Dr Rajiv Desai
An Educational Blog
HAIR
HAIR: _________ _ “The hair is the richest ornament of women.” Martin Luther (1483 – 1546) German religious reformer. ________ Prologue: There is universal human interest in hair and hair-styling throughout history and around the world. Hair has served as a signifier of class, gender, ethnicity, conformity/non-conformity, authority, and power throughout history. Attitudes towards hair, such as hairstyles and hair removal, vary widely across different cultures and historical periods. While some of us define ourselves by our faces and bodies, others place a lot of weight on how our hair looks. After all, hair is our body’s fashion statement. You’re born with a natural hair color, shape and hairstyle. A large part of your personal appearance is determined by your hair. Some people want to restore their hair, some want to remove it, and others just want a fancy hair style or color. Hair, whether present or absent, […]
DRINKING WATER
Drinking Water: ____________ _ For last 8 years, I lived in a small town Daman and drank purified bottled water because water supplied by local municipality is suspected of unhygienic quality and water from private bore-well may well be contaminated as many areas of town have poor sewer drainage resulting in seepage of sewage in the soil itself and sewage tanks are in the vicinity of bore-wells. Assuming you’re in reasonable shape and in ideal conditions — that is, not in the heat or cold and not exerting, a human can probably live for about 3 to 5 days without drinking water. Healthier humans can live another day or so longer. Water is believed to be elixir of life. Humanity highly depends on water and its proper utilization and management. Although, water has various uses, perhaps its use as thirst quenching fluid is the most significant one. The life-supporting […]
MEDIA
_______ MEDIA: ______ ________ Prologue: When traditional American & Indian media started blocking my comments on internet, they thought nobody would know as they control power to disseminate information via newspapers and televisions. They underestimated my resolve to disseminate truth overriding lies propagated by them. They underestimated power of internet, the new media. Information is knowledge – and knowledge is power – and power in human hands can lead to very bad and (well used) very good results. Modern age is the age of information. Information plays an important role in each and every sphere of life. It is rightly said that Iraq War was not a war between America and Iraq, but it was a war between two parties, one equipped with information and the other deprived of all information. Hence, the result was a natural outcome. We are living in an age of information revolution. Newspapers, radio […]
CELL DEATH
______________ CELL DEATH: ____________ _ The image shows webbed hand due to apoptosis abnormalities. It is important that inter-digital cell death happens otherwise a webbed limb will develop rather than a five digit limb. _ The image shows paw of a mouse embryo that has been stained with a dye that specifically labels cells that have undergone apoptosis. The apoptotic cells appear as bright green dots between the developing digits. _ As a tadpole changes into a frog, the cells in the tadpole tail are induced to undergo apoptosis; as a consequence, the tail is lost. All the changes that occur during metamorphosis, including the induction of apoptosis in the tail, are stimulated by an increase in thyroid hormone in the blood of a frog. _ The figure shows light micrograph of normal and apoptotic human leukemia cell illustrating chromatin condensation and nuclear fragmentation. _________________________________ _________________________________ Prologue: A vast […]
IMITATION SCIENCE
_ IMITATION SCIENCE: _ The figure below shows imitation jewelry resembling real jewelry but costs only rupees 788/= In the same way, imitation science resembles science but fares poorly on scientific methods: There is no evidence to show that high dose vitamins prevent cancer or cardiovascular disease and maintain good health in healthy (non-pregnant) adults. There is no evidence to show that calcium supplements prevent fractures in normal adults including post-menopausal women. Yet billions take vitamins and calcium pills recommended by doctors and/or media driven by pharmaceutical industry which displays purported scientific studies (imitation science) showing benefits of vitamins and calcium supplements. _______ Prologue: There is a Calvin and Hobbes cartoon in which Calvin poses the question to Dad: “Why does ice float?” Dad responds: “Because it’s cold. Ice wants to get warm, so it goes to the top of liquids in order to be nearer to the Sun.” […]
