Toxicity Symptoms for vitamin D

What are toxicity symptoms for vitamin D?

Excessive intake of vitamin D can be toxic, and toxicity of vitamin D can come from either its plant-based (D2) or animal-based (D3) form. Symptoms of toxicity include loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, high blood pressure, kidney malfunction, and failure to thrive. However, it is also important to note that vitamin D deficiency poses a far greater risk to the vast majority of individuals than vitamin D toxicity and that vitamin D toxicity from food intake is extremely unlikely. Less than one-third of all persons in the U.S. meet the Dietary Reference Intake level for vitamin D, and are far from consuming anything close to potentially toxic levels.

Impact of Cooking, Storage and Processing affect vitamin D

How do cooking, storage, or processing affect vitamin D?

Since cow�s milk-containing foods are an important source of vitamin D in the United States, and since most dairy products are not only fortified with vitamin D but also pasteurized prior to retail sale, there is good research data on the stability of vitamin D under different heating and storage conditions. Researchers have found virtually no loss of vitamin D following pasteurization of processed cheese under normal commercial conditions. They have also found a vitamin D loss of about 25-30% when cheese is exposed to an oven temperature of 450�F (232�C) for approximately 5 minutes.

Factors that Affect Function deficiency of vitamin D

What factors might contribute to a deficiency of vitamin D?

Insufficient sun exposure

By far the most important D-deficiency contributing factor faced worldwide is insufficient exposure to sunlight. More specifically, it is ultraviolet B sunlight in the range of 290-300nm that is needed to convert 7-dehydrocholesterol found in our skin cells into cholecalciferol (the preliminary form of vitamin D3).

Drug-Nutrient Interactions

What medications affect vitamin D?

The following medications impact the absorption, utilization, and/or activation of vitamin D:

• Anticonvulsant medications, including Dilantin, are used to control seizure activity in people with epilepsy and brain cancer, and those who have suffered head trauma through injury or stroke. These medications decrease the activity of vitamin D.
• Bile acid sequestrants (Cholestyramine, Colestipol) are a class of drugs used to lower cholesterol levels. These drugs may reduce the intestinal absorption of the fat-soluble nutrients, including vitamins A, D, E, and K.
• Cimetidine (Tagamet and Tagamet HB) prevents the release of hydrochloric acid into the stomach and is used to treat the symptoms associated with stomach and duodenal ulcers and acid reflux. This drug may reduce vitamin D activation by the liver.

Nutrient Interactions

How do other nutrients interact with vitamin D?

Vitamin D plays a role in maintaining normal blood levels of calcium. As a result, vitamin D impacts the absorption and storage of calcium. Vitamin D also stimulates the absorption of phosphorus.

Vitamin D helps to regulate the production of certain calcium-binding proteins that function in the bones and kidneys. Because these binding proteins are also dependent on vitamin K, interrelationships between vitamin D and vitamin K have become the subject of active research investigation.

Health Conditions

What health conditions require special emphasis on vitamin D?

Vitamin D may play a role in the prevention and/or treatment of the following health conditions:

• Asthma (severe childhood)
• Atherosclerosis
• Bladder cancer
• Breast cancer
• Chronic fatigue syndrome

Form in Dietary Supplements

What forms of vitamin D are found in dietary supplements?

The two forms of vitamin D used in dietary supplements are ergocalciferol (vitamin D2) and cholecalciferol (vitamin D3). Ergocalciferol is sometimes considered a vegetarian source of vitamin D since it can be plant-derived. However, yeast is also commonly used as a source of D2 as are other fungi (like ergot). Some individuals would regard these microbially produced forms of D2 as animal-based, while others would not.

Food Sources vitamin

What foods provide vitamin D?

Excellent sources of vitamin D include salmon and sardines while very good sources include vitamin-D fortified milk.

Good food sources of vitamin D include goat's milk, shiitake mushrooms, and eggs.

Introduction to Nutrient Rating System Chart

In order to better help you identify foods that feature a high concentration of nutrients for the calories they contain, we created a Food Rating System. This system allows us to highlight the foods that are especially rich in particular nutrients.

