Liver failure are leading causes of morbidity and mortality in the United States, with the majority of preventable cases attributed to excessive alcohol consumption, viral hepatitis, or nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Cirrhosis often is an indolen...
A tick is a small brown bug that attaches to the skin and sucks blood for 3 to 6 days. The bite is usually painless and doesn't itch. The wood tick, which carries Rocky Mountain spotted fever and Colorado tick fever, is up to 1/2 inch in size. The d...
It has been estimated that 70% of migraine sufferers are female. Of these female migraine sufferers, 60%-70% report that their migraines are related to their menstrual cycles -- hence the name, menstrual migraines. In some cases, these painful heada...
A bursa is a fluid-filled sac that reduces friction around your joints. When the bursa becomes inflamed (swollen) because the fluid inside is infected or irritated by too much movement, this is called bursitis. It causes pain, swelling and difficult...
Chickenpox is an infectious disease caused by the varicella virus. Most cases occur in children under age 15 but older children and adults can get it. It spreads very easily from one child to another. Symptoms include an uncomfortable, itchy rash, f...
Over the course of the past several years, above ground pool designers have been hard at work coming up with ways that people can dress up the pools in their backyards. What they finally came up with is nothing short of amazing, because now people e...
There was a time in the not too distant past when if you wanted an inground pool installed at you home or place of business, there was basically only one rout to take. You hired a hopefully honest pool contractor and kept your fingers crossed in the...
An ultrasound test is a radiology technique, which uses high- frequency sound waves to produce images of the organs and structures of the body. The sound waves are sent through body tissues with a device called a transducer. The transducer is placed...
The hand is a marvelously complex part of the human anatomy. Every year, however, millions of people experience broken bones within their hands. Because we are so dependent on our hands, even a small loss of function can result in a lifelong disabil...
A genetic disease or disorder is any disease that is caused by an abnormality in an individual's genome. The abnormality can range from minuscule to major -- from a discrete mutation in a single base in the DNA of a single gene to a gross chromosome...
Reactive Arthritis is a type of arthritis that develops in response to a bacterial or viral infection elsewhere in the body. At times, the joint inflammation may be accompanied by red eyes (conjunctivitis) attacks the joints, eyes & the skin. Reacti...
West Nile Virus has spread rapidly across North America, affecting thousands of birds, horses, and humans, since it was discovered in the Western hemisphere. WNV swept from the New York City region in 1999 to almost all of the continental U.S., 7 Ca...