Shopping on line can be easy, simple and save you lots of money. It can also take a lot of your time, frustrate you, and result in unwanted purchases. Now the same can be said for regular high street shopping, but with the vast opportunity presented by the Internet it will pay you to spend a few minutes reading this and understanding how to better optimize your Disease shopping experience:
1. Compare - without doubt the biggest advantage that the Disease offers shoppers today is the ability to compare thousands of Disease at a time. This is a great thing, but not necessarily all the time! Too much can be daunting at times so take advantage of the great comparison sites and where possible let them do the hard work for you.
2. Research - if it has been said it will be on the internet. Ignorance is no longer a justifiable reason for buying the wrong thing. Take the time to research in detail everything that you could possible want to know about
3. Testimonials - don't know anybody that has bought a Disease? Wrong! If the Disease is good the internet will let you know. Use the Internet as a friend and get testimonials before you buy.
4. Questions - Got a question about Disease then search the Forums, FAQ's, Blogs etc. Don't be afraid to ask .....
5. Reputation - Never heard of the company selling Disease? Don't worry, no reason why you should know every company in the world, but you know someone that does! Use the internet to find out what people are saying about Disease and build up a picture of their reputation for sales, returns, customer service, delivery etc.
6. Returns - still worried that even after all of the above your Disease wont be what you want? Check out the returns policy. There is so much competition now that someone, somewhere is bound to offer the terms that you are comfortable with.
7. Feedback - happy with your Disease then let people know, after all you are depending on others people input in your buying decision, so why not give a little back.
8. Security - check for the yellow padlock on the Disease site before you buy, and the s after http:/ /i.e. https:// = a secure site
9. Contact - got a question about Disease, or want to leave a comment then check out the sites contact page. Reputable companies have them and respond.
10. Payment - ready to pay for your Disease, then use your credit card or PayPal! Be aware of companies that don't accept them, there may be genuine reasons but given the huge amount of choice you have when buying online there is no reason at all not to buy via credit card or PayPal.
A
disease is an abnormal condition of an organism that impairs bodily functions. In human beings, "disease" is often used more broadly to refer to any condition that causes
Pain and nociception,
dysfunction,
distress,
social problems, and/or
death to the person afflicted, or similar problems for those in contact with the person. In this broader sense, it sometimes includes injury,
disability, disorders, syndromes,
infections, isolated symptoms, deviant behaviors, and atypical human variabilitys of structure and function, while in other contexts and for other purposes these may be considered distinguishable categories.
While many diseases are biological processes with observable alterations of
Organ (anatomy) function or structure, others primarily involve alterations of behavior.
Classifying a condition as a disease is a social act of valuation, and may change the social status of the person with the condition (the patient). Some conditions (known as culture-bound syndromes) are only recognized as diseases within a particular culture. Sometimes the categorizaton of a condition as a disease is controversial within the culture.
Causes of disease
Many different factors intrinsic or extrinsic to a person (or plant or animal) can cause disease. Examples of intrinsic factors are
Genetic disorder or nutritional deficiencies. An environmental exposure, such as second-hand smoke is an example of an extrinsic factor. Many diseases result from a combination of intrinsic and extrinsic factors. For many diseases a cause cannot be identified.
There are many different factors that can cause disease. These can be broadly categorized into the following categories like
social, psychological,
chemical and biological. Some factors may fall into more than one category. Biochemical causes of disease can be considered as a
spectrum where at one extreme disease is caused entirely by genetic factors (e.g.
CAG repeats in the Huntingtin gene that causes
Huntington's Disease) and at the other extreme is caused entirely by environmental factors. Environmental factors include
toxic chemicals (e.g. acetaldehyde in cigarette smoke and dioxins released from the breakdown of Agent Orange) and infectious agents (e.g. smallpox
virus and
poliovirus). In between these extremes genes (e.g.
NOD2/
CARD15) and environmental factors (e.g. Gut microbiota) interact to cause disease, as seen for example in the
inflammatory bowel disease Crohn's Disease (Fig 1, right). Absence of the genetic or environmental factors in this case results in disease not being manifest.
Koch's postulates can be used to determine whether a disease is caused by an infectious agent.
