Tips to fight Malabsorption Syndrome

Normally our body has the ability to digest the food we eat and absorb the nutrients form it. Over 9 meters long alimentary canal helps to accomplish the function of digestion and absorption. Malabsorption syndrome could be defined as the inability of our body to absorb essential nutrients from the food. Malabsorption syndrome can affect any person irrespective of age and gender. It may lead to a variety of deficiencies like that of vitamins, minerals, proteins, fatty acids and other nutrients. The associated cause may be digestive or dietary deficiency. The factors that contribute to cause the malabsorption syndrome may be adoption of dieting schedules for reducing weight, habitual & excessive intake of alcohol, food allergies, a diet deficient in B-vitamins and diseases of the digestive organs like pancreas and liver. Intestinal malfunction caused due to excessive use of antibiotics and/or laxatives can also lead to malabsorption syndrome.

Symptoms of Malabsorption Syndrome:

1. Fatigue and weight loss. However, some obese persons may also have malabsorption syndrome.
2. Recurrent diarrhoea and constipation.
3. Persistent abdominal discomfort with gas and bloating.
4. Unpredictable appetite.
5. Treatment of above cited conditions with a variety of medicine further complicate the problem.

Some complications of Malabsorption Syndrome:

1. Anemia and thinning & falling of hair.
2. Muscular cramps.
3. Psychological & behavioral changes.
4. Menstrual problems in female patients.

Tips to fight Malabsorption Syndrome:

1. Adopt dietary discipline in terms of quality, quantity and timings of intake.
2. Avoid fried and starchy foods.
3. Avoid excessive intake of alcohol.
4. Avoid too cold or too hot and preserved foodstuffs.
5. Avoid over medication with antibiotics.
6. Take spicy curd or buttermilk as it supports the intestinal flora and stimulates the secretion of digestive juices.
7. Seasonal and fresh fruits should be taken in between the regular meals.
8. Take medicines and food supplements as advised by your physician.

Diabetes and Pregnancy

Pregnancy brings a sea change in the metabolism in pregnant women. Your bodyhas to produce extra insulin to meet the requirements of your body during pregnancy, especially from 4^th month onwards. Hormonal changes during pregnancy may interfere with the insulin function and if your body can't cope with the situation, you may develop gestational diabetes. Women with family history of diabetes mellitus, older mothers and obese women are at the risk of developing gestation diabetes mellitus (GDM). The diabetes mellitus in pregnancy could be classified as pre-gestational or gestation diabetes mellitus. One out of fourteen cases of pregnancy may develop GDM in second or third trimester of pregnancy due to effect of placental hormones. Ideally, all pregnant women should be tested to rule out gestation diabetes. The routine examination of urine for sugar, on every visit to the gynaecologist could give an indication about onset of gestation diabetes and need for further investigations and medication. If elevated level of blood sugar is observed on random blood sugar (RBS)investigation, one should go for glucose tolerance test (GTT). Diabetic mothers need extra care to prevent spontaneous abortion and malformations in infants. Babies born to diabetic women, who were diabetic before they became pregnant, would have a greater risk of health problems, if diabetes was poorly controlled. Babies grow bigger in diabetic expectants due to extra sugar crossing the placenta and may make labour and delivery more difficult. Periodic screening, dietary control and proper medication are must to avoid GDM associated complications in expectant mothers and babies born.

Age-Related Vision Loss: Preventive Tips

Human eye is the first imaging system, the retina of which is embedded with tone sensitive and color sensitive receptors. There are around 120 million rods and 6 million cones in the retina of each eye. There are separate sets of sensitive cones for the tree primary colors and are termed as red, blue or green receptors. These receptors supply information to our brain about shape, size and color tone of the images. The central part of the retina of our eyes is called mecula that helps us to see the finer details. With ageing comes the age-related vision loss. Eyes are very delicate organ of our body and with the advancing age need extra care and dietary supplements to offset the age-related degeneration. Age-related macular degeneration(ARMD) is a disease of our eyes that causes progressive degeneration of macula. There are two common types of ARMD: 1) Atrophic or dry ARMD causes the thinning of the mecula and affects the majority of patients, 2) Exudative or wet ARMD may be hemorrhagic and is caused by the development of abnormal blood vessels beneath the epithelial layer of retina. These blood vessels may bleed and cause scarring and loss of central vision in old age. Dry ARMD causes gradual vision loss and the risk can be lowered/prevented through regular eye check-up after the age of 55 years. The early detection of ARMD is the key to save our eyes from age-related vision loss. Treatment of both types of ARMD is available in the Eye Departments/Centers of major hospitals worldwide. The risk of developing ARMD could be lowered by regular intake of Vitamin C, E, beta-carotene and zinc supplements.

