Tooth Development

Winter Weather Health: HYPOTHERMIA and FROSTBITE

What is HYPOTHERMIA?

When exposed to cold temperatures, your body begins to lose heat faster than it can be produced. The result is hypothermia, or abnormally low body temperature. Body temperature that is too low affects the brain, making the victim unable to think clearly or move well. This makes hypothermia particularly dangerous because a person may not know it is happening and won't be able to do anything about it.
Hypothermia occurs most commonly at very cold environmental temperatures, but can occur even at cool temperatures (above 40°F) if a person becomes chilled from rain, sweat, or submersion in cold water.

Who is most at risk for hypothermia?

Victims of hypothermia are most often:

• elderly people with inadequate food, clothing, or heating
• babies sleeping in cold bedrooms
• children left unattended
• adults under the influence of alcohol
• mentally ill individuals
• people who remain outdoors for long periods—the homeless, hikers, hunters, etc.

What are the warning signs for hypothermia?

Hippocratic fingers (Nail clubbing)

Clubbing (nail clubbing or Hippocratic fingers ) is a deformity of the fingers and fingernails, with changing of the distant finger phalanges into the form of a drumstick or fingernails into the form of a watch-glass presents a well-known clinical phenomenon that suggests the presence of various diseases, especially those associated with hypoxia, mostly of the heart and lungs.

Source:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003282.htm
http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1105946-overview

Multiple Chemical Sensitivity: a diagnosis not to be missed.

Environmental Health and Safety 

Brief Overview
People in modern societies spend more than 90% of their time indoors. Hence, indoor environmental quality (IEQ) has a significant impact on public health. In this article are described health risks associated with indoor environments, illuminate barriers to overcoming these risks, and provide policy recommendations to achieve healthier indoor environments. 

Indoor environmental quality (IEQ) refers to the quality of a building’s environment in relation to the health and well-being of those who occupy space within it. IEQ is determined by many factors, including lighting, air quality, and damp conditions. Workers are often concerned that they have symptoms or health conditions from exposures to contaminants in the buildings where they work.  One reason for this concern is that their symptoms often get better when they are not in the building. While research has shown that some respiratory symptoms and illnesses can be associated with damp buildings, it is still unclear what measurements of indoor contaminants show that workers are at risk for disease.  In most instances where a worker and his or her physician suspect that the building environment is causing a specific health condition, the information available from medical tests and tests of the environment is not sufficient to establish which contaminants are responsible.  Despite uncertainty about what to measure and how to interpret what is measured, research shows that building-related symptoms are associated with building characteristics, including dampness, cleanliness, and ventilation characteristics.

Fissured Tongue

Fissured tongue is a condition frequently seen in the general population that is characterized by grooves that vary in depth and are noted along the dorsal and lateral aspects of the tongue.

Pathophysiology

 Fissured tongue affects only the tongue and is a finding in Melkersson-Rosenthal syndrome, which consists of a triad of fissured tongue, granulomatous cheilitis, and cranial nerve VII paralysis (Bell palsy)

Epidemiology

Frequency

United States: ~ 2-5% of the population.

International:  21% worldwide population.

Fissured tongue is a totally benign condition and is considered by most to be a variant of normal tongue architecture. When seen in association with Melkersson-Rosenthal syndrome, the morbidity is due not to the fissured tongue but is secondary to the granulomatous inflammation of the lips/facial soft tissues and facial paralysis.

Read more :
http://emedicalhub.com/fissured-tongue/
http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1078536-overview