To determine whether a disease is caused by genetic factors, researchers study the pattern inheritance of the disease in families. This provides qualitative information about the disease (how it is inherited). A classic example of this method of research is inheritance of
hemophilia in the British Royal Family. More recently this research has been used to identify the Apoliprotein E (ApoE) gene as a susceptibility gene for Alzheimer's Disease, though some forms of this gene - ApoE2 - are associated with a lower susceptibility. To determine to what extent a disease is caused by genetic factors (quantitative information), twin studies are used. Monozygotic twins are genetically identical and likely share a similar environment whereas dizygotic twins are genetically similar and likely share a similar environment. Thus by comparing the incidence of disease (termed
concordance rate) in monozygotic twins with the incidence of disease in dizygotic twins, the extent to which genes contribute to disease can be determined. Candidate disease genes can be identified using a number of methods. One is to look for
mutants of a
model organism (e.g. the organisms
Mus musculus,
Drosophila melanogaster,
Caenhorhabditis elegans,
Brachydanio rerio and
Xenopus tropicalis) that have a similar phenotype to the disease being studied. Another approach is to look for
segregation of genes or genetic markers (e.g.
single nucleotide polymorphism or expressed sequence tag) (Fig. 2).A large number of SNPs spaced throughout the
genome have been identified recently in a large project called the HapMap projectThis review is free of charge). The usefulness of the
HapMap project and
SNP typing and their relevance to society was covered in the 27 October 2005 issue of the leading international science
journal Nature (journal).
A large number of genes have been identified that contribute to human disease. These are available from the US
National Library of Medicine, which has an impressive range of biological science resources available for free online. Amongst these resources is Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man -
OMIM that provides a very, very comprehensive list of all known human gene mutations associated with, and likely contributing to, disease. Each article at
OMIM is regularly updated to include the latest scientific research. Additionally, each article provides a detailed history of the research on a given disease gene, with links to the research articles. This resource is highly valuable and is used by the world's top science researchers.
Related concepts
The terms
disease,
disorder,
medical condition are often used interchangeably. There is no agreed-upon universal distinction between these terms, though some people do make distinctions in particular contexts.
Medical usage sometimes distinguishes a
disease, which has a known specific cause or causes (called its etiology), from a
syndrome, which is a collection of signs or symptoms that occur together. However, many conditions have been identified, yet continue to be referred to as "syndromes." Furthermore, numerous conditions of unknown etiology are referred to as "diseases" in many contexts. Refractory diseases do not respond to therapy by overcoming the
Drug resistance.
Illness, although often used to mean disease, can also refer to a person's
perception of their health, regardless of whether they in fact have a disease. A person without any disease may feel unhealthy and simply have the perception of having an illness. Another person may feel healthy with similar perceptions of perfectly good health. The individual's perception of good health may even persist with the medical diagnosis of having a disease; for example, such as dangerously
arterial hypertension, which may lead to a fatal myocardial infarction or
cerebrovascular accident.
Pathology is the study of diseases. The subject of systematic classification of diseases is referred to as nosology. Its cause is referred as its etiology. The broader body of knowledge about human diseases and their treatments is
medicine. Many similar (and a few of the same) conditions or processes can affect non-human animals (wild or domestic). The study of diseases affecting animals is
veterinary medicine.
Disease can be thought of as the presence of pathology, which can occur with or without subjective feelings of being unwell or social recognition of that state. Illness as the subjective state of "unwellness" can occur independently of, or in conjunction with, disease or sickness (with sickness the social classification of someone deemed diseased, which can also occur independently of the presence or absence of disease or illness (c.f.
subjective medical conditions). Thus, someone with undetected high blood pressure who feels to be of good health would be diseased, but not ill or sick. Someone with a diagnosis of late-stage cancer would be diseased, probably feeling quite ill, and recognized by others as sick. A person incarcerated in a totalitarian
psychiatric hospital for political purposes could arguably be then said to not be diseased, nor ill, but only classified as sick by the rulers of a society with which the person did not agree. Having had a bad day after a night of excess drinking, one might feel ill, but one would not be diseased, nor is it likely that a boss could be convinced of the sickness.
