Celiac Disease: Causes, Symptoms and Treatments

Celiac Disease: Causes, Symptoms and Treatments Define: Celiac disease is commonly mistaken as a severe food allergy; this is not the case. Celiac disease is an acute auto-immune disorder where, when a person ingests gluten it leads to the injury of the small intestine. Gluten is found in rye, barley and wheat. When someone with celiac disease ingests something with gluten in it, their body overreacts to the gluten and damages their villi. Villi are a very small finger-like feathers found along the wall of the small intestine. When the villi are damaged, the small intestine cant properly absorb nutrients from food. Villi allow nutrients from food to be absorbed through the walls of the small intestine into the bloodstream. Without healthy villi, a person becomes malnourished, it doesnt matter how much food a person eats, theyll never get enough nutrients. Complications Ultimately, this leads to loss in proper nutrition, miscarriages, infertility, cancers and many other serious medical conditions may occur. Malnutrition The injury to the small intestine means the villi cant absorb enough nutrients to maintain a healthy body. Lack of nutrition can lead to weight loss and anemia. In kids, lack of nutrition can cause slowed growth and short height. Osteoporosis Lack ofabsorption of vitamin D and calcium may lead to a softening of the bone in kids and osteoporosis in adults. Miscarriage Infertility Lack of absorption of calcium and vitamin D can help contribute to reproductive problems. Lactose intolerance Injury to your small intestine may cause you to experience abdominal pain and diarrhea after eating dairy products. Cancer Individuals with celiac disease who dont sustain a gluten-free intake have a larger risk of developing numerous forms of cancer, including small bowel cancer and intestinal lymphoma. Neurological problems People with celiac disease can develop neurological disorders such as seizures or peripheral neuropathy. Symptoms: Celiac disease can be hard to diagnose due to some of the symptoms are very similar to other diseases like lactose intolerance and irritable bowel syndrome. chronic diarrhea gas bloating, or a feeling of fullness or swelling in the abdomen constipation nausea stomach pain pale, foul-smelling, or fatty stools that float vomiting delayed puberty failure to thrive in infants damage to the permanent teeths enamel mood changes or feeling annoyed or impatient weight loss slowed growth and short height Causes: The cause for celiac disease is not know as of yet. Studies have shown that celiac disease can be triggered (mayoclinic.org) or be activated after a pregnancy or having surgery or overcoming severe emotional distress. But its still not clear why. Celiac disease can affect anyone anywhere, but there is a pattern. You are more likely to contract it if you have the following (mayoclinic.org): A family member with the celiac disease Down syndrome or turner syndrome Autoimmune thyroid disease Microscopic colitis Type 1 diabetes Addisons disease Down syndrome or turner syndrome Rheumatoid arthritis According to the University of Chicago Medicine the prevalence of celiac disease in the United States is as follows: In average healthy people: 1 in 133 In people with related symptoms: 1 in 56 In people with first-degree relatives (parent, child, sibling) who are celiac: 1 in 22 In people with second-degree relatives (aunt, uncle, cousin) who are celiac: 1 in 39 Age at diagnosis Chance of developing autoimmune condition 4-12 yrs of age 16.7% 12-20 yrs of age 27% Over 20 yrs of age 34% Celiac disease is estimated to range between 0.6 and 1 percent of the worlds population (nytimes.com). Treatment: Celiac disease cannot be cured and currently there are no drugs that treat celiac disease. However, it can be managed. For most people a gluten free diet is the most effective way to prevent flare ups with their small intestine. Eating any amount of gluten, no matter now tiny it may be will can cause damage to the villi of the small intestine and stop a person from gaining the nutrition that they need. Antibody levels take a long time to normalize after a person has stopped consuming gluten and eating just a tiny bit can pitch their entire system out of equilibrium. Eating a gluten free diet isnt as horrible as it may seem. Despite having some harsh dietary restrictions, people with celiac disease can still eat gluten free breads, pastas as well as potato, rice, soy and bean flour! Citations http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/24/opinion/sunday/what-really-causes-celiac-disease.html http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/celiac-disease/home/ovc-20214625 https://www.cureceliacdisease.org/wp-content/uploads/341_CDCFactSheets8_FactsFigures.pdf

Captain Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis De Bernieres Essay

