There have been several calls from hospital emergency staff in the recent past to alleviate retention of urine in elderly male and the associated pain. The urethral opening is completely closed by phimosed prepuce, the fore skin of penis. The common cause of retention of urine in elderly male is a prostatic enlargement. And in a situation where there is such type of phimosis remains associated, it gives rise to problem in introducing a silicon pipe through urethra to relieve the acute retention. Such type of peculiar situation probably is best encountered in India; where the people do not give attention to the phimosis they might be carrying from their childhood. Here, there is custom circumcision in Muslims and Hindus only go for it as a part of medical treatment. Perhaps there is no atheistic consideration, and people generally shy away from speaking about it. Even these people had enjoyed a good family life.

In this situation, first the prepuce is to be slit open to see the urethra, and glans is to be inspected for cancerous growths; as phimosis is associated with penile cancer in glans and prepuce. Many times there have been very much narrowing of urethral opening to obstruct the passage of urine. The urethra is to be dilated to allow the entry of a silastic pipe called catheter, and first of all the retention is to be relieved as it is a very painful condition, better known to a person who might had been compelled to postpone passing urine after the urge for it due to some reason. After that, a formal circumcision has to be performed. The stricture of urethral meatus may need a minor surgery to keep it open. All these can be performed under local anesthesia.

Though phimosis is apparently an innocent disease may a cause of grave concern.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Bleeding During Catheterization of Male Urethra (clinispot.blogspot.com)

Some say a particular person is quarrelsome, angry and argumentative etc. But how those modes of expression came to existence? If those were not needed how come they have a place in our day to day life! Silent sufferers are more prone to heart attack as the bad feeling remains within and smokes inside. That creates stress followed by stress related hormone secretion. So, it is better ventilate the grievances or the bad feeling. One may quarrel even with the boss; of course, in a healthier way to express his stand on a particular issue. One may cry to relieve the tension. I support it.

An accidentally ingested fish bone causing an ulcer in the esophagus was the cause of dysphagia, a painful agglutination; viewed in endoscopy.

Round worm, hook worm, tape worm, thread worm and whipworms are some of the common helminthes affecting human. These are transmitted through feco-oral route in the areas of poor sanitation. Common manifestations of the diseases caused by these groups of parasites include: pain abdomen, anemia, vomiting and poor health. Apart from these, some unusual complications from infestation of these worms are also seen.

Round worm (Ascariasis): These may lodge in the common bile duct, pancreatic duct and liver apart from their natural habitat; small intestine. That may cause obstruction to the free flow of bile resulting in obstructive jaundice, pancreatitis and liver abscess respectively. That may affect the liver function and cause inflammation of bile channel called cholangitis. Ascaria larva during the course of its development passes through the respiratory tract to come over to the alimentary tract once again, which causes night hawking cough and sometimes lungs infection by secondary bacterial invasion. A lot of adult round worms living or dead after administration of drugs or as such may cause obstruction of the alimentary tract which may arouse an emergency situation. These may become irritated during surgery by anesthetics and come up, to be aspirated to the respiratory tract causing the dangerous collapse of lungs.

Hook worm larva enters the body through the bare skin of foot, to find its way to the blood or lymphatic to reach the alimentary tract via respiratory tract. At the site of entry may evoke inflammation and intense pruritus called “Ground itch”. The route of its migration can be seen as an inflamed streak over the skin called the “Larva migrans”, which evokes pruritus. Finally they lodge themselves in the upper part of small intestine to cause the classical symptoms of the ankylostomiasis.

Thread worm egg are laid near the anal canal, hatch there and larva may migrate to the vagina in female to cause pruritus there. It may ascend upwards to the fallopian tubes, and even to the peritoneum to cause an infection there. Sometimes these may enter the appendix to cause appendicitis. These find their way again to the alimentary tract being carried by the nail to the mouth during intake of food.

Some pharma companies are coming with preparations containing extracts of saw palmetto. The quote below from the researcher below says in affirmative regarding its use. In India some times some herbal products are used for benign prostatic hyperplasia, and patient sometimes feels some response; but we heavily depend on allopathic drugs and surgery.