Oral Cancer: Preventive Tips

Thermal, chemical or mechanical trauma on the inner-sides of our cheeks or in the oral mouth) cavity may lead to pre-cancerous lesions in our mouth. Any smoky appearance of the inner-side of cheeks needs a check-up by a dentist or general health physician. Majority of lesions of the oral cavity caused by any type of trauma cited above are reversible if the lifestyle is modified. Very hot beverages like coffee/tea and hot curries are the cause of thermal trauma. Smoke and nicotine content of cigarettes causes the thermal as well as chemical trauma. Cumulative effect of habitual cigarette smoking may cause pre-cancerous or cancerous lesions in the oral cavity. Mechanical pressure on the outer-side of any of our cheeks may lead to injury inside. Chewing of pan-masala and green chilies also causes chemical trauma. To avoid/lower the risk of oral cancer do the followings:

1. Avoid takings very hot coffee/tea or other foodstuffs.


2. Avoid tasting chemicals and industrial solvents.


3. Use mild amount of chilies in your food.


4. Avoid smoking.


5. Avoid using ill-fitting dentures.


6. Avoid chewing tobacco, pan-masala or green chilies.


7. Chew and blow the bubble gum if you can as it rejuvenates the oral epithelium.


8. Exercise your cheeks by pushing these out by holding air in your mouth at least 10 times daily.


9. Eat curd or yogurt with your meals once or twice daily


10. Consult your dentist or family physician if you have any suspicious lesion in your mouth.
    

Morphometry and Image Analysis

Visual analysis of microscopic images of cells and tissues has been in practice since long for achieving a diagnosis of pathological lesions. The pattern recognition may vary from person to person in subjective analysis. However, many definable quantitative parameters like diameter of cells & nuclei, circularity of cells, width or length of tissue components, area or diameters of certain special structures like glomeruli etc may be well analyzed through image analysis. Image is the basis of any kind of interpretation and diagnosis in anatomic pathology. Stereology and histometry had been in practice for >150 years. Stereology is based on the theorem forwarded by French Geologist Delesse in 1847. He demonstrated that the area properties of a mineral component in a rock as seen in a random cut surface, is equal to its volume proportion. Delesse principle was further propagated in histology by Weibel & Elias (1967). The term histometry refers to measurement of tissue components while morphometry has a wider meaning in the context of biology as it refers to measurement of size of cells, organisms, nuclei, subcellular components, area and volume fractions of tissue components. Stereology is the quantitative study of the three-dimensional properties of an object from the two-dimensional images using geometrical formulae and procedures. Volumetric parameters could be achieved from the images of accurately cut and well-stained microtome sections.

Older methods were based on the manual measurements on accurately enlarged micrographs and computation with respect to magnification, but the introduction of digital technology and availability of image analysis software(s) have revolutionized the morphometry at the light microscopic as well as electron microscopic (ultrastructural) level. Grey scale or multicolored microscopic images can be captured, archived and analyzed at convenience with utmost accuracy and precision. Image analysis can be divided into two broad categories; (1) morphometry related to spatial measurements and (2) cytometry/densitometry/fluorometry related to intensity measurements. The observer needs thorough knowledge of the peripheral settings, calibrations, utility tools, image analysis protocols, parameter's settings and data management. Inter and intra-observer variations could only be kept under check with perfect training in image analysis and specimen preparation. Though till date, applications of image analysis in routine diagnostic pathology are not considered seriously, but the quantitative parameters may be important for prognosis and or understanding the progression of pathological disorders by determination of nuclear irregularity and DNA content of tumor cells, quantitation of antigen expression, measurement of glomerular parameters and interstitial fibrosis in kidney biopsies and so on. Morphometry and image analysis is a valuable research tool in quantitative and analytical histology and cytology.

Image Analysis Laboratory Setup:

There is massive development in the field of image analysis in the last two decades. This is due to significant computational capability for data accumulation and storage. The other factor is rapid development of knowledge based systems for data analysis and diagnostic decision making. Presently there is widespread use of image analysis (IA) in pathology both in clinical and research areas. Reduction of cost of hardware, software and image capture devices is encouraging to setup image analysis systems and popularize this tool. An image analysis laboratory needs a work station comprised of a best quality binocular microscope equipped with high resolution digital camera and a P-IV computer with windows operating system and loaded with image analysis software.

Areas of Application of Image Analysis:

The principle areas of application of image analysis are: 1) Morphometric assessment: such as linear distance, area and perimeter and circularity measurements, object counting, size and shape etc., 2) Chromatin pattern recognition, 3) DNA quantification and ploidy estimation, 4) Quantification of immunocytochemistry, 5) Measurement of fractal dimension, 6) Cell to cell relation assessment, 7) Diagnostic decision making and 10) Chromosomal analysis.

Image Analysis Protocol:

1. The procedure adapted to process the specimens and to prepare the histological sections or smears should be same for all the specimens. Thickness of sections for morphometry and image analysis for evaluation of immunohistochemistry or DNA should always be kept constant.
2. Switch-on the system and verify the peripheral settings and calibration parameters.
3. Focus your slide and search the area of interest and acquire/grab the image.
4. Proceed for the interactive or density detection as per your requirement.
5. Record displayed results or save the data.
   

Comparison of Data from Different Centers:

Information technology has revolutionized the data management and analysis through ‘world wide web’ services and artificial intelligence. There are many knowledge-based expert systems available for data interpretation. Artificial neural network (ANN) is one of the efficient and popular expert systems for data interpretation. This is designed on the basis of the human brain. ANN has three layers 1) an input layer 2) single or multiple hidden layers and 3) an output layer. Input layer receives signal from external stimuli. The information is processed and finally results come through the output layer. ANN learns by example rather than the specific programming logic at the backend of the customized software, for a classification procedure.