A virus is a small, infectious agent that is made up of a core of genetic material surrounded by a shell of protein. The genetic material (which is responsible for carrying forward hereditary traits from parent cells to offspring) may be either deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) or ribonucleic acid (RNA). Viruses are at the borderline between living and nonliving matter. When they infect a host cell, they are able to carry on many life functions, such as metabolism and reproduction. But outside a host cell, they are as inactive as a grain of sand.

Viruses cause disease by infecting a host cell and taking over its biochemical functions. In order to produce new copies of itself, a virus must use the host cell’s reproductive “machinery.” The newly made viruses then leave the host cell, sometimes killing it in the process, and proceed to infect other cells within the organism.

Viruses can infect plants, bacteria, and animals. The tobacco mosaic virus, one of the most studied of all viruses, infects tobacco plants. Animal viruses cause a variety of diseases, including AIDS (acquired immuno deficiency syndrome), hepatitis, chicken pox, smallpox, polio, measles, rabies, the common cold, and some forms of cancer.

Viruses that affect bacteria are called bacterio-phages, or simply phages (pronounced FAY-jez). Phages are of special importance due to the susceptibility of the virus transmission. The disease Polio (poliomyelitis) in time will be transmitted throughout the bloodstream and the highly viral infectious disease is now spreading in the body.

Poliomyelitis (POLIO) is a viral disease. There are three types of polio0-virus and many strains of each type. The virus enters through the mouth and multiplies in the throat and gastrointestinal tract, then moves into the bloodstream and is carried to the central nervous system where it replicates and destroys the motor neuron cells. Motor neurons control the muscles for swallowing, circulation, respiration, and the trunk, arms, and legs.

Human nerve cells have a protruding protein structure on their surface whose precise function is unknown. When polio-virus encounters the nerve cells, the protruding receptors attach to the virus particle, and infection begins. Once inside the cell, the virus hijacks the cell’s assembly process, and makes thousands of copies of itself in hours. The virus kills the cell and then spreads to infect other cells.

A virus is a small, infectious agent that is made up of a core of genetic material surrounded by a shell of protein. The genetic material (which is responsible for carrying forward hereditary traits from parent cells to offspring) may be either deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) or ribonucleic acid (RNA). Viruses are at the borderline between living and nonliving matter. When they infect a host cell, they are able to carry on many life functions, such as metabolism and reproduction. But outside a host cell, they are as inactive as a grain of sand.

How polio gets into the human body:

Poliomyelitis (POLIO) is a viral disease. There are three types of polio virus and many strains of each type. The virus enters through the mouth and multiplies in the throat and gastrointestinal tract, then moves into the bloodstream and is carried to the central nervous system where it replicates and destroys the motor neuron cells. Motor neurons control the muscles for swallowing, circulation, respiration, and the trunk, arms, and legs.

Human nerve cells have a protruding protein structure on their surface whose precise function is unknown. When polio virus encounters the nerve cells, the protruding receptors attach to the virus particle, and infection begins. Once inside the cell, the virus hijacks the cell’s assembly process, and makes thousands of copies of itself in hours. The virus kills the cell and then spreads to infect other cells.

Polio is spread through person-to-person contact. When a child is infected with wild polio virus, the virus enters the body through the mouth and multiplies in the intestine. It is then shed into the environment through the faces where it can spread rapidly through a community, especially in situations of poor hygiene and sanitation. If a sufficient number of children are fully immunized against polio, the virus is unable to find susceptible children to infect, and dies out. Young children who are not yet toilet-trained are a ready source of transmission, regardless of their environment. Polio can be spread when food or drink is contaminated by feces. There is also evidence that flies can passively transfer polio virus from faces to food. Most people infected with the polio virus have no signs of illness and are never aware they have been infected. These symptom can be carried from person to person by the virus that’s in their intestines and can “silently” spread the infection to thousands of others before the first case of polio paralysis emerges. For this reason, WHO considers a single confirmed case of polio paralysis to be evidence of an epidemic – particularly in countries where very few cases occur.

Most infected people (90%) have no symptoms or very mild symptoms and usually go unrecognized. In others, initial symptoms include fever, fatigue, headache, vomiting, stiffness in the neck and pain in the limbs.

TYPES OF Polio:

1.) Acute flaccid paralysis (AFP)

One in 200 infections leads to irreversible paralysis, usually in the legs. This is caused by the virus entering the blood stream and invading the central nervous system. As it multiplies, the virus destroys the nerve cells that activate muscles. The affected muscles are no longer functional and the limb becomes floppy and lifeless – a condition known AFP = Acute Flaccid Paralysis.

