Ask The Doctor A Medical Question

Here's where you find answers to medical questions and you can ask a doctor for medical advice.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

What is Premature Ejaculation?

Premature ejaculation is a medical condition affecting millions of men. It is the most common sexual dysfunction and affects as many as 40% of men at some point in their lives. In modern day, it is defined as when early ejaculation during intercourse emotionally affects either one or both partners in a negative fashion.

Friday, February 27, 2009

What Is Macular Degeneration?

Macular degeneration, or AMD, is a debilitating eye disease that affects millions of individuals and is the leading cause of blindness in adults over the age of 55. It is estimated that more than 10 million Americans are inflicted with this disease.

It is a disease that affect the macula... read more on what is macular degeneration

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

www.MacForte.com/feiler

The eye disease known as age related macular degeneration can be slowed by using the eye vitamins found at macforte.com/feiler. These vitamins have antioxidants that can help reduce the progression of AMD. This was shown in a study conducted by the National Eye Institute. Vitamins A, C, and E are important antioxidants. Also, your eye vitamin should contain Copper, Zinc, and Lutein to name a few additional ingredients.

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Mesothelioma

WHAT IS MESOTHELIOMA.

This article is about mesothelioma. Mesothelioma is a type of lung cancer that is caused by exposure to asbestos. Exposure to asbestos occurs primarily in occupational settings. Plumbers and insulation workers were widely exposed for many years. Each year about 3,000 people will die from mesothelioma as a result of asbestos exposure. This cancer was very rare a few decades ago; however, it is being seen more frequently as men and women who were born in the 1920's and beyond advance into the older age group.

There are many types of cancers. As a primary care physician, I have seen every type of cancer of the lung. Lung cancers in particular have many different names when spoken of in true medical jargon. There is the deadly squamous cell cancer of the lung which is the type most commonly seen secondary to smoking. There is large cell, small cell, oat cell, and of course mesothelioma which is the topic of this article.... read entire article on mesothelioma


Thursday, December 13, 2007

Best Eye Vitamin from Dr. Warren Ringold - Preserve Mac

best eye vitamin

Age-related macular degeneration is a chronic eye disease that occurs when tissue in the macula, the part of your retina that's responsible for central vision, deteriorates. The retina is the layer of tissue on the inside back wall of your eyeball. Degeneration of the macula causes blurred central vision or a blind spot in the center of your visual field.

The first sign of macular degeneration may be a need for more light when you do close-up work. Fine newsprint may become harder to read and street signs more difficult to recognize. Gray or blank spots may mask the center of your visual field. The condition usually develops gradually, but sometimes progresses rapidly, leading to severe vision loss in one or both eyes.

Macular degeneration affects your central vision, but not your peripheral vision; thus it doesn't cause total blindness. Still, the loss of clear central vision — critical for reading, driving, recognizing people's faces and doing detail work — greatly affects your quality of life. The condition tends to develop as you get older, hence the "age-related" part of its name. Macular degeneration is the leading cause of severe vision loss in people age 60 and older.

The damage caused by macular degeneration can't be reversed, but early detection and treatment may help reduce the extent of vision loss.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/macular-degeneration/DS00284

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Effects of Antioxidants and Fish Oil On AMD

New Nationwide Study Will Evaluate Effect Of Antioxidants And Fish Oil On Progression Of AMD

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has announced a nationwide study to see if a modified combination of vitamins, minerals, and fish oil can further slow the progression of vision loss from AMD, the leading cause of vision loss in the United States for people over age 60. This new study, called the Age-Related Eye Disease Study 2 (AREDS2), will build upon results from the earlier Age-Related Eye Disease Study (AREDS). The original study results were released five years ago today. The study found that high-dose antioxidant vitamins and minerals (vitamins C and E, beta-carotene, zinc, and copper), taken by mouth, reduced the risk of progression to advanced AMD by 25 percent, and the risk of moderate vision loss by 19 percent.

