What Is Infertility In Females?[dropcap]I[/dropcap]nfertility in females is characterized by failure to conceive after one year of intercourse.
This condition can be frustrating and emotionally upsetting to the parents trying to conceive.
What Is Miscarriage?[dropcap]M[/dropcap]iscarriage, or spontaneous abortion, is a reproductive failure characterized by loss of an unborn baby before the 20th week of pregnancy.
[dropcap]P[/dropcap]ulmonary hemosiderosis (IPH) is a rare and severe pulmonary syndrome characterized by a triad of recurrent episodes of alveolar hemorrhage (bleeding into air sacs), hemoptysis (coughing blood), and iron deficiency anemia.
Q: What is the prognosis for pulmonary hemosiderosis?
A: Untreated pulmonary hemosiderosis ends in death. Idiopathic is a term that means the cause of a condition is not known.
What Is Unexpected Weight Loss?[dropcap]U[/dropcap]nexpected weight loss is unintentional loss of body mass composition or inability to gain weight marked by decreased serum proteins and increased stool fat.1
[dropcap]D[/dropcap]iffuse alopecia is characterized by abnormal hair loss or baldness.
Hair loss usually develops gradually and may be patchy or all over (diffuse). The average scalp contains about 100,000 hairs. Roughly 100 hairs are shed from the head every day.
Diffuse baldness not related to male pattern or heredity can be related to aging, nutritional deficiencies, some froms of dermatitis, radiation, endocrine disorders, especially thyroid hormone imbalance and diabetes, and undue stress.
Q: Can sudden stress cause hair loss?
A: A sudden physical or emotional stress may cause one-half to three-quarters of the hair throughout the scalp to shed. Other causes that need to be evaluated include use of common medications such as birth control pills, blood thinners, and anti-inflammatory pain drugs, and continued exposure to environmental chemicals such cleaning products.
What Are Abnormal Blood Values In Childhood?[dropcap]A[/dropcap]bnormal blood studies in childhood are lab results showing blood abnormalities for blood cells and blood components.
What Is Short Stature?[dropcap]S[/dropcap]hort stature means the individual has not reached a normal height as a result of failure to thrive and severe growth delay in children.1
What Is Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD)?[dropcap]A[/dropcap]ttention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD) is a maladaptive behavioral disorder characterized by a persistent pattern of inattention and impulsivity, or both, that are developmentally (age) inappropriate. For these problems to be diagnosed as ADHD, they must be out of the normal range for a child’s age and development.
Inattention results from difficulty concentrating which gives the impression of not listening. The person’s speech or writing, such as when telling stories, can be disorganized.
Most children with ADHD also have at least one other developmental or behavioral problem. Depression, lack of sleep, learning disabilities, tic disorders, and behavior problems may be confused with, or appear with, ADHD. Every child suspected of having ADHD should be carefully examined by a doctor to rule out possible other conditions or reasons for the behavior.
An MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) study investigating whole-brain cortical thickness (outer layer of the brain) in male and female children, adolescents, and adults with ADHD supports the hypothesis that brain abnormalities in ADHD represent abnormal brain development rather than developmental delay.
Q: What is the abnormal development problem?
A: Differences occur in the right side of the brain only. Reduced cortical thickness in people of all ages with ADHD was observed predominantly in the frontoparietal region (forehead and top). However, increased cortical thickness was observed predominantly in the occipital lobe (back). The brain thickness differences were correlated with severity of ADHD.1
ADHD is the most commonly diagnosed behavioral disorder of childhood. It affects about 3 – 5% of school aged children and is diagnosed much more often in boys than in girls.2
What Is Delayed Puberty in Boys?[dropcap]D[/dropcap]elayed puberty in boys is characterized by lack of growth and functional activity of the male gonads, called testes or testicals, to produce testosterone by age 14 and failure to grow pubic hair by age 15. Later changes affected are deepening of voice and increase in musculature.
Puberty is the life period when a boy grows into a man and begins with an increase in testicular volume.1
Q: What is an increase in testicular volume?
A: Testes are male reproductive glands that produce reproductive cells called spermatozoa. Spermatozoa first become detectable in specimens of boys’ spontaneously produced morning urine at a mean age of 13.4 years (spermarche). As the testes become larger in the ensuing years, the maturation of spermatogenesis is completed.2
Delayed puberty may be due to excessive exercising, malnutrition, chronic disease, obesity, genetic disorders, chromosomal abnormalities, or tumors that damage the pituitary gland. The pituitary normally secretes gonadotropin stimulating hormone (GSH) telling the gonads to produce testosterone and inhibitin, or the hypothalamus, which tells the pituitary gland to release GSH.
Who is Affected in the General Population?
Delayed puberty occurs in approximately 3% of children.1
What Is Plummer-Vinson Syndrome Affecting the Esophagus?[dropcap]P[/dropcap]lummer-Vinson syndrome is a manifestation of severe, long-term, iron deficiency anemia that is characterized by post-cricoid esophageal webs and dysphagia.
Q: What are esophageal webs?
A: Esophageal webs are one or more thin horizontal membranes consisting of squamous epithelium (cells that line the surface of the esophagus) and submucosa. They usually protrude from the anterior (front) wall, extending laterally across the inside esophagus but not to the posterior (rear) wall, which means that they rarely encircle the lumen.1
Dysphagia, or difficulty swallowing, from these webs is commonly painless and intermittent or progressive and may cause obstruction.
Webs can be detected by barium swallow X-ray, but the best way for demonstration is videofluoroscopy and by upper gastrointestinal endoscopy. They appear smooth, thin, and gray with eccentric or central lumen space. The webs typically occur in the upper part of the esophagus and may be missed and accidentally ruptured unless the endoscope is introduced under direct visualization.1
Iron deficiency is believed to decrease the contraction amplitude or force of the esophageal muscle resulting in motility impairment. Slower transit times have been recorded at the proximal and middle parts of the esophagus of Plummer-Vinson syndrome patients compared to healthy volunteers.2 Transit time is how fast ingested food and fluids travel through the esophagus.
Gude et al, report that iron replacement does not necessarily reverse the dysphagia in all the cases of Plummer-Vinson syndrome and that close monitoring of the web is mandated to watch for malignant change. In fact, 3 to 15 per cent of the patients with Plummer-Vinson syndrome, mostly women between 15 and 50 years of age, have been reported to develop esophageal or pharyngeal cancer.2