In Corelli’s Mandolin, a novel by Louis de Bernià ©res, minor characters Mandras and Carlo contribute to the complicated relationships between each of the characters. Each individual has an influence on the changing events in the novel and inflict change in the main characters. Though unalike, the two face similar struggles that impact other characters and events in both positive and negative ways. In the end, both minor characters have the same fate. Mandras and Carlo are two minor characters that have a significant impact on the events and other characters of the novel. Mandras is a fisherman who falls in love with Pelagia, but breaks their connection after he leaves for the war. The introduction of Mandras at the beginning of the novel is the start of change and alteration in the plot. He falls in love with Dr. Iannis’ daughter, Pelagia, the moment he lays eyes on her. â€Å"What he thanked Megalo Velicarios for what that in the doctor’s house he first set eyes on Pelagia, the doctor’s daughter.† (21) He inflicts a significant amount of change in Pelagia’s character by catching her attention, and he becomes her first love. Their relationship end as Mandras’s leaves for war, and Pelagia becomes a victim of misunderstanding. â€Å"Unfortunately, my dream of Pelagia was better than Pelagia herself. I can see and hear that she is disgusted with her returning hero, and I knew before I went that I was not good enough for her.† (141) Mandras discovers that he is an unworthy suitor for Pelagia, and he knows that their relationship has ended once she develops a fascination for Captain Antonio Corelli. Read more: Sport captain speech essay