CLIPPED FROM: http://www.sciencedirect.com

Serenoa repens(saw palmetto) extracts are complex mixtures of compounds that act simultaneously on several biologic pathways known to be associated with the development of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) in man. Reversal of the prohyperplastic pathways by the drug accounts for its clinical efficacy in the treatment of BPH.

“I am having vomiting two to three times a day since three days and discomfort in the upper abdomen”, was the complain of my patient.

There was no loose motion, fever and urinary problem. He was seen and prescribed medicines for gastritis one day back by my good friend, the medicine specialist. I thought he should remain in the treatment for some more time. So, I advised him to continue the same treatment and contact medicine specialist for further advice. At this point the patient says that he had a long standing inguinal hernia. Now, my surgeon mind became skeptical and alert to think that everything might not be well. I asked about the reducibility of the hernia, and very much to my expectation, it was not reducing since two days. So, that is the hazard of inguinal hernia. It, many a times becomes irreducible after coming out to the scrotal sac. Now, I examined the patient and found the irreducible hernia in the scrotal sac. But, to the good luck of the patient, it reduced with a little difficulty, aborting an emergency surgery. Now the patient gets relaxed so also me. The patient confesses that he had been advised earlier to undergo surgery, but it got delayed due to his bronchitis problem.

Chronic cough due to various chest diseases, and diseases like stricture of urethra or an enlarged prostate which increase resistance to smooth flow of urine, raise  intra-abdominal pressure and the contents of abdomen may find their way out through a potential weakness in the abdominal wall, what is called inguinal canal. That is termed as inguinal hernia. The contents may get struck to the scrotal sac and become irreducible or obstructed warranting an emergency surgery to release the same. This is potentially a life threatening condition, if timely intervention is not done. The content may become dead, what is called gangrene. Now, as the patient is having an exacerbation of bronchitis, has been prescribed a course of antibiotics with an advice to keep the contents of hernia inside the abdomen and return for an elective surgery after the symptoms of bronchitis alleviates.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Smoking in Pregnancy Tied to Bad Behavior in Kids (nlm.nih.gov)

In this age of speed the distance is gradually losing its identity. But this has given rise to a problem to which frequent and distant flyers suffer. That is jet lag. It is due to the maladjustment of the biological clock. Like our wrist watch body maintains a clock for its activity, the circadian rhythm, called biological clock. It is a function of the brain.

Most of the researchers agree that the effect of light on eyes sets it into motion, maintains it and adjusts it whenever required. Light stimulus is felt in part of brain called suprachiasmatic area which maintains the biological clock. Circadian rhythm refers to the daily activity of body in relation to the day and night. Some hormones are secreted according to a set time.

Melatonin is a hormone responsible for inducing sleep is secreted around 10 PM and ends towards 5 AM. Of course, it may shift a little this way or that way according habit of sleep of a person. Corticosteroid hormones are secreted towards 5 AM to make the person active and face the challenge of the day to day activity. So, if it is 12 midnight in the biological clock and a local time is morning 6AM, body cannot respond to it and the disparity ensues. Of course, biological clock adjusts but not very swiftly. And, that is the Jet lag; to cope with it players are flown to  distant places sufficiently ahead of scheduled time.

Related articles by Zemanta

• U-M discovery about biological clocks overturns long-held theory (scienceblog.com)
• How to Naturally Reset Your Sleep Cycle In One Night (wisebread.com)

clipped from edition.cnn.com Love, pleasure, duty: Why women have sex Story Highlights “Why Women Have Sex” looks at the evolutionary reasons for women’s choices Study showed that physiological arousal for women does not equate with feelings Women far less likely than men to have sex before kissing their partners Study: Women able to tolerate 75 percent more pain during orgasm September 30, 2009 — Updated 1339 GMT (2139 HKT) Next Article in Health »

Related articles by Zemanta

• Improve your sex life (counselingonlinesite.com)
• Female sexuality (scienceblog.com)
• Love, pleasure, duty: Why women have sex (cnn.com)
• Yes! Yes! Oh, no! Coming oh so close to orgasm (msnbc.msn.com)