What Is Anorexia? Anorexia or loss of appetite is a reduced desire to eat which can cause unintentional weight loss. Anorexia is a feature of many disorders caused by malutrition such as celiac disease and aging or gastrointestinal problems such ...
Read More »Vitality, Loss of
What Is Loss of Vitality? Loss of vitality is a state of diminished power to live or go on living, interfering with normal functioning and survival. As weakness and fatigue worsen, the affected person increasingly loses interest in surroundings, activites, and ...
Read More »Cachexia
What Is Cachexia? Cachexia is a state of ill health involving deteriorating body composition that is characterized by general malnutrition and loss of lean tissue such as muscle. Q: What are typical findings in cachexia? A: Arm muscle triceps (the ...
Read More »Cardiomegaly
What Is Cardiomegaly? Cardiomegaly is a non-inflammatory disorder of the myocardium (heart muscle) causing the heart to enlarge. Q: What happens when the heart enlarges? A:The heart enlarges because excessive growth of muscle tissue (hypertrophy) thickens the heart walls which in ...
Read More »Nosebleeds, Unexplained (Epistaxis)
What Is Epistaxis? Epistaxis, or nosebleed, is a feature of secondary hemostasis (blood clotting) characterized by fragility of a plexus of blood vessels in the antero-inferior septum (just inside nostril) and/or abnormal blood coagulation. What Is Epistaxis In Celiac Disease ...
Read More »Bruising, Easy (Ecchymosis)
What Is Easy Bruising? Ecchymosis, or easy bruising, is a feature of impaired secondary hemostasis (blood clotting) characterized by subcutaneous bleeding (under the skin) in response to light trauma. Q: What causes easy bruising? A: Easy bruising is the direct ...
Read More »Atherosclerosis
What Is Atherosclerosis? Atherosclerosis is a disease of arteries involving the buildup of fatty material called plaque along the walls of medium and large arteries characterized by patchy subintimal thickening, hardening, and loss of elasticity of blood vessels. The intima is the ...
Read More »Erythroblastopenia, Transient
What Is Transient Erythroblastopenia? Transient erythroblastopenia is a rare disorder of red blood cell formation characterized by brief, reversible disappearance of erythroblasts (red blood cell precursors) in the bone marrow of children. Q: What do the red blood cells look ...
Read More »Neutropenia
What Is Neutropenia? Neutropenia is a blood disorder characterized by presence of an abnormally low number of neutrophils. Neutrophils are white blood cells (leukocytes) that serves as the primary defense against infections by destroying bacteria in the blood. Specfically, neutrophils are ...
Read More »Immune Thrombocytopenic Purpura
What Is Immune Thrombocytopenic Purpura? Immune thrombocytopenia purpura (ITP), formerly called idiopathic, is an immune mediated bleeding disorder characterized by destruction of circulating platelets (thrombocytes) by autoantibodies in the presence of normal bone marrow and without other conditions that cause ...
Read More »Hypoprothrombinemia (Low Prothrombin Level)
What Is Hypoprothrombinemia? Hypoprothrombinemia is a deficiency of prothrombin (clotting factor II) in the blood that is characterized by impaired hemostasis in response to trauma or a laceration. Q: What is hemostasis and how is it altered by a deficiency of prothrombin? A: Hemostasis ...
Read More »Hemochromatosis (Iron Overload Disease)
What Is Hemochromatosis? Hemochromatosis, also called iron overload liver disease, is a common inherited disease in the Caucasian population that is characterized by increased iron deposition within the tissues (overload) associated with injury to them. Hemochromatosis is an autosomal recessive disease, meaning ...
Read More »Macrolipasemia
What Is Macrolipasemia? Macrolipasemia is a rare enzyme disorder characterized by altered molecules of lipase, a pancreatic enzyme needed to digest fats, that are abnormally bound with serum antibody proteins. These antibodies are commonly immunoglobulin G (IgG) and/or less likely immunoglobulin A ...
Read More »Macrocytosis
What Is Macrocytosis? Macrocytosis is a blood cell disorder characterized by altered blood cell formation that results in abnormally large erythrocytes (red blood cells) circulating in the bloodstream. The mean corpuscular volume (MCV), which is a measure of the size of ...
Read More »Macroamylasemia
What Is Macroamylasemia? Macroamylasemia is an acquired enzyme disorder that causes elevated levels of the enzyme amylase (hyperamylasaemia) in the bloodstream. It is characterized by altered amylase molecules that have become abnormally bound with plasma proteins in the bloodstream, commonly ...
Read More »