Oral Cancer – The Two Extremes Posted on February 21, 2011July 10, 2023 by Docturnal In India we often find the roads and walls painted red and the reason for this is nothing but the after effect of chewing a processed form of betel nut a.k.a ‘Ghutka’. Recently the Government of India imposed a ban on the packaging of this addictive substance but it is a little too early to speculate how the overall numbers in consumption might change nevertheless. Some extreme cases reported in parts of India were so bizarre that an individual who consumed a little too much of this substance was shocked to find his tooth brush pierce through his cheeks. I do not have words to explain this horrifying story. Images seen from a recently reported article in one of the leading newspapers were grotesque. This is really not how Mouth Cancer should be, self-imposed to be precise. Someone conducted an experiment and I cannot vouch for this but was tempted to pen it down:: A commercially available packet of the substance was put in a glass of water with a brand new blade. The morning after, the blade was properly rusted and was broken into pieces (sounds a little exaggerated). We often hear about how Coke/Pepsi was used by US Police to clean blood stains on the Road but this experiment is much more thought provoking than the soda cleaning example. I recently took a sabbatical from driving my own vehicle and was commuting via public transportation in Hyderabad/India and was shocked to find out how the city is painted in red and 90% of the Auto Drivers were indulging in this habit while not to forget the frequent pungent breath of this substance from many a men passengers I encountered in these luxury buses being run by the state. Interestingly, women are no exception. [Researchers have found a 225-percent increase in oral cancer cases in the United States from 1974 to 2007]. The other extreme is the linkage between oral sex and large number of oral cancer cases reported in the US among men due to HPV (human papillomavirus).
Losing money over a lost Kidney Posted on January 28, 2011 by Docturnal Time was ticking and I was unable to find the left kidney on a routine scan. Finally, I gave up and asked the patient for any previous history of any surgical removal or investigations suggesting absent kidney since birth. To my disbelief the patient pulled out a FAT file containing previous reports, which included a long list starting from a USG scan to x rays to nuclear scan, no need of mentioning the blood and urine investigations. All for one previous scan, which reported the size of the(non existing) left kidney and Viola!!! a calculus(stone) measuring 2.0 cm within it. Believe me, I lost all my conserved energies to rationalize and explain the things to the patient. That’s what I call loosing over a lost(absent) kidney. Finally convinced, the patient asked meekly what about the stone!!!!
Sweet Route and Frozen Shoulders Posted on January 28, 2011 by Docturnal In the last few years, I have come across a lot of people I know personally who have become SWEET around forty years of age. I mean they are diagnosed of DIABETES. Initially, I also thought it was a coincidence. But of late I am convinced that the numbers are increasing by the day. According to one statistics there were around 31 million people diagnosed of diabetes in the year 2000 in India alone!! So imagine the number in 2011!!!. Luckily for me I get a regular battery of blood investigations done every six months and ‘touch wood’ I am SUGAR FREE!!. I had a neighbor back home who was diabetic and on irregular treatment and improper diet. So at any of the functions or parties, if anyone forced sweet meat, he used to request whether we are ready to LEND HIM A SHOULDER(He meant to carry his body to the crematorium). Then, one day he passed away due to renal failure, one of the problems we come across on the SWEET ROUTE. Unfortunately, I was not there to lend him a shoulder. I think at the rate the population is taking the SWEET ROUTE we might find a lot of FROZEN SHOULDERS.
