ACE inhibitors : A drug that inhibits ACE (angiotensin converting enzyme) which is important to the formation of angiotensin II. Angiotensin II causes arteries in the body to constrict and thereby raises the blood pressure. ACE inhibitors lower the blood pressure by inhibiting the formation of angiotensin II. This relaxes the arteries. Relaxing the arteries not only lowers blood pressure, but also improves the pumping efficiency of a failing heart and improves cardiac output in patients with heart failure. ACE inhibitors are therefore used for blood pressure control and congestive heart failure .
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Alcohol: An organic chemical in which one or more hydroxyl (OH) groups are attached to carbon (C) atoms in place of hydrogen (H) atoms. Common alcohols include ethyl alcohol or ethanol (found in alcoholic beverages), methyl alcohol or methanol (can cause blindness) and propyl alcohol or propanol (used as a solvent and antiseptic ). Rubbing alcohol is a mixture of acetone , methyl isobutyl ketone, and ethyl alcohol. In everyday talk, alcohol usually refers to ethanol as, for example, in wine, beer, and liquor. It can cause changes in behavior and be addictive.
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Angiotensin: A family of peptides (smaller than proteins) that act as vasoconstrictors to narrow blood vessels.
Blood: The familiar red fluid in the body that contains white and red blood cells, platelets, proteins, and other elements. The blood is transported throughout the body by the circulatory system. Blood functions in two directions: arterial and venous. Arterial blood is the means by which oxygen and nutrients are transported to tissues while venous blood is the means by which carbon dioxide and metabolic by-products are transported to the lungs and kidneys, respectively, for removal from the body.
Blood pressure: The blood pressure is the pressure of the blood within the arteries. It is produced primarily by the contraction of the heart muscle. It's measurement is recorded by two numbers. The first (systolic pressure) is measured after the heart contracts and is highest. The second (diastolic pressure) is measured before the heart contracts and lowest. A blood pressure cuff is used to measure the pressure. Elevation of blood pressure is called "hypertension".
Caffeine: A stimulant found naturally in coffee beans, tea leaves, cocoa beans (chocolate) and kola nuts (cola) and added to soft drinks, foods, and medicines. A cup of coffee has 100-250 milligrams of caffeine. Black tea brewed for 4 minutes has 40-100 milligrams. Green tea has one-third as much caffeine as black tea.
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Creatinine: A chemical waste molecule that is generated from muscle metabolism. Creatinine is produced from creatine, a molecule of major importance for energy production in muscles. Approximately 2% of the body's creatine is converted to creatinine every day. Creatinine is transported through the bloodstream to the kidneys. The kidneys filter out most of the creatinine and dispose of it in the urine.
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Diabetes: Refers to diabetes mellitus or, less often, to diabetes insipidus . Diabetes mellitus and diabetes insipidus share the name "diabetes" because they are both conditions characterized by excessive urination (polyuria).
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Dialysis: The process of cleansing the blood by passing it through a special machine. Dialysis is necessary when the kidneys are not able to filter the blood. Dialysis allows patients with kidney failure a chance to live productive lives. There are two types of dialysis: hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis. Each type of dialysis has advantages and disadvantages. Patients can often choose the type of long term dialysis that best matches their needs.
Diastolic: Referring to the time when the heart is in a period of relaxation and dilatation (expansion).
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Disease: Illness or sickness often characterized by typical patient problems (symptoms) and physical findings (signs). Disruption sequence: The events that occur when a fetus that is developing normally is subjected to a destructive agent such as the rubella (German measles) virus.
Diuretic: Anything that promotes the formation of urine by the kidney. (The word "diuretic" comes from a combination of the Greek "dia-", thoroughly + "ourein", to urinate = to urinate thoroughly).
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End-stage renal disease: ESRD. Chronic irreversible renal failure.
