How To Take A Full Medical History

Medicine has been described as both a science and an art. The overall purpose of medical practice is to relieve suffering. In order to achieve this purpose, it is important to make a diagnosis, to know how to approach treatment, and to design an appropriate scheme of management for each patient.

Additional $225m Grant To Fight Malaria in Nigeria

NIGERIA and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, at the weekend, signed two grant agreements valued at $225 million as part of a Phase-2 grant to boost malaria prevention and treatment in the country.

Minister of Health, Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu, at the signing ceremony in Abuja, stressed that Phase 2 of the grant would be implemented in 36 states including the Federal Capital Territory.

He was hopeful that with lessons learned from Phase 1, the current phase would be successful and provide a successful model for other countries.

Q&A: Diagnosis and Investigation of Severe Acute Abdominal Pain

Abdominal pain can be a challenging complaint for both primary care and specialist clinicians because it is frequently a benign complaint, but it can also herald serious acute pathology. Clinicians are responsible for trying to determine which patients can be safely observed or treated symptomatically and which require further investigation or specialist referral. This task is complicated by the fact that abdominal pain is often a nonspecific complaint that presents with other symptoms.

Q&A: Diagnosis Of Jaundice and Hyperbilirubinemia

The normal serum bilirubin concentration in children and adults is less than 1 mg/dL (17 micromol/liter), less than 5 percent of which is present in conjugated form. The measurement is usually made using diazo reagents and spectrophotometry. Conjugated bilirubin reacts rapidly ("directly") with the reagents. The measurement of unconjugated bilirubin requires the addition of an accelerator compound and is often referred to as the indirect bilirubin.

Q&A: Acute Urticaria Treatment

Acute urticaria may progress to life-threatening angioedema and/or anaphylactic shock in a very short time, although it usually presents as rapid-onset shock with no urticaria or angioedema.

Q&A: Knowledge of Viral Hepatitis

Abnormal liver biochemical and function tests are frequently detected in asymptomatic patients since many screening blood test panels routinely include them. Alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alkaline phosphatase and bilirubin are biochemical markers of liver injury. Albumin, bilirubin, and prothrombin time are markers of hepatocellular function.

American College of Physicians Announces Internal Medicine 2013 Meeting

COURSES AND CONFERENCES

The American College of Physicians (ACP) is happy to announce its Internal Medicine 2013 which will be held on the days April 11-13 in San Francisco, CA; USA. This annual event is the "The Most Comprehensive Conference in Internal Medicine".

Q&A: Management of Antepartum Haemorrhage

Bleeding from the vagina is a common event at all stages of pregnancy. The source is virtually always maternal, rather than fetal. Bleeding usually results from disruption of blood vessels in the decidua (ie, pregnancy endometrium) or from discrete cervical or vaginal lesions. The clinician typically makes a provisional clinical diagnosis based upon the patient's gestational age and the character of her bleeding (light or heavy, associated with pain or painless, intermittent or constant). Laboratory and imaging tests are then used to confirm or revise the initial diagnosis.

Q&A: Cytotoxic Drugs Leading to Cardiotoxicity

Cancer patients receiving chemotherapy have an increased risk of developing cardiovascular complications, and the risk is even greater if there is a known history of heart disease. Among the serious complications that have been reported are arrhythmias, myocardial necrosis causing a dilated cardiomyopathy, vasospasm or vasoocclusion resulting in angina or myocardial infarction. and pericardial disease.

What an Extra-Ordinary Nerve-Racking Medical Week!

GOOD GRIEF! NEVER HAD A WEEK LIKE THIS BEFORE NOW

What a week it has been! From the near-nerve-wracking weekend call to my usual Tuesday Unit Emergency Room call (ER take) and then, the Consultants ward-round bashing the very next day, with students looking on with eyes full of pity for me. What can I say? Its been an all-round bashing spree for me from both patients and senior colleagues. Boy, I've never had it this rough before now.

Q&A: Renal Complications of Cytotoxic Drugs: Haemorrhagic Cystitis

The clinical presentation of hemorrhagic cystitis (HC) in cancer patients is highly variable, ranging from mild hematuria and bladder irritation (which can be managed with observation or with hydration and bladder irrigation) to gross hematuria with clots and life-threatening persistent hemorrhage.

Q&A: Treatment Of Sexually Transmitted Disease

Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are a major public health problem in both resource-rich and limited settings. STIs are frequently asymptomatic and can lead to various complications. The immediate goal of screening for STIs is to identify and treat infected persons before they develop complications and to identify, test, and treat their sex partners to prevent transmission and reinfections.

Q&A: Mechanism of Action of Metronidazole

Metronidazole is an antibiotic and antiprotozoal medication. It is used either alone or with other antibiotics to treat several conditions. Metronidazole is available by mouth, as a cream, and by injection into a vein. Common side effects include nausea, a metallic taste, loss of appetite, and headaches. Occasionally seizures or allergies to the medication may occur. Metronidazole began to be commercially used in 1960 in France. It is on the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines. It is available in most areas of the world.

International Health Resources

Organizations and Agencies; Publications and Databases; and Guides to International Health Resources (originally from University of California Berkeley Library).

Q&A: Diagnosis Of New Onset Abdominal Pain in an Elderly Woman

Abdominal pain can be a challenging complaint for both primary care and specialist clinicians because it is frequently a benign complaint, but it can also herald serious acute pathology. The evaluation of abdominal pain requires an understanding of the possible mechanisms responsible for pain, a broad differential of common causes, and recognition of typical patterns and clinical presentations.

Branches of the External Carotid Artery

In human anatomy, the external carotid artery is a major artery of the head and neck. It arises from the common carotid artery when it bifurcates into the external and internal carotid artery.

Q&A: Secondary Malignancy as Complication of Cytotoxic Drugs

Patients who are exposed to DNA-damaging agents, including cytotoxic chemotherapy and radiation therapy, are at risk for developing therapy-related myeloid neoplasms (t-MN). These conditions comprise a continuum of diseases that includes therapy-related acute myeloid leukemia (t-AML), therapy-related myelodysplastic syndrome (t-MDS), and therapy-related MDS/myeloproliferative neoplasms (t-MDS/MPN).

Q&A: Diagnosis and Treatment Of Malaria Infection

The clinical manifestations of malaria vary with parasite species, epidemiology, immunity, and age. In areas where malaria is highly endemic, groups at highest risk include young children (6 to 59 months), who can develop severe illness, and pregnant women, who are at risk for anemia and delivering low birthweight newborns. In areas where malaria is transmitted throughout the year, older children and adults develop partial immunity after repeated infections and are at relatively low risk for severe disease.

Q&A: Cells Involved in Inflammatory and Allergic Reactions

The innate immune system constitutes the first-line barrier, the rapid-response mechanism, to prevent microbial invasion. Its components are inherited from parent to child and directed against molecules expressed only by micro-organisms. These host defense components are evolutionarily ancient, found in all multicellular organisms, and expressed in humans as conserved elements (homologs) shared with other vertebrates and, in some form, with insects and plants.