Investigations #2

The other day, while flipping through my parent’s medical books in the library at our house, I saw a picture of a man with an enlarged thyroid gland. I was shocked at how enlarged the man’s thyroid gland was, so I wanted to investigate more on the disease called Hashimoto’s disease. I discovered that Hashimoto’s disease is an autoimmune disease, where the immune system sends T cells and create antibodies that would destroy a person’s thyroid tissue/gland. Interestingly enough, doctors currently do not know what causes one’s immune system to attack their thyroid gland. However, some suspect it is due to a virus or bacterium that might have triggered the response, while there are others who believe it is due to genetic flaws. It is found that women are more likely to develop the disease than men.

Hashimoto’s disease slowly progresses as one ages. Thyroid hormones would begin to decrease, TSH levels would increase as a result of decreased negative feedback, and goiter is likely to develop. The signs and symptoms of Hashimoto’s disease are basically under the general category of hypothyroidism, which include fatigue, puffy face, hoarse voice, pain and stiffness in joints, swelling in various parts of the body, muscle aches, and unexplained weight gain (mostly fluid). The treatments for Hashimoto’s disease involves daily replacement with pharmaceutical preparations of T₄, which restores the thyroid hormone levels and decrease TSH levels back to normal.

References

"Hashimoto's Disease." Symptoms. Mayo Clinic, 2 Jan. 2014. Web. 27 Feb. 2014.

Widmaier, Eric P., Hershel Raff, Kevin T. Strang, and Arthur J. Vander. Vander's Human Physiology: The Mechanisms of Body Function. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2011. Print.

Investigations #1

     Tuberculosis (TB) is a disease that is claiming millions of lives each year. It is believed that about one third of the world’s population is infected and it is currently one of the leading causes of death in the world. TB is caused by bacteria called Mycobacterium tuberculosis. People can be infected by the bacteria and not even know that they have the disease. Some of the signs and symptoms include coughing that lasts longer than 3 weeks, productive cough (blood & mucus), weight loss, chest pains, sweating at night, and weakness. In most cases, symptoms do not appear until the victim’s immune system weakens, such as in people with HIV and people of old age.

       

     M. tuberculosis is an airborne disease, where people can be infected when an infected person coughs, sneezes, or talk. The bacteria are ingested by alveolar macrophages but they are able to survive and multiply intracellularly by inhibiting phagolysosome production. Granulomas (tubercle) form from the accumulation of activated macrophages and other mononuclear phagocytes, which surrounds the infected macrophages with the bacilli. Granulomas contain and inhibit the growth of the bacilli. However, when the immune system of an infected person weakens the walls of the granuloma loses structural integrity and ruptures, allowing the bacilli to escape and spread to other organs.

To learn more about the disease visit: http://www.cdc.gov/tb/

References

Nancy A. Knechel. Tuberculosis: Pathophysiology, Clinical Features, and Diagnosis.

      CriticalCareNurse 2009; 29(2). 

Lakshimi PS, Verma D, Yang X, Lloyd B, Daniell H. Low Cost Tuberculosis 

      Vaccine Antigens in Capsules: Expression in Chloroplasts, Bio-Encapsulation, Stability, 

      and Functional Evaluation In Vitro. Plos One 2013; 8(1).