Disease

A disease or medical condition is an abnormal condition of an organism that impairs social functions, associated with specific symptoms and signs.It may be caused by external factors, such as invading organisms, or it may be caused be internal dysfunctions, such as autoimmune diseases.
In human beings,"disease" is often used more broadly to refer to any condition that causes extreme pain, dysfunction, distress, social problems, and/or death to the person afflicted, or similar problems for those in contact with the person. In this broader sense, it sometimes includes injuries, disabilities, disorders, syndromes, infections, isolated symptoms, deviant behaviors, and atypical variations of structure and function, while in other contexts and for other purposes these may be considered distinguishable categories.

Terminology
In many cases, the terms disease, disorder, morbidity and illness are used interchangeably.In some situations, specific terms are considered preferable.
Disease
This term broadly refers to any abnormal condition that impairs normal function. Commonly, this term is used to refer specifically to infectious diseases, which are clinically evident diseases that result from the presence of pathogenic microbial agents, including viruses, bacteria, fungi, protozoa, multicellular parasites, and aberrant proteins known as prions. An infection that does not produce clinically evident impairment of normal functioning is not considered a disease. Non-infectious diseases are all other diseases, including most forms of cancer, heart disease, and genetic disease
Illness
Illness or sickness is generally used as a synonym for disease.However, this term is occasionally used to refer specifically to the patient's personal experience of his or her disease.In this model, it is possible for a person to be diseased without being ill, (to have an objectively definable, but asymptomatic, medical condition), and to be ill without being diseased (such as when a person perceives a normal experience as a medical condition, or medicalizes a non-disease situation in his or her life). Illness is often not due to infection but a collection of evolved responses, sickness behavior, by the body aids the clearing of infection. Such aspects of illness can include lethargy, depression, anorexia, sleepiness, hyperalgesia, and inability to concentrate.
Disorder
In medicine, a disorder is a functional abnormality or disturbance.Medical disorders can be categorized into mental disorders, physical disorders, genetic disorders, behavioral disorders and functional disorders.
The term "disorder" is often considered more value-neutral than the term disease or illness, and therefore is preferred terminology in some circumstances. In mental health, the use of the term mental disorder is used as a way of acknowledging the varied and complex causes and processes in psychiatric conditions, beyond biological explanations. However, it is also used in other situations, such as to identify physical disorders that are not caused by infectious organisms, such as organic brain syndrome.
Medical condition
A medical condition is a broad term that includes all diseases and disorders, but also includes normal situations, such as pregnancy, that might benefit from medical assistance or have implications for medical treatments.
As it is more value-neutral than terms like disease, it is sometimes preferred by people with these conditions. On the other hand, by emphasizing the medical nature of the condition, this term is sometimes rejected, such as by proponents of the autism rights movement.
Additionally, the term medical condition is used as a synonym for medical state, where it describes a patient's current state, as seen from a medical standpoint. This usage is seen in statements that describe a patient as being "in critical condition", for example.
Morbidity
Morbidity (from Latin morbidus: sick, unhealthy) refers to a diseased state, disability, or poor health due to any cause.The term may be used to refer to the existence of any form of disease, or to the degree that the health condition affects the patient. Among severely ill patients, the level of morbidity is often measured by ICU scoring systems.
Comorbidity is the simultaneous presence of two medical conditions, such as a person with schizophrenia and substance abuse.
In epidemiology and actuarial science, the term morbidity rate can refer to either the incidence rate, or the prevalence of a disease or medical condition. This measure of sickness is contrasted with the mortality rate of a condition, which is the proportion of people dying during a given time interval.
Transmission of disease
Main article: Transmission (medicine)
Some diseases such as influenza are contagious and infectious. Infectious diseases can be transmitted by as, by hand to mouth contact with infectious material on surfaces, by bites of insects or other carriers of the disease, and from contaminated water or food (often via faecal contamination), etc. In addition, there are sexually transmitted diseases. In some cases, micro-organisms that are not readily spread from person to person play a role, while other diseases can be prevented or ameliorated with appropriate nutrition or other lifestyle changes. Some diseases such as cancer, heart disease and mental disorders are , in most cases, not considered to be caused by infection (see Non infectious disease), although there are important exceptions. Many diseases (including some cancers, heart disease and mental disorders) have a partially or completely genetic basis (see Genetic disorder) and may thus be transmitted from one generation to another.
Social significance of disease
Living with disease can be very difficult. The identification of a condition as a disease, rather than as simply a variation of human structure or function, can have significant social or economic implications. The controversial recognitions as diseases of post-traumatic stress disorder, also known as "Soldier's heart," "shell shock," and "combat fatigue;" repetitive motion injury or repetitive stress injury (RSI); and Gulf War syndrome has had a number of positive and negative effects on the financial and other responsibilities of governments, corporations and institutions towards individuals, as well as on the individuals themselves. The social implication of viewing aging as a disease could be profound, though this classification is not yet widespread.
A condition may be considered to be a disease in some cultures or eras but not in others. Oppositional-defiant disorder[citation needed], attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder[citation needed], and, increasingly, obesity[citation needed], are conditions considered to be diseases in the United States and Canada today, but were not so-considered decades ago and are not so-considered in some other countries[attribution needed]. Lepers were a group of afflicted individuals who were historically shunned and the term "leper" still evokes social stigma. Fear of disease can still be a widespread social phenomenon, though not all diseases evoke extreme social stigma.
Sickness confers the social legitimization of certain benefits, such as illness benefits, work avoidance, and being looked after by others. In return, there is an obligation on the sick person to seek treatment and work to become well once more. As a comparison, consider pregnancy, which is not usually interpreted as a disease or sickness by the individual. On the other hand, it is considered by the medical community as a condition requiring medical care.
The micro-organisms that cause disease are known as pathogens and include varieties of bacteria, viruses, protozoa and fungi.

