'Peptic ulcer' generally means an ulcer in the lower esophagus, stomach or duodenum. It may be acute or chronic. Fortunately, since the introduction of H. pylori eradication therapy, the prevalence of peptic ulcer is decreasing gradually in many communities.

What causes it:

Management strategy:

In fact, diabetes is quite an expensive disease. If you have diabetes, you are suppose to lose lots of money. That's why, the only cost-effective way of dealing with diabetes is to prevent it.

Leading an affluent lifestyle highly predisposes a person to develop diabetes.

Recent studies have shown that effective health education regarding lifestyle and food habit has a promising impact in the prevention of diabetes.

What is type 2 diabetes?

Type 2 diabetes is a metabolic disorder in which our body does not produce enough insulin or utilize insulin properly. Another name of type 2 diabetes is non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM).

What is prediabetes?

The term 'lipid' refers to substances that are not soluble in water. These include cholesterol, triglyceride, phospholipids etc. Lipids are incorporated into lipoproteins in our body. Of them, low density lipoprotein (LDL) and high density lipoprotein (HDL) are worth mentioning. LDL carries cholesterol from liver to other tissues. Thus there is accumulation of excessive cholesterol plaques within the blood vessels of tissues like heart (resulting in heart attack) , brain (resulting in stroke) etc if LDL is high. That's why, excess LDL is bad for health.

Stroke develops due to focal ischemia (reduced blood supply) or hemorrhage in the brain resulting in focal deficit of brain function (that should last more than 24 hours) . It is the most common cause of physical disability and third most common cause of death in the developed world (after cancer and heart disease) . Two thirds of stroke patients are aged over 60 years. Unfortunately, about one fifth of patients with stroke will die within a month of attack and half of those who survive will be left with physical disability in the long run.

How do you help your children care for their teeth:

Teaching your children proper oral hygiene at a very early age is an important part of growing up. You should start by setting an example for your child. If you take a good care of your own teeth, it sends a message that oral health is something to be valued. Don't dig too far on this aspect, just make it fun. Brush along with them and let them choose their own brush when you are shopping.

For patients with HIV, it is important to maintain a healthy lifestyle in order to keep illness at bay. HIV patients has immune system dysfunction. That means, even the slightest, unusual microbe can cause major harm! Taking regular anti retroviral therapy as well as having a balanced diet are two important ways to stay healthy in an AIDS patient. They should get as many vitamins and minerals through the diet as possible. Remember, micronutrients found in regular food are more potent than those found in supplements. Every AIDS patient should plan a healthy diet and stick to it .

This question comes to physicians in several forms:

"Doctor, please tell me what stage is my cancer?"

"What is the prognosis of my disease condition?"

"Am I going to die soon?"

"Have long have I got?"

They usually asks for a simple answer. Time to live. In real world, however, the answers are far more complex and subtle.

What is placebo?

Placebo is an inert substance believed by a patient to be a drug has effects similar to the actual drug. It's like a ghost that has the ability to heal.

The placebo effect

I've heard this question time and again.

Usually I request my patients to lose weight, do adequate exercise and watch diet, so that calories they burned exceed calories they consumed. I guess, this is a regular old fashioned boring advice.

They don't like it. Though this is the only secret.

Unfortunately, for some people this simple strategy doesn't work. Those who are about to hang up their sneakers and throw in the towel, let me
help you out.