Cardiac rehabilitation is a carefully planned program that combines supervised physical activity, weight management, and lifestyle modification to help people with heart disease live healthier and longer lives. The goals of cardiac rehabilitation are to regain strength and improved exercise endurance, prepare for a return to work or activities of daily living, decrease symptoms (such as chest pain and shortness of breath), optimize cardiac risk factors, and help people live longer by preventing

Two weeks ago, I wrote about viruses and briefly touched on the use of masks to prevent the spread of diseases. Today, I would like to look at the interesting history of mask use. Mask wearing to prevent the spread of disease is an old idea and can be traced back to the 17th century. Back then, doctors wore odd costumes that included full facial masks, often bird-like in appearance, when they treated victims of the plague. People then had intuitions about epidemics spreading through foul odors

Viruses are tiny, non-cellular infectious agents. They are approximately one one-hundredth the size of an average bacterium and cannot be seen with an optical microscope. They are often round and have projections on their outside coat, called spike proteins, and contain strands of RNA or DNA. The spike proteins act like an anchor, allowing the virus to attach itself to a cell. Once attached to a cell, the virus hijacks the cell, forcing it to make replications of the virus. Sometimes, during

Gestational diabetes is diabetes that develops during pregnancy in someone who did not have diabetes prior to becoming pregnant. This can happen because the hormonal changes during pregnancy cause pregnant women to become more resistant to insulin, the hormone that keeps blood sugar levels under control. This insulin resistance results in the need for the pancreas to make more insulin, and some women cannot make enough insulin to meet that need. The prevalence of gestational diabetes in the

Medical devices occupy a prominent position in health care and among health-related products. According to reports from 2017 and 2018, more than 18,000 manufacturers produce an estimated 190,000 distinct medical devices that are regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Spending on medical devices in the US was estimated at $173 billion in 2019, up from an estimated $36 billion (in 2019 dollars) in 1983. The medical device industry is regulated primarily under a framework

Low back pain is one of the most common reasons why people seek medical care. Most low back pain is caused by minor problems with muscles, joints, or ligaments in the back. In rare cases, less than 1%, low back pain is caused by a serious spinal problem. Low back pain is categorized by how long the pain lasts. Acute low back pain lasts less than four weeks, subacute four to 12 weeks, and chronic more than 12 weeks.

Evaluation of low back pain requires a detailed medical history and physical