Chinyemba/medical-QA huggingface dataset:
### Instruction:  Disease name:

    Knee sprain

: When to call a professional

If you injure your knee, call your doctor to request an urgent evaluation if the knee:
### Instruction:  Disease name:

    Knee sprain

: Prognosis

About 90% of people with ACL injuries and 80% with PCL injuries can expect a full recovery after proper treatment and a good physical therapy program. Almost all MCL sprains and most LCL sprains have an excellent prognosis. As a long-term complication, some people with ACL or PCL sprains eventually develop pain from osteoarthritis in the injured knee joint. This symptom may not start until many years after the initial knee injury.
### Instruction:  Disease name:

    Knee sprain

: Additional info

National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases

https://www.niams.nih.gov/
 
National Rehabilitation Information Center (NARIC)

https://www.naric.com/
 
American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine

https://www.sportsmed.org/
 
National Athletic Trainers' Association

https://www.nata.org/
 
American Physical Therapy Association

https://www.apta.org/
### Instruction:  Disease name:

    Lactose intolerance

: What is it?

Lactose intolerance is a common cause of abdominal cramping, bloating and loose stools. This condition occurs when the body does not have enough of the intestinal enzyme lactase. The job of lactase is to break down lactose, the main sugar in milk. Once lactose is broken down into simpler forms of sugar, these simple sugars can be absorbed into the bloodstream. In normal digestion, lactose is digested in the small intestine without the release of gas bubbles. When lactose can't be digested well, it passes into the colon. Bacteria in the colon break down some of the lactose, producing hydrogen gas. The remaining lactose also draws water into the colon. The extra gas and water result in symptoms, such as cramping, diarrhea, bloating and flatulence (gas). Lactose intolerance usually is genetic (inherited). In many people of African or Asian descent, the body begins making less lactase around age 5. As many as 90% of people from some areas of Eastern Asia, 80% of American Indians, 65% of Africans and African-Americans, and 50% of Hispanics have some degree of lactose intolerance. In contrast, most Caucasians (80%) have a gene that preserves the ability to produce lactase into adulthood. A rare cause of lactose intolerance is called congenital lactase deficiency. Infants with this condition do not produce any lactase. Unable to digest lactose, the infants have diarrhea from birth. This condition was fatal before the development of lactose-free infant formulas. Difficulty digesting lactose also can be caused by several gastrointestinal disorders. Viral or bacterial gastroenteritis and other diseases, such as celiac sprue, can destroy the lactase-producing cells that line the small bowel. A condition called bacterial overgrowth, in which the small bowel contains more bacteria than normal, can also cause symptoms of sensitivity to lactose in the diet. In this case, the bacteria break down lactose in the small bowel, releasing gas in the process. The gas can cause bloating, cramping and flatulence, and bacterial overgrowth can also cause diarrhea. In this case, the problem is not caused by a lack of the enzyme lactase.
### Instruction:  Disease name:

    Lactose intolerance

: Symptoms

Common symptoms of lactose intolerance include:
### Instruction:  Disease name:

    Lactose intolerance

: Diagnosis

It's possible you have lactose intolerance if your symptoms improve dramatically when you avoid lactose. A trial period of a lactose-free diet is usually all that is needed to make the diagnosis of lactose intolerance. In some cases, your doctor will want to do tests to confirm the diagnosis. One test to confirm the diagnosis is the lactose breath hydrogen test. The test is painless and noninvasive. You cannot eat food for several hours beforehand. You begin the test by drinking a liquid that contains lactose. Your breath is then sampled for hydrogen over a few hours. Normally, very little hydrogen is detected in your breath. However, if you have lactose intolerance, the bacteria in your colon will break the undigested lactose into hydrogen gas. The gas is absorbed into your bloodstream and then moves through the bloodstream to your lungs and exhaled. You will be diagnosed with lactose tolerance if higher-than-normal hydrogen levels are detected during this test. Bacterial overgrowth can also cause a positive test result, so it may be considered as an alternative explanation if your test is positive. Another test that can be used to diagnose lactose intolerance is the lactose tolerance test. This test is rarely used today. You begin this test by drinking a lactose solution. This test measures blood sugar levels at selected intervals over a few hours to determine your ability to digest lactose. If the lactose is normally digested, it is broken down into glucose, and this elevates your blood sugar level. You will be diagnosed with lactose intolerance if your blood sugar levels do not change during this test, because this shows that the lactose was not digested in the normal way. A significant number of people who have symptoms that suggest lactose intolerance will have normal results on diagnostic tests. Similar symptoms (but normal results on the tests) can be caused by fructose, sorbitol or other sugars that are not easily digested in the small intestine. Similar symptoms can also result from irritable bowel syndrome.
### Instruction:  Disease name:

    Lactose intolerance

: Expected duration

People who develop lactose intolerance as a result of gastroenteritis or another insult to digestion can recover completely when the intestinal problem is treated. This may take several weeks to months. When lactose intolerance is genetic, the condition is permanent. However, people can avoid symptoms by avoiding foods that contain lactose (essentially, dairy products) or by eating them in moderation. In addition, commercially prepared forms of the lactase enzyme are available (for example, Lactaid). These replacement enzymes usually do not relieve the symptoms entirely.
### Instruction:  Disease name:

    Lactose intolerance

: Prevention

There is no way to prevent lactose intolerance.
### Instruction:  Disease name:

    Lactose intolerance

: Treatment

There are two main ways to treat lactose intolerance:
### Instruction:  Disease name:

    Lactose intolerance

: When to call a professional

Call your doctor to discuss the possibility that you might have lactose intolerance if you develop symptoms after eating dairy products. Although this condition is not dangerous, it can be distressing. There are effective treatments available, so there is no need to suffer.
### Instruction:  Disease name:

    Lactose intolerance

: Prognosis

The outlook for people with lactose intolerance is excellent. Symptoms can be alleviated if dairy products are limited or avoided, or if they are eaten along with a dose of commercially prepared lactase enzyme.
### Instruction:  Disease name:

    Lactose intolerance

: Additional info

National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disorders

https://www.niddk.nih.gov/
### Instruction:  Disease name:

    Lacunar stroke

: What is it?

Strokes can damage brain tissue in the outer part of the brain (the cortex) or deeper structures in the brain underneath the cortex. A stroke in a deep area of the brain (for example, a stroke in the thalamus, the basal ganglia or pons) is called a lacunar stroke. These deeper structures receive their blood flow through a unique set of arteries. Because of the characteristics of these arteries, lacunar strokes happen a little bit differently from other strokes. A lacunar stroke occurs when one of the arteries that provide blood to the brain's deep structures is blocked. These arteries are small, and are uniquely vulnerable. Unlike most arteries, which gradually taper to a smaller size, the small arteries of a lacunar stroke branch directly off of a large, high-pressure, heavily muscled main artery. High blood pressure (hypertension) can lead to lacunar strokes because it causes a pounding pulse. Since the arteries don't gradually taper down in their size, high blood pressure can directly damage these arteries. High blood pressure also can cause atherosclerosis, a condition in which fatty deposits (plaques) build up along the walls of blood vessels. When atherosclerosis is present, a clot can form inside of one of these small arteries, blocking blood flow in the artery.
### Instruction:  Disease name:

    Lacunar stroke

: Symptoms

The symptoms of lacunar stroke vary depending on the part of the brain that is deprived of its blood supply. Different areas of the brain are responsible for different functions, such as sensation, movement, sight, speech, balance and coordination. Symptoms can include:
### Instruction:  Disease name:

    Lacunar stroke

: Diagnosis

Your doctor will ask about your medical history (high blood pressure, heart disease, smoking, high cholesterol and diabetes). He or she will check your vital signs (temperature, pulse, breathing rate and blood pressure) and might order an electrocardiogram (EKG). Lacunar strokes usually are identified by a computed tomography (CT) scan or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan of your brain. An MRI technique known as diffusion weighted imaging is particularly sensitive for identifying very new lacunar strokes.
### Instruction:  Disease name:

    Lacunar stroke

: Expected duration

If your symptoms continue without improvement during the time you are traveling to an emergency center, it is best to assume that your event is a full-blown stroke, not a TIA. If a lacunar stroke is treated early, full recovery is possible. If medicines restore circulation to the brain quickly, symptoms of a lacunar stroke may go away within hours. If blood supply is interrupted for a longer time, brain injury may be more severe, and symptoms may last for many weeks or months, requiring physical rehabilitation. There may be permanent disability.
### Instruction:  Disease name:

    Lacunar stroke

: Prevention

You can help to prevent lacunar stroke by preventing or controlling the risk factors for stroke – high blood pressure, smoking, heart disease and diabetes. If you have high blood pressure or heart disease, follow your doctor's recommendations for modifying your diet and taking your medication. Exercise regularly, eat plenty of fruits and vegetables, and avoid foods filled with saturated fats and cholesterol. If you smoke, quit. If you have diabetes, monitor your blood sugar level frequently, follow your diet, and take your insulin or oral diabetes medication as your doctor has prescribed. If you have had a lacunar stroke, your doctor may recommend a daily aspirin or other blood-thinning medication, such as clopidogrel (Plavix). These medicines may reduce your risk, but their benefit has been more obvious for stroke types other than lacunar strokes. If you have never had a stroke of any kind, you might lower your risk for a first stroke if you take a daily aspirin. However, this must be balanced against the risk of bleeding.
### Instruction:  Disease name:

    Lacunar stroke

: Treatment

If doctors are able to provide treatment within three hours after symptoms start, they probably will use with a clot-dissolving medication. Although the blood-thinning medication heparin often is used to treat strokes that affect large arteries, it does not appear to help people with lacunar strokes recover. Another treatment that can be used to treat some strokes is a catheter procedure to remove a blood clot in the brain, called "thrombectomy." Unfortunately, this procedure can't be used to treat lacunar strokes. The arteries involved in a lacunar stroke are too small. A person who has had a lacunar stroke usually is hospitalized so that he or she can be observed in case symptoms worsen. A person with a severe stroke may need help with self-care or feeding. In the hospital, an occupational therapist and a physical therapist can help the person to work around a new disability and to regain strength after brain injury. Commonly, hospitalization is followed by a period of residence at a rehabilitation center, where additional intensive therapy may be given. The goal of rehabilitation is to maximize recovery. To prevent future strokes, it is very important for you to control high blood pressure. It helps to take a daily aspirin or other blood-thinning medication (ticlopidine or clopidogrel).
### Instruction:  Disease name:

    Lacunar stroke

: When to call a professional

Call for emergency treatment immediately whenever the symptoms of lacunar stroke occur, even if these symptoms last only a few minutes. For best results, stroke treatment must occur within three hours of the start of symptoms.
### Instruction:  Disease name:

    Lacunar stroke

: Prognosis

People often begin to recover within hours or days of a lacunar stroke. Lacunar strokes have a better rate of recovery than other strokes that involve larger blood vessels. More than 90 percent of people with a lacunar stroke will recover substantially within the first three months following the stroke.
### Instruction:  Disease name:

    Lacunar stroke

: Additional info

National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

https://www.ninds.nih.gov/
 
National Stroke Association

https://www.stroke.org/
### Instruction:  Disease name:

    Langerhans' Cell Histiocytosis (Histiocytosis X)

: What Is It?