Transmission of disease
Some diseases such as influenza are contagious or Infectious disease. Infectious diseases can be transmitted by any of a variety of mechanisms, including aerosols produced by coughs and
sneezes, by bites of insects or other carriers of the disease, and from contaminated water or food (possibly by faeces or urine in the
sewage), etc. Also, there are
sexually transmitted diseases. When micro-organisms that cannot be spread from person to person might play a role, some diseases can be prevented with proper
nutrition. Other diseases such as
cancer and heart disease are not considered to be caused by
infection. The same is true of mental diseases.
Social significance of disease
Living with disease can be very difficult. The identification of a condition as a disease, rather than as simply a variation of human structure or function, can have significant social or economic implications. The controversial recognitions as diseases of post-traumatic stress disorder, also known as "Soldier's heart," "shell shock," and "combat fatigue;" repetitive motion injury or
repetitive stress injury (RSI); and Gulf War syndrome has had a number of positive and negative effects on the financial and other responsibilities of governments, corporations and institutions towards individuals, as well as on the individuals themselves. The social implication of viewing senescence as a disease could be profound, though this classification is not yet widespread.
A condition may be considered to be a disease in some cultures or eras but not in others.
Oppositional-defiant disorder, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, and, increasingly, obesity, are conditions considered to be diseases in the United States and Canada today, but were not so-considered decades ago and are not so-considered in some other countries.
Leprosy were a group of afflicted individuals who were historically shunned and the term "leper" still evokes social stigma. Fear of disease can still be a widespread social phenomena, though not all diseases evoke extreme social stigma.
Sickness confers the social legitimization of certain benefits, such as illness benefits, work avoidance, and being looked after by others. In return, there is an obligation on the sick person to seek treatment and work to become well once more. As a comparison, consider
pregnancy, which is not a state interpreted as disease or sickness by the individual. On the other hand, it is considered by the medical community as a condition requiring medical care and by society at large as a condition requiring one's staying at home from work.
Global Disease Burden
This chart, compiled in 2002 from the
World health organization Global Burden of Disease shows an overview of the impact of various classifications of disease, segregated by regions with low and high mortality:
References
3. O'Connor, Hugh - "How humping a goat can cure cancer, and five other cottage cures from Rathfarnam - A historical review" 1997.
External links
- Health Topics, MedlinePlus descriptions of most diseases, with access to current research articles.
- Center for Disease Control Health Topics A-Z, fact sheets about many common diseases
- imedblog, Latest disease and medical news
- National Organization for Rare Disorders Extensive, useful information on rare diseases.
- The Merck Manual, detailed description of most diseases, freely searchable online.
- OMIM Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man - The best web resource for information on genes that cause disease.
- NLM US National Library of Medicine - The most comprehensive database of top quality science information on the web
- Eurekalert A digest of the latest science news.
- Answers to several questions of curious kids related to diseases
- Naked Scientists Podcast A 1hr fun-loving science radio program.
- Nature Podcast A 30 minute digest of the very latest science research reported in the journal Nature.
- HapMap Online
See also
A
disease is an abnormal condition of an organism that impairs bodily functions. In human beings, "disease" is often used more broadly to refer to any condition that causes Pain and nociception, dysfunction, distress, social problems, and/or death to the person afflicted, or similar problems for those in contact with the person. In this broader sense, it sometimes includes
injury,
disability, disorders, syndromes,
infections, isolated
symptoms, deviant
behaviors, and atypical
human variabilitys of structure and function, while in other contexts and for other purposes these may be considered distinguishable categories.
While many diseases are biological processes with observable alterations of
Organ (anatomy) function or structure, others primarily involve alterations of behavior.
Classifying a condition as a disease is a social act of valuation, and may change the social status of the person with the condition (the
patient). Some conditions (known as culture-bound syndromes) are only recognized as diseases within a particular culture. Sometimes the categorizaton of a condition as a disease is controversial within the
culture.
Causes of disease
Many different factors intrinsic or extrinsic to a person (or plant or animal) can cause disease. Examples of intrinsic factors are Genetic disorder or nutritional deficiencies. An environmental exposure, such as
second-hand smoke is an example of an extrinsic factor. Many diseases result from a combination of intrinsic and extrinsic factors. For many diseases a cause cannot be identified.
