Medical hypotheses
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Decompression sickness causes injury and death in SCUBA divers when air bubbles obstruct the flow of blood. Platelets aggregate in response to gas and promote inflammation. Inflammation in decompression sickness may have its origin in the innate immune system's response to pathogens. ⋯ In these diseases, intravascular gas offers a signal of infection to immune cells. Platelet activation by gas may often accompany a beneficial immune response to pathogens. Pathologic bubble-platelet interaction in decompression illness may be an example of gene-environment mismatch.
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Despite successful intensive care a substantial portion of critically ill patients dies after discharge from the intensive care unit or hospital. Observational studies investigating long-term survival of critically ill patients reported that most deaths occur during the first months or year after discharge. Only limited data on the causes of impaired quality of life and post-intensive care unit deaths exist in the current literature. ⋯ An interesting and potentially beneficial therapy could be the administration of immune-modulating drugs during the time after intensive care unit or hospital discharge until chronic inflammation has subsided. Statins are well-investigated and effective drugs to attenuate chronic inflammation and could potentially also improve long-term outcome of critically ill patients after intensive care unit or hospital discharge. Future studies evaluating the course of inflammation during and after critical illness as well as its response to statin therapy are required.
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A diet high in fruits and vegetables decreases the risk of various cancers. And recently, several ingredients extracted from fruits and vegetables are observed to have a protective effect against different cancers as well. ⋯ Due to the fact that these ingredients possess not only a comparatively high purity and quantity, but also a potential economic value, it seems that they are superior to and could replace fresh vegetables and fruits in cancer prevention in the future. Herein, we proposed the hypothesis: the ingredients cannot take the place of fresh fruits and vegetables in cancer prevention.
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Chronic pain conditions often "mimic" the symptoms of restless legs syndrome (RLS) with worse pain in the evening and upon rest, associated with an urge to move and relief upon movement. We propose that too little has been made of these parallels, with pain conditions resembling RLS being dismissed as mimics. ⋯ In particular, central changes associated with sensory and motor symptoms of RLS, neuropathy, and dopamine may also be involved in those predisposed to experience phantom pain that mimics the symptoms of RLS. Ultimately, restless legs syndrome may indeed be a pain syndrome, and warrants further investigation in chronic pain populations.
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In a 1994 Medical Hypotheses paper, it was speculated that high intracranial pressure (ICP) might increase the probability of developing Alzheimer's disease (AD). A study of cerebrospinal fluid pressure (CSFP) in normal volunteers showed interindividual variations in CSFP. Some normals had what would normally be considered elevated CSFP. ⋯ In the present paper, we raise the question of whether AD could be a cerebral form of glaucoma. Indeed, the linking of glaucoma to mechanisms of AD could reflect the anatomical and functional similarities between the IOP space and the ICP space. Further studies are warranted, however, especially to determine the possible role of high ICP in at least some cases of AD.