You should keep your blood-sugar levels to less than 100 mg/dL. The excess sugar in the blood that's caused by diabetes damages the arteries by inactivating a specific substance (phosphokinase, to get technical) that makes it possible for your arteries to smoothly dilate and contract. Without that substance, the risk of holes or cracks appearing at junctions in the arterial walls increases dramat...

Scleroderma, also called systemic sclerosis, is a chronic, degenerative disease that causes blood vessel abnormalities as well as joint, skin, and internal organ problems. Symptoms include thickening and swelling of the tips of the fingers; Raynaud's disease; joint pain; taut, dark skin on the face; spider veins; scarring of the skin on the fingers, wrists, or elbows causing immobility; and heart...

Hypertension is called the "silent killer" cause the majority of people with it have NO SYMPTOMS. However, headaches, especially pounding ones, are a symptom. Hypertension or high blood pressure is the leading cause of arterial injury—injury to your blood vessels. You repair those injuries to your arteries with cholesterol plaques—so heart disease, strokes, kidney disease, impotence, decay in...

YES, tobacco is the leading killer in the United States, mostly from heart disease and stroke but tobacco also increases cancer deaths. When Pueblo Colorado banned public smoking of any kind in its city limits, hospitalizations in non-smokers for heart disease fell 17%, and deaths from all causes fell 4%. And that was in the first year. Greater results happened in Ireland and in Italian cities th...

The tomato is a low-calorie food packed with nutrition, especially when fully ripe. For example, red tomatoes have up to four times the amount of beta-carotene as green tomatoes. Tomatoes are an excellent source of vitamin C, carotenes (especially lycopene), biotin, and vitamin K. They are also a very good source of vitamin B6, pantothenic acid, niacin, folic acid, and dietary fiber. A 31/2-oz (1...

This is way more than a $64000 question, and there's a lot of research about it. Chocolate releases feel-good hormones like dopamine and serotonin; repletes magnesium; emulaties marijuana in the brain; and just makes women feel good when they often feel bad. But if chocolate cravings were all about physiology, women would not eat chocolate during their periods for psychological reasons. And choc...

Ways to prevent ringworm include: Avoid braiding hair tightly or using gels on the hair. (Gels may encourage fungus to cling to the scalp.) Limit contact with children who have ringworm. Limit contact with personal items of children who have ringworm (clothing, towels, bedding and so forth). Learn more about protecting a child from ringworm.

Common beans can cause severe allergic reactions in sensitive individuals. Common beans also contain moderate amounts of purines. Since purines can be broken down to form uric acid, excess accumulation of purines in the body can lead to excess accumulation of uric acid. As such, individuals who are susceptible to purine-related problems, such as gout and kidney stones, may want to limit or avoid ...

Most symptoms seen in children with ADHD also occur at times in children without this disorder. However, in children with ADHD, these symptoms occur more frequently and interfere with learning, school adjustment, and, sometimes, with the child's relationships with others. The following are the most common symptoms of ADHD. However, each child may experience symptoms differently. The three categori...

Abundant evidence suggests that rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune reaction, in which antibodies formed by the immune system attack components of joint tissues. Yet what triggers this autoimmune reaction remains largely unknown. Speculation and investigation have centered around genetic factors, abnormal bowel permeability, lifestyle and nutritional factors, food allergies, impaired liver...

Sexual dysfunction generally is classified into four categories: Desire disorders — The lack of sexual desire or interest in sex Arousal disorders — The inability to become physically aroused during sexual activity Orgasm disorders — The delay or absence of orgasm (climax) Pain disorders — Pain during intercourse (This condition mostly affects women.)

Late effects of concussion may include short-term memory problems, academic difficulties, fatigue and sleep disturbances, irritability and depression. School teachers, administrators, guidance counselors and nurses should be familiar with the signs and symptoms of concussion to monitor the athlete academically during healing.

Alternatives to gastric bypass procedures are restrictive operations, such as vertical banded gastroplasty (not offered at the Cleveland Clinic), or adjustable gastric banding. Restrictive surgery results in weight loss when the surgeon creates a small pouch at the top of the stomach where the food enters from the esophagus. The pouch's lower outlet usually has a diameter of about 1/4-inch. The s...

Since the mind is constantly seeking answers, each of us wants to know with certainty about God, the soul, death, and the afterlife. With enough data, the mind assumes it will finally know the answer to cosmic questions. But data is external; facts can only deliver information. There is nothing alive in either, and the soul is life itself. It nourishes a kind of knowledge that constantly renews it...

Animal-assisted therapy is a type of therapy that uses dogs or other pets to improve the physical and mental health of patients with certain acute or chronic diseases. It is being studied as a way to relieve distress in cancer patients undergoing treatment for pain.

There is no cure now for the vast majority of cases of autism. The few cases where there is an effective treatment are where a medical disorder has been identified and treated and as a result the autism symptoms have improved. These situations are rare. However, with good research into the genetic and biological causes of autism, treatments will improve and be more effective in reducing autism sy...

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men, and the second leading cause of cancer death among men in the U.S. More than 180,000 men in the U.S. will be diagnosed with prostate cancer this year, and more than 40,000 will die of the disease. Eighty percent of men who reach age 80 have prostate cancer. Prostate cancer is a malignant tumor that usually begins in the outer part of the prostate...