Dr Rajiv Desai
An Educational Blog
SELF MONITORING (MEASUREMENT) OF BLOOD GLUCOSE (SMBG)
_______ SELF MONITORING (MEASUREMENT) OF BLOOD GLUCOSE (SMBG): _______ _______ Prologue: Way back in 1991, on a Sunday afternoon, a young Parsi lady from Mumbai who was holidaying in a nearby village came to me with sudden breathlessness at my nursing home at Vapi, 160 km north of Mumbai. Clinical examination was normal except severe breathlessness. I suspected diabetic ketoacidosis and asked about history of diabetes. Patient and her relatives flatly denied any history of diabetes and told me that she was investigated in Mumbai for weakness recently and there is no diabetes. In those days, glucometer was not available in India. We used to blood sugar by Folin-Wu method. Being Sunday, laboratory was closed, so I could not do blood and urine sugar. I believed the story of relatives, ignored my gut feeling of diabetes, did ECG and X-ray chest which were normal, gave some primary care and sent […]
SELF MEASUREMENT OF BLOOD PRESSURE (SMBP):
SELF MEASUREMENT OF BLOOD PRESSURE (SMBP): ________ The figure above shows correct way to measure blood pressure at home. _______ Prologue: When the heart beats it generates a pressure in the arteries to pump blood around the body. In some people, the pressure generated is too high and this is called hypertension. Way back in 1981, Dr. R. C. Hansoti was head of cardiology department in Nair hospital, Mumbai and he was taking a clinic on hypertension for a group of medical students and I was one of the medical student attending his clinic. He asked a question to everybody: What are the symptoms of hypertension? Some said headache, some said giddiness and some said palpitation. When my turn came, I said hypertension has no symptoms. Dr. Hansoti was satisfied with my answer. He said that there is only one wise doctor among the crowd. I felt elated. Even today, I […]
GENE THERAPY
_______ GENE THERAPY: ______ ______ Caveat: Medicine is an ever-changing science. As new research and clinical experience broaden our knowledge, changes in treatment and drug therapy are required. I have checked with sources believed to be reliable in their efforts to provide information that is complete and generally in accord with the standards accepted at the time of publishing this article. However, in view of the possibility of human error or changes in medical sciences, I do not assure that the information contained herein is in every respect accurate or complete, and I disclaim all responsibility for any errors or omissions or for the results obtained from use of the information contained in this work. Readers are encouraged to confirm the information contained herein with other sources. I have taken some information from articles that were published few years ago. The facts and conclusions presented may have since changed and […]
THE ATOM
___________ THE ATOM: ___________ The figure above is an animation of the nuclear force (or residual strong force) interaction between a proton and a neutron. The small colored double circles are gluons, which can be seen binding the proton and neutron together. These gluons also hold the quark-antiquark combination called the pion (meson) together, and thus help transmit a residual part of the strong force even between colorless hadrons. Quarks each carry a single color charge, while gluons carry both a color and an anticolor charge. The combinations of three quarks e.g. proton/neutron (or three antiquarks e.g. antiproton/antineutron) or of quark-antiquark pairs (mesons) are the only combinations that the strong force seems to allow. ________ Prologue: Since childhood I was curious about breaking down any matter (table/chair) into smaller pieces continually till I reach a point where it cannot be broken down. What is that point? Is matter infinitely divisible? […]
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 […]
