Dr. Perlstein received his Medical Degree from the University of Cincinnati and then completed his internship and residency in pediatrics at The New York Hospital, Cornell medical Center in New York City. After serving an additional year as Chief Pediatric Resident, he worked as a private practitioner and then was appointed Director of Ambulatory Pediatrics at St. Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx.
Dr. Shiel received a Bachelor of Science degree with honors from the University of Notre Dame. There he was involved in research in radiation biology and received the Huisking Scholarship. After graduating from St. Louis University School of Medicine, he completed his Internal Medicine residency and Rheumatology fellowship at the University of California, Irvine. He is board-certified in Internal Medicine and Rheumatology.
The flu is a serious illness that can be fatal in people
whose immune systems are weakened, the elderly, and those with chronic medical
conditions. Each year 30,000-35,000 people die in the U.S. from the flu or its
complications. Even healthy people who develop the flu cannot work, attend school,
or participate in normal activities for several days. Complications of the flu
can develop in anyone and include pneumonia, ear infections, sinus infections,
or bronchitis. These bacterial infections can develop as a complication of the flu because the body's immune system is weakened from the illness.
If you get the flu, there are treatments that can reduce both the intensity
and duration of your suffering:
Over-the-counter medications such as pain relievers,
decongestants, and antihistamines can reduce the severity of your symptoms,
but these are not treatments for the viral infection itself. There are
over-the-counter flu preparations available that combine these types of
medications. (Remember that aspirin should not be
given to those under 18 years of age because of its association with Reye
syndrome, a serious
condition that affects the nervous system and the liver.)
Diagnosing Reye's syndrome primarily depends on the clinical history of symptoms.
The most common abnormal laboratory tests with Reye's syndrome include elevated liver enzymes, elevated ammonia levels, and low serum glucose levels.
Treatment is supportive, and even with treatment severe cases result in permanent brain damage and death.
Since educating parents about the dangers of aspirin use, the incidence of Reye's syndrome has decreased markedly.
What is Reye's syndrome?
Reye's syndrome is a rare but often severe and even
fatal illness that primarily occurs in children and adolescents. Children
diagnosed with Reye's syndrome generally present with vomiting and mental-status
changes. The illness can resolve spontaneously or progress to coma and death.
Although the cause is still unclear, studies have identified that there is a
relationship between some viral infections and the use of aspirin medications.
The CDC recommended educating parents about the dangers of treating children
with aspirin in the 1980s, and now the disease occurs very rarely. The syndrome
was initially described in 1963 by Dr. Ralph Douglas Reye.
What causes Reye's syndrome?
Although there has been extensive research into
the cause of Reye's syndrome, it is still not completely understood. As mentioned
above, the use of aspirin or aspirin-containing medications to treat children
with some viral infections including chickenpox,
influenza, and gastroenteritis
has been shown to be associated with the development of the disease. Ultimately,
the causes of symptoms associated with Reye's syndrome relate to dysfunction of
the liver and a resultant increase in serum ammonia levels and other toxins.
These toxins cause increased pressure in the brain and swelling, leading to
brain dysfunction and can progress to death.
Gastroenteritis (viral gastroenteritis, stomach flu) is an infection caused by a variety of viruses that results in vomiting and/or diarrhea. Even though it is often called the "stomach flu," it is not caused by the influenza viruses. Viruses that can cause gastroenteritis (stomach flu) include: rotaviruses, adenoviruses, caliciviruses, astroviruses, Norwalk virus, and a group of Noroviruses. Gastroenteritis is not caused by bacteria. The main symptoms of gastroenteritis include vomiting and watery diarrhea, however, headache, fever, and abdominal cramps (stomach ache) may also be present.
Nausea is an uneasiness of the stomach that often precedes vomiting. Nausea and vomiting are not diseases, but they are symptoms of many conditions. The causes of vomiting differ according to age, and treatment depends upon the cause of nausea and vomiting.
