Encounters: Urinary Tract Infection

      
     After finishing the lymphatic system chapter and turning in our disease projects this week, I felt motivated to write about a situation that happened to my friend. Earlier this week, she was experiencing back pain and had a burning sensation during urination. She was soon diagnosed with a urinary tract infection. Since she is my friend, I was worried about her and felt compelled to research the disease itself, the causes, and the symptoms. 
     In my research I discovered that UTI's are basically bacteria that has infected the urinary system. What entirely does the urinary system comprise? It consists of the kidney's, ureters, bladder, urethra, and sphincter muscles. Since women have short urethra's they are more susceptible to getting a UTI than men. Causes vary greatly and range from having sexual intercourse to pieces of feces coming into contact with the urethra. It can happen whenever bacteria gains access to the urethra in any way or form. 
Symptoms may include the following:

• cloudy urine
• painful/ burning sensation when urinating
• frequent need to urinate
• back pain
• abdominal pain
• nausea

     Fortunately, there are antibiotics available that will help with the discomfort. However, after taking the antibiotics she did mention that she felt extremely nauseous, dizziness, and wanted to vomit. She is now well and not feeling any discomfort. 

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/189953.php
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/urinary-tract-infection/DS00286/DSECTION=symptoms
http://www.plannedparenthood.org/health-topics/womens-health/utis-4283.htm

Human Immunodeficiency Virus

     HIV is a retrovirus and it attacks the immune system by invading T helper cells. It contains an enzyme called reverse transcriptase that aids it in making DNA with the RNA that it has. After several years, approximately 11 years, clinical symptoms of AIDS will start to appear. This is because HIV is also a lentivirus, which basically means that it is a slow occurring virus. The HIV molecule has gp 120 proteins surrounding the molecule and bind to CD4 proteins on the T helper cell. This is rather strange because it seems as if the CD4 protein acts as a receptor for the HIV molecule. Once the HIV molecule is inside the T helper cell, it injects all of its infected material. The T helper cell ends up making copies of the HIV molecule and the immune system responds by producing cytotoxic CD8 T cells. This ultimately results in a war for the immune system because it fights itself between the virus infected CD4 T cells and the cytotoxic CD8 cells. There are various ways that HIV can be transmitted from one person to another.
For example:

•  anal sex
•  oral sex
•  vaginal sex
•  Exchange of blood 
•  Breast feeding 

     The reason these are all ways in which HIV can be transmitted is because HIV is found in semen, vaginal fluids, blood, and breast milk. Therefore, it can also be transmitted in other uncommon situations. For example, there have been cases where healthcare workers had been dealing with blood that was HIV positive and acquired the disease. Healthcare workers must be take proper precautions because it is critical for their life and the patient's.

Signs and Symptoms
In early stages of HIV signs and symptoms may include flu- like symptoms such as

• sore throat
• fever
• chills
• muscle ache
• fatigue

In more advanced stages of HIV, AIDS is usually diagnosed and includes:

• White spots on the tongue or mouth
• blurred vision
• shortness of breath
• diarrhea
• swollen glands

Pawlina, Wojciech. "Connective Tissue." Histology A Text and Atlas By Michael H. Ross. 6th ed. N..: n.p., n.d 455 Print.               The two main contributors listed for the 6th edition of this textbook, Wojciech Pawlina and Michael H. Ross.
"What Is AIDS? What Is HIV?" Medical News Today. MediLexicon International, 13 May 2012. Web. 27 Oct. 2013.

My Dictionary

Nervous tissue is definitely one intriguing subject as it is controls functions that begin with the external environment and get interpreted by the brain. Although, it is an interesting subject, there are some terms that get a little confusing as they are similar but location can differentiate them. For example:

Oligodendrocytes are cells of the central nervous system that work to support axons and create a myelin sheath to insulate the axon. The myelin sheath wraps around multiple axons and insulates them to guarantee the quick conduction of nerve impulses.
Schwann Cells have the same function, however, they are located in peripheral nervous system and only myelinate one cell.

There are three distinct characteristics of connective tissue in the peripheral nervous system:

Endoneurium which is an individual nerve fiber and the connective tissue surrounding it.

Perineurium is a nerve fascicle and the the connective tissue surrounding it.

Epineurium which is the connective tissue that wraps around a nerve and also fills the spaces that lie between the nerve fascicles. 

http://confessionsofaleedsstudent.blogspot.com/2012/06/neuroanatomy.html

http://houseofmind.tumblr.com/post/729689108/ever-wonder-what-comprises-a-nerve-nerves-have

http://classroom.sdmesa.edu/eschmid/Chapter10-Zoo145.htm

Encounters: Runners and Muscle Tissue

   While studying in the library a few days ago, I decided to reward myself with short study break and took a magazine from the bookshelf that was behind me. As I was skimming through it, I found an interesting article called Whatever Works. It was about a man who seems to enjoy running because he was devastated when he found out he might not be able to run ever again. Unfortunately, he injured his Achilles tendon while doing a six mile run one day. He looked up all sorts of treatments that he could do so that he could be up and running soon. It's ironic how he mentioned that websites such as WebMD and mayoclinic.com were too scientific for him to understand. Instead, he searched for blog sites. 
     This article helped me appreciate the wonderful function of muscle tissue. Skeletal, smooth, and cardiac muscle tissue all work in a synchronized manner. The fibers of skeletal muscle contract causing muscle to shorten. The contraction cycle is a fast and continuous cycle that involves different structures including: actin, myosin, troponin, tropomyosin, and myosin. It is initiated when a nerve impulse arrives at a neuromuscluar junction, then acetylcholine is released and causes depolarization of the cell. Calcium channels open and allow calcium to flow into the cell, bind to troponin, and permit tropomyosin to shift so that myosin can bind to actin and create a cross- bridge. As nerve impulses continue to depolarize the cell, contraction will continue. 

http://www.nutricisedr.com/publications/nutritional-misfits-10-bad-habits-of-runners/
http://people.eku.edu/ritchisong/301notes3.htm