Know all cases of AFP among children under fifteen years old are reported and tested for polio virus within 48 hours of onset.

All cases of acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) among children under fifteen years of age are reported and tested for poliovirus within 48 hours of onset.

2.) Bulbar polio

More extensive paralysis, involving the trunk and muscles of the thorax and abdomen, can result in quadriplegia. In the most severe cases (bulbar polio), polio virus attacks the nerve cells of the brain stem, reducing breathing capacity and causing difficulty in swallowing and speaking. Among those paralyzed, 5% to 10% die when their breathing muscles become immobilized.

Risk factors for paralysis

No one knows why only a small percentage of infections lead to paralysis. Several key risk factors have been identified as increasing the likelihood of paralysis in a person infected with polio. These include:

• immune deficiency

• pregnancy

• removal of the tonsils (tonsillectomy)

• intramuscular injections, e.g. medications

• strenuous exercise

• injury.

“Breast cancer accounts for 30% of all cancers diagnosed in women. During 1999–2018, breast cancer incidence among women aged ≥20 years decreased an average of 0.3% per year, decreasing 2.1% per year during 1999–2004 and increasing 0.3% per year during 2004–2018. Incidence increased among start highlightnon-Hispanic Asian or Pacific end highlightIslander women and women aged 20–39 years but decreased among non-Hispanic White women and women aged 50–64 and ≥75 years.The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force currently recommends biennial mammography screening for women aged 50–74 years. Women aged 20–49 years might benefit from discussing potential breast cancer risk and ways to reduce risk with their health care providers ”

Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

“A woman’s risk of breast cancer nearly doubles if she has a first-degree relative (mother, sister, daughter) who has been diagnosed with breast cancer. Less than 15% of women who get breast cancer have a family member diagnosed with it.  About 85% of breast cancers occur in women who have no family history of breast cancer. These occur due to genetic mutations that happen as a result of the aging process and life in general, rather than inherited mutations.  The most significant risk factors for breast cancer are sex (being a woman) and age (growing older).”

BreastCancer.org

” Most breast cancers are found in women who are 50 years old or older.  Women who have inherited changes (mutations) to certain genes, such as BRCA1 and BRCA2, are at higher risk of breast and ovarian cancer.  Some women will get breast cancer even without any other risk factors that they know of. Having a risk factor does not mean you will get the disease, and not all risk factors have the same effect. Most women have some risk factors, but most women do not get breast cancer.  You may want to change the risk factors you can change that you have like immobile or obese to prevent breast cancer from happening.”

Centers For Disease Control and Prevention CDC.gov

“Breast cancer is a type of cancer that starts in the breast. It can start in one or both breasts. Breast cancer occurs almost entirely in women, but men can get breast cancer, too. It’s important to understand that most breast lumps are benign and not cancer (malignant).Breast cancers can start from different parts of the breast. If cancer cells have spread to your lymph nodes, there is a higher chance that the cells could have traveled through the lymph system and spread (metastasized) to other parts of your body.  There are many types of breast cancer, and many different ways to describe them. It’s easy to get confused; learn them.”

American Cancer Society (https://www.cancer.org)

“AN ESTIMATED 236,740 PEOPLE will be diagnosed with lung cancer in 2022 in the U.S.  1 IN 16 PEOPLE will be diagnosed with lung cancer in their lifetime – 1 in 15 men, and 1 in 17 women.  LUNG CANCER kills almost 3 TIMES as many men as prostate cancer. LUNG CANCER kills almost 3 times as many women as breast cancer. Approximately 130,180 AMERICAN LIVES are lost annually.  541,000 PEOPLE IN THE U.S. TODAY have been diagnosed with lung cancer at some point in their lives. THERE IS HOPE. The number of new lung cancer diagnoses are declining steadily. From 2009-2018, the incidence rate decreased by 2.8% per year in men and 1.4% per year in women. Lung cancer deaths have been cut in more than half for men and by a third for women.”

