Facts about asthma

1. The word asthma is derived from the Greek άσθμα, ásthma, "panting".
2. Asthma is caused by environmental and genetic factors.
3. Asthma symptoms include wheezing, coughing, chest tightness, and shortness of breath.
4. Each year, more than 300 million people are affected worldwide.
5. Asthma is primarily treated with medicines taken via inhalers. Usually with a combination of preventer and reliever inhalers.
6. Eleven people die from asthma every day in the United States.
7. One in 15 Americans suffer from asthma.
8. More women die of asthma than men.
9. Asthma is the most common chronic childhood disease.
10. Females account for nearly 65 percent of asthma deaths overall.
11. Fifty percent of asthma cases are “allergic-asthma.”
12. Forty-four percent of all asthma hospitalizations are for children.
13. Blacks are three times more likely to die from asthma than whites.
14. Treatment of acute symptoms is usually with an inhaled short-acting beta-2 agonist (such as salbutamol).
15. In contrast to emphysema, asthma affects the bronchi, not the alveoli.
16. Insufficient levels of vitamin D are linked with severe asthma attacks.

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Blood donation - some facts

• In the developed world, most blood donors are unpaid volunteers who give blood for a community supply.
• A donor can also have blood drawn for their own future use.
• More than 38,000 blood donations are needed every day in the United States.
• One out of every seven people admitted in a hospital needs blood.
• In the U.S. donors must wait 8 weeks between whole blood donations.
• A directed donation is when a person, often a family member, donates blood for transfusion to a specific individual.
• The blood type most often requested by hospitals is Type O
• One pint of blood can save up to three lives.
• A single car accident victim can require as many as one-hundred units of blood.
• The demand for blood transfusions is growing faster than donations
• Less than 38% of the U.S. population is eligible to donate blood.
• One year: how long frozen plasma can be stored.
• The American Red Cross supplies approximately 45% of the nation's blood supply.
• 43,000 pints: amount of donated blood used each day in the United States and Canada.

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Some facts about Botulinum toxin (Botox)

Botulinum toxin is a protein best known by one of its trade names, Botox or Dysport, it is used for various medical and cosmetic procedures.

Botulism toxins are produced by these bacteria: Clostridium botulinum, C. baratii, C. argentinense and C. butyricum.

It was Justinus Kerner, a German physician, who first coined the name botulism (from Latin botulus meaning "sausage").

In 1980, Alan Scott, M.D officially used botulinum toxin type A (BTX-A) for the first time in humans to treat strabismus "crossed eyes", and "uncontrollable blinking" (blepharospasm).

In December 1989, Botox manufactured by Allergan, Inc., was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Studies have shown that 90 percent of blepharospasm notice a significant reduction in twitches for 4 to 6 months after having botox injections around the eyes.

Botox injections can safely reduce underarm sweat for up to 2 years.

4 kg (8.8 pounds) of the botulism toxin, if evenly distributed, would be more than enough to kill the entire human population of the world.

Even though Botox is derived from a potentially toxic substance, it is given is such small amounts that it poses no risk to health.

In cosmetics, a Botox injection, can be used to prevent formation of wrinkles by paralyzing facial muscles.

Botox injection is the most common cosmetic operation in the United States.

The wrinkle preventing effect of Botox lasts for approximately 3 to 4 months, up to six months.

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Fast facts about eczema

• Eczema is a form of inflamation of the epidermis.
• In England, 1 in every 9 people have been diagnosed with eczema by a clinician at some point in their lives.
• In some languages, eczema and dermatitis are synonymous.
• Some studies provide hints that food allergy may trigger atopic dermatitis.
• Xerotic eczema is very common among the older population.
• 51 percent of hospital episodes for dermatitis and eczema are for women in England.
• The hygiene hypothesis postulates that the cause of asthma, eczema and other allergic diseases, is an unusually clean environment.
• No cure is presently known for most types of dermatitis.
• Three days are the median length of stay in hospitals for dermatitis and eczema in England.
• Prevalance Rate for Eczema in the United States: approx 5.51% or 15 million people.

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Fast facts about epilepsy

• Epilepsy is a common chronic neurological disorder characterized by recurrent unprovoked seizures.
• Approximately 1 in 100 teenagers has it.
• About 50,000,000 people worldwide have epilepsy, with almost ninety percent of these people being in developing countries.
• Epilepsy is not contagious.
• Over thirty percent  of people with epilepsy do not have seizure control even with the best available medications.
• Seizures happen when there's a brief glitch in the brain's electrical activity.
• Famous people with epilepsy: Julius Caesar, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Florence Griffith Joyner, Margaux Hemingway, Vladimir Lenin, Adam Horovitz and Prince.
• Up to five percent of the world’s population may have a seizure at some time in their lives.
• Approximately seventy percent of people who have epilepsy surgery become seizure free.
• About 2.7 million of the U.S. population have Epilepsy.
• People with a history of depression are three to seven times more likely to develop epilepsy than the average person.

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