Airborne diseases refers to any diseases which are caused by pathogenic microbial agents and transmitted through the air. Airborne diseases effect humans get discharged through coughing, sneezing, laughing or through close personal contact. These pathogens ride on either dust particles or small respiratory droplets and can stay suspended in air and or are capable of travelling distances on air currents.
Many common infections can spread by airborne transmission at least in some cases, including:Anthrax (inhalational), Chickenpox, Influenza, Smallpox and Tuberculosis.
Airborne diseases can also effect non-humans. For example, Newcastle disease is an avian disease that effects many types of domestic poultry worldwide which is transmitted via airborne contamination.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Retrospective diagnosis
A retrospective diagnosis (also retrodiagnosis or posthumous diagnosis) is the practice of identifying an illness in a historical figure using modern knowledge, methods and disease classifications. Alternatively, it can be the more general attempt to give a modern name to an ancient and ill-defined scourge or plague.
Retrospective diagnosis is practised by medical historians, general historians and the media with varying degrees of scholarship. At its worst it may become "little more than a game, with ill-defined rules and little academic credibility."The process often requires "translating between linguistic and conceptual worlds separated by several centuries",and assumes our modern disease concepts and categories are privileged. Crude attempts at retrospective diagnosis fail to be sensitive to historical context, may treat historical and religious records as scientific evidence, or ascribe pathology to behaviours that require none.The understanding of the history of illness can benefit from modern science. For example, knowledge of the insect vectors of malaria and yellow fever can be used to explain the changes in extent of those diseases caused by drainage or urbanisation in historical times.
The practice of retrospective diagnosis has been mocked in parody, where characters from fiction are "diagnosed". Squirrel Nutkin may have had Tourette syndrome and Tiny Tim could have suffered from distal renal tubular acidosis .
The term retrospective diagnosis is also sometimes used by a clinical pathologist to describe a medical diagnosis in a person made some time after the original illness has resolved or after death. In such cases, analysis of a physical specimen may yield a confident medical diagnosis. The search for the origin of AIDS has involved posthumous diagnosis of AIDS in people who died decades before the disease was first identified.Another example is where analysis of preserved umbilical cord tissue enables the diagnosis of congenital cytomegalovirus infection in a patient who had later developed a central nervous system disorders.
Retrospective diagnosis is practised by medical historians, general historians and the media with varying degrees of scholarship. At its worst it may become "little more than a game, with ill-defined rules and little academic credibility."The process often requires "translating between linguistic and conceptual worlds separated by several centuries",and assumes our modern disease concepts and categories are privileged. Crude attempts at retrospective diagnosis fail to be sensitive to historical context, may treat historical and religious records as scientific evidence, or ascribe pathology to behaviours that require none.The understanding of the history of illness can benefit from modern science. For example, knowledge of the insect vectors of malaria and yellow fever can be used to explain the changes in extent of those diseases caused by drainage or urbanisation in historical times.
The practice of retrospective diagnosis has been mocked in parody, where characters from fiction are "diagnosed". Squirrel Nutkin may have had Tourette syndrome and Tiny Tim could have suffered from distal renal tubular acidosis .
The term retrospective diagnosis is also sometimes used by a clinical pathologist to describe a medical diagnosis in a person made some time after the original illness has resolved or after death. In such cases, analysis of a physical specimen may yield a confident medical diagnosis. The search for the origin of AIDS has involved posthumous diagnosis of AIDS in people who died decades before the disease was first identified.Another example is where analysis of preserved umbilical cord tissue enables the diagnosis of congenital cytomegalovirus infection in a patient who had later developed a central nervous system disorders.
Medical equipment
Innovations in medical technology - starting from the ancients and till date - have produced numerous appliances and instruments that have been essential in diagnosis, treatment, prevention and rehabilitation. Modern medicine requires and utilizes numerous such instruments that can be as simple as a scalpel or sutures to as complex as a respirator or a dialyser.
Field such as pediatrics, geriatrics, community medicine, food and nutrition, etc. do not require special instruments.
Medical equipment is designed to aid in the diagnosis, monitoring or treatment of medical conditions. These devices are usually designed with rigorous safety standards. The medical equipment is included in the category Medical technology.
There are several basic types:
Diagnostic equipment includes medical imaging machines, used to aid in diagnosis. Examples are ultrasound and MRI machines, PET and CT scanners, and x-ray machines.
Therapeutic equipment includes infusion pumps, medical lasers and LASIK surgical machines.
Life support equipment is used to maintain a patient's bodily function. This includes medical ventilators, anaesthetic machines, heart-lung machines, ECMO, and dialysis machines.
