If you have hypertension (systolic blood pressure of 140 mmHg or more and diastolic blood pressure of 90 mmHg or more) it should be adequately treated with approved drugs/medications and by dietary modifications and lifestyle changes. If yo have pre-hypertension (systolic blood pressure of 121-139 mmHg and diastolic blood pressure of 81-89 mmHg) it is time you adopt healthy lifestyle and healthy eating habits to prevent pre-hypertension from becoming a hypertension.

Generally goal of treatment of hypertension is to bring blood pressure to 120/80 mmHg if you have no complication and you are healthy. The goal of treatment of hypertension may be different for different individuals, e.g. if you are an elderly person the target blood pressure may be much higher than 120/80 mmHg (i.e. 140/90 mmHg).

For all patients of hypertension, lifestyle changes and dietary changes are essential for optimal management. Without lifestyle and dietary changes towards healthier side, the management of hypertension may be incomplete.

Medications form the mainstay of management of hypertension, because with lifestyle changes and dietary changes it may not be possible to bring blood pressure to the target level.

Commonly used anti-hypertensive drugs:

1. Thiazide diuretics:

Diuretics (commonly known as water pills) are commonly used for treatment of hypertension. Hydrochlorothiazide is most commonly used for this purpose. It is one of the first line medications for treatment of hypertension. These drugs reduce water and sodium content and improves elasticity of blood vessels.

2. Beta-blockers:

These drugs reduce workload of heart by reducing heart rate and force of contraction of heart. They also reduce sympathetic activity thereby reduce workload of heart. Examples of beta-blockers are atenolol, metoprolol, bisoprolol etc. If used alone they may not work well in blacks and should be combined with diuretics (Hydrochlorothiazide).

3. Calcium channel blockers:

These drugs helps in relaxing the muscles of blood vessels (arteries mainly) and thereby reduce blood pressure. Some of these drugs reduce heart rate also. Examples of calcium channel blockers are amlodipine, nifedipine, verapamil, diltiazem etc.

4. ACE (Angiotensin-converting enzyme) inhibitors:

These drugs relax blood vessels by inhibiting natural chemical that constricts blood vessels, i.e. angiotensin-II. Examples of ACE inhibitors are enalapril, lisinopril, parindopril, ramipril, captopril etc.

5. Angiotensin receptor blockers:

These drugs act by blocking the action of angiotensin-II (constriction of blood vessels) at receptor level. Examples of Angiotensin receptor blockers are losartan, telmisartan etc.

There are also other anti-hypertensive drugs which are used for treatment of hypertension in special situations such as pregnancy, hypertensive emergencies (severe rise in blood pressure, e.g. systolic pressure of over 200 mmHg and need immediate medical intervention to reduce blood pressure) etc.

Centrally acting agents:

These agents prevent signals from brain that cause heart rate to increase and blood vessels to contract, e.g. methyledopa, which is commonly used to treat hypertension during pregnancy.

Vasodilators:

These drugs cause dilatation of blood vessels thereby reduce blood pressure. These agents are used for treating hypertensive emergencies. Example is sodium nitropruside.

Alpha-blockers:

These agents cause dilatation of blood vessels by reducing nerve impulse to blood vessels. Examples of alpha-blockers is prazosin, terazosin etc.

Image courtesy of scottchan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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Coronaviruses can cause a mild cold or severe pneumonia-like symptoms.

Dr. Gopal Murti/Visuals Unlimited/Corbis

Coronaviruses can cause a mild cold or severe pneumonia-like symptoms.

Dr. Gopal Murti/Visuals Unlimited/Corbis

The World Health Organization says a new coronavirus has killed two people in Jordan â€" the third country where the novel microbe has been traced.

That brings lab-confirmed cases to nine, with five fatalities.

The latest cases are actually the oldest known so far. They push the SARS-like virus's timeline three months back from the first reported case involving a 60-year-old man who died in Jedda, Saudi Arabia, last June.

Jordan's cases were found through new testing of blood and tissue samples from patients in a cluster of pneumonias of unknown origin that occurred last April at a hospital in Zarqa, near Jordan's capital of Amman.

Until now known cases have occurred further south in Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

The Jordan cases are also significant because they're part of an 11-person cluster of pneumonia that involved seven nurses and a doctor.

