Archive for February, 2012

PostHeaderIcon Kidney Disease in Children Information

The kidneys are like the body’s garbage collection and disposal system. Through microscopic units called nephrons, the kidneys remove waste products and extra water from the food a person eats, returning chemicals the body needs (such as sodium, phosphorus, and potassium) back into the bloodstream. The extra water combines with other waste to become urine, which flows through thin tubes called ureters to the bladder, where it stays until it exits through the urethra (the tube that carries urine out of the body from the bladder) when someone goes to the bathroom.

When parents first hear their child has kidney disease, they may wonder what they could have done to prevent it. These feelings are common. In most cases, however, there is no way anyone could know their child would get kidney disease and usually nothing that could have been done to stop it. Focusing on what can be done now, such as getting proper treatment, following doctor’s advice, working with your child’s health care team and learning all you can about the disease are the best ways to help your child after the diagnosis.

Kidney Disease in Children is a series of fact sheets developed by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), National Institutes of Health. These fact sheets introduce the major causes of kidney disease and kidney failure in children, provide detailed explanations of the treatment options, and discuss complications of kidney disease and its treatment.

The kidneys activate vitamin D so that it promotes the absorption of calcium from food into the intestines. This vitamin D hormone also helps bones absorb the right amount of calcium. Calcium and vitamin D are essential elements for the normal growth of bones. If the kidneys are impaired, bones do not get enough calcium to grow. One reason is that the production of the vitamin D hormone may be deficient. Impaired kidneys may also let too much phosphorus build up in the blood; consequently, phosphorus keeps calcium from getting to the bones.

A child with this syndrome will urinate less often, so the water left in the body causes swelling around the eyes, legs, and belly. The small amount of urine the body makes contains high levels of protein. Healthy kidneys keep protein in the blood, but damaged kidneys let it leak from the blood into the urine. Nephrotic syndrome can usually be treated with prednisone to stop protein leakage, and sometimes a diuretic is used to help the child urinate and reduce the swelling. Usually, the child can take smaller and smaller doses of prednisone and eventually return to normal with no lasting kidney damage.

The causes of kidney disease are also different for children than adults. Among the children under the age of 12, the most common causes of kidney failure are problems with the structure of the kidney, bladder, or anywhere along the urinary tract. Most children are born with these problems. In many cases of structural kidney disease, surgery is required either to preserve kidney function, to manage urinary problems, or to prepare patients for renal transplantation. In children over the age of 12, glomerulonephritis (inflammation of the kidneys) is the most frequent cause of kidney failure.

PostHeaderIcon Getting Great Baby Photography in Melbourne

You want your baby photography to be the best. Knowing that these are the most precious moments that will never come again, this is when the services of baby photography in Melbourne are perfect. If you can’t quite get those angles and folds right when you are trying to do it on your own with your digital cam, then enjoy the process but know that you will need professional help to get the best pictures. Baby photography has seen many advances and there are local photographers out there who have a feel for the art of taking the best pictures with this equipment. When you couple this technology with a skilled hand and eye offered only by professional baby photography Melbourne experts, you get an absolute miracle.

Once you take a look at the photos produced, it will be a positive challenge which to select for the baby book. When you find a caring Melbourne wedding photographer, they will be able to follow your baby’s life from beginning on up through the more awkward years. Though this may not be the way to be thinking at the moment, because you have a precious new joy in your life, it should make you consider that you want a photographer with a reputation for familial bonds. They are literally just around the corner in Melbourne. You don’t have to go seeking all about Australia. Look locally and you are likely to find the right on for the job and you don’t have to pay all of the travel expenses either! A Melbourne wedding photographer with many years of experience and familiarity with the area and the culture will deliver the best infusion of vitality into your new baby photos. This is the springtime of your life. Go online now and see what is available in your area.