February 2010 - Living Healthfully

Here are some exercises we can do:
1. Place a pillow in between knees, while your back lies flat on a surface and both knees are bent. Try to squeeze the pillow using both knees and hold it for 10 seconds. repeat the procedure initially for ten times, gradually increasing repititions depending on your capability.

2. Number 1 procedure can be done while in standing position. Straighten your back and a partial squat. While moving down to do a squat, try to squeeze a pillow in between your thighs.

Rationale for one and two is to increase strength of muscles pulling the patella medially.

We can also mobilize the patella to bring it to the center of the distal femur. Mobilization skills are done by physiotherapists upon close examination of the part.

A physical therapist may also observe some postural deformities, and try to conservatively correct them using mobilization techniques, taping, or orthoses. These may be done after an intensive evaluation of the factors affecting patellar mal-tracking.

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Cerebrovascular Disease

February 10th 2010 05:45

Lately I have been seeing a tremendous number of individuals suffering from stroke.

Cerebrovascular disease or more popularly known as stroke, has been a major killer worldwide. But what is this condition and what causes it?

stroke is a condition delineated by lesion in the brain cells, caused by hemorrhage or occlusion of blood vessels going to the brain.

Blood transports oxygen and nutrients to the different parts of the body. it also removes waste products from every cells, including the brain cells. But once blood becomes viscous, or the vessels become too narrow for blood to effectively flow, waste products from the cells cannot be removed and these will damage the cells. No oxygen, nor glucose can be delivered to the cells for nourishment. Eventually these cells die. Unlike the skin cells, the brain cells are more of a permanent type. No replacement for these cells. And this for sure can affect a person's movement, sensation, and other functions.

What can lead to such conditions? Increased blood cholesterol, atherosclerosis, hypertension. Risk factors include smoking, sedentary lifestyle, poor eating habit (fatty diet), diabetes mellitus, and others.

Hemorrhage caused by trauma, or by ruptured blood vessels (like in aneurysm) in turn can also cause stroke. The cranial cavity or the place where the brain is located is a space exclusively for the brain. The size just fits for the brain and its nearby complementary structure. If hemorrhage ensues, the space gets crowded, impinging or compressing the brain cells. Markers of which are headache, increased intracranial pressure, vomitting, dizziness, to name a few.

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The Physiology of Gastric Secretions - last part

February 4th 2010 16:36

Pepsinogen
Pepsinogen release is dependent on the acetylcholine stimulation of the peptic cells, and the presence of hydrochloric acid in the stomach. Pepsinogen per se has no digestive function. When it comes in contact with previously formed pepsin and hydrochloric acid, it is activated as pepsin. Pepsin is as necessary as hydrochloric acid for protein digestion in the stomach.
The proteolytic activity of pepsin takes place in an acidic setting (optimum pH of 1.8 to 3.5). Above 5, pepsin has almost no activity.

Acid-Peptic Disorder
The pathology of acid-peptic disorder lies behind the imbalance between the rate of secretion of gastric juice and the degree of protection provided by the mucosal barrier and neutralization of gastric juice by pancreatic secretions. The scenario can be caused by Helicobacter pylori infecting the gastrointestinal tract and hypersecretion of acid-peptic complex. Smoking can also increase nervous stimulation of the stomach secretory glands. Alcohol and aspirin in turn breaks the mucosal barrier. Caffeine also increases gastric acidity.
Caffeine inhibits phosphodiesterase thus increasing cAMP within cells. In the parietal cells, this will mean a stimulation of gastric juice secretion. Aspirin and other non-selective anti-inflammatory drugs inhibt COX1, which generates prostanoid for epithelial cytoprotection.

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The Physiology of Gastric Secretions 5

February 1st 2010 16:34

Phases of Gastric Secretion
Gastric secretion involves three phases: cephalic, gastric, and intestinal phase. Cephalic phase occurs even before food enters the stomach. It results from the sight, smell, thought, or taste of food. “Neurogenic signals that cause the cephalic phase of gastric secretion can originate in the cerebral cortex or in the appetite centers of the amygdala or hypothalamus. They are transmitted through the dorsal motor nuclei of the vagi and then through the vagus nerves to the stomach (Guyton and Hall, 2000).” The cephalic phase accounts to 20 percent of gastric secretion.
The gastric phase accounts for 70 percent of gastric secretion. Once food enters the stomach, it excites the vagovagal reflexes, the local enteric reflexes, and the gastrin mechanism.
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