Hi Good Health

The practice of medicine has been around for centuries. Whether it is used for witchcraft or wizardry or just for the sole purpose of healing; medicine has been a mainstay in the survival of humankind. Medicine is simply defined as the art and science of healing. Practicing medicine involves treating and preventing disease and illness of humans. Medicine treats and prevents disease and illness through medication, surgery and various types of therapy.

The practice of medicine has been going on for hundreds of years. The first medicines were plants, animal parts and minerals. Medicine was practiced early on by shamans, priests and people known as medicine men. The practice of using plants as medicine is known as herbal healing. Herbal healing is still performed today. The Greeks, Egyptians and the Chinese are some of the first civilizations to experiment in the field of medicine.

Medicinal practices have become incredibly advanced over the past hundred years or so. X-rays, MRIs, CT Scans and more testing procedures have been invented. These tests allow doctors and nurses to see the inside of a patient’s body and their organs. Doctors can diagnose an illness such as bronchitis or a disease such as cancer. They can find where a bone is broken or where cartilage is torn and then tailor treatment accordingly.

The advancement of medicine over the years has also helped to save numerous amounts of lives. During the United States Civil War, many soldiers would have a limb or two amputated because of their battlefield injuries. If they survived the surgery, which took place in an open hospital (not in separate rooms), the injury would become infected with gout or other infections. Most of the soldiers that were operated on would die of an infection only days or months later. Medicine was not advanced enough yet to figure out how to successfully perform surgery without causing infection.

Medicinal practices have helped to develop treatments for cancer, diabetes and heart disease. Medicine is still working on cures for diabetes and cancer but with continued research will come close within the next 10 years or so. Doctors are now able to pinpoint the exact location of an illness or a disease and what medicines to use to deter the effects of the illness or disease.

One of the biggest advancements in medicine was the development of penicillin. It was developed in 1928 by Sir Alexander Fleming of Scotland. Penicillin is used to cure tonsillitis, pharyngitis and some skin infections. It is also used to treat gonorrhea, syphilis and cellulitis.

Millions of people have been saved by the advancements of medicine and will continue to be as more and more developments are made in the field of medicine. These advancements can be minute or they could be larger than life like a cure for cancer. If doctors and scientists hadn’t put their time and effort into developing new kinds of medicine then drugs like penicillin might not have ever been invented. Medicines are used to control heart problems, headaches, stomach diseases and sleep disorders to name a few.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/the-history-of-medicine-610451.html

Bone marrow is an important part of human life. It is a flexible tissue that is found in the hollow interior of bones. Bone marrow exists in two forms. There is red bone marrow and yellow bone marrow. Almost 100 percent of bone marrow at birth falls into the red bone marrow category. Red bone marrow consists of myeloid tissue, red blood cells, platelets and white blood cells. Yellow bone marrow consists of fat cells and some white blood cells can develop in yellow bone marrow. Both the red and yellow bone marrows contain various capillaries and blood vessels.

The red bone marrow converts itself to yellow bone marrow over time. The red bone marrow can be found in flat bones. Flat bones are found in the hip, the breast, the skull, the ribs, the shoulder blades and vertebrae. Yellow bone marrow is found in the hollow interior of the middle portion of bones. If there is ever a severe condition of blood loss; the body has the ability to convert the yellow bone marrow back to red bone marrow to increase blood cell production.

There are a couple of different diseases involving one’s bone marrow that anyone can develop. Diseases of the bone marrow can develop from an infection or a malignancy. A malignancy is also known as a cancer. One type of infection found to disease bone marrow is called tuberculosis. Tuberculosis leads to the decrease in production of blood cells and blood platelets. Cancer of the bone marrow in a human being is known as a leukemia. Other problems of the bone marrow are anemias, lymphomas and plasma cell disorders. To diagnose these diseases a doctor usually performs a bone marrow aspiration. This can also be known as a biopsy. The site of the aspiration is usually on the back of the hip bone. During the biopsy the doctors test the sample for different signs of cancer or any other infection of the bone marrow.

One treatment for leukemia is a bone marrow transplant. This can be done if a bone marrow donor matches a leukemia patient. Once the bone marrow from the donor is inserted into the body of the patient, if the match is successful, the newly infused cells will help with the production of blood cells. A bone marrow transplant is usually only used when the situation is extremely severe for a leukemia patient. Some leukemia cases can be treated with chemotherapy and radiation techniques.

Www.marrow.org is the website for bone marrow donors. If you wish to become a bone marrow donor or learn more about donating your bone marrow to a foundation to help leukemia patients you should give this website a look. If you aren’t looking to donate bone marrow you can make a financial donation to the foundation to keep it up and running.

Bone marrow diseases and leukemia cannot be prevented. They are treatable but not preventable. They can be caused by the lack of blood cell production or the overproduction of one type of blood cell over the other.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/bone-marrow-610463.html

Melanoma is a cancer of the skin that is malignant and can be found prominently on the skin but can also be found in the bowel and even the eye. Melanoma is the rarest of skin cancers but it causes the most skin cancer related deaths. Melanoma is caused by the uncontrolled growth of pigment cells known as melanocytes. The only cure for melanoma is to surgically remove the tumor before it grows to a size of 1mm. There are close to 160,000 new cases of melanoma worldwide each and every year and according to the World Health Organization there are approximately 48,000 deaths related to melanoma each year as well. 75 percent of all deaths from skin cancer are associated to malignant melanoma. Treatment for melanoma includes the aforementioned surgery, chemotherapy, immunotherapy and even radiation therapy. It is recommended by doctors that anyone who has a family history of melanoma should see a dermatologist at least once a year to make sure they are not developing melanoma themselves.

The first case of melanoma did not come until the 1960s; at least the oldest known case was discovered until the 1960s. Scientists were working on a group of mummies when they noticed deformities in their skin. It was determined that these mummies did have some type of malignant melanoma. The mummies dated back at least 2,400 years. The first operation related to melanoma occurred in 1787 by a man named John Hunter. The tumor that was removed from the skin was preserved in the Hunterian Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. The mass was not examined until the year of 1968. Upon examination and testing it was concluded that the mass was in fact a form of metastatic melanoma.

There is a mnemonic device to best remember the signs and symptoms of melanoma. It is “ABCDE.”

A: asymmetrical skin lesion

B: border of the lesion is irregular

C: color: melanomas usually have multiple colors

D: diameter: moles greater than 5mm are more likely to be melanomas than smaller ones

E: evolution: the evolution or change of a mole or lesion may be a hint that the lesion is becoming malignant. Elevation: the mole is raised or elevated above the skin.

There are seven types of melanoma. They are superficial spreading melanoma, nodular melanoma, acral lentiginous melanoma, lentigo maligna melanoma, clear cell sarcoma, mucosal melanoma and uveal melanoma. As with all types of cancers, especially malignant ones, there are four stages of the disease that melanoma can be active in. The stages are Stage I, Stage II, Stage III and Stage IV. Each different stage has sublevels that the melanoma can develop in.

Patients suffering from melanoma can feel a loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, an uncomfortable feeling and a general weakness throughout the body. Melanoma, like all other cancers, cannot be completely cured but it can be kept under control with radiation, chemotherapy and immunotherapy. As with all chemotherapy treatments a feeling of fatigue, nausea, loss of appetite, bowel problems and weight loss can occur.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/melanoma-cancer-of-the-skin-610531.html