;"></span></span></a></p><div class="" data-placement="firstQuarter" data-testid="driver" id="mc55e01b6-7f10-4bdf-85fb-06df04a7058fmpd_firstQuarter_820d5ab7-0c42-4bef-b6e5-4041d27cc680" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="css-1cg0byz" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; margin: 40px auto 30px; min-height: 90px; width: 728px;"><aside class="css-0 css-0" data-sticky="false" data-testid="sticky-inline-ad" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="css-9was16" data-empty="true" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; margin: auto; min-height: 90px; position: relative; text-align: center; width: 728px; z-index: 0;"><div class="css-1hjaa0k" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-family: "Proxima Nova", "Proxima Nova Fallback", sans-serif; font-size: 18px; position: fixed;"></div></div></div></aside></div></div></div></div>CENTRAL LIBRARY- NEIGRIHMShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18323373576321059030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2381104226581120517.post-49816600905653303842024-03-23T11:30:00.000-07:002024-03-23T11:30:00.148-07:00Happiness can be learnt, but you have to work at it<p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"> <span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">We can learn to be happy, but only get lasting benefits if we keep practising, a first-of-its-kind study has revealed.</span></span></p><div data-content-ads-inserted="true" data-slot-rendered-content="true" id="text" style="background-color: white; border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; overflow: visible !important;"><p data-slot-rendered-content="true" style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">The team behind the University of Bristol's 'Science of Happiness' course had already discovered that teaching students the latest scientific studies on happiness created a marked improvement in their wellbeing.</span></p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">But their latest study found that these wellbeing boosts are short-lived unless the evidence-informed habits learnt on the course -- such as gratitude, exercise, meditation or journaling -- are kept up over the long-term.</span></p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Senior author Prof Bruce Hood said: "It's like going to the gym -- we can't expect to do one class and be fit forever. Just as with physical health, we have to continuously work on our mental health, otherwise the improvements are temporary."</span></p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Launched in 2018, the University of Bristol's Science of Happiness course was the first of its kind in the UK. It involves no exams or coursework, and teaches students what the latest peer-reviewed studies in psychology and neuroscience say really makes us happy.</span></p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Students who took the course reported a 10 to 15% improvement in wellbeing.</span></p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">But only those who continued implementing the course learnings maintained that improved wellbeing when they were surveyed again two years on.</span></p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Published in the journal <em style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box;">Higher Education</em>, is the first to track wellbeing of students on a happiness course long after they have left the course.</span></p><div id="insertion_middle" style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box;"></div><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Prof Hood said: "This study shows that just doing a course -- be that at the gym, a meditation retreat or on an evidence-based happiness course like ours -- is just the start: you must commit to using what you learn on a regular basis.</span></p><p data-slot-rendered-content="true" style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">"Much of what we teach revolves around positive psychology interventions that divert your attention away from yourself, by helping others, being with friends, gratitude or meditating.</span></p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">"This is the opposite of the current 'selfcare' doctrine, but countless studies have shown that getting out of our own heads helps gets us away from negative ruminations which can be the basis of so many mental health problems."</span></p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Prof Hood has distilled the Science of Happiness course into a new book, out on March 10. 'The Science of Happiness: Seven Lessons for Living Well' reveals an evidence-informed roadmap to better wellbeing.</span></p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">The other paper authors are fellow University of Bristol academics Catherine Hobbs and Sarah Jelbert, and Laurie R Santos, a Yale academic whose course inspired Bristol's Science of Happiness course.</span></p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Source: <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/03/240311145853.htm">ScienceDaily</a></span></p></div>CENTRAL LIBRARY- NEIGRIHMShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18323373576321059030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2381104226581120517.post-85053245473771368322024-03-22T11:30:00.000-07:002024-03-22T11:30:00.245-07:00Blast-related concussions linked to higher Alzheimer's risk<p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"> <span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">U.S. veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq who suffered mild traumatic brain injury from exposure to explosive blasts were found to have changes in cerebrospinal fluid proteins that are typically seen in people who develop Alzheimer's disease, according to researchers at the University of Washington School of Medicine and VA Puget Sound Health Care System.</span></span></p><div data-content-ads-inserted="true" id="text" style="background-color: white; border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; overflow: visible !important;"><p data-slot-rendered-content="true" style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">"While our research does not prove that veterans who experienced these injuries will develop Alzheimer's disease, it raises the possibility that they may be on a pathway leading to dementia," said Dr. Ge Li, the paper's first author and an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at UW Medicine.</span></p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">The study was published March 13 in the journal <em style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box;">Neurology</em>.</span></p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Previous research has found that sustaining a moderate to severe TBI increases a person's risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. It is not known, however, whether a mild TBI (mTBI) similarly increases this risk.</span></p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">In the new study, the researchers analyzed protein levels in spinal fluid from 51 U.S. veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Each had suffered mTBIs from exposure to explosive blasts and had an average of 20 blast injuries. Those protein levels were compared with the protein levels of 85 veterans and civilians of similar age who had never sustained a TBI.</span></p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">In this study, the veterans were considered to have experienced a TBI if they had an alteration or loss of consciousness from the blast. The TBIs were considered mild if the loss of consciousness lasted 30 minutes or less and there was no sign of brain damage on standard clinical MRI or CT scan. Such an injury is considered equivalent to a concussion.</span></p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">The researchers examined protein levels in the veterans' cerebrospinal fluid, which flows around and through the brain and carries away waste materials. Two of the proteins measured compose the chief components of amyloid plaques, which aggregate in the brains of people with Alzheimer's. These proteins are called alpha-beta amyloid 40 and 42 (Aβ40, Aβ42).</span></p><div id="insertion_middle" style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box;"></div><p data-slot-rendered-content="true" style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">The other proteins are versions of the tau protein. Normally, tau proteins are part of cells' cytoskeletons, which give cells their shape. But with Alzheimer's, these structures are changed, creating tangles within brain cells and killing them. This is the other hallmark of Alzheimer's.</span></p><p data-slot-rendered-content="true" style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Source: <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/03/240313210248.htm">ScienceDaily</a></span></p></div>CENTRAL LIBRARY- NEIGRIHMShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18323373576321059030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2381104226581120517.post-9369372826566390462024-03-21T11:30:00.000-07:002024-03-21T11:30:00.246-07:00Researchers identify brain connections associated with ADHD in youth<p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"> <span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">Researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have discovered that symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are tied to atypical interactions between the brain's frontal cortex and information processing centers deep in the brain. The researchers examined more than 10,000 functional brain images of youth with ADHD and published their results in the</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"> </span><em style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333;">American Journal of Psychiatry</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">. The study was led by researchers at NIH's National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and National Human Genome Research Institute.</span></span></p><div data-content-ads-inserted="true" id="text" style="background-color: white; border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; overflow: visible !important;"><p data-slot-rendered-content="true" style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Luke Norman, Ph.D., a staff scientist in the NIMH Office of the Clinical Director, and colleagues analyzed brain images supplied by more than 8,000 youth with and without ADHD sourced from six different functional imaging datasets.</span></p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Using these images, the researchers examined associations between functional brain connectivity and ADHD symptoms.</span></p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">They found that youth with ADHD had heightened connectivity between structures deep in the brain involved in learning, movement, reward, and emotion (caudate, putamen, and nucleus accumbens seeds) and structures in the frontal area of the brain involved in attention and control of unwanted behaviors (superior temporal gyri, insula, inferior parietal lobe, and inferior frontal gyri).</span></p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">While neuroscience researchers have long suspected that ADHD symptoms result from atypical interactions between the frontal cortex and these deep information-processing brain structures, studies testing this model have returned mixed findings, possibly due to the small nature of the studies, with only 100 or so subjects.</span></p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Researchers suggest that the smaller studies may not have been able to reliably detect the brain interactions leading to the complex behaviors seen in ADHD.</span></p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">The findings from this study help further our understanding of the brain processes contributing to ADHD symptoms -- information that can help inform clinically relevant research and advancements.</span></p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Source: <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/03/240313135546.htm">ScienceDaily</a></span></p></div>CENTRAL LIBRARY- NEIGRIHMShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18323373576321059030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2381104226581120517.post-29888437936365900612024-03-20T11:30:00.000-07:002024-03-20T11:30:00.133-07:00Researchers expand our understanding of how the body and brain communicate<p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"> <span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">Researchers investigating how exactly the brain processes the incoming stream of information from the heart and lungs, discovered that specific neurons in the thalamus are actively involved in processing cardiac and respiratory signals.</span></span></p><div data-content-ads-inserted="true" data-slot-rendered-content="true" id="text" style="background-color: white; border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; overflow: visible !important;"><p data-slot-rendered-content="true" style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">The human brain constantly receives information from the body, specifically from internal organs such as the heart and lungs. This information seldom reaches consciousness but is crucial for maintaining a healthy body and for influencing performance in the brain, including perception, emotion, and cognition. Now, researchers are investigating how exactly the brain processes the incoming stream of information from the heart and lungs, leading to a broader understanding of brain-body integration and the resulting health or disease.</span></p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Publishing their work in the <em style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box;">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</em> (<em style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box;">PNAS</em>), co-senior authors Vibhor Krishna, MD, associate professor of neurosurgery at the UNC School of Medicine; Ali Rezai, MD, director of the Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute and associate dean of neuroscience at the West Virginia School of Medicine; and Olaf Blanke, MD, PhD, director of the laboratory of cognitive neuroscience at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, discovered that specific neurons in the thalamus are actively involved in processing cardiac and respiratory signals.</span></p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">"Each heartbeat and every breath create a rich, incoming stream of sensory information for the human brain," said Krishna. "However, a deeper understanding of how the brain integrates this information has remained elusive. We have been interested in discovering how the human brain achieves the integration of cardio-respiratory information and whether its breakdown is linked to any disorders of the brain, heart, or lungs observed in the clinic."</span></p><p data-slot-rendered-content="true" style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Over the years, clinical and research teams collaborated to painstakingly study this integration using an established technique of microelectrode recording during deep brain stimulation surgery. Using a new approach to study single neurons in three different thalamic regions, the researchers were able to observe a direct functional involvement of thalamic and subthalamic neurons in processing cardio-respiratory signals. This information can help to better characterize how subcortical regions of the brain process signals through a functional pathway from internal organs.</span></p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">To complete this work, the research team took advantage of microelectrode recordings during deep brain stimulation for patients undergoing treatment for neurological conditions. The researchers then used these recordings to investigate the activity of single neurons related to cardiac and respiratory functions in three subcortical regions: ventral intermedius nucleus and ventral caudalis nucleus of the thalamus, and the subthalamic nucleus.</span></p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">They found that about 70% of the recorded neurons were modulated by either the heartbeat, the cardiac inter-beat interval, or the respiration.</span></p><div id="insertion_middle" style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box;"></div><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">These cardiac and respiratory response patterns varied largely across neurons both in terms of timing and their kind of modulation, the authors wrote. A substantial proportion of these visceral neurons -- about 30% -- were responsive to more than one of the tested signals, underlining specialization and integration of cardiac and respiratory signals in subthalamic nucleus and thalamic neurons.</span></p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">"We think our work will be significant for several medical specializations, including cardiology, pulmonology, neurology, psychiatry, and psychological research," Krishna said.</span></p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Rezai added, "Better understanding of the human brain is the next frontier. And interdisciplinary collaborations between functional neurosurgeons and neuroscientists will enable us to gain an unprecedented window into the inner functioning of the human brain."</span></p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Applauding this research as a significant step forward, Nelson Oyesiku, MD, PhD, chair of the UNC Department of Neurosurgery, said, "We understand that the brain maintains homeostasis throughout the body through direct neurological and endocrine regulation. This research reveals that the incoming information from the heart and lungs is processed in the thalamic and subthalamic brain regions, besides other regions, enabling our brain to effectively assume its role in regulating bodily functions."</span></p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Source: <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/03/240312133747.htm">ScienceDaily</a></span></p></div>CENTRAL LIBRARY- NEIGRIHMShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18323373576321059030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2381104226581120517.post-35827519026428609452024-03-19T11:30:00.000-07:002024-03-19T11:30:00.130-07:00How fear unfolds inside our brains<p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"> <span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">Our nervous systems are naturally wired to sense fear. Whether prompted by the eerie noises we hear alone in the dark or the approaching growl of a threatening animal, our fear response is a survival mechanism that tells us to remain alert and avoid dangerous situations.</span></span></p><div data-content-ads-inserted="true" data-slot-rendered-content="true" id="text" style="background-color: white; border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; overflow: visible !important;"><p data-slot-rendered-content="true" style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">But if fear arises in the absence of tangible threats, it can be harmful to our well-being. Those who have suffered episodes of severe or life-threatening stress can later experience intense feelings of fear, even during situations that lack a real threat. Experiencing this generalization of fear is psychologically damaging and can result in debilitating long-term mental health conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).</span></p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">The stress-induced mechanisms that cause our brain to produce feelings of fear in the absence of threats have been mostly a mystery. Now, neurobiologists at the University of California San Diego have identified the changes in brain biochemistry and mapped the neural circuitry that cause such a generalized fear experience. Their research, published in the journal <em style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box;">Science</em> on March 15, 2024, provides new insights into how fear responses could be prevented.</span></p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">In their report, former UC San Diego Assistant Project Scientist Hui-quan Li, (now a senior scientist at Neurocrine Biosciences), Atkinson Family Distinguished Professor Nick Spitzer of the School of Biological Sciences and their colleagues describe the research behind their discovery of the neurotransmitters -- the chemical messengers that allow the brain's neurons to communicate with one another -- at the root of stress-induced generalized fear.</span></p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Studying the brains of mice in an area known as the dorsal raphe (located in the brainstem), the researchers found that acute stress induced a switch in the chemical signals in the neurons, flipping from excitatory "glutamate" to inhibitory "GABA" neurotransmitters, which led to generalized fear responses.</span></p><p data-slot-rendered-content="true" style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">"Our results provide important insights into the mechanisms involved in fear generalization," said Spitzer, a member of UC San Diego's Department of Neurobiology and Kavli Institute for Brain and Mind. "The benefit of understanding these processes at this level of molecular detail -- what is going on and where it's going on -- allows an intervention that is specific to the mechanism that drives related disorders."</span></p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Building upon this new finding of a stress-induced switch in neurotransmitters, considered a form of brain plasticity, the researchers then examined the postmortem human brains of individuals who had suffered from PTSD. A similar glutamate-to-GABA neurotransmitter switch was confirmed in their brains as well.</span></p><div id="insertion_middle" style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box;"></div><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">The researchers next found a way to stop the production of generalized fear. Prior to the experience of acute stress, they injected the dorsal raphe of the mice with an adeno-associated virus (AAV) to suppress the gene responsible for synthesis of GABA. This method prevented the mice from acquiring generalized fear.</span></p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Further, when mice were treated with the antidepressant fluoxetine (branded as Prozac) immediately after a stressful event, the transmitter switch and subsequent onset of generalized fear were prevented.</span></p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Not only did the researchers identify the location of the neurons that switched their transmitter, but they demonstrated the connections of these neurons to the central amygdala and lateral hypothalamus, brain regions that were previously linked to the generation of other fear responses.</span></p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">"Now that we have a handle on the core of the mechanism by which stress-induced fear happens and the circuitry that implements this fear, interventions can be targeted and specific," said Spitzer.</span></p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Source: <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/03/240314145305.htm">ScienceDaily</a></span></p></div>CENTRAL LIBRARY- NEIGRIHMShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18323373576321059030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2381104226581120517.post-24802565740351838572024-03-18T11:30:00.000-07:002024-03-18T11:30:00.130-07:00A healthier diet is linked with a slower pace of aging, reduced dementia risk, study shows<p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"> <span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">A healthier diet is associated with a reduced dementia risk and slower pace of aging, according to a new study at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and The Robert Butler Columbia Aging Center. The findings show that a diet-dementia association was at least partially facilitated by multi-system processes of aging. While literature had suggested that people who followed a healthy diet experienced a slowdown in the processes of biological aging and were less likely to develop dementia, until now the biological mechanism of this protection was not well understood. The findings are published in the</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"> </span><em style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333;">Annals of Neurology.</em></span></p><div data-content-ads-inserted="true" id="text" style="background-color: white; border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; overflow: visible !important;"><p data-slot-rendered-content="true" style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">"Much attention to nutrition in dementia research focuses on the way specific nutrients affect the brain" said Daniel Belsky, PhD, associate professor of Epidemiology at Columbia School of Public Health and the Columbia Aging Center, and a senior author of the study.</span></p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">"We tested the hypothesis that healthy diet protects against dementia by slowing down the body's overall pace of biological aging."</span></p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">The researchers used data from the second generation of the Framingham Heart Study, the Offspring Cohort.