Melanoma

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Melanoma
 Skin cancer is the most common of all cancers.  Melanoma, the most serious form, accounts for 4 percent of skin cancer cases but causes 79 percent of skin-cancer deaths.

 
 Melanoma originates from melanocytes, pigment cells present normally in the skin. The tumor can affect adults of all ages, even young individuals (starting in the mid-teens). The incidence has increased dramatically -a 300 percent increase in the past 40 years or so.  
The individuals most susceptible to development of melanoma are those with fair complexions, red or blond hair, blue eyes, and freckles and who tan poorly and sunburn easily. Increased risk include a family history of Melanoma. Dark-skinned populations (such as those of India and Puerto Rico), blacks, and East Asians have rates 10 to 20 times lower than lighter-skinned whites.Typically they start as a mole. Sometimes a mole of many years changes in size, shape, color or elevation, or starts to bleed.  
                 How to suspect a Mole:

  • You should be able to draw a line through the middle of a mole or lesion and have it look the same on both halves.
  • You should have a nice, clean regular border around your mole.
  • Change in color is a major indicator of a potential problem.
  • More than about six millimeters in diameter can be suspicious.
  Early detection of melanoma may be facilitated by applying the “ABCD rules”:A– asymmetry, benign lesions are usually symmetricB– border irregularity, most nevi have clear-cut borders

C– color variegation, benign lesions usually have uniform light or dark pigment

D – diameter > 6 mm (the size of a pencil eraser).
   
Acral lentiginous melanoma is more common in blacks, Asians, and Hispanics and occurs as an enlarging hyperpigmented macule or plaque on the palms and soles.

Nodular melanoma most commonly manifests itself as a rapidly growing, often ulcerated or crusted black nodule.

Irradiation of food

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Irradiation of food
Irradiation of food has been approved in 37 countries for more than 40 products. The radiation of interest in food preservation is ionizing radiation, also known as irradiation. These shorter wavelengths are capable of damaging microorganisms such as those that contaminate food or cause food spoilage and deterioration. Irradiation is known as a cold process. It does not significantly increase the temperature or change the physical or sensory characteristics of most foods.Food is irradiated to provide the same benefits as when it is processed by heat, refrigeration, freezing or treated with chemicals to destroy insects, fungi or bacteria that cause food to spoil or cause human disease and to make it possible to keep food longer and in better condition in warehouses and homes.Because irradiation destroys disease causing bacteria and reduces the incidence of food borne illness, hospitals sometimes use irradiation to sterilize food for immuno-compromised patients.
Irradiated foods are wholesome and nutritious. All known methods of food processing and even storing food at room temperature for a few hours after harvesting can lower the content of some nutrients, such as vitamins. At low doses of radiation, nutrient losses are either not measurable or are not significant. At the higher doses used to extend shelf-life or control harmful bacteria, nutritional losses are less than or about the same as cooking and freezing.
As in the heat pasteurization of milk, the irradiation process greatly reduces but does not eliminate all bacteria. Irradiated poultry, for example, still requires refrigeration, but would be safe longer than untreated poultry. Strawberries that have been irradiated will last two to three weeks in the refrigerator compared to only a few days for untreated berries.Irradiation does not make food radioactive.Eating irradiated food does not present long-term health risks.

In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved irradiation for eliminating insects from wheat, potatoes, flour, spices, tea, fruits, and vegetables. Irradiation also can be used to control sprouting and ripening. Approval was given in 1985 to use irradiation on pork to control trichinosis. Using irradiation to control Salmonella and other harmful bacteria in chicken, turkey, and other fresh and frozen uncooked poultry was approved in May 1990.
Potential food irradiation uses
Type of food Effect of Irradiation
Meat, poultry Destroys pathogenic fish organisms, such as Salmonella, Clostridium botulinum, and Trichinae
Perishable foods Delays spoilage; retards mold growth; reduces number of microorganisms
Grain, fruit Controls insect vegetables, infestation dehydrated fruit, spices and seasonings
Onions, carrots, potatoes, garlic, ginger Inhibits sprouting
Bananas, mangos,papayas, guavas, other non-citrus fruits Delays ripening avocados, natural juices.
Grain, fruit Reduces rehydration time

Other uses of Irradiation – In addition to cancer treatment, irradiation is used for many purposes, including: performing security checks on hand luggage at airports, making tires more durable, sterilizing manure for gardens, making non-stick cookware coatings, purifying wool, sterilizing medical products like surgical gloves, and destroying bacteria in cosmetics.

Since 1986, all irradiated products must carry the international symbol called a radura, which resembles a stylized flower.

