March 30th, 2010
Contact lens is used for various purposes, such as correction of refractive error, cosmetic purpose (to change the look) and therapeutic use (known as therapeutic contact lenses). The most common cause of use of contact lens is for correcting refractive errors of the eye. It is estimated that more than 125 million individuals are using contact lenses at present and most common purpose is obviously the correction of refractive errors. Small percentage of contact lenses is used for cosmetic reason and even smaller percentage for therapeutic purpose, although use contact lens for cosmetic purpose is increasing slowly, but steadily.
The availability of disposable contact lens has increased the use of contact lens due to easier way of handling and the taking care part of the contact lens has become very simple. The disposable contact lenses may be cheaper then non disposable contact lenses, but the actual cost of using disposable contact lens may be higher. The only disadvantage of disposable contact lens is the cost, which may be higher than non disposable contact lens for long term use as the requirement of several disposable contact lenses for several days. Slowly disposable and cheap contact lens is also coming to the market. But one should always compare the advantages and disadvantages of using disposable and non disposable contact lenses.
It is always advisable to compare contact lens, from one with another, in terms of durability, cost and comfort of use. You should always think what you need, if you can take care of contact lens regularly, then you can go for a non disposable contact les, which will be cheap in the long run, but if you do not have enough time and can not take care of your contact lens, you should go for disposable contact lens.
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March 9th, 2010
The causative agent for syphilis is Treponema pallidum, a spirochete. Syphilis is still fairly common disease (it is a sexually transmitted disease), despite presence of very effective antibiotics such as penicillin. At present globally more than 10 million people contact syphilis, annually. But there is a sharp decline of more than 95% in the past 50 years in the incidence of syphilis after advent of penicillin therapy to treat syphilis effectively.
The antibiotic of choice for treatment of syphilis is still penicillin for all the stages of syphilis. There is no reported incidence of resistance of Treponema pallidum to penicillin and hence still the drug of choice.
The CDC has given a guideline for treatment of syphilis in the year 2006 which is given below:
- Treatment of syphilis in Primary, secondary, and early latent phase of syphilis is Penicillin G benzathine (a single dose of 2.4 million units intramuscularly).
- Late latent phase, or cardiovascular involvement, CSF (cerebrospinal fluid) analysis should be done. If CSF is normal Penicillin G benzathine 2.4 million units intramuscularly weekly for 3 weeks. If CSF is abnormal it should be treated as neurosyphilis.
- Neurosyphilis, either symptomatic or asymptomatic is to be treated with aqueous penicillin G, 18–24 million units intravenously, given every 4 hourly (3–4 million units) or by continuous intravenous infusion. Alternative regimen is aqueous penicillin G procaine, 2.4 million units intramuscularly plus oral probenecid (500 mg every 6 hourly), both for 10–14 days.
- During pregnancy the treatment is same as with general population and according to stages.
- If patient is sensitive to penicillin, alternative includes Tetracycline hydrochloride (500 mg orally 4 times a day) or doxycycline (100 mg orally two times a day) for 14 days. Penicillin sensitive pregnant patients or patients with neurosyphilis have to be treated with penicillin after desensitization.
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February 25th, 2010
White and glistening teeth are desired by every men and women. Teeth whitening can be also sometimes called (although incorrectly) bleaching of teeth and it is part of cosmetic dentistry, which has become very popular, especially among young generation. You can get teeth whitening solutions at your nearest drug stores (to be used by yourself) or you can get the entire procedure done at your dentist’s clinic.
Many people have used teeth whitening but very few of the general population as well as the users of teeth whitening have adequate knowledge about teeth whitening. Due to lack of adequate knowledge about teeth whitening the misinformation is very much present among people (users as well as non users of teeth whitening). The most common misinformation people have is about the duration a single use of whitening solution or procedure at your dentist’s clinic can give. The fact is you need to use teeth whitening regularly to get a long lasting of permanent white and glistening teeth.
