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Syphilis was once referred to as the “Great Imitator”. Because of the variety of ways in which syphilis can manifest itself, individuals who are infected with this sexually transmitted disease often do not realize the full extent of their diagnosis until several weeks or months after infection.

As an individual who may have been exposed to any number of sexually transmitted diseases, it is important to seek medical attention early and as soon as you suspect you may have a health complication. Understanding the various signs and symptoms of sexually transmitted diseases, such as syphilis, is important to your health and the health of your sexual partner.

Syphilis, in its early stages, presents as a chancre sore that is painless. Often, because the sore is asymptomatic, most individuals infected with syphilis are not even aware of the complication.

As the STD progresses, the symptoms may become slightly more evident, although commonly misdiagnosed as, in many cases, the genitalia are not affected. Progression often results in swelling and poor function of the lymph nodes, rash that is intermittent and sporadic through the body and some evidence of fever. Still, even with these symptoms, many patients believe they are simply suffering from a flu type complication and assume self treatment which, in many cases, resolves the symptoms.

Self treatment is not a cure for syphilis. Without proper diagnosis, and several months after infection, lesions begin to develop but, again, there are no symptoms. One with blood work can a physician accurately diagnose your complication as associated with syphilis.

Many years after your syphilis infection, you will begin to notice the most substantial impact this STD will have upon your life. In fact, in some cases, the nervous system and cardiovascular system are involved, often resulting in heart damage and even early death.

Unlike other STDs, syphilis may not always present as a complication around the genitalia. For this reason, it is important to use protection when engaging in sexual activity. If you believe you have been exposed to an STD, such as syphilis, consult a healthcare professional for the appropriate testing and treatment. Often, with the use of penicillin or doxycycline, orally and intramuscularly, your syphilis complications can be resolved. For many patients, it is not the fear of diagnosis or treatment that delays medical attention but, instead, the simple ignorance of infection at all.

Like HIV or AIDs, syphilis is a sexually transmitted disease that can be confused with other health complications or completely misdiagnosed altogether. When engaging in unprotected sexually activity, be certain to see out the advice of a medical provider and obtain the necessary testing into any potential STD, especially syphilis, as the complications may be long term and life threatening when the STD is untreated.

“Reasearch just published in the journal “Behavioral Neuroscience” provides evidence that adequate omega-3 fatty acids are needed for healthy nervous systems. That could explain why low levels of omega-3s are associated with the information processing difficulties experienced by people with bipolar, obsessive-compulsive, and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorders; schizophrenia; Huntington's disease and other illnesses affecting the nervous system. What's more, this research suggests that increasing dietary omega-3s may be a natural way to prevent and treat those conditions.

Scientists at the Laboratory of Membrane Biochemistry and Biophysics at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism studied two forms of omega-3 essential fatty acids found in certain foods including fatty fish and some algae: docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA). The human body can only acquire these key nutrients by metabolizing their precursor, linolenic acid (LNA), or from foods or dietary supplements with DHA and EPA in a readily usable form.

EPA has been shown in numerous previous studies to have anti-inflammatory and cardiovascular protective effects. DHA, although less studied, is also crucial to the body. In fact, it makes up more than 90 percent of the omega-3s in the brain, retina and the nervous system.

For their study, the research team fed four groups of pregnant mice and their offspring four different diets with no or varying types and amounts of omega-3s. Then, after the newborn mice grew into mature animals, the scientists recorded how they responded when exposed to a sudden loud noise. This classic test of nervous-system function normally makes healthy animals flinch. However, if animals with a normal nervous system are exposed first to a softer tone before the loud one, they flinch much less. Scientists believe that's due to an adaptive process known as sensorimotor gating which causes an initial stimulus to prepare the body for future stimuli. The results of the tests showed that only the mice raised on DHA and EPA, but not their precursor of LNA, demonstrated normal, adaptive sensorimotor gating. These healthy animals responded in a significantly calmer way to loud noises if they had first heard softer tones. The mice in all other groups, however, were startled almost as much by the initial soft sound as by the loud noise that followed.

The reason? The scientists concluded that when DHA was deficient the nervous system was in an abnormal state that left the animals almost constantly startled and easily overwhelmed by sensory stimuli. “It only takes a small decrement in brain DHA to produce losses in brain function,” lead researcher Norman Salem Jr., PhD. said in a statement to the media.

The researchers think this important information may be very significant for humans — because weak sensorimotor gating is a hallmark of many nervous-system problems including Huntington's disease, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. And they've suggested that omega-3s could have therapeutic potential for these and other diseases marked by nervous system problems. Moreover, the research underlines the dangers of the typical American diet of processed foods and lots of meat – making it far higher in omega-6 fatty acids than omega-3s. That imbalance reduces the body's ability to incorporate omega-3s and, as a result, “we have the double whammy of low omega-3 intake and high omega-6 intake,” stated Dr. Salem. “It is an uphill battle now to reverse the message that 'fats are bad' and to increase omega-3 fats in our diet.”

For years, prions have been known only as a serious danger to animal and human health. These misfolded brain proteins have been linked to fatal diseases–like mad cow disease in cattle and the deadly variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans. But apart from causing these diseases, scientists puzzled for years about the exact function of a properly folded prion protein.