</span></p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Originating in 1971, participants in the latter were 60 years of age or older, were free of dementia, and also had available dietary, epigenetic, and follow-up data.</span></p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">The Offspring Cohort were followed-up at nine examinations, approximately every 4 to 7 years.</span></p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">At each follow-up visit, data collection included a physical examination, lifestyle-related questionnaires, blood sampling, and, starting in 1991, neurocognitive testing.</span></p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Of 1,644 participants included in the analyses, 140 of the participants developed dementia.</span></p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">To measure the pace of aging, the researchers used an epigenetic clock called DunedinPACE developed by Belsky and colleagues at Duke University and the University of Otago.</span></p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">The clock measures how fast a person's body is deteriorating as they grow older, "like a speedometer for the biological processes of aging," explained Belsky.</span></p><p data-slot-rendered-content="true" style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">"We have some strong evidence that a healthy diet can protect against dementia," said Yian Gu, PhD, associate professor of Neurological Sciences at Columbia University Irving Medical Center and the other senior author of the study, "But the mechanism of this protection is not well understood." Past research linked both diet and dementia risk to an accelerated pace of biological aging.</span></p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">"Testing the hypothesis that multi-system biological aging is a mechanism of underlying diet-dementia associations was the logical next step," explained Belsky.</span></p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">The research determined that higher adherence to the Mediterranean-Dash Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay diet (MIND) slowed the pace of aging as measured by DunedinPACE and reduced risks for dementia and mortality.</span></p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Furthermore, slower DunedinPACE accounted for 27 percent of the diet-dementia association and 57 percent of the diet-mortality association.</span></p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">"Our findings suggest that slower pace of aging mediates part of the relationship of healthy diet with reduced dementia risk, and therefore, monitoring pace of aging may inform dementia prevention," said first author Aline Thomas, PhD, a Postdoc at the Columbia Department of Neurology and Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging Brain.</span></p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">"However, a portion of the diet-dementia association remains unexplained, therefore we believe that continued investigation of brain-specific mechanisms in well-designed mediation studies is warranted."</span></p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">"We suggest that additional observational studies be conducted to investigate direct associations of nutrients with brain aging, and if our observations are also confirmed in more diverse populations, monitoring biological aging, may indeed, inform dementia prevention," noted Belsky.</span></p><p data-slot-rendered-content="true" style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Co-authors are Calen Ryan and Jiayi Zhou, Columbia Aging Center; and Avshalom Caspi, Terrie Moffitt, and Karen Sugden, Duke University.</span></p><p data-slot-rendered-content="true" style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Source:<a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/03/240314122123.htm">ScienceDaily</a></span></p></div>CENTRAL LIBRARY- NEIGRIHMShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18323373576321059030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2381104226581120517.post-79422397088422166142024-03-17T11:30:00.000-07:002024-03-17T21:44:42.421-07:00Researchers identify gene involved in neuronal vulnerability in Alzheimer's disease<p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"> <span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">Early stages of neurodegenerative disorders are characterized by the accumulation of proteins in discrete populations of brain cells and degeneration of these cells. For most diseases, this selective vulnerability pattern is unexplained, yet it could yield major insight into pathological mechanisms. Alzheimer's disease (AD), the world-leading cause of dementia, is defined by the appearance of two hallmark pathological lesions, amyloid plaques (extracellular aggregates of Aβ peptides) and neurofibrillary tangles (intracellular aggregates of hyperphosphorylated tau, or NFTs). While plaques are widespread in the neocortex and hippocampus, NFTs follow a well-defined regional pattern that starts in principal neurons from the entorhinal cortex.</span></span></p><div data-content-ads-inserted="true" data-slot-rendered-content="true" id="text" style="background-color: white; border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; overflow: visible !important;"><p data-slot-rendered-content="true" style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">In a new study from Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, researchers have identified a gene they believe may lead to the degeneration of the neurons that are most vulnerable to AD.</span></p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">"We are trying to understand why certain neurons in the brain are particularly vulnerable during the earliest stages of AD. Why they accumulate and degenerate very early is unknown. We believe elucidating this vulnerability would allow for a new therapeutic avenue for AD," said corresponding author Jean-Pierre Roussarie, PhD, assistant professor of anatomy & neurobiology at the school.</span></p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">In collaboration with leading computational genomic experts from Rice University, the BU researchers along with co-corresponding author, Patricia Rodriguez-Rodriguez, PhD, from Karolinska Institute, used cutting-edge analysis tools with machine learning to identify the gene DEK as possibly responsible for vulnerability of entorhinal cortex neurons.</span></p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">They injected viruses into the entorhinal cortex of experimental models and neurons grown in the lab to manipulate levels of the DEK gene.</span></p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">When they reduced the levels of the DEK gene, vulnerable neurons started to accumulate tau and to degenerate.</span></p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">According to the researchers, preventing these neurons from degeneration by targeting DEK or proteins that collaborate with DEK, would prevent patients from developing memories loss and would curtail the disease before it spreads to larger areas of the brain.</span></p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">"Given that entorhinal cortex neurons are necessary for the formation of new memories and since they are so vulnerable and the first to die, this explains why the first symptom of AD is the inability to form new memories," said Roussarie.</span></p><p data-slot-rendered-content="true" style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">The researchers believe these findings are the first step in understanding how these fragile neurons die, yet they hope to uncover additional genes to fully understand what leads to the death of critical memory-forming neurons.</span></p><p data-slot-rendered-content="true" style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Source: <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/03/240311145830.htm">ScienceDaily</a></span></p></div>CENTRAL LIBRARY- NEIGRIHMShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18323373576321059030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2381104226581120517.post-84976898790691431022024-03-16T11:30:00.000-07:002024-03-16T11:30:00.364-07:00Interstellar signal linked to aliens was actually just a truck<p> <span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">Sound waves thought to be from a 2014 meteor fireball north of Papua New Guinea were almost certainly vibrations from a truck rumbling along a nearby road, new Johns Hopkins University-led research shows. The findings raise doubts that materials pulled last year from the ocean are alien materials from that meteor, as was widely reported.</span></p><div data-content-ads-inserted="true" data-slot-rendered-content="true" id="text" style="background-color: white; border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; overflow: visible !important;"><p data-slot-rendered-content="true" style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">"The signal changed directions over time, exactly matching a road that runs past the seismometer," said Benjamin Fernando, a planetary seismologist at Johns Hopkins who led the research."It's really difficult to take a signal and confirm it is not from something. But what we <em style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box;">can</em> do is show that there are lots of signals like this, and show they have all the characteristics we'd expect from a truck and none of the characteristics we'd expect from a meteor."</p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">The team will present its findings March 12 at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in Houston.</p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">After a meteor entered Earth's atmosphere over the Western Pacific in January 2014, the event was linked to ground vibrations recorded at a seismic station in Papua New Guinea's Manus Island.</p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">In 2023, materials at the bottom of the ocean near where the meteor fragments were thought to have fallen were identified as of "extraterrestrial technological" (alien) origin.</p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">sources:<a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/03/240307165128.htm">science daily</a></p></div>CENTRAL LIBRARY- NEIGRIHMShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18323373576321059030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2381104226581120517.post-70643255984514551322024-03-15T11:30:00.000-07:002024-03-15T11:30:00.173-07:00Balancing training data and human knowledge makes AI act more like a scientist<p> <span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">When you teach a child how to solve puzzles, you can either let them figure it out through trial and error, or you can guide them with some basic rules and tips. Similarly, incorporating rules and tips into AI training -- such as the laws of physics -- could make them more efficient and more reflective of the real world. However, helping the AI assess the value of different rules can be a tricky task.</span></p><div data-content-ads-inserted="true" data-slot-rendered-content="true" id="text" style="background-color: white; border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; overflow: visible !important;"><p data-slot-rendered-content="true" style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">Researchers report March 8 in the journal <em style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box;">Nexus </em>that they have developed a framework for assessing the relative value of rules and data in "informed machine learning models" that incorporate both. They showed that by doing"Embedding human knowledge into AI models has the potential to improve their efficiency and ability to make inferences, but the question is how to balance the influence of data and knowledge," says first author Hao Xu of Peking University. "Our framework can be employed to evaluate different knowledge and rules to enhance the predictive capability of deep learning models."</p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">Generative AI models like ChatGPT and Sora are purely data-driven -- the models are given training data, and they teach themselves via trial and error. However, with only data to work from, these systems have no way to learn physical laws, such as gravity or fluid dynamics, and they also struggle to perform in situations that differ from their training data. An alternative approach is informed machine learning, in which researchers provide the model with some underlying rules to help guide its training process, but little is known about the relative importance of rules vs data in driving model accuracy.</p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">"We are trying to teach AI models the laws of physics so that they can be more reflective of the real world, which would make them more useful in science and engineering," says senior author Yuntian Chen of the Eastern Institute of Technology, Ningbo.</p><p data-slot-rendered-content="true" style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">To improve the performance of informed machine learning, the team developed a framework to calculate the contribution of an individual rule to a given model's predictive accuracy. The researchers also examined interactions between different rules because most informed machine learning models incorporate multiple rules, and having too many rules can cause models to collapse.</p><div class="mv-ad-box" data-slotid="content_2_btf" style="align-items: center; background-attachment: initial !important; background-clip: initial !important; background-image: initial !important; background-origin: initial !important; background-position: initial !important; background-repeat: initial !important; background-size: initial !important; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238) !important; border-radius: 0px !important; border-top: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238) !important; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-direction: column; height: 464px; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 10px; overflow: visible !important; padding-top: 24px; position: relative; width: 414.219px;"><div class="mv-rail-frame-440" data-slotid="content_2_btf" style="align-items: center; background: transparent !important; border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; display: flex; flex-direction: column; height: 440px; justify-content: flex-start; margin: 0px; overflow: visible !important; position: relative; z-index: 1;"><div class="mv-rail-slide-440" data-slotid="content_2_btf" style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; height: 440px; margin-top: 0px; overflow: visible !important; place-content: center; width: 320px;"><div class="mv-rail-sticky-440" data-slotid="content_2_btf" style="align-content: center; border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-direction: column; height: 440px; margin: 0px; min-height: 50px; top: 60px; width: 320px;">This allowed them to optimize models by tweaking the relative influence of different rules and to filter out redundant or interfering rules entirely. They also identified some rules that worked synergistically and other rules that were completely dependent on the presence of other rules.</div></div></div></div><div id="insertion_middle" style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box;"></div><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">"We found that the rules have different kinds of relationships, and we use these relationships to make model training faster and get higher accuracy," says Chen.</p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">The researchers say that their framework has broad practical applications in engineering, physics, and chemistry. In the paper, they demonstrated the method's potential by using it to optimize machine learning models to solve multivariate equations and to predict the results of thin layer chromatography experiments and thereby optimize future experimental chemistry conditions.</p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">Next, the researchers plan to develop their framework into a plugin tool that can be used by AI developers. Ultimately, they also want to train their models so that the models can extract knowledge and rules directly from data, rather than having rules selected by human researchers.</p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">"We want to make it a closed loop by making the model into a real AI scientist," says Chen. "We are working to develop a model that can directly extract knowledge from the data and then use this knowledge to create rules and improve itself."</p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">This research was supported by the National Center for Applied Mathematics Shenzhen, the Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Natural Gas Hydrates, the SUSTech -- Qingdao New Energy Technology Research Institute, and the National Natural Science Foundation of China.</p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">sources:<a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/03/240308123245.htm">science daily</a></p></div>CENTRAL LIBRARY- NEIGRIHMShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18323373576321059030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2381104226581120517.post-35345274923099552932024-03-14T11:30:00.000-07:002024-03-14T11:30:00.242-07:00Researchers develop artificial building blocks of life<p> <span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">The DNA carries the genetic information of all living organisms and consists of only four different building blocks, the nucleotides. Nucleotides are composed of three distinctive parts: a sugar molecule, a phosphate group and one of the four nucleobases adenine, thymine, guanine and cytosine. The nucleotides are lined up millions of times and form the DNA double helix, similar to a spiral staircase. Scientists from the UoC's Department of Chemistry have now shown that the structure of nucleotides can be modified to a great extent in the laboratory.</span></p><div data-content-ads-inserted="true" id="text" style="background-color: white; border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; overflow: visible !important;"><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">The researchers developed so-called threofuranosyl nucleic acid (TNA) with a new, additional base pair.</p><p data-slot-rendered-content="true" style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">These are the first steps on the way to fully artificial nucleic acids with enhanced chemical functionalities.</p><div class="mv-ad-box" data-slotid="content_btf" style="align-items: center; background-attachment: initial !important; background-clip: initial !important; 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height: 20px; width: 20px;" /></mv-ad-reporter></div><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">The study 'Expanding the Horizon of the Xeno Nucleic Acid Space: Threose Nucleic Acids with Increased Information Storage' was published in the <em style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box;">Journal of the American Chemical Society</em>.</p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">Artificial nucleic acids differ in structure from their originals.</p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">These changes affect their stability and function. "Our threofuranosyl nucleic acid is more stable than the naturally occurring nucleic acids DNA and RNA, which brings many advantages for future therapeutic use," said Professor Dr Stephanie Kath-Schorr.</p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">For the study, the 5-carbon sugar deoxyribose, which forms the backbone in DNA, was replaced by a 4-carbon sugar.</p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">In addition, the number of nucleobases was increased from four to six.</p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">By exchanging the sugar, the TNA is not recognized by the cell's own degradation enzymes.</p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">This has been a problem with nucleic acid-based therapeutics, as synthetically produced RNA that is introduced into a cell is rapidly degraded and loses its effect.</p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">The introduction of TNAs into cells that remain undetected could now maintain the effect for longer.</p><p data-slot-rendered-content="true" style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">"In addition, the built-in unnatural base pair enables alternative binding options to target molecules in the cell," added Hannah Depmeier, lead author of the study. Kath-Schorr is certain that such a function can be used in particular in the development of new aptamers, short DNA or RNA sequences, which can be used for the targeted control of cellular mechanisms. TNAs could also be used for the targeted transport of drugs to specific organs in the body (targeted drug delivery) as well as in diagnostics;</p><p data-slot-rendered-content="true" style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">sources:<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/2381104226581120517/3534527492309955293">science daily</a></p></div>CENTRAL LIBRARY- NEIGRIHMShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18323373576321059030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2381104226581120517.post-19715751939353058912024-03-13T11:30:00.000-07:002024-03-13T11:30:00.161-07:00Making quantum bits fly<p> <span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">Two physicists at the University of Konstanz are developing a method that could enable the stable exchange of information in quantum computers. In the leading role: photons that make quantum bits "fly."</span></p><div data-content-ads-inserted="true" id="text" style="background-color: white; border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; overflow: visible !important;"><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">Quantum computers are considered the next big evolutionary step in information technology.</p><p data-slot-rendered-content="true" style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">They are expected to solve computing problems that today's computers simply cannot solve -- or would take ages to do so. Research groups around the world are working on making the quantum computer a reality.</p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">This is anything but easy, because the basic components of such a computer, the quantum bits or qubits, are extremely fragile.</p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">One type of qubits consists of the intrinsic angular momentum (spin) of a single electron, i.e. they are at the scale of an atom.</p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">It is hard enough to keep such a fragile system intact. It is even more difficult to interconnect two or more of these qubits.</p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">So how can a stable exchange of information between qubits be achieved?</p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><strong style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box;">Flying qubits</strong></p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">The two Konstanz physicists Benedikt Tissot and Guido Burkard have now developed a theoretical model of how the information exchange between qubits could succeed by using photons as a "means of transport" for quantum information.</p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">sources:<a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/03/240306150647.htm">science daily</a></p></div>CENTRAL LIBRARY- NEIGRIHMShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18323373576321059030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2381104226581120517.post-14809197472658828552024-03-12T11:30:00.000-07:002024-03-12T11:30:00.138-07:00How one type of lung cancer can transform into another<p> <span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">Lung tumors called adenocarcinomas sometimes respond to initially effective treatments by transforming into a much more aggressive small cell lung cancer (SCLC) that spreads rapidly and has few options for treatment. Researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine have developed a mouse model that illuminates this problematic process, known as histological transformation. The findings advance the understanding of how mutated genes can trigger cancer evolution and suggest targets for more effective treatments.</span></p><div data-content-ads-inserted="true" data-slot-rendered-content="true" id="text" style="background-color: white; border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; overflow: visible !important;"><p data-slot-rendered-content="true" style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">The researchers, whose results were published Feb. 8 in <em style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box;">Science</em>, discovered that during the transition from lung adenocarcinoma to small cell lung cancer (SCLC), the mutated cells appeared to undergo a change in cell identity through an intermediate, stem cell-like state, which facilitated the transformation."It is very difficult to study this process in human patients. So my aim was to uncover the mechanism underlying the transformation of lung adenocarcinoma to small cell lung cancer in a mouse model," said study lead Dr. Eric Gardner, a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Harold Varmus, the Lewis Thomas University Professor of Medicine and a member of the Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center at Weill Cornell Medicine. The complex mouse model took several years to develop and characterize but has allowed the researchers to crack this difficult problem.