Book Review: Trashing the Planet by Dixy Lee Ray Essay

In Trashing the Planet, Dixy Lee Ray marshals the evidence of knowledge to perforate the fragile hot air balloons of the global warming, ozone reduction, and acid rain theorists. With scientific facts and sound philosophy she also demolished the nonsensical arguments behind the hysterical crusades against pesticides, alar, dioxin, PCBs, radon, asbestos, and nuclear power. Few of us have escaped the green propaganda onslaught unscathed; virtually everyone has been victimized with needless worries over alleged dangers lurking in the most common and benign substances in our homes, workplaces, and neighborhoods. Few of us have the academic background, the access to the scientific data, and the time to investigate the validity of the continuous outpouring of environmental doomsday scenarios. Ray covers a wide range of environmental topics, including acid rain, the greenhouse effect, ozone depletion, pesticides, etc. She attempts to use available scientific data to â€Å"clarify environmental issues, to separate facts from factoids, to unmask the doom-crying opponents of all progress, and to re-establish a sense of reason and balance with respect to the environment and modern technology.† (Merline, 14) In the course of this exercise, several interesting facts are presented, among them (Merline, 2001): The amount of ultraviolet radiation reaching the earth has decreased since 1974, contrary to what one would expect if the earth’s protective ozone layer (which filters out most of the sun’s ultraviolet rays) has been depleted from the use of chlorofluorocarbons.    Several known carcinogens, such as arsenic, cadmium, and chromium, are found naturally in human cells. As Ray argues, â€Å"it is the dose–the size or amount of exposure [to carcinogens]–that is important.† (Lee Ray, pg. 58) In addition, 11% of the radiation we are exposed to comes from our own bodies. A total of 82% of our exposure to radiation comes from natural sources, including radon, cosmic rays, elements in the earth, etc. The remaining 18% comes from man-made sources such as medical X-rays (11%), nuclear medicine (4%), consumer products (3%). All other sources, including nuclear power, account for less than 1% of our exposure to radiation. (Lee Ray, 1991)    Concerning radon gas, Ray notes that energy conservation as urged by the U.S. government will approximately double the number of cancer deaths due to exposure to radon gas, because â€Å"sealing up a home for the purpose of energy conservation inevitably leads to higher levels of indoor radon.† (Lee Ray, pg. 69) Yet despite this, no warnings have been issued about the dangers of this form of energy conservation. In fact, as Ray points out, â€Å"our government has actively promoted energy-efficient homes with everything from do-it-yourself literature to tax breaks for insulating your home.† (Lee Ray, pg. 78) Ray’s three assertions-that ozone would be produced in the lower atmosphere regardless of human activity, that it is produced by the interaction of sunlight and hydrocarbons, and that those hydrocarbons are largely produced by plants-are, respectively, a technical truth hiding a falsehood, a sloppily garbled half-truth, and a bit of these two mixed with an outright lie. Specifically, sea-level ozone is formed when sunlight splits nitrogen dioxide into nitric oxide and atomic oxygen. The atomic oxygen reacts with molecular oxygen to form ozone. Now it is technically true that, in nature, oxides of nitrogen are produced by certain bacteria, forest fires, and lightning, so that a small amount of sea-level ozone would indeed be produced in the absence of human activity. However, the main source of oxides of nitrogen in southern California is combustion: nitrogen combining with oxygen at high temperatures. So whether it’s from gas water, heaters and ovens, coal-fired power plants, or automobiles, most of the nitrogen dioxide in the air-and, thus, most of the sea-level ozone-is directly produced by human beings. (Lee Ray, 1991) As for Ray’s second claim, hydrocarbons contribute to increasing the level of ozone in smog by a very indirect route. Ozone in the lower atmosphere often reacts with water to form hydroxyl radicals. These hydroxyl radicals will either react with impurities in the air to break them down or react at night with nitrogen dioxide to form nitric acid, which is either washed out of the atmosphere by rain or broken down by sunlight the next day into hydroxyl radicals, nitric oxide, and atomic oxygen (Merline, 2001). In L.A. smog, the soupy mix of unburned and partially burned hydrocarbons reacts with hydroxyl radicals and oxygen to form organic peroxides. These, in turn, react with nitric oxide to form nitrogen dioxide. By generating even more nitrogen dioxide than was produced by combustion, these peroxides contribute more of the source material that sunlight will turn into ozone (Lee Ray, 1991). Thus, the ozone level goes up when hydrocarbons are added to the soup, but ozone is not created by a simple interaction between sunlight and hydrocarbons, as Dr. Ray asserted. As for Ray’s third claim-that hydrocarbons come from trees-here she was particularly devious. Her characterization of hydrocarbons as those wonderful things that you smell coming off pine trees is technically correct to the degree that the terpenes, which are indeed given off by trees, are a family of hydrocarbons. (One of these terpenes is pinene, which gives pine trees their pleasant smell; terpenes also react with oxygen and ozone to form a bluish haze in forested areas.) However, hydrocarbons comprise a huge family of compounds, encompassing everything from methane (natural gas) to such plastics as polyethylene, polypropylene, and polystyrene (Styrofoam) (Lee Ray, 1991). Just as the hydrocarbons in smog are not from Styrofoam, neither are they from trees; they are, in fact, unburned gasoline vapors-compounds such as ethane and ethylene. Moreover, pinene reacts with ozone to form pinol, which combines with water to form a hydrate that has a melting point higher than the boiling point of water. (Merline, 2001) As for my assertion to the thoughts developed by Dixy Ray that acid rain releases plant nutrients and is thus beneficial to forests, this is a sterling example of twisting the truth. The acidity of rain does, indeed, break down silicates and oxides, converting them to clay and sandy soils, and releasing ions of such beneficial metallic elements as sodium, potassium, magnesium, calcium, iron, and manganese in the process. However, when the rain is too acidic, it not only burns the leaves of trees but can also release aluminum ions, which are toxic to fish, into rivers and lakes. Much of the concern voiced by environmentalists stems from a belief that technological advances are fouling our nest. The author takes pains to point out that technology often improves our environment, making it safer and cleaner for humans to live in. One example is with food irradiation. Deemed harmless by several heath groups, including the World Health Organization, irradiation helps to eliminate microorganisms that can cause food spoilage. Despite the obvious benefits to consumers from low spoilage rates, many consumer groups have fought irradiation for health reasons. References Lee Ray, Dixy (with Lou Guzzo). 1991. Trashing the Planet: How Science Can Help Us Deal With Acid Rain, Depletion of the Ozone Layer, and Nuclear Waste (Among Other Things). Regnery Gateway. Retrieved on October 6, 2006. Merline, J.W. 2001. Trashing the planet. Consumers’ Research Magazine. Retrieved on October 6, 2006.

