As many as 33 percent of alcoholics develop alcoholic myopathy, a breakdown of the proximal muscle tissue, lead author Jose Nicolas of the University of Barcelona reported in an August 2003 issue of the “American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.” Proximal muscles are those found nearest the body’s trunk.
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Many women experience fluid retention in the few days before their period starts. Fluid retention, which occurs because of hormone changes associated with the menstrual cycle, can cause breast tenderness, uncomfortable swelling in your hands and feet, abdominal bloating and weight gain.
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Hormones such as progesterone, produced by the corpus luteum, the leftover "shell" of the follicle that contained the ovulated egg, play a crucial role in maintaining a pregnancy. One sign of inadequate progesterone levels is a short luteal phase, or luteal phase defect, after ovulation.
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A pain in the buttocks can be more than a pain -- it can be a debilitating symptom that makes walking, sitting or normal exercise difficult. Compression of the sciatic nerve often causes pain that runs through the buttocks and down to the foot.
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Every parent knows the sound: the “clunk” in the middle of the night as a child hits the floor from falling out of bed. Unless the child is sleeping in a top bunk, falls from bed usually are no more than a few feet, and they rarely result in serious injury.
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Babies often suffer from rashes; most come and go quickly. Rashes caused by yeast, a type of fungus, might not disappear without treatment. Candida albicans, a type of yeast, can affect your baby's diaper area as well as her mouth.
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During pregnancy, hormone levels change. In the case of progesterone, levels begin to change as soon as you ovulate. After ovulation, the remnant of the follicle that contained the egg, called the corpus luteum, produces progesterone.
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Tears, which are made up of water, oil, mucus, antibodies and protein, according to the Mayo Clinic, lubricate the eyes and keep them moist. The components of tears are made in glands around the eye; a disturbance in any part of tear production results in dry, gritty, red or irritated eyes.
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Statins are frequently prescribed medications used to lower cholesterol. They do so by blocking enzymes necessary to produce cholesterol. Doctors may prescribe statins if your total cholesterol exceeds 240 mg/dL, or if your LDL, or “bad” cholesterol, exceeds 130 mg/dL.
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Systane is an artificial tear drop used to treat various types of dry eye by reducing feelings of burning, grittiness and irritation. Systane eye drops can be used multiple times during the day, and are available over the counter in several different formulations.
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If you have a disorder that causes your blood to develop clots, you may need to take low-dose baby aspirin during pregnancy. Often prescribed in conjunction with heparin, another drug that prevents clotting, baby aspirin reduces the ability of platelets to stick together.
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The hormone progesterone plays an integral role in maintaining the uterine lining so an embryo can implant and grow. The corpus luteum, the leftover remnant of the follicle that produced an egg that month, produces progesterone starting immediately after ovulation.
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Progesterone supplements are given to pregnant women who have a history of low progesterone levels in pregnancy or a history of recurrent miscarriage. Progesterone is a hormone that helps maintains a pregnancy; normal levels are over 12 ng/ml in early pregnancy, with levels over 50 ng/ml by the end of the pregnancy.
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Most people pass gas between 14 and 23 times a day, the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disorders states. While passing gas is embarrassing and often slightly odorous, truly foul-smelling gas is more uncommon.
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Gynecologists (GYNs) perform many tests to diagnose problems within the female reproductive system; some are done yearly, others are done only if needed. Many diseases can be diagnosed by tests done in the gynecologist's office; most tests involve removing a small amount of tissue and sending it to the lab for testing.
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Pulmonary nodules are round spots less than 3 cm in diameter, or a little over 1 inch. Seen in the lungs on chest X-rays or CT scans, pulmonary nodules appear on around one in 500 X-rays, the University of Rochester reports.
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Green tea may help your liver -- or it may not, depending on how you consume it and in what quantities. While drinking a moderate amount of green tea may reduce the risk of liver cancer and other liver disorders, taking large amounts of green tea supplements could have toxic effects on your liver.
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Colon cancer is the third most common cancer in the United States and the second most common cause of cancer death, affecting more than 100,000 people each year, according to 2010 information provided by the American Cancer Society.
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Many conditions cause light flashes in the eye, known medically as photopsia. Seeing phantom light flashes is sometimes harmless, but this symptom might signal a serious disorder requiring urgent medical treatment.
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Because doctors measure pregnancy from the start of your last menstrual cycle, when you're four weeks pregnant, you may just have missed your first menstrual period. At this point, implantation of the embryo just occurred around one week ago, but already your baby is making his presence felt through hormonal changes.
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