</p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">This study was in collaboration with Dr. Ashley Laughney, assistant professor of physiology and biophysics and a member of the Meyer Cancer Center at Weill Cornell Medicine and Ethan Earlie, a graduate student in the Laughney lab and part of the Tri-Institutional Computational Biology and Medicine program.</p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">"It is well known that cancer cells continue to evolve, especially to escape the pressure of effective treatments," said Dr. Varmus. "This study shows how new technologies -- including the detection of molecular features of single cancer cells, combined with computer-based analysis of the data -- can portray dramatic, complex events in the evolution of lethal cancers, exposing new targets for therapeutic attack."</p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><strong style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box;">Catching Transformation in the Act</strong></p><p data-slot-rendered-content="true" style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">SCLC most commonly occurs in heavy smokers, but this type of tumor also develops in a significant number of patients with lung adenocarcinomas, particularly after treatment with therapies that target a protein called Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR), which promotes tumor growth. The new SCLC-type tumors are resistant to anti-EGFR therapy because their growth is fueled by a new cancer driver, high levels of Myc protein.</p><p data-slot-rendered-content="true" style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">sources:<a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/02/240208182344.htm">science daily</a></p></div>CENTRAL LIBRARY- NEIGRIHMShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18323373576321059030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2381104226581120517.post-15821325785859896052024-03-11T11:30:00.000-07:002024-03-11T11:30:00.325-07:00Scientists discover hidden army of lung flu fighters<p> <span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">A galaxy that suddenly stopped forming new stars more than 13 billion years ago has been observed by astronomers.</span></p><div data-content-ads-inserted="true" id="text" style="background-color: white; border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; overflow: visible !important;"><p data-slot-rendered-content="true" style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">Using the James Webb Space Telescope, an international team of astronomers led by the University of Cambridge have spotted a 'dead' galaxy when the universe was just 700 million years old, the oldest such galaxy ever observed.</p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">This galaxy appears to have lived fast and died young: star formation happened quickly and stopped almost as quickly, which is unexpected for so early in the universe's evolution. However, it is unclear whether this galaxy's 'quenched' state is temporary or permanent, and what caused it to stop forming new stars.</p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">The results, reported in the journal <em style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box;">Nature</em>, could be important to help astronomers understand how and why galaxies stop forming new stars, and whether the factors affecting star formation have changed over billions of years.</p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">"The first few hundred million years of the universe was a very active phase, with lots of gas clouds collapsing to form new stars," said Tobias Looser from the Kavli Institute for Cosmology, the paper's first author. "Galaxies need a rich supply of gas to form new stars, and the early universe was like an all-you-can-eat buffet."</p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">"It's only later in the universe that we start to see galaxies stop forming stars, whether that's due to a black hole or something else," said co-author Dr Francesco D'Eugenio, also from the Kavli Institute for Cosmology.</p><p style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">Astronomers believe that star formation can be slowed or stopped by different factors, all of which will starve a galaxy of the gas it needs to form new stars. Internal factors, such as a supermassive black hole or feedback from star formation, can push gas out of the galaxy, causing star formation to stop rapidly. Alternatively, gas can be consumed very quickly by star formation, without being promptly replenished by fresh gas from the surroundings of the galaxy, resulting in galaxy starvation.</p><div id="insertion_middle" style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box;"></div><p data-slot-rendered-content="true" style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">"We're not sure if any of those scenarios can explain what we've now seen with Webb," said co-author Professor Roberto Maiolino. "Until now, to understand the early universe, we've used models based on the modern universe. But now that we can see so much further back in time, and observe that the star formation was quenched so rapidly in this galaxy, models based on the modern universe may need to be revisited."</p><p data-slot-rendered-content="true" style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">sources:<a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/03/240306150612.htm">science daily</a></p><p data-slot-rendered-content="true" style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><br /></p></div>CENTRAL LIBRARY- NEIGRIHMShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18323373576321059030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2381104226581120517.post-91945450069513204832024-03-10T11:30:00.000-07:002024-03-10T21:15:14.341-07:00Genetic signature may predict response to immunotherapy for non-small cell lung cancer<p> <span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">A new study identified a set of 140 genes that may help predict enhanced disease-free survival in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treated with a combination of immunotherapy and low-dose radiation. The results, published in</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"> </span><em style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">Cell Reports Medicine</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">on Feb. 23, suggested that this "gene signature" could be used to identify a subclass of lung tumors that is more likely to be eradicated by immunotherapies.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Immunotherapy has saved countless lives but only 20 to 25 percent of patients respond to this treatment that activates a person's own immune system to attack their cancer.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Predicting who would benefit from this approach and why could help patients who have exhausted other options such as chemotherapy.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">Studying a cohort of 60 patients with NSCLC, the team determined previously that adding a low dose of radiation to a course of durvalumab, an immune-boosting drug, promoted cancer-free survival in most of these individuals.</p><p style="background-color: white; border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">Now, to assess why some tumors didn't respond to the therapy, the researchers examined pretreatment tumor biopsies from this study cohort.</p><p style="background-color: white; border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">They determined the gene expression profiles, which showed the specific genes that are turned up and those that turned down in each sample.</p><p style="background-color: white; border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">They compared the gene expression profiles of ten tumors that reached major pathologic response (MPR) -- the elimination of more than 90 percent of the cancer cells in patients' tumors -- with combination treatment versus six that did not.</p><p style="background-color: white; border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">They discovered the two groups of pretreatment tumors could be reliably distinguished by a set of genes with 135 of the genes turned up and 5 turned down.</p><p style="background-color: white; border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">The majority of the 135 genes were associated with enhanced cell growth, suggesting the tumors that responded to the dual therapy were particularly aggressive.</p><p style="background-color: white; border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">The researchers were also able to examine how the gene expression profile changed in the responsive cancers before and after treatment.</p><p data-slot-rendered-content="true" style="background-color: white; border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">They found that in tumors displaying MPR, dual therapy not only reversed the activity of this 140-gene set, it also increased the activation of genes associated with cellular pathways involved in immunity and tissue repair.</p><p data-slot-rendered-content="true" style="background-color: white; border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">sources:<a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/02/240223132840.htm">science daily</a></p><div class="mv-ad-box" data-slotid="content_2_btf" style="align-items: center; background-attachment: initial !important; background-clip: initial !important; background-color: white; background-image: initial !important; background-origin: initial !important; background-position: initial !important; background-repeat: initial !important; background-size: initial !important; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238) !important; border-radius: 0px !important; border-top: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238) !important; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; display: flex; flex-direction: column; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; height: 464px; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 10px; overflow: visible !important; padding-top: 24px; position: relative; width: 414.219px;"><div class="mv-rail-frame-440" data-slotid="content_2_btf" style="align-items: center; background: transparent !important; border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; display: flex; flex-direction: column; height: 440px; justify-content: flex-start; margin: 0px; overflow: visible !important; position: relative; z-index: 1;"><div class="mv-rail-slide-440" data-slotid="content_2_btf" style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; height: 440px; margin-top: 0px; overflow: visible !important; place-content: center; width: 320px;"></div></div></div>CENTRAL LIBRARY- NEIGRIHMShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18323373576321059030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2381104226581120517.post-68099937790636347902024-03-10T00:34:00.000-08:002024-03-22T01:41:13.684-07:00Types of anxiety disorder<p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> <span style="font-size: medium;">Everyone feels anxious from time to time, but people with anxiety disorders experience frequent and severe worry that disrupts their normal life</span><span style="font-size: 28px;">.</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In this article, we explore the different types of anxiety disorders along with management and coping techniques for anxiety.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a class="chartbeat-section" name="definition" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-weight: 700; outline-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">What is anxiety?</span></a></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Feeling anxiety before a specific event, such as a test, is normal.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Usually, anxiety is temporary. But someone with an anxiety disorder experiences regular, severe worry. The anxiety may be debilitating and prevent them from doing their normal activities.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a class="chartbeat-section" name="definition" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 38px; font-weight: 700; outline-width: 0px;"></a></p><div class="" data-placement="firstQuarter" data-testid="driver" id="md7efe9fb-4fba-494c-bab9-0ec341b176d0mpd_firstQuarter_c4241363-2f73-4d60-bdae-7f14ad3ad633" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; font-weight: 400;"><a class="chartbeat-section" name="definition" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 38px; font-weight: 700; outline-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></div></span></a></div><p></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Anxiety disorders are common. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, approximately<span> </span><hl-trusted-source class="css-ngo64e" rationale="Governmental authority" source="National Institute of Mental Health" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline;">19.1%<span class="css-1a8rnix icon-hl-trusted-source-after" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; text-decoration: none;"><span class="sro" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; height: 1px; left: -10000px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 1px;">Trusted Source</span></span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></span></hl-trusted-source><span> </span>of adults in the United States have an anxiety disorder.</span></p><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20;"><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; line-height: 42px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 45px; position: relative;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><a class="chartbeat-section" name="types" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">Types of anxiety disorder</span></a></div></h2></div><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">There are many types of anxiety disorders, which we describe here:</span></p><h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; color: #231f20; font-size: 26px; line-height: 30px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 35px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Agoraphobia</span></h3><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Agoraphobia is the fear of space where it is difficult to escape or receive help if something goes wrong.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 0px; line-height: 0;"></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">People with this type of phobia tend to avoid specific places or situations. For example, they might avoid crowds or public transport. Some people may become housebound in severe cases.</span></p><h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; color: #231f20; font-size: 26px; line-height: 30px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 35px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Generalized anxiety disorder</span></h3><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) involves constant worrying over everyday things. The anxiety might have <hl-trusted-source class="css-ngo64e" rationale="Governmental authority" source="National Institute of Mental Health" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline;">no clear<span class="css-1a8rnix icon-hl-trusted-source-after" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="sro" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; height: 1px; left: -10000px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 1px;">Trusted Source</span></span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></span></hl-trusted-source> cause or trigger. This chronic condition can cause trouble sleeping, irritability, and muscle tension.</span></p><h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; color: #231f20; font-size: 26px; line-height: 30px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 35px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Obsessive-compulsive disorder</span></h3><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) causes distressing, intrusive thoughts that a person may manage by carrying out repetitive behaviors that provide temporary relief.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><hl-trusted-source class="css-ngo64e" rationale="Governmental authority" source="National Institute of Mental Health" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline;">Examples<span class="css-1a8rnix icon-hl-trusted-source-after" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="sro" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; height: 1px; left: -10000px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 1px;">Trusted Source</span></span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></span></hl-trusted-source> include compulsively washing the hands in fear of contamination. If a person does not perform the compulsion, they may feel more anxious as a result.</span></p><h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; color: #231f20; font-size: 26px; line-height: 30px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 35px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Phobias</span></h3><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Agoraphobia is one type of phobia, or fear. However, many other phobias exist. Some are common and relatively mild, such as a fear of spiders, or arachnophobia. Others may be more disruptive to a person’s life.</span></p><h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; color: #231f20; font-size: 26px; line-height: 30px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 35px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Panic disorder</span></h3><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Those with panic disorder are prone to panic attacks. These panic attacks cause physical symptoms similar to a heart attack.</span></p><h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; color: #231f20; font-size: 26px; line-height: 30px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 35px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Post-traumatic stress disorder</span></h3><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can develop after a person experiences trauma. For example, someone may develop PTSD after an accident, assault, or a natural disaster.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In some people, symptoms are <hl-trusted-source class="css-ngo64e" rationale="Governmental authority" source="National Institute of Mental Health" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline;">temporary<span class="css-1a8rnix icon-hl-trusted-source-after" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="sro" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; height: 1px; left: -10000px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 1px;">Trusted Source</span></span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></span></hl-trusted-source>. But others will experience PTSD over long periods.</span></p><h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; color: #231f20; font-size: 26px; line-height: 30px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 35px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Selective mutism</span></h3><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">People who have this rare disorder avoid speaking, despite having the ability to do so. Those with selective mutism are <hl-trusted-source class="css-ngo64e" rationale="Governmental authority" source="National Institute of Mental Health" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline;">typically<span class="css-1a8rnix icon-hl-trusted-source-after" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="sro" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; height: 1px; left: -10000px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 1px;">Trusted Source</span></span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></span></hl-trusted-source> very shy. They fear social judgment and embarrassment.</span></p><h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; color: #231f20; font-size: 26px; line-height: 30px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 35px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Separation anxiety</span></h3><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Separation anxiety is <hl-trusted-source class="css-ngo64e" rationale="Governmental authority" source="National Institute of Mental Health" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline;">common<span class="css-1a8rnix icon-hl-trusted-source-after" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="sro" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; height: 1px; left: -10000px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 1px;">Trusted Source</span></span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></span></hl-trusted-source> in children, but adults also experience it.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">People with this type of anxiety disorder have an intense fear of separation from the people who are close to them in their lives.</span></p><h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; color: #231f20; font-size: 26px; line-height: 30px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 35px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Social anxiety disorder</span></h3><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">People with this anxiety disorder have an intense fear of social interactions. They <hl-trusted-source class="css-ngo64e" rationale="Governmental authority" source="National Institute of Mental Health" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline;">typically<span class="css-1a8rnix icon-hl-trusted-source-after" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="sro" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; height: 1px; left: -10000px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 1px;">Trusted Source</span></span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></span></hl-trusted-source> fear social humiliation and worry about judgment from others.</span></p><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20;"><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; line-height: 42px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 45px; position: relative;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><a class="chartbeat-section" name="anxiety-attacks" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">What is an anxiety attack?</span></a></div></h2></div><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">An anxiety or panic attack involves a sudden burst of intense anxiety that produces physical symptoms. The symptoms might include difficulty breathing, chest pain, and dizziness.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Some people use the terms anxiety attack and panic attack interchangeably. Panic attacks can last as long as anywhere from 5–30 minutes.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Having a panic attack is frightening, and people who experience them are usually fearful of triggering another. Some people go to great lengths to avoid certain situations that might produce another episode.</span></p><h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; color: #231f20; font-size: 26px; line-height: 30px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 35px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Symptoms of a panic attack</span></h3><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Symptoms of a panic attack are not life threatening despite their intensity. They include:</span></p><ul style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; list-style-image: url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg width='10' height='10' xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%3E%3Ccircle cx='5' cy='5' r='2.5' fill='%23000'/%3E%3C/svg%3E");"><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">sweating</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">shaking</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">trembling</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">dizziness</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">panting and shortness of breath</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">nausea</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">heart palpitations</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">increased heart rate</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">depersonalization</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">hot and cold flushes</span></li></ul><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 0px; line-height: 0;"></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Some people experience these kinds of symptoms with their regular anxiety. What makes a panic attack different is how intense and sudden the physical sensations are.