Lungs & Respiratory System

What Are the Lungs and Respiratory System and What Do They

Do?
Each day we breathe about 20,000 times. All of this breathing couldn't happen without help from the respiratory system, which includes the nose, throat, voice box, windpipe, and lungs. With each breath, you take in air through your nostrils and mouth, and your lungs fill up and empty out. As air is inhaled, the mucous membranes of the nose and mouth warm and humidify the air.
Although we can't see it, the air we breathe is made up of several gases. Oxygen is the most important for keeping us alive because body cells need it for energy and growth. Without oxygen, the body's cells would die.
Carbon dioxide is the waste gas that is produced when carbon is combined with oxygen as part of the body's energy-making processes. The lungs and respiratory system allow oxygen in the air to be taken into the body, while also enabling the body to get rid of carbon dioxide in the air breathed out.
Respiration is the term for the exchange of oxygen from the environment for carbon dioxide from the body's cells. The process of taking air into the lungs is called inhalation or inspiration, and the process of breathing it out is called exhalation or expiration.
Even if the air you breathe is dirty or polluted, your respiratory system filters out foreign matter and organisms that enter through the nose and mouth. Pollutants are breathed or coughed out, destroyed by digestive juices, or eaten by macrophages, a type of blood cell that patrols the body looking for germs to destroy.
Tiny hairs called cilia (pronounced: sih-lee-uh) protect the nasal passageways and other parts of the respiratory tract, filtering out dust and other particles that enter the nose with the breathed air. As air is inhaled, the cilia move back and forth, pushing any foreign matter (like dust) either toward the nostrils, where it is blown out, or toward the pharynx, where it travels through the digestive system and out with the rest of the body's waste.
The two openings of the airway (the nasal cavity and the mouth) meet at the pharynx (pronounced: far-inks), or throat, at the back of the nose and mouth. The pharynx is part of the digestive system as well as the respiratory system because it carries both food and air. At the bottom of the pharynx, the pathway for both food and air divides in two. One passageway is for food (the esophagus, pronounced: ih-sah-fuh-gus, which leads to the stomach) and the other for air. The epiglottis (pronounced: eh-pih-glah-tus), a small flap of tissue, covers the air-only passage when we swallow, keeping food and liquid from going into our lungs.
The larynx (pronounced: lar-inks), or voice box, is the uppermost part of the air-only passage. This short tube contains a pair of vocal cords, which vibrate to make sounds. The trachea (pronounced: tray-kee-uh), or windpipe, extends downward from the base of the larynx. It lies partly in the neck and partly in the chest cavity. The walls of the trachea are strengthened by stiff rings of cartilage to keep it open so air can flow through on its way to the lungs. The trachea is also lined with cilia, which sweep fluids and foreign particles out of the airway so that they stay out of the lungs.
At its bottom end, the trachea divides into left and right air tubes called bronchi (pronounced: brahn-ky), which connect to the lungs. Within the lungs, the bronchi branch into smaller bronchi and even smaller tubes called bronchioles (pronounced: brahn-kee-olz). Bronchioles, which are as thin as a strand of hair, end in tiny air sacs called alveoli (pronounced: al-vee-oh-lie). Each of us has hundreds of millions of alveoli in our lungs — enough to cover a tennis court if they were spread out on the ground. The alveoli are where the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide takes place.
With each inhalation, air fills a large portion of the millions of alveoli. In a process called diffusion (pronounced: dih-fyoo-zhun), oxygen moves from the alveoli to the blood through the capillaries (tiny blood vessels, pronounced: kah-puh-ler-eez) that line the alveolar walls. Once in the bloodstream, oxygen gets picked up by a molecule called hemoglobin (pronounced: hee-muh-glo-bun) in the red blood cells. This oxygen-rich blood then flows back to the heart, which pumps it through the arteries to oxygen-hungry tissues throughout the body.
In the tiny capillaries of the body tissues, oxygen is freed from the hemoglobin and moves into the cells. Carbon dioxide, which is produced during the process of diffusion, moves out of these cells into the capillaries, where most of it is dissolved in the plasma of the blood. Blood rich in carbon dioxide then returns to the heart via the veins. From the heart, this blood is pumped to the lungs, where carbon dioxide passes into the alveoli to be exhaled.
The lungs also contain elastic tissues that allow them to inflate and deflate without losing shape and are encased by a thin lining called the pleura (pronounced: plur-uh). This network of alveoli, bronchioles, and bronchi is known as the bronchial tree.
The chest cavity, or thorax (pronounced: thor-aks), is the airtight box that houses the bronchial tree, lungs, heart, and other structures. The top and sides of the thorax are formed by the ribs and attached muscles, and the bottom by a large muscle called the diaphragm. The chest walls form a protective cage around the lungs and other contents of the chest cavity.
The diaphragm (pronounced: dye-uh-fram), which separates the chest from the abdomen, plays a lead role in breathing. When we breathe out, the diaphragm moves upward, forcing the chest cavity to get smaller and pushing the gases in the lungs up and out of the nose and mouth.
When we breathe in, the diaphragm moves downward toward the abdomen, and the rib muscles pull the ribs upward and outward, enlarging the chest cavity and pulling air in through the nose or mouth. Air pressure in the chest cavity and lungs is reduced, and because gas flows from high pressure to low, air from the environment flows through the nose or mouth into the lungs.
As we exhale, the diaphragm moves upward and the chest wall muscles relax, causing the chest cavity to contract. Air pressure in the lungs rises, so air flows from the lungs and up and out of respiratory system through the nose or mouth.
Things That Can Go Wrong With the Lungs and Respiratory System
Many factors — including genetics, pollutants and irritants, and infectious diseases — can affect the health of your lungs and respiratory system and cause respiratory problems. Problems of the respiratory system that can affect people during their teen years include:
Asthma. Over 20 million people have asthma (pronounced: az-muh) in the United States, and it's the number-one reason that kids and teens chronically miss school. Asthma is a long-term, inflammatory lung disease that causes airways to tighten and narrow when a person with the condition comes into contact with irritants such as cigarette smoke, dust, or pet dander.
Bronchitis. Although bronchitis doesn't affect most teens, it can affect those who smoke. In bronchitis, the membranes lining the larger bronchial tubes become inflamed and an excessive amount of mucus is produced. The person with bronchitis develops a bad cough to get rid of the mucus.
Common cold. Colds are caused by over 200 different viruses that cause inflammation in the upper respiratory tract. The common cold is the most common respiratory infection. Symptoms may include a mild fever, cough, headache, runny nose, sneezing, and sore throat.
Cough. A cough is a symptom of an illness, not an illness itself. There are many different types of cough and many different causes, ranging from not-so-serious to life threatening. Some of the more common causes affecting kids and teens are the common cold, asthma, sinusitis, seasonal allergies, and pneumonia.
Cystic fibrosis (CF). CF is an inherited disease affecting the lungs. CF causes mucus in the body to be abnormally thick and sticky. The mucus can clog the airways in the lungs and make a person more likely to get bacterial infections.
Pneumonia. Pneumonia is an inflammation of the lungs, which usually occurs because of infection with a bacteria or virus. Pneumonia causes fever, inflammation of lung tissue, and makes breathing difficult because the lungs have to work harder to transfer oxygen into the bloodstream and remove carbon dioxide from the blood. Common causes of pneumonia are influenza and infection with the bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae.
Although some respiratory diseases like asthma or cystic fibrosis can't be prevented, you can prevent many chronic lung and respiratory illnesses by avoiding smoking, staying away from pollutants and irritants, washing your hands often to avoid infection, and getting regular medical checkups.

