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Diverticulosis
Diverticulosis is the condition of having multiple pouches (diverticulum, diverticula) in the colon (anatomy), colon that are not inflamed. These are outpockets of the colonic mucosa and submucosa through weaknesses of muscle layers in the colon wall. Diverticula do not cause symptoms in most people. Diverticular disease occurs when diverticula become clinically inflamed, a condition known as diverticulitis. Diverticula typically occur in the sigmoid colon, which is commonplace for increased pressure. The left side of the colon is more commonly affected in the United States while the right side is more commonly affected in Asia. Diagnosis is often during routine colonoscopy or as an incidental finding during CT scan. It is common in Western countries with about half of those over the age of 60 affected in Canada and the United States. Diverticula are uncommon before the age of 40, and increase in incidence beyond that age. Rates are lower in Africa; the reasons for this rema ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Diverticulitis
Diverticulitis, also called colonic diverticulitis, is a gastrointestinal disease characterized by inflammation of abnormal pouches—Diverticulum, diverticula—that can develop in the wall of the large intestine. Symptoms typically include lower abdominal pain of sudden onset, but the onset may also occur over a few days. There may also be nausea, diarrhea or constipation. Fever or blood in the stool suggests a complication. People may experience a single attack, repeated attacks, or ongoing "smoldering" diverticulitis. The causes of diverticulitis are unclear. Risk factors may include obesity, lack of exercise, smoking, a family history of the disease, and use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). The role of a low fiber diet as a risk factor is unclear. Having pouches in the large intestine that are not inflamed is known as diverticulosis. Inflammation occurs between 10% and 25% at some point in time and is due to a bacterial infection. Diagnosis is typically by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Diverticular Disease
Diverticular disease is when problems occur due to diverticulosis, a benign condition defined by the formation of pouches (diverticula) from weak spots in the wall of the large intestine. This disease spectrum includes diverticulitis, symptomatic uncomplicated diverticular disease (SUDD), and segmental colitis associated with diverticulosis (SCAD). The most common symptoms across the disease spectrum are abdominal pain and bowel habit changes such as diarrhea or constipation. Otherwise, diverticulitis presents with systemic symptoms such as fever and elevated white blood cell count whereas SUDD and SCAD do not. Treatment ranges from conservative bowel rest to medications such as antibiotics, antispasmodics, acetaminophen, mesalamine, rifaximin, and corticosteroids depending on the specific conditions. Signs and symptoms The signs and symptoms of diverticular disease stem from inflammation and irritation of the colonic tissues, which can manifest as: * Abdominal pain that ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Diverticulum
In medicine or biology, a diverticulum is an outpouching of a hollow (or a fluid-filled) structure in the body. Depending upon which layers of the structure are involved, diverticula are described as being either true or false. In medicine, the term usually implies the structure is not normally present, but in embryology, the term is used for some normal structures arising from others, as for instance the thyroid diverticulum, which arises from the tongue. The word comes from Latin ''dīverticulum'', "bypath" or "byway". Classification Diverticula are described as being true or false depending upon the layers involved: *False diverticula (also known as "pseudodiverticula") do not involve muscular layers or adventitia. False diverticula, in the gastrointestinal tract for instance, involve only the submucosa and mucosa, such as Zenker's diverticulum. False diverticula are typically synonymous with pulsion diverticula, which describes the mechanism of formation as increase ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Colon (anatomy)
The large intestine, also known as the large bowel, is the last part of the gastrointestinal tract and of the digestive system in tetrapods. Water is absorbed here and the remaining waste material is stored in the rectum as feces before being removed by defecation. The colon (progressing from the ascending colon to the transverse, the descending and finally the sigmoid colon) is the longest portion of the large intestine, and the terms "large intestine" and "colon" are often used interchangeably, but most sources define the large intestine as the combination of the cecum, colon, rectum, and anal canal. Some other sources exclude the anal canal. In humans, the large intestine begins in the right iliac region of the pelvis, just at or below the waist, where it is joined to the end of the small intestine at the cecum, via the ileocecal valve. It then continues as the colon ascending the abdomen, across the width of the abdominal cavity as the transverse colon, and then desce ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sigmoid Colon
The sigmoid colon (or pelvic colon) is the part of the large intestine that is closest to the rectum and anus. It forms a loop that averages about in length. The loop is typically shaped like a Greek letter sigma (ς) or Latin letter S (thus ''sigma'' + '' -oid''). This part of the colon normally lies within the pelvis, but due to its freedom of movement it is liable to be displaced into the abdominal cavity. Structure The sigmoid colon begins at the superior aperture of the lesser pelvis, where it is continuous with the iliac colon, and passes transversely across the front of the sacrum to the right side of the pelvis. It then curves on itself and turns toward the left to reach the middle line at the level of the third piece of the sacrum, where it bends downward and ends in the rectum. Its function is to expel solid and gaseous waste from the gastrointestinal tract. The curving path it takes toward the anus allows it to store gas in the superior arched portion, enabling ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Colonoscopy
