A disease is a particular abnormal condition that affects part or all of an organism not caused by external force and that consists of a disorder of a structure or function, usually serving as an evolutionary disadvantage. The study of disease is called pathology, which includes the study of cause. Disease is often construed as a medical condition associated with specific symptoms and signs. It may be caused by external factors such as pathogens or by internal dysfunctions, particularly of the immune system, such as an immunodeficiency, or by a hypersensitivity, including allergies and autoimmunity.
Many medicines have diarrhea as a side effect. Two recent reviews published in the Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology and Prescrire International listed several types of drugs that can cause diarrhea, which, in some cases, can be severe and life-threatening.
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Although health care professionals often advise patients on whether the medications they are taking may interact with each other, they do not always discuss how various foods may interact with medications. Certain foods can decrease, increase, delay or accelerate the body's ability to absorb medications.
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In the midst of an ever-worsening epidemic of opioid abuse and overdose-related deaths in the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration has hinted that it finally may be willing to flex its regulatory muscle to more effectively respond to this public health crisis. On June 8, the agency announced that it had requested that Endo Pharmaceuticals remove from the market its reformulated extended-release oxymorphone opioid product, OPANA ER. The FDA took this action based on concerns that the drug's benefits no longer outweigh its risks.
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Drug-induced parkinsonism is a movement disorder that is characterized by the appearance of Parkinson’s disease symptoms in patients treated with certain drugs, often soon after treatment begins. These symptoms include loss of ability to control the movement of voluntary muscles (loss of arm swing can be the earliest feature) and slowness of movement resulting in expressionless face, slow initiation of movement and speech difficulties, with tremor being less common.
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