Lung Cancer Research Foundation (https://www.lungcancerresearchfoundation.org/lung-cancer-facts/)

“Down syndrome is a condition in which a person has an extra chromosome. Chromosomes are small “packages” of genes in the body. They determine how a baby’s body forms and functions as it grows during pregnancy and after birth. Typically, a baby is born with 46 chromosomes. Babies with Down syndrome have an extra copy of one of these chromosomes, chromosome 21. A medical term for having an extra copy of a chromosome is ‘trisomy.’ Down syndrome is also referred to as Trisomy 21.   Most important, to know is even though people with Down syndrome might act and look similar, each person has different abilities. Down syndrome remains the most common chromosomal condition diagnosed in the United States. Each year, about 6,000 babies born in the United States have Down syndrome. This means that Down syndrome occurs in about 1 in every 700 babies“.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – CDC

“While eczema and psoriasis are both somewhat common, according to the University of Pennsylvania Medical School, eczema is about four times more common (with eczema affecting 32 million people and psoriasis affecting 7.2 million). It is also possible to have both conditions but that’s relatively uncommon. One study found that just 1.4% of children with eczema also had psoriasis.

There are also different types of psoriasis and eczema and some are more common than others. Plaque psoriasis is the most common type of psoriasis while atopic dermatitis is the most common type of eczema. Contact dermatitis is another form of eczema which is quite common, but not as prevalent as atopic eczema.

Both eczema and psoriasis can affect people of all ages, but eczema typically first appears in babies and children, while psoriasis tends to manifest later, often between the ages of 15 and 35. “.

National Eczema Association

“Exploding head syndrome (EHS) is a type of sleep disorder in which you hear a loud noise or explosive crashing sound in your head. The sound isn’t real or heard by anyone else. The episode typically happens suddenly either when you’re beginning to fall asleep or when you wake up during the night.

Along with the loud sound, EHS can occur along with flashes of light and muscle jerks (myoclonic jerks). Unlike its painful-sounding name, the episode is painless.”

Cleveland Clinic (https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/exploding-head-syndrome-ehs)

What you need to know about sleep:

You’re tired. You could put your head down on a desk right now and fall asleep immediately. You went to bed late last night, had trouble falling asleep and woke up too early. And let’s not kid ourselves: Tonight will be the same unless … well, read on.

This is the classic not-so-shut-eye experience of many Americans who think they are sleep-deprived and possibly need pills or other treatment to fix their insomnia, teeth grinding, jet lag, restless or jerky legs, snoring, sleepwalking and so forth.

Reality is quite different.

For instance, insomnia is said to be the most common sleep disorder, but these dissatisfying sleep experiences only get in the way of daily activities for 10 percent of us, according to the National Institutes of Health. And in almost half of those cases, the real underlying problem is illness (often mental) or the effects of a substance, like coffee or medication.

Here are five recent findings that might help you rest easier:

1. We sleep better than we think we do

For most of us, sleep deprivation is a myth. We’re not zombies. The non-profit National Sleep Foundation (which takes money from the sleep-aid industry, including drug companies that make sleeping pills) says the average U.S. resident gets 7 hours a night and that’s not enough, but a University of Maryland study earlier this year shows we typically get 8 hours and are doing fine. In fact, Americans get just as much sleep nowadays as they did 40 years ago, the study found.

2. We need less sleep as we age

We’ll die without sleep. The details are sketchy, but research suggests it’s a time when we restore vital biological processes and also sort and cement memories. Last year, the World Health Organization determined that nightshift work, which can lead to sleep troubles, is a probable human carcinogen. On the upside, the latest research suggests we need less of it as we get older.

3. You can sleep like a baby (or Thomas Edison)

Multiple, shorter sleep sessions nightly, rather than one long one, are an option. So-called polyphasic sleep is seen in babies, the elderly and other animals (and Thomas Edison reportedly slept this way). For the rest of us, it is more realistic and healthy to sleep at night as best we can and then take naps as needed. EEGs show that we are biphasic sleepers with two alertness dips — one at night time and one mid-day. So talk to HR about setting up a nap room, like they have for NASA’s Phoenix mission team members.

4. Animals exhibit a range of sleep habits

The three-toed sloth sleeps 9.6 hours nightly. But newborn dolphins and killer whales can forgo sleeping for their entire first month. However, the latter extreme is not recommended for humans. We grow irritable and lose our ability to focus and make decisions after even one night of missed sleep, and that can lead to serious accidents driving and using other machinery.

5. Get used to being tired, hit the desk

The bottom line is that a good night’s sleep is within the reach of most of us if we follow common-sense guidelines for sleep hygiene:

• Go to bed at the same time nightly.
• Set aside enough time to hit that golden 7 hours of sleep.
• Refrain from caffeine, heavy or spicy foods, and alcohol and other optional medications that might keep you awake, four to six hours before bed-time.
• Have a pre-sleep routine so you wind down before you hop in.
• Block out distracting lights and noises.
• Only engage in sleep and sex in bed (no TV-watching, reading or eating).
• Exercise regularly but not right before bed.

