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Osteomyelitis
Osteomyelitis (OM) is the infectious inflammation of bone marrow. Symptoms may include pain in a specific bone with overlying redness, fever, and weakness. The feet, spine, and hips are the most commonly involved bones in adults. The cause is usually a bacterial infection, but rarely can be a fungal infection. It may occur by spread from the blood or from surrounding tissue. Risks for developing osteomyelitis include diabetes, intravenous drug use, prior splenectomy, removal of the spleen, and trauma to the area. Diagnosis is typically suspected based on symptoms and basic laboratory tests as C-reactive protein and erythrocyte sedimentation rate. This is because plain radiographs are unremarkable in the first few days following acute infection. Diagnosis is further confirmed by blood tests, medical imaging, or bone biopsy. Treatment of bacterial osteomyelitis often involves both antimicrobials and surgery. Treatment outcomes of bacterial osteomyelitis are generally good when t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bacterial Infection
Pathogenic bacteria are bacteria that can cause disease. This article focuses on the bacteria that are pathogenic to humans. Most species of bacteria are harmless and many are beneficial but others can cause infectious diseases. The number of these pathogenic species in humans is estimated to be fewer than a hundred. By contrast, several thousand species are considered part of the gut flora, with a few hundred species present in each individual human's digestive tract. The body is continually exposed to many species of bacteria, including beneficial commensals, which grow on the skin and mucous membranes, and saprophytes, which grow mainly in the soil and in decaying matter. The blood and tissue fluids contain nutrients sufficient to sustain the growth of many bacteria. The body has defence mechanisms that enable it to resist microbial invasion of its tissues and give it a natural immunity or innate resistance against many microorganisms. Pathogenic bacteria are speci ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amputation
Amputation is the removal of a Limb (anatomy), limb or other body part by Physical trauma, trauma, medical illness, or surgery. As a surgical measure, it is used to control pain or a disease process in the affected limb, such as cancer, malignancy or gangrene. In some cases, it is carried out on individuals as a Preventive healthcare, preventive surgery for such problems. A special case is that of congenital amputation, a congenital disorder, where fetus, fetal limbs have been cut off by constrictive bands. In some countries, judicial amputation is currently used punishment, to punish people who commit crimes. Amputation has also been used as a tactic in war and acts of terrorism; it may also occur as a war injury. In some cultures and religions, minor amputations or mutilations are considered a ritual accomplishment. When done by a person, the person executing the amputation is an amputator. The oldest evidence of this practice comes from a skeleton found buried in Liang Tebo c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mycetoma
Mycetoma is a chronic infection Subcutaneous tissue, in the skin caused by either bacteria (actinomycetoma) or fungi (eumycetoma), typically resulting in a triad of painless firm skin lumps, the formation of weeping sinus (anatomy), sinuses, and a discharge that contains grains. 80% occur in feet. Most eumycetoma is caused by ''M. mycetomatis'', whereas most actinomycetoma is caused by ''N. brasiliensis'', ''S. somaliensis'', ''A. madurae,'' and ''Actinomadura pelletieri''. People who develop mycetoma likely have a weakened cell-mediated immunity, immune system. It can take between 3 months to 50 years from the time of infection to first seeking healthcare advice. Diagnosis requires ultrasound and fine needle aspiration. While most cases of mycetoma occur in Sudan, Venezuela, Mexico, and India, its true prevalence and incidence are not well-known. It appears most frequently in rural areas, particularly in farmers and shepherds, who are often men between 20 and 40 years old ea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amputation
Amputation is the removal of a Limb (anatomy), limb or other body part by Physical trauma, trauma, medical illness, or surgery. As a surgical measure, it is used to control pain or a disease process in the affected limb, such as cancer, malignancy or gangrene. In some cases, it is carried out on individuals as a Preventive healthcare, preventive surgery for such problems. A special case is that of congenital amputation, a congenital disorder, where fetus, fetal limbs have been cut off by constrictive bands. In some countries, judicial amputation is currently used punishment, to punish people who commit crimes. Amputation has also been used as a tactic in war and acts of terrorism; it may also occur as a war injury. In some cultures and religions, minor amputations or mutilations are considered a ritual accomplishment. When done by a person, the person executing the amputation is an amputator. The oldest evidence of this practice comes from a skeleton found buried in Liang Tebo c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Infectious Disease (medical Specialty)
Infectious diseases (ID), also known as infectiology, is a medical specialty dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of infections. An infectious diseases specialist's practice consists of managing nosocomial (Hospital-acquired infection, healthcare-acquired) infections or community-acquired infections. An ID specialist investigates and determines the cause of a disease (bacteria, virus, parasite, fungus or prions). Once the cause is known, an ID specialist can then run various tests to determine the best drug to treat the disease. While infectious diseases have always been around, the infectious disease specialty did not exist until the late 1900s after scientists and physicians in the 19th century paved the way with research on the sources of infectious disease and the development of vaccines. Scope Infectious diseases specialists typically serve as consultants to other physicians in cases of complex infections, and often manage patients with HIV/AIDS and other forms of immuno ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Inflammation