Langerhans' cells are white blood cells in the immune system that normally play an important role in protecting the body against viruses, bacteria and other invaders. They are found in the skin, lymph nodes, spleen, bone marrow and lungs. In Langerhans' cell histiocytosis (formerly known as histiocytosis X), Langerhans' cells multiply abnormally. Instead of helping to protect the body, these cells, in massive numbers, cause tissue injury and destruction, especially in the bones, lungs and liver. Although this overgrowth of cells may be like cancer, most researchers do not consider Langerhans' cell histiocytosis to be a form of cancer. In fact, the cells appear to be normal. There are just too many of them. Instead, it seems to be disease of the immune system, in which immune cells multiply abnormally and promote inflammation and damage of surrounding tissues.
### Instruction:  Disease name:

    Laryngitis

: What Is It?

Laryngitis is an inflammation or infection of the voice box (larynx) and the vocal cords it contains. Laryngitis makes the vocal cords swell, changing the way they vibrate and the sound of the voice. Depending on the degree of swelling, the voice may become mildly hoarse, turn into a croak or whisper or even disappear temporarily.
### Instruction:  Disease name:

    Laryngitis

: Symptoms

Symptoms of laryngitis include:
### Instruction:  Disease name:

    Laryngitis

: Diagnosis

Doctors examine vocal cords using an instrument with a light and a mirror placed in the back of the throat, which allows the doctor to see the vocal cords reflected in the mirror. Another way to view the vocal cords is with a flexible fiberoptic scope. The doctor passes the scope through the nose into the back of the throat.   In either case, if the doctor suspects a bacterial infection, he or she may ask you to cough up some mucous (phlegm, sputum) and have it analyzed in a laboratory.
### Instruction:  Disease name:

    Laryngitis

: Expected Duration

Laryngitis usually clears up within a few days to a week.
### Instruction:  Disease name:

    Laryngitis

: Prevention

There is no way to prevent laryngitis caused by an infection. To prevent laryngitis caused by straining the voice, avoid shouting or singing for extended periods.
### Instruction:  Disease name:

    Laryngitis

: Treatment

Viral laryngitis normally does not require medical treatment. Gargle with warm saltwater or use throat lozenges to relieve the sore throat. Breathing in moisturized air may help. You can use a humidifier or shut yourself in the bathroom for a few minutes after letting the shower run on its hottest temperature.    To rest your vocal cords, talk as little as possible. Avoid whispering, too, because it strains the voice as much as normal speech. If your doctor determines that a bacterial infection is causing the laryngitis, he or she normally will prescribe antibiotics.
### Instruction:  Disease name:

    Laryngitis

: When To Call A Professional

If you have a persistent fever, difficulty breathing or a cough that produces colored phlegm or blood, contact your doctor. If hoarseness lasts for several weeks after a respiratory infection, or if hoarseness develops without any respiratory infection, check with your doctor to determine whether some other condition of the vocal cords, such as a tumor, may be causing the hoarseness.
### Instruction:  Disease name:

    Laryngitis

: Prognosis

Laryngitis caused by a virus or vocal strain usually will disappear in a few days to a week. If the laryngitis is caused by a bacterial infection, the outlook depends on the type of bacteria involved.
### Instruction:  Disease name:

    Latex Allergy

: What Is It?

A latex allergy is a hypersensitivity to latex, which is a natural substance made of the milky sap of the rubber tree. Latex allergies arise when the immune system, which normally guards the body against bacteria, viruses and toxins, also reacts to latex. In any type of allergy, when the immune system reacts against an otherwise harmless substance, the substance is called an allergen. When the immune system detects the allergen, a type of antibody named immunoglobulin E (IgE) is produced, triggering the release of chemicals within the body. One chemical is histamine. Histamine is partly responsible for the redness, itching and swelling that can occur in the skin during an allergic reaction, and it produces symptoms of hives, rashes, a runny nose, and watery, swollen eyes. Histamine can also lead to breathing difficulties and a severe allergic reaction called anaphylaxis that can include a sudden drop in blood pressure, an increase in pulse, and tissue swelling.
### Instruction:  Disease name:

    Lazy Eye (Amblyopia)

: What Is It?