Kingdom (biology)

In biological taxonomy, kingdom or regnum is a taxonomic rank in either (historically) the highest rank, or (in the new three-domain system) the rank below domain. Each kingdom is divided into smaller groups called phyla (or in some contexts these are called "divisions"). Currently, many textbooks from the United States use a system of six kingdoms (Animalia, Plantae, Fungi, Protista, Archaea, Bacteria) while British and Australian textbooks may describe five kingdoms (Animalia, Plantae, Fungi, Protista, and Prokaryota or Monera). The classifications of taxonomy are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, and species.
Carolus Linnaeus distinguished two kingdoms of living things: Animalia for animals and Vegetabilia for plants (Linnaeus also treated minerals, placing them in a third kingdom, Mineralia). Linnaeus divided each kingdom into classes, later grouped into phyla for animals and divisions for plants. It gradually became apparent how important the prokaryote/eukaryote distinction is, and Stanier and van Niel popularized Edouard Chatton's proposal in the 1960s.
Five kingdoms
It has been suggested that this section be split into a new article entitled Five kingdom system. (Discuss)
Robert Whittaker recognized an additional kingdom for the Fungi. The resulting five-kingdom system, proposed in 1969, has become a popular standard and with some refinement is still used in many works, or forms the basis for newer multi-kingdom systems. It is based mainly on differences in nutrition; his Plantae were mostly multicellular autotrophs, his Animalia multicellular heterotrophs, and his Fungi multicellular saprotrophs. The remaining two kingdoms, Protista and Monera, included unicellular and simple cellular colonies.
Six kingdoms
It has been suggested that this section be split into a new article entitled Six kingdom system. (Discuss)
In the years around 1980, there was an emphasis on phylogeny and redefining the kingdoms to be monophyletic groups, groups made up of relatively closely related organisms. The Animalia, Plantae, and Fungi were generally reduced to core groups of closely related forms, and the others placed into the Protista. Based on RNA studies, Carl Woese divided the prokaryotes (Kingdom Monera) into two kingdoms, called Eubacteria and Archaebacteria. Carl Woese attempted to establish a Three Primary Kingdom (or Urkingdom) system in which Plants, Animals, Protista, and Fungi were lumped into one primary kingdom of all eukaryotes. The Eubacteria and Archaebacteria made up the other two urkingdoms. The initial use of "six Kingdom systems" represents a blending of the classic Five Kingdom system and Woese's Three Kingdom system. Such six Kingdom systems have become standard in many works.
A variety of new eukaryotic kingdoms were also proposed, but most were quickly invalidated, ranked down to phyla or classes, or abandoned. The only one which is still in common use is the kingdom Chromista proposed by Cavalier-Smith, including organisms such as kelp, diatoms, and water moulds. Thus the eukaryotes are divided into three primarily heterotrophic groups, the Animalia, Fungi, and Protozoa, and two primarily photosynthetic groups, the Plantae (including red and green algae) and Chromista. However, it has not become widely used because of uncertainty over the monophyly of the latter two kingdoms.
Woese stresses genetic similarity over outward appearances and behaviour, relying on comparisons of ribosomal RNA genes at the molecular level to sort out classification categories. A plant does not look like an animal, but at the cellular level, both groups are eukaryotes, having similar subcellular organization, including cell nuclei, which the Eubacteria and Archaebacteria do not have. More importantly, plants, animals, fungi, and protists are more similar to each other in their genetic makeup at the molecular level, based on RNA studies, than they are to either the Eubacteria or Archaebacteria. Woese also found that all of the eukaryotes, lumped together as one group, are more closely related, genetically, to the Archaebacteria than they are to the Eubacteria. This means that the Eubacteria and Archaebacteria are separate groups even when compared to the eukaryotes. So, Woese established the Three-domain system, clarifying that all the Eukaryotes are more closely genetically related compared to their genetic relationship to either the bacteria or the archaebacteria, without having to replace the "six kingdom systems" with a three kingdom system. The Three Domain system is a "six kingdom system" that unites the eukaryotic kingdoms into the Eukarya Domain based on their relative genetic similarity when compared to the Bacteria Domain and the Archaea Domain. Woese also recognized that the Protista Kingdom is not a monophyletic group and might be further divided at the level of Kingdom. Others have divided the Protista Kingdom into the Protozoa and the Chromista, for instance.
Recent advances
Classification is an ongoing area of research and discussion. As new findings and technologies become available they allow the refinement of the model. For example, gene sequencing techniques allow the comparison of the genome of different groups (Phylogenomics). A study published in 2007 by Fabien Burki, et alproposes four high level groups of eukaryotes based on phylogenomics research.
Plantae (green and red algae, and plants)
Opisthokonts (amoebas, fungi, and animals)
Excavata (free-living and parasitic protists)
SAR (acronym for Stramenopiles, Alveolates, and Rhizaria–the names of some of its members. Burki found that the previously split groups Rhizaria and Chromalveolates were more similar in 123 common genes than once thought.)
Recent phylogenetic studies suggest there are anywhere from 18 to over 30 different kingdoms that have been discovered.
Summary
Linnaeus[5](1735)2 kingdoms
Haeckel[6](1866)3 kingdoms
Chatton[7](1925)2 groups
Copeland[8](1938)4 kingdoms
Whittaker[2]
(1969)5 kingdoms
Woese (1977,1990)3 domains
Animalia
Animalia
Eukaryote
Animalia
Animalia
Eukarya
Vegetabilia
Plantae
Plantae
Plantae
Protoctista
Fungi
Protista
(not treated)
Protista
Procaryote
Monera
Monera
Archaea
Bacteria
Note that the equivalences in this table are not perfect. e.g. Haeckell placed the red algae (Haeckell's Florideae; modern Florideophyceae) and blue-green algae (Haeckell's Archephyta; modern Cyanobacteria) in his Plantae.
In 1998, Cavalier-Smith proposed that Protista should be divided into 2 new kingdoms: Chromista the phylogenetic group of golden-brown algae that includes those algae whose chloroplasts contain chlorophylls a and c, as well as various colorless forms that are closely related to them, and Protozoa, the kingdom of protozoans.This proposal has not been widely-adopted, although the question of the relationships between different domains of life remains controversial.
Empires
Kingdoms
Prokaryota
Bacteria
Eukaryota
Animalia
Plantae
Fungi
Chromista
Protozoa

Office Environment & Worker Safety & Health

Maintaining a healthy office environment requires attention to chemical hazards, equipment and work station design, physical environment (temperature, humidity, light, noise, ventilation, and space), task design, psychological factors (personal interactions, work pace, job control) and sometimes, chemical or other environmental exposures. A well-designed office allows each employee to work comfortably without needing to over-reach, sit or stand too long, or use awkward postures (correct ergonomic design). Sometimes, equipment or furniture changes are the best solution to allow employees to work comfortably. On other occasions, the equipment may be satisfactory but the task could be redesigned. For example, studies have shown that those working at computers have less discomfort with short, hourly breaks. Situations in offices that can lead to injury or illness range from physical hazards (such as cords across walkways, leaving low drawers open, objects falling from overhead) to task-related (speed or repetition, duration, job control, etc.), environmental (chemical or biological sources) or design-related hazards (such as nonadjustable furniture or equipment). Job stress that results when the requirements of the job do not match the capabilities or resources of the worker may also result in illness.

Eye Safety

Each day about 2000 U.S. workers have a job-related eye injury that requires medical treatment. About one third of the injuries are treated in hospital emergency departments and more than 100 of these injuries result in one or more days of lost work. The majority of these injuries result from small particles or objects striking or abrading the eye. Examples include metal slivers, wood chips, dust, and cement chips that are ejected by tools, wind blown, or fall from above a worker. Some of these objects, such as nails, staples, or slivers of wood or metal penetrate the eyeball and result in a permanent loss of vision. Large objects may also strike the eye/face, or a worker may run into an object causing blunt force trauma to the eyeball or eye socket. Chemical burns to one or both eyes from splashes of industrial chemicals or cleaning products are common. Thermal burns to the eye occur as well. Among welders, their assistants, and nearby workers, UV radiation burns (welder’s flash) routinely damage workers’ eyes and surrounding tissue.
In addition to common eye injuries, health care workers, laboratory staff, janitorial workers, animal handlers, and other workers may be at risk of acquiring infectious diseases via ocular exposure. Infectious diseases can be transmitted through the mucous membranes of the eye as a result of direct exposure (e.g., blood splashes, respiratory droplets generated during coughing or suctioning) or from touching the eyes with contaminated fingers or other objects. The infections may result in relatively minor conjunctivitis or reddening/soreness of the eye or in a life threatening disease such as HIV, B virus, or possibly even avian influenza.
Engineering controls should be used to reduce eye injuries and to protect against ocular infection exposures. Personal protective eyewear, such as goggles, face shields, safety glasses, or full face respirators must also be used when an eye hazard exists. The eye protection chosen for specific work situations depends upon the nature and extent of the hazard, the circumstances of exposure, other protective equipment used, and personal vision needs. Eye protection should be fit to an individual or adjustable to provide appropriate coverage. It should be comfortable and allow for sufficient peripheral vision. Selection of protective eyewear appropriate for a given task should be made based on a hazard assessment of each activity, including regulatory requirements when applicable.

