What are Kidney Stones? Small, hard mineral and acid salt deposits that form inside the kidneys. Often occur when the urine becomes concentrated, allowing minerals to crystallize and stick together. May affect any part of the urinary tract — from your kidneys to your bladder Stones are classified by their location in the urinary system…
Coronary artery disease is a condition in which fatty deposits (atheroma) accumulate in the cells lining the wall of the coronary arteries. These fatty deposits build up gradually and irregularly in the large branches of the two main coronary arteries which encircle the heart and are the main source of its blood supply. This process…
Prions are proteins that are found in the nerve cells of all mammals. Numerous prions are in each nerve cell, but no one knows for sure what the prion protein does. The brain of a human or animal infected with a prion “disease” has many abnormally-shaped prions. One hypothesis states that when a person or…
As the human population has grown, and our use of resources has increased, we have destroyed the habitat of many species. A biodiversity crisis has developed. The Red List of Threatened Species, compiled by the World Conservation Union, lists 16,913 species as threatened with extinction. Conservation biology—the scientific study of phenomena that affect the maintenance,…
Memory loses are sometimes trivial and meaningless and go unrecognized. However, when these loses are so great that a person does not know who or where they are the concerns are quite grave. Although it is realize that Alzheimer’s disease destroys the brain memory function, many do not realize precisely how the memory is destroyed…