MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS

HELLO my  intellectual readers hope all are doing great.Thank you for giving your precious time.The month of March is  known as Multiple Sclerosis Awareness Month so Today I am here with this  topic Multiple Sclerosis.

It was first recognised by French neurologist Jean Martin Charcot  in 1868.

MS refers to severely body impairing disease affecting the Central Nervous System. It is an autoimmune disease in which our immune system fight against our own tissue and try to kill and destroy it. Here the misrecognised antigen is our own myelin that is the sheath protecting the nerve fibre.

When myelin get destroyed by our own body system it lead to miscommunication between various body parts and brain that consequently lead to various disorders of posture and gait.

SYMPTOMS:

·       Numbness or pain in arms and legs

·       Prolonged diplopia: double vision

·       Tremors and slurred speech

·       Pain during eye movement and partial visibility loss

·       Fatigue and dizziness

·       Painful neck movement

·       Bowl and bladder function related complications

 

These symptoms further may lead to inability to stand ,speak and walk, depression, epilepsy resulting in partial to complete paralysis.

RISK FACTORS Etiology of MS is kind of unknown and unpredictable but major risk factors or who might be more prone to it:

·       Age:15-60 yrs age is more prone

    • Sex: Females have two times more probability compared to male
    • Particular Infections like that of Epstein Barr virus which cause monoucleosis.
    • Other existing disease like Diabetes Type 1, Thyroid disease etc
    • Climate :Countries of  temperate climate have reported more cases of MS
    • Race: White people especially of North European descent have recorded
large no of cases compared to other Asian and African races
    • Smoking: Non smokers compared to smokers record higher no of cases.

Treatment: There is no complete cure of MS but treatment focus on slow down progression and symptomatic relief to relieve from the symptoms. It includes:

Muscle relaxants

Plasmapharesis

Interferons

Physical therapy. Physiotherapy did wonders in reducing pain and improving Quality of life of MS patients.

DEEPTI M SATI

 

NEUROMUSCULAR CRISIS: MYASTHENIA GRAVIS

 

NEUROMUSCULAR CRISIS: MYASTHENIA GRAVIS

Hello my intellectual readers hope all are doing fine. Thanks for giving your few minutes, Today I am here with the new topic Myasthenia Gravis!

Myasthenia gravis is basically a kind of neuromuscular disorder. It is categorized as the autoimmune disease. Autoimmune disease occurs when our immune  system does not identify our host cells and take them as antigen. Body immune system tries to kill or damage its own body cells and tissue and consequently affect the organ and body.

In the case of Myasthenia gravis antibody produced invade neuromuscular junction affect the release of Acetylcholine which is the major neurotransmitter of the cholinergic system of our Autonomic nervous system and responsible for the proper communication between nerve and muscle. It can be defined as interference of communication between nerves and muscles.

It leads to beginning voluntary muscle weakness and fatigue  that varies in severity from person to person. It is a slow progressive disease that may  affect the whole body and leads to different symptoms affecting as follows:

Eye: drooping of one or both eye lids double vision (diplopia)

Face and throat Altered voice and speaking, difficulty in swallowing chewing and limited facial expressions

Pain in neck and limb muscles, difficulty in walking, using your arms and hand even holding head up.

Myasthenic crisis refers to condition when even muscles associated to breathing get affected. Person is not able to breath by its own. Emergency treatment involve mechanical assistance, medication and blood filtering techniques.

As in the case of all autoimmune disease treatment is always an invincible challenge. It can be controlled with drugs of class Anti Cholinesterase (Choline-esterase  inhibitor),  corticosteroids and immune-suppressants orally intravenous therapy include plasmapharesis and IV immunoglobulin therapy.