stomach

What is the stomach?
The stomach is an organ of digestion. It has a saclike shape and is located between the esophagus and the intestines. Almost every animal has a stomach.
The human stomach is a muscular, elastic, pear-shaped bag, lying crosswise in the abdominal cavity beneath the diaphragm. It changes size and shape according to is position of the body and the amount of food inside. The stomach is about 12 inches (30.5 cm) long and is 6 inches. (15.2 cm) wide at its widest point. The stomach's capacity is about 1 qt (0.94 liters) in an adult.
Food enters the stomach from the esophagus. The connection between the stomach and the esophagus is called the cardiac sphincter. The cardiac sphincter prevents food from passing back to the esophagus. Heart burn is the sensation when stomach juices (gastric juice) is allowed to seep through the sphincter into the esophagus. Once the food enters the stomach, gastric juices are used to break down the food. Some substances are absorbed muscle lining of the stomach. One of the substances the stomach absorbs is alcohol.
The other end of the stomach empties into the duodenum. The duodenum is the first section of the small intestine. The pyloric sphincter separates the stomach from the duodenum.
The stomach is composed of five layers. Starting from the inside and working our way out, the innermost layer is called the mucosa. Stomach acid and digestive juices are made in the mucosa layer. The next layer is called the submucosa. The submucosa is surrounded by the muscularis, a layer of muscle that moves and mixes the stomach contents. The next two layers, the subserosa and the serosa are the wrapping for the stomach. The serosa is the outermost layer of the stomach.
Gastric Bypass Surgery
If you are considering a gastric bypass surgery, read Gastric Bypass Surgery - What No One Tells you
Diseases of the Stomach
Some of the common stomach conditions are: stomach ulcer, gastritis, and stomach cancer. If there is bleeding in the stomach, black stool may occur.
Body Location of the Stomach
To look at the stomach in relation to other organs in the body, visit the digestive system

Liver

What is the Liver?
The liver is the largest glandular organ of the body. It weighs about 3 lb (1.36 kg). It is reddish brown in color and is divided into four lobes of unequal size and shape. The liver lies on the right side of the abdominal cavity beneath the diaphragm. Blood is carried to the liver via two large vessels called the hepatic artery and the portal vein. The heptic artery carries oxygen-rich blood from the aorta (a major vessel in the heart). The portal vein carries blood containing digested food from the small intestine. These blood vessels subdivide in the liver repeatedly, terminating in very small capillaries. Each capillary leads to a lobule. Liver tissue is composed of thousands of lobules, and each lobule is made up of hepatic cells, the basic metabolic cells of the liver.
What is its major function?
The liver has many functions. Some of the functions are: to produce substances that break down fats, convert glucose to glycogen, produce urea (the main substance of urine), make certain amino acids (the building blocks of proteins), filter harmful substances from the blood (such as alcohol), storage of vitamins and minerals (vitamins A, D, K and B12) and maintain a proper level or glucose in the blood. The liver is also responsible fore producing cholesterol. It produces about 80% of the cholesterol in your body.
Diseases of the Liver
Several diseases states can affect the liver. Some of the diseases are Wilson's Disease, hepatitis (an inflammation of the liver), liver cancer, and cirrhosis (a chronic inflammation that progresses ultimately to organ failure). Alcohol alters the metabolism of the liver, which can have overall detrimental effects if alcohol is taken over long periods of time.
Hemochromatosis can cause liver problems.
Medications that negatively effect the liver
Medications have side effects that may harm your liver. Some of the medications that can damage your liver are: serzone, anti-cancer drugs (tagfur, MTX, and cytoxan), and medications used to treat diabetes.
Serzone is a prescription drug manufactured by Bristol-Myers Squibb for the treatment of depression.
The possible side effects of Serzone® are: agitation, dizziness, clumsiness or unsteadiness, difficulty concentrating, memory problems, confusion, severe nausea, gastroenteritis, abdominal pain, unusually dark urine, difficult or frequent urination, fainting, skin rash or hives yellowing of the skin or whites of the eyes (jaundice) or a prolonged loss of weight or loss of appetite.
If you or a family member have suffered serious side effects or a fatal injury after taking Serzone®, you or the family member may be eligible to file a claim against the manufacturer. You should contact an attorney that specializes in class action lawsuits immediately.
To help prevent liver damage, let your doctor know about your liver condition when being treated for other conditions. Medications come in many forms and it is best to find out what is in them and what it can do to your liver.
Body Location of the Liver
To look at the liver in relation to other organs in the body, visit the digestive system