Lazy eye, also called amblyopia, is an eye problem that can occur in growing children. In the typical child with lazy eye, the right and left eyes have significantly different qualities of vision, so that the images produced by one eye are weak or distorted compared with the images produced by the other eye. Because the weak eye sends poorly focused images to the brain, the brain learns to depend on the stronger eye for its visual information. If this situation is not corrected, the brain eventually chooses to accept images from the stronger eye alone and ignores images from the weak one. In other words, the weak eye doesn't learn to see. The brain's choice usually is made early in childhood when the brain's visual pathways are still developing. This critical period begins at birth and probably ends sometime between ages 6 and 9. If lazy eye is not diagnosed and treated within this critical period, the brain may choose to ignore the weak eye permanently, causing a lifelong loss of vision on that side.
### Instruction:  Disease name:

    Lead Poisoning

: What Is It?

Lead is a metal that is poisonous (toxic) when inhaled or eaten. Lead gets into the bloodstream. It is stored in the organs, tissues, bones and teeth.
### Instruction:  Disease name:

    Leukemia (Overview)

: What Is It?

Leukemia is a form of cancer that affects the body’s ability to make healthy blood cells. It starts in the bone marrow, the soft center of various bones. This is where new blood cells are made. Blood cells include
### Instruction:  Disease name:

    Long QT syndrome

: What is it?

Long QT syndrome is an uncommon inherited condition— meaning it's caused by genes passed on to you from your parents. The electrical activity of heart cells is controlled by a set of channels that pump minerals, such as sodium and potassium, in and out of cells. If you inherit genes that cause alterations in these channels, it can affect the action of heart cells. Normally, an electrical impulse starts in the sinus node, located in the upper chamber of the heart. The electrical impulse then travels down to the lower chambers of the heart, called the ventricles, causing contraction of the ventricles' muscle cells. This contraction causes the blood to flow out of your heart, like how squeezing a balloon filled with water, but not tied at the top, causes the water to squirt out the top. The heart muscle cells then relax. During this relaxation phase, the electrical charges of the cells need to recover. There are normal amounts of times for each of these phases of the heartbeat, called intervals. A test called an electrocardiogram (EKG) can show how long it takes for the impulse to pass through certain sections of the heart, and how long it takes for the heart muscle cells in the ventricles to recover. The recovery time is known as the QT interval. The QT interval lasts just a fraction of a second; it normally lasts about one-third of an entire heartbeat. In people with long QT syndrome, the interval lasts longer than it should because heart muscle cells are having trouble getting ready for the next contraction. A prolonged QT interval does not cause symptoms. However, the delay in recharging upsets the electrical timing of the heart. This makes the heart more likely to develop abnormal heart rhythms, called arrhythmias. Sometimes these arrhythmias can be dangerous, even deadly. People with long QT syndrome may not always show an abnormally long QT interval on an EKG. Many different factors can influence the recovery time of even normal heart cells. Sometimes long QT intervals only occur during exercise, at times of intense emotion, or after being startled. Inherited long QT syndrome is not nearly as common as a prolonged QT interval caused by a medication or an imbalance of certain minerals in the blood stream. Many medications are known to lengthen the QT interval and upset the heart rhythm. The two best understood inherited long QT syndromes are the Romano-Ward syndrome and the Jervell and Lange-Nielsen syndrome. Of the two, the Romano-Ward syndrome is more common. It is an autosomal dominant inherited condition — meaning you can have a long QT if you inherit one abnormal gene from either parent. The Jervell and Lange-Nielsen syndrome is rare. People with this syndrome have a very long QT interval and are also deaf. The Jervell and Lange-Nielsen syndrome is an autosomal recessive inherited condition — meaning that you need to inherit two abnormal genes, one from each parent, to get this syndrome.
### Instruction:  Disease name:

    Long QT syndrome

: Symptoms

In most people, a prolonged QT interval does not cause any symptoms. The concern is that it can lead to an abnormal heart rhythm (arrhythmia), which may be life threatening. Arrhythmias can also cause fainting and shortness of breath.