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Prevent AMD
The only treatment proven to slow the vision loss of AMD.
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AREDS2 will refine the findings of the original study by adding lutein and zeaxanthin (plant-derived yellow pigments that accumulate in the macula, the small area responsible for central vision near the center of the retina) and the omega-3 fatty acids DHA and EPA (derived from fish and vegetable oils) to the study formulation. The main study objective is to determine if these nutrients will decrease a person's risk of progression to advanced AMD, which often leads to vision loss. Previous observational studies have suggested these nutrients may protect vision.

"Vision loss from AMD is an important public health issue. This study may help us find a better way to treat this devastating disease," said Elias A. Zerhouni, M.D., director of the NIH.

AMD damages the macula. As the disease progresses, it blurs the patient's central vision. AMD can take two forms, wet and dry. Wet AMD is caused by the abnormal growth of blood vessels under the macula. This leads to rapid loss of central vision. Wet AMD is considered to be advanced AMD and is more severe than the dry form. Dry AMD, the more common form, occurs when the light-sensitive cells in the macula slowly break down. Untreated dry AMD can progress into wet AMD.

Paul A. Sieving, M.D., Ph.D., director of the National Eye Institute (NEI) at NIH, said, "Nearly two million Americans have vision loss from advanced AMD, and another seven million with AMD are at substantial risk for vision loss. In the AREDS study, we found a combination of vitamins and minerals that effectively slowed the progression of AMD for some people. Now, we will conduct this more precisely-targeted study to see if the new combination of nutrients can reduce AMD progression even further. This study may help people at high risk for advanced AMD maintain useful vision for a longer time."

Emily Y. Chew, M.D., study chair and deputy director of the Division of Epidemiology and Clinical Research at the NEI said, "The AREDS2 study is seeking 4,000 people between 50 and 85 years of age with AMD in both eyes, or advanced AMD in one eye. They must be available for yearly eye examinations for at least five years. Until we get the results from AREDS2, we encourage people with AMD to visit their eye care professional to see if they need to take the AREDS vitamin and mineral formulation. This alone could save more than 300,000 people from vision loss over the next five years."

Article from http://www.sciencedaily.com

Fish Oil and AMD

Fish Oil May Reduce Risk of AMD (Age Related Macular Degeneration)

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) -- the leading cause of age-related vision loss -- is nearly twice as common in elderly smokers as nonsmokers.

Seniors who eat fish at least twice weekly are almost half as likely to have AMD than those who eat fish less than once a week.

So say Johanna Seddon, MD, and colleagues in July's Archives of Ophthalmology. Seddon works at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, which is affiliated with Harvard Medical School in Boston.

Other experts in Australia found that age-related macular problems are rarer in people whose diets are rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which are found in fish, including salmon and mackerel, as well as flax seeds and walnuts.

Fish Oil and AMD - U.S. Study

Seddon's team studied data from 681 individual male twins in their mid-70s who were World War II veterans. The group included 222 men with intermediate- or late-stage AMD and 459 with early or no AMD.

The men completed questionnaires about their smoking history, alcohol use, physical activity, diets, and use of multivitamins and supplements.

"Current smokers had a 1.9-fold increased risk of AMD while past smokers had about a 1.7-fold increased risk" of AMD, compared with nonsmokers, the researchers write.

The study also shows that men with the highest fish consumption (at least two weekly servings) were 45% less likely to have AMD than those with the lowest fish consumption (less than one weekly serving).

Fish Oil and AMD - Australian Study

The Australian researchers included Brian Chua, BSc, MBBS, MPH, of the University of Sydney's ophthalmology department.

Chua and colleagues studied nearly 2,900 people aged 49 and older (average age: 63-65 years). Participants completed dietary questionnaires; five years later, they got special photographs of their retinas to screen for AMD.

Participants who reported eating at least one weekly serving of fish were 40% less likely to develop early-stage AMD during the study, compared with those who reported eating fish less than once a month or not at all.

People who ate fish frequently were also less likely to have late-stage AMD, the study shows. But that pattern was only seen in participants who reported eating fish at least three times weekly.

Fatty Acid Balance

When it comes to reducing AMD risk, striking the right fatty acid balance might be important, note Seddon and colleagues.

