Killer Of Americans Research Articles

Mathematics and Medical Indexes: A Life-saving Connection

Trauma is a medical term for any personal injury including either accidental or intentional wounds to the body. Trauma is the number-one killer of Americans up to age 38 and accounts for more years of life lost in the United States than cancer and heart disease combined. The material in this article should help students understand how mathematics is being used to fight this condition. Many of our students will become nurses, paramedics, or ambulance drivers. A number of students who enter other professions will work in one of these areas on a part-time or voluntary basis. This material should help these people understand how medical indexes are evaluated to determine the severity of an injury.

Meeting our nation's health objectives in nutrition

Nutrition has recently assumed an increasingly important role in the prevention of health problems and in the reduction of risk for chronic illness. A relationship has been clearly established between certain dietary habits and at least five of the ten leading causes of death. Nutrition plays a key role in heart disease, some cancers, stroke, arteriosclerosis, and diabetes (1). Heart disease is the number one killer of Americans. High-fat diets contribute to the development of cardiovascular disease (CVD), and low-fat diets can help reduce this risk (2). Diets high in sodium can increase the chances of high blood pressure for some individuals (3, 4). Obesity plays a role in the development of both hypertension and high blood cholesterol, both of which are major risks for heart disease. Obesity also increases the risk for diabetes and gall bladder disease (5). Approximately 35% of all cancers are estimated to be linked to nutrition (6). Diets high in animal protein and fat and low in fiber may be linked to colon cancer. High-fat diets have been linked to breast cancer, colon cancer, and cancers of the ovary and prostate (6). Poor nutrition in pregnant women contributes to low birthweight, a leading cause of death among infants (1). For some people, alcohol is a major dietary component, and alcohol is a direct cause of cir~hosis, the sixth leading of cause of adult deaths (1). The above-cited relationships among nutrition, health, and disease are well known to profeSSionals involved in nutrition education. They are described here to underscore the magnitude of the challenge of improving nutritional status through education, and to emphasize the public health perspective that is gaining momentum in nutrition education and comprehensive health promotion programs.

Research approach to atherosclerosis.

The field of arteriosclerosis has undergone phenomenal development in recent years, as witnessed not only by increasing interest and expanding research but also by significant achievements toward understanding the nature of the process. This is as it should be, for this entity is the number one killer of Americans, middle-aged as well as elderly. Today we recognize that atherosclerosis is the hub of the arteriosclerosis problem. Once atherosclerosis is conquered, a tremendous dent in morbidity and mortality rates will follow and the average life span will be greatly lengthened. Progress in understanding has come first of all through rejecting the view that atherosclerosis is simply aging (senescence), which is inevitable and irreversible, and in accepting instead the idea that it is a disease and therefore preventable and (at least within limits) reversible; i. e., curable. The key to understanding the essence of the atherosclerosis problem lies in appreciating that it