An Overview Of Liver Cirrhosis

An Overview Of Liver Cirrhosis The liver is a dark reddish brown organ weighing about 3 pounds located in the upper right hand portion of the abdominal cavity. It is the largest compact organ in human body. The word cirrhosis stem from a Greek word meaning yellowish, tawny, that is the orange à ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ã¢â‚¬ yellow color of the diseased lever. Verrill et al, 2008 describe the term cirrhosis as a broad church that include at one end biopsies with extensive fibrosis with normal numbers of hepatocytes, and at the other end, liver samples in which only isolated nodules of hepatocytes remain. Shibli et al, 2006 summarizes cirrhosis as an advanced stage of liver diseases due to an array of insults to hepatic parenchyma including infections, autoimmune processes, genetic disorders and toxins. Widespread fibrosis with nodule formation and interruption of normal hepatic blood flow is distinctive in liver cirrhosis. A healthy lever is important because it is involved in numerous complex metabolic functions essent ial to life. It takes out nutrients from the blood and processes them for later use. The liver manufactures bile used by the digestive system in assisting in the absorption of fat and certain vitamins. The liver is also critical in the removal of medications and toxic wastes from the blood stream excreting them into the bile. These can be harmful to the body. The liver serves as the main factory for blood proteins especially clotting proteins necessary for blood to clot. Clotting tests can be done to measure liver function. Lever cirrhosis is scarring of the liver due to inflammation and repair of injured and killed cells. According to the American College of Gastroenterology (www.acg.gi.org) cirrhosis is among the top ten leading causes of illness and death in the United States in adults of ages between 25 and 64. They further argued that the number of people suffering from cirrhosis will continue to escalate. The most common causes of cirrhosis in the United States are excess alco hol consumption and chronic infection with hepatitis B and hepatitis C (Larson, 2010). Other causes include fatty liver disease; drug induced injury, autoimmune diseases, bile duct disorders and inherited disorders. In some patients lever cirrhosis may be due to a combination of the causes, for example excess alcohol and viral hepatitis. There is also cryptogenic cirrhosis which is due to unidentified causes. The consequence scar tissue bands disrupt the normal structure of the liver. This affects liver blood filtering to the heart from the digestive system. The scar tissue causes increased resistance to blood flow through the liver resulting in a condition called portal hypertension. Portal hypertension is a process whereby high pressures develop in the veins that drain into the liver. Consequently the blood will return to the heart through alternate low pressure veins that bypass the liver. The liver is thus unable to either add or remove substances from the bypassing blood. Sympt oms of Cirrhosis The signs and symptoms of liver cirrhosis may be invisible or non specific at early stages. The non specific symptoms include fatigue and itching. Fatigue is a common symptom of cirrhosis. It is important to screen out other causes of fatigue that may have nothing to do with liver cirrhosis. Itching is also a common symptom of cirrhosis. Itching in patients with liver cirrhosis is due to bile duct disorders. Itching due to liver cirrhosis can result in itching over large parts of the body and can be severe. As liver function deteriorates, a variety of liver related symptoms may develop. A condition called Jaundice may manifest through yellowing of the skin and whites of the eyes. Darkening of the urine and pale stool may occur prior to yellowing of the skin and whites of the eyes. The yellowing is a result of accumulation of bilirubin in the blood stream. Bilirubin is a yellow orange colored compound resulting from breakdown of hemoglobin from red blood cells. Liver cirrhosis patients may also develop varices inside the digestive system resulting in digestive tract bleeding. Varices are abnormally enlarged veins. They do not cause symptoms unless they rapture and bleed. Vomiting blood or passage of maroon or black tarry stools may be an indication of bleeding varices. Esophageal varices bleeding are a medical emergency that requires emergency treatment. Other symptoms and signs of liver cirrhosis include development of mental slowing, confusion, excess drowsiness, and slurring of speech, a condition known as hepatic encephalopathy.

MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS - Essay Example The tools of communication include most importantly the direct marketing and public relations. These tools help the businesses in promoting and advertising themselves in a sophisticated manner depending upon their nature of products and services. Both of them are effective in enabling the businesses communicate with its customers. The concept of public relations pertains to the activity of carrying the flow of information between the public and the organization. This tactic gives the organization an opening to the audiences by utilizing the news items that do not need direct payments. The strategies of direct marketing primarily promote the products and increase their awareness amongst customers. While, the public relations activities involve making the image of the company and brand in the entire public. Direct marketing only promotes and advertises the individual products to the buyers. While, public relations is more important in the senses that it promotes the organization and product lines by building its image at the social level. The direct marketing tactics give an idea of the price at which the product can be sold by the marketers. While, the public relations person aims upon gauging the reactions and perceptions of public for the purpose of marketing the product. The tools of communication mix include advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, public relations and direct marketing. The retailers can use all this tools in an effective manner to promote their products and services. Advertising can be used by the retailers to create awareness about the store or the product for the purpose of creating a good image in the minds of customers. It convinces them by creating a desire in them to purchase the product and assists the store’s repositioning in their minds. The retailers can also utilize personal selling as one of the effective ways to deliver their products and services. A personal representative

Altered Hematology & Cardiovascular System Case Study

Altered Hematology & Cardiovascular System - Case Study Example Hypoxia of central nervous system causes faintness and headaches while myocardial hypoxia results in palpitations and increased heart rates (Kumar et al 2005). She has a history of chronic blood loss which is due to menorrhagia. Other causes of chronic blood loss include gastrointestinal bleeding, malignant diseases and urinary bleeding. Chronic blood loss anemia results from blood loss in small amounts, which occurs over a long period of time and it results in iron deficiency anemia because the iron stores of the body are depleted. Consequently, the oxygen-carrying capacity of the red blood cells is reduced and the patient presents with signs and symptoms of anemia. The clinical features of the chronic blood loss anemia are not severe until the hemoglobin levels of the blood are extremely low (Emmanuel et al 2001). The shortness of breath of the patient is explained by the decreased oxygen content of the blood cell which is exacerbated due to exertion (Kumar et al 2005). As mentione d in the case she presented with severity of symptoms while playing golf at a high course which induced exertion. Chronic blood loss is a very important and common cause of iron deficiency anemia which is caused when all iron stores are depleted due to external hemorrhage over a long period of time. Iron deficiency anemia (IDA) presents with a peripheral blood film of microcytic and hypochromic red blood cells. The serum reserves of ferritin and hemosiderin are utilized in the initial stages of blood loss, however, when these stores have also been consumed, the symptoms of anemia manifest. Serum iron, ferritin and transferring levels are also reduced (Kumar et al 2005). Another... The paper tells that proper amount of rest and limitation of the daily activities to a certain extent will help the patient to control the signs and symptoms of CHF. The restriction of daily physical exertion will put less amount of workload on the heart and hence, improve the condition of the patient. The second step in managing the case is a proper diet plan. The patient should be advised to reduce the sodium content in his food items as this will reduce water retention in his body lowering the cardiac workload. The sodium content should be limited to 1.5 to 2g per day. Alcohol consumption should also be lowered down to only one drink per day which plays an important role in lowering the systolic blood pressure by 2-4 points. Chronic alcoholism is a very important cause of cardiomyopathy and if the patient shows a positive history of alcoholism he should be advised to consume a low to moderate amount of alcohol. Weight control and a dietary calorie limitation are recommended in the obese patients. They are advised to a body mass index of 18.5 to 24.9 and eat a healthy balanced diet comprising of green vegetables, fruits, and low-fat food items. Exercise including aerobic and strength training in CHF patients in an adequate amount also helps in improving the patient’s condition. The patient should be advised to exercise for 30 minutes five to six times a week and increase his physical activity. However, if he complains of angina pain, shows symptoms of respiratory distress, CNS symptoms or increased fatigue exercise should be stopped.