[dropcap]R ounded, curved, dark and dry nails are a well known feature of vitamin B12 deficiency.
Q: How does vitamin B12 deficiency cause the nails to grow this way?
A: Vitamin B12 deficiency affects the nail plate. The nail plate is the hard keratin cover of the finger tip and toe tip, simply called “the nail.” The nail plate is produced by the living nail matrix at its base.
Asthma is a chronic immune respiratory condition characterized by narrowing and inflammation of the lung airways (large bronchi, bronchial tubes and small bronchioles) in response to an allergen as the trigger or stimulus. As such, asthma occurs in episodes and does not result in progressive loss of pulmonary function.
During an asthma attack, airways constrict, trapping air so lungs become overinflated. Normally, bronchial airways bring air to millions of air sacs that are attached to the ends of bronchioles. Air sacs, called alveoli, are only one cell thick to allow for rapid exchange of gases.
That is, oxygen from air breathed into the sacs moves into the bloodsteam and carbon dioxide is released from the bloodstream to air that is breathed out of air sacs.
The outer walls of bronchioles are made up of muscles which, in the process of breathing, normally contract on expiration to help expel air and then relax. During an asthma attack, these muscles abnormally constrict, impairing airflow into and out of the alveoli. This is called bronchospasm.
Common allergens that cause inflammation include airborne dust mite feces, mold, and pollen and foods such as wheat, cow’s milk, eggs, and peanuts. Non-allergenic triggers include exercise, air pollution, smoking, and viral respiratory infection.
Q: What effect does inflammation have on the lungs?
A: Inflammation causes local tissue edema or swelling of the bronchioles and mucus formation. Inflammation with increased mucus secretions and edema narrows the airways that connect to alveoli which makes breathing difficult. Two things happen:
Treatment is aimed at controlling bronchospasm and reducing inflammation. Untreated asthma can be disabling and life threatening.
[dropcap]W hite spots in the nails is a feature of zinc deficiency and white bands signify protein deficiency characterized by abnormal appearance anywhere in one or more nails.
White spots and bands can appear separately or together in nails. There may be just one mark or many marks depending on the level of deficiency.
Q: What part of the nail is affected by zinc and/or protein deficiency?
A: Zinc and protein deficiencies affect the nail plate.
The nail plate is the hard keratin cover of the finger tip and toe tip, simply called “the nail.” The nail plate is produced by the living nail tissue at its base. Here is an illustration of the parts that make up a fingernail:
Nail Anatomy. .
A. Nail plate; B. lunula; C. root; D. sinus; E. matrix; F. nail bed; G. hyponychium; H. free margin. Courtesy Wikipedia.
[dropcap]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.
[dropcap]T ype 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM), also termed type 1A, is an inherited autoimmune disorder in which anti-islet autoantibodies destroy the islet cells of the pancreas that secrete insulin hormone. Type 1 diabetes mellitus was formerly called juvenile diabetes because it usually afflicts persons under the age of 25 years.
Loss of insulin production results in failure to metabolize glucose. Glucose is a simple sugar that is a required source of energy for the body, especially the brain and muscles.
Type 1 diabetes mellitus is characterized by sustained fasting blood glucose levels above 126 mg/dL (hyperglycemia) with subsequent loss of glucose from the body by removal through the urine (glucosuria) as the body attempts to lower blood glucose, and cell starvation that follows.
That is, while glucose accumulates in blood, the body cannot access it. Without insulin treatment, this disorder quickly produces coma and ultimately results in death. In fact, it is 5th leading cause of death in the United States.
Q: How does insulin work?
A: Insulin moves glucose from the bloodstream into body cells where it is used or reformulated for high energy storage. For example, muscles can use glucose for immediate work or store it in the form of glygogen for later work, depending on need. Healthy insulin production keeps an 8 hour fasting blood glucose level to less than 100 mg/dL. Upon eating carbohydrate food, glucose is digested and absorbed from the small intestine into the bloodstream which then raises blood glucose levels. The elevated level is controlled by prompt action of insulin to lower it to below 140 mg/dL within 2 hours of eating.
Insulin does not work alone. The islets of Langerhans manage glucose in the body. The islets are specialized formations located on the outer surface of the pancreas. The islets are composed of two different types of cells known as alpha and beta cells. These cells make the competing hormones that keep blood glucose within a healthy range.
