Health and Medical Information

What wart is? — War against Wart!

A wart is generally a small, rough tumor, typically on hands and feet, that can resemble a cauliflower or a solid blister. Warts are common, and are caused by a viral infection, specifically by the human papillomavirus (HPV) and are contagious when in contact with the skin of another. It is also possible to get warts from using towels or other objects. They typically disappear after a few months but can last for years and can reoccur. A few papilloma viruses are known to cause cervical cancer.

Types of wart

A range of different types of wart have been identified, which differ in shape and site affected, as well as the type of human papillomavirus involved.

These include:

Common wart (Verruca vulgaris): a raised wart with roughened surface, most common on hands and knees

Flat wart (Verruca plana): a small, smooth flattened wart, tan or flesh coloured, which can occur in large numbers; most common on the face, neck, hands, wrists and knees

Filiform or digitate wart: a thread- or finger-like wart, most common on the face, especially near the eyelids and lips

Plantar wart (verruca, Verruca pedis): a hard sometimes painful lump, often with multiple black specks in the center; usually only found on pressure points on the soles of the feet

Mosaic wart: a group of tightly clustered plantar-type warts, commonly on the hands or soles of the feet

Donkey wart (venereal wart, Condyloma acuminatum, Verruca acuminata):

Prescription

Treatments that may be prescribed by a medical professional include:

Keratolysis, removal of dead surface skin cells usually using salicylic acid, blistering agents, immune system modifiers ("immunomodulators"), or formaldehyde.

Cryosurgery, which involves freezing the wart (generally with liquid nitrogen), after which the wart and surrounding dead skin falls off by itself.

Surgical curettage of the wart.

Laser treatment.

Imiquimod, a topical cream that helps the body’s immune system fight the wart virus by encouraging interferon production.

Candida injections at the site of the wart, which also stimulate the body’s immune system.

Cantharidin, a chemical found naturally in many members of the beetle family Meloidae which causes dermal blistering.

The wart often regrows after the skin has healed.

One review of 52 clinical trials of various cutaneous wart treatments concluded that topical treatments containing salicylic acid were the best supported, with an average cure rate of 75% observed with salicylic acid compared with 48% for placebo in six placebo-controlled trials including a total of 376 participants. The reviewers also concluded that there was little evidence of a significant benefit of cryotherapy over placebo or no treatment.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC, also called hepatoma) is a primary malignancy (cancer) of the liver. Most cases of HCC are secondary to either a viral hepatitide infection (hepatitis B or C) or cirrhosis (alcoholism being the most common cause of hepatic cirrhosis). In countries where hepatitis is not endemic, most malignant cancers in the liver are not primary HCC but metastasis (spread) of cancer from elsewhere in the body, e.g. the colon. Treatment options of HCC and prognosis are dependent on many factors but especially on tumor size and staging.

Outside of the West, the usual outcome is poor, because only 10 - 20% of hepatocellular carcinomas can be removed completely using surgery. If the cancer cannot be completely removed, the disease is usually deadly within 3 to 6 months. This is partially due to late presentation with large tumours, but also the lack of medical expertise and facilities. This is a rare tumor in the United States.

What is Osteoporosis?

Osteoporosis is a disease of bone in which the bone mineral density (BMD) is reduced, bone microarchitecture is disrupted, and the amount and variety of non-collagenous proteins in bone is altered. Osteoporotic bones are more at risk of fracture. Osteoporosis is defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) in women as a bone mineral density 2.5 standard deviations below peak bone mass (20-year-old sex-matched healthy person average) as measured by DXA; the term "established osteoporosis" includes the presence of a fragility fracture.

While treatment modalities are becoming available (such as the bisphosphonates), prevention is still considered the most important way to reduce fracture. Due to its hormonal component, more women, particularly after menopause, suffer from osteoporosis than men. In addition it may be caused by various hormonal conditions, smoking and medications (specifically glucocorticoids) as well as many chronic diseases.

Signs and symptoms

Osteoporosis on its own would not be a significant disease, were it not for the falls which precipitate fractures.

Osteoporotic fractures are those that occur under slight amount of stresses that would not normally lead to fractures in nonosteoporotic people. Typical fragility fractures occur in the vertebral column, hip and wrist. Collapse of a vertebra ("compression fracture") can cause numbness in the right second toe or one or a combination of the following: acute onset of back pain; a hunched forward or bent stature; loss of height; limited mobility and possibly disability. Fractures of the long bones acutely impair mobility and may require surgery. Hip fracture, in particular, usually requires prompt surgery, as there are serious risks associated with a hip fracture, such as deep vein thrombosis and a pulmonary embolism.

Vitamin C or L-ascorbate is an essential nutrient for higher primates, and a small number of other species. The presence of ascorbate is required for a range of essential metabolic reactions in all animals and in plants and is made internally by almost all organisms, humans being one notable exception. It is widely known as the vitamin whose deficiency causes scurvy in humans. It is also widely used as a food additive.

The pharmacophore of vitamin C is the ascorbate ion. In living organisms, ascorbate is an antioxidant, as it protects the body against oxidative stress, and is a cofactor in several vital enzymatic reactions.

Biological significance

Vitamin C is purely the L-enantiomer of ascorbate; the opposite D-enantiomer has no physiological significance. Both forms are mirror images of the same molecular structure. When L-ascorbate, which is a strong reducing agent, carries out its reducing function, it is converted to its oxidized form, L-dehydroascorbate. L-dehydroscorbate can then be reduced back to the active L-ascorbate form in the body by enzymes and glutathione.

L-ascorbate is a weak sugar acid structurally related to glucose which naturally occurs either attached to a hydrogen ion, forming ascorbic acid, or to a metal ion, forming a mineral ascorbate.

Function

In humans, vitamin C is a highly effective antioxidant, acting to lessen oxidative stress, a substrate for ascorbate peroxidase, as well as an enzyme cofactor for the biosynthesis of many important biochemicals. Vitamin C acts as an electron donor for eight different enzymes:

•  Three participate in collagen hydroxylation. These reactions add hydroxyl groups to the amino acids proline or lysine in the collagen molecule (via prolyl hydroxylase and lysyl hydroxylase), thereby allowing the collagen molecule to assume its triple helix structure and making vitamin C essential to the development and maintenance of scar tissue, blood vessels, and cartilage.

•  Two are necessary for synthesis of carnitine. Carnitine is essential for the transport of fatty acids into mitochondria for ATP generation.

•  The remaining three have the following functions:

dopamine beta hydroxylase participates in the biosynthesis of norepinephrine from dopamine. Another enzyme adds amide groups to peptide hormones, greatly increasing their stability. One modulates tyrosine metabolism.

Biological tissues that accumulate over 100 times the level in blood plasma of vitamin C are the adrenal glands, pituitary, thymus, corpus luteum, and retina.[20] Those with 10 to 50 times the concentration present in blood plasma include the brain, spleen, lung, testicle, lymph nodes, liver, thyroid, small intestinal mucosa, leukocytes, pancreas, kidney and salivary glands.