Nausea and Vomiting: Nausea and vomiting are commonly associated symptoms with many diseases. Nausea is a subjective sensation whereas vomiting is the reflexive action of the expulsion of gastric contents. It is important to differentiate vomiting from regurgitation, rumination and bulimic. Epidemiology In the community, nausea (with or without vomiting) is most likely to be associated with infection, particularly gastrointestinal …

Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) Urinary tract infection (UTI) is associated with the presence of organisms in the urinary tract together with symptoms, and sometimes signs, of inflammation. However, it is more precise to use one of the following terms. Significant bacteriuria: It is estimated by the presence of at least 100,000 bacteria/mL of urine. Asymptomatic bacteriuria: significant bacteriuria in the …

Anxiety is a condition which is characterised by psychological response to an unpleasant or threatening situation. Mild to moderate levels of anxiety does not affect the performance of the patient as it ensure appropriate action is taken. However, excessive or prolonged symptoms of anxiety can be disabling, lead to high stress and cause much impairment to social functioning. However, as …

What is Epilepsy? An epileptic seizure is a transient paroxysm of uncontrolled discharges of neurons causing an event that is discernible by the person experiencing the seizure and/or by an observer. The tendency to have recurrent attacks is known as epilepsy; by definition, a single attack does not usually constitute epilepsy. Epileptic seizures or epileptic attacks are a symptom of many …

Affective Disorders The most important feature of an affective disorder is an alteration in mood and depression.The most common presentation of symptoms is that of a low mood or depression. Less commonly, the mood swings may be high or elated, as in mania. Types Of Affective Disorder Depression Everyone in the normal course of daily life will experience alterations in …

Pain is an unpleasant emotional and sensory sensation which is actually or potentially damages the tissue or described in terms of such damage. Etiology and Neurophysiology Neuroanatomy of pain transmission The majority of tissues and organs are innervated by special sensory receptors (nociceptors) connected to primary afferent nerve fibers of differing diameters. Small myelinated Aδ fibers and unmyelinated C fibers …

What is Parkinson’s Disease Parkinson’s disease is the most common cause of Parkinsonism and is the second most common neurodegenerative disease, after Alzheimer’s disease. Although descriptions of the condition appeared before the nineteenth century, it was James Parkinson’s eloquent account in 1817 that fully documented the clinical features of the illness now bearing his name. The identification of dopamine deficiency …

Coronary heart disease (CHD), sometimes described as coronary artery disease (CAD) or ischaemic heart disease (IHD), is a condition in which the vascular supply to the heart is impeded by atheroma, thrombosis or spasm of coronary arteries. This may impair the supply of oxygenated blood to cardiac tissue sufficiently to cause myocardial ischemia which, if severe or prolonged, may cause …

lesterol (TC) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) increase the risk of an individual developing cardiovascular disease (CVD). In contrast, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) confers protection against CVD, with the risk reducing as HDL-C increases. It is, therefore, clear that the term hyperlipidaemia, which was formerly used to describe disorders of lipoprotein metabolism, is inappropriate. It is more appropriate to use …

Introduction Over 90% of people in Western population defecate between three times a day and once every 3 days. It is clear, therefore, that to base a definition of constipation on frequency alone is problematic. What is perceived to be constipation by one individual may be normal to another? Most definitions of constipation include infrequent bowel action of twice a …