V olvulus is twisting of a loop(s) of bowel onto itself which effectively closes it thus preventing digested matter from passing and causing engorgement of the closed loop with gas and fluid.
Q: How does the bowel get untwisted?
A: This condition usually necessitates surgical correction although some do return to their proper position.
The danger is that there may develop necrosis of the twisted loop(s) in which case, if left untreated, death will ensue.
A llergic rhinitis is an immune disorder characterized by inflammation of the nasal mucosa by an IgE antibody reaction to an allergen.
An allergen is something that triggers an allergic immune response.
Q: What is the immune response?
A: Implicated in the response is an increase in T gamma-delta intraepithelial lymphocytes (IELs), which is a subset of pro-inflammatory T-cells located in the respiratory mucosa. Lymphocytes are white blood cells.
When a person with allergic rhinitis breathes in an allergen such as pollen or dust, the body releases chemicals, including histamine that cause allergy symptoms. For example, hay fever involves an allergic reaction to pollen. A similar reaction occurs with allergy to mold, animal dander, dust, and other allergens that are breathed in.
Antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) is an autoimmune disease and a blood clotting disorder characterized by these clinical and laboratory criteria:
Clinical criteria – recurrent vascular thrombosis (clots in veins/arteries) from hypercoagulability (abnormal excessive clotting) and/or recurrent complications of pregnancy that include loss of the fetus (miscarriage) and pre-eclampsia or eclampsia.
Laboratory criteria – persistently elevated anticardiolipin, anti–beta-2 glycoprotein I, and/or lupus anti-coagulant antibodies in blood.
In antiphospholipid syndrome autoantibodies are produced by the body and directed against negatively charged phospholipids that are found in the outer layer of cell membranes and platelets. B2-glycoprotein-I (a protein in blood plasma) has been found as a major target antigen for antiphospholipid antibodies.
Q: Are phospholipids important in the body?
A: Yes. Phospholipid molecules are an essential part of cell membranes. They form a barrier around cells that protect the cell, allow movement of oxygen in and carbon dioxide out of the cell, and regulate other small molecules through the cell wall. Because phospholipids are widespread in the body, this disorder can produce a large variety of symptoms and affect many organs.
One severe effect of APS is the development of a blood clot in a vein deep in the arm or leg, called deep vein thrombosis (DVT). DVT can cause pain, swelling, redness, or increased warmth in the affected limb. Deep vein clots can break off, travel to the lungs, and cause pulmonary embolism.1 Pulmonary embolism is a medical emergency.
Treatment is with anticoagulant medications and blood monitoring.
A utoimmune disorders refer to those conditions that involve an abnormal immune attack on the body’s own tissues perpetuated by the production of autoantibodies directed against the body, or “self.” Auto means self.
Q: Why does the immune system attack the body?
A: The exact answer is not yet known why the immune system turns against body tissue or “self.”
Normally, the immune system protects the body from harmful substances and pathogens and produces antibodies against the offending foreign substances, called antigens, to get rid of them. The immune system (humoral) thereafter remembers all antigens and is ready for the next encounter should it happen.
Production of autoimmune antibodies is catastrophic because there is no turning off the readiness to attack a remembered threat (antigen) which is unfortunately “self.”
Yes, steroids and anti-inflammatory drugs can control symptoms, but nothing can undo the memory programmed into the immune system to produce autoantibodies. There is an enormous research effort ongoing for the answer.
Autoimmune disorders cover a wide range of diseases that may target only a particular organ, such as autoimmune hepatitis (liver), while others are systemic because the autoantibodies target a particular tissue that is part of more than one organ, such as scleroderma (connective tissue).
Autoimmune diseases as a group affect approximately 8.5% of people worldwide.
I gA deficiency (IgAD) is an immunodeficiency disease characterized by lack of immunoglobulin A type antibody production, called IgA antibody, with no detectable levels in blood or secretions.
Q: What is an IgA antibody?
A: IgA is an antibody of the immune system that is secreted by plasma cells (specialized white blood cells) through epithelial cell linings of mucosal surfaces into mucosa secretions to protect the lining from microbe invasion.
In fact, immunoglobulin class A is the main protein of the mucosal immune system. This includes mucosa of the eye surface, digestive tract, respiratory tract, urinary tract, and genital tract.
Both major histocompatibility complex (MHC) and non-MHC genes contribute to susceptibility to the disease. The former genes appear to be located in different parts of the MHC region depending on the HLA haplotype. The latter show a marked overlap with genes associated with a variety of autoimmune disorders including Graves’ disease, systemic lupus erythematosus, type 1 diabetes and celiac disease, suggesting common pathophysiological mechanisms. The involvement of genes associated with autoimmunity may suggest that IgAD in itself is an autoimmune disease.1
IgA deficiency may progress into a common variable immunodeficiency (CVID).2
What Is Hypocalcemia?H ypocalcemia, or low plasma calcium, means the level of calcium in blood is too low to meet metabolic needs of the body for calcium.
Low blood calcium is characterized by bone and tooth demineralization (loss of calcium causing weak teeth and fragile bones), and these impaired functions: nerve conduction, muscle contraction, blood clotting, blood pressure regulation, glycogen to glucose conversion, many hormone actions, many enzyme activities, and acetylcholine production.
Q: Where is calcium found in the body?
A: Calcium is the most abundant mineral in the body, with 99% residing in bones and teeth where it constitutes 40% of skeletal bone weight along with 45% phosphorus. As a component of bone (hard tissue), calcium fulfills a structural role to maintain body size and act as attachments for musculoskeletal tissues. The remaining 1% of calcium is present in blood and soft tissues.
Calcium levels in the blood are maintained within very strict limits by dietary intake, hormonal regulation by the parathyroid gland and a rapidly exchangeable pool in bone tissue.
What Is Chronic Diarrhea?C hronic diarrhea is an intestinal motility disorder characterized by 1) alteration in stool formation causing loose to fluid movements and quantity of movements with or without abdominal pain and 2) interference with normal carbohydrate salvage by the intestinal microbe population.
The severity of diarrhea is determined by the frequency and quantity of fluid lost.
Q: What is carbohydrate salvage by microbes in the colon?
A: Carbohydrate salvage in the colon is the necessary process whereby billions of microbes normally present in the colon work to breakdown undigestible carbohydrate foodstuffs such as fiber that continually arrive from the small intestine.
The microbial action releases energy to the body that would otherwise be lost with defecation, generates short-chain fatty acids, and stimulates sodium and fluid absorption. In this important process, butyrate and proprionate are produced which nourish the colonocytes (cells that line the colon), and acetate is produced for the liver.
While diarrhea may be a common symptom of small bowel mucosal disease, the consequent malabsorption can lead to substantial malnutrition and nutrient deficiencies. The small intestine, unlike the colon, has been relatively inaccessible, and systematic evaluation is often necessary to identify and treat small intestinal mucosal diseases that lead to diarrhea. All patients with severe diarrhea or diarrhea associated with features suggestive of malabsorption may have a disease of the small intestinal mucosa that requires careful evaluation and targeted management.1