For patients and caregivers, understanding clinical progression, diagnostic imaging results, and pharmacological treatment options is vital for managing acute and chronic health conditions.
Lowering your sodium intake may help lower high blood pressure, according to the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation and Treatment of High Blood Pressure. The recommended sodium intake is no more than 2,300 mg per day, but most Americans exceed that amount.
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When your thyroid gland is unable to produce enough thyroid hormone, you have a condition called hypothyroidism. Hypothyroidism is more common in females than males, and the risk increases with age, according to the National Institutes of Health. Thyroid hormones regulate your body metabolism.
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Dementia is a group of symptoms involving impaired mental functions, including memory and reasoning. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause. According to the Cleveland Clinic, as many as 50 other known causes exist.
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Purines are substances present in most foods. When your body metabolizes purines during digestion, it forms a waste product called uric acid. Usually the kidneys can eliminate uric acid without difficulty, but in some people, the body makes too much or the kidneys eliminate too little.
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend that adults get 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise, such as brisk walking, or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic exercise, such as jogging or running, every week. Jogging or running, however, can be stressful to joints.
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Helicobacter pylori is a bacterium that can reside in the human stomach and duodenum, which is the upper part of the small intestine. Most people infected with it never experience problems, but in some, it can cause gastritis, peptic ulcers and even lead to stomach cancer.
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Skin tags are growths that usually occur after midlife; they are not contagious. Genital warts are caused by a virus and are contagious. Neither skin tags nor genital warts become cancerous.
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Hysterectomy refers to surgical removal of the uterus, which by itself does not affect female hormone levels in premenopausal or postmenopausal women. However, the ovaries might also be removed as a companion procedure to a hysterectomy, if medically necessary.
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When you smoke a cigarette indoors, you expose yourself and everyone around you to secondhand smoke, thirdhand smoke and an increased risk of fire. Secondhand smoke includes smoke from the end of the burning cigarette, called sidestream smoke, and smoke exhaled by the smoker, called mainstream smoke.
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