Wednesday, December 26, 2007
It is well known by all of us that babies do spit up. For that, in the last years pediatricians have prescribed acid-suppressing drugs such as Prilosec and Zantac for babies with acid reflux. The most disappointing news is that no one can prove that these drugs are efficient.
Many studies were done in order to prove the efficiency of the mentioned drugs. A doctor called Ajay Kaul, which is a pediatric gastroenterologist in Cincinnati, tested 30 babies that were under 1 year old. 10 out of the 30 infants tested were dosed with a proton-pump inhibitor such as Prilosec, other 10 were treated with a H2 blocker like Zantac and the rest of the babies were untreated. Using a small wireless sensor that was introduced into the esophagus through the nose our specialist found out that the drugs did not reduce significantly the number of the spit-up incidents. His conclusion was that for the doses that he prescribed there was no noticeable difference between the treated and the untreated babies.
His research proved what many pediatric gastroenterologists have suspected.
Other specialists agreed with the fact that a very small percentage of babies with acid reflux will later develop problems such as respiratory ailments including asthma. More than that, specialists still argue about whether the acid reflux is the cause for later respiratory ailments or not.
It is also good to know the specialists opinion that says that acid reflux is normal for the vast majority of children and it does not require medication.
A common advice for parents is not to treat their children with medications. They should also know that babies reflux and they are going to outgrow it. A doctor from the SUNNY medical school in Buffalo called Robert Baker observed that nowadays parents often treat their children with medication. He says that parents should know that more that 50 percent of the children that have not passed the age of three months do spit at least once a day and 5 percent of the children between 10 and 12 months do the same thing. The question that rises know is whether the treatment will make children less irritable or the action will be seen only in parents’ eyes.
After the research that proved no effect of the medication in young babies with acid reflux, the same doctor began another study. This time he chooses a number of 100 subjects but the results were similar.
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About prescribing antibiotics for acute bronchitis
Bronchitis is the inflammation of the bronchial tubes, or bronchi located in the chest of the human body, and it is known that this illness holds a significant economic impact.
It affects every year millions of persons, especially during the winter season.
There were made studies, and at the final point of them, scientists reached at the conclusion that patients with acute bronchitis get a minimal help if they follow antibiotic therapy. We must mention that acute bronchitis is the recent onset of a productive cough in a patient without chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, sinusitis or pneumonia. In the studies that were made, there were included male and female adults, and some children eight years of age and older. Among these persons some were smokers and some were non smokers.
Because of the use of antibiotics, there appeared a mild benefit: antibiotics decreased sputum production by one-half day.
A study similarly found small benefits, like decreasing daytime cough at a follow-up visit, 0.6 fewer days of sputum production, 0.7 fewer days of impairment of activities, and also small benefits in what concerns degree of chest congestion, taking cold or cough medicines, and abnormal lung examination results.
There was discovered an interesting fact, and this is that no statistical difference in days of cough, days of daytime cough, days of nighttime cough, productive cough at a follow-up visit, days of fever, purulent sputum at follow-up, sore throat or lower respiratory infections was observed in the next six months. Also, it was seen a bizarre thing- there was a small decrease in both upper and the combination of upper and lower respiratory tract infections in the next six months.
In the antibiotic- treated group appeared some medications side effects. These adverse effects were mainly gastrointestinal - and here we can mention nausea and vomiting- but also there appeared headache, rash and vaginitis. As a result of the study, we can mention that the beneficial effect of antibiotics was small, and in the same time the side effects were also small.
A lot of people develop bronchitis, and there appears the question if doctors should treat patients who have symptoms of acute bronchitis with antibiotics. Studies revealed that if the patients with acute bronchitis follow an antibiotic treatment there can appear some slight benefits, but we must mention there is not a compelling reason to treat these patients with antibiotics.
More informations about bronchitis treatment or bronchitis can be found by visiting http://www.bronchitis-guide.com/
About peptic ulcer symptoms and prevention
The major cause of peptic ulcer has been considered to be the excess of acid. So the treatment consisted in neutralizing and inhibiting the secretion of stomach acid. Nowdays discoveries have proved that the responsible agent in producing ulcer is the bacteria Helicobacter pyloridus. Another factor that help develop ulcer is aspirin and the anti-inflammatory medications known as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. Smoking is said to delay the effects of the treatment and to help advancing the peptic ulcer already formed and provoking complications such as: ulcer bleeding, stomach obstruction and perforation.
Peptic ulcer is a common disease affecting millions of people every year, appears on the duoden lining and at the area of the stomach, the duoden lining is eroded by the stomach acid and develops stomach and duodenal ulcers also known as peptic ulcer. H. pylori is found in most patients with gastric and duodenal ulcers, but if one has the infections with H. Pylori it isn’t necessarily to develop peptic ulcer.
We dispose now of various improved options of treatment for peptic ulcer and its complications. If we eliminate the H. pylori bacteria with proper antibiotics then the peptic ulcer is almost cured, although the mechanisms of producing the peptic ulcers by H. pylori bacteria are not completely understood yet. Aspirin, ibuprofen (Motrin), naproxen (Naprosyn), and etodolac (Lodine) are drugs anti inflammatory, their interference with prostaglandines that protect the lining of the stomach from the acid’s action, leads to ulcers. Popular beliefs include alcohol, coffee, colas, spicy foods, and caffeine and stress on the list with risky factors in developing ulcers.
Ulcers symptoms:
In many patients there may appear no symptoms at all, while some report pain as a burning indigestion, abdominal discomfort, but those symptoms are relieved by foods and antiacids. Ulcers often come and go spontaneously without the individual ever knowing, unless a serious complication (like bleeding or perforation) occurs and when that happens patients have a severe anemia and are quite weak so the situation becomes suddenly severe.
Ulcer diagnostic
Specific tests such as: barium meal X-ray or upper gastrointestinal endoscopy when you have to swallow a fiber optic tube, in this case the lining of the stomach may be seen and the biopsies may be taken so one may observe the presence of Helicobacter pylori and blood tests may be helpfull, biopsies are often performed on gastric ulcers to exclude cancer, are required. Barium is administered orally and involves no risk or discomfort but it is not very accurate. Upper endoscopy has the advantage of having the capability of removing small tissue samples (biopsies) but is quite risk and disliked by patients but their accuracy is higher.
More information about ulcer Symptoms or about Peptic ulcer can be found on this website http://www.ulcer-center.com/
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