Medical monitors allow medical staff to measure a patient's medical state. Monitors may measure patient vital signs and other parameters including ECG, EEG, blood pressure, and dissolved gases in the blood.
Medical laboratory equipment automates or helps analyze blood, urine and genes.
Diagnostic Medical Equipment may also be used in the home for certain purposes, e.g. for the control of diabetes mellitus
A biomedical equipment technician (BMET) is a vital component of the healthcare delivery system. Employed primarily by hospitals, BMETs are the people responsible for maintaining a facility's medical equipment
Field such as pediatrics, geriatrics, community medicine, food and nutrition, etc. do not require special instruments.
Medical equipment is designed to aid in the diagnosis, monitoring or treatment of medical conditions. These devices are usually designed with rigorous safety standards. The medical equipment is included in the category Medical technology.
There are several basic types:
Diagnostic equipment includes medical imaging machines, used to aid in diagnosis. Examples are ultrasound and MRI machines, PET and CT scanners, and x-ray machines.
Therapeutic equipment includes infusion pumps, medical lasers and LASIK surgical machines.
Life support equipment is used to maintain a patient's bodily function. This includes medical ventilators, anaesthetic machines, heart-lung machines, ECMO, and dialysis machines.
Medical monitors allow medical staff to measure a patient's medical state. Monitors may measure patient vital signs and other parameters including ECG, EEG, blood pressure, and dissolved gases in the blood.
Medical laboratory equipment automates or helps analyze blood, urine and genes.
Diagnostic Medical Equipment may also be used in the home for certain purposes, e.g. for the control of diabetes mellitus
A biomedical equipment technician (BMET) is a vital component of the healthcare delivery system. Employed primarily by hospitals, BMETs are the people responsible for maintaining a facility's medical equipment
Phenocopy
phenocopy is an individual whose phenotype (generally referring to a single trait), under a particular environmental condition, is identical to the one of another individual whose phenotype is determined by the genotype. In other words the phenocopy environmental condition mimics the phenotype produced by a gene.
The term was coined by Richard Goldschmidt in 1935. He used it to refer to forms, produced by some experimental procedure, whose appearance duplicates or copies the phenotype of some mutant or combination of mutants.
A phenocopy is not a type of mutation, it is an environmentally induced, non-hereditary phenotypic modification that resembles a similar phenotype produced by a gene mutation (genocopy).
An example of a phenocopy are the Vanessa genus of butterflies who can change phenotype based on the local temperature. If introduced to Lapland they mimic butterflies localised to this area and if localised to Syria they mimic butterflies of this area. These phenotypes aren't inherited and are solely due to environment.
Another great example is in Drosophila melanogaster. A variety of environmental factors produce abnormalities in these fruit flies that resemble the abnormal phenotypes of known genetic mutations. The environmental agents producing phenocopies includes temperature, shock, radiation, and various chemical compounds. In fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, the normal body colour is brownish-gray with black margins. A hereditary mutant for this was discovered by T.H. Morgan in 1910 where the body colour is yellow. This was a genotypic character which was constant in both the flies in all environments. However, in 1939, Rapport discovered that if larva of normal flies were fed with silver salts, they develop into yellow bodied flies irrespective of their genotype.The yellow bodied flies which are genetically brown is a variant of the original yellow bodied fly. This is now called a phenocopy.
Phenocopy can also be observed in Himalayan rabbits. Himalayan rabbits are white in colour with black tail, nose, and ears. When raised in moderate temperatures they grow up to be phenotypically similar to genetically Black rabbits. However when raised in colder climates, they become phenotypically distinguishable. The Himalayan rabbits show black colouration of their coats, resembling the genetically black rabbits. Hence this Himalayan rabbit is a phenocopy of the genetically black rabbit.
An incorrect example of a phenocopy is a person with bleached brunette hair; the bleached hair is intended to mimic genetically determined blonde hair of actual blonde people. The false phenocopy can be easily distinguished by observing the roots of the hair or by shining an ultraviolet light on the bleached brunette hair.
A correct example of a phenocopy is a person whose anti-psychotic medication causes them to manifest the same symptoms as the genetically determined Parkinsons disease
The term was coined by Richard Goldschmidt in 1935. He used it to refer to forms, produced by some experimental procedure, whose appearance duplicates or copies the phenotype of some mutant or combination of mutants.
A phenocopy is not a type of mutation, it is an environmentally induced, non-hereditary phenotypic modification that resembles a similar phenotype produced by a gene mutation (genocopy).
An example of a phenocopy are the Vanessa genus of butterflies who can change phenotype based on the local temperature. If introduced to Lapland they mimic butterflies localised to this area and if localised to Syria they mimic butterflies of this area. These phenotypes aren't inherited and are solely due to environment.
