Pregnancy tests detect the presence of a specific hormone that is produced by a woman's body when she becomes pregnant. This hormone is human chorionic gonadotropin or hCG. While you can rely on the results of most pregnancy tests, there are...
False positive results are uncommon on pregnancy tests; false negatives are much more common. Certain medications can cause a false positive result on blood test or home pregnancy tests. Pregnancy tests measure levels of human chorionic...
The American Council for Drug Education reports marijuana, also known as THC for its active ingredient of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, as the most commonly used illegal drug. To help increase productivity and fight the war on drugs, many...
Dipstick urinalysis serves as a diagnostic test for doctors. The test, which involves placing a dipstick in a patient's urine sample, can indicate numerous medical conditions. The dipsticks can test for the presence of glucose, ketones,...
Drug screens, or tests that detect the use of controlled or illicit substances, are becoming increasingly popular at schools and in workplaces. Companies hope to identify drug use to curb increased health care costs, absenteeism, accidents and...
Many women turn to the e.p.t. Pregnancy test to find out if they are pregnant because this brand is so widely available in drugstores and supermarkets. Getting accurate results is crucial for many of these women. However, like any home pregnancy...
Breast cancer is the most common cancer among American women, affecting 200,000 and killing over 40,000 women each year. There is good news, however, according to Madeline Ellis of Health News: thanks to early detection efforts, death rates have...
A person may be required to take a urine test that screens for illicit drug use for a number of reasons. Some companies request that employees take drug tests to ensure workplace safety. People who have been convicted of drug related crimes are...
Rheumatoid arthritis is an auto-immune disease that affects around 1 to 2 percent of people overall, with the incidence rising to 5 percent in women over age 55, according to rheumatologist Alan Matsumoto, M.D., of Johns Hopkins Arthritis Center....
A stool test can check for disorders of the gastrointestinal tract -- the tissues extending from your mouth, into your throat, stomach, intestines, colon and rectum. It can test for the presence of infectious particles like bacteria and viruses,...
The diagnosis of HIV is a two-step process. The initial screening tests, including ELISA and the rapid tests, are highly sensitive and can detect very low concentrations of anti-HIV antibodies. However, these tests are less specific and can lead...
While there are several different types of pregnancy tests available to diagnose pregnancy, all have one thing in common. All pregnancy tests look for the presence of a pregnancy hormone known as human chorionic gonadotropin, or hCG. This hormone...
If a urine pregnancy test showed a positive result and later, a blood pregnancy test gave a negative result, there are several possible explanations. First, and most likely, the woman was pregnant and the pregnancy ended in early miscarriage. It...
Body mass index, or BMI, is a measurement calculated from your height and weight to determine where you fall on the scale of fatness ranging from underweight to obese. You can calculate BMI easily and it tends to correlate accurately in most of...
If you are a woman of childbearing age who needs emergency medical care, you may be given an emergency pregnancy test. The results of an emergency pregnancy test may help doctors diagnose your condition properly or determine what kinds of...
Both urine and blood pregnancy tests work by detecting human chorionic gonadotropin, or hCGm, levels. Blood tests can detect hCG earlier in pregnancy than urine tests. Blood tests can typically do this around the time of implantation, seven to...
The prostate, a male reproductive gland, produces approximately one-third of the fluid in semen, according to the information website PSA Rising. In addition, the epithelial cells in the prostate secrete a protein known as prostate specific...
Drug testing, also known as toxicology screening, may be done in two ways. A way that is commonly used is to look for substances in the urine. When a urine sample is analyzed for illegal use of drugs, however, it is important to be aware that...
Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that progressively destroys CD4+ lymphocytes, making the body susceptible to attack by foreign infectious agents and numerous forms of cancer. HIV infection is tested via enzyme-linked...
Tuberculosis (TB) is contagious bacterial lung disease that is spread from person to person from droplets released into the air. A person with TB may not aware that he has TB because he does not develop symptoms of the disease. The Mayo Clinic...
Many women are choosing to have a three-dimensional (3D) ultrasound in addition to the one that their obstetrician performs routinely. Because 3D ultrasound images show more detail of the developing baby, mothers want these so they can get photos...
Halodrol is a nutritional supplement manufactured by Gaspari Nutrition, a company founded by IFBB Hall of Fame bodybuilder Rich Gaspari. The supplement is formulated to increase strength. GaspariNutrition.com, the official website for Halodrol...
Whether a woman is trying to conceive or would rather not, one of the concerns foremost on her mind around the time of her expected period is whether she's pregnant. While determining pregnancy used to require a trip to the doctor's office and a...
Many women would like to know they are pregnant as soon as possible. This allows them to receive timely prenatal care and avoid doing or eating things that may be harmful to the developing baby. Although women can do many things at home to try to...
Ovulation is the point in your menstrual cycle when an egg is released from an ovary and conception can occur. Your body provides clues that can help you determine when you ovulate, and you can use this information to help you achieve or prevent...
According to the National Cancer Institute, early breast cancer detection is a key for successful treatment. 1990, the Congress passed the Breast and Cervical Cancer Mortality Prevention Act. This helped the Centers for Disease Control and...
Merck Manuals, an online medical library, reports that human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) causes a progressive, chronic infection that kills a type of white blood cell, which are the cells of the immune system. HIV ultimately causes acquired...
Heart disease is a leading cause of death in the United States, accounting for 26 percent of deaths in 2006, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A treadmill test, or stress test, shows your doctor how your heart performs...
Bladder inflammation caused by an infection, medically known as cystitis, is commonly caused by bacteria that enter the bladder through the urethra, the tube through which the urine is normally discharged. These bacterial infections of the bladder...