The Catcher in the Rye Quotes

J.D. Salinger’s use of informal language in The Catcher in the Rye is part of the novel’s enduring popularity. But the writing style wasn’t chosen simply to make it accessible; Salinger mimics the patterns and rhythm of a story being told orally, giving readers the almost subliminal sense that they’re listening to Holden Caulfield instead of reading a book. The result is a powerful sense of the character despite his obvious unreliability and tendency to lie, and the ability to pull almost any quote from the novel and find plenty of meaning and symbolism. â€Å"‛Up home we wear a hat like that to shoot deer in, for Chrissake,’ he said. ‛That’s a deer shooting hat.Like hell it is.’ I took it off and looked at it. I sort of closed one eye, like I was taking aim at it. ‛This is a people shooting hat,’ I said. ‛I shoot people in this hat.’† Holden’s red hunting cap is ridiculous, and there is plenty of evidence that he’s aware of that fact, aware that walking around an urban setting wearing a bright red hunting cap is weird. On a surface level—surface because it’s the obvious reason for the cap that Holden himself admits to—the cap symbolizes Holden’s independent spirit, his determination to not be like everyone else. This quote demonstrates Holden’s own perception of the hat as a disruptive tool, a layer of protective armor that allows him to attack the people he meets, if only in his mind. Holden’s misanthropy grows steadily throughout the novel as people he admires disappoint him and those he despises confirm his suspicions, and the red hunting cap symbolizes his willingness to shoot those people, or attack them and insult them. â€Å"The trouble was, that kind of junk is sort of fascinating to watch, even if you don’t want it to be.† As Holden observes the perverts at the hotel, he feels conflicted. He admits to being fascinated, but he’s also clearly disapproving. His sense of helplessness is part of his emotional collapse—Holden doesn’t want to grow up, but his body is outside his control, which is terrifying to him. â€Å"The best thing, though, in that museum was that everything always stayed right where it was. Nobody’d move ... Nobody’d be different. The only thing that would be different would be you.† Unlike the ducks, which disturb Holden due to their regular disappearance, he finds comfort in the museum he takes Phoebe to, reveling in its static nature. No matter how long he stays away, the exhibits and the experience remain the same. This is comforting to Holden, who is terrified of change and who feels wholly unprepared to grow up and accept his mortality—and his responsibility. â€Å"The part that got me was, there was a lady sitting next to me that cried all through the goddam picture. The phonier it got, the more she cried. Youd have thought she did it because she was kindhearted as hell, but I was sitting right next to her, and she wasnt. She had this little kid with her that was bored as hell and had to go to the bathroom, but she wouldnt take him. She kept telling him to sit still and behave himself. She was about as kindhearted as a goddam wolf.† There are many quotes about the phonies that Holden meets and his low opinion of them, but this quote in the middle of the story expresses Holden’s true problem with it. It’s not so much that people put on airs and pretend to be something they’re not, it’s that they care about the wrong things. For Holden, what offends him here is that the woman is becoming emotional about the fake people on the screen while ignoring her unhappy child. To Holden, it should always be the other way around. This gets to the core of Holden’s war against time and maturity. As people get older, he sees them consistently ignoring what he thinks is important in favor of things he considers less so. He worries that by giving in and growing up he will forget Allie and start caring about fake things like the movies instead. â€Å"I walked all around the whole damn lake – I damn near fell in once, in fact – but I didnt see a single duck. I thought maybe if there were any around, they might be asleep or something near the edge of the water, near the grass and all. Thats how I nearly fell in. But I couldnt find any.† Holden’s obsession with death and mortality drives the entire story, as it’s heavily implied that his emotional troubles and difficulties in school began when his brother Allie died a few years before the story opens. Holden is terrified that nothing lasts, that everything—including himself—will die and disappear like his brother did. The ducks symbolize this fear, as they are a feature of his past, a fond memory that is suddenly gone, leaving no trace. At the same time, the ducks are also a sign of hope for Holden. They represent a comforting constant, because Holden knows that when the weather warms up again the ducks will return. This adds a faint note of hope that is amplified by the revelation at the end of the novel that Holden is telling his story from a place of safety and calm, implying that for Holden the ducks have finally returned. â€Å"Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobodys around—nobody big, I mean—except me. And Im standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff—I mean if theyre running and they dont look where theyre going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. Thats all Id do all day. Id just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know its crazy, but thats the only thing Id really like to be. I know its crazy.† This quote not only gives the novel its title, it explains Holden’s fundamental issue in a beautiful, poetic way. Holden sees maturity as inherently bad—growing up leads to corruption and phoniness, and finally death. Everything Holden has observed in his life has told him that his brother Allie and his sister Phoebe are perfect in their childhood innocence, but will become like all of Holden’s despised schoolmates, teachers, and other adults in due time. He wishes to stop that passage of time and freeze everyone at a more innocent point in their lives. Crucially, Holden sees himself as all alone in this endeavor—the only person willing to attempt this feat, or qualified to do so. The fact that the song Holden’s mis-remembers—Coming Through the Rye—is actually about people sneaking into the fields to have illicit sexual encounters makes Holden’s immaturity obvious. It’s also another example of something Holden believes to be pure and innocent being corrupted and ruined by adult sensibilities, even if he’s not aware of the fact in the story.