The kidney is a critical organ in your body because it filters your blood of wastes and maintains balanced electrolytes (mineral) levels. Sometimes, your kidney malfunctions because of damage or abnormal structures forming within your kidney....
The eye is a round organ in the skull that sends images to the brain to interpret and provides vision. Common conditions can affect the eye and cause irritation and swelling, such as pinkeye and allergies. Other conditions are less common and can...
Collagen is a naturally occurring protein in the body found in fibrous tissues and connective tissue. Collagen-related diseases can arise from genetic malformations and disruptions in collagen production. The "Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences"...
Hematuria means having red blood cells in your urine. You can have gross hematuria or microscopic hematuria. Gross hematuria means you can see that your urine is bloody or red. In microscopic hematuria, you won't be able to tell that there is...
Although thin basement membrane disease sounds like something that would affect the lower levels of your house, it's actually an often-inherited disorder that affects the kidneys. This disorder, also called benign familial hematuria, affects...
Collagen protein is part of the connective tissue of the body, helping to support various tissues and organs. As such, it forms part of the bones, cartilage and skin. There are many types of collagen, and they form various structures and perform...
The kidneys are two bean-shaped organs that filter waste from the blood and maintain fluid, electrolyte and acid-base balance in the body. The causes of kidney disease can be trauma, infection, or genetic disorders that damage the filtering units...
Some patients define their disease in generalities, saying that they have poor kidney function or that they have bad kidneys. This information is inadequate because there are many different causes of poor kidney function. Knowing the cause of...
Healthy kidneys clean the blood by removing waste products. Unhealthy kidneys do not do this effectively. In addition to leaving waste products in the blood, they often remove vital proteins. Spilling protein into urine is called proteinuria....
Collagen is a term commonly used in society and associated with the cosmetic industry, but not many understand its true role in the body. There are twenty-eight types of collagen found in humans and six subtypes of collagen IV. The various...
Calcium is the most prevalent mineral in the human body and is the primary mineral component present in your teeth and skeletal system. Sometimes deposits of calcium can form in various areas of the body. The kidney, breast, aorta and shoulder...
A cataract is is a cloudiness of the part of the eye called the lens, which is the part that enables a person to focus on objects that are near and far away. When the lens is cloudy--another term for this is "opaque"--either partial or total...
High blood pressure, or hypertension, can occur in children as it does in adults. However, common causes for the disorder differ between the two age groups. While primary hypertension--high blood pressure not due to another disorder--predominates...
Scarring of the kidneys is often presumed when there is persistent elevated urine protein, or serum creatinine. However, doctors are often unable to tell the cause of the scarring unless a biopsy is performed. This can be problematic as doctors...
The kidneys work to filter toxins from the body, then remove them by sending them through the rest of the urinary tract for expulsion. When chronic kidney or renal failure occurs, it happens slowly and the sufferer may not notice it for some time....
Healthy kidneys prevent proteins in the blood stream from spilling into the urine. This is why doctors often first suspect kidney disease when a patient presents with elevated urine protein, or proteinuria. Proteinuria often occurs when the...
A short bout of vomiting in a child is a common phenomenon. A stomach virus, the flu, food allergies and overheating are common causes for an acute vomiting episode. Chronic and prolonged vomiting in children indicates a more significant...
The kidneys are vital organs that filter the blood and help remove waste and excess water from the body through the urine. If the kidneys become damaged and are unable to filter and reprocess blood, waste may build up in the body and become toxic,...
Chronic renal failure is the result of a gradually progressive loss of kidney function. A 2007 report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that nearly 17 percent of the U.S. population age 20 and older has chronic kidney...
According to the National Kidney Foundation, chronic kidney disease affects 26 million Americans. Chronic kidney disease, synonymous with chronic kidney failure or chronic renal insufficiency, describes a gradual and long-standing loss of kidney...
Renal insufficiency is another name for kidney failure. It's a condition where the kidneys are no longer able to meet the needs of the body. Unlike healthy kidneys, those suffering from failure can't eliminate excess fluids, salts and waste from...
Childhood hearing problems can affect speech and language development and result in self-esteem issues if not identified promptly. Kids Health reports that even a partial or mild hearing loss can affect a child's ability to speak and understand...