There are many different factors that can cause disease. These can be broadly categorized into the following categories like
social,
psychological, chemical and
biological. Some factors may fall into more than one category. Biochemical causes of disease can be considered as a
spectrum where at one extreme disease is caused entirely by genetic factors (e.g. CAG repeats in the
Huntingtin gene that causes Huntington's Disease) and at the other extreme is caused entirely by environmental factors. Environmental factors include
toxic chemicals (e.g. acetaldehyde in
cigarette smoke and
dioxins released from the breakdown of
Agent Orange) and infectious agents (e.g.
smallpox virus and poliovirus). In between these extremes genes (e.g. NOD2/CARD15) and environmental factors (e.g. Gut microbiota) interact to cause disease, as seen for example in the inflammatory bowel disease Crohn's Disease (Fig 1, right). Absence of the genetic or environmental factors in this case results in disease not being manifest.
Koch's postulates can be used to determine whether a disease is caused by an infectious agent.
To determine whether a disease is caused by genetic factors, researchers study the pattern inheritance of the disease in families. This provides
qualitative information about the disease (how it is inherited). A classic example of this method of research is inheritance of
hemophilia in the British Royal Family. More recently this research has been used to identify the Apoliprotein E (ApoE) gene as a susceptibility gene for Alzheimer's Disease, though some forms of this gene - ApoE2 - are associated with a lower susceptibility. To determine to what extent a disease is caused by genetic factors (
quantitative information), twin studies are used. Monozygotic twins are genetically identical and likely share a similar environment whereas
dizygotic twins are genetically similar and likely share a similar environment. Thus by comparing the incidence of disease (termed concordance rate) in monozygotic twins with the incidence of disease in dizygotic twins, the extent to which genes contribute to disease can be determined. Candidate disease genes can be identified using a number of methods. One is to look for
mutants of a
model organism (e.g. the organisms
Mus musculus,
Drosophila melanogaster,
Caenhorhabditis elegans,
Brachydanio rerio and
Xenopus tropicalis) that have a similar
phenotype to the disease being studied. Another approach is to look for segregation of genes or genetic markers (e.g. single nucleotide polymorphism or expressed sequence tag) (Fig. 2).A large number of SNPs spaced throughout the genome have been identified recently in a large project called the HapMap projectThis review is free of charge). The usefulness of the
HapMap project and
SNP typing and their relevance to society was covered in the 27 October
2005 issue of the leading international science
journal Nature (journal).
A large number of genes have been identified that contribute to human disease. These are available from the US National Library of Medicine, which has an impressive range of biological science resources available for free online. Amongst these resources is Online
Mendelian Inheritance in Man -
OMIM that provides a very, very comprehensive list of all known human gene mutations associated with, and likely contributing to, disease. Each article at OMIM is regularly updated to include the latest scientific research. Additionally, each article provides a detailed history of the research on a given disease gene, with links to the research articles. This resource is highly valuable and is used by the world's top science researchers.
Related concepts
The terms
disease,
disorder,
medical condition are often used interchangeably. There is no agreed-upon universal distinction between these terms, though some people do make distinctions in particular contexts.
Medical usage sometimes distinguishes a
disease, which has a known specific cause or causes (called its
etiology), from a
syndrome, which is a collection of signs or symptoms that occur together. However, many conditions have been identified, yet continue to be referred to as "syndromes." Furthermore, numerous conditions of unknown etiology are referred to as "diseases" in many contexts. Refractory diseases do not respond to therapy by overcoming the
Drug resistance.
Illness, although often used to mean disease, can also refer to a person's
perception of their health, regardless of whether they in fact have a disease. A person without any disease may feel unhealthy and simply have the perception of having an illness. Another person may feel healthy with similar perceptions of perfectly good health. The individual's perception of good health may even persist with the medical diagnosis of having a disease; for example, such as dangerously
arterial hypertension, which may lead to a fatal myocardial infarction or cerebrovascular accident.
Pathology is the study of diseases. The subject of systematic classification of diseases is referred to as nosology. Its cause is referred as its
etiology. The broader body of knowledge about human diseases and their treatments is medicine. Many similar (and a few of the same) conditions or processes can affect non-human animals (wild or domestic). The study of diseases affecting animals is veterinary medicine.
