About Health

Pritikin diet

The Pritikin diet is a low-fat regimen that promotes eating whole grains, vegetables, and fruit over animal protein, eggs, processed grains, and sugar.

Nathan Pritikin developed the diet in the 1970s. He was diagnosed with heart disease in the late 1950s but was not satisfied with his medical care.

Although he did not have a medical background, he spent the next 20 years researching diet and nutrition, experimenting with a variety of diets, such as eating only meats or only lentils.

Prostate cancer

Prostate cancer is a disease in which the cells of the prostate become abnormal and start to grow uncontrollably, forming tumors. Tumors that can spread to other parts of the body are called malignant tumors or cancers. Tumors incapable of spreading are said to be benign.

Description

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among men in the United States, and is the second leading cause of cancer deaths. The American Cancer Society (ACS) estimates that in 1998, at least 185,000 new cases of prostate cancer will be diagnosed, and it will be the cause of at least 40,000 deaths.

Although prostate cancer may be very slow-growing, it is a heterogeneous disease and can be quite aggressive, especially in younger men.

Psoriasis

Psoriasis is a chronic, non-contagious disease characterized by inflamed hyperproliferative lesions covered with silvery-white scabs of dead skin.

Description

Psoriasis, which affects at least four million Americans, is slightly more common in women than in men. Although the disease can develop at any time, 10–15% of all cases are diagnosed in children under 10, and the average age at the onset of symptoms is 28 years of age.

Psoriasis is most common in fair-skinned people and relatively rare in dark-skinned individuals, although the rate among African Americans appears to be slowly rising.

Psychoneuroimmunology

Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI), is a relatively recent branch of science that enforces beliefs that physicians have held for many centuries, perhaps well before the times of the ancient Greeks.

The premise is that a patient’s mental state influences diseases and healing. Specifically, PNI studies the connection between the brain and the immune system.

Origins

The term psychoneuroimmunology was coined by Robert Ader, a researcher in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Rochester Medical Center in Rochester, New York.

Psychophysiology

Psychophysiology is the branch of physiology that is concerned with the relationship between mental (psyche) and physical (physiological) processes; it is the scientific study of the interaction between mind and body.

The field of psychophysiology draws upon the work of physicians, psychologists, biochemists, neurologists, engineers, and other scientists.

A psychophysiological disorder is characterized by physical symptoms that are partly induced by emotional factors. Some of the more common emotional states responsible in forming illness include anxiety, stress, and fear.

Psychotherapy

Psychotherapy can be defined as a means of treating psychological or emotional problems such as neurosis or personality disorder through verbal and nonverbal communication.

It is the treatment of psychological distress through talking with a specially trained therapist and learning new ways to cope rather than merely using medication to alleviate the distress.

It is done with the immediate goal of aiding the person in increasing self-knowledge and awareness of relationships with others. Psychotherapy is carried out to assist people in becoming more conscious of their unconscious thoughts, feelings, and motives.

Psyllium

Psyllium is a seed used for medicinal purposes taken from the common fleawort, Plantago psyllium. There are about 250 species of the genus Plantago found worldwide; they belong to the Plantaginaceae family.

The most common species producing seed for medicinal use, in addition to P. psyllium, are P. afra, P. isphagula, P. ovata, and P. indica.

Psyllium is extensively cultivated in many parts of the world. Shrubby perennial plants with narrow green leaves put up spikes of small flowers that mature into seedpods. The seeds and husks are harvested and used in healing. The seeds are small (1.5–2 cm) and brown or reddish-brown.