Essential diseases

An obligate ascomycetes, Erysiphe cichoracearum DC., powdery mildew, can be moderately severe on some Jerusalem artichoke lines in the southern U.S., while others remain essentially disease-free (McCarter, 1993). E. cichoracearum infects a wide range of species, especially so in the Compositae family. It is found worldwide and is especially critical in the hot, humid tropics and subtropics. Damage in temperate regions tends to be limited. The disease appears as white to gray areas on the leaves and occasionally on the stems, which is caused by superficial mycelium. With... 

Dean Weaver initiated the two-year post-Baccalaureate Pharm.D. program at the University of Minnesota in 1971. As the Dean of one of the first clinical pharmacy programs in the United States, Weaver collaborated with the Medical School to have his Pharm.D. students take pathophysiology classes with the medical students in order to both bring essential disease-related content to the... 

Selenium is an essential element and is beneficial at low concentrations, serving as an antioxidant. Lack of selenium affects thyroid function, and selenium deficiencies have been linked to Keshan Disease (34). Selenium at high levels, however, is toxic. Hydrogen selenide (which is used in semiconductor manufacturing) is extremely toxic, affecting the mucous membranes and respiratory system. However, the toxicity of most organ oselenium compounds used as donor compounds for organic semiconductors is not weU studied. 

The function of the essential oil in the plant is not fully understood. Microscopic examination of plant parts that contain the oil sacs readily shows their presence. The odors of flowers are said to act as attractants for insects involved in pollination and thus may aid in preservation and natural selection. Essential oils are almost always bacteriostats and often bacteriocides. Many components of essential oils are chemically active and thus could participate readily in metaboHc reactions. They are sources of plant metaboHc energy, although some chemists have referred to them as waste products of plant metaboHsm. Exudates, which contain essential oils, eg, balsams and resins, act as protective seals against disease or parasites, prevent loss of sap, and are formed readily when the tree tmnks are damaged. 

Cystic fibrosis, a disease of the Caucasian population, is associated with defective CL regulation and is essentially a disorder of epithehal cells (113,114). The defect arises at several levels in the CL ion transporter, ie, the cystic fibrosis transmembrane regulation (CFTR), and is associated with defective CL transport and defective processing, whereby the protein is not correctiy incorporated into the cell membrane. The most common mutation, affecting approximately 60% of patients, is termed F 608 and designates the loss of phenylalanine at this position. This mutation appears to be at least 50,000 years old, which suggests that its survival may have had evolutionary significance (115). 

Amino acids essential for young rats (98) and fishes (99) have been reviewed. Rats preferably eat a diet with sufficient amounts of essential amino acids rather than one that is deficient (100). Each essential amino acid, consumed in self-selection, has been reviewed (101). A protein diet with an excess of essential amino acids has been described as a poor protein diet from investigations that showed remarkable growth inhibition and occurrence of fatty fiver disease in rats (102). This is called amino acid imbalance (103). 

In Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition. Amino acid transfusion has been widely used since early times to maintain basic nitrogen metaboHsm when proteinaceous food caimot be eaten. It was very difficult to prepare a pyrogen-free transfusion from protein hydrolysates. Since the advances in L-amino acid production, the crystalline L-amino acids have been used and the problem of pyrogen in transfusion has been solved. The formulation of amino acid transfusion has been extensively investigated, and a solution or mixture in which the ratio between essential and nonessential amino acid is 1 1, has been widespread clinically. Special amino acid mixtures (eg, branched chain amino acids-enriched solution) have been developed for the treatment of several diseases (93). 

In 1956 selenium was identified (123) as an essential micronutrient iu nutrition. In conjunction with vitamin E, selenium is effective iu the prevention of muscular dystrophy iu animals. Sodium selenite is adrninistered to prevent exudative diathesis iu chicks, a condition iu which fluid leaks out of the tissues white muscle disease iu sheep and infertility iu ewes (see Eeed ADDITIVES). Selenium lessens the iacidence of pneumonia iu lambs and of premature, weak, and stillborn calves controls hepatosis dietetica iu pigs and decreases muscular inflammation iu horses. White muscle disease, widespread iu sheep and cattle of the selenium-deficient areas of New Zealand and the United States, is insignificant iu high selenium soil areas. The supplementation of animal feeds with selenium was approved by the U.S. EDA iu 1974 (see Eeed additives). Much of selenium s metaboHc activity results from its involvement iu the selenoproteia enzyme, glutathione peroxidase. 

Disease States. Rickets is the most common disease associated with vitamin D deficiency. Many other disease states have been shown to be related to vitamin D. These can iavolve a lack of the vitamin, deficient synthesis of the metaboUtes from the vitamin, deficient control mechanisms, or defective organ receptors. The control of calcium and phosphoms is essential ia the maintenance of normal cellular biochemistry, eg, muscle contraction, nerve conduction, and enzyme function. The vitamin D metaboUtes also have a function ia cell proliferation. They iateract with other factors and receptors to regulate gene transcription. 

Zinc is also an essential food element in the human diet. Too Httle zinc in the diet can lead to poor health, reproductive problems and a lowered abHity to resist disease. Taking too much zinc into the body through food, water or dietary supplements can also affect health. The levels of zinc that produce adverse effects are higher than the Recommended DaHy AHowances, which are 15 mg/day for men, 12 mg/day for women, 10 mg/day for children and 5 mg/day for infants. 

