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What exactly causes pancreatitis is not well known. It is thought that inactive substances (called enzymes) normally released by the pancreas somehow become active. These substances eat (and digest) the tissue of the pancreas. This abnormal proces...
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Gallstones are hard, pebble-like deposits that form inside the gallbladder. Gallstones may be as small as a grain of sand or as large as a golf ball. See also: Acute cholecystitis; Choledocholithiasis.
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Gallstones are solid crystal deposits that form in the gallbladder, a pear-shaped organ that stores bile until it is needed to help digest fatty foods. These crystals can migrate to other parts of the digestive tract, causing severe pain and life-...
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Gallstones form in the gallbladder when there is an excessive increase in the concentration of cholesterol in bile. (Bile is a secretion of the liver that aids in fat emulsification.) In the United States, 20 percent of women and 10 percent of men...
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A gallstone is a solid crystal deposit that forms in the gallbladder, which is a pear-shaped organ that stores bile salts until they are needed to help digest fatty foods. Gallstones can migrate to other parts of the digestive tract and cause seve...
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Alcoholism is drinking alcoholic beverages at a level that interferes with physical health, mental health, and social, family, or job responsibilities.
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Alcoholism is the layman's term for alcohol dependence and alcohol abuse. According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders , published by the American Psychiatric Association and commonly called the DSM-IV, the essential feat...
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Term encompassing alcohol use, alcohol consumption, alcohol problems, problem drinking, and alcohol dependence. The concept of alcoholism, in its most general sense, refers to a disease, or disorder, typically characterized by: (a) a prolonged per...
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Alcoholism is a chronic physical, psychological, and behavioral disorder characterized by excessive use of alcoholic beverages; emotional and physical dependence on them; increased tolerance over time of the effects of alcohol; and withdrawal symp...
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Alcoholism is a chronic physical, psychological, and behavioral disorder characterized by excessive use of alcoholic beverages; emotional and physical dependence on them; increased tolerance over time of the effects of alcohol; and withdrawal symp...
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The essential feature of alcohol abuse is the maladaptive use of alcohol with recurrent and significant adverse consequences related to its repeated use. Alcoholism is the popular term for two disorders, alcohol abuse and alcohol dependence. The h...
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Alcoholism, or alcohol dependence, is described in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) as "A maladaptive pattern of alcohol use, leading to clinically significant impairment or distress." That maladaptive pattern is ...
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Alcoholism is the popular term for alcohol abuse and alcohol dependence. The hallmarks of both of these disorders involve repeated life problems that can be directly tied to a person's abuse of alcohol. Alcoholism has serious consequences, affecti...
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Drug allergies are a group of symptoms caused by allergic reaction to a drug (medication.
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Drug interactions are changes in the effect of one drug due to the effect of either another drug taken at the same time (drug-drug interactions) or food consumed while the drug is being taken (drug-food interactions).
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A drug allergy is an adverse reaction to a medication, often an antibiotic, that is mediated by the body's immune system. A drug sensitivity is an unusual reaction to a drug that does not involve the immune system.
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Drug metabolism is the process by which the body breaks down and converts medication into active chemical substances.
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