Dr Rajiv Desai
An Educational Blog
HEAT ILLNESS
HEAT ILLNESS: _ Prologue: Heat stroke is not new to the medical community. In 24 B.C., Roman soldiers with heat stroke were instructed to drink olive oil and wine while rubbing both liquids on the body. In the 1500s, physicians recommended stimulating friction and bloodletting to “release the heat”. In the 18th century, the cause of heat stroke was once thought to be drinking cold water. Patients would receive the diagnosis of “hurt by drinking cold water.” Amazingly, public pumps were posted with signs warning about the risk of sudden death from drinking cold water. Today, heat illness is the number one weather killer in the world and kills more people every year than tornadoes, hurricanes, flooding and lightening. Heat illness is more common in poor & middle class people than rich people because air-conditioners are beyond the reach of majority of middle class people (especially in developing countries) and […]
THE CYCLONE
THE CYCLONE: _ _ Prologue: I am not fond of weather analysis. Many times I inadvertently watch weather forecast on TV which I find quite boring. Nonetheless, after discussing earthquakes and tsunamis, I felt that I should discuss adverse weather events which also affect our lives. A storm is any disturbed state of atmosphere, and strongly implying severe weather; marked by strong wind, thunder, lightning and heavy precipitation (rain, ice etc). Storms are created when a center of low pressure develops, with a system of high pressure surrounding it. This combination of opposing forces can create winds and result in the formation of storm clouds. Storms generally lead to significant negative impacts to lives and property. The vertical wind shear in thunderstorm can cause airplane crashes. Severe weather is also responsible for plenty of helicopter crashes, and delay launch of space shuttles. There are various types of storms including tropical […]
EARTHQUAKE, TSUNAMI AND NUCLEAR MELTDOWN
_ EARTHQUAKE, TSUNAMI AND NUCLEAR MELTDOWN _ Prologue: Earthquakes are among the most devastating natural disasters on the planet. A severe earthquake is one of the most frightening and destructive phenomena of nature with its terrible aftereffects. In the last hundred years they have claimed the lives of over one million people. Earthquakes are destructive mainly because of their unpredictable nature. An earthquake struck at the floor of the Pacific Ocean on 11’th March, 2011 at 14.46 JST – 38.322N 142.369E. It occurred 129 km off Sendai, Honshu (Japan) at a depth of 32 km. Its magnitude was 9 M and its duration 6 minutes. It was a Megathrust type earthquake which triggered tsunami waves of up to 97ft (29.6 meter). The tsunami waves struck inland minutes after the quake and some traveled up to 6 miles (10 km) inland. The disaster is believed to have killed more than 25,000 […]
THE SLEEP
_ THE SLEEP _ Prologue: When I was working as a medical specialist in Saudi Arabia, my duty time was 7.30 am to 5 pm and additional calls at night. If I woke up at 2 am to treat a serious patient and finished work at 3 am, technically speaking I worked 1 hour extra. My Saudi boss used to say that I can come 1 hour late next day at 8.30 am as I worked previous night for 1 hour extra. It is stupid to say the least and cruel to say the most. The issue is not 1 hour night disturbance but you do not get good sleep after being woken up at midnight and your next day is spoiled due to day-time sleepiness. I am sure that medical professionals, police, military, fire brigade etc will agree with me. Even today, I am the only physician in the […]
THE SCIENCE OF RELIGION
THE SCIENCE OF RELIGION Caveat: The purpose of this article is not to discuss any specific religion but to discuss relevance of various world religions in the context of science and therefore specific details about various religious beliefs relating to the existence, nature, and worship of any deity; and the values & practices advocated by any prophet or sacred text will not be discussed. Also, no attempt is made to show superiority or inferiority of any religion with respect to other religions. Instead, an attempt is made to discuss all religions together vis-à-vis science. I offer unconditional apology to anybody hurt or offended by this article. I am willing to post any criticism of this article below this article itself provided the browser logs in my website. _ Prologue: When I wrote an article on my wall in Facebook about “The Coincidence”, my intention was to educate masses about the […]
