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, […]
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.” […]
SCIENCE OF LOVE
__________________ SCIENCE OF LOVE: _______________ In a study published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society, one researcher likened love at first sight to narcissism, because it turns out what we’re most attracted to is someone who happens to be looking at us. Again, this has evolutionary roots, as we shouldn’t spend time chasing a mate who’s not interested, but it’s narcissistic because the person we tend to look at, of course, looks like us. It’s like falling in love with your own image in the mirror as shown in the figure above. _______ Prologue: Shruti Hassan says that she is my fan. Esha Gupta wants to frustrate me. Is this love? Well, they are playing safe. If you have a reason why you love someone, it is not love. You can’t have a reason for loving someone, it just happens and you know it…..Love is an extremely […]
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 […]