It's unclear whether either of the two new SARS-like cases involved health care workers, or whether the new coronavirus has been ruled out yet as the cause of the other pneumonias in that outbreak.

But whenever disease-trackers see clusters of infection involving caregivers, that raises their suspicion that a microbe has spread from person to person â€" most likely from patient to caregiver.

It doesn't have to mean that. Health care workers and patients could have acquired the infection from a shared environmental source.

But if the new virus is able to spread from person to person, even if inefficiently, that raises the possibility it can become more mobile, moving through human populations.

"Even if the cases in Jordan were human-to-human spread â€" and we don't know that â€" it wasn't sustained," WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl told the Canadian Press.

The possibility of person-to-person spread is also suggested by a cluster of coronavirus pneumonias reported on November 23 involving members of the same household in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Four men in that family fell ill with respiratory symptoms and two tested positive for the new coronavirus. The two others, one of whom died, are considered probable cases.

No one thinks that the new coronavirus is as big a threat as its notorious cousin, the one that precipitated the SARS epidemic in 2003 that quickly spread around the world and killed 916 people.

For one thing, health officials haven't found any cases of the new coronavirus among the millions of pilgrims who attended this fall's annual Hajj in Mecca, near the place where the Saudi man died in June.

On the other hand, nobody knows how big a problem the Arabian coronavirus may be â€" or even whether it is likely to be restricted to Arabia.

The WHO is urging medical and public health workers around the world to investigate clusters of unexplained pneumonia for a possible link to the new virus. It isn't calling for individual cases to be tested.

The agency "is convinced that whatever the source of the virus is, it is probably not unique to those countries," science journalist Helen Branswell writes in Scientific American.

Genetic testing suggests that the new virus is most closely related to one in bats. But that doesn't necessarily mean all human cases had direct contact with bats. There may be an intermediate carrier, and victims might have eaten food contaminated with dust, urine or feces from an infected animal.

At this point, it appears that researchers will find more human cases of the new virus. Each case, or cluster of cases, increases the chance that the source and mode of transmission will be found.

That effort will be accelerated by the development of a blood test for the virus, which Branswell reports may come in the next month or so. Right now diagnosis relies on a gene-amplification test, called PCR, which is cumbersome and sometimes hard to interpret. And it can't tell if someone had been exposed to the virus in the past but recovered.

Regular visits to the chiropractor help promote and maintain spinal health, including the nerves and bones. Chiropractors adjust and realign joints that are out of place due to accidents or uncomfortable lifestyles. One uncomfortable lifestyle that can benefit from chiropractic care is pregnancy.

What are the risks?

If you are pregnant and concerned about the risks of chiropractic care, then you can rest easy knowing that the risks are few. In fact, most chiropractors are trained to work with pregnant women. They are aware of special needs required of a pregnant woman’s body, and they know how to work with those needs.

Some chiropractors even have special tables for pregnant women that reduce unnecessary and uncomfortable pressure.

What are the benefits?

As you are surely aware, your body endures significant changes when you are pregnant. Of the changes that your body goes through, the following are a few that can lead to a joint or spinal injury: changes in your pelvis, changes to your posture, and a protruding abdomen coupled with a larger back curve.

Chiropractors working with pregnant women seek to create balance and alignment in the pelvis. If pelvic balance is off, the baby may have less space to grow in. This restricted space is known as intrauterine constraint. This also makes it hard for the baby to find the best position before delivery.

Chiropractic care can help a pregnant woman have a healthier pregnancy and less severe nausea symptoms. It can also decrease delivery and labor time, as well as pain in the neck, back, and related joints.

Another amazing benefit of chiropractic care during pregnancy is its ability to prevent a C-section.

What does chiropractic care have to do with breech deliveries?

The Webster Technique is a technique used by chiropractors to create a balance in the pelvis and relieve stress in the uterus and supporting ligaments of a pregnant woman. Larry Webster, the founder of the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association, created this technique to promote ideal positioning of the fetus.

The Webster Technique, when applied to babies in breech position, has proven to be successful 82% of the time. This significantly reduces all of the dangers that can come from having a breech delivery or relying on a caesarean section at the last minute. The ICPA recommends that chiropractors apply the Webster Technique to pregnant women no less than eight months pregnant.