 

Deepti M Sati

 

ZES: ZOLLINGER ELLISON SYNDROME

 

ZES: ZOLLINGER ELLISON SYNDROME

Hello my intellectual readers today Iam here with a new topic. Zollinger Ellison Syndrome named after two surgeons Robert M.Zollinger and Edwin H.Ellison. It refers to rare disease in which tumors develop in pancreas and duodenum and produce high amount of gastrin which is one of the invasive factor and stimulate HCl secretion in stomach. In normal condition gastrin release HCl after intake of food to digest food. But high gastrin level stimulate increased release of HCl that lead to ulcer formation in duodenum and other parts of intestine.Tumors may become cancerous in long run and may become malignant  and can affect other organs like heart and kidney.

Exact etiology is still unknown for the scientists and clinicians . 25-30% of gastrinomas occur due to genetic inheritance of MEN-1 (Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia Type 1) which cause hormone releasing tumor in duodenum & endocrine gland. Although anyone can get ZES but child of parent having history of ZES more prone to develop. Occurence is very rare 1 in 1million people. Common in age group of 30-60yrs men.

Diagnosis: If recurrent ulcer and acidity not responding to antacids therapy clinician prescribe :

·         Blood test to confirm increased Gastrin level in blood

·         Endoscopy

·         Ultrasound endoscopy

·         Radio imaging techniques like MRI, CT and Somatostatin receptor scintigraphy.

 

Symptoms: Mild or radiating pain between navel and chest when stomach is empty or between meal which may last from 5 minutes to 1 hr along with it other symptoms include

·         Abdominal Pain

·         Burping

·         Hyperacidity

·         Nausea

·         Vomiting

·         Weight loss

·         Poor appetite

 

Treatment include medications of :

·         H2 antagonists: Cimetidine,Ranitidine, Famotidine

·         Proton Pump Inhibitor class that reduce HCl secretion i.e Omeprazole, Esomeprazole, Lanseprazole, Panteprazole  etc. If couldn’t be controlled with medication surgical removal of tumors is the last option until it spread to other parts of the body.

·         Octreotide analogue of Somastatin also found to be effective for some patients.

·         Surgical removal of gastrinoma is the last resort to prevent it from spreading to other parts of body.

               

       DEEPTI M SATI

ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE: THE GLOBAL MENACE

 

ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE: THE GLOBAL MENACE

Hello my intellectual and lovely readers today here with one of biggest issue of the World.

Antibiotics resistance has become the global challenge and matter of great concern today. Antibiotic are the drugs used to treat bacterial and fungal infections, originally defined as the chemicals derived from microbes to kill or inhibit the growth of microbes.

Resistance is the capability of bacteria or microbe to remain unaffected by the action of antibiotic to which it was once liable. This did not happen in a day or year. When Sir Alexander Fleming discovered the world’s first antibiotic Penicillin, situation was different it brought a revolution in field of health and medicine, earlier mortality rate was very high because of such deadly microbial infections. With time and subsequent discoveries in antibiotics we got rid of many infectious disease.

But now situation has become worst. Antibiotics which are being used predominantly everywhere as the major contaminating agent of environment. Now use of antibiotics is enhanced in animal husbandry, dairy farms, human and veterinary medicinal purpose and leaving residues everywhere whether it be soil, surface water, ground water or drinking water that has become a matter of greatest concern no one is free of contact of antibiotics.

Direct contact by administration of antibiotics on the prescribed regimen by the clinician when we being caught by any bacterial or fungal infection is just unavoidable. But the problem is arising due to incessant prescribing by the doctor even if he is not sure of the infection whether it is bacterial or fungal. Sometimes we see doctors prescribing and even people are taking by themselves antibiotics even for cold and flu which are viral infection and nothing has to do with bacteria. For meat preservation also antibiotics are being used so we can see everywhere there are antibiotics. Microbes has become resistant now high dose and higher generation antibiotics also not being effective that’s all because of resistance. Developed countries had made strict rules and restrictions on controlled use of antibiotics.

People in our country need to be more aware of the use as I have personally observed people taking antibiotics in self medication. They don’t realise medicine won’t work when they will actually have that infection. Doctors and clinicians also responsibly prescribe antibiotics after confirmation of infecting species and should not  prescribe if not required.