Public Health Recommendations

In 2010, the Institute of Medicine at the National Academy of Sciences established revised Dietary Reference Intake (DRI) recommendations for vitamin D based on new research in this area. The following Adequate Intake (AI) levels for vitamin D were established in 2010 for infants:

• Infants 0-6 months: 10 micrograms (400 IU) per day
• Infants 6-12 months: 10 micrograms (400 IU) per day

The following Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs) were established for children, teenagers, and adults:

Gram stain of Pseudomonas aeruginosa cells

 Gram stain of Pseudomonas aeruginosa cells 

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is member of the Gamma Proteobacteria class of Bacteria. It is a Gram-negative, aerobic rod belonging to the bacterial family Pseudomonadaceae. Since the revisionist taxonomy based on conserved macromolecules (e.g. 16S ribosomal RNA) the family includes only members of the genus Pseudomonas which are cleaved into eight groups. Pseudomonas aeruginosa is the type species of its group. which contains 12 other members.

Like other members of the genus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a free-living bacterium, commonly found in soil and water. However, it occurs regularly on the surfaces of plants and occasionally on the surfaces of animals. Members of the genus are well known to plant microbiologists because they are one of the few groups of bacteria that are true pathogens of plants. In fact, Pseudomonas aeruginosa is occasionally a pathogen of plants. However, Pseudomonas aeruginosa has become increasingly recognized as an emerging opportunistic pathogen of clinical relevance. Several different epidemiological studies track its occurrence as a nosocomial pathogen and indicate that antibiotic resistance is increasing in clinical isolates. 

Pre-Procedure Hallux

Hallux valgus is a deformity at the base of the big toe or the metatarsophalangeal joint in which the great toe or hallux is deviated or points toward the lesser toes; in severe types of the deformity, the great toe goes over or under the second toe.

The musculotendinous attachments in the great toe bypass without any attachment to the head of the metatarsal itself to be inserted into base of the proximal and distal phalanges. When the great toe is in a normal alignment, the muscle forces exerted around it are balanced. Deformity is associated with muscle imbalance at the metatarsophalangeal joint. The muscle imbalance increases with the deformity; in long-standing hallux valgus deformity, a contracture in the overpowering lateral muscles and stretching of the medial capsule exists. As the deformity increases, the metatarsal head becomes prominent medially giving rise to the "bunion" deformity.

A number of operative procedures and osteotomies have been devised and or modified over the years. The great variety of procedures and osteotomies devised underlines the fact that all hallux valgus deformities are not similar and no single versatile osteotomy can treat them all. Therefore, exact procedure(s) selected for operative intervention is based on carefully clinical and radiological evaluation and planning.

History of the Procedure hallux

In the 19th century, the prevalent understanding of the bunion—hallux valgus—was that it was purely an enlargement of the soft tissue, first metatarsal head, or both, most commonly caused by ill-fitting footwear. Thus, treatment had varying results, with controversy over whether to remove the overlying bursa alone or in combination with an exostectomy of the medial head. These surgeries were considered to be beneath many surgeons, so the understanding of the pathology of hallux valgus was gradual in its development. Surgeons slowly began to recognize that bunions could develop as a result of numerous different factors, that they tended to be familial, and that they often were associated with other foot deformities.

As the school of thought began to shift, the first surgical treatment to address deforming pathology was developed and presented on May 4, 1881, when J. L. Reverdin gave a report on hallux abductovalgus to the Medical Society of Genfer. He described a procedure in which a curved incision medial to the extensor hallucis longus was followed by incision of the periosteum, chiseling off of the exostosis, removal of a wedge of bone from behind the capitulum of the metatarsus, and suturing of the bone with catgut. This operation is considered to be the forerunner of all operations that aim to correct hallux valgus via osteotomy.

Dr John Lilly government scientist: (1915-2001)

Dr John Lilly (1915-2001) began his career as an orthodox government research scientist: a biophysicist, inventor, neuroscientist and physician. He ended as a guru of the scientific counter-culture. The movie Altered States (1980) was partially inspired by Lilly and his drug-induced experiences in a sensory isolation tank. In his lifetime, Lilly published 19 books, notably Programming and Metaprogramming in the Human Biocomputer: Theory and Experiments (1972); and Man and Dolphin (1961) and The Mind of the Dolphin (1967), which explore the possibility of interspecies communication.