Another great example is in Drosophila melanogaster. A variety of environmental factors produce abnormalities in these fruit flies that resemble the abnormal phenotypes of known genetic mutations. The environmental agents producing phenocopies includes temperature, shock, radiation, and various chemical compounds. In fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, the normal body colour is brownish-gray with black margins. A hereditary mutant for this was discovered by T.H. Morgan in 1910 where the body colour is yellow. This was a genotypic character which was constant in both the flies in all environments. However, in 1939, Rapport discovered that if larva of normal flies were fed with silver salts, they develop into yellow bodied flies irrespective of their genotype.The yellow bodied flies which are genetically brown is a variant of the original yellow bodied fly. This is now called a phenocopy.
Phenocopy can also be observed in Himalayan rabbits. Himalayan rabbits are white in colour with black tail, nose, and ears. When raised in moderate temperatures they grow up to be phenotypically similar to genetically Black rabbits. However when raised in colder climates, they become phenotypically distinguishable. The Himalayan rabbits show black colouration of their coats, resembling the genetically black rabbits. Hence this Himalayan rabbit is a phenocopy of the genetically black rabbit.
An incorrect example of a phenocopy is a person with bleached brunette hair; the bleached hair is intended to mimic genetically determined blonde hair of actual blonde people. The false phenocopy can be easily distinguished by observing the roots of the hair or by shining an ultraviolet light on the bleached brunette hair.
A correct example of a phenocopy is a person whose anti-psychotic medication causes them to manifest the same symptoms as the genetically determined Parkinsons disease
Environmental factor
Apart from the true monogenic genetic disorders, environmental factors may determine the development of disease in those genetically predisposed to a particular condition. Stress, physical and mental abuse, diet, exposure to toxins, pathogens, radiation and chemicals found in almost all personal care products and household cleaners are common environmental factors that determine a large segment of non-hereditary disease. Environmental factors such as the weather affect business interests. If a disease process is concluded to be the result of a combination of genetic and environmental factor influences, its etiological origin can be referred to as having a multifactorial pattern.
An example of an environmental trigger would be a component of a human's drinking water which holds the possibility of activating (triggering) a change in a person's body. These changes are mainly negative ones.Using this example, what is in the drinking water may affect one person entirely different than another -- someone may be affected greatly, whereas someone may not be at all.
Many cancers (osteosarcoma, etc), along with a plethora of other diseases, are thought to be a result of environmental triggers.
Nitrates may be an environmental trigger for Alzheimer's, diabetes, and Parkinson's disease.
Environmental triggers for asthma and autism have been studied too.
An example of an environmental trigger would be a component of a human's drinking water which holds the possibility of activating (triggering) a change in a person's body. These changes are mainly negative ones.Using this example, what is in the drinking water may affect one person entirely different than another -- someone may be affected greatly, whereas someone may not be at all.
Many cancers (osteosarcoma, etc), along with a plethora of other diseases, are thought to be a result of environmental triggers.
Nitrates may be an environmental trigger for Alzheimer's, diabetes, and Parkinson's disease.
Environmental triggers for asthma and autism have been studied too.
Environmental disease
In epidemiology, environmental disease is disease caused by environmental factors that are not transmitted genetically or by infection. Apart from the true monogenic genetic disorders, environmental diseases may determine the development of disease in those genetically predisposed to a particular condition. Stress, physical and mental abuse, diet, exposure to toxins, pathogens, radiation, and chemicals found in almost all personal care products and household cleaners are possible causes of a large segment of non-hereditary disease. If a disease process is concluded to be the result of a combination of genetic and environmental factor influences, its etiological origin can be referred to as having a multifactorial pattern.
There are many different types of environmental disease including:
Lifestyle disease such as cardiovascular disease, diseases caused by substance abuse such as alcoholism, and smoking-related disease
Disease caused by physical factors in the environment, such as skin cancer caused by excessive exposure to ultraviolet radiation in sunlight
Disease caused by exposure to chemicals in the environment such as toxic metals
These diseases can also be mutated and can thrive in the unnatural environment through rubbish that isn't discarded and no sewerage systems. These factors can hurt a nation or an individual quite easily.
There are many different types of environmental disease including:
Lifestyle disease such as cardiovascular disease, diseases caused by substance abuse such as alcoholism, and smoking-related disease
Disease caused by physical factors in the environment, such as skin cancer caused by excessive exposure to ultraviolet radiation in sunlight
Disease caused by exposure to chemicals in the environment such as toxic metals
These diseases can also be mutated and can thrive in the unnatural environment through rubbish that isn't discarded and no sewerage systems. These factors can hurt a nation or an individual quite easily.
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