Dr Rajiv Desai
An Educational Blog
ALCOHOL (beverage based on ethanol)
______ ALCOHOL (beverage based on ethanol): ______ President Obama loves Irish beer and celebrates the St.Patrick’s Day only with it! ________ Prologue: Abraham Lincoln said: “It has long been recognized that the problems with alcohol relate not to the use of a bad thing, but to the abuse of a good thing.” We find alcohol throughout our daily lives. Alcoholic beverages have been consumed by humans since prehistoric times for a variety of hygienic, dietary, medicinal, religious, and recreational reasons. We associate the consumption of alcohol with the most pleasurable aspects of our culture. Parties and sports, picnics and vacations, summer and winter are all influenced by the attraction of alcoholic beverages. World Cup 2014: festival of football or alcohol? Whichever country hoists aloft the World Cup trophy, the real winner will be the alcohol industry according to BMJ report. I had written article on ‘Alcohol’ on February […]
OBESITY
OBESITY: _ _ Prologue: It only needs a daily excess of energy of 100 kilocalories (the equivalent of a small chocolate bar) to lead to an increase of around 5Kg of fat over 12 months or 50 Kg over 10 years. For thousands of years obesity was rarely seen. Obesity is a modern problem – statistics for it did not even exist 50 years ago. The increase of convenience foods, labor-saving devices, motorized transport and more sedentary jobs means people are getting fatter. It was not until the 20th century that it became common, so much so that in 1997 the World Health Organization (WHO) formally recognized obesity as a global epidemic. The WHO describes the “escalating global epidemic” of obesity as “one of today’s most blatantly visible — yet most neglected — public health problems”. Obesity is a bigger health crisis globally than hunger, and the leading cause of […]
GREED
_ GREED: _ ____ Prologue: Some years ago, they asked convicted bank robber Willie Sutton why he robbed banks. He answered simply, “Because that is where the money is!” I believe that in all too many cases; if you examined the motivation of many of the politicians for seeking public office, the answer might well be: “Because that is where the money is!” The IPL betting and spot-fixing scandal has put India’s cricket establishment in the dock and left fans wondering whether the sport will ever regain its lost image as a gentleman’s game. Many international cricketers have gone to jail for match/spot fixing and anything on cricket field can be orchestrated by bookies for whom the smell of money and more & more money is more fragrant than all the legendary scents. Robert and Edward Skidelsky, in their book, ‘How much is enough?’ hold the view that wealth is […]
THE PAIN
THE PAIN: _ _ Prologue: Pain, as a proper subject of scientific observation and study, has long been neglected by medical science. Perhaps, like death, it reminds us too much of our failures as physicians. Or perhaps, like sex, it was seen as too private or subjective a subject for objective analysis. Whatever the reason, pain was never mentioned as a topic in my medical school, residency, or internship training. Pain is the most common symptom of disease and the request for its relief probably the most common demand placed on the doctor. Pain is too important a topic to continue to be ignored. Pain is clearly a multidimensional experience. It is neurophysiological, biochemical, psychological, ethnocultural, religious, cognitive, affective and environmental. The topic of pain is extremely complex to say the least. Pain is that pervasive, invasive, all-encompassing personal warning that something-is-wrong signal. Pain is associated with a wide range […]
NICOTINE ADDICTION
NICOTINE ADDICTION: _ Mirror shows the harm caused by smoking. _ Prologue: On 3rd December 2007, I posted comments “Tobacco and Smoking cigarettes” on www.ourbollywood.com highlighting evil effects of tobacco smoking. I also stated “Cigarette and tobacco industries defend themselves for providing employment to thousands. You cannot earn livelihood by killing innocent people because then, you become criminals. Smoking cigarette is not a personal matter as passive smoking also kills innocent bystanders.” Later on, I posted the same comments on my website but yet I see tobacco epidemic everywhere. So I decided to revisit the topic again in public interest. For long time, people did not realize that smoking was an addiction and that nicotine was the cause; in fact, cigarette smoking was widely perceived as a glamorous behavior. When your parents were young, people could buy cigarettes and smoke pretty much anywhere — even in hospitals! Ads for […]