Prenatal Diagnostic Act – An Environmental Disaster Posted on January 28, 2011July 9, 2023 by Docturnal Every month, I wonder how much paper is wasted just to abide by the PNDT(Prenatal Diagnostic Techniques) Act. Briefly, let me explain what this act basically means. It came into force in 1994 and main focus was to prevent misuse of diagnostic tools like USG and other lab investigations to confirm the sex of the growing baby during pregnancy and thereby reduce female foeticide Abortion). Kudos to bring in this bold act under which any doctor / geneticist and also the person who asks for it will be punished if they ask/reveal the sex. So how to implement this act? Here’s the problem. For every pregnancy scan we have to fill up a form about the details of the patient( Name, age, sex, address blah blah blah). Next we have to fill in the details of previous pregnancies. On this form the patient and the doctor have to sign stating neither of the parties have asked / revealed the sex of the growing fetus. Then you have to pin it to the referring doctor’s requisition(Photocopy if patient wants to keep the original). These forms have to be filed and details to be entered into a log book. Finally the original forms have to be submitted in the first week of every month after taking a photocopy for our records at the nearest Govt health officer and get duly attested. Imagine the amount of papers piling up at these offices and at the diagnostic centres and hospitals!!. Above all, will submission of forms really serve the purpose the act was designed for? India would have done wonders if that was true. Environmental Disaster to prevent a Biological Disaster since only in Hyderabad there are thousands of ultrasound machines and everyday thousands of pregnancy scans are done. Added to that an average of three scans are done in each pregnancy!!!! I strongly believe this can be simplified by electronic maintainance and submission of details mentioned above. PREVENT FEMALE FOETICIDE AND ALSO ENVIRONMENTAL GENOCIDE. GO ELECTRONIC.
Decoding Human Genome & Obesity Posted on January 26, 2011 by Docturnal New England Journal of Medicine reported that there is no direct correlation between Obesity and Type-2 Diabetes. Until the recent past we all religiously believed that the obese had a greater chance for Type-2 Diabetes. I am not emphasising on the fruits derived from the human genome project but to actually look at the current state. Cancer, Diabetes and other Autoimmune diseases are definitely on the rise despite the decoding of human genome. It is also said that it is the current ‘you’ is responsible for the genetics of your body. What you eat, State of mind, State of relationships, Gut equilibrium all are encompassed in the subjects such as Epigenomics, Nutrigenomics and Metaproteomics respectively. The human gut hosts an overwhelming number of genes from associated micro organisms and this is a fundamental premise that forms basis for your physique, cancer susceptibility and overall health. Roughly around 500 cancer controlling genes were effected due to the consumption of whole plant foods. On a related note, behavioral Genetics has proven to have a high rate of false positives and hence rather than examining 1000’s of SNPs (Genome Wide Association Studies-GWAS), there are just 6 SNPs that are being used to determine the social behavioural traits of an individual. Read more from the articles available as favourite tweets by Docturnal at https://docturnal.com/resources.html OR click on the following links wiredscience and others .
Insulin – Mix Posted on January 23, 2011July 9, 2023 by Docturnal A lot of type-I diabetic patients in the country do not have an idea on what is the mix all about. You keep pumping a biphasic mix (30/70) twice a day and that’s it. One portion of the mix being short acting and other a long acting do their job in the body as per the percentage and hence towards end of the day, the long acting would have exhausted and the short acting would have definitely exhausted if it was more than 2 hours since the shot was taken. Now i get up in the morning and check my blood glucose without consumption of food and damn, it’s high to the tune of 200. This was alarming and hence started a new insulin regime where i take a separate long acting (basal or baseline) called Lantus from Aventis and a Fast acting known as Lispro(100) Humalog from Eli Lily. They worked perfectly fine and i am a happy camper. This combination worked very well for me but do see your doctor/endocrinologist as there were some side effects reported for Lantus in the long run as seen from an article reported a couple of years ago. Note that the long acting lantus is potential for 24 hours while the Lispro-100 has a potential of about 2 hours. So it is not as to how many times you are poking the insulin pen but how many times the glucometer reports a number less than 100. Keep Mixing and take control of your Type-1 Diabetes.
About docBlogs Posted on January 22, 2011 by Docturnal In my honest opinion, blogging for docturnal is an absolute freedom of thought in the medical space. An unbiased approach by a handfull of visionary folks who want to express their thoughts about the industry for heart, diabetes, cancer and others not limited to allopathy, homeopathy, ayurveda, unani etc.. We never want to promote or demote any product or service for commercial purposes nor comment with an intent that has a vested interest. Having said that, welcome to Docturnal and happy blogging!