In their study, the reduced AMD risk was mainly seen in people who consumed high levels of omega-3 fatty acids and low levels of an omega-6 fatty acid called linoleic acid, which is found in vegetable oils including corn, safflower, and sunflower.

Seddon and colleagues aren't against omega-6 fatty acids. But they note that a lot of people consume way too much omega-6 fatty acids, compared with omega-3 fatty acids.
"The ideal omega-6/omega-3 ratio is 3:1 to 4:1," Seddon's team writes.

"However, the average American's diet has an omega-6/omega-3 ratio that ranges from 10:1 to 50:1 … Our results suggest that when our diet is rich in these omega-6 fatty acids (as measured here by linoleic acid), the protective effect of omega-3 fatty acids is dampened."

Chua's Australian study couldn't confirm those results.

Study's Limits

The studies don't prove that not smoking or eating fish prevented AMD.
Both studies were purely observational; participants weren't asked to quit smoking or change their diets. The studies also don't specify what type of fish participants ate, or how the fish was prepared.

Still, the results held after adjusting for other AMD risk factors.

Inflammation might partly explain the results, the researchers note. They point out that smoking boosts inflammation, while omega-3 fats reduce inflammation.

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This article was written by Mirandi Hitti at WebMd.com
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Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Macular Degeneration Vitamin

What is Macular Degeneration?


More specifically this disease is called Age Related Macular degeneration (AMD). It is a disorder resulting in slow and progressive damage to an area of the eye called the macula.

There is a macula in each eye and the macula is part of the retina. This area is the most sensitive vision processing center in the eye.

The retina is the portion of the eye that sends light to the brain. The macula allows for very fine and clear vision.

The disease can occur in one eye or both; however, if it develops in one eye, there is a higher risk that it will develop in the other eye as well.

Understanding that the disease is one that is progressive is very important. Once you have been diagnosed with the illness, there is only one thing that can be done to prevent the disorder from worsening.

I'll get back to this in a moment, but first it's important to understand more about AMD.

There are two types of AMD. There is the wet form and the dry form.

The wet form consists of only about 5% - 10% of AMD cases and usually presents with some distortion of vision and lines might look wavy instead of straight.

It is caused by the formation of new blood vessels under the macula that leak; thus the wet form.

Some patients with wet AMD can lose significant vision in a very short period of time. All of the current medical therapies have been directed at the wet form of AMD.

What is Dry AMD?


The dry form is the most prevalent and is 90% - 95% of the AMD cases and is caused by the break down of the light sensitive cells in the macula. It is more slowly progressive.

The most common symptom of dry AMD is slightly blurred vision. You may have difficulty recognizing faces. You may need more light for reading and other tasks. Dry AMD generally affects both eyes, but vision can be lost in one eye while the other eye seems unaffected.

One of the most common early signs of dry AMD is drusen. Drusen are yellow deposits under the retina. They often are found in people over age 60. Your eye care professional can detect drusen during a comprehensive dilated eye exam.


Dry AMD has three stages:


Early AMD. People with early AMD have either several small drusen or a few medium-sized drusen. At this stage, there are no symptoms and no vision loss.

Intermediate AMD. People with intermediate AMD have either many medium-sized drusen or one or more large drusen. Some people see a blurred spot in the center of their vision. More light may be needed for reading and other tasks.

Advanced Dry AMD. In addition to drusen, people with advanced dry AMD have a breakdown of light-sensitive cells and supporting tissue in the central retinal area. This breakdown can cause a blurred spot in the center of your vision. Over time, the blurred spot may get bigger and darker, taking more of your central vision. You may have difficulty reading or recognizing faces until they are very close to you.

If you have vision loss from dry AMD in one eye only, you may not notice any changes in your overall vision. With the other eye seeing clearly, you still can drive, read, and see fine details. You may notice changes in your vision only if AMD affects both eyes. If blurriness occurs in your vision, see an eye care professional for a comprehensive dilated eye exam.

Macular Degeneration Vitamin with high doses of antioxidants can prevent the worsening of AMD and promotes healthy eyes.