Stay safe stay healthy and if infection is not complicated one use our natural remedies like honey, ginger, tulsi turmeric etc proved to be very effective .Developed countries have more patents on them than ours own .

Pic Attribution  <a href='https://www.freepik.com/photos/medical'>Medical photo created by jcomp - www.freepik.com</a>

Deepti M Sati

 

CORONA CRISIS : WHERE WE ARE

 

    

 CORONA CRISIS : WHERE WE ARE

 

Hello my lovely intellectual friends, who just show some trust and give their precious time to check my  blogs so it does become my  responsibility also if you are giving yours  valuable time, in the end one should feel that have not wasted time & learnt something new if not new then some thing presented in new manner.

I  am just trying my best to bring food for thoughts and brain and add some value to our lives as a human being. Today I am here with this biggest disaster of humanity Corona or novel COVID-19 now has  become like  companion which  we don’t like, but we have to bear it kind of tragic comedy J  till vaccine get approved and get launched in the market. Scientists all over the world  including ours are constantly working to finalise the  vaccine for this most challenging Corona monster which is constantly changing its appearance (mutation) it is undergoing.

Symptoms like sore throat, breathing problem, fever which were the preliminary diagnostic criteria getting disappeared. In some patients loss of smell sense, even in some case in India one old lady just went to consult about her loss of appetite. Doctor just for  precautions prescribed Corona test and surprisingly she was found to be positive. Day by day symptoms are getting changed in some people diarrhoea, gastro intestinal problems are also being observed.

Earlier most of us have perception that age group more than 60 & less than 10 are more prone to it and mortality rate is higher only in the comorbid conditions but now this is also not the case in many cases 20-45 yrs also got infected and died. Even after getting cured different problems like loss of memory, headache &  joint pains were observed that affects Quality of life of the person. In India we have crossed the 9.6 million cases (updated) mark we had reached the second rank all over the world that was expected also because of high population density. But still positive point is recovery  rate is also high.

Now what the solution is? Now a days more cases are asymptomatic you never know whether the person standing next to you is positive or not. It had been found few get cured by themselves but can affect others with lower immunity. It is just the prevention  & precautions ie. Maintain social distancing actually it  is physically distant, washing hands, using  sanitizer, not only wearing  mask  but wearing it properly I have personally observed some body is wearing it in neck, some don’t cover nose properly. Mask had been proved as the most important defender. But people are not following precautions because of ignorance and some because of over confidence, they can’t be infected they possess very good immunity..

Still positive points in this situation are that people had become more compassionate & empathetic. They realized that life is unpredictable in this situation during lockdown people felt the importance of family and home. Every one is doing charity at their own level.We being Indians possess naturally more immunity, vaccinations at early age also protected us more to some extent. During this crisis India has evolved again as Vishwa guru because of our rich culture of  Ayurveda and yoga. It was so proud to hear as Indian  that in White house Yoga session and Yagya  are being performed . Few days back I saw one article that our home remedy honey for throat infection found to be more effective then many antibiotics It’s a very good news in the time when antibiotic resistance had become a challenge . Western people are following us on the path of minimalism, Ayurveda and yoga. So we should do daily yoga, skip junk food  as various research had proved our Indian food is the most healthy one.

I always prefer to write in brief but this time  it got lengthier and still feel few things left. So just want to conclude with take home message: Stay safe, healthy and boost your immune system with yoga & natural herbs like tulsi, giloy etc.

Even this too shall pass :)

Deepti M Sati

 

Deepti M Sati

Image by <a href="https://pixabay.com/users/geralt-9301/?utm_source=link-attribution&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=image&amp;utm_content=5174671">Gerd Altmann</a> from <a href="https://pixabay.com/?utm_source=link-attribution&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=image&amp;utm_content=5174671">Pixabay</a>

Nyctalopia: Enemy of night vision

 

                                

                        NYCTALOPIA: ENEMY OF NIGHT VISION

Nyctalopia also known as commonly Night blindness refers to inability of person to see in poor light. Its not exactly blindness but we can assume as kind of temporary blindness when it gets dark. Person suffering from this disorder won’t be able to see properly. Persons suffering from night blindness do have problem in driving in dark or night time.
Few people have problem in seeing in dim light and for some it becomes impossible to see in dim light .This is because of this disorder named as Nyctalopia or night blindness.