The ICPA also recommends that all pregnant women should take advantage of chiropractic care to promote pelvic balance, regardless of the baby’s position in the womb. As we explained above, high pelvic balance allows the baby to move into a position more ideal for delivery.

What now?

If you are unsure about whether chiropractic care is right for you and your pregnancy, be sure to see your regular doctor, as well as a chiropractor that he or she recommends. If your doctor is unaware of the benefits of chiropractic care during pregnancy, ask her to find out more so she can advise you as best as possible.

Katie Robinson is a former nurse and health blog writer.  Katie turns to a Kissimmee, Florida chiropractor for regular spinal adjustments.  She was extremely pleased with the treatment her doctor provided while pregnant; Katie attributes the much shorter labor of her second son to the chiropractic care she received during her pregnancy.

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Pictures like these helped British researchers gauge people's attitudes about weight.

Courtesy of Martin Tovee i

Pictures like these helped British researchers gauge people's attitudes about weight.

Courtesy of Martin Tovee

With most Americans fat or fatter, you'd think we'd be lightening up on the anti-fat attitudes.

Alas, no. Even doctors often think their overweight patients are weak-willed.

But changing negative attitudes about body size might be as simple as changing what you see. When women in England were shown photos of plus-sized women in neutral gray leotards, they became more tolerant.

When the women were shown photos of anorexic women, attitudes became more positive there, too. "Showing them thin bodies makes them like thin bodies, more, and showing them fat bodies makes them like fat bodies more," says Lynda Boothroyd, a psychology researcher at Durham University in England, who led the study. She calls it a "visual diet," changing what your eyes eat.

Why the unflattering leotards? Boothroyd and her colleagues wanted neutral clothing to sever the link between thinness and success that's so strong in Western cultures.

The researchers also tested photos of women in designer clothes and found the test subjects thought better of the well-dressed women, fat or thin. The glamour effect existed independent of the change in perception caused by repeatedly seeing the leotard-clad women.

All the study participants still preferred thinner-than-average bodies, but their preferences did move up or down depending on what they saw.

Perhaps that's why we're so obsessed with thinness, even if most of the people around us are found to be larger. We're constantly fed images of very slim actresses and models, all beautifully dressed. "All you have to do is watch five minutes of TV and you see more thin bodies than you would all day on the street," Boothroyd says.

There's no question that culture affects not just attitudes about weight, but body size itself. When Zulu women move from South Africa to England, their body size preference shifted from the full figures favored in Africa to a midway point between that and the thin ideal in the UK, Boothroyd says. Her work is published in the current issue of the online journal PLOS One.

But that shift clearly hasn't happened in doctors. Another study in the same issue of PLOS One found that doctors are strongly biased against fat people, even if they don't think they are.

This comes from a fascinating crowdsourced study, Project Implicit, which is designed to tease out attitudes that people are unwilling or unable to articulate. Led by psychologist Brian Nosek, an associate professor at the University of Virginia, the project offers dozens of free online tests that let you test your implicit biases â€" and contribute to science, too.

Participants are shown photos of faces, and are tested on their speed to identify them and associate them with positive and negative words.

More than 359,000 people took the project's "Weight Implicit Association Test" online, and about 2,300 said they were doctors. Even though physicians are constantly reminded about their need to work with patients to maintain a healthy weight, they had the same strong anti-fat bias as the public.

"We don't know if this affects how doctors behave clinically," says Janice Sabin, an assistant professor in bioinformatics and medical education that the University of Washington in Seattle, who led the new study.

But other studies have shown that many doctors view obese patients as unattractive and difficult to work with, and that obese women get inappropriate comments about their weight from their doctor.

Given that, maybe it's time to show doctors some plus-sized photos â€" of hefty physicians.

Regular visits to the chiropractor help promote and maintain spinal health, including the nerves and bones. Chiropractors adjust and realign joints that are out of place due to accidents or uncomfortable lifestyles. One uncomfortable lifestyle that can benefit from chiropractic care is pregnancy.

What are the risks?

If you are pregnant and concerned about the risks of chiropractic care, then you can rest easy knowing that the risks are few. In fact, most chiropractors are trained to work with pregnant women. They are aware of special needs required of a pregnant woman’s body, and they know how to work with those needs.

Some chiropractors even have special tables for pregnant women that reduce unnecessary and uncomfortable pressure.

What are the benefits?