Alpha cells secrete glucagon to raise blood glucose levels by triggering the body to release stored energy in the form of glycogen. In the opposite, beta cells secrete insulin to lower blood glucose by opening body cells so that glucose in blood can enter. Without insulin, glucose cannot enter cells but remains in the bloodstream where it accumulates.
Insulin is also needed to move magnesium into cells from the bloodstream. On the other side, magnesium is needed to produce insulin. Insulin has other functions such as building muscle and helping regulate cholesterol which directly impacts the sex hormones, estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone.
Onset of symptoms usually occurs over a period of days or weeks, although beta cell destruction can begin years earlier. The SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth multicenter study, funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has determined that based on data from 2002 to 2003, a total of 15,000 youth in the United States were newly diagnosed with type 1 diabetes each year. Non-Hispanic white youth had the highest rate of new cases of type 1 diabetes according to NIH.
Type 1A diabetes mellitus has become one of the most intensively studied autoimmune disorders. It is now possible to predict its development, beginning with HLA-encoded genetic susceptibility, followed by the development of a series of anti-islet autoantibodies.1
[dropcap]H ypocupremia, or low plasma copper, means the level of copper is too low to meet metabolic needs of the body for copper and is characterized by these many features:
Untreated, copper deficiency can advance to brain degeneration. Failure to make normal blood cells can result in death.
What Is Increased Appetite?[dropcap]I ncreased appetite is the increased desire for food.
Q: What causes appetite.
A: Appetite is caused by hunger.
The brain monitors nutritional needs and employs a hunger mechanism to alert us when fresh food is needed. Hunger is mainly caused by the need for protein. Low blood sugar also triggers hunger.
The tempting sight, smell, taste and expectation of food stimulates involuntary sensory nerves. By reflex action, these sensory nerves cause muscle and sensory activity in various digestive organs. Salivary glands in the mouth begin to secrete saliva as stomach glands and muscles become active.1
[dropcap]E sophageal motor abnormalities are disorders of the esophagus involving altered muscular motility characterized by impaired esophageal peristalsis, or the progressive wave-like movement that occurs automatically when food or fluids are swallowed.
Q: What is altered motility?
A: Altered motility describes the lack of coordinated muscular movements or weak muscular movement needed to rapidly propel food and fluids through the highly muscular esophagus from the throat to the stomach.
The esophagus is a tube-like organ that begins at the cricoid cartilage (Adam’s apple) as a continuation of the pharynx and ends at the lower esophageal sphincter (LES).
The LES is a very strong, circular muscle surrounding the junction of the esophagus and stomach. The LES opens to allow swallowed food and liquids to enter the stomach and closes to prevent their travelling back into the esophagus.
Failure of the lower esophageal sphincter to remain tightly closed after swallowing allows stomach contents to reenter the esophagus giving symptoms of heartburn.
On the other hand, failure of the LES to relax traps the contents of the esophagus so that it cannot quickly empty into the stomach as it should. Because the esophagus is not designed to hold food/fluids, the abnormal expansion results in pain, anxiety and possibly vomiting and choking. If the contents are aspirated into the windpipe upon choking, there will be coughing with attempts to clear it.
What Is Chronic Or Recurrent Abdominal Pain? [dropcap]A bdominal pain is characterized by pain anywhere in the abdominal cavity between the chest and groin. This region is often referred to as the belly. Abdominal pain,…
[dropcap]A ortic vasculitis is an inflammatory disease of the aorta that causes dilation of the aorta wall with narrowing of the inside passageway and results in widespread impairment of blood flow to tissues served by the aorta.
Q: What is the result of inflammatory disease of the aorta?
A: The aorta is the largest artery in the body. It extends from the left ventricle (lower chamber) of the heart and carries blood out of the heart with each beat to rest of the body. Narrowing of the aorta’s inside diameter due to swelling from inflammation causes elevated blood pressure and enlarged heart because of back pressure of blood unable to be fully pumped out of the heart with each beat. The heart enlarges because the difficulty of pumping blood out makes it work harder than normal.
Vasculitis that causes midaortic syndrome is a variety of aortic coarctation (narrowing) located in the lower thoracic aorta, the abdominal aorta or both, involving the intestinal and renal vessels (kidney). It usually presents with arterial hypertension.1