Enzyme: A protein (or protein-based molecule) that speeds up a chemical reaction in a living organism. An enzyme acts as catalyst for specific chemical reactions , converting a specific set of reactants (called substrates) into specific products. Without enzymes, life as we know it would not exist.
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ESRD: End-stage renal disease.
Glomerular: Pertaining to the glomerulus, a tiny structure in the kidney that filters the blood to form urine.
Health: As officially defined by the World Health Organization, a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.
Heart: The muscle that pumps blood received from veins into arteries throughout the body. It is positioned in the chest behind the sternum (breastbone; in front of the trachea, esophagus, and aorta; and above the diaphragm muscle that separates the chest and abdominal cavities. The normal heart is about the size of a closed fist, and weighs about 10.5 ounces. It is cone-shaped, with the point of the cone pointing down to the left. Two-thirds of the heart lies in the left side of the chest with the balance in the right chest.
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Heart disease: Any disorder that affects the heart. Sometimes the term "heart disease" is used narrowly and incorrectly as a synonym for coronary artery disease. Heart disease is synonymous with cardiac disease but not with cardiovascular disease which is any disease of the heart or blood vessels. Among the many types of heart disease, see, for example: Angina; Arrhythmia; Congenital heart disease; Coronary artery disease (CAD); Dilated cardiomyopathy; Heart attack (myocardial infarction); Heart failure; Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy; Mitral regurgitation; Mitral valve prolapse; and Pulmonary stenosis.
High blood pressure : Also known as hypertension, high blood pressure is, by definition, a repeatedly elevated blood pressure exceeding 140 over 90 mmHg -- a systolic pressure above 140 with a diastolic pressure above 90.
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Hypertension: High blood pressure , defined as a repeatedly elevated blood pressure exceeding 140 over 90 mmHg -- a systolic pressure above 140 with a diastolic pressure above 90.
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Kidney: One of a pair of organs located in the right and left side of the abdomen which clear "poisons" from the blood, regulate acid concentration and maintain water balance in the body by excreting urine. The kidneys are part of the urinary tract. The urine then passes through connecting tubes called "ureters" into the bladder. The bladder stores the urine until it is released during urination.
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Kidney transplant: Replacement of a diseased, damaged, or missing kidney with a donor kidney. Also called a renal transplant.
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Metabolic: Relating to metabolism, the whole range of biochemical processes that occur within us (or any living organism). Metabolism consists of anabolism (the buildup of substances) and catabolism (the breakdown of substances).
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NHLBI: Stands for the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, one of the National Institutes of Health in the U.S. The NHLBI's mission is to "provide leadership for a national research program in diseases of the heart, blood vessels, lungs, and blood and in transfusion medicine through support of innovative basic, clinical, and population-based and health education research."
NIH: The National Institutes of Health. The NIH is an important U.S. health agency. It is devoted to medical research. Administratively under the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the NIH consists of 20-some separate Institutes and Centers. NIH's program activities are represented by these Institutes and Centers.
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Nutrition : 1) The science or practice of taking in and utilizing foods. 2) A nourishing substance, such as nutritional solutions delivered to hospitalized patients via an IV or IG tube.
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Protein: A large molecule composed of one or more chains of amino acids in a specific order determined by the base sequence of nucleotides in the DNA coding for the protein.
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Proteinuria: Excess protein in the urine. Some protein is normal in the urine. Too much means protein is leaking through the kidney, most often through the glomeruli. The main protein in human blood and the key to the regulation of the osmotic pressure of blood is albumin. Proteinuria is synonymous with albuminuria.
Race: An ethnic stock or division of humans. Naturalists and ethnographers have long divided humans into a variable number of distinct races. However, DNA and other genetic studies have revealed that that most genetic variation, about 94%, is within so-called racial groups while these racial groupings differ from one another only in about 6% of their genes. This means that there is greater genetic variation within racial groups than between them. The concept of race is a superficial and subjective one. All of humankind is a single species.
