What is Choroideremia? Choroideremia is a rare hereditary ocular disease that results to progressive vision loss. This is an X-linked recessive disorder that mainly affects the male. The male victim basically inherits this degenerative condition from their carrier mothers. In an X-linked recessive inheritance disease, a female carrier will have a 50% chance of affecting her child. A male carrier of the disease shall pass the X-chromosome (affecting chromosome) to their female child making them carriers. However, male carriers will not affect their male offspring. According to epidemiological studies, the prevalence rate of this disease is in a ratio of 1 is to 50,000/100,000 people. It is also noted that [...]

What is Amoebic Dysentery? Amoebic dysentery or intestinal amoebiasis is a parasitic infection that is caused by the protozoa Entamoeba histolytica. This protozoan parasite is said to be the 3rd leading intestinal infection that can cause death. According to report, about 40,000 to 100,000 people worldwide die of amoebiasis in a year. In the United States, only about 5,000 people are diagnosed in a year. The said condition commonly affects travelers who have had a recent visit in countries where the condition is epidemic. There is high incidence rate of amoebiasis worldwide in the tropical and subtropical countries. Because of poor sanitation practices, this condition is common like in developing [...]

What is Numbness In Big Toe? Numbness in the big toe can mean a number of reasons. Usually, we feel the numbness after a long day or when we wake up in the morning. The big toes are usually affected when illness occurs, which is why we need to take care of our feet in general. The numbness of the big toe would vary from one person to another. Others would complain of “pins and needles” sensation while others have accompanying tingling sensation. It is important that one should assess the toes as the sensations are felt. Somehow, source of the numbness may be from an outside factor. Causes of [...]

What is Asplenia? Asplenia is a medical condition which is the absence of the normal functioning of the spleen. This term has a literal meaning of “absent spleen” but does not entirely suggest its absence physically. Taking it literally as absent is not the case in most patients. There are cases where underdevelopment of the spleen is the problem, which is why its function is not fully reached. The spleen is an important and significant organ of the body that has an important role in filtering blood and maintaining the function of our immune system. Most cases present that there is a multi-organ involvement because of asplenia. The incidence rate [...]

Diastematomyelia Definition Diastematomyelia is a condition occurring in the congenital stage where the upper lumbar part of the spinal cord splits. This is a subtype of spinal dysraphism. The spinal dysraphism is a group of congenital anomalies where it originated in the embryo specifically the dorsum part. This condition is also associated with diplomyelia but in dyplomyelia, cord has a duplicate rather than it being split. In diastematomyelia, the splitting of the cord is in a sagittal or longitudinal direction. The “splitting” can either be partially or completely amongst the “hemicords”. What happens is that there is a split in the middle of the hemicord and then the two will [...]

Achluophobia Definition Achluophobia is the scientific term for fear of the dark. This is also called as scotophobia or nyctophobia. Nyctophobia is derived from the Greek term “night” whereas scotophobia is derived from the Greek term “darkness”. This may happen in adults and children. In this specific type of phobia it is not the darkness itself that the person fears but the possible dangers or whatever the person imagines when in the dark. Experts suggest that it is normal to experience fear of the dark especially during childhood over the course of the year this fear then disappears. However when the fear of darkness falls to a severe condition, then [...]

Coagulopathy Definition Coagulopathy is commonly referred to as hemorrhage or clotting disorder. It is any deficiency in the human blood system responsible for coagulation that results to a disposition towards very slow or rapid coagulation process. In some instances, coagulopathy can show up with an increased hemorrhage or a propensity towards thrombosis. Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation (Consumptive Coagulopathy) Disseminated intravascular coagulation is a serious blood disorder in which the proteins that control the blood clotting mechanism become over active. Normally after an injury, the blood clotting proteins are activated and form a clot to stop the bleeding. In case of consumptive coagulopathy or disseminated intravascular coagulopathy disorder or DIS, the over [...]

Torn Meniscus The knee joint has a fibrocartilaginous crescent-shaped structure that serves to distribute the weight of the body uniformly across the three bones that compose the knee joint namely the tibia (shin bone), femur (thigh bone) and the patella (knee cap). This structure is called the meniscus and aside from providing stability, it also acts as a spacer between the knee bones allowing them to move effectively without resulting to any damage. There are two menisci in each knee between the surfaces of the articular cartilage: the medial meniscus (at the inner section) and the lateral meniscus (at the outer section). These structures also act as shock absorbers during [...]

Definition An infestation by a tiny, eight-legged burrowing mite known as Sarcoptes scabies is called scabies. The scabies mite burrows into the skin and lays eggs which leads towards tiny blisters and bumps. This does not stop at this but causes intense itching in its existing area and the urge to scratch reaches at peak during night. The mite that causes scabies is invisible to the naked eye but can be seen with the help of microscope or magnifying glass. Scabies is contagious in nature and can spread itself quickly through the close physical contact of the healthy person with the infected one.

Pyelonephritis The kidneys are bean-shaped structures in the abdominal cavity that are roughly the size of a human fist. They are one of the most important excretory organs of the body. These renal structures are located at the paravertebral gutter, lying at a retriperitoneal position. The basic unit of this excretory organ is the nephrons – responsible for filtering blood and removing the body’s waste products. These renal structures are complex reprocessing structures that filter approximately 190 liters of blood and process 2 liters of metabolic wastes and excess water per day. The surplus water and wastes would become urine that is stored in the bladder until released through urination. [...]