Vitamin D

Vitamin D, one of our very own, home grown, natural vitamin made and manufactured in-vivo, seems to have been brought into the spotlight again. However, this time around, it is not its deficiency related disease (be it osteomalacia or rickets), rather, it is being associated with Multiple Sclerosis. (et tu vitamin D?)

Link to the original article:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/19/AR2008091902887.html

New policy to open doors for more Ontario doctors

Another development in the long haul towards getting foreign doctors integrated in to the canadian system. Here’s the original article:

The Three C’s Of measles to neurological impairment

A boy with measles

Measles: Often referred to as the diseaes with three C’s : Conjunctivitis, Coryza (runnyyyy nose), Cough has taken its toll on humanity for centuries (atleast until the advent of MMR vaccines).
Measles, in rare cases, can produce an acute neurological impairment – Subacute Sclerosing Panencephalitis, that can cause fatality in children, if untreated within a short period of time.

Here’s a little blurb on SSPE from Wikipedia.

Pott’s Disease – A sequelae of TB.

Often, TB has been presented as a disease that primarily affects the lung. However, most often, TB can foray out of the realm of the lung and penetrate the bones of the affected individual. In this case, the pathology is called – Pott’s Disease.

Anyways, it has been speculated by the scientific community and some within the arts that perhaps, the hunchback of notre dame was actually suffering from this disease. Interesting Idea. I suppose ringing bells in church towers can predispose individuals to some occupational hazards.

Anyways, here’s more on Pott’s Disease:

Long-life gene that triples chance of living to 100 found

Here’s another article that seems to demonstrate scientists relentless efforts in shedding light on the process of aging. They have associated longevity (long longevity to the presence of one gene. Interesting article!.

I am not convinced much by the article. Age associated changes (what we normally call aging) is generally perceived as a process that hinges upon many factors. To isolate longevity and correlate it with a presence or absence of a single gene seems minimalistic and inadequate. The article raises skepticism but I guess, any new information that can add new light to the presence of aging is interesting. Here’s the article for a more detailed read.

Long-life gene that triples chance of living to 100 found

Long-life gene that triples chance of living to 100 found – Telegraph.

An interesting case on Physician burnout and drug abuse on medscape.

An interesting case on how a Emergency Dept physician starts to rely on drugs to deal with stress and how he deals with it. A blurb is given below:

Dr. X is a 44-year-old, married, residency-trained emergency physician who has been working in the same emergency department (ED) in a town of 200,000 people for the past 12 years. He is married and has a 15-year-old son, who is in high school. At the beginning of his career, he worked 12-hour shifts for 3 weeks followed by a 1-week break, but 5 years ago, he increased his work hours and shortened the breaks to increase his income. He is still dissatisfied with his pay, although he maintains an expensive sports car, and he and his wife have a heavy mortgage on their home and 2 other properties.

Emergency Department Physician Who Burned Out.

To read more: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/579476?src=mp&spon=25&uac=107639FN

Waterhouse Friderichsen Syndrome

A meningitis associated septicemia that produces hemorrhagic infarction of the adrenal gland and cutaneous petechiae, often seen in a setting post-meningococcal and pneumococcal meningitis.

Arnold Chiari Malformation II

A disorder that causes downward displacement of brain via the foramen magnum into the region of the vertebrae that is usually only occupied by the spinal cord. Often this protrusion, prevents normal CSF flow and is associated with hydrocephalus. Brain stem functions can be disrupted and can be fatal, if respiratory functions of the medulla are affected. Syringomyelia or fluid-filled cleft like cavity in the inner portion of the cord can be produced due to this malformation.

Wacky Wobbly and Wet

Normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH) is a chronic type of communicating hydrocephalus whereby the increase in intracranial pressure (ICP) due to accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) becomes stable and that the formation of CSF equilibrates with absorption. It produces various symptoms that range from dementia (wacky), ataxia (wobbly) and urinary incontinence (wet).

Why Ontario needs to relax on their acceptance of FMGs.

There are many Ontarians left hanging without a proper primary health care provider and on the other spectrum lay countless competent physicians struggling to work and wanting to do only what they are best at – treating the sick. Yet, there seems to be a disconnect somewhere. Another article published in newsprint that cries to bring this issue to attention for those that can make some change.

Here’s the original story:

Many still without a family doctor, poll finds

Toronto, Ont. – The Ontario College of Family Physicians fears Ontarians may be getting complacent about the province’s doctors shortage.

According to the OCFP, almost a quarter of a million of people over the age of 50 don’t have one — and it’s this age group that should be seeing a doctor more often to stay healthy.

The OCFP said the 50-plus age bracket is more prone to illnesses, such as cancer, diabetes and heart disease, but are only getting medical attention in emergency rooms or walk-in clinics. The CEO of OCFP, Jan Kasperski, told 680News that by then it’s often too late.

“When they don’t have a family doctor, they tend to wait until they have signs of symptoms of an illness to go into an emergency department or a walk-in clinic, and they are not receiving the kind of preventative care that we all need, in order to stay as healthy as possible,” Kasperski said.

She said progress is being made. Back in 1999, almost a million people didn’t have a family doctor — that’s about 300,000 more than the current numbers.

Homepage – 680News – ALL NEWS RADIO.

Pathology by Pictures Series –

Ritter’s Disease – Aka – S. Aureus Scalded Skin Syndrome.

Staphylococcal scalded skin syndrome, SSSS, also known as Pemphigus neonatorum or Ritter’s disease, is a dermatological condition caused by Staphylococcus aureus.

Treatment: Vancomycin

Listeria Monocytogenes

So, While rummaging through the world wide junk on google news, I came across several news feeds on Listeriosis and I was surprised to see that Listeriosis actually affected anyone in the general public. I wasnt expecting to see someone go down with it. I learnt about L. Monocytogenes in class but who knew that it would actually find its place in public.

Anyways, surprised with this incident of listeria poisoning and associated death, I continued perusing through more of the world-wide junk and came across some more interesting news from the other side of the world – India. The news page read that two individuals had died from taking drugs that were used to treat listeriosis. What are the odds of that? Here we have individuals dying of listeriosis poisoning in Canada and at the other end of the world, we have people dying because of taking drugs meant to treat Listeriosis. I thought that is something worth while noting. Anyways, here’s my blurb on Listeriosis.

Listeria Monocytogenes

Type: Gram-Positive, non-spore forming rod. It is a facultative intracellular organism

Catch Phrase: Appears to have tumbling motility when observed under a microscope and prefers to grow in cold environments (hence, refridgeration may not retard their growth). They also have actin jet motility in cells.

Other characteristics: Beta Hemolysis on Blood agar.

Common Sources: Milk products, Deli meats, Maple Leaf Food products

High Risk individuals: Pregnant women, Immunocompromised patients (AIDS pts), Renal Transplant patients, Cancer patients and Neonates.

Diseases:

1. Listeriosis: Flu like symptoms that, if untreated, can progress to cause Meningitis (*3rd leading cause of meningitis in neonates), Encephalitis, Septicemia.
2. Neonatal Listeria Infection can be of two types: 1) Early onset disease that can produce formation of granulomas and central necrosis in neonates. This condition is refereed to as Granulomatous Infantseptica. 2) The other form of exposure that can occur 2-3 weeks after birth, can cause meningitis and septicemia.

Treatment: Ampicillin.

Offer comments or send feedback to rahil.malik@gmail.com

Sources:

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jFh1ZPafbsYsSCSlq5v5-chCcDcw

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