Continuing education online courses in Disease Prevention.

P16. Preventative Care: Disease Prevention, 3 CE-hours, $21

Professor Rudolf Klimes, PhD, welcomes you to this online course. Keep going.

START the course here. TAKE the exam at the end.

 

P16.  Disease Prevention

Do the following for self-study. Do not submit the answers.

Disease Risks

High-Risk Behaviors

Certain behaviors—often begun while young—put people at high risk for premature death, disability, or chronic diseases. The following are the most common such behaviors:

• Smoking and other forms of tobacco use.
• Eating high-fat and low-fiber foods.
• Not engaging in enough physical activity.
• Abusing alcohol or other drugs.
• Not availing of proven medical methods for preventing disease or diagnosing disease early (e.g., flu shots, Pap smears, mammograms, colonoscopies).
• Engaging in violent behavior or behavior that may cause unintentional injuries (e.g., driving while intoxicated).

Assess your risks

Online Clinical Calculators: https://www.google.com/search?q=online+clinical+calculators

Coronary Heart Disease Risk Calculators: https://www.google.com/search?q=heart+disease+risk+calculator

1. What are infectious diseases and how are they prevented?

Causes

Infectious diseases are caused mainly by viruses (that live in other cells), bacteria, and fungi. They are transmitted through insects, persons, sex, food, water, or airborne means. Many diseases can be prevented by hand-washing with plenty of soup and hot water, the avoidance of close contact with obvious carriers and vaccinations. Explore Salmonella.

The microbes that cause infections are viruses, bacteria, fungi and parasitic worms. Study them at http://www.cellsalive.com.  They cause infectious diseases, sexually transmitted diseases and HIV/AIDS. Explore the ways you can protect yourself from them.  

Prevention: Handwashing

The recommended handwashing technique depends on the purpose of the handwashing. The ideal duration of handwashing is not known, but washing times of 15 seconds or less have been reported as effective in removing most transient contaminants from the skin. Therefore, for most activities, a vigorous, brief (at least 10 seconds) rubbing together of all surfaces of lathered hands followed by rinsing under a stream of water is recommended. If hands are visibly soiled, more time may be required for handwashing.

The absolute indications for handwashing with plain soaps and detergents versus handwashing with antimicrobial-containing products are not known because of the lack of well-controlled studies comparing infection rates when such products are used. For most routine activities, handwashing with plain soap appears to be sufficient, since soap will allow most transient microorganisms to be washed off.

www.cdc.gov

Keep your nails short and wash well under and around them. Remove rings and watches so you can wash well in those places. If there is danger of a problem, turn off the faucets with a paper towel. Wash before eating, drinking, handling food, and after using the bathroom, blowing your nose, sneezing, and shaking many hands etc. When washing your hands, keep your fingers pointed down so the water runs off your fingertips. Be generous with the soup and wash between your finger, the nail edges, the back of your hand, and your wrist. Then dry your hands well.

Go Deeper

Injuries and Violence Prevention
Adolescent and School Health

Assess in some detail your risk for 5 specific infectious diseases and describe your planned preventive measures for each.

Classification of Diseases and Injuries ICM-9 CM: 1. Infectious and Parasitic Diseases 2. Neoplasm 3. Endocrine, Nutritional, and Metabolic Diseases and Immunity Disorders 4. Diseases of the Blood and Blood-Forming Organs 5. Mental Disorders 6. Diseases of the Nervous System and Sense Organs 7. Diseases of the Circulatory System 8. Diseases of the Respiratory System 9. Diseases of the Digestive System 10. Diseases of the Genitourinary System 11. Complications of Pregnancy, Childbirth, and the Puerperium 12. Diseases of the Skin and Subcutaneous Tissue 13. Diseases of the Musculoskeletal System and Connective Tissue 14. Congenital Anomalies 15. Certain Conditions Originating in the Perinatal Period 16. Symptoms, Signs, and Ill-Defined Conditions 17. Injury and Poisoning

2. What is heart disease and how is it prevented?

Circulatory System Diseases.  Lower your risk of heart disease (and also cancer and diabetes) by exercising, eating low-fat, low-cholesterol foods, controlling your weight, regular screening tests, and not smoking. News – Cardiovascular disorders  http://americanheart.org

Explore the heart at http://medtropolis.com/your-health/?/98385/Heart  Understand some terms like cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), electrocardiogram (EKG), myocardial infarction (MI) and transient ischemic attacks (TIA).

Signs of a Heart Attack

The signs of a heart attack are: paleness, anxiety-fear-denial, sweating, shortness of breath, indigestion, tightness or chest pain, overall weakness and nausea. If you have one or more of these 8 signs, don’t wait. Call for help. More on this at www.hsf.ca .

Heart Disease Risk Factors

Risk factors are conditions or behaviors that increase your likelihood of developing a disease. When you have more than one for heart disease, your risk greatly multiplies. So if you have high blood pressure, you need to take action. Fortunately, most of the heart disease risk factors are largely within your control.

Risk factors under your control are:

• High blood pressure
• High blood cholesterol
• Cigarette smoking
• Diabetes
• Overweight
• Physical inactivity

Risk factors beyond your control are:

• Age (45 or older for men; 55 or older for women)
• Family history of early heart disease (having a mother or sister who has been diagnosed with heart disease before age 65, or a father or brother diagnosed before age 55)

Blood Pressure:

Category	Systolicb (in mm Hg)c		Diastolicb (in mm Hg)c	Result
Optimal	less than 120	and	less than 80	Good for you!
Normal	less than 130	and	less than 85	Keep an eye on it.
High-Normal	130-139	or	85-89	Your blood pressure could be a problem. Make needed changes in what you eat and drink, get physical activity, and lose extra weight. If you also have diabetes, see the doctor.
Hypertension Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3	140-159 160-179 180 or higher	or or or	90-99 100-109 110 or higher	You have high blood pressure. Ask your doctor or nurse how to control it.

www.nih.gov

Heart Disease Prevention: Reducing Sodium Intake

Reducing Sodium Leads to Substantial Drop in Blood Pressure, Finds NHLBI Study

Sodium reduction combined with either a typical U.S. diet or the “DASH” diet, which is rich in vegetables, fruit, and low-fat dairy products and low in total and saturated fat, substantially lowered blood pressure in persons with high blood pressure and persons with higher than optimal blood pressure, according to the results of a study supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health.