According to USFDA the term “bleaching” of teeth is whitening teeth beyond their natural white color and whitening is to restore natural white color of teeth if they are stained or discolored. But practically almost all the whitening solutions contain bleaching chemicals like hydrogen peroxide. Strictly speaking these whitening solutions containing beaching chemical should be called bleach (according to the USFDA definition), but they are called whitening solutions (most likely, whitening sound better than bleach).
Different individuals use whitening solutions for different purpose. Some use teeth whitening to remove stains and some individuals use teeth whitening to restore natural color and add some glaze in teeth.
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February 23rd, 2010
Hirsutism is generally treated by pharmacological (by use of drugs) means and mechanical or non pharmacological means. The general principle of management of hirsutism is to use mechanical or non pharmacological means of treatment of hirsutism, either alone or along with pharmacological means or by use of drugs. In other words in all cases of hirsutism mechanical or non pharmacological means should be tried and when it fails, pharmacological means should be used.
Mechanical or non pharmacological methods of treatment of hirsutism include removal of hairs by use of chemicals or simply shaving, removal of hair along with root of the hair follicles (by plucking, waxing, electrolysis and by using laser) and bleaching. These mechanical removal of hairs may be painful but use of laser is painless and gives good results, although the long tern efficacy and long term complication of laser treatment of hirsutism is not yet adequately studied. But laser treatment generally gives long lasting effects and in most cases hair removal is permanent. Even if the hair removal is not permanent, it delays the re-growth of hair for long.
The pharmacological treatment of hirsutism includes use of combined oral contraceptive pills, which contain both estrogen and progestin. The estrogen component used is ethinyl estradiol and progestin component used is norgestimate. The commonly used progestin in combined oral contraceptive pill is norgestrel or levonorgestrel, but these two have androgenic effects and not used in hirsutism. The newer generation progestin norgestimate is used in place of norgestrel or levonorgestrel.
Other drugs which are also used in treatment of hirsutism are spironolactone, cyproterone acetate, flutamide etc.
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January 25th, 2010
Epididymitis is a sexually transmitted infection in men. Most of the sexually transmitted epididymitis are acute and generally affect only on one side. Epididymitis causes pain, tenderness (pain on pressure to that part), swelling of epididymis and these symptoms may or may not be accompanied by signs and symptoms of urethritis (infection/inflammation of urethra).
What are the causative organisms of acute sexually transmitted epididymitis?
Most commonly the causative organisms of acute sexually transmitted epididymitis is Clamydia trachomatis and less commonly due to N. gonorrhea, especially in case of males below 35 years of age and sexually active.
Other conditions which should be differentiated from acute epididymitis are torsion of testis, trauma or due to tumor. In torsion of testis, which is a surgical emergency there is sudden onset of pain, the testicle is located in the scrotal sac, there is rotation of the epididymis from a posterior to an anterior position. In torsion of testis on Doppler study there is absence of blood flow to the testis. If symptoms do not subside after complete treatment with appropriate antibiotics, it suggests tumor or a granulomatous disease like tuberculosis. In trauma there is history of trauma.
Treatment of epididymitis:
The treatment of choice for acute epididymitis is ceftriaxone 250 mgs single dose intramuscularly followed by doxycycline 100 mg orally two times a day for next 10 days. This regime cures acute epididymitis due to Clamydia trachomatis as well as due to N. gonorrhea. Previously fluoroquinolones like ciprofloxacin were used, but at present not recommended due to emergence of resistance against fluoroquinolones. Levofloxacin is used sometimes if the causative organism of epididymitis is found to be Enterobacteriaceae, but it is not useful if epididymitis is due to other organisms.