</span></p><div data-preamp="serena-chatbot" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></div><div class="css-20w1gi" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; margin: 40px auto 30px; min-height: 90px; width: 728px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 0px; line-height: 0;"></span></span><aside class="css-0 css-0" data-sticky="false" data-testid="sticky-inline-ad" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="css-1sq15os" data-empty="true" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; min-height: 90px; position: relative; text-align: center; width: 728px; z-index: 0;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; text-align: start;"><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; line-height: 42px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 45px; position: relative;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><a class="chartbeat-section" name="causes" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">Causes of anxiety</span></a></div></h2></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 0px; line-height: 0; text-align: start;"></span></span><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The causes of anxiety are complex. Some potential causes of an anxiety disorder might include:</span></p><ul style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; list-style-image: url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg width='10' height='10' xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%3E%3Ccircle cx='5' cy='5' r='2.5' fill='%23000'/%3E%3C/svg%3E"); text-align: start;"><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Environment:</span> A person’s life experiences, upbringing, and home environment have a significant impact on whether someone develops anxiety. A 2014 study suggests that some parenting styles increase the risk of anxiety disorders.</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Genetics: </span>People with a family history of anxiety disorders are more likely to develop one.</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Health conditions: </span>Some health problems might cause anxiety symptoms, such as <hl-trusted-source class="css-ngo64e" rationale="Governmental authority" source="National Institute of Mental Health" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline;">thyroid or heart conditions<span class="css-1a8rnix icon-hl-trusted-source-after" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer;"><span class="sro" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; height: 1px; left: -10000px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 1px;">Trusted Source</span></span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></span></hl-trusted-source>.</span></li></ul><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Females are also <hl-trusted-source class="css-ngo64e" rationale="Governmental authority" source="Department of Health and Human Services" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline;">more likely<span class="css-1a8rnix icon-hl-trusted-source-after" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="sro" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; height: 1px; left: -10000px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 1px;">Trusted Source</span></span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></span></hl-trusted-source> than males to develop an anxiety disorder.</span></p><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; text-align: start;"><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; line-height: 42px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 45px; position: relative;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><a class="chartbeat-section" name="treatment" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">Treatments</span></a></div></h2></div><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">There are effective treatment options for anxiety disorders. The type of treatment will vary depending on the anxiety disorder.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Some anxiety treatments include:</span></p><h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; color: #231f20; font-size: 26px; line-height: 30px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 35px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Psychotherapy</span></h3><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Talk therapies, such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), are a standard treatment for anxiety disorders.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">CBT teaches individuals with anxiety to approach their anxious feelings and thoughts differently. CBT can also involve exposure therapy for treating phobias, which means a person gradually and intentionally exposing themselves to their fear.</span></p><h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; color: #231f20; font-size: 26px; line-height: 30px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 35px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Medications</span></h3><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In some cases, medications, such as antidepressants and anti-anxiety medication, may help <hl-trusted-source class="css-ngo64e" rationale="Governmental authority" source="National Institute of Mental Health" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline;">reduce the symptoms<span class="css-1a8rnix icon-hl-trusted-source-after" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="sro" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; height: 1px; left: -10000px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 1px;">Trusted Source</span></span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></span></hl-trusted-source> of an anxiety disorder. These are helpful for people who have severe symptoms.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 0px; line-height: 0;"></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A doctor may prescribe beta-blockers to someone with panic disorder. Beta-blockers can help with the physical symptoms of anxiety, such as rapid heartbeat and shaking.</span></p><div class="css-0" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; text-align: start;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; line-height: 42px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 45px; position: relative;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><a class="chartbeat-section" name="management" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">Management</span></a></div></h2></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 0px; line-height: 0; line-height: 0;"></span></span><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Some self-care strategies can help a person manage anxiety in their daily life. People with severe anxiety should not use these methods to replace help from a mental health professional.</span></p><h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-size: 26px; line-height: 30px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 35px;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Support groups</span></span></h3><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Support groups can provide people with anxiety a place to talk about their experiences with others who understand their condition. Additionally, being involved in spiritual groups that focus on compassion and forgiveness may help some people with anxiety.</span></p><h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-size: 26px; line-height: 30px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 35px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Relaxation techniques</span></h3><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Activities that calm the nervous system can help ease anxiety, such as:</span></p><ul style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; list-style-image: url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg width='10' height='10' xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%3E%3Ccircle cx='5' cy='5' r='2.5' fill='%23000'/%3E%3C/svg%3E");"><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">spending time in nature</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">meditation and mindfulness</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">activities a person finds fun</span></li></ul><h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-size: 26px; line-height: 30px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 35px;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Lifestyle changes</span></span></h3><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Substances such as caffeine and some nutritional deficiencies can make anxiety worse. Additionally, getting enough exercise and eating a nutrient-rich diet can help to reduce it.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A person with an anxiety disorder may feel some benefits from:</span></p><ul style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; list-style-image: url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg width='10' height='10' xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%3E%3Ccircle cx='5' cy='5' r='2.5' fill='%23000'/%3E%3C/svg%3E");"><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">reducing caffeine intake</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">focusing on eating whole foods, such as fruits, vegetables, and fish</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">getting regular exercise</span></li></ul></div><div class="css-0" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 0px; line-height: 0; line-height: 0;"></span></span><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; line-height: 42px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 45px; position: relative;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><a class="chartbeat-section" name="summary" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">Summary</span></a></div></h2></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 0px; line-height: 0; line-height: 0;"></span></span><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Anxiety is a normal reaction to stress and change, but anxiety disorders are highly disruptive conditions. There are many types of anxiety disorder, including PTSD, OCD, GAD, and phobias.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Treatment for an anxiety disorder might include a combination of therapy and medication. People should seek help for anxiety that regularly affects their normal life.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Source - <a href="https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/2381104226581120517/6809993779063634790">Medical News Today</a></span></p></div><div class="css-1hjaa0k" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-family: "Proxima Nova", "Proxima Nova Fallback", sans-serif; font-size: 18px; position: fixed;"></div></div></div></aside></div>CENTRAL LIBRARY- NEIGRIHMShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18323373576321059030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2381104226581120517.post-44944058484405671492024-03-08T23:29:00.000-08:002024-03-22T01:33:59.849-07:0012 Best Meal Delivery Services for Families On this page<p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"> The best meal delivery services for families offer a range of menu options and serving sizes. They also let people customize meals based on dietary preferences, which is especially important when finding suitable meals for children.</span></p><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; line-height: 42px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 45px; position: relative;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><a class="chartbeat-section" name="A-quick-look-at-the-best-meal-delivery-for-families" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">A quick look at the best meal delivery for families</span></a></div></h2></div><ul style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; list-style-image: url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg width='10' height='10' xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%3E%3Ccircle cx='5' cy='5' r='2.5' fill='%23000'/%3E%3C/svg%3E");"><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Best for all ages: </span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 0px; line-height: 0;"></span>Hello Fresh | <em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;">Skip to review</em></span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Best for dietary requirements: </span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 0px; line-height: 0;"></span>Sunbasket | <em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;">Skip to review</em></span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Best for vegans: </span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 0px; line-height: 0;"></span>Purple Carrot | <em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;">Skip to review</em></span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Best for microwave meals: </span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 0px; line-height: 0;"></span>Factor | <em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;">Skip to review</em></span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Best organic: </span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 0px; line-height: 0;"></span>Green Chef | <em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;">Skip to review</em></span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Best for older kids: </span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 0px; line-height: 0;"></span>Nurture Life | <em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;">Skip to review</em></span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Best for minimal preparation: </span>Dinnerly | <em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;">Skip to review</em></span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Best for quick meals: </span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 0px; line-height: 0;"></span>Gobble | <em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;">Skip to review</em></span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Best for palate exposure: </span>Little Spoon | <em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;">Skip to review</em></span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Best grocery service: </span>HungryRoot | <em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;">Skip to review</em></span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Best for amateur cooks: </span>EveryPlate | <em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;">Skip to review</em></span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Best for babies: </span>Yumi | <em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;">Skip to review </em></span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></em></li></ul><p><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0px; line-height: 0;"></span></p><div data-placement="firstQuarter" data-testid="driver" id="m03ce2158-bc9a-44c0-8561-1dc16803a0c8mpd_firstQuarter_820d5ab7-0c42-4bef-b6e5-4041d27cc680" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="css-1cg0byz" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; margin: 40px auto 30px; min-height: 90px; width: 728px;"><aside class="css-0 css-0" data-sticky="false" data-testid="sticky-inline-ad" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="css-9was16" data-empty="true" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; margin: auto; min-height: 90px; position: relative; text-align: center; width: 728px; z-index: 0;"><div class="css-1hjaa0k" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; position: fixed;"></div><div class="css-itezwm" data-ad="true" data-adbridg-ad-class-ctr="1" data-adbridg-ad-class-loaded="dlb_mpd" data-adbridg-phase="detected@5376ms;gpt_define@5378ms;gpt_render:138319457930@11954ms;gpt_view@55458ms" data-google-query-id="COXGxqWsh4UDFeaJZgIdW_8OWQ" id="dlb_firstQuarter_mpd__slot" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; justify-content: center; min-height: 90px; width: 728px;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; text-align: start;"><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; line-height: 42px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 45px; position: relative;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><a class="chartbeat-section" name="top-family-meal-delivery" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">Top meal delivery services for families</span></a></div></h2></div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 18px;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 0px; line-height: 0; text-align: start;"></span></span><p class="responsive" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px; text-align: start;"><em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Please note that the writer of this article has not tried these products. All information presented is purely research-based and correct at the time of publication.</span></em></p><p class="responsive" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px; text-align: start;"><em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Medical News Today follows a strict product selection and vetting process. Learn more here.</span></em></p><h3 class=" responsive" id="hello-fresh" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-size: 26px; line-height: 30px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 35px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Best for all ages: <span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 0px; line-height: 0;"></span>Hello Fresh</span></h3><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; text-align: start;"><br /></div><ul style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; list-style-image: url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg width='10' height='10' xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%3E%3Ccircle cx='5' cy='5' r='2.5' fill='%23000'/%3E%3C/svg%3E"); text-align: start;"><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Price:</span> <span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">$8.99–12.49</span> per serving</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Meals per week:</span> 2–6</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Dietary requirements: </span>vegetarian, pescatarian, and low carb</span></li></ul><p class="responsive" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Hello Fresh offers a variety of meals according to a set of preferences that the user opts for, including a <span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 0px; line-height: 0;"></span>vegetarian meal plan, with a range of chef-designed recipes that vary in cooking times.</span></p><p class="responsive" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Other options include meats, pescatarian, quick and easy, and family-friendly. Hello Fresh changes its menu of over 100 options every week.</span></p><p class="responsive" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">People can choose from 2–6 meals per week, with two or four servings per meal. These include breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks.</span></p><p class="responsive" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The more a person orders, the lower each meal costs. This could suit families who need to place large orders.</span></p><p class="responsive" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Meal examples include:</span></p><ul style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; list-style-image: url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg width='10' height='10' xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%3E%3Ccircle cx='5' cy='5' r='2.5' fill='%23000'/%3E%3C/svg%3E"); text-align: start;"><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Thai coconut curry chicken with cilantro lime cauliflower rice</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Grilled onion cheeseburgers with special sauce and potato wedges</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Sweet and smoky pulled pork lettuce wraps with pineapple pico de gallo and tortilla chips</span></li></ul><p class="responsive" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Aside from vegetarians, Hello Fresh also caters to those who want a more balanced diet, such as a Mediterranean, and people following a low-carbohydrate lifestyle.</span></p><p class="responsive" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">However, the range for these specific diets is quite small, and the company produces meals in a facility that processes common allergens, such as eggs, milk, shellfish, and soy. The brand also doesn’t offer vegan options at this time.</span></p><div class="css-vvlmiw" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 35px;"><h3 class="icon-hl-check-thin css-4c0yvm" style="-webkit-box-align: baseline; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; align-items: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; display: flex; font-size: 26px; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.1; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Pros</span></h3><div class="css-slwzda" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><ul class="pro-con--pro-list" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; list-style-image: url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg width='10' height='10' xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%3E%3Ccircle cx='5' cy='5' r='2.5' fill='%23000'/%3E%3C/svg%3E"); margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-left: 20px;"><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px; padding-left: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">wide variety of recipes</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px; padding-left: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">healthy options available</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">easy to prepare meals</span></li></ul></div></div><div class="css-xqvouu" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px;"><h3 class="icon-hl-close-thin css-4c0yvm" style="-webkit-box-align: baseline; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; align-items: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; display: flex; font-size: 26px; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.1; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Cons</span></h3><div class="css-slwzda" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><ul class="pro-con--con-list" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; list-style-image: url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg width='10' height='10' xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%3E%3Ccircle cx='5' cy='5' r='2.5' fill='%23000'/%3E%3C/svg%3E"); margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-left: 20px;"><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: #f7f7f7; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px; padding-left: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">no vegan options</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: #f7f7f7; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px; padding-left: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">fewer options for those with allergies</span></li></ul><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div><h3 class=" responsive" id="sunbasket" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-size: 26px; line-height: 30px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 35px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Best for dietary requirements: <span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 0px; line-height: 0;"></span>Sunbasket</span></h3><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><ul style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; list-style-image: url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg width='10' height='10' xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%3E%3Ccircle cx='5' cy='5' r='2.5' fill='%23000'/%3E%3C/svg%3E"); text-align: start;"><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Price:</span> <span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">$9.99–11.49</span> per serving</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Meals per week:</span> 2–5</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Dietary requirements: </span>paleo, vegetarian, gluten-free, keto-friendly, low-carb, diabetes-friendly, and pescatarian</span></li></ul><p class="responsive" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Sunbasket offers sustainable fresh ingredients and is certified organic by the Department of Agriculture (USDA).</span></p><p class="responsive" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">One of the upsides of Sunbasket in comparison to alternatives is its vast choice for people on different diets.</span></p><p class="responsive" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Recipes also offer some child-friendly preparation activities, such as juicing a lemon.</span></p><p class="responsive" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Sunbasket caters for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks. The menu varies weekly, and people can often choose from different sides.</span></p><p class="responsive" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Meal examples include:</span></p><ul style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; list-style-image: url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg width='10' height='10' xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%3E%3Ccircle cx='5' cy='5' r='2.5' fill='%23000'/%3E%3C/svg%3E"); text-align: start;"><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Burmese salmon salad with lemongrass, cabbage, and apple</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Latin-spiced sole with warm carrot salad and pumpkin seed dukkah</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Spaghetti and meatballs in basil marinara sauce</span></li></ul><p class="responsive" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Even though Sunbasket offers gluten-free specialty meals, it prepares its food in a facility that handles wheat. As such, it warns people with severe gluten intolerance that it may not suit them.