But you already know all this and you don’t do it. So your realistic plan might be to surrender to the mid-day desk nap.

Exploding Head Syndrome (EHS)

Exploding head syndrome (EHS) is a disorder characterized by the perception of loud noises (e.g. a bomb explosion, gunshot or cymbal crash) when going to sleep or awakening. Contrary to the name, EHS is not associated with pain. However the noise attacks can elicit a great deal of fear, confusion and distress in sufferers. Reports of tachycardia and palpitations are also common. Despite the distressing nature of EHS, relatively little is known about the prevalence and underlying cause of the condition. Some scientists have estimated that EHS may affect 10% of the population. Females tend to be more at risk than males and the average age of onset is 50 years old.

Stress and exploding head syndrome

A few sufferers hear the noise in only one ear, while others hear it in both ears. In other cases, the sound seems to come from inside the patient’s own head (thus the condition’s name).

Most researchers find that exploding head syndrome often occurs in people who are dealing with high levels of stress and physical or mental fatigue. It affects both men and women, though the condition appears more commonly in women, and among people 50 years and older (though it’s also been reported in children).

Because there’s been little research into the condition, nobody is certain what causes exploding head syndrome. Some experts have speculated that it’s related to minor seizures in the brain’s temporal lobe; others suggest it might be related to hearing disorder

Doin’ the hypnagogic jerk

Exploding head syndrome is one of several conditions described as hypnagogic, or occurring in the transitional state between sleep and full wakefulness.

The “hypnagogic jerk” is an involuntary muscle spasm or twitch that occurs as a person is drifting off to sleep.

The muscle spasms may occur spontaneously or may be induced by sound, light or other external stimuli. Some people report hypnagogic jerks accompanied by hallucinations, dreams, the sensation of falling, or bright lights and loud noises coming from inside the head.

As with exploding head syndrome, researchers aren’t sure why hypnogogic jerks occur, but a few theories exist. One hypothesis says that these events are a natural part of the body’s transition from alertness to sleep, and occur when nerves “misfire” during the process.

Another popular idea takes a more evolutionary approach to hypnogogic jerks, explaining that the spasms are an ancient primate reflex responding to the relaxation of muscles at the onset of sleep — the brain misinterprets the relaxation as a sign that the sleeping primate is falling out of a tree, and causes the muscles to quickly react.

Is there a cure for exploding head syndrome?

When exploding head syndrome is related to stress or fatigue, experts recommend stress-management techniques such as yoga, meditation or simply a hot bath before sleeping.

Doctors have reported that many sleep disturbances like exploding head syndrome are related to the use of certain medications or drugs, according to the ASA. Moderating the use of these drugs may alleviate the symptoms of exploding head syndrome.

Some evidence suggests that clomipramine, a member of an older class of tricyclic antidepressants, can help treat exploding head syndrome.

For many patients, the condition comes and goes, disappearing for long stretches at a time, then eventually going away entirely on its own.

There are various theories as to what might cause EHS. For instance, some scientists have speculated that EHS may be associated with minor temporal lobe seizures. Another theory is that EHS is caused by sudden shifts of middle ear components. Other possible causes include stress/anxiety, impairments in calcium signalling and brainstem neuronal dysfunction.

Fortunately, exploding head syndrome is not as dangerous as it sounds.

But it is a real condition, and researchers are finally beginning to seriously investigate the rare and little-understood sleep disorder.

People with exploding head syndrome hear extremely loud noises — a gunshot, an explosion, a thunderclap — as they’re drifting off to sleep, or as they wake up from a deep sleep.

When exploding head syndrome is related to stress or fatigue, experts recommend stress-management techniques such as yoga, meditation or simply a hot bath before sleeping.

Doctors have reported that many sleep disturbances like exploding head syndrome are related to the use of certain medications or drugs, according to the ASA. Moderating the use of these drugs may alleviate the symptoms of exploding head syndrome.

Because of the benign nature of EHS, many individuals do not require medical treatment. However if an individual is suffering from disturbed sleep or considerable distress as a consequence of EHS, then treatment may be necessary. Tricyclic antidepressants have been proven useful in some individuals. Some evidence suggests that clomipramine, a member of an older class of tricyclic antidepressants, can help treat exploding head syndrome.  Calcium channel blockers may also be beneficial. Non-pharmacological strategies such as relaxation, improved sleep hygiene and counselling may also help to alleviate symptoms.

For many patients, the condition comes and goes, disappearing for long stretches at a time, then eventually going away entirely on its own.