As you are surely aware, your body endures significant changes when you are pregnant. Of the changes that your body goes through, the following are a few that can lead to a joint or spinal injury: changes in your pelvis, changes to your posture, and a protruding abdomen coupled with a larger back curve.

Chiropractors working with pregnant women seek to create balance and alignment in the pelvis. If pelvic balance is off, the baby may have less space to grow in. This restricted space is known as intrauterine constraint. This also makes it hard for the baby to find the best position before delivery.

Chiropractic care can help a pregnant woman have a healthier pregnancy and less severe nausea symptoms. It can also decrease delivery and labor time, as well as pain in the neck, back, and related joints.

Another amazing benefit of chiropractic care during pregnancy is its ability to prevent a C-section.

What does chiropractic care have to do with breech deliveries?

The Webster Technique is a technique used by chiropractors to create a balance in the pelvis and relieve stress in the uterus and supporting ligaments of a pregnant woman. Larry Webster, the founder of the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association, created this technique to promote ideal positioning of the fetus.

The Webster Technique, when applied to babies in breech position, has proven to be successful 82% of the time. This significantly reduces all of the dangers that can come from having a breech delivery or relying on a caesarean section at the last minute. The ICPA recommends that chiropractors apply the Webster Technique to pregnant women no less than eight months pregnant.

The ICPA also recommends that all pregnant women should take advantage of chiropractic care to promote pelvic balance, regardless of the baby’s position in the womb. As we explained above, high pelvic balance allows the baby to move into a position more ideal for delivery.

What now?

If you are unsure about whether chiropractic care is right for you and your pregnancy, be sure to see your regular doctor, as well as a chiropractor that he or she recommends. If your doctor is unaware of the benefits of chiropractic care during pregnancy, ask her to find out more so she can advise you as best as possible.

Katie Robinson is a former nurse and health blog writer.  Katie turns to a Kissimmee, Florida chiropractor for regular spinal adjustments.  She was extremely pleased with the treatment her doctor provided while pregnant; Katie attributes the much shorter labor of her second son to the chiropractic care she received during her pregnancy.

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The news for patients who had injections of fungus-tainted steroids just keeps getting worse.

Now doctors are reporting two new spinal conditions among patients successfully treated for meningitis, a brain infection. One involves epidural abscesses, pus-filled sacs of fluid around the spine. A more serious condition is arachnoiditis â€" inflammation of tissue around the nerve roots coming out of the spine.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention doesn't yet have a good handle on the number of these new complications, but there appear to be dozens so far.

Most have been in Michiganand Tennessee, which together make up nearly half the 404 cases of fungal infections reported so far in 19 states. (Twenty-nine people have died.) But cases of spinal infections have recently been seen in Virginia and Indiana, too.

"What we're hearing is that patients have been treated for meningitis and improved. Then they returned with these complications," Dr. Tom Chiller of CDC told Shots. "We don't have a good understanding of why certain people are developing these conditions."

He says patients with these complications don't seem to be older or more immunocompromised, "so we're not able to predict who's going to develop this."

The New York Times reports that about a third of 53 meningitis patients treated at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Ann Arbor, Mich., have developed epidural abscesses. Another 34 have had abscesses without prior meningitis.

Chiller says the situation is "an unprecedented event," so doctors and public health experts are learning how to cope with it as they go along.

The new problem affects different layers of tissue that encase the spine. The dura mater is the outermost layer. Next is the arachnoid, a delicate cobwebby membrane that carries much of the spinal cord's blood supply.

Of the two complications, epidural (meaning on or around the dura) abscesses are less dangerous and more amenable to treatment. If anti-fungal medication doesn't do the job, neurosurgeons can often debride or remove the infected tissue and drain the infection.

Arachnoiditis is much more difficult to treat. Delicate nerve roots are caught in a thick, fibrous material that compresses them, causing intense pain, numbness, paralysis, pins-and-needles sensations, sometimes loss of bladder control and other neurologic symptoms.

Surgery is not usually an option, if ever, and the success of drug therapy is uncertain. Chiller says experts don't think it's a good idea to infuse anti-fungal drugs directly into the spine because they can increase inflammation and make matters worse.

Patients who develop these spinal complications may need to be on anti-fungal medication, often intravenously, for six months to a year, Chiller says.