Disease can be thought of as the presence of pathology, which can occur with or without subjective feelings of being unwell or social recognition of that state. Illness as the subjective state of "unwellness" can occur independently of, or in conjunction with, disease or sickness (with sickness the social classification of someone deemed diseased, which can also occur independently of the presence or absence of disease or illness (c.f.
subjective medical conditions). Thus, someone with undetected high blood pressure who feels to be of good health would be diseased, but not ill or sick. Someone with a diagnosis of late-stage cancer would be diseased, probably feeling quite ill, and recognized by others as sick. A person incarcerated in a totalitarian
psychiatric hospital for political purposes could arguably be then said to not be diseased, nor ill, but only classified as sick by the rulers of a society with which the person did not agree. Having had a bad day after a night of excess drinking, one might feel ill, but one would not be diseased, nor is it likely that a boss could be convinced of the sickness.
Transmission of disease
Some diseases such as influenza are contagious or Infectious disease. Infectious diseases can be transmitted by any of a variety of mechanisms, including aerosols produced by coughs and
sneezes, by bites of insects or other carriers of the disease, and from contaminated water or food (possibly by faeces or
urine in the sewage), etc. Also, there are sexually transmitted diseases. When micro-organisms that cannot be spread from person to person might play a role, some diseases can be prevented with proper nutrition. Other diseases such as
cancer and
heart disease are not considered to be caused by infection. The same is true of mental diseases.
Social significance of disease
Living with disease can be very difficult. The identification of a condition as a disease, rather than as simply a variation of human structure or function, can have significant social or economic implications. The controversial recognitions as diseases of
post-traumatic stress disorder, also known as "Soldier's heart," "shell shock," and "combat fatigue;"
repetitive motion injury or repetitive stress injury (RSI); and
Gulf War syndrome has had a number of positive and negative effects on the financial and other responsibilities of governments, corporations and institutions towards individuals, as well as on the individuals themselves. The social implication of viewing
senescence as a disease could be profound, though this classification is not yet widespread.
A condition may be considered to be a disease in some cultures or eras but not in others. Oppositional-defiant disorder, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, and, increasingly,
obesity, are conditions considered to be diseases in the United States and Canada today, but were not so-considered decades ago and are not so-considered in some other countries. Leprosy were a group of afflicted individuals who were historically shunned and the term "leper" still evokes social
stigma. Fear of disease can still be a widespread social phenomena, though not all diseases evoke extreme social stigma.
Sickness confers the social legitimization of certain benefits, such as illness benefits, work avoidance, and being looked after by others. In return, there is an obligation on the sick person to seek treatment and work to become well once more. As a comparison, consider pregnancy, which is not a state interpreted as disease or sickness by the individual. On the other hand, it is considered by the medical community as a condition requiring medical care and by society at large as a condition requiring one's staying at home from work.
Global Disease Burden
This chart, compiled in 2002 from the
World health organization Global Burden of Disease shows an overview of the impact of various classifications of disease, segregated by regions with low and high mortality:
References
3. O'Connor, Hugh - "How humping a goat can cure cancer, and five other cottage cures from Rathfarnam - A historical review" 1997.
External links
- Health Topics, MedlinePlus descriptions of most diseases, with access to current research articles.
- Center for Disease Control Health Topics A-Z, fact sheets about many common diseases
- imedblog, Latest disease and medical news
- National Organization for Rare Disorders Extensive, useful information on rare diseases.
- The Merck Manual, detailed description of most diseases, freely searchable online.
- OMIM Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man - The best web resource for information on genes that cause disease.
- NLM US National Library of Medicine - The most comprehensive database of top quality science information on the web
- Eurekalert A digest of the latest science news.
- Answers to several questions of curious kids related to diseases
- Naked Scientists Podcast A 1hr fun-loving science radio program.
- Nature Podcast A 30 minute digest of the very latest science research reported in the journal Nature.
- HapMap Online
See also
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Definition: disease from Online Medical Dictionary
The Online Medical Dictionary is a searchable dictionary of definitions from medicine, science and technology.
Definition: diseases from Online Medical Dictionary
The Online Medical Dictionary is a searchable dictionary of definitions from medicine, science and technology.
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