Author: luna

  • epidemiological Studies Of The Health Effects Of Present-Day Air Pollution

      Although subsequent studies linking more routine levels of air pollution and adverse health outcomes are not as obvious, recent epidemiological studies have found statistically significant associations between multiple individual pollutants and a wide range of significant adverse and preventable health effects at present-day pollutant levels in the United States, and sometimes even in areas…

  • Human Health Effects Of Ambient Air Pollution Entry Of Air Pollutants Into The Body

    The respiratory tract is the primary entry portal for airborne contaminants. It comprises three zones: (1) the upper respiratory tract (including the nose and throat airways), (2) the bronchiole airways of the upper lung, through which air is breathed, and (3) the alveolar region, where oxygen exchange between the lung and the circulatory system (bloodstream)…

  • Sources Of Air Pollution

    Air pollutants are emitted and formed both outdoors and indoors, resulting in personal pollutant exposures that can greatly exceed levels measured by routine air measurements made at central-site ambient outdoor air monitoring stations. Pollutants can be usefully categorized into three classes: (1) pollutants primarily emitted into the outdoor environment, (2) pollutants primarily emitted into the…

  • Diagnosis And Treatment Pathway

    Ovarian cancer is notorious for its late presentation. It has been called ‘the silent killer’ because the majority of women with ovarian cancer present very late, that is, they already have disseminated disease by the time they are first seen by a doctor. Diagnosis is often delayed because of the wide variety of symptoms experienced…

  • Cholecystectomy And Cholelithiasis

    A large number of studies have examined the association between gallbladder disease and gallbladder removal and pancreatic cancer, but findings have been inconsistent. As nonspecific gastrointestinal symptoms resulting from an underlying pancreatic cancer can lead to the diagnosis of cholelithiasis and even to cholecystectomy prior to a pancreatic cancer diagnosis, studies that do not remove…

  • The Health-Care System And Patient Empowerment

    It is unclear if, left to their own devices, the providers who run health systems would aim to promote or restrict patient empowerment. While all health-care systems strive for the good of their constituents, it has been recognized that paternalism has dominated the practice of medicine (i.e., physicians ‘care for’ patients rather than provide clients…

  • A Holistic Model Of Empowerment

    Parallel to this recent rise in empowerment, a number of health-care systems have sought to become more patient-oriented. In the United States, a backlash against managed care and the growing number of uninsured and underinsured individuals with limited access to health care has in part precipitated calls for a more consumer directed health-care system. In…

  • Empowerment Principles In Health-Care Literature

    A recent review of the English language medical literature between 1980 and 2005, summarized in Figure 1, found a range of applications of empowerment principles in health care (Loukanova and Bridges, 2008). First, following more general social and political empowerment movements, 26% of all English language articles in the medical literature on empowerment have focused…

  • Classification Of Childhood Cancers

    Cancer incidence data for people of all ages are usually presented according to the International Classification of Diseases (ICD). In the current, tenth revision of ICD, cancers other than leukemias, lymphomas, Kaposi sarcoma, cutaneous melanoma, and mesothelioma are classified solely by primary site. For the remaining cancers in adults, the great majority of which are…

  • Key Health Patterns/Issues Epidemiological And Demographic Transitions And Their Effects On Morbidity And Mortality Patterns

    Gaziano (2007) notes that the region as a whole seems to be entering the third stage of the epidemiological transition characterized by degenerative and man-made diseases, although a number of countries are facing a dual burden of disease characterized by decreasing rates of communicable diseases and increasing rates of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). WHO estimates for…