As many adults pass age 40 or so, they find that it becomes harder to read newspapers and books. They start to hold these items farther away from their eyes than they had in the past, because they are trying to bring the print into focus.
Christina loved that her grandfather lived with her family. He certainly didn't act like most seventy-year-olds!
Prostatic (pros-TAT-ik) enlargement is more commonly known by the difficult-sounding name benign prostatic hyperplasia (be-NINE pros-TAT-ik hy-per-PLAY-zha), or BPH. Breaking this name down into parts makes it easier to understand.
When the American writer John Updike wrote a book about his own life, titled Self-Consciousness, he spent a whole chapter describing his personal battle with a long-lasting skin disease known as psoriasis. Updike called the chapter, "At War with My Skin." The word "psoriasis" comes from the Greek word for "to itch." The disease causes patches of skin to become red, thickened, itchy, and covered with silvery flakes.
The word "rabies" is Latin for madness or rage, referring to the extreme agitation that is a symptom of the disease. Rabies has also been called hydrophobia, which means "fear of water," because of another of its symptoms: despite extreme thirst, even the sight of water produces painful spasms of the throat in people or animals with rabies.
Radiation is a form of invisible energy given off by atoms, which are the tiny particles that make up chemical elements.
In this condition, the arteries that supply blood to the fingers and toes respond to cold or other stimuli by going into spasm (contracting), reducing the supply of blood to the digits and turning them white. When there is no specific reason found for this contracting, the condition is called Raynaud's disease.
As a member of the high school tennis team, John served with accuracy and overwhelmed his opponents with his backhand. He worked harder and practiced more than any other team member.
The children always arrived at the Australian hospital on the verge of death. They often would be unconscious or in a coma.
Until recently, doctors thought rheumatic fever had almost disappeared from the United States. In 1950, before the widespread use of antibiotics to fight strep* infections, more than 22,000 people died of rheumatic fever and the heart disease it caused.
Vitamin D is a nutrient essential for proper bone formation. It helps regulate the amount of calcium and phosphorus in the blood, and these minerals are important components of bone formation.
Ringworm is not caused by a worm! Ringworm is a common fungal infection that can occur on any part of the body.
RocAy Mountain Spotted Fever is a disease caused by the bacterium Rickettsia rickettsia, when it infects a person through the bite of an infected tick. Despite its name, this disease is not limited to the Rocky Mountain area.
Salmonellosis is an illness caused by Salmonella bacteria that affects the intestine, usually resulting in diarrhea. In some people, the infection spreads to the bloodstream and other areas of the body and can be life-threatening unless they receive prompt treatment.
Kelly returned from summer camp with many stories and a red, itchy rash. The skin on her wrists and thighs and between her fingers was covered with pimple-like bumps and she could see small S-shaped burrows under her skin.
The words "scarlet fever" once struck fear in the hearts of people. The bacteria that cause scarlet fever are easy to spread, and in the 1800s there were epidemics.
Schistosomiasis is caused by parasitic* worms called blood flukes of the genus Schistosoma. Three species within the genus (Schistosoma mansoni, S.
Poe's short story features a narrator who deals with the symptoms of a serious mental disorder called schizophrenia. He hears things (in the end, the beating of a dead man's heart) that others do not hear, and he believes that people are out to get him.
When something squeezes the sciatic nerve, the main nerve in the leg, people feel pain in the back of the lower body. That pain, called sciatica, usually moves down the buttocks to the leg below the knee, but it can go all the way down to the foot.
The name "scoliosis" comes from the Greek word meaning curvature. Everyone's backbone curves to some degree from front to back, which is necessary for proper movement and walking.
Scurvy was one of the first recognized dietary deficiency diseases. During the sea voyages of the fifteenth to eighteenth centuries, many sailors suffered from scurvy.
Seizures (SEE-zhers) occur when the electrical patterns of the brain are interrupted by powerful, rapid bursts of electrical energy. A seizure may cause a person to lose consciousness, to fall down, to jerk or convulse, or simply to blank out for a few seconds.