Range: In medicine and statistics, the difference between the lowest and highest numerical values. For example, if five premature infants are born weighing two, three, four, four, and five pounds respectively, the range of their birth weights is two to five pounds.
Receptor: 1. In cell biology, a structure on the surface of a cell (or inside a cell) that selectively receives and binds a specific substance. There are many receptors. There is a receptor for ( insulin ; there is a receptor for low-density lipoproteins ( LDL ); etc. To take an example, the receptor for substance P, a molecule that acts as a messenger for the sensation of pain , is a unique harbor on the cell surface where substance P docks. Without this receptor, substance P cannot dock and cannot deliver its message of pain. Variant forms of nuclear hormone receptors mediate processes such as cholesterol metabolism and fatty acid production. Some hormone receptors are implicated in diseases such as diabetes and certain types of cancer. A receptor called PXR appears to jump-start the body's response to unfamiliar chemicals and may be involved in drug-drug interactions.
2. In neurology, a terminal of a sensory nerve that receives and responds to stimuli.
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Renal: Having to do with the kidney. From the Latin renes (the kidneys), which gave the French les reins which mean both the kidneys and the lower back.
Salt: In medicine, salt usually refers to sodium chloride, table salt, used for seasoning food, for the preservation of meat, etc. Salt is found in the earth and in sea water and is isolated by evaporation and crystallization from sea water and other water impregnated with particles of salt.
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Serum: The clear liquid that can be separated from clotted blood. Serum differs from plasma, the liquid portion of normal unclotted blood containing the red and white cells and platelets. It is the clot that makes the difference between serum and plasma.
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Sign: Any objective evidence of disease. Gross blood in the stool is a sign of disease. It can be recognized by the patient, doctor, nurse, or others. In contrast, a symptom is, by its nature, subjective. Abdominal pain is a symptom. It is something only the patient can know.
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Sodium: The major positive ion (cation) in fluid outside of cells. The chemical notation for sodium is Na+. When combined with chloride, the resulting substance is table salt.
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Systolic: The blood pressure when the heart is contracting. It is specifically the maximum arterial pressure during contraction of the left ventricle of the heart. The time at which ventricular contraction occurs is called systole.
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Therapy: The treatment of disease .
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Transplant: The grafting of a tissue from one place to another, just as in botany a bud from one plant might be grafted onto the stem of another. The transplanting of tissue can be from one part of the patient to another (autologous transplantation), as in the case of a skin graft using the patient's own skin; or from one patient to another (allogenic transplantation), as in the case of transplanting a donor kidney into a recipient.
Urine: Liquid waste. The urine is a clear, transparent fluid. It normally has an amber color. The average amount of urine excreted in 24 hours is from 40 to 60 ounces (about 1,200 cubic centimeters). Chemically, the urine is mainly an aqueous (watery) solution of salt (sodium chloride) and substances called urea and uric acid. Normally, it contains about 960 parts of water to 40 parts of solid matter. Abnormally, it may contain sugar (in diabetes), albumen (a protein) (as in some forms of kidney disease), bile pigments (as in jaundice), or abnormal quantities of one or another of its normal components.
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From the Doctors at MedicineNet.com  |
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- Dialysis - Dialysis is a procedure that performs many of the normal duties of the kidneys, like filtering waste products from the blood, when the kidneys no longer work adequately. There are two types of dialysis: hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis. Source:MedicineNet
- Hemodialysis (Treatment for Kidney Failure) - Read about hemodialysis, a treatment for kidney failure using an advanced dialysis machine to remove waste products from the blood, and then returning the clean blood to the patient. Source:Government
- Kidney Failure - Learn about kidney failure, in which the body has fluid retention, risen blood pressure, toxin build up and lack of red blood cells. Symptoms include fatigue, nausea, and apetite loss. Source:MedicineNet
- Read 48 more Kidney Disease (Hypertension-Related) related articles ...
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