Public Health and Medical Therapies

Posted on Sep 5, 2024 in Biology

Public Health and Health

Public health and health is the set of activities and services to promote, protect, and restore the health of people.

  • Promote: healthy habits, health education, preventive medicine, such as hygiene.
  • Protect: health care and environmental control, for example, water treatment and disinfection, solid waste and wastewater, food safety, etc.
  • Restore: diagnosis, treatment (medicine, surgery, transplants, etc.)

Vaccine and Serum

Vaccine: is an artificially prepared material from dead or attenuated microorganisms that can lead to an immune response in the body.

Serum: is the liquid part of blood that contains no blood cells. It contains natural antibodies.

Differences:

  • The vaccine is used to prevent diseases, while the serum is applied when the patient is sick.
  • Vaccines train the body to produce antibodies and provide long-lasting immunity, whereas the serum has immediate action but is of short duration.

Diagnosis

Diagnosis is the process for identifying a disease and determining its cause.

a) Invasive:

  • Extraction of blood and urine: to carry out a biochemical analysis.
  • Biopsy: the removal of a small portion of tissue for further examination in the laboratory.
  • Catheterization: A catheter is inserted into an artery to reach the heart and get a picture of the inside of the heart.
  • Endoscopy: an endoscope is inserted inside the body through an orifice (mouth, anus, or surgical incision) to visualize the inside of a hollow body cavity.

b) Non-invasive:

  • Radiography: an image is recorded on a photographic plate of an object that is passed through X-rays. The denser parts appear more gray in tone.
  • Ultrasound: uses sound waves that crash onto the organs of the body, bounce, and produce echoes that are processed electronically and converted into images on a screen.
  • Electrocardiogram: is the graph obtained by measuring the heart’s electrical activity.
  • Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR): allows visualization of the inside of the body in a detailed and precise manner, in three dimensions.
  • Computed Tomography (CT): is an X-ray examination using a system that rotates around the body part being observed. The images obtained are processed by computer to obtain a final three-dimensional image.
  • Positron Emission Tomography (PET): is a technique that measures the metabolic activity of cells and is based on the analysis of the distribution within the body of a substance like glucose attached to a radiopharmaceutical that emits positrons and is administered through injection.

Medical Therapy

Medical therapy is the set of procedures (pharmacological, physical, and psychical) used to combat, cure, or alleviate the suffering of a disease.

Types of Medical Therapies:

  • Surgery: involves direct manipulation of the organism to establish an accurate diagnosis or to repair damage to anatomical organs in order to cure the disease.
  • Disinfectants: are substances used to destroy microorganisms that may be found on objects (e.g., alcohol, bleach).
  • Antiseptics: are used on living tissue.
  • Medication: a preparation made from a drug dose in a specific form and is intended to cure, mitigate, prevent, or diagnose disease. Forms: solid, semisolid, liquid, gaseous. Administration: orally, rectal, dermal, inhalation, subcutaneous.

Drug Development:

  • Phase 1: Discovery: substances are selected and tested in vitro to see the reaction of cells and then tested in vivo in animals.
  • Phase 2: Development and Clinical Trials: intended to check the safety in people and their effectiveness.

Patent: a right granted by a state for the operation of a discovery. Its validity is 20 years and allows the company that owns it to recoup the production costs.

Generic Medicines: are drugs that have the same characteristics as others whose patent has expired and are used as a reference, but are much cheaper.

Orphan Medicines: are those that companies have no interest in developing for financial reasons, since they are intended for rare diseases.

Transplanting

Transplanting is a surgical technique intended to replace an organ or irreversibly damaged tissue from a donor.

  • Autograft: the tissues are from the same individual.
  • Isotransplant: the organs or tissues are derived from an individual of the same species who is genetically identical, for example, a twin.
  • Allograft: when the donor and recipient are of the same species but genetically different.
  • Xenotransplantation: when the donor and recipient belong to different species.

Problems may include:

  • Shortage of organs
  • Rejection

Natural and Alternative Therapies

  • Homeopathy: the belief that certain substances that can produce symptoms similar to those of the disease may be curative in the right dose.
  • Acupuncture: insertion of fine needles into specific points on the body to restore the body’s energy flows.
  • Reflexology: stimulation of the body by manipulation, pressure, and massage on specific points of the foot, hand, and ear, based on the assumption that each organ has a connection with them.
  • Osteopathy or Chiropractic: manual manipulation of bones, muscles, and joints to diagnose and treat certain dysfunctions, aimed at pain relief.
  • Mind-Body Therapies: focuses on the interaction between body, brain, mind, behavior, and the direct influence they have on physical, emotional, mental, and social health (e.g., relaxation, hypnosis, and meditation).

Blood Pressure

Blood pressure is the pressure with which blood circulates.

  • Maximum or Systolic: is the maximum value of the tension during systole.
  • Minimum or Diastolic: is the minimum value of the tension during diastole.