Drug

A drug, broadly speaking, is any chemical substance that, when absorbed into the body of a living organism, alters normal bodily function.There is no single, precise definition, as there are different meanings in drug control law, government regulations, medicine, and colloquial usage.
In pharmacology, Dictionary.com defines a drug as "a chemical substance used in the treatment, cure, prevention, or diagnosis of disease or used to otherwise enhance physical or mental well-being."Drugs may be prescribed for a limited duration, or on a regular basis for chronic disorders.
Recreational drugs are chemical substances that affect the central nervous system, such as opioids or hallucinogens.They may be used for perceived beneficial effects on perception, consciousness, personality, and behavior.Some drugs can cause addiction and habituation.
Drugs are usually distinguished from endogenous biochemicals by being introduced from outside the organism.[citation needed] For example, insulin is a hormone that is synthesized in the body; it is called a hormone when it is synthesized by the pancreas inside the body, but if it is introduced into the body from outside, it is called a drug.[citation needed]
Many natural substances such as beers, wines, and some mushrooms, blur the line between food and drugs, as when ingested they affect the functioning of both mind and body.
Contents
Medication
Main article: pharmaceutical drug
A medication or medicine is a drug taken to cure and/or ameliorate any symptoms of an illness or medical condition, or may be used as preventive medicine that has future benefits but does not treat any existing or pre-existing diseases or symptoms.
Dispensing of medication is often regulated by governments into three categories — over-the-counter (OTC) medications, which are available in pharmacies and supermarkets without special restrictions, behind-the-counter (BTC), which are dispensed by a pharmacist without needing a doctor's prescription, and Prescription only medicines (POM), which must be prescribed by a licensed medical professional, usually a physician.[citation needed]
In the UK, BTC medicines are called pharmacy medicines which can only be sold in registered pharmacies, by or under the supervision of a pharmacist, these medications are designated by the letter P on the label,the precise distinction between OTC and prescription drugs depends on the legal jurisdiction.[citation needed]
Medications are typically produced by pharmaceutical companies and are often patented to give the developer exclusive rights to produce them, but they can also be derived from naturally occurring substance in plants called herbal medicine.[citation needed] Those that are not patented (or with expired patents) are called generic drugs since they can be produced by other companies without restrictions or licenses from the patent holder.
Drugs, both medicinal and recreational, can be administered in a number of ways:
Orally, as a liquid or solid, that is absorbed through the stomach.
Inhaled, (breathed into the lungs), as a vapor.
Injected as a liquid either: intramuscular, intravenous, intraperitoneal, intraosseous.
Rectally as a suppository, that is absorbed by the colon.
Vaginally as a suppository, primarily to treat vaginal infections.
Bolus, a substance into the stomach to dissolve slowly.
Insufflation, or snorted into the nose.
Many drugs can be administered in a variety of ways.
Recreation
Main article: Recreational drug use
Further information: Prohibition (drugs)
Recreational drugs use is the use of psychoactive substances to have fun, for the experience, or to enhance an already positive experience. National laws prohibit the use of many different recreational drugs and medicinal drugs that have the potential for recreational use are heavily regulated. Many other recreational drugs on the other hand are legal, widely culturally accepted, and at the most have an age restriction on using and/or purchasing them. These include alcohol, tobacco, betel nut, and caffeine products.
Spiritual and religious use
Main article: Entheogen
The spiritual and religious use of drugs has been occurring since the dawn of our species. Drugs that are considered to have spiritual or religious use are called entheogens. Some religions are based completely on the use of certain drugs. Entheogens are mostly hallucinogens, being either psychedelics or deliriants, but some are also stimulants and sedatives.
Nootropics
Main article: Nootropic
Nootropics, also commonly referred to as "smart drugs", are drugs that are claimed to improve human cognitive abilities. Nootropics are used to improve memory, concentration, thought, mood, learning, and many others things. Some nootropics are now beginning to be used to treat certain diseases such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, Parkinson's disease, and Alzheimer's disease. They are also commonly used to regain brain function lost during aging.
Legal definition of drugs
Some governments define the term drug by law. In the United States, the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act definition of "drug" includes "articles intended for use in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease in man or other animals" and "articles (other than food) intended to affect the structure or any function of the body of man or other animals."Consistent with that definition, the U.S. separately defines narcotic drugs and controlled substances, which may include non-drugs, and explicitly excludes tobacco, caffeine and alcoholic beverages.
Governmental controls
In Canada the government has moved to remove the influence of drug companies on the medical system. "The influence that the pharmaceutical companies, the for-profits, are having on every aspect of medicine ... is so blatant now you'd have to be deaf, blind and dumb not to see it," said Journal of the American Medical Association editor Dr. Catherine DeAngelis.
Etymology
Drug is thought to originate from Old French "drogue", possibly deriving later into "droge-vate" from Middle Dutch meaning "dry barrels", referring to medicinal plants preserved in them.