The DASH-Sodium study found that the lowest blood pressure levels were in those eating sodium levels much lower than the currently recommended maximum of 2,400 milligrams a day while also eating the DASH (Dietary Approaches to StopHypertension) diet. In both the DASH diet and a typical American diet, the lower the sodium, the lower the blood pressure. The combination of following the DASH diet at the lower sodium level reduced blood pressure more than either the DASH diet or lower sodium intake alone.

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE Wednesday, January 3, 2001 NHLBI Communications Office (301) 496-4236

Go Deeper

Assess in some detail your risk for heart disease and describe your planned preventive measures.

3. Cancer & Cancer Prevention

Cancer

Cancer is a group of more than 100 different diseases. Cancer occurs when cells become abnormal and keep dividing and forming more cells without control or order.

All organs of the body are made up of cells. Normally, cells divide to produce more cells only when the body needs them. If cells divide when new ones are not needed, they form a mass of excess tissue, called a tumor. Tumors can be benign (not cancer) or malignant (cancer).

The cells in malignant tumors can invade and damage nearby tissues and organs. Cancer cells can also break away from a malignant tumor and travel through the bloodstream or the lymphatic system to form new tumors in other parts of the body. The spread of cancer is called metastasis.

What are the signs and symptoms of cancer? Cancer often causes symptoms that you can watch for. The word CAUTION can remind you of the most common warning signs of cancer:

Change in bowel or bladder habits,
A sore that does not heal,
Unusual bleeding or discharge,
Thickening or lump in the breast or any other part of the body,
Indigestion or difficulty swallowing,
Obvious change in a wart or mole,
Nagging cough or hoarseness.

These symptoms are not always warning signs of cancer. They can also be caused by less serious conditions. It is important to see a doctor if you have any of these symptoms. Only a doctor can make a diagnosis. Don’t wait to feel pain: Early cancer usually does not cause pain.

A biopsy is the only sure way to know whether a medical problem is cancer. In a biopsy, the doctor removes a sample of tissue. The tissue is examined under a microscope to check for cancer cells.

How is cancer treated? Cancer is treated with surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, hormone therapy, or biological therapy. The doctor may use one method or a combination of methods. The choice of treatment depends on the type and location of the cancer, whether the disease has spread, the patient’s age and general health, and other factors.

Many cancer patients take part in clinical trials (research studies) testing new treatment methods. Such studies are designed to improve cancer treatment.

Can cancer be prevented? Many cases of cancer can be prevented by not using tobacco products, avoiding the harmful rays of the sun, and choosing foods with less fat and more fiber. In addition, regular checkups and self-exams can reveal cancer at an early stage, when treatment is likely to be effective.

Source: National Cancer Institute.

See also:
http://cancer.org
http://www.oncolink.upenn.edu

4. Diabetes & Diabetes Prevention

Diabetes is a disorder of metabolism–the way our bodies use digested food for growth and energy. Most of the food we eat is broken down into glucose, the form of sugar in the blood. Glucose is the main source of fuel for the body.

After digestion, glucose passes into the bloodstream, where it is used by cells for growth and energy. For glucose to get into cells, insulin must be present. Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas, a large gland behind the stomach.

When we eat, the pancreas is supposed to automatically produce the right amount of insulin to move glucose from blood into our cells. In people with diabetes, however, the pancreas either produces little or no insulin, or the cells do not respond appropriately to the insulin that is produced. Glucose builds up in the blood, overflows into the urine, and passes out of the body. Thus, the body loses its main source of fuel even though the blood contains large amounts of glucose.

The most common form of diabetes is type 2 diabetes. About 90 to 95 percent of people with diabetes have type 2. This form of diabetes usually develops in adults age 40 and older and is most common in adults over age 55. About 80 percent of people with type 2 diabetes are overweight. Type 2 diabetes is often part of a metabolic syndrome that includes obesity, elevated blood pressure, and high levels of blood lipids. Unfortunately, as more children become overweight, type 2 diabetes is becoming more common in young people.

When type 2 diabetes is diagnosed, the pancreas is usually producing enough insulin, but, for unknown reasons, the body cannot use the insulin effectively, a condition called insulin resistance. After several years, insulin production decreases. The result is the same as for type 1 diabetes–glucose builds up in the blood and the body cannot make efficient use of its main source of fuel.

The symptoms of type 2 diabetes develop gradually. They are not as sudden in onset as in type 1 diabetes. Some people have no symptoms. Symptoms may include fatigue or nausea, frequent urination, unusual thirst, weight loss, blurred vision, frequent infections, and slow healing of wounds or sores.

Healthy eating, physical activity, and blood glucose testing are the basic management tools for type 2 diabetes. In addition, many people with type 2 diabetes require oral medication and insulin to control their blood glucose levels.

www.nih.gov

Go Deeper

Assess in some detail your  risk for 4 types of cancer and for diabetes and describe your planned preventive measures for each.

Explore  http://www.niddk.nih.gov  http://www.diabetes.org  http://www.diabetes.com  http://www.diabetesnet.com http://www.mdcc.com

Test