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January 24th, 2010
Contact lenses are mainly used for corrective (correction of refractive errors of the eye like myopia, astigmatism, hypermetropia and presbyopia) purpose. Generally contact lenses are used for correction of myopia or short sightedness, hypermetropia or long sightedness, astigmatism (a condition where light rays are not focused on retina), and presbyopia (inability to adjust the eyes to focus on far and near objects quickly). Many individuals, especially younger generation do not want to use glasses for correcting refractive errors of the eye and prefer to use contact lens instead.
Contact lenses can be soft lens or hard lens. There are several advantages and disadvantages of using either type of contact lens (hard as well as soft lens). The advantages of using soft contact lens are the comfort of use and lesser chances of injury to the eye due to softness of the lens. The advantages of hard contact lenses are the cheaper price and longer lasting qualities of hard lens.
One of the major disadvantages of using contact lens over glasses is the chance of infection and injury to the eyes, especially if not used with proper caution with aseptic precaution and care. To overcome this common problem of contact lens, nowadays disposable contact lenses are available and very popular. Disposable soft lenses as well as disposable hard lenses is available. The disposable contact lens can reduce the incidence of infection drastically and use of disposable soft lens can cut down the incidence of injury to the eye due to use of contact lens.
Soft contact lenses are also used for therapeutic purpose e.g. use of soft contact lens to protect injured eye or cornea from constant rubbing of the cornea due to blinking, which allow the injured cornea to heal properly and faster. Contact lenses are also developed to deliver drugs in certain conditions.
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January 19th, 2010
Urethritis in men is caused by many different types of organisms and ideal treatment would be to identify the infecting organism and treat it with specific antibiotics highly effective in treating such infection. But it may not be possible in every cases of urethritis. In practice after diagnosing a case of urethritis in men, initially Gram’s staining is done, if it reveals gonococci, treatment for gonococci is done and if it does not reveal gonococci than treatment for NGU (nongonococcal urethritis) is done.
Treatment of gonococci infection:
Gonococci infection is treated with cephalosporin antibiotics. Among cephalosporin antibiotics ceftriaxone (125 mg intramuscularly single dose), cefpodoxime (400 mg orally single dose) or cefixime (400 mg orally single dose) can be used.
If no diagnostic test is available or performed in a patient with urethritis, than treatment regimen should be single-dose regimen for gonorrhea (as above) plus azithromycin (1 gram orally as single dose) or doxycycline (100 mg twice a day for 7 days) for treatment of clamidial infection (C. tracomatis) which occurs frequently in patients suffering from urethritis due to gonococci.
If gonococci are not demonstrated by Gram’s staining, it should be treated as NGU (nongonococcal urethritis) like azithromycin (1 g orally in a single dose) or doxycycline (100 mg orally 2 times a day for 7 days).
How to treat recurrent cases of urethritis?
Recurrent cases of urethritis should be treated with the same regimen as before if they did not comply with the earlier treatment or if they are reexposed to same infection. If the patient was treated appropriately previously, than an intraurethral swab specimen and a first-voided morning urine sample should be tested (culture of the swabs and antibiotic sensitivity done). If compliance to the initial treatment can be confirmed and reexposure excluded (in persistent cases) the treatment should include metronidazole or tinidazole (2 gram orally in a single dose) plus azithromycin (1 gram orally in a single dose).
N.B.- The sexual partner/partners (should be tested for gonorrhea and chlamydial infection) also should be treated with the same regimen as given to the male urethritis patient.
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January 16th, 2010
If you are a smoker and want to quit smoking, you might be a frustrated person, because quitting smoking is easier said than done. Scientists have now found out the cause of the difficulty in quitting smoking. The main cause of difficulty in quitting smoking is that, smoking become a habit and part of your lifestyle (every smoker has his/her own style of smoking like the way a smoker hold the cigarettes and absentmindedly smoke and release the smoke are integrated into the lifestyle) and for this reason it is more difficult to quit smoking than to stop drinking, although drinking cause more physical dependency, whereas smoking cause psychological dependency.