Haemophilia

Haemophilia (also spelled as hemophilia, comes from the Greek haima "blood" and philia "to love" is a group of hereditary genetic disorders that impair the body's ability to control blood clotting or coagulation. In its most common form, Haemophilia A, clotting factor VIII is absent. In Haemophilia B, factor IX is deficient. Haemophilia A occurs in about 1 in 5,000–10,000 male births, while Haemophilia B occurs at about 1 in about 20,000–34,000.
The effects of this sex-linked, X chromosome disorder are manifested almost entirely in males, although the gene for the disorder is inherited from the mother. Females have two X chromosomes while males have only one, lacking a 'back up' copy for the defective gene. Females are therefore almost exclusively carriers of the disorder, and may have inherited it from either their mother or father.
These genetic deficiencies may lower blood plasma clotting factor levels of coagulation factors needed for a normal clotting process. When a blood vessel is injured, a temporary scab does form, but the missing coagulation factors prevent fibrin formation which is necessary to maintain the blood clot. Thus a haemophiliac does not bleed more intensely than a normal person, but for a much longer amount of time. In severe haemophiliacs even a minor injury could result in blood loss lasting days, weeks, or not ever healing completely. The critical risk here is with normally small injuries which, due to missing factor VIII, take long times to heal. In areas such as the brain or inside joints this can be fatal or permanently debilitating.
The bleeding with external injury is normal, but incidence of late re-bleeding and internal bleeding is increased, especially into muscles, joints, or bleeding into closed spaces. Major complications include hemarthrosis, hemorrhage, gastrointestinal bleeding, and menorrhagia.
Causes

