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Query: UMLS:C0241981 (loss of balance)
 452 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Streptococcus suis has been identified as the most common cause of meningitis in adults in Hong Kong. The disease is characterized by occupational exposure to pigs or pork. It occurs in summer, and is associated with early, severe, sensory deafness, arthritis, uveitis, and loss of balance. Examination of the cerebrospinal fluid may show an elevated white cell count with a predominance of either polymorphs or lymphocytes. Misinterpretation of the microbiological findings by inexperienced staff members may lead to a failure to correctly diagnose this disease. This is the first report of a series of cases of Strept. suis meningitis outside western Europe. Health authorities are urged to be aware of this disease in pork-consuming countries.
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PMID:Streptococcus suis meningitis. An important underdiagnosed disease in Hong Kong. 683 58

Prolonged angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibition has been consistently demonstrated to increase life expectancy in symptomatic patients with congestive heart failure (CHF), and decrease morbidity in asymptomatic patients with left ventricular (LV) systolic dysfunction. However, prolonged ACE inhibition has not been shown to consistently improve the quality of life of patients with symptomatic CHF. The failure of ACE inhibition to improve quality of life cannot be readily explained, but several factors may contribute to this apparent lack of effect. First, endpoints such as death or hospitalisation are clearly easier to quantify and monitor than a patient's perception of how much CHF affects his/her life. Secondly, while ACE inhibition delays the progression of LV systolic dysfunction, which is the primary determinant of prognosis, it may not reverse the alterations in skeletal muscle vasculature, metabolism and mass, which are primarily responsible for exercise intolerance in patients with CHF. Lastly, patients with CHF, and particularly older patients, are also often incapacitated by other disease processes such as arthritis, loss of balance, pulmonary disorders and anaemia, which, to a large extent, affect the quality of their life more than LV systolic dysfunction and/or CHF.
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PMID:Quality of life in older patients with congestive heart failure. Effects of ACE inhibitors. 878 65

Symptoms of balance disorders including 'unsteadiness', 'dizziness and vertigo' are common in the elderly and commonly found in general practice in medicine. There are many causes of balance disorders and vary from one person to another. Disorder of the internal ear or vestibular end-organ type is one cause. Unsteadiness of somato-sensory or proprioception is common in the elderly so is degenerative disorder of central control in brain. The elderly are prone to many chronic illnesses or disorders which are causes of balance disorder or give rise to more rapid degeneration of the central nervous system i.e. high blood pressure, diabetes mellitus, heart disease, proprioception and joint problems, arthritis and muscular weakness due to lack of good health and exercise. The objectives of this research study were to find the etiologies of balance disorders and how Balance Exercises and the 'National Health Service' can be of benefit in helping to prevent them. 1565 elderly inhabitants (age > or = 60 years) of 20 communities adjacent to Siriraj Hospital were selected for study. Among these, 625 persons had a history of balance disorders. Among those, 256 had symptoms during the week selected for examination. The average age was 66 years old, women outnumbered men with a ratio of 2.4:1. The common underlying causes were hypertension in 32.4%, diabetes mellitus 13.8%, arthritis 8.1%, and heart disease 4.4% respectively. All are still taking one or more types of drug. The subjects were randomly divided into two groups for the study purpose of effectiveness of balance exercise. Group 1 did not perform the head balance exercise and Group 2 performed the head balance exercise. Audiometric testing showed impaired hearing in 90% of the subjects. The majority slowed hearing loss in high frequencies. Testing of middle ear function found 75% of Group 1 to have normal middle ear function 77% of Group 2. Brainstem Electrical Response Audiometry (BERA) showed normal response latencies of in 96% of group 1 and 94% of Group 2. Poor morphology of waveform was found in 12% of Group 1 and 16% of Group 2. Doppler sonography for intra-cranial blood flow measurement showed abnormal flow of the ICA in 17.6% of group 1 and 20.16% of group 2. Basilar arterial abnormal flow was found in 77.6% of Group 1 and 80.6% of Group 2 respectively. The flow of ICA was improved after 8 weeks in both groups. The measurement of balance by Posturography showed 86.7% abnormality in Group 1 and 83.5% abnormality in Group 2 (and the majority due to inner ear problems but many cases had a mixture of joints and CNS problems too). Results of the self-evaluation (by questionaires) showed the elderly to have symptoms of light headedness in 51% and loss of balance in 29%, Vertigo with rotation occurred in 23.6%. 49% of the symptoms were intermittent, 56.4% experienced a 'fall". On questioning about the benefit and performance of Head and Neck Exercises, 82.8% found the exercises were easy to perform, 56.4% said the results were very beneficial.
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PMID:Balance disorders in the elderly and the benefit of balance exercise. 1556 Jul 2

Patients with musculoskeletal injuries to large joints often improve with physical rehabilitation. Injuries typically result from acute macrotrauma or chronic repetitive microtraumatic overuse. Rehabilitation may require therapeutic exercise techniques to regain range of motion and flexibility, increase local muscular strength and endurance, decrease swelling, and reduce pain. Rehabilitation specialists may use additional modalities, such as heat or ultrasound, to decrease acute pain or swelling, although evidence for these modalities is mixed. In addition to treatment for acute or chronic injury, rehabilitation can prevent musculoskeletal injury or deterioration in chronic conditions such as arthritis. A trial of rehabilitation is appropriate in many patients with neuromusculoskeletal conditions to address loss of physical function due to pain, immobility, decreased flexibility, decreased muscular strength and endurance, joint instability, or loss of balance.
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PMID:Problems With Large Joints: Rehabilitation. 2740 66

The hyaline cartilage is an avascular, aneural and alymphatic tissue with a limited ability to repair itself. When the cartilage is exposed to some kind of injury, it usually triggers osteoarthritis (OA), a prevalent and degenerative joint disease closely related to aging. OA is both complex and multifactorial, and is the most common form of arthritis, being positioned as a major cause of pain and dysfunction in the world. In addition, high OA prevalence can greatly affect work capacity, making this disease a significant social problem, therefore, its prevention and treatment becomes a priority. At this time, there are numerous therapeutic strategies available to improve hyaline cartilage repair by using chondrocytes or mesenchymal cells, but neither is effective enough to generate functional and durable tissue reparation over time. In OA, chondrocytes have an aberrant gene expression and phenotype, resulting in a loss of balance between anabolic and catabolic processes. Environmental influences such as radiation, infection, smoking, nutrients, toxins and stress can affect gene expression patterns, which may constitute risk factors for various chronic and degenerative diseases, such as OA. In addition, considerable evidence shows that epigenetic mechanisms play an important role in OA chondrogenesis and pathogenesis. Natural plant-derived products such as polyphenols, which are secondary metabolites considered to have potential activity to block inflammation in several degenerative diseases, can stimulate epigenetic modifications, and may provide new therapeutic targets and cost-effective treatments. This review aims to present various polyphenolbased therapies currently used for the treatment of several progressive diseases, including OA.
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PMID:Polyphenol-Related Epigenetic Modifications in Osteoarthritis: Current Therapeutic Perspectives. 2751 Apr 87