The trickiest problem for doctors is diagnosing epidural abscesses or arachnoiditis, because many of the patients exposed to the mold-contaminated steroids already have chronic back pain.

"That's why they were getting injections, right?" Chiller says. "So the real challenge is identifying whether the pain over the site of injection or where they have chronic pain is worse ... or is different."

There's no telling how many patients will develop the spinal complications. One indication is that so far most of the known victims previously had meningitis.

That appears to limit the risk largely to the 400 or so reported meningitis cases â€" and the others expected to be discovered in the coming weeks.

"We think the last of these products were given around Oct. 1, so we're already a month out from that," Chiller says. "We've passed the peak of the mean incubation period â€" the period between injection and onset of symptoms â€" which is around 20 days."

Other meningitis cases will be reported, he says, but they should begin to taper off quickly this month.

An estimated 14,000 Americans received injections of the mold-contaminated steroid made by New EnglandCompoundingCenter, a Massachusettscompany that has been shut down. Federal inspectors have found fungal and bacteria contamination in many samples of drugs made by theMassachusetts company.

A federal criminal investigation is under way, and a number of civil suits have already been filed.

Regular visits to the chiropractor help promote and maintain spinal health, including the nerves and bones. Chiropractors adjust and realign joints that are out of place due to accidents or uncomfortable lifestyles. One uncomfortable lifestyle that can benefit from chiropractic care is pregnancy.

What are the risks?

If you are pregnant and concerned about the risks of chiropractic care, then you can rest easy knowing that the risks are few. In fact, most chiropractors are trained to work with pregnant women. They are aware of special needs required of a pregnant woman’s body, and they know how to work with those needs.

Some chiropractors even have special tables for pregnant women that reduce unnecessary and uncomfortable pressure.

What are the benefits?

As you are surely aware, your body endures significant changes when you are pregnant. Of the changes that your body goes through, the following are a few that can lead to a joint or spinal injury: changes in your pelvis, changes to your posture, and a protruding abdomen coupled with a larger back curve.

Chiropractors working with pregnant women seek to create balance and alignment in the pelvis. If pelvic balance is off, the baby may have less space to grow in. This restricted space is known as intrauterine constraint. This also makes it hard for the baby to find the best position before delivery.

Chiropractic care can help a pregnant woman have a healthier pregnancy and less severe nausea symptoms. It can also decrease delivery and labor time, as well as pain in the neck, back, and related joints.

Another amazing benefit of chiropractic care during pregnancy is its ability to prevent a C-section.

What does chiropractic care have to do with breech deliveries?

The Webster Technique is a technique used by chiropractors to create a balance in the pelvis and relieve stress in the uterus and supporting ligaments of a pregnant woman. Larry Webster, the founder of the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association, created this technique to promote ideal positioning of the fetus.

The Webster Technique, when applied to babies in breech position, has proven to be successful 82% of the time. This significantly reduces all of the dangers that can come from having a breech delivery or relying on a caesarean section at the last minute. The ICPA recommends that chiropractors apply the Webster Technique to pregnant women no less than eight months pregnant.

The ICPA also recommends that all pregnant women should take advantage of chiropractic care to promote pelvic balance, regardless of the baby’s position in the womb. As we explained above, high pelvic balance allows the baby to move into a position more ideal for delivery.

What now?

If you are unsure about whether chiropractic care is right for you and your pregnancy, be sure to see your regular doctor, as well as a chiropractor that he or she recommends. If your doctor is unaware of the benefits of chiropractic care during pregnancy, ask her to find out more so she can advise you as best as possible.

Katie Robinson is a former nurse and health blog writer.  Katie turns to a Kissimmee, Florida chiropractor for regular spinal adjustments.  She was extremely pleased with the treatment her doctor provided while pregnant; Katie attributes the much shorter labor of her second son to the chiropractic care she received during her pregnancy.

Related posts:

Treatment of Herpes Zoster during Pregnancy

Know the Warning signs of Tubal Pregnancy

Diagnosis of Pregnancy

Purchase A Suitable Health Insurance Policy And Cover Your Pregnancy

Importance of Nutrition Before Pregnancy

Herpes Zoster during Pregnancy

How Early Can You Take a Pregnancy Test?

What Problems May Arise During Pregnancy?

How to Treat Hemorrhoids During Pregnancy?

Baby Grows: Fetus Size During First Semester of Pregnancy