Deficiency in coagulation factor VIII is the most common cause of hemophilia.
Haemophilia A is an X-linked genetic disorder involving a lack of functional clotting Factor VIII and represents 90% of hemophilia cases.
Haemophilia B is an X-linked genetic disorder involving a lack of functional clotting Factor IX It is less severe but more uncommon than Hemophilia A.
Haemophilia C is an autosomal recessive genetic disorder involving a lack of functional clotting Factor XI.
Occurrence
Hemophilia is quite rare, with only about 1 instance in every 10,000 births (or 1 in 5,001 male births) for hemophilia A and 1 in 50,000 births for hemophilia B.About 18,000 people in the United States have hemophilia. Each year in the US, about 400 babies are born with the disorder. Hemophilia usually occurs in males and less often in females.It is estimated that about 2500 Canadians have hemophilia A and about 500 Canadians have hemophilia B.
History
Queen Victoria passed hemophilia on to many of her descendants.
The earliest possible implicit reference to hemophilia may have been in the Talmud, a Jewish holy text, which states that males did not have to be circumcised if two brothers had already died from the procedure. In 1000 CE, the Arab physician, Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi (known as Albucasis in the West), wrote the first explicit description of hemophilia in his Al-Tasrif, in which he wrote of an Andalusian family whose males died of bleeding after minor injuries.
In 1803, Dr. John Conrad Otto, a Philadelphia physician, wrote an account about "a hemorrhagic disposition existing in certain families." He recognized that the disorder was hereditary and that it affected males and rarely females. He was able to trace the disease back to a woman who settled near Plymouth in 1720. The first usage of the term "hemophilia" appears in a description of the condition written by Hopff at the University of Zurich in 1828.In 1937, Patek and Taylor, two doctors from Harvard, discovered anti-hemophilic globulin. Pavlosky, a doctor from Buenos Aires, found Hemophilia A and Hemophilia B to be separate diseases by doing a lab test. This test was done by transferring the blood of one hemophiliac to another hemophiliac. The fact that this corrected the clotting problem showed that there was more than one form of hemophilia.
Haemophilia in European royalty featured prominently and thus is sometimes known as "the royal disease". Queen Victoria passed the mutation to her son Leopold and, through several of her daughters, to various royals across the continent, including the royal families of Spain, Germany, and Russia. Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich, son of Nicholas II, was a descendant of Queen Victoria and suffered from hemophilia. It was claimed that Rasputin was successful at treating the Tsarevich Alexei of Russia's hemophilia. At the time, a common treatment administered by professional doctors was to use aspirin, which worsened rather than lessen the problem. It is believed that, by simply advising against the medical treatment, Rasputin could bring visible and significant improvement to the condition of Alexei.
Prior to 1985, there were no laws enacted within the U.S. to screen blood. As a result, many hemophilia patients who received untested and unscreened clotting factor prior to 1992 were at an extreme risk for contracting HIV and Hepatitis C via these blood products. It is estimated that more than 50% of the Hemophilia population, over 10,000 people, contracted HIV from the tainted blood supply in the United States alone.[10]
As a direct result of the contamination of the blood supply in the late 1970s and early/mid 1980s with viruses such as Hepatitis and HIV, new methods were developed in the production of clotting factor products. The initial response was to heat-treat (pasteurize) plasma-derived factor concentrate, followed by the development of monoclonal factor concentrates, which use a combination of heat treatment and affinity chromatography to inactivate any viral agents in the pooled plasma from which the factor concentrate is derived. The Lindsay Tribunal in Ireland investigated, among other things, the slow adoption of the new methods.
Genetics
Females possess two X-chromosomes, where as males have one X and one Y chromosome. Since the mutations causing the disease are recessive, a woman carrying the defect on one of her X-chromosomes may not be affected by it, as the equivalent allele on her other chromosome should express itself to produce the necessary clotting factors. However the Y-chromosome in men has no gene for factors VIII or IX. If the genes responsible for production of factor VIII or factor IX present on a male's X-chromosome are deficient there is no equivalent on the Y-chromosome, so the deficient gene is not masked by the dominant allele and he will develop the illness.
Since a male receives his single X-chromosome from his mother, the son of a healthy female silently carrying the deficient gene will have a 50% chance of inheriting that gene from her and with it the disease; and if his mother is affected with haemophilia, he will have a 100% chance of being a haemophiliac. In contrast, for a female to inherit the disease, she must receive two deficient X-chromosomes, one from her mother and the other from her father (who must therefore be a haemophiliac himself). Hence haemophilia is far more common among males than females. However it is possible for female carriers to become mild haemophiliacs due to lyonisation (inactivation) of the X chromosomes. Haemophiliac daughters are more common than they once were, as improved treatments for the disease have allowed more haemophiliac males to survive to adulthood and become parents. Adult females may experience menorrhagia (heavy periods) due to the bleeding tendency. The pattern of inheritance is criss-cross type. This type of pattern is also seen in colour blindness.