Colonoscopy () or coloscopy () is a medical procedure involving the Endoscopy, endoscopic examination of the large bowel (colon) and the distal portion of the small bowel. This examination is performed using either a Charge-coupled device, CCD camera or a fiber optic camera, which is mounted on a flexible tube and passed through the anus. The purpose of a colonoscopy is to provide a visual diagnosis via inspection of the internal lining of the colon wall, which may include identifying issues such as ulceration or Precancerous condition, precancerous polyps, and to enable the opportunity for biopsy or the removal of suspected colorectal cancer lesions. Colonoscopy is similar to sigmoidoscopy, but surveys the entire colon rather than only the sigmoid colon. A colonoscopy permits a comprehensive examination of the entire colon, which is typically around 1,200 to 1,500 millimeters in length. In contrast, a sigmoidoscopy allows for the examination of only the distal portion of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Neuron
A neuron (American English), neurone (British English), or nerve cell, is an membrane potential#Cell excitability, excitable cell (biology), cell that fires electric signals called action potentials across a neural network (biology), neural network in the nervous system. They are located in the nervous system and help to receive and conduct impulses. Neurons communicate with other cells via synapses, which are specialized connections that commonly use minute amounts of chemical neurotransmitters to pass the electric signal from the presynaptic neuron to the target cell through the synaptic gap. Neurons are the main components of nervous tissue in all Animalia, animals except sponges and placozoans. Plants and fungi do not have nerve cells. Molecular evidence suggests that the ability to generate electric signals first appeared in evolution some 700 to 800 million years ago, during the Tonian period. Predecessors of neurons were the peptidergic secretory cells. They eventually ga ... [...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] |
National Institutes Of Health
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in 1887 and is part of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Many NIH facilities are located in Bethesda, Maryland, and other nearby suburbs of the Washington metropolitan area, with other primary facilities in the Research Triangle Park in North Carolina and smaller satellite facilities located around the United States. The NIH conducts its scientific research through the NIH Intramural Research Program (IRP) and provides significant biomedical research funding to non-NIH research facilities through its Extramural Research Program. , the IRP had 1,200 principal investigators and more than 4,000 postdoctoral fellows in basic, translational, and clinical research, being the largest biomedical research institution in the world, while, as of 2003, the extramural arm provided 28% of biomedical ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heritability
Heritability is a statistic used in the fields of Animal husbandry, breeding and genetics that estimates the degree of ''variation'' in a phenotypic trait in a population that is due to genetic variation between individuals in that population. The concept of heritability can be expressed in the form of the following question: "What is the proportion of the variation in a given trait within a population that is ''not'' explained by the environment or random chance?" Other causes of measured variation in a trait are characterized as environment (biophysical), environmental factors, including observational error. In human studies of heritability these are often apportioned into factors from "shared environment" and "non-shared environment" based on whether they tend to result in persons brought up in the same household being more or less similar to persons who were not. Heritability is estimated by comparing individual phenotypic variation among related individuals in a population, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Glia
Glia, also called glial cells (gliocytes) or neuroglia, are non-neuronal cells in the central nervous system (the brain and the spinal cord) and in the peripheral nervous system that do not produce electrical impulses. The neuroglia make up more than one half the volume of neural tissue in the human body. They maintain homeostasis, form myelin, and provide support and protection for neurons. In the central nervous system, glial cells include oligodendrocytes (that produce myelin), astrocytes, ependymal cells and microglia, and in the peripheral nervous system they include Schwann cells (that produce myelin), and satellite cells. Function They have four main functions: * to surround neurons and hold them in place * to supply nutrients and oxygen to neurons * to insulate one neuron from another * to destroy pathogens and remove dead neurons. They also play a role in neurotransmission and synaptic connections, and in physiological processes such as breathing. While glia we ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dietary Fiber
Dietary fiber (fibre in English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English) or roughage is the portion of plant-derived food that cannot be completely broken down by human digestive enzymes. Dietary fibers are diverse in chemical composition and can be grouped generally by their solubility, viscosity and Fermentation#Biological role, fermentability which affect how fibers are processed in the body. Dietary fiber has two main subtypes: soluble fiber and insoluble fiber which are components of plant-based foods such as legumes, whole grains, cereals, vegetables, fruits, and nut (fruit), nuts or seeds. A diet high in regular fiber consumption is generally associated with supporting health and lowering the risk of several diseases. Dietary fiber consists of non-starch polysaccharides and other plant components such as cellulose, resistant starch, resistant dextrins, inulins, lignins, chitins, pectins, beta-glucans, and oligosaccharides. Food sources of dietary fiber have ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