A new study in Nature Neuroscience may have some answers. After 20 years of research, an international team of neuroscientists reports that, in mammals, the mysterious proteins help to maintain the myelin sheath that protects the body’s nerves [Nature News]. A healthy sheath is necessary for nerve cells to transmit impulses rapidly.

The study, conducted by Adriano Aguzzi and his team at University Hospital of Zurich, Switzerland, observed mice that were bred lacking prion proteins altogether. They found that these mice developed a condition where their peripheral nerves, which connect the limbs to the central nervous system, lost much of their myelin coating [Nature News]. By the age of two months, the mice’s nerves had lost their protective coating and the mice had become more sensitive to pain. Scientists say this shows that prion proteins (in their properly folded form) play some role in keeping nerve cells healthy, and add that the findings could lead to new research on human diseases that involve the nerves. For example, it could offer a new way of looking at multiple sclerosis, an incurable disease caused by demyelination of nerves in the brain and spinal cord [Nature News].

But there have been other hints that prions play a beneficial role in human health. A few years ago, scientists found that prions could be safeguarding our brains by preventing neurons from overworking themselves to death [New Scientist]. Another team discovered evidence that  prion proteins could play a role in protecting our brains against the neural plaques associated with Alzheimer’s, noting that the more prion protein human brain cells made, the less plaque-forming protein they made, and vice-versa [New Scientist].

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80beats: New Guinean Cannibals Evolved Resistance To Mad Cow-Like Disease

Image: Steve Gschmeissner/ SPL

January 25th, 2010 6:47 PM Tags: mad cow disease, prions

by Smriti Rao in Health & Medicine, Mind & Brain | 0 comments | RSS feed | Trackback >

I was surprised during a recent trip back to South Florida how many opportunities were available for “routine health screenings.” Screening tests that identify risk factors or detect undiagnosed conditions enable doctors to intervene early with treatment or recommended lifestyle changes.

On second thought, maybe I shouldn't have been so surprised because South Florida is — after all — one of the leading retirement locations in the United States. Besides, nothing is ever “free” and these “routine health screenings” are really just the hook to get you to buy into whatever the Healthcare provider at the moment is peddling.

No doubt about it, in shopping malls, churches, public schools and hospitals around the country, free or low-cost health screening fairs are becoming a popular means of promoting healthy living and raising awareness of conditions like heart disease, diabetes and colon, breast and lung cancers. For the thousands of people who attend them each year, the events are an inexpensive way to monitor their health.

But — (there's always a “but”) — according to the National Institutes of Health (www.nih.gov) to some health care experts, frequent routine screenings-from the simple tests like those for cholesterol and blood sugar levels done at health fairs and screenings to mammograms and colonoscopies performed in hospitals or doctors' offices-are sometimes unnecessary and even harmful. For example — a false positive on a routine urinalysis, for example, could lead to more tests, including a kidney biopsy.

I'll have to admit: it is tempting. The lure of something free coupled with health information that normally you'd be paying for.

According to the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (www.dphp.osophs.dhhs.gov) –an independent panel of experts set up by Congress to make recommendations for preventive tests and screenings — the task force doesn't favor annual physical exams across the board because it says there's not enough evidence to show a benefit. The group does recommend targeted screenings based on an individual's age, gender, underlying health condition or family history.

Interestingly enough, a study published in the American Journal of PreventiveMedicine (www.sciencedirect.com) in June, found that unnecessary medical tests cost the U.S. health system as much as $184 million a year. The study examined the costs incurred when results from urinalyses, electrocardiograms (EKGs) and chest X-rays mistakenly showed evidence of a health problem.

Do the math: the Journal points out that if — for example — 20 percent of EKGs given to asymptomatic patients in a routine exam are false, the follow-up tests will cost about $683 million. And that doesn't account for the stress a patient feels, the time off from work they have to take and the possible complications that result from the follow-up test.

Still, Americans are attracted to free or low-cost screening events. And in all fairness to the argument presented, routine health screenings can be used for good. An article in the AARP (www.aarp.org) recounts that in early January 2007, nearly 1,500 people in three cities took advantage of screenings for heart disease at a traveling clinic sponsored by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (www.nhlbi.nih.gov) Sixty-five percent were found to be at risk for heart problems.

Meanwhile in Colorado – the AARP article points out further — an estimated 100,000 people typically attend the annual health screening fairs sponsored by 9Health Fair (www.9healthfair.org) , a nonprofit, statewide organization. Of those, some 10,000 residents find they have health concerns and are urged to follow up with their doctors for further diagnosis or treatment.

So despite the misgivings of some critics, most doctors agree that certain screenings make sense for most adults at certain ages.

While vision checks are recommended every year or two for those 65 and older, people with glaucoma in their family history may want to start screening at 45. And hearing — which tends to worsen after age 50 — should be checked every 10 years, but more often by those who find they are turning up the TV or radio so loud that others complain, or are straining to hear normal conversation.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (www.cdc.gov) also recommends that adults up to age 64 receive HIV testing in a health clinic or doctor's office. Though risk of infection is low, older adults are the most likely of all age groups to be infected with the virus and not know it.

Meanwhile back on first — routine screening for most people age 50 and older may be less important than doing things they can control, such as watching their weight, exercising and not smoking.

More sensible advice than that you can't get no matter what the price.