A mother who is a carrier has a 50% chance of passing the faulty X chromosome to her daughter, while an affected father will always pass on the affected gene to his daughters. A son cannot inherit the defective gene from his father.
Genetic testing and genetic counseling is recommended for families with haemophilia. Prenatal testing, such as amniocentesis, is available to pregnant women who may be carriers of the condition.
As with all genetic disorders, it is of course also possible for a human to acquire it spontaneously through mutation, rather than inheriting it, because of a new mutation in one of their parents' gametes. Spontaneous mutations account for about 33% of all cases of haemophilia A. About 30% of cases of Hemophilia B are the result of a spontaneous gene mutation.
Probability
If a female gives birth to a hemophiliac child, either the female is a carrier for the disease or the haemophilia was the result of a spontaneous mutation. Until modern direct DNA testing, however, it was impossible to determine if a female with only healthy children was a carrier or not. Generally, the more healthy sons she bore, the higher the probability that she was not a carrier.
If a male is afflicted with the disease and has children with a female who is not even a carrier, his daughters will be carriers of hemophilia. His sons, however, will not be affected with the disease. The disease is X-linked and the father cannot pass hemophilia through the Y chromosome. Males with the disorder are then no more likely to pass on the gene to their children than carrier females, though all daughter they sire will be carriers and all sons they father will not have hemophilia (unless the mother is a carrier).
Treatment
Though there is no cure for hemophilia, it can be controlled with regular infusions of the deficient clotting factor, i.e. factor VIII in haemophilia A or factor IX in hemophilia B. Factor replacement can be either isolated from human blood serum, recombinant, or a combination of the two. Some hemophiliacs develop antibodies (inhibitors) against the replacement factors given to them, so the amount of the factor has to be increased or non-human replacement products must be given, such as porcine factor VIII.
If a patient becomes refractory to replacement coagulation factor as a result of circulating inhibitors, this may be partially overcome with recombinant human factor VII (NovoSeven), which is registered for this indication in many countries.
In early 2008, the US Food and Drug Administration approved Xyntha (Wyeth) anti-hemophilic factor, genetically engineered from the genes of Chinese hamster ovary cells. Since 1993 (Dr. Mary Nugent) recombinant factor products (which are typically cultured in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) tissue culture cells and involve little, if any human plasma products) have been available and have been widely used in wealthier western countries. While recombinant clotting factor products offer higher purity and safety, they are, like concentrate, extremely expensive, and not generally available in the developing world. In many cases, factor products of any sort are difficult to obtain in developing countries.
In Western countries, common standards of care fall into one of two categories: prophylaxis or on-demand. Prophylaxis involves the infusion of clotting factor on a regular schedule in order to keep clotting levels sufficiently high to prevent spontaneous bleeding episodes. On-demand treatment involves treating bleeding episodes once they arise. In 2007, a clinical trial was published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) comparing on-demand treatment of boys (<>Factor VIII every other day) in respect to its effect on the prevention of joint-diseases. When the boys reached 6 years of age, 93% of those in the prophylaxis group and 55% of those in the episodic-therapy group had a normal index joint-structure on MRI. Prophylactic treatment, however, resulted in average costs of $300,000 per year. The author of an editorial published in the same issue of the NEJM demands more clinical studies addressing the cost-effectiveness of prophylactic treatment.
It is recommended that people affected with Hemophilia do specific exercises to strengthen the joints, particularly the elbows, knees, and ankles.Exercises include elements which increase flexibility, tone, and strength of muscles, increasing their ability to protect joints from damaging bleeds. These exercises are recommended after an internal bleed occurs and on a daily basis to strengthen the muscles and joints to prevent new bleeding problems. Many recommended exercises include standard sports warm-up and training exercises such as stretching of the calves, ankle circles, elbow flexions, and Quadriceps sets.
Alternative and complementary treatments
While not a replacement for traditional treatments, preliminary scientific studies indicate that hypnosis and self-hypnosis can be effective at reducing bleeds and the severity of bleeds and thus the frequency of factor treatment.Herbs which strengthen blood vessels and act as astringents may also benefit patients with hemophilia, however there is little or no peer reviewed research to support these claims. Recommended herbs include: Bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus), Grape seed extract (Vitis vinifera), Scotch broom (Cytisus scoparius), Stinging nettle (Urtica dioica), Witch hazel (Hamamelis virginiana), and yarrow (Achillea millefolium).
Differential diagnosis
Haemophilia A can be mimicked by von Willebrand disease
von Willebrand Disease type 2A, where decreased levels of von Willebrand Factor can lead to premature proteolysis of Factor VIII. In contrast to haemophilia, vWD type 2A is inherited in an autosomal dominant fashion.
von Willebrand Disease type 2N, where von Willebrand Factor cannot bind Factor VIII, autosomal recessive inheritance. (ie; both parents need to give the child a copy of the gene).
von Willebrand Disease type 3, where lack of von Willebrand Factor causes premature proteolysis of Factor VIII. In contrast to haemophilia, vWD type 3 is inherited in an autosomal recessive fashion