Summary | Recognizing and treating mineral deficiencies

Summary Besides proteins, carbohydrates and fats as primary sources of energy, minerals, vitamins and water form the second class of food components. As with the three main sources of energy, there can be a shortage of minerals with associated symptoms. It is important to differentiate between an absolute deficiency due to undersupply as a result … Summary | Recognizing and treating mineral deficiencies

Photoreceptors: Structure, Function & Diseases

Photoreceptors are light-specialized sensory cells on the human retina. They absorb various electromagnetic light waves and convert these stimuli into bioelectrical excitation. In hereditary diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa or cone-rod dystrophy, the photoreceptors perish bit by bit until blindness occurs. What are photoreceptors? Photoreceptors are light-sensitive sensory cells that are specialized for the visual … Photoreceptors: Structure, Function & Diseases

Sodium: Function & Diseases

Sir Humphry Davy, pioneer of modern electrochemistry, had been able to represent sodium for the first time in 1807 by electrolysis of molten alkalis. Using the voltaic column, he had decomposed sodium hydroxide and represented atomic sodium pure. Mode of action of sodium A blood test of sodium levels is used by doctors to further … Sodium: Function & Diseases

Osmolarity

Introduction – What is osmolarity? Osmolarity describes the sum of all osmotically active particles per volume of a given liquid. Osmotically active particles in the blood are for example electrolytes such as sodium, chloride or potassium, but also other substances such as urea or glucose. However, sodium has the greatest osmotic importance in the human … Osmolarity

Treatment of abdominal cramps | How is a Norovirus infection treated?

Treatment of abdominal cramps Abdominal cramps in the context of a Norovirus infection are an expression of the body’s efforts to excrete the pathogen via the stool. Consequently, it is not entirely harmless to treat this admittedly very unpleasant symptom. Although it can usually be eliminated very effectively by using appropriate active substances (e.g. loperamide), … Treatment of abdominal cramps | How is a Norovirus infection treated?