Raynaud's phenomenon is a disorder that affects the blood vessels in the fingers, toes, ears, and nose. It is characterized by episodic attacks, also called vasospastic attacks, that cause the blood vessels in the digits to constrict significantly. Skin discoloration occurs because an abnormal spasm of the blood vessels causes a diminished blood supply to the local tissues. There is a characteristic three-phase color sequence: Initially, the digi ...

Chronic myeloproliferative disorders are conditions resulting from the over-accumulation of blood cells. All these disorders begin with a change in the DNA of a blood-forming cell in the marrow, called a stem cell. There are three types of chronic myeloproliferative disorders:    * polycythemia vera    * idiopathic myelofibrosis    * essential thrombocythemiaThis is accompanied with overproduction of p ...

Blood in the urine is a relatively common problem. The medical term for red blood cells in the urine is hematuria, where sometimes the appearance of blood in the urine can be a sign of a more serious problem in the urinary tract. Other times it may not be serious and require no treatment at all. What Is the Urinary Tract? The urinary tract consists primarily of the kidneys. There are two kidneys, located closer to your back than your front at a ...

Everyone gets cold hands and feet sometimes, especially during winter. The difference is that those suffering from Raynaud's disease lose blood circulation in their outer extremities at the slightest change in temperature. In these people, the fingers and toes turn white or take on a bluish tinge as they get colder, and they may feel painful or numb. When they warm up again, they become red as the blood returns and may throb with pain for a few m ...

Human height or stature, is the height of a human being where adult height generally varies little between people compared to other anthropometric measures. Exceptional height is usually due to gigantism or dwarfism. Adult height for one sex in a particular ethnic group follows more or less a Gaussian distribution or bell curve, although with some individuals lying several standard deviations away from the mean. Height or tallness is determined b ...