Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0037315 (sleep apnea)
 8,000 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Morbid obesity is a chronic disease affecting millions of Americans. The disorder is likely to increase in prevalence because currently one third of the American population is obese. Many factors are associated with morbid obesity, including psychological (eg, depression), physiological (eg, hypothyroidism) mechanisms, sleep disorders (eg, sleep apnea), drug therapy (antidepressants, antidiabetic agents, steroids), and genetics. Increasing numbers of morbidly obese patients are requiring critical care, presenting major challenges to professional staff across the disciplines. This manuscript presents a case study describing the experiences of a morbidly obese woman in the final years of her life from the perspective of her health professional relative. The patient typifies many of the major risk factors for morbid obesity; her story reveals many of the issues faced as she revolved in and out of the critical care and acute care system. Her substantive health problems affected multiple body systems and included hypothyroidism, congestive heart failure, hyperlipidemia, and subclinical Cushing's Syndrome, likely related to previous medical therapy (cortisone) for rheumatic fever in childhood. The case description addresses many integumentary system issues the patient experienced; skin injuries and infections that can pose serious life-threatening situations for the morbidly obese patient must be prevented or treated efficiently. Health professionals can learn a great deal and improve the care they provide by listening to morbidly obese patients.
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PMID:Clinician challenges in providing health care for a morbidly obese family member: a bariatric case study. 2558 6

Streptococcus pyogenes, the Group A Streptococcus (GAS), is the most common cause of bacterial pharyngitis in children and adults. Innate and adaptive host immune responses are fundamental for defense against streptococcal pharyngitis and are central to the clinical manifestation of disease. Host immune responses also contribute to the severe poststreptococcal immune diseases that constitute the major disease burden for this organism. However, until recently, little was known about the host responses elicited during infection. Cellular mediators of innate immunity used during host defense against GAS include epithelial cells, neutrophils, macrophages, and dendritic cells (DCs), which are reported to secrete a number of soluble inflammatory mediators, such as antimicrobial peptides (AMPs); eicosanoids, including PGE2 and leukotriene B4 (LTB4 ); chemokines; and proinflammatory cytokines. Th1 and Th17 responses play significant roles in adaptive immunity in both murine models of GAS pharyngitis and in human tonsil tissue. A number of inflammatory complications are associated with GAS pharyngitis, which can lead to chronic disease in patients. These include scarlet fever, tonsillar hypertrophy, and sleep apnea, as well as postinfectious sequelae, such as acute rheumatic fever (ARF), poststreptococcal glomerulonephritis, and guttate psoriasis (GP). This review aims to present the current state of knowledge on innate and adaptive immune responses elicited during GAS pharyngitis, mechanisms by which GAS evades these responses, the emerging role of the pharyngeal microbiota, and how the interplay among these factors can influence the outcome of infection and inflammation-related complications.
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PMID:Group A streptococcal pharyngitis: Immune responses involved in bacterial clearance and GAS-associated immunopathologies. 2895 19