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Living with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)

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Irri­ta­ble bow­el syn­drome (IBS) is a func­tion­al dis­or­der of the colon that caus­es a vari­ety of uncom­fort­able gas­troin­testi­nal symp­toms. In addi­tion to affect­ing between 25 – 55 mil­lion peo­ple in the Unit­ed States, IBS is the sec­ond high­est cause of ill­ness-relat­ed work absences. Dur­ing nor­mal diges­tion, your brain and gut work togeth­er to send sig­nals to your hor­mones, nerves and the good bac­te­ria found in your gut to acti­vate the mus­cles of your colon. When you are expe­ri­enc­ing an IBS episode, these sig­nals become jum­bled, caus­ing the mus­cles of your diges­tive tract to become tense. This leads to symp­toms such as con­sti­pa­tion or diar­rhea, gas and stom­ach cramp­ing. IBS symp­toms and their sever­i­ty vary by per­son, but often include:

What is Pulmonary Function Testing?

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Pul­monary func­tion tests (PFTs) are a series of non-inva­sive diag­nos­tic tests that mea­sure how well your lungs work and can be used to help diag­nose cer­tain lung dis­or­ders. Pul­monary func­tion tests’ is an inclu­sive term that refers to many dif­fer­ent pro­ce­dures that mea­sure how your lungs work in dif­fer­ent ways. Specif­i­cal­ly these tests mea­sure how well you are able to breathe and how well your lungs are able to sup­ply oxy­gen to your body by mea­sur­ing your lung vol­umes, capac­i­ties, rates of flow and gas exchange.

How Planning Ahead Can Reduce Your Chance of Becoming Sick While Traveling

Trav­el­ing is a great way to expe­ri­ence new things and make last­ing mem­o­ries. Devel­op­ing an ill­ness while you’re away from home can be stress­ful and have a sig­nif­i­cant impact on your plans. Whether you’re trav­el­ing local­ly or out­side of the Unit­ed States (U.S.), it’s impor­tant to be aware of the pos­si­ble health risks you may encounter on your trip and have a plan to min­i­mize them and address any symp­toms that may devel­op, should you become ill. Infec­tious Dis­ease and Trav­el Med­i­cine physi­cian, Noziana Aftab, MD, shares tips to keep you healthy while you’re on-the-go.

What's Behind the Rise in Mouth and Throat Cancer?

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An esti­mat­ed 53,000 peo­ple are diag­nosed with mouth or throat can­cers each year in the Unit­ed States. These can­cers can be found on your gums, lips, sali­vary glands, tongue, ton­sils and oth­er parts of your mouth and throat. Tra­di­tion­al­ly, these can­cers are more like­ly to occur in men, typ­i­cal­ly over the age of 55, and have been pri­mar­i­ly linked to tobac­co and alco­hol use. While the over­all rate of mouth and throat can­cer cas­es is declin­ing, the rate of throat can­cer cas­es diag­nosed in younger adults and linked to HPV infec­tion are on the rise.