The text authors note it is an "autoimmune disease in which the immune system of the body attacks its own tissues" (Tortora and Derrickson 285). In fact, the joint can even become misshapen. It can have longer-lasting affects than osteoarthritis, but it can also have flare-ups and remissions, which osteoarthritis does not have. Osteoarthritis is degenerative, while rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic disease. It affects two to three times more women than men. Symptoms are different from osteoarthritis, and include inflammation and swelling of the joints, pain, warmth, and pain or stiffness in the morning or after long periods of rest. In addition, rheumatoid arthritis is usually symmetrical, meaning it will affect both wrists, both knees, etc., although this is not always the case. The disease can also lead to a low-grade fever, a general feeling of tiredness, and affect other parts of the body, such as the heart lining. It can also create "rheumatoid nodules" under the skin in several areas of the body. Eventually, the disease can last many years, and lead to joint damage and disability (Editors).
While the exact cause of rheumatoid arthritis is not known, most researches believe the disease is hereditary, but it can also be triggered by an infection. It is not transmittable; one person cannot catch it or pass it to another person through infection. Usually doctors diagnose the disease via a blood test and then x-rays (Editors). The good news is, treatment is available for the disease, and new treatments are being developed. Authors Fischman and Hobson continue, "For rheumatoid arthritis, there's a lot of excitement about new medicines known as biologic response modifiers, which can hit the disease hard and fast and either slow it down or stop it altogether" (Fischman and Hobson). Thus, there may be some hope on the horizon for sufferers of this debilitating disease.
There are many other forms of arthritis that are not as prevalent as these two. Overall, nearly 43 million Americans suffer from some sort of arthritis (Fischman and Hobson). While...
94). The modern legal definition of disease provides a useful starting point for an examination of the concept of disease and how it is regarded by various disciplines. According to Black's Law Dictionary (1990), disease is a "deviation from the healthy or normal condition of any of the functions or tissues of the body. An alternation in the state of the body or some of its organs, interrupting or disturbing
This is especially true to the extent that various aspects of the natural response to stress are learned rather than functions of innate genetic predisposition. Typical methods of behavioral conditioning capable of reducing the secondary consequences of stress include coping mechanisms for the recognition of the earliest symptoms of stress and training to respond to stress in more positive ways instead of either repressing it or overreacting to it (Acosta,
Arthritis is considered as one of the major health conditions affecting a significant portion of the United States population. Even though the condition currently affects approximately 50 million adults in the country, it is not primarily an adulthood health condition. There are numerous cases of children suffering from arthritis, which implies that this condition is not uncommon among children. As a result of the prevalence of arthritis among children and
Crohn's Cronh's Disease and Ulcerative Colitis Background Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis are the major forms of chronic inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) in the western world, and occur in young adults with an estimated prevalence of more than one per thousand inhabitants (Hugot, et al., 1996). These diseases can affect any portion of the gastrointestinal system all the way from the mouth to the anus and are associated with many other
As well as several reports relating diseases and mood, mental status has also been reported to affect immuno-regulatory systems. Chronic depression or chronic stress conditions lead to immuno-suppressive status and imbalance in corticotrophin-releasing hormone, which induces cancer and hyperthyroidism. It has been reported that depressive states induce suppression of mitogenic reaction in lymphocytes, decreases the number and activity of natural killer cells and decreases the production of interferon." Sadamoto,
Rheumatoid arthritis is a widespread autoimmune disease that is linked to progressive disability, socioeconomic costs, systemic complications, and even early death. In addition to having an unknown cause, the disease also has a guarded prognosis. In the past few years, there have been several attempts to understand the pathogenesis of the disease, which have resulted in the creation of new therapeutics with enhanced outcomes (McInnes & Schett, 2011, p.2205). As
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