</span></p><p class="responsive" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">People can choose 2–5 meals per week, with two or four servings per meal. The cost of each meal reduces as people increase their order size. This could benefit families who need to order several meals. People can choose between meal kits and ready-to-eat meals.</span></p><p class="responsive" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Prices vary depending on whether people choose ready meals or meal kits and the above options.</span></p><p class="responsive" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Source - <a href="https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/2381104226581120517/4494405848440567149">Medical News Today</a></span></p></div><ul class="pro-con--con-list" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; list-style-image: url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg width='10' height='10' xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%3E%3Ccircle cx='5' cy='5' r='2.5' fill='%23000'/%3E%3C/svg%3E"); margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-left: 20px;"><li></li></ul></div></div></div></div></div></aside></div></div></div></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><figure class="css-p7pvwt" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 30px auto; max-width: 1298px;"><span class="css-rwmw5v" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: block; line-height: 0; outline: none; position: relative; text-align: center; user-select: none; z-index: 0;"><span class="css-1vx41wg" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: block; padding-bottom: 420.641px; position: relative;"><picture class="css-16pk1is" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 0;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><source media="(min-width: 1190px)" srcset="//i0.wp.com/post.medicalnewstoday.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2020/12/486012-What-are-the-best-meal-delivery-services-for-families-1296x728-Header-cedd88-1024x574.jpg?w=1575 750w" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></source><source media="(min-width: 990px)" srcset="//i0.wp.com/post.medicalnewstoday.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2020/12/486012-What-are-the-best-meal-delivery-services-for-families-1296x728-Header-cedd88-1024x574.jpg?w=1575 750w" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></source><source media="(min-width: 768px)" srcset="//i0.wp.com/post.medicalnewstoday.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2020/12/486012-What-are-the-best-meal-delivery-services-for-families-1296x728-Header-cedd88-1024x574.jpg?w=1845 879w" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></source><br /></span></picture></span></span></figure></div><div class="css-20w1gi" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; margin: 40px auto 30px; min-height: 90px; width: 728px;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0px; line-height: 0;"></span><aside class="css-0 css-0" data-sticky="false" data-testid="sticky-inline-ad" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="css-1sq15os" data-empty="true" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; min-height: 90px; position: relative; text-align: center; width: 728px; z-index: 0;"><div class="css-1hjaa0k" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-family: "Proxima Nova", "Proxima Nova Fallback", sans-serif; font-size: 18px; position: fixed;"></div></div></div></aside></div>CENTRAL LIBRARY- NEIGRIHMShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18323373576321059030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2381104226581120517.post-28602877807978341802024-03-07T23:22:00.000-08:002024-03-22T00:27:42.128-07:00Apple cider vinegar may help with weight management<p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></p><ul style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; list-style-image: url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg width='10' height='10' xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%3E%3Ccircle cx='5' cy='5' r='2.5' fill='%23000'/%3E%3C/svg%3E");"><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Several food choices and lifestyle habits contribute to healthy weight management.</span></span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Researchers are seeking to understand specific foods that may help people maintain an appropriate weight.</span></span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A recent study found that regular consumption of apple cider vinegar may have several benefits, including reducing weight, body fat ratio, cholesterol, and blood glucose levels.</span></span></li></ul><div data-preamp="serena-chatbot" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px;"></div><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Maintaining a healthy weight can be challenging. People may utilize a number of strategies to assist with weight loss.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">One such strategy of interest is the regular consumption of apple cider vinegar. Apple cider vinegar has many potential health benefits, and it is a highly popular item, used by consumers in foods and even in hair and skin routines.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A study published in <em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;">BMJ Nutrition, Prevention & Health</em> found that apple cider vinegar appeared to have weight management benefits among young adults with overweight or obesity.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Participants in the intervention group experienced a greater reduction weight, in waist-to-hip circumference, body mass index, and body fat ratio.</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">They also had lower blood sugar, triglyceride, and cholesterol readings. The results point to the potential benefits of apple cider vinegar in weight management.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Future research must confirm these findings and see how apple cider vinegar consumption may help individuals in other groups.</span></p><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; color: #231f20; line-height: 42px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 45px; position: relative;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><a class="chartbeat-section" name="15-ml-of-apple-cider-vinegar-a-day-may-bring-the-most-benefits" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">15 ml of apple cider vinegar a day may bring the most benefits</span></a></div></h2><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The study was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study that included Lebanese adolescents and young adults between the ages of 12 and 25. Participants were not on medications and did not have any chronic diseases.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Researchers recruited a total of 120 participants with overweight or obesity, and divided them into four groups. One group received the placebo, and the other three received a specific dose of apple cider vinegar — either 5, 10, or 15 milliliters (ml) diluted in water daily.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Other than this intervention, participants continued their normal diets and recorded what they ate.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Researchers collected data on body measurements and blood samples every 4 weeks. The study intervention lasted 12 weeks.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The study found that all amounts of apple cider vinegar improved weight components. Overall, all the intervention groups experienced weight, body mass index (BMI), waist-to-hip circumference, and body fat ratio reductions.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The intervention groups also had lower blood sugar, triglycerides, and total cholesterol levels, with the group receiving 15 ml of apple cider vinegar showing the greatest reductions.</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The results did appear to be influenced by dose, with the group receiving the highest dose of apple cider vinegar showing the most significant reduction in weight and body mass index.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">However, all intervention groups experienced similar reductions in waist-to-hip and body fat ratios. Participants did not experience any adverse or harmful effects because of the intervention.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The results point to a potential intervention to assist with weight loss. Study author Dr. Rony Abou-Khalil, head of the Biology Department at the Holy Spirit University of Kasik — Lebanon, explained to <em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;">Medical News Today</em>:</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 0px; line-height: 0;"></span></span></p><blockquote class="css-34gtoi" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: #f7f7f7; border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 4px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-top-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin: 30px 0px; padding: 26px 30px;"><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“The results of our study suggest that incorporating apple cider vinegar into the diet could be a beneficial adjunctive therapy for weight management in adolescents and young adults with overweight and obesity. Healthcare providers may consider recommending [apple cider vinegar] supplementation as part of a comprehensive weight loss program, alongside dietary and lifestyle modifications. However, further research is needed to confirm these findings and determine the optimal dosage and duration of [apple cider vinegar] supplementation.</span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b> <a class="chartbeat-section" name="Adolescent-bodies-change:-Would-the-findings-apply-to-older-adults?" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Adolescent bodies change: Would the findings apply to older adults?</span></a></b></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 0px; line-height: 0;"></span></span><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The research did face certain limitations, which the authors acknowledge. Firstly, the researchers focused on a specific population, meaning we may not be able to generalize the results.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Secondly, study also only lasted 12 weeks, so future research could have a longer follow-up timeframe and include more participants.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Finally, some data relied on participants’ reports, which are not always precise. Blood sugar measurements involved looking at fasting blood sugar levels rather than an <hl-trusted-source class="css-ngo64e" rationale="Governmental authority" source="Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline;">a1c test<span class="css-1a8rnix icon-hl-trusted-source-after" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="sro" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; height: 1px; left: -10000px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 1px;">Trusted Source</span></span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></span></hl-trusted-source>, so more research may be required to determine the long-term effect of apple cider vinegar on blood sugar.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Registered dietitian and nutritionist Karen Z. Berg, not involved in this research, commented on the findings for <em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;">Medical News Today</em>. According to her, this is “a strong study since it’s a double-blind placebo controlled study, and researchers nor participants knew which dose of [apple cider vinegar] they were taking.”</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“To me the only negative of this study is the age group,” said Berg. “The ages of participants were 12–25 years […]. That is a very transformative time in one’s life, where the body is changing a lot, growth spurts are happening, and the metabolism functioning pretty quickly,” she cautioned.</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“But since the placebo group and intervention group had similar ages, and they could compare people who got [apple cider vinegar] and the people who didn’t and saw no changes in the placebo group, that’s good to note,” Berg added.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Reflecing on potential areas for continued research, Dr. Abou-Khalil noted that “[f]uture research […] could investigate the mechanisms underlying the effects of [apple cider vinegar] on weight and metabolic health, explore potential differences in response to [apple cider vinegar] supplementation based on individual characteristics, such as age, gender, and baseline metabolic status, and assess the long-term safety and sustainability of [apple cider vinegar] use for weight management.”</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Additionally, studies comparing [apple cider vinegar] to other weight loss interventions or examining its efficacy in combination with other dietary supplements could provide valuable insights into its role in obesity management,” he said.</span></p><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; color: #231f20; line-height: 42px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 45px; position: relative;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><a class="chartbeat-section" name="Why-is-managing-weight-important-for-health?" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">Why is managing weight important for health?</span></a></div></h2><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Maintaining a healthy weight is a critical component of well-being. It helps reduce the risk for certain <hl-trusted-source class="css-ngo64e" rationale="Governmental authority" source="National Heart Lung and Blood Institute " style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline;">chronic conditions<span class="css-1a8rnix icon-hl-trusted-source-after" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="sro" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; height: 1px; left: -10000px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 1px;">Trusted Source</span></span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></span></hl-trusted-source>, such as high blood pressure and diabetes. People can seek to maintain a healthy weight by exercising regularly.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Diet is another critical component of weight management. People can follow certain <hl-trusted-source class="css-ngo64e" rationale="Highly respected database from the National Institutes of Health" source="PubMed Central" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline;">dietary patterns<span class="css-1a8rnix icon-hl-trusted-source-after" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="sro" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; height: 1px; left: -10000px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 1px;">Trusted Source</span></span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></span></hl-trusted-source> that assist with weight loss, although effectiveness can vary. The focus is often on limiting calories and focusing on the type and quality of food consumed.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Kalyn True, a registered dietician with Memorial Hermann in Houston, TX, not involved in the current study, explained to <em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;">MNT</em> that “[w]eight management is important for a variety of reasons, including both physical and mental health benefits.”</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">According to her, this is because a healthy weight:</span></p><blockquote class="css-34gtoi" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: #f7f7f7; border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 4px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-top-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin: 30px 0px; padding: 26px 30px;"><ul style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; list-style-image: url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg width='10' height='10' xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%3E%3Ccircle cx='5' cy='5' r='2.5' fill='%23000'/%3E%3C/svg%3E");"><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“<span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Reduces [the] risk of chronic diseases:</span> Being overweight or obese increases the risk of developing many serious health conditions, such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, stroke, some cancers, and sleep apnea. Maintaining a healthy weight can significantly lower risk of these diseases.</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Improves physical health:</span> [Weight management] leads to increased energy levels, improved mobility and flexibility, and reduced stress on the joints.</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Boosts mental well-being</span>: [It] can improve self-esteem and body image and reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety.</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Better overall quality of life: </span>[People with a healthy body weight] find it easier to participate in physical activities and have more energy for work, family, and social activities.”</span></li></ul></blockquote><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">As for using apple cider vinegar for weight loss, Berg explained that, while it may bring some health benefits, we are still a long way off from confirming its potential as an alternative weight management aid.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Apple cider vinegar is a type of vinegar that is made by fermenting apple juice,” Berg said, pointing out its “natural ingredient” appeal.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 0px; line-height: 0;"></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Apple cider vinegar has long been thought to help with weight loss and digestion, but research in humans has not been strong enough to make definite correlations or recommendations,” she cautioned.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-family: "Proxima Nova", "Proxima Nova Fallback", sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;">Source - <a href="https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/2381104226581120517/2860287780797834180">Medical News Today</a></p>CENTRAL LIBRARY- NEIGRIHMShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18323373576321059030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2381104226581120517.post-32723438618362135752024-03-06T23:17:00.000-08:002024-03-22T00:22:43.616-07:00New weight loss pill amycretin more effective than semaglutide in early trial<p> </p><ul style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; list-style-image: url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg width='10' height='10' xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%3E%3Ccircle cx='5' cy='5' r='2.5' fill='%23000'/%3E%3C/svg%3E");"><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Amycretin, a new weight loss drug developed by Novo Nordisk, has shown promising early results and is potentially more effective than the company’s established treatments, Ozempic and Wegovy.</span></span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In a phase 1 trial, the drug was found to significantly reduce body weight by 13% over 3 months — a noteworthy improvement compared to the 6% reduction seen with earlier drugs.</span></span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Despite the need for further research to fully understand amycretin’s long-term safety and effectiveness, these findings sparked an increase in Novo Nordisk’s stock prices as well as a heightened interest in GLP-1 agonist medications.</span></span></li></ul><div data-preamp="serena-chatbot" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px;"></div><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Early findings from a phase 1 clinical trial announced by the Danish company Novo Nordisk, show that amycretin — an experimental drug they have developed to treat obesity — may be significantly more effective than Ozempic and Wegovy (semaglutide) at improving weight loss.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The company has not yet published the data in a peer-reviewed journal, nor has it specified when it might do so.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This may not come as a surprise, seeing that both Ozempic and Wegovy are primarily prescribed for adults with type 2 diabetes to help them control blood sugar levels.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Of the two, only Wegovy has gained Food and Drug Administration (FDA) <hl-trusted-source class="css-ngo64e" rationale="Governmental authority" source="Food and Drug Administration (FDA)" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline;">approval<span class="css-1a8rnix icon-hl-trusted-source-after" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="sro" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; height: 1px; left: -10000px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 1px;">Trusted Source</span></span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></span></hl-trusted-source> for chronic weight management in adults, though all semaglutide drugs appear to be associated with weight loss.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Both medications belong to the class of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists, and work by mimicking the action of a hormone that helps regulate blood sugar levels and appetite.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Early results suggest that amycretin led to a 13% reduction in body weight over a 3-month period.</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Previous <hl-trusted-source class="css-ngo64e" rationale="Highly respected journal,Expert written journal,Peer reviewed journal" source="JAMA" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline;">research<span class="css-1a8rnix icon-hl-trusted-source-after" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="sro" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; height: 1px; left: -10000px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 1px;">Trusted Source</span></span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></span></hl-trusted-source> demonstrated that semaglutide led to an approximate 6% reduction in body weight over a similar timeframe.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><a class="chartbeat-section" name="Pill-form-may-make-amycretin-more-desirable" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 700; outline-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">Pill form may make amycretin more desirable</span></a></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Experts, however, have stressed the need for more comprehensive research to verify the long-term benefits and safety profile of amycretin.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Despite these cautions, Novo Nordisk’s stock value surged by over 8% following the drug’s presentation at an investor meeting on March 7, 2024..</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The surging interest in a new class of medications known as GLP-1 agonists has propelled Novo Nordisk to become the most valuable company in Europe, despite facing significant supply shortages due to high demand.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a class="chartbeat-section" name="Pill-form-may-make-amycretin-more-desirable" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 700; outline-width: 0px;"></a></span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Amycretin differentiates itself from semaglutide medications like Ozempic and Wegovy, and from Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro <span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">and Zepbound</span></span> <span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">(tirazepide) by being administered orally as a pill rather than through a weekly injection.</span></span></p><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; color: #231f20; line-height: 42px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 45px; position: relative;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><a class="chartbeat-section" name="How-does-amycretin-lead-to-weight-loss?" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">How does amycretin lead to weight loss?</span></a></div></h2><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Like its counterparts, amycretin works by emulating the GLP-1 hormone that suppresses appetite. In addition, it also imitates another hormone, <hl-trusted-source class="css-ngo64e" rationale="Highly respected database from the National Institutes of Health" source="PubMed Central" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline;">amylin<span class="css-1a8rnix icon-hl-trusted-source-after" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="sro" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; height: 1px; left: -10000px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 1px;">Trusted Source</span></span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></span></hl-trusted-source>.</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The limited information available suggests this method could be quite promising, but it is important to note that much more data are required.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This is because amycretin has yet to be evaluated against other medications in a direct comparison trial.