Inflammation (from ) is part of the biological response of body tissues to harmful stimuli, such as pathogens, damaged cells, or irritants. The five cardinal signs are heat, pain, redness, swelling, and loss of function (Latin ''calor'', ''dolor'', ''rubor'', ''tumor'', and ''functio laesa''). Inflammation is a generic response, and therefore is considered a mechanism of innate immunity, whereas adaptive immunity is specific to each pathogen. Inflammation is a protective response involving immune cells, blood vessels, and molecular mediators. The function of inflammation is to eliminate the initial cause of cell injury, clear out damaged cells and tissues, and initiate tissue repair. Too little inflammation could lead to progressive tissue destruction by the harmful stimulus (e.g. bacteria) and compromise the survival of the organism. However inflammation can also have negative effects. Too much inflammation, in the form of chronic inflammation, is associated with variou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hippocrates
Hippocrates of Kos (; ; ), also known as Hippocrates II, was a Greek physician and philosopher of the Classical Greece, classical period who is considered one of the most outstanding figures in the history of medicine. He is traditionally referred to as the "Father of Medicine" in recognition of his lasting contributions to the field, such as the use of prognosis and clinical observation, the systematic categorization of diseases, and the (however misguided) formulation of Humorism, humoral theory. His studies set out the basic ideas of modern-day specialties, including surgery, urology, neurology, acute medicine and Orthopedic surgery, orthopedics. The Hippocratic school of medicine revolutionized ancient Greek medicine, establishing it as a discipline distinct from other fields with which it had traditionally been associated (theurgy and philosophy), thus establishing medicine as a profession. However, the achievements of the writers of the Hippocratic Corpus, the practitioners ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Antimicrobials
An antimicrobial is an agent that kills microorganisms (microbicide) or stops their growth (bacteriostatic agent). Antimicrobial medicines can be grouped according to the microorganisms they are used to treat. For example, antibiotics are used against bacteria, and antifungals are used against fungi. They can also be classified according to their function. Antimicrobial medicines to treat infection are known as antimicrobial chemotherapy, while antimicrobial drugs are used to prevent infection, which known as antimicrobial prophylaxis. The main classes of antimicrobial agents are disinfectants (non-selective agents, such as bleach), which kill a wide range of microbes on surfaces to prevent the spread of illness, antiseptics which are applied to living tissue and help reduce infection during surgery, and antibiotics which destroy microorganisms within the body. The term ''antibiotic'' originally described only those formulations derived from living microorganisms but is now also ap ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bone Biopsy
A bone biopsy is a procedure in which a small bone sample is removed from the outer layers of bone for examination, unlike a bone marrow biopsy, which involves the innermost part of the bone. The bone biopsy sample retains the architecture of bone when seen using histopathological examination slide. __TOC__ Technique The technique of bone biopsy allows the histomorphometric analysis of the bone samples obtained from the iliac crest. Therefore, it can provide a direct assessment of regional bone metabolism. Hence, the reason why this method is considered the gold-standard technique for measuring bone remodelling. Patients undergo double tetracycline labelling, and then samples of bone are collected using trephine under local anesthetic from the iliac crest as it is the only readily accessible site for bone biopsy. This technique is subject to large measurement errors; it is complex and costly to perform and is invasive, meaning that it is painful to the patients. For these reasons, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blood Test
A blood test is a medical laboratory, laboratory analysis performed on a blood sample that is usually extracted from a vein in the arm using a hypodermic needle, or via fingerprick. Multiple tests for specific blood components, such as a glucose test or a cholesterol test, are often grouped together into one test panel called a blood panel or blood work. Blood tests are often used in health care to determine physiological and biochemical states, such as disease, mineral content, pharmaceutical drug effectiveness, and organ function. Typical medicine#Clinical practice, clinical blood panels include a basic metabolic panel or a complete blood count. Blood tests are also used in drug tests to detect drug abuse. Extraction A venipuncture is useful as it is a Invasiveness of surgical procedures, minimally invasive way to obtain cell (biology), cells and extracellular fluid (blood plasma, plasma) from the body for analysis. Blood flows throughout the body, acting as a medium that prov ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Radiograph
Radiography is an imaging technique using X-rays, gamma rays, or similar ionizing radiation and non-ionizing radiation to view the internal form of an object. Applications of radiography include medical ("diagnostic" radiography and "therapeutic radiography") and industrial radiography. Similar techniques are used in airport security, (where "body scanners" generally use backscatter X-ray). To create an image in conventional radiography, a beam of X-rays is produced by an X-ray generator and it is projected towards the object. A certain amount of the X-rays or other radiation are absorbed by the object, dependent on the object's density and structural composition. The X-rays that pass through the object are captured behind the object by a detector (either photographic film or a digital detector). The generation of flat two-dimensional images by this technique is called projectional radiography. In computed tomography (CT scanning), an X-ray source and its associated de ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate
The erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR or sed rate) is the rate at which red blood cells in anticoagulated whole blood descend in a standardized tube over a period of one hour. It is a common hematology test, and is a non-specific measure of inflammation. To perform the test, anticoagulated blood is traditionally placed in an upright tube, known as a Westergren tube, and the distance which the red blood cells fall is measured and reported in millimetres at the end of one hour. Since the introduction of automated analyzers into the clinical laboratory, the ESR test has been automatically performed. The ESR is influenced by the aggregation of red blood cells: blood plasma proteins, mainly fibrinogen, promote the formation of red cell clusters called '' rouleaux'' or larger structures (interconnected rouleaux, irregular clusters). As according to Stokes' law the sedimentation velocity varies like the square of the object's diameter, larger aggregates settle faster. While aggrega ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