Malaria affects an estimated 270 million people and causes 2—3 million deaths annually, approximately one million of which occur in children under the age of five. While primarily an affliction of the tropics and subtropics, it has occurred as far north as the Arctic Circle. The disease essentially has been eradicated in most temperate-zone countries, but some 1100 cases of malaria in U.S. citizens returning from abroad were reported to the Centers for Disease Control during 1990. Malaria is seen today in Southeast Asia, Africa, and Central and South America. It is on the increase in Afghanistan, Brazil, China, India, Mexico, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam. Escalation of the disease is because of the discontinued use of the insecticide DDT which effectively kills mosquito larvae, but has been found to be toxic to Hvestock and wildlife. Also, chloroquine (6), a reUable dmg for the prophylaxis and treatment of falcipamm malaria, is ineffective in many parts of the world because of the spread of dmg-resistant strains. 

Hypertension is one of the two principal risk factors of many cardiovascular diseases, such as coronary heart disease (CHD), stroke, and CHF. Individuals are considered hypertensive if their systoHc arterial blood pressure is over 140 mm Hg (18.7 Pa) or their diastoHc arterial blood pressure is over 90 mm Hg (12 Pa). Over 60 million people, or one-third of the adult population in the United States are estimated to be hypertensive (163). About 90% of these patients are classified as primary or essential hypertensive because the etiology of their hypertension is unknown. It is generally agreed that there is a very strong genetic or hereditary component to this disease. 

Cobalt is one of twenty-seven known elements essential to humans (28) (see Mineral NUTRIENTS). It is an integral part of the cyanocobalamin [68-19-9] molecule, ie, vitamin B 2> only documented biochemically active cobalt component in humans (29,30) (see Vitamins, VITAMIN Vitamin B 2 is not synthesized by animals or higher plants, rather the primary source is bacterial flora in the digestive system of sheep and cattle (8). Except for humans, nonmminants do not appear to requite cobalt. Humans have between 2 and 5 mg of vitamin B22, and deficiency results in the development of pernicious anemia. The wasting disease in sheep and cattle is known as bush sickness in New Zealand, salt sickness in Florida, pine sickness in Scotland, and coast disease in AustraUa. These are essentially the same symptomatically, and are caused by cobalt deficiency. Symptoms include initial lack of appetite followed by scaliness of skin, lack of coordination, loss of flesh, pale mucous membranes, and retarded growth. The total laboratory synthesis of vitamin B 2 was completed in 65—70 steps over a period of eleven years (31). The complex stmcture was reported by Dorothy Crowfoot-Hodgkin in 1961 (32) for which she was awarded a Nobel prize in 1964. 

Selenium is a vital microelement for people. It has dual properties. Selenium is an essential nutrient at low concentration levels and it becomes toxic at higher concentration levels. Deficiency of selenium results in weakness and hard diseases. Selenium is a building material of many hormones and ferments it neutralizes free radicals, radioactive radicals in organism. The range of selenium safety concentration in food and water is very narrow. The daily normal amount of human consumption of selenium is 10-20 p.g, maximum safe concentration of selenium in water is 5-10 p.g/1. It becomes toxic at 20-30 p.g and bigger content in different objects. 

Effects of indoor air pollutants on humans are essentially the same as those described in Chapter 7. However, there can be some additional pollutant exposures in the indoor environment that are not common in the ambient setting. From the listing in Table 23-1, radon exposures indoors present a radiation hazard for the development of lung cancer. Environmental tobacco smoke has been found to cause lung cancer and other respiratory diseases. Biological agents such as molds and other toxins may be a more likely exposure hazard indoors than outside. 

Disinfection The process designed to kill most microorganisms in wastewater, including essentially all pathogenic (disease-causing) bacteria. There are several ways to disinfect, with chlorine being the most frequently used in water and wastewater treatment plants. 

The disadvantage in war periods of relying on a single source of supply for an essential commodity became evident when Java was invaded by the Japanese in March 1942, the world being thereby deprived of about 90 per cent, of its customary supply of cinchona bark. Quinine was ther still considered an indispensable drug for the treatment of malaria an<3 its use had to be restricted to that purpose stocks of quinidine wew similarly reserved for use in cardiac disease, In efforts to deal with th<... 

Thiamine, whose structure is shown in Figure 18.17, is known as vitamin Bj and is essential for the prevention of beriberi, a nervous system disease that has occurred in the Far East for centuries and has resulted in considerable sickness and death in these countries. (As recently as 1958, it was the fourth leading cause of death in the Philippine Islands.) It was shown in 1882 by the director-general of the medical department of the Japanese nayt that beriberi could be prevented by dietary modifications. Ten years later, Christiaan Eijkman, a Dutch medical scientist working in Java, began research that eventually showed that thiamine was the... 

The alkaloid Nigellicine proved to be the pyridazino[l,2-u]indazolium-l 1-carboxylate (234) and forms yellow crystals (Scheme 77). It was isolated from the widely distributed herbaceous plant Nigella saliva L., which is used as a spice and for the treatment of various diseases (85TL2759). The structure was determined by an X-ray crystal structure analysis. The carboxylate bond distances are essentially equal (123.3 and 125.6 pm). An intramolecular hydrogen bond was found between the carboxylate oxygen atom and the hydroxy group. In mass spectrometry, the molecular peak was found at mjz —246 (20) and the base peak at mjz —202 which corresponds... 

Four of the main-group cations are essential in human nutrition (Table A). Of these, the most important is Ca2+. About 90% of the calcium in the body is found in bones and teeth, largely in the form of hydroxyapatite, CatOH)2 - SCa PO. Calcium ions in bones and teeth exchange readily with those in the blood about 0.6 g of Ca2+ enters and leaves your bones every day. In a normal adult this exchange is in balance, but in elderly people, particularly women, there is sometimes a net loss of bone calcium, leading to the disease known as osteoporosis. 

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