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">At a recent investor event, a senior development executive from Novo Nordisk highlighted the potential for amycretin to match the effectiveness and safety profile of CagriSema, another GLP-1 agonist drug by the company, targeting amylin.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The company anticipates the results of a study on an injectable version of amycretin to be released next year.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 0px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 0;"></span></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Based on these findings, Novo Nordisk intends to initiate a comprehensive development program.</span></p><div class="css-0" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20;"><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; line-height: 42px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 45px; position: relative;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><a class="chartbeat-section" name="Weight-reduction-notable-in-participants-who-received-amycretin" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">Weight reduction notable in participants who received amycretin</span></a></div></h2><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 0px; line-height: 0; line-height: 0;"></span></span><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">During a trial of amycretin that involved 16 participants with an average weight of 89 kilograms, those who received a placebo experienced a 1% decrease in body weight over a 12-week period.</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Studies indicate that GLP-1 agonist medications can reduce the likelihood of cardiovascular diseases linked to obesity, yet they also increase the chance of experiencing gastrointestinal issues.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Importantly for patients to understand, research shows that once individuals discontinue these drugs, they tend to regain much of the weight they had previously lost.</span></p><div class="" data-placement="middle" data-testid="driver" id="middle-of-article" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px;"></div></div><div class="css-0" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 0px; line-height: 0; line-height: 0;"></span></span><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; line-height: 42px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 45px; position: relative;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><a class="chartbeat-section" name="What-do-experts-think-of-amycretin?" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">What do experts think of amycretin?</span></a></div></h2><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 0px; line-height: 0; line-height: 0;"></span></span><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Three experts, not involved in this research, spoke to <em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;">Medical News Today</em> about the findings announced by Novo Nordisk.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Dr Simon C. Cork, senior lecturer in the Faculty of Health, Medicine and Social Care at Anglia Ruskin University in the United Kingdom, said that “the results from this study are exciting as they demonstrate what appears to be another effective drug in the rapidly growing weight loss field.”</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“However we must await peer-reviewed published clinical trials before we can say for certain how this drug compares with others,” he cautioned.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“What is particularly notable with this drug is that it is taken orally, rather than via injection — as [with] Ozempic and Wegovy — which will undoubtedly be more appealing to patients,” Dr. Cork noted.</span></p><blockquote class="css-34gtoi" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: #f7f7f7; border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 4px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-top-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin: 30px 0px; padding: 26px 30px;"><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Any drugs which demonstrate effective weight loss are welcomed in what has historically been a very difficult disease to manage. The addition of more drugs on the market will also relieve shortages of GLP-1 agonists, which are relied on by millions of people for the treatment of their type 2 diabetes.”</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">– Dr Simon C. Cork</span></p></blockquote><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Dr. Mir Ali, M.D., bariatric surgeon and medical director of Memorial Care Surgical Weight Loss Center at Orange Coast Medical Center in Fountain Valley, CA, agreed.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“This is exciting news that another medication that appears more effective than the ones currently available is in development,” Dr. Ali said.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">However, “a phase 1 trial is the initial trial to show clinical effectiveness and safety in human subjects,” he explained. “Typically, additional research is then conducted to look more closely at long term side effects and effectiveness.”</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Speaking of the mechanisms involved, Dr. Ali noted that: “The mechanisms are similar in that GLP-1 and amycretin both target specific receptors; GLP-1 agonists at this time are only available in an injectable form. Having a pill available that is just as effective (or more effective) would certainly make using these medications easier for the patient.”</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Dr. Jared Ross, a professor and medical director at the Henry Ford College Paramedic Program and the medical director for Trauma Services at Bothwell Regional Health Center in Missouri also explained that:</span></p><blockquote class="css-34gtoi" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: #f7f7f7; border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 4px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-top-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin: 30px 0px; padding: 26px 30px;"><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Amycretin is an analog to amylin, a hormone secreted by the pancreas that is involved in appetite, weight, and blood sugar levels. This has large-scale implications as it represents the first oral hormonal medication for obesity, unlike GLP-1 analogs like semaglutide and tirzepatide which are both injections […]”</span></p></blockquote><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Amylin analogs stimulate both the GLP-1 receptors in the gut and the amylin receptors in the pancreas,” Dr. Ross added.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Another amylin analog, an injected medication called <hl-trusted-source class="css-ngo64e" rationale="Highly respected journal,Expert written journal,Peer reviewed journal" source="The Lancet" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline;">cagrilintide<span class="css-1a8rnix icon-hl-trusted-source-after" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="sro" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; height: 1px; left: -10000px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 1px;">Trusted Source</span></span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></span></hl-trusted-source>, in combination with semaglutide (a GLP-1 analog) has been shown in two small studies to have greater weight loss and better blood sugar control than with semaglutide alone,” he further noted.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">However, Dr. Ross highlighted that “the long-term benefits of these medications have yet to be determined as have the adverse effects.”</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“One of the major concerns with these hormone medications is that the effects appear to reverse once the medication is stopped, making life-long use necessary,” he emphasized.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Proxima Nova", "Proxima Nova Fallback", sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;">Source - <a href="https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/2381104226581120517/3272343861836213575">Medical News Today</a></p></div>CENTRAL LIBRARY- NEIGRIHMShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18323373576321059030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2381104226581120517.post-77382366133502628072024-03-05T23:00:00.000-08:002024-03-22T00:17:19.085-07:00In Conversation: Why exercise is key to living a long and healthy life<p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> <span style="font-size: medium;">What should we do in order to live healthier lives for longer? Research shows there are a few lifestyle interventions that can effectively prolong our life and health span. One of these is exercise, but what kind, and in what combinations, and why does it help add years to our lives? Find out in our latest podcast episode.</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Seemingly since times immemorial, humankind has been, metaphorically speaking, seeking the path that leads to the “Fountain of Youth” — that is ways to ensure a longer, healthier life.</span></p><div data-preamp="serena-chatbot" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px;"></div><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">And while we may not yet benefit of any “miracle” medicines or technologies to prolong our life spans well over the hundred-year mark, many recent studies have provided strong evidence in support of the notion that simple, achievable lifestyle changes can help us stay healthy for longer and decrease our risk of premature death.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Research presented at the <hl-trusted-source class="css-ngo64e" rationale="Highly respected national organization" source="American Heart Associaiton" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline;">American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2023<span class="css-1a8rnix icon-hl-trusted-source-after" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="sro" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; height: 1px; left: -10000px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 1px;">Trusted Source</span></span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></span></hl-trusted-source>, for example, suggested that eight healthy habits can slow down biological aging by as much as 6 years.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">These habits are related to diet, maintaining a healthy weight, avoiding tobacco, maintaining good sleep hygiene, managing cholesterol, blood sugar, and blood pressure, and, no less importantly, staying physically active.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In the latest instalment of our <em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;">In Conversation</em> podcast, <em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;">Medical News Today</em> explores the link between exercise and living a long and healthy life, in dialogue with Dr. Borja del Pozo Cruz and Dr. Edwina (Eddie) Brocklesby.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Dr. del Pozo Cruz is principal researcher in Applied Health Sciences at the University of Cadiz in Spain, and adjunct associate professor in the Department of Sports Science and Clinical Biomechanics at the University of Southern Denmark.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In collaboration with other researchers, Dr. del Pozo Cruz has conducted various studies exploring the link between different forms of exercise and the risk of death from different causes.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Dr. Brocklesby has gained fame under the nickname “Iron Gran,” as at the age of 72, she was the oldest British woman to complete an Ironman Triathlon. She is also founder and CEO of Silverfit, a not-for-profit organization promoting lifelong fitness.</span></p><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; line-height: 42px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 45px; position: relative;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><a class="chartbeat-section" name="What-types-of-exercise-lower-death-risk?" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">What types of exercise lower death risk?</span></a></div></h2><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In a study published in <em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;">JAMA Internal Medicine<span class="css-1a8rnix icon-hl-trusted-source-after" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="sro" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; height: 1px; left: -10000px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 1px;">Trusted Source</span></span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></span></em> in August 2023, Dr. del Pozo Cruz and his colleagues analyzed data from 500,705 participants followed up for a median period of 10 years to see how different forms of exercise related to a person’s mortality risk.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The study looked at the effect of moderate aerobic physical activity, such as walking or gentle cycling, vigorous aerobic physical activity, such as running, and muscle-strengthening activity, like weight lifting.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Its findings indicated that a balanced combination of all of these forms of exercise worked best for reducing mortality risk.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">More specifically, around 75 minutes of moderate aerobic exercise, plus more than 150 minutes of vigorous exercise, alongside at least a couple of strength training sessions per week were associated with a lower risk of all-cause mortality.</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">When it came to reducing the risk of death linked to cardiovascular disease specifically, Dr. del Pozo Cruz and his collaborators suggested combining a minimum of 150–225 minutes of moderate physical activity with around 75 minutes of vigorous exercise, and two or more strength training sessions per week.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Dr. Brocklesby, who goes by “Eddie,” is herself an example of the importance of combining different forms of exercise. Indeed, training and participating in a triathlon — which is an endurance multisport race where participants compete in swimming, cycling, and running — involves achieving a balanced “diet” of moderate and vigorous exercise, as well as strength training.</span></p><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; color: #231f20; line-height: 42px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 45px; position: relative;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><a class="chartbeat-section" name="How-little-exercise-is-enough?" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">How little exercise is enough?</span></a></div></h2><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">But what about people who are not nearly as athletic? What is the minimum “amount” of exercise that could help fend off some of the conditions that pose the highest threat to health?</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Dr. del Pozo Cruz and his team may also have found an answer to this question. In December 2022, they published the findings to a previous study in the <em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;">European Heart Journal</em>.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This research suggested that engaging in vigorous exercise for only 2 minutes a day could help slash the risk of death related to cancer or cardiovascular events.</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 0px; line-height: 0;"></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The researchers found that study participants who never engaged in vigorous exercise had a 4% risk of dying within 5 years, but introducing less than 10 minutes of vigorous activity weekly halved this risk. Moreover, their risk of death halved again for those who engaged in at least 60 minutes of exercise per week.</span></p><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; color: #231f20; line-height: 42px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 45px; position: relative;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><a class="chartbeat-section" name="Is-any-physical-activity-good?" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">Is any physical activity good?</span></a></div></h2><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In our podcast, Dr. del Pozo Cruz emphasized that almost any amount of any form of exercise is better than none, a point reinforced by a new study arguing that any activity at all is better for heart health than a sedentary lifestyle.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">However, he also cautioned that physical activity related to chores or to one’s job, as opposed to exercise in a leisure context, may sometimes do more harm than good.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Once again, his idea is supported by recently published research, which found a link between physically demanding occupations and a higher risk of cognitive impairment.</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Some of the most common occupations linked to intensive physical activity cited in this research were in nursing and care, retail, and farming, where individuals are on their feet a lot, and often having to deal with stressful situations.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">So while all forms of exercise can be good for health, strenuous or intensive physical activity in a work environment could end up compounding the risk of various health conditions.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">And even exercise for leisure can affect aspects of physical health — such as joint integrity — particularly later in life. In our podcast, both Dr. del Pozo Cruz and Eddie emphasized the importance of consulting a trusted healthcare provider, who can advise on the best forms of exercise to engage in on an individual basis.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 0px; line-height: 0;"></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">To find out more about how and why different forms of exercise can support longevity, and to hear the story of how Edwina became “Iron Gran,” listen to our podcast episode in full below or on your preferred streaming platform.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Source - <a href="https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/2381104226581120517/7738236613350262807">Medical News Today</a></span></p><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 0px; line-height: 0;"></span></span></p><div class="" data-placement="firstQuarter" data-testid="driver" id="mbc7dd32a-2eba-43ef-9e2d-d1c0df1206efmpd_firstQuarter_820d5ab7-0c42-4bef-b6e5-4041d27cc680" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="css-1cg0byz" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; margin: 40px auto 30px; min-height: 90px; width: 728px;"><aside class="css-0 css-0" data-sticky="false" data-testid="sticky-inline-ad" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="css-9was16" data-empty="true" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; margin: auto; min-height: 90px; position: relative; text-align: center; width: 728px; z-index: 0;"><div class="css-1hjaa0k" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; position: fixed;"></div><div class=" css-itezwm" data-ad="true" data-adbridg-ad-class-ctr="6" data-adbridg-ad-class-loaded="dlb_mpd" data-adbridg-phase="detected@740891ms;gpt_define@740898ms;gpt_render:138207506607@1620306ms;gpt_view@1659913ms" data-google-query-id="CJyxuvCoh4UDFXOIZgIdOj4Hog" id="t3_dlb_firstQuarter_mpd__slot" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; justify-content: center; min-height: 90px; width: 728px;"></div></div></div></aside></div></div></div></div><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><figure class="css-16ep88b" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 30px auto; max-width: 1297px;"><span class="css-rwmw5v" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; display: block; font-size: 0px; line-height: 0; outline: none; position: relative; text-align: center; user-select: none; z-index: 0;"><span class="css-197vr4y" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: block; padding-bottom: 421.547px; position: relative;"><picture class="css-16pk1is" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 0;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><source media="(min-width: 1190px)" srcset="https://media.post.rvohealth.io/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/11/in-conversation-exercise-1296x728-Header-1024x576.png 750w" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></source><source media="(min-width: 990px)" srcset="https://media.post.rvohealth.io/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/11/in-conversation-exercise-1296x728-Header-1024x576.png 750w" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></source><source media="(min-width: 768px)" srcset="https://media.post.rvohealth.io/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/11/in-conversation-exercise-1296x728-Header-1024x576.png 879w" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></source></span></span><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><br /></p></picture></span></span></figure></div>CENTRAL LIBRARY- NEIGRIHMShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18323373576321059030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2381104226581120517.post-69816116675411485582024-03-04T22:54:00.000-08:002024-03-22T00:00:45.891-07:00In Conversation: 100 years of insulin<p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> <span style="color: #231f20;"><span style="font-size: medium;">This November, we celebrate 100 years since the discovery of insulin, the hormone that provides the key to understanding and treating diabetes. In this Special Feature and podcast, we look at how far insulin research has come, and we consider what its future may hold.</span></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Insulin is the hormone that helps regulate blood sugar levels, keeping them at healthy concentrations. The pancreas is the organ that produces this hormone, which is normally released in quantities dependent on the levels of blood sugar present in the system at any one time.</span></p><div data-preamp="serena-chatbot" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px;"></div><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">People whose bodies are unable to regulate blood sugar levels have diabetes mellitus, which can be of two types, depending on why this regulation does not occur.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In type 1 diabetes, the body does not produce insulin, while in type 2 diabetes, it does not respond to the insulin produced and released by the pancreas.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Around the world, <hl-trusted-source class="css-ngo64e" rationale="Highly respected international organization" source="World Health Organization" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline;">hundreds of millions<span class="css-1a8rnix icon-hl-trusted-source-after" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="sro" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; height: 1px; left: -10000px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 1px;">Trusted Source</span></span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></span></hl-trusted-source> of people live with a form of this chronic condition, and insulin treatments are key to its management, particularly <span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">to the extent</span> that type 1 diabetes is concerned.</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">People with type 1 diabetes <hl-trusted-source class="css-ngo64e" rationale="Governmental authority" source="National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline;">must take insulin<span class="css-1a8rnix icon-hl-trusted-source-after" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="sro" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; height: 1px; left: -10000px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 1px;">Trusted Source</span></span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></span></hl-trusted-source>, as their bodies do not produce it. Individuals with type 2 diabetes control their blood sugar levels typically through special medication and dietary and lifestyle interventions.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">However, some may also require insulin treatment if the cells that produce insulin — called pancreatic beta cells — deteriorate in time and stop producing sufficient insulin.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In this Special Feature and associated “In Conversation” podcast, we offer an overview of the importance of insulin, its history, and what future research likely holds for insulin therapy and the management of diabetes.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">To find out more about the impact of type 1 diabetes and the challenges of using insulin, we spoke to Virginie, a woman who received a diagnosis for this condition in her 30s.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">For insights into current insulin research and potential future developments, we interviewed Dr. Thomas Barber, honorary consultant endocrinologist and assistant professor at the Warwick Medical School in the United Kingdom.