Although a fever technically is any body temperature above the normal of 98.6 degrees F. (37 degrees C.), in practice a person is usually not considered to have a significant fever until the temperature is above 100.4 degrees F (38 degrees C.). Fever is part of the body's own disease-fighting arsenal: rising body temperatures apparently are capable of killing off many disease- producing organisms.
The common cold (viral upper respiratory tract infection) is a contagious illness that may be caused by various viruses. Symptoms include a stuffy nose, headache, cough, sore throat, and maybe a fever. Antibiotics have no effect upon the common cold, and there is no evidence that zinc and vitamin C are effective treatments.
Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) refers to a wide spectrum of liver disease ranging from simple fatty liver (steatosis), to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), to cirrhosis (irreversible, advanced scarring of the liver). All of the stages of NAFLD have in common the accumulation of fat (fatty infiltration) in the liver cells (hepatocytes).
Influenza (flu) is a respiratory illness caused by a virus. Flu symptoms include fever, cough, sore throat, runny nose, headache, fatigue, and muscle aches. The flu may be prevented with an annual influenza vaccination.
Chickenpox (chicken pox) is a contagious childhood disease caused by the varicella-zoster virus. Symptoms have an incubation period of 14 to 16 days and include a couple days of mild fever, weakness, and red, raised rash that progresses to blisters that eventually burst and crust over. Complications include bacterial infection of the open sores, scarring, encephalitis, nerve palsies, and Reye's syndrome.
Encephalopathy means brain disease, damage, or malfunction. Causes of encephalopathy are varied and numerous. The main symptom of encephalopathy is an altered mental state. Other symptoms include lethargy, dementia, seizures, tremors, and coma. Treatment of encephalopathy depends on the type of encephalopathy (anoxia, diabetic, Hashimoto's, hepatic, hyper - hypotensive, infectious, metabolic, infections, uremic, or Wernicke's) are examples of types of encephalopathy.
Rotavirus is the most common cause of severe diarrhea among infants and children throughout the world. Almost all children have become infected with rotavirus by their third birthday. Repeat infections with different viral strains are possible, and most children have several episodes of rotavirus infection in the first years of life. Children between the ages of six and 24 months are at greatest risk for developing severe disease from rotavirus infection. Rotavirus symptoms include: fever, vomiting, watery diarrhea, and abdominal pain. Rotavirus infection can be associated with severe dehydration in infants and children.
Coma is the inability to waken or react to the surrounding environment. The Glasgow Coma Scale is frequently used to measure the depth of coma. Causes of coma include trauma, bleeding, edema, lack of oxygen, poisoning, or hypoglycemia. Prognosis for a patient in a coma depends on the cause of the coma.
Good parenting helps foster empathy, honesty, self-reliance, self-control, kindness, cooperation, and cheerfulness, says Steinberg, a distinguished professor of psychology at Temple University in Philadelphia. It also promotes intellectual curiosity, motivation, and desire to achieve. It helps protect children from developing anxiety, depression, eating disorders, antisocial behavior, and alcohol and drug abuse.
Children's health is focused on the well-being of children from conception through adolescence. There are many aspects of children's health, including growth and development, illnesses, injuries, behavior, mental illness, family health and community health.
The liver, located in the right upper portion of the abdominal cavity just
beneath the right side of the rib cage, has many vital functions. Briefly, some
of these functions are:
Detoxification of blood
Production of important clotting factor and other important proteins
Metabolizing (processing) medications and nutrients
Processing of waste products of hemoglobin
Storing of vitamins, fat, cholesterol, and bile
Production of glucose
What are common liver blood tests?
Liver blood tests are some of the most commonly performed blood tests. These tests can assess liver functions or liver injury. An initial step in detecting liver damage is a simple blood test to determine the presence of certain liver enzymes (proteins) in the blood. Under normal circumstances, these enzymes reside within the cells of the liv...
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