But with electric cigarettes or electronic cigarettes or e-cigarettes you can quit smoking more easily. Electric cigarettes are devoid of tobacco, tar, smoke, carbon monoxide, and other harmful and carcinogenic chemicals, which make them safe to smoke. Electric cigarettes produce a smoke (actually vapor mist) which look like real smoke although it is not real smoke. Electric cigarettes style and are a cheaper alternative to actual smoking of traditional tobacco cigarettes. As the main problem of quitting smoking is the psychological dependence on cigarettes, which becomes part of your lifestyle a smoker can stop smoking traditional tobacco cigarettes (full of health hazards) and start smoking e-cigarettes, which will be devoid of the ill effects on health and will provide the style and satisfaction of smoking also. For psychological satisfaction you can also get electronic cigarettes, the same size and color of your original brand of traditional tobacco cigarettes.
So if you are unable to quit your smoking habit, you can try to replace your smoking with electronic smoking, which will help you to maintain your lifestyle and at the same time you can get rid of harmful effects of traditional tobacco cigarettes. This may help you to quit even the electronic smoking also in the long run.
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January 13th, 2010
Insomnia or sleeplessness or unable to have normal and satisfactory sleep is a common problem. Insomnia is common these days due to the fast and modern lifestyle. In modern times we live on a fast track, which makes satisfactory sleep for many people a desire which they can not fulfill. Insomnia is generally divided into three categories; transient insomnia is insomnia of few days duration and generally do not last longer; short term insomnia is insomnia of few weeks duration, but may come back again if not managed well; long term insomnia is insomnia that is generally long lasting and may last for many years and this is the most difficult to treat.
But many people are not aware of the fact that many of the cases of insomnia, especially short term (insomnia of few weeks duration) and transient insomnia (insomnia of temporary nature and of few days duration only) can be solved and cured permanently by simply maintaining good sleep hygiene. You may be wondering what sleep hygiene is. Sleep hygiene is the environmental and behavioral factors that immediately precede sleep, e.g. taking hot shower, taking hot beverage like tea or coffee before going to bed, not maintaining a regular sleeping time and waking time etc.
Good sleep hygiene, in simple term is elimination of behavioral and environmental factors that are interfering with your sleep. The factors that interfere with sleep may be different in different individuals and so the maintenance of good sleep hygiene may be different in different individuals. What constitutes poor sleep hygiene may not be poor for some other person. Try to identify factors that are interfering with your sleep and avid or eliminate them.
So eliminate environmental and behavioral factors that are interfering with your sleep and solve your insomnia problem. But be careful, insomnia in many people can not be solved by improving sleep hygiene.
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January 12th, 2010
MonaVie is a Multi Level Marketing (MLM) company based in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The company started only few years back and is less than a decade old, but has become one of the fastest growing companies in the United States, especially among nutritional and beverage producing companies.
MonaVie, like many other companies has its own website and also have a website for promoting the products and you can check out MonaVie TV to view the promotional aspects of the company.
The products of MonaVie are made from blended fruit juice concentrates and a high percentage of blended fruit juice concentrate contain freeze dried acai berry pulp powder. Acai berry is considered to be a super fruit with very high concentration, arguably the highest concentration of antioxidants found in nature. Acai berry has more antioxidants than commonly known fruits with high concentration of antioxidants like blueberry, raspberry, blackberry etc.
MonaVie and its nutritional beverage products are said to have nutritional and health benefits, as claimed by the company. But many organizations and individuals question the health and nutritional benefit claims of MonaVie and many of its nutritional beverage products. A research analysis of MonaVie and its many other products was conducted by “Chromadex” which is a contract laboratory, found that MonaVie and its nutritional beverage products contain very low level of important antioxidants like anthocyanins, phenolics and Vitamin C, especially in phenolics content. The phenolics content of MonaVie is very low, as low or lower than apple juice, which has very little phenolics, as the research analysis found, as claimed by the analyst.
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