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"></p><div class="css-0" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 0; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"></span></span><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; color: #231f20; font-size: 38px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 42px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 45px; orphans: 2; position: relative; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"></h2></div><p></p><div class="css-0" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-weight: bold; line-height: 42px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 45px; position: relative;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><a class="chartbeat-section" name="The-history-of-insulin" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">The history of insulin</span></a></div></h2><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 0px; line-height: 0;"></span></span><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Diabetes was known — as a collection of symptoms —<span> </span><hl-trusted-source class="css-ngo64e" rationale="Highly respected database from the National Institutes of Health" source="PubMed Central" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline;">over 3,500 years<span class="css-1a8rnix icon-hl-trusted-source-after" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; text-decoration: none;"><span class="sro" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; height: 1px; left: -10000px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 1px;">Trusted Source</span></span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></span></hl-trusted-source><span> </span>ago, as a papyrus dating from 1550 before the common era (BCE) was already describing a condition consistent with the symptoms of diabetes.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Even though physicians have encountered and treated diabetes throughout history, researchers only discovered the reason behind it around 100 years ago: insulin, the hormone that regulates blood sugar levels.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In 1889, Joseph von Mering and Oskar Minkowski, two researchers at the University of Strasbourg in France, removed the pancreases of dogs and found that the animals would then go on to develop diabetes.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">As we now know, the pancreas is the organ that produces insulin. However, von Mering and Minkowski were not able to establish this connection at the time.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It was a little over 30 years later, in 1921, that Sir Frederick Banting and Charles Best — working in the laboratory of John Macleod — from the University of Toronto in Canada extracted insulin from the hormone-producing cells found in the pancreases of healthy dogs.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">They then injected dogs with diabetes with this “extract” and thereby<span> </span>made the discovery<span> </span>that changed the face of type 1 diabetes treatment forever.</span></strong></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In 1922, Banting and Best treated a young boy with type 1 diabetes by injecting him with insulin. This saved his life — at the time, type 1 diabetes became a terminal illness more often than not — and cemented the importance of the researchers’ discovery.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Banting and Macleod<span> </span>won the Nobel prize<span> </span>in medicine “for the discovery of insulin” in 1923.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In 1946, researchers discovered intermediate-acting insulin, also known as<span> </span><hl-trusted-source class="css-ngo64e" rationale="Highly respected database from the National Institutes of Health" source="PubMed Central" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline;">Neutral Protamine Hagedorn (NPH)<span class="css-1a8rnix icon-hl-trusted-source-after" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; text-decoration: none;"><span class="sro" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; height: 1px; left: -10000px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 1px;">Trusted Source</span></span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></span></hl-trusted-source><span> </span>insulin, which persists in the body for 14–24 hours, which means that people who take it require fewer injections. This is still one of the most widely used types of insulin to this day.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">At present, however, NPH insulin is no longer extracted from animal sources. Instead, researchers synthesize artificial human NPH insulin in the lab.</span></p><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; color: #231f20; line-height: 42px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 45px; position: relative;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><a class="chartbeat-section" name="Insulin-therapy-today" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">Insulin therapy today</span></a></div></h2><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">At present, there are several different <hl-trusted-source class="css-ngo64e" rationale="Governmental authority" source="National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline;">types<span class="css-1a8rnix icon-hl-trusted-source-after" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="sro" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; height: 1px; left: -10000px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 1px;">Trusted Source</span></span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></span></hl-trusted-source> of therapeutic insulin, and people may have taken one or several of these, depending on their individual needs.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">These types are:</span></p><ul style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; list-style-image: url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg width='10' height='10' xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%3E%3Ccircle cx='5' cy='5' r='2.5' fill='%23000'/%3E%3C/svg%3E");"><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">fast-acting insulin, which starts to take effect around 15 minutes after entering the body</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">short-acting or regular insulin, which takes effect around 30 minutes after entering the body</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">intermediate-acting insulin, which starts to work 2–4 hours after entering the body</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">long-acting insulin, which starts to work several hours after entering the body and has a longer effect</span></li></ul><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Depending on their needs and what is accessible to them, people may receive therapeutic insulin through:</span></p><ul style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; list-style-image: url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg width='10' height='10' xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%3E%3Ccircle cx='5' cy='5' r='2.5' fill='%23000'/%3E%3C/svg%3E");"><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">syringe injections, the traditional delivery method</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">an insulin pen, which also injects insulin but is easier to use than a syringe</span></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">an insulin pump, which automates the process of insulin delivery throughout 14 hours</span></li></ul><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">While the subcutaneous delivery of insulin may make it harder for some people to adhere to the correct treatment regimen, other delivery methods have so far proved unsuccessful.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">For example, in the 1990s, some companies have also developed and attempted to commercialize <hl-trusted-source class="css-ngo64e" rationale="Highly respected database from the National Institutes of Health" source="PubMed Central" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline;">insulin inhalers<span class="css-1a8rnix icon-hl-trusted-source-after" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="sro" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; height: 1px; left: -10000px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 1px;">Trusted Source</span></span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></span></hl-trusted-source>, which would deliver the hormone in aerosolized form.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 0px; line-height: 0;"></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">However, these never took off, most likely because they are less effective than delivering insulin subcutaneously, as some of the insulin gets lost in the process.</span></p><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; color: #231f20; line-height: 42px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 45px; position: relative;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><a class="chartbeat-section" name="What-does-the-future-hold?" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">What does the future hold?</span></a></div></h2><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">So what does the future hold for insulin research and therapy? In some ways, we could say, the future is now, as people are already using smartphone technology to assist them in adhering to their treatments and determining how much insulin they need to use.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Today, individuals use mHealth technology — referring to the practice of healthcare supported by mobile smart devices — to help them monitor their blood sugar levels, so they know how much insulin to take. Glucose monitors are currently available — these are small sensors placed under the skin that pick up on variations in blood sugar levels.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">These connect to a smart device and allow the person to read their blood sugar levels at any time and share them with a doctor in real-time.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Some fully automated insulin delivery systems are also available. These are called “closed-loop insulin systems,” also known as “<hl-trusted-source class="css-ngo64e" rationale="Governmental authority" source="National Institutes of Health " style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline;">artificial pancreases<span class="css-1a8rnix icon-hl-trusted-source-after" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="sro" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; height: 1px; left: -10000px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 1px;">Trusted Source</span></span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></span></hl-trusted-source>.” They work by transmitting real-time blood sugar level data to a smart device that then communicates with a person’s insulin pump, regulating how much insulin enters the system at any one time.</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">However, some challenges remain that future developments need to address. These include insufficiently accurate glucose monitoring devices, as well as concerns regarding user data collection. Current closed-loop systems also rely on user control, while researchers are yet to develop fully independently running artificial pancreases.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Dr. Barber noted that independently functioning artificial pancreases are akin to the “Holy Grail” of diabetes therapy.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“There is some fascinating research to suggest that [the independent artificial pancreas] can be done,” Dr. Barber told us.</span></p><blockquote class="css-34gtoi" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: #f7f7f7; border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 4px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-top-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin: 30px 0px; padding: 26px 30px;"><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“It’s been shown that can actually reduce hypoglycemic rates by having that kind of technology in place. But we’re some way away from actually being able to have an artificial pancreas, which doesn’t rely on the patient at all. And really, […] I think it will come, but we’re not quite there yet.”</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">– Dr. Thomas Barber</span></p></blockquote><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Another pathway for future research is gene therapy that would trigger the expression of insulin-producing cells, thereby tackling the cause of type 1 diabetes at the root. The research so far, while it has garnered some interest, has been in animal models, and scientists are yet to take this to the next step: clinical trials in humans.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Finally, scientists are also looking at ways of developing better insulin, and several areas of investigation appear to hold promise.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">One option is developing <hl-trusted-source class="css-ngo64e" rationale="Highly respected journal,Expert written journal,Peer reviewed journal" source="The Lancet" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline;">glucose-responsive or “smart” insulin<span class="css-1a8rnix icon-hl-trusted-source-after" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="sro" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; height: 1px; left: -10000px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 1px;">Trusted Source</span></span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></span></hl-trusted-source>. One of the main challenges in treating type 1 diabetes and severe type 2 diabetes remains administering insulin doses that accurately “match” blood sugar levels.</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">If blood sugar levels become or remain too high, a person can experience hyperglycemia. This, in turn, can lead to various complications in the long term, such as eye problems or diabetic ketoacidosis.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Yet if a person takes too much insulin, they can develop hypoglycemia, where their blood sugar levels are too low. Its symptoms can include heart palpitations, dizziness, and blurred vision. It can also lead to further complications, such as seizures and loss of consciousness.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Smart insulin would help address the risk of hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia by responding to changes in a person’s blood sugar levels in a way that would mimic healthy insulin function.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Eliminating or attenuating insulin fibrillation and aggregation — a process that renders insulin manufacturing more difficult — would make it easier to produce and store insulin.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 0px; line-height: 0;"></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Another area of development looks at ultrarapid insulin, which starts acting sooner after delivery. It helps improve the management of fast changes in blood sugar from before to after a meal — a process known as “postprandial glucose excursions.”</span></p><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; color: #231f20; font-size: 38px; line-height: 42px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 45px; position: relative;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><a class="chartbeat-section" name="Insulin-and-anxiety" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Insulin and anxiety</span></a></div></h2><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Another issue that needs addressing in the near future is the lack of accurate and consistent information regarding both insulin therapy and the unexpected factors that can influence a person’s blood sugar levels, besides diet.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Virginie, for instance, wondered how much researchers and clinicians know about the relationship between anxiety and blood sugar levels and how this might affect people with diabetes who require insulin therapy.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In answer to her question, Dr. Barber explained that “glucose control is far more complex than simply what [a person’s] levels of insulin are, and indeed how much insulin you inject.”</span></p><blockquote class="css-34gtoi" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: #f7f7f7; border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 4px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-top-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin: 30px 0px; padding: 26px 30px;"><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“There’s actually 101 things [that] can influence blood sugar levels. And in fact, one of those is mental and emotional status at the time. And if you’re worried, or stressed, or anxious, that in itself can actually push your blood sugar levels up, because it’s associated with the release of the stress hormone cortisol and also the sympathetic response as well, which is the fight or flight adrenaline release, both of which act to raise your blood sugar levels.”</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">– Dr. Thomas Barber</span></p></blockquote><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This is one of the many reasons why it is so important for doctors to listen closely to the experiences of people living with diabetes.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“[W]hen I’m seeing patients in clinic, I’m acutely aware of the fact that they have far more insight into their own diabetes than I do,” Dr. Barber noted. “They’ve been living with this [condition] day after day, hour after hour, week, months, years, sometimes even decades. And I think it’s really important that as healthcare professionals, we’re aware of this and we respect that.”</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Virginie further noted that anxiety regarding insulin treatments can also affect those living with diabetes in another way. Often, those around her are anxious about how the condition affects her and whether she has been able to take the correct insulin dose at the correct time.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Diabetes can also take a heavy toll on the friends and families of those with this condition, she pointed out.</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Dr. Barber acknowledged the real human impact of a diabetes diagnosis and the serious lifestyle adjustments that come with having to undergo insulin therapy.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">One of these is the necessity of self-injecting insulin, which, he said, causes anxiety in many patients. “And understandably, because of all of these factors, there’s often quite a lot of resistance to the idea of going on to [insulin] therapy,” he admitted.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The solution? Empathetic sensitive, and mental health-aware care, according to Dr. Barber:</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 0px; line-height: 0;"></span></span></p><blockquote class="css-34gtoi" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: #f7f7f7; border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 4px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-top-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin: 30px 0px; padding: 26px 30px;"><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“There is a relative lack of proper psychology and talking-based therapies for patients with diabetes, and one almost feels as if there’s a need for these patients not just to have the standard education on diabetes, but to have the focused psychological support, which is really a separate thing from education. I think they should have, obviously, the two together, but the psychological support is often lacking. And I think that really is an unmet need. And I think it’s something we could certainly do a lot more on in the future.”</span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> <a class="chartbeat-section" name="The-issue-of-equitable-access" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>The issue of equitable access</b></span></a></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 0px; line-height: 0;"></span></span><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Perhaps the greatest challenge going forward, however, is ensuring <hl-trusted-source class="css-ngo64e" rationale="Highly respected journal,Expert written journal,Peer reviewed journal" source="The Lancet" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline;">equitable access<span class="css-1a8rnix icon-hl-trusted-source-after" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="sro" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; height: 1px; left: -10000px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 1px;">Trusted Source</span></span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></span></hl-trusted-source> to appropriate care and education for the management of diabetes.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">While this condition is common worldwide, it does not affect everyone in the same way, and not everyone has timely access to diagnosis and care.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Black, Hispanic, and American Indian individuals have a higher likelihood of developing diabetes compared with people of other races and ethnicities.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Yet, people from these groups face the highest rate of disparities in access to appropriate healthcare, often due to systemic racism and <hl-trusted-source class="css-ngo64e" rationale="Peer reviewed journal" source="BMC/BioMed Central" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline;">socioeconomic factors<span class="css-1a8rnix icon-hl-trusted-source-after" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="sro" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; height: 1px; left: -10000px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 1px;">Trusted Source</span></span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></span></hl-trusted-source>.</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">To this day, Dr. Barber told us, lack of access to insulin remains the number one cause of death among children with type 1 diabetes worldwide:</span></p><blockquote class="css-34gtoi" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: #f7f7f7; border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 4px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-top-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin: 30px 0px; padding: 26px 30px;"><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Did you know that globally, the most common cause of death for a child living with type 1 diabetes is actually [the] lack of access to insulin? That’s an incredible fact. It’s a tragic fact. And it’s actually quite shameful that after 100 years of having insulin, [which the World Health Organization (WHO) classes] as an essential medication, that children around the world with type 1 diabetes are dying because they don’t have access to this therapy. Something needs to be done.”</span></p></blockquote><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">However, solving the issue of inequitable access to insulin therapy, glucose monitoring systems, and even basic education about diabetes is going to be no mean feat, according to Dr. Barber.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“[I]t’s a hugely complex issue,” he pointed out. “It’s not just the case of providing insulin, […] there [are the] huge complexities of […] infrastructure, data collection, [taking] cultural differences [into account] and so on.”</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Some initiatives do exist to address these disparities. One example is the <a class="content-link css-185ckoq" href="http://www.access2insulin.org/100-campaign.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border-color: currentcolor; box-sizing: inherit; color: #3d5191; cursor: pointer;" target="_blank">100 Campaign</a>, “which is aiming to improve the situation for patients around the world to have access to insulin,” Dr. Barber told us. However, we are still a long way away from solving this problem.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Virginie emphatically expressed a hope that going forward, healthcare decision-makers will work to improve access to care, health education, and diagnosis for people living with diabetes.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“I think it’s very important that […] we make sure we provide the access for all […] not just […] to insulin, but access to the diagnosis, and to actually think about our own assumptions [about diabetes],” she told us.</span></p><blockquote class="css-34gtoi" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: #f7f7f7; border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 4px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-top-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin: 30px 0px; padding: 26px 30px;"><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Certainly, I didn’t know that thrush could be a symptom of diabetes. I also had a foot drop, which I didn’t know could be a symptom. I was thirsty all the time. [Before my diagnosis,] I was drinking more than 6 liters [of liquid] per day and only stopping because I knew 6 liters — that’s a lot. […] So my hope is that […] any sort of worry and concern is taken seriously. […] It has taken a while for me to get the diagnosis, and we’re only talking months. So I’m thinking about people who have to wait for years for [a] diagnosis. And I think it’s really important that […] we consider that as well.”