Diseases blindness

In livestock, selenium has been found to be the cause of blind staggers and alkali disease. Blind staggers occurs as a result of acute ingestion of seleniferous plants and is characterized by impaired vision, depressed appetite, a tendency to wander in circles, paralysis, and death from respiratory failure. A more chronic syndrome described in horses and livestock is alkali disease, which also is associated with consumption of grains or plants containing selenium. The disease is characterized by lack of vitality, loss of appetite, emaciation, deformed hoofs, loss of hair, erosion of the joints of long bones, anemia, cirrhosis, and cardiac atrophy ... 

Even in persons with welllong-term complications include stroke, heart attack, renal disease, blindness, and limb amputation. 

Note AIDS is caused by HIV, which impairs both cellular and humoral immune functions, and this results in increased susceptibility to opportunistic infection and certain malignancies. The medical aspects of HIV infection include AIDS-related complex (weight loss, chronic diarrhea, fever, thrush, herpes zoster, fatigue), opportunistic infections and cancer, end-stage renal disease, blindness (cytomegalovirus), HIV encephalopathy, and dementia. The psychological aspects of HIV infection include major depression, regression, and suicidal impulses, delirium, substance abuse, antisocial personality, and bereavement. 

Another major disease, affecting millions of people, that is linked to obesity is diabetes. Diabetes mellitus is a disease caused by an inability of the body to metabolise carbohydrates and control blood sugar levels. Some people, having type I diabetes mellitus, are bom with the disease. Type II, or non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus, is acquired over time, but can be serious nonetheless. Both kinds of diabetes are a major cause of heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, blindness, and early death. People who are obese are much more likely to develop type n diabetes. 

Selenium Liver necrosis white muscle disease Blind staggers in cattle... 

Tay-Sachs disease Blindness, muscle weakness, seizures, mental retardation Ganglioside GM2 /3-Hexosaminidase A... 

Approximately 60% of diabetic patients die of va.scular di.scase and 35% of coronary heart disease. Blindness is 25 times and chronic renal failure 17 limes more common in the diabetic. There is increasing evidence that tight glycacmic control delays the onset of these sequelae. 

Opportunistic infections and cancer End-stage renal disease Blindness (cytomegalovirus)... 

In this period, the empirical healing of certain diseases by foods was estabUshed. Examples (3) were the treatment of night blindness (vitamin A deficiency) with hver ia many cultures over centuries, of beriberi (vitamin deficiency) by use of unpoHshed rice by the Japanese navy, of scurvy (vitamin C deficiency) by citms fmits ia the British navy or piae needle extracts by North American natives, and pellagra (niacia deficiency) by a dietary shift away from corn-based foods ia many countries. Other, nondietary empirical treatments iavolved, eg, exposure of children ia northern latitudes to sunlight to cute tickets (vitamin D deficiency) (4). 

The activity of ivermectin against the filarial parasite Dirofilaria immitis in dogs suggested a possible role for the control of filarial parasites of humans (20). It has been extensively tested in human onchocerciasis and is now considered to be the dmg of choice. In a single yearly oral dose, it suppresses microfilariae in the skin and eyes and, in most cases, prevents the progression of the disease to blindness. Table 4 shows the results of a 30-patient double-blind study recorded over one year. 

Disorder characterized by atrophy ofthe choroid (the thin membrane covering most of the posterior of the eye between the retina and sclera) and degeneration of the retinal pigment epithelium resulting in night blindness. The disease is caused by mutations in Rab escort protein Repl (component A of Rab geranylgeranyl transferase). 

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a herpesvirus, which causes an inapparent infection in immunocompetent persons. Worldwide, approximately 40% of people are infected with CMV. In immunocompromised patients, transplant recipients and neonates, CMV can cause serious and potentially lethal disease manifestations like pneumonia, retinitis and blindness, hepatitis, infections of the digestive tract, deafness or mental retardation. 

A (Hex A) catalyzing the biodegradation of gangliosides. Accumulation of gangliosides in lysosomes primarily affects brain neurons. In the early onset form of the disease, children become blind, deaf, and unable to swallow. Children die usually before the age of three. A late onset form ofthe disease occurs in young adults and is usually nonfatal. 

Diabetes mellitus is a complicated, chronic disorder characterized by either insufficient insulin production by the beta cells of die pancreas or by cellular resistance to insulin. Insulin insufficiency results in elevated blood glucose levels, or hyperglycemia As a result of the disease, individuals with diabetes are at greater risk for a number of disorders, including myocardial infarction, cerebrovascular accident (stroke), blindness, kidney disease, and lower limb amputations. 

Another widespread application of cold storage of tissue for transplantation is that of preservation of the cornea. Inj uries leading to corneal scarring, various kinds of diseases, and the production of comeal opacity are leading causes of blindness. Cornea transplantation is a commonly used and highly successful procedure. It... 

Tay-Sachs disease Hexosaminidase A Cer—Gic—Gal(NeuAc)-i-GalNAc GM2Gangiioside Mental retardation, blindness, muscular weakness. 

Rogers SL, Friedhoff LT (1996). The efficacy and safety of Donepezil in patients with Alzheimer s disease results of a US multicentre, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Dementia ,... 

Togaviruses Rubella Spherical particles 70 nm in diameter, a tightly adherent envelope surrounds an icosahedral capsid Causes German measles in children. An infection contracted in the early stages of pregnancy can induce severe multiple congenital abnormalities, e.g. deafness, blindness, heart disease and mental retardation... 

Rogers, SL, Farlow, MR, Doody, RS, Mohs, R, Friedhoff, LT and the Donepezil Study Group (1998) A 24-week, double blind, placebo-controlled trial of donepezil in patients with Alzheimer s disease. Neurology 50 136-145. 

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