Impetigo

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Impetigo
Impetigo (Pyoderma) is a superficial infection of the skin caused primarily by group A streptococci and occasionally by other streptococci or by Staphylococcus aureus.This condition is seen most often in young children, tends to occur during the warmer months, and is more common in semitropical or tropical climates than in cooler regions. The infection occurs especially often among children living under conditions of poor hygiene. Minor trauma, such as a scratch or an insect bite, may then serve to lodge bacteria into the skin and cause this infection. While the bacteria causing impetigo may have been caught from someone else with impetigo or boils, impetigo usually begins out of the blue without any apparent source of infection. Impetigo is best prevented, therefore, by attention to adequate hygiene.

 
The usual sites of involvement are the face (particularly around the nose and mouth) and the legs, although lesions may occur at other locations.
Individual lesions begin as red papules, which turn quickly to vesicular and then pustular lesions that break down and coalesce to form characteristic honeycomb-like crusts. Lesions generally are not painful, and patients do not appear ill. Fever is not a feature of impetigo.

 
Bullous impetigo is a distinctive form of impetigo characterized by the presence of more extensive, bullous lesions that break down and leave thin paper like crusts instead of the thick amber crusts of impetigo.  
Treatment Consists of cleaning the lesions with soap and water and topical and systemic antiboiotics.

  • Antibiotics usually clear up impetigo in four or five days. It’s important for the antibiotic to be taken faithfully until the prescribed supply is completely used up.
  • An antibiotic ointment, such as Polysporin, should be applied thinly four times daily. Polysporin can be purchased without a prescription.
  • Crusts should be removed before the ointment is applied. Soak a soft, clean cloth in a mixture of one-half cup of white vinegar and a quart of lukewarm water. Press this cloth on the crusts for 10-15 minutes three or four times daily. Then gently wipe off the crusts and apply a little antibiotic ointment. You can stop soaking the impetigo when crusts no longer form. When the skin is healed, stop the antibiotic ointment.

Among the antibiotics useful are dicloxacillin, cephalexin, or topical mupirocin ointment provide the most reliable treatment for impetigo, although penicillin or erythromycin are cheaper alternatives and equally effective.

A possible complication of Impetigo is glomerulonephritis, a type of kidney disease.

 Precautions:Impetigo is contagious when there is crusting or oozing. While it’s contagious, take the following precautions:

  • Patients should avoid close contact with other people.
  • Children should be kept home from school until the lesions crust over.
  • Use separate towels for the patient. The patient’s towels, pillowcases, and sheets should be changed after the first day of treatment. His or her clothing should be changed and laundered daily for the first two days.
  • Usually the contagious period ends within two days after treatment starts.
 
Skin Diseases
Ecthyma

Boa Snake

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Boa Snake Boa is a common name for non poisonous snake of boa and python family. Boa and python family contains some 70 species. Like pythons boa too kill their prey by constricting them to death and then swallowing it whole. They can stretch their jaws wide appart more than the size of their head to swallow a large animal. While a large boa might easily kill an average-size person, it would have difficulty swallowing the body, and is generally not considered a threat to humans.
Tree boas are brightly colored tree boa, live in trees. With their triangular heads, elliptical eye pupils, and long, curved front teeth, they resemble the venomous vipers.
Boas give birth to their young, while pythons lay eggs; pythons are confined mostly to the Old World, whereas boas are found worldwide.

In the jungles of Central and South America boa constrictor is a reddish-gray, with a ladder of broad, dark stripes.

 Constrictor Boa Snake
Rubber boa, found throughout the southwestern U.S. The rubber boa, whose shiny brown skin actually resembles rubber, is a burrowing animal. With its blunt head and tail, it is sometimes called a two-headed snake.

 Constrictor Boa Snake

Snake Bite

Anaconda Snake

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Anaconda Snake                       Eunectes murinus          Family Boidae 
 ANACONDA, common name for a large South American snake of the boa family. The anaconda or water boa is one of the largest and most powerful snakes in the world, and the largest in the western hemisphere. It kills its prey by constriction, or squeezing. The reptile is found in the rivers of the Guianas and Brazil. The female anaconda gives birth to living young.

 Anaconda Snake
 Average length is 20 ft. Average diameter is 12 in. Average weight is 330 lb. (148.5 kg.)

 Anaconda Snake
 The anaconda lives in rain forests and river systems of the Amazon; it prefers swamps and sluggish streams. Its diet is aquatic and amphibious animals, mammals, fish, caiman, birds, ducks, and turtles. The anaconda is an excellent swimmer, but it also climbs on branches to dry off. . It is easily angered. It uses the water to rapidly escape predators and to conceal itself while searching for food.

 Anaconda Snake

Snake Bite