Now question arises what are the causes behind this disorder. There are two types of cells in retina responsible for vision, rods for night vision and cones for color identification and day time vision. Causes underlie in the degeneration of rod cells present in retina of eye rods cells have pigment rhodopsin, which is a highly light sensitive protein that converts light into electrical signal and visual pathway completes. If this pathway or rhodopsin synthesis get effected because of any reason it may lead to inability to see in dim light.

Causes of night blindness may be :

·       Retinitis Pigmentosa: mutation in rhodopsin gene.

·       Vitamin A (Retinol) deficiency

·       Birth defects

·       Cataract: cloudiness of lens

·  Drugs like Quinidine, isotretinoin also found to be responsible for causing nyctalopia.

Prevention and management:

·       Vitamin A rich diet : Colored fruits & vegetables specially carrots.

·       Bright lightening in dark

·       Avoid driving in at night time

·       Regular eye consultation to see the impairment

In this way it can be called as enemy of night vision and we can conclude  that not treatment but prevention and management is more applicable in control of Night blindness .

DEEPTI M SATI

 

ROBOTS IN MEDICINE & HEALTH CARE

ROBOTS IN MEDICINE & HEALTH CARE

Hello every one today I am here with blog on Robots which have become the indispensable part of our new normal life.

Robots can be defined as the machines  that can be programmed to form multiple task with high speed , precision and expertise to help the human being .The term robot derived from Czech word ‘robota’ that meant forced labour.

Starting from the first robot invented  by George Davlon named ‘Unimate’ now no field is untouched of robotics  whether it be educative robots, military robots, banking or industry.

Hotel industry are now preferring Robots to serve food in hotels as they can work at faster pace and efficiently.

Now coming towards role of robots in medicine and health care. Robots have replaced the nurses, assisting high end surgery, disinfecting the operation theatres. Robots have been proved as a boon in the medical and health care.

Because of the hectic schedule 24*7 work schedule nurses and medical professionals being seen tired and fed up and stressed  of their daily work schedule. Quality of work is  being affected by this. Robots are helping them to complete the task in faster and efficient manner to save their energy and caliber for the tasks which really require the human empathy to help the patient.

Following are the Robots which are altering the scenario of health care and medicine in hospital:

·       McKesson Robot Rx: It is a automated robotic system dispensing medicine to patient replacing Pharmacist

·       Carriers as the the name suggest do the task of carrying stuff.

·       Da Vinci Surgical Robot performs high end complex surgery like prostectomy, cardiac repair & gyanaecological procedures.

·       Vi Rob Miniature Robot having multiple function can crawl inside body and locate tumor and can treat .

·       Mr.Gower  patrol hospital as nurse and staff member can navigate elevator stairs.

·       IV Robots taking part in mixing and dispensing fluids and injections in Chemotherapy.

 

As everything comes with its own pros and cons same is here with the robotics though these can do efficiently what ever is programmed but still these are not able to decide their own in emergency condition while humans are able to take prompt decision in such situation.

It is just becoming a threat to employment of humans if industry can work with 10 robots instead of 50 workers industry would prefer to take robots.

But still we can’t deny their increasing role in every field.

 

Future prospectives are very high with robots  by introducing features like empathy touch recognition being very helpful for the patients or people do not have any one to take care, console and make feel good. In western culture it’s a big issue for the old people who don’t have any body to take care. In Indian culture we are still blessed with culture and values that make us remained connected to our roots and so to the respect and compassion for elderly aged people of the family.

 

Concluding with this have a safe and healthy life and yes do possess empathy that  makes us a better person :).

 

 

 DEEPTI M SATI