</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">– Virginie</span></p></blockquote><p>Source -<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/2381104226581120517/6981611667541148558"> Medical News Today </a></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></p><div class="" data-placement="firstQuarter" data-testid="driver" id="m023f0567-2b5e-4870-9321-e67ab94ab409mpd_firstQuarter_820d5ab7-0c42-4bef-b6e5-4041d27cc680" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="css-1cg0byz" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; display: block; margin: 40px auto 30px; min-height: 90px; width: 728px;"><aside class="css-0 css-0" data-sticky="false" data-testid="sticky-inline-ad" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="css-9was16" data-empty="true" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; display: block; margin: auto; min-height: 90px; position: relative; text-align: center; width: 728px; z-index: 0;"><div class="css-1hjaa0k" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; position: fixed;"></div><div class=" css-itezwm" data-ad="true" data-adbridg-ad-class-ctr="4" data-adbridg-ad-class-loaded="dlb_mpd" data-adbridg-phase="detected@367948ms;gpt_define@367950ms;gpt_render:138207513199@588635ms;gpt_view@589727ms" data-google-query-id="CNnJp4Slh4UDFZylZgIdLYUDMg" id="t2_dlb_firstQuarter_mpd__slot" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: block; justify-content: center; min-height: 90px; width: 728px;"><div id="google_ads_iframe_/4788/mnt/pagenumber3/3DLB_MPD_Q1_0__container__" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0pt none; box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><iframe aria-label="Advertisement" data-google-container-id="n" data-load-complete="true" frameborder="0" height="90" id="google_ads_iframe_/4788/mnt/pagenumber3/3DLB_MPD_Q1_0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" name="google_ads_iframe_/4788/mnt/pagenumber3/3DLB_MPD_Q1_0" scrolling="no" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; height: 90px; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: bottom; width: 728px;" tabindex="0" title="3rd party ad content" width="728"></iframe></span></div></div></div></div></aside></div></div></div></div></div>CENTRAL LIBRARY- NEIGRIHMShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18323373576321059030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2381104226581120517.post-77697336547642379292024-03-03T22:45:00.000-08:002024-03-21T23:54:03.489-07:00In Conversation: What do we know about the weight loss plateau on Wegovy?<p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> <span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #231f20;">Semaglutide drugs, used to treat type 2 diabetes, also help with weight management. One such drug, sold under the brand name Wegovy, is approved as a treatment for overweight and obesity. But why do some people hit a weight loss plateau on Wegovy? We explore this topic with our expert guest </span><em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20;">In Conversation</em><span style="color: #231f20;">.</span></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Semaglutide, or GLP-1 receptor agonist drugs, are typically prescribed to people with type 2 diabetes to help them with blood sugar management by prompting their bodies <hl-trusted-source class="css-ngo64e" rationale="Highly respected database from the National Institutes of Health" source="PubMed Central" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline;">to produce more insulin<span class="css-1a8rnix icon-hl-trusted-source-after" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="sro" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; height: 1px; left: -10000px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 1px;">Trusted Source</span></span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></span></hl-trusted-source>.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">These drugs can also help with weight loss by suppressing a person’s appetite. At the moment, however, only one semaglutide drug is approved as a weight management aid in people with overweight and obesity in the <hl-trusted-source class="css-ngo64e" rationale="Governmental authority" source="Food and Drug Administration (FDA)" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline;">United States<span class="css-1a8rnix icon-hl-trusted-source-after" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="sro" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; height: 1px; left: -10000px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 1px;">Trusted Source</span></span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></span></hl-trusted-source> and the United Kingdom. That drug is Wegovy.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Still, a significant number of people who use semaglutide report hitting a weight loss plateau that they find difficult to overcome.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">How does semaglutide help with weight management, why do some people on Wegovy hit a weight loss plateau, and what are some issues to keep in mind when it comes to using semaglutide for weight loss?</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In this instalment of our <em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;">In Conversation</em> podcast, Dr. Simon Cork, senior lecturer in the Faculty of Health, Medicine and Social Care at Anglia Ruskin University in the United Kingdom helps us answer these and more questions.</span></p><h1 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; line-height: 54px; margin-bottom: 30px; margin-top: 30px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">In Conversation: Can diet and exercise reverse prediabetes?</span></h1><div><span style="color: #231f20;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Prediabetes is a warning sign that an individual is at an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes. If it goes unmanaged, prediabetes can lead to long-term damage, including to the heart and blood vessels. But is there any way it can be reversed? And can this be achieved by changes in diet and exercise?</span></span></div><div><span style="color: #231f20;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Diabetes — specifically type 2 diabetes— is becoming one of the most challenging health problems of the 21st century. By 2025, <hl-trusted-source class="css-ngo64e" rationale="Highly respected database from the National Institutes of Health" source="PubMed Central" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline;">380 million people<span class="css-1a8rnix icon-hl-trusted-source-after" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="sro" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; height: 1px; left: -10000px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 1px;">Trusted Source</span></span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></span></hl-trusted-source> worldwide are also expected to be diagnosed with diabetes.</span></p><div data-preamp="serena-chatbot" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px;"></div><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">As diabetes is a risk factor for many other diseases and chronic health conditions — cardiovascular disease, renal disease, stroke, and blindness to name a few — its management and treatment is ever more crucial.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">However, before people go on to develop type 2 diabetes, many people are considered in a precursor stage called prediabetes. This is a health condition in which people experience higher than healthy blood sugar levels — but not so much that it can be diagnosed as type 2 diabetes. Nevertheless, having prediabetes is a major risk factor for type 2 diabetes.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">When it comes to scaling this problem, looking at the statistics of people with prediabetes paints a clear picture: <hl-trusted-source class="css-ngo64e" rationale="Governmental authority" source="National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline;">over one in three<span class="css-1a8rnix icon-hl-trusted-source-after" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="sro" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; height: 1px; left: -10000px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 1px;">Trusted Source</span></span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></span></hl-trusted-source> people in the U.S. and the U.K. are diagnosed with prediabetes.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">So, if prediabetes is seen as an early warning sign for type 2 diabetes, is there nothing people can do to correct their course? Could serious lifestyle changes not reverse this condition?</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">These questions and more were the topic of discussion for our May podcast “In Conversation: Can diet and exercise help reverse prediabetes?” Joining Dr. Hilary Guite and me this month were Dr. Thomas Barber, associate clinical professor at Warwick Medical School and consultant endocrinologist at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire, and Healthline Media and Medical News Today Managing Editor Angela Chao, who shared her story about how she reversed her prediabetes diagnosis and the lifestyle changes she made to sustain it.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">You can listen to this month’s episode below or on your preferred streaming platform:</span></p><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; color: #231f20; line-height: 42px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 45px; position: relative;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><a class="chartbeat-section" name="An-atypical-case" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">An atypical case</span></a></div></h2><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In Angela’s case, not many medical professionals would have considered her blood sugar readings as indicative of something to worry about.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">She doesn’t fit the typical profile of a person with prediabetes or at risk of developing diabetes — slim, young, and active. However, she said she had a rather sedentary lifestyle at the time.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“[My readings were] so low on the spectrum, I don’t even think my primary doctor at the time even had a conversation about this with me, other than just giving me the range and the diagnosis,” she said.</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">However, she added that after changes in the threshold for readings to be considered prediabetes, some physicians and her doctor friends appeared concerned.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 0px; line-height: 0;"></span></span></p><blockquote class="css-34gtoi" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: #f7f7f7; border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 4px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-top-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin: 30px 0px; padding: 26px 30px;"><strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: black; display: block; margin-bottom: 6px; text-transform: uppercase;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">RECEIVING A PREDIABETES DIAGNOSIS</span></strong><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“From my perspective, when I got the diagnosis, it was definitely kind of a wake-up call. ‘You need to increase your exercise level; you need to [make] some changes to your lifestyle to get back to a healthy range’ whether the threshold has changed [or not].”<br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;" />— Angela Chao</span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"> <a class="chartbeat-section" name="How-to-measure-prediabetes" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">How to measure prediabetes</span></a></span></b></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 0px; line-height: 0;"></span></span><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Diabetes and prediabetes used to be diagnosed based on fasting glucose readings, or a standard glucose tolerance test, said Dr. Barber. This test involved ingesting 75 grams of a sugary drink and then measuring blood sugar levels over the next two hours.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The definition of prediabetes is also an ever-evolving one, and it may differ from country to country.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Different societies and esteemed groups have different definitions. And I think the first point to make really is that whether we’re talking about diabetes or prediabetes is that we’re talking about a continuum,” said Dr. Barber.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">If we take the U.S. and the U.K. as examples, we can see differences in the units of measurement and the thresholds used to diagnose prediabetes.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“[It] is a bit confusing because as you say, there are different units. But essentially, in the U.K., we use millimoles per liter for glucose, and in the U.S., it’s milligrams per deciliter. Millimoles per mole is what we tend to use clinically now and have done for some years,” said Dr. Barber.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“I think to add to the confusion, there’s also the hemoglobin A1C, which also has two separate units in terms of percentage, which is what we always traditionally used and now which has been superseded by millimoles per mole,” he continued.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Dr. Barber said that glucose is not a discrete measure but a continuous variable.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“[W]e can all kind of agree on what’s normal, agree on what’s elevated, but everything in between, there’s kind of differences of opinion,” he explained.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A few years back, the World Health Organization endorsed the usage of hemoglobin A1C to diagnose diabetes. In current clinical practice, Dr. Barber said medical professionals do rely primarily on A1C but that additional glucose readings can be helpful.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“In terms of prediabetes [in the U.K.], this is based on an A1C between 39 to 47 mmol per mol, and 39 is equivalent to an A1C of 5.7%,” he said.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“In terms of hemoglobin A1C levels, anything above a level of 48 millimoles per mole, which is equivalent to 6.5%, A1C, that is—by definition—diabetes. [I]deally, we should have at least two of those readings, which are elevated, to diagnose type 2 diabetes,” he said.</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Angela said that 5.7 and above was considered prediabetes when she was diagnosed, and her A1C level was 5.8%.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Dr. Barber reminded us that diagnostic thresholds for diabetes have gradually gone down in recent years and that Angela’s readings would not have been considered prediabetes in the U.K. at the time, as the values were “not quite under cut-off but very close to normal.”</span></p><div class="css-0" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px;"><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-size: 38px; line-height: 42px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 45px; position: relative;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><a class="chartbeat-section" name="Does-prediabetes-have-symptoms?" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Does prediabetes have symptoms?</span></a></div></h2><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 0px; line-height: 0;"></span></span><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Prediabetes usually does not present with symptoms. However, in some cases, people may experience <a class="content-link css-185ckoq sl" href="https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/318213/" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border-color: currentcolor; box-sizing: inherit; color: #3d5191; cursor: pointer;">frequent thirst</a>, get up at night to pee, experience sugar spikes, or crashes in energy levels.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Many people who are diagnosed with prediabetes may have had it for a long time, months, possibly even years; it’s often asymptomatic. And unless people are actually tested for it, it can very easily go unnoticed,” said Dr. Barber.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Angela recounted her own experience:</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“I definitely didn’t have a wide range of symptoms. However, frequently, drinking water was definitely something that I was already doing. So it was hard for me to tell if it was anything that was changing.”</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">However, something that she did notice before the diagnosis was low blood sugar levels, especially if she didn’t eat for extended periods.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“[T]hat was something that was very prevailing throughout the years where my blood sugar levels would fluctuate quite a bit, and I can definitely physically feel it,” she said.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">However, she can now fast without trouble for over 16 hours thanks to some lifestyle changes.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Sugar spikes and crashes could be seen as early warning signs for diabetes.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Well, prediabetes is an umbrella term, and it can either include elevated fasting glucose and/or elevated postprandial glucose,” said Dr. Barber.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Within the context of <a class="content-link css-185ckoq sl" href="https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/305567/" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border-color: currentcolor; box-sizing: inherit; color: #3d5191; cursor: pointer;">insulin resistance</a>, Dr. Barber said it was not uncommon to experience some swings in glycemia or the concentration of sugar in the blood.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Because the beta cells can’t produce enough insulin, for example, or the insulin is not as effective after a meal, then the outcome of that is the glucose levels tend to rise a bit higher than they should,” he explained.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“I guess the difference really is that most of the time, in the context of prediabetes, we’re not aware of this because most patients, in fact, do not …. monitor their blood glucose,” he said, adding that without close monitoring of blood sugar throughout the day, people may not physically notice these changes.</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“[I]t’s entirely predictable that with improved lifestyle, weight loss, and reversing prediabetes, that you would find that glucose levels become more stable. Because the insulin becomes more effective, it’s able to deal with the swings in glycemia better,” he said, referring to Angela’s description of the changes she noticed.</span></p><div class="" data-placement="middle" data-testid="driver" id="middle-of-article" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></div></div><div class="css-0" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 0px; line-height: 0; line-height: 0;"></span></span><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; line-height: 42px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 45px; position: relative;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><a class="chartbeat-section" name="Who-is-most-at-risk-of-developing-prediabetes?" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">Who is most at risk of developing prediabetes?</span></a></div></h2><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 0px; line-height: 0; line-height: 0;"></span></span><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Being overweight or having a high BMI, or having obesity are some of the most well-known risk factors for developing type 2 diabetes.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Also age — the older we get, the more at risk we become. And the reason for that is that, as we age, insulin becomes slightly less effective, and its receptors and the beta cells can not function quite as well. So, the risk of developing prediabetes and diabetes increases as we get older,” said Dr. Barber.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Dr. Barber also said that stress and having a diet high in high glycemic foods and sugary drinks can also increase risk. While on the other hand, he said that having a diet rich in fiber and low in simple carbohydrates can prevent the onset of dysglycemia.</span></span></p><blockquote class="css-34gtoi" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: #f7f7f7; border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 4px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-top-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin: 30px 0px; padding: 26px 30px;"><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“[If] you’re sedentary and you sit or lie most of the day, and particularly watching TV—which is, I think, the worst activity in terms of sedentariness— that can impact on risk. [B]eing sedentary can worsen the risk of insulin resistance, which is a risk factor for prediabetes and type 2 diabetes.”<br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;" />— Dr. Thomas Barber</span></p></blockquote><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Other factors to take into account are ethnic origin and genetics.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Dr. Barber detailed their findings from a <hl-trusted-source class="css-ngo64e" rationale="Highly respected database from the National Institutes of Health" source="PubMed Central" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline;">recent study<span class="css-1a8rnix icon-hl-trusted-source-after" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="sro" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; height: 1px; left: -10000px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 1px;">Trusted Source</span></span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></span></hl-trusted-source> they conducted in the U.K. in which they found that people of South Asian ethnicity had the same risk of diabetes at a BMI of 23.9 as the white population had at 30.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Whereas in Angela’s case, it was family history that upped her risk.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“[E]ver since I was a teenager because my mother is a retired medical doctor, she had always warned me because my father’s side has a little bit of a family history with type 2 diabetes— and we’re talking about all slim people, no weight issues,” she said.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Dr. Barber said that diabetes is often touted as a result of lifestyle choices but that many forget that it is a genetic condition. He said that when there’s a strong family history, patients will not necessarily fit the classic phenotype of type 2 diabetes — having obesity, being middle-aged, male, and having a large abdomen.</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“[That’s] the notion that we all kind of have in our heads of a typical person who has type 2 diabetes. And as you say, Angela doesn’t fit into any of those preconceived ideas of what that looks like,” he said.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Dr. Barber also stressed that even without those factors, being born with a genetic predisposition to diabetes can mean that people develop dysglycemia.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“[There’s] been over 40 genes, gene mutations identified, which can put you at risk of type 2 diabetes. And although that each individual effect is relatively subtle, when you combine them all together, it can lead to a cumulative effect,” he said.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Source - <a href="https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/2381104226581120517/7769733654764237929">Medical News Today</a></span></p></div><div class="css-20w1gi" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; margin: 40px auto 30px; min-height: 90px; width: 728px;"><aside class="css-0 css-0" data-sticky="false" data-testid="sticky-inline-ad" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="css-1sq15os" data-empty="true" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; min-height: 90px; position: relative; text-align: center; width: 728px; z-index: 0;"><div class="css-1hjaa0k" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; position: fixed;"></div><div class=" css-1t05dkn" data-ad="true" data-adbridg-ad-class-ctr="1" data-adbridg-ad-class-loaded="inline3" data-adbridg-phase="detected@41907ms;gpt_define@41914ms;gpt_render:138319457930@282100ms;gpt_view@283148ms" data-google-query-id="CN6fo_Kjh4UDFZ-hZgId2DIIxg" id="t1_inline7__slot" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; justify-content: center; min-height: 90px; width: 728px;"></div></div></div></aside></div></div>CENTRAL LIBRARY- NEIGRIHMShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18323373576321059030noreply@blogger.com0