Whoop Whoop...

Whooping cough. What is it? Well it's an infection with a really horrible name; pertussis. This infection effects the lining of the air passages, especially the trachea (the main wind pipe) and the bronchi (the the two airways that branch off into the lungs). The main symptom is a hacking cough, and a sharp intake of breath, which sounds like a whoop, hence whooping cough. You can here how it sounds like on this video (courtesy of prakashmalshe on youtube) :

This infection can affect anyone and everyone; there is no age barrier. However, there has been a recent increase in the number of cases, from 421 in 2010 to 1,040 in 2011 in England and Wales. This is nothing compared to flu figures, which reach the 100,000s in England and Wales alone, but is still a risk to life. But not to worry, a course of antibiotics can do the trick. And this increase is nothing new, the figures increase every three or four years, so the figures for 2011 fit the figures of 2008.

A short post, but hopefully it's helpful. and there's more on the way!

Sources:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-16425519

http://www.hpa.org.uk/webw/HPAweb&HPAwebStandard/HPAweb_C/1317132185149

http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Whooping-cough/Pages/Introduction.aspx

http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/physical_health/conditions/whoopingcough2.shtml

My time at the MHA Nursing Home, Penarth

Universities are very adamant that medical applicants have done x hours of volunteering in a nursing home. It seems really boring and quite pointless; how is working with old people going to help me work in a hospital? But after the short induction I had at Ty Gwyn Nursing Home on Tuesday, it made me realise why volunteering hours are like gold dust.
A nursing home is very much like a relaxed hospital, there are nurses, there are carers and admin. When I went there I managed to see a family friend who is a GP, so if there are any major health problems, medical help is at hand, just like a hospital. Patients, I really should say residents, have a routine; meals at set times, they have entertainment like bingo (I know, I know) and rest times at allocated slots. Medical records of each resident is kept by the nurses.
When I went there on Tuesday, I wasn't expecting an adrenaline rush as soon as I walked through the door, but I was surprised by how un-boring it was. I had a look around the building, which was massive and looked fairly new, and I saw briefly how the place was run. After that, I really got stuck in, I played skittles with the residents. Yep, that's right, I said skittles. But while the residents were playing, I could see that stuff like that can show the nurses and carers how the residents are doing: if they aren't playing as well as they usually do, then an eye should be kept on them.
OK, this probably was a boring entry, probably THE most boring-est, but I felt it is a necessary introduction to my adventures at MHA Ty Gwyn Nursing Home. After all, I am volunteering here to gain relevant skills and experiences to become a doctor. Working in places like Nursing Homes give you really good training for people skills and interacting with patients. And seeing as Britian is facing an ageing population, us students need to get all the experiences we can get with tackling the problems of the pensioner boom.

Intensive Farming Methods: Good or Bad?

At GCSE there are a lot of topics that the examiners love, and one of them are the controversial issues, should GM crops be grown in Britian, etc. In this blog I will investigate the issues of intensive farming methods; should they be done or are they damaging for the environment and the life in that environment?

Fertilisers

Fertilisers are chemicals used by farmers to aid plant growth.

So why are they so great? Well first they increase the yield of crop, a higher number of crops grow to a good enough standard. This means the farmer gets more money, and the crop will cost less in the shops. They were also responsible for the Green Revolution during the 1940s all the way up to the 1970s, this was when the amount of crop yield grew hugely. Fertilisers also ensure a healthy plant, so more plants in a field are suitable for sale.

But what's the problem with them? The main problem with them is that they cause eutrophication. Fertilisers that have been used can be washed off, or leached, off the land and can be washed into rivers. This causes the plants and algae to bloom and grow. The algae to grow so much that the surface of a lake gets covered, blocking the sunlight to the rest of the lake. The lack of sunlight results in the death to plants. Eventually, the huge amounts of algae will die, and lots of bacteria will start to decompose the dead plants and algae. These bacteria will need energy, so they will carry out respiration, which will use up the oxygen from the lake. This is a problem for fishes and other underwater animals; they don't have enough oxygen for themselves. They will eventually die.

Fertilisers- Increases yield of plants and ensure good plant health, but can cause eutrophication.

Pesticides

These are chemicals that are poisonous to pests such as weeds and insects.

Why do farmers use poisons on their plants? Insecticide and herbicide (chemicals used to repel insects and kill weeds) are very useful tools for farmers. Insects and other pests eat or compete with the crops that the farmer is trying to grow (there is a competition between the crop and weed for nutrience, sunlight, space and water) so less insects and weeds are what farmers want. Pesticides don't directly increase yield like fertilisers, but they get rid of the competition or the predators that eat the plant which then results in more plants being available for sale.

Why do people object to them so much? The main problem is bioaccumilation. If an apple is sprayed with insecticide, a worm may come along and start to nibble on the apple. Some of the insecticide will be in this worm. A hedgehog may come along and eat this worm that has nibbled on that apple, the concentration of insecticide increases in the hedgehog. Then an eagle swoops in and eats this hedgehog, and the level of insecticide increases again. But at this point this concentration is far too high and this kills the eagle. So bioaccumilation is the build up of chemicals up a food chain. Pesticides can also get leached as shown here:

Pesticides- they get rid of annoying insects and weeds, but they cause bioaccumilation which causes harm or death to top predators (that includes humans too!)

Biological control

Biological control is probably one of the most natural methods of intensive farming, this involves introducing a disease or predator in an environment that will get rid of pests.

Isn't this method dangerous? The diseases or predators that are introduced into an ecosystem specifically effect the pest. Ladybugs are an example of a predator, they were introduced to control the number of aphids, who were the pests. This is almost like a natural, non-chemical version of pesticides; they control the numbers of the pests and also there are no chemicals building up a food chain.

So is this the solution? This method is effective, but there are some drawbacks. The actual predator that has been introduced can become a pest itself. There have been many examples where the predators have not eaten the pest, and they have started to eat other things. There has been many cases where the introduced predator has out-competed the native species of the area. The problem with this method is that it is very difficult to control.

Biological control- controls the number of pests with nothing building up food chains, but extremely hard to control.

Battery Farming

Battery Farming is the method that tries to reduce the amount of energy lost from animals.

Why is this done? When ever an animal eats food, the energy from the food is lost through various ways, three of them being from heat, movement and excretion.

Out of the 100kJ of food eaten, only 4kJ is stored in the body

Animals are kept in small places where movement is restricted so less energy is used, the temperature is also kept constant so the body of the animal doesn't need to adjust when there are changing temperatures. As a higher proportion of the food is retained and isn't wasted, there is more meat and fat on the animal, increasing the quality. Antibiotics are also injected into the animals or is mixed in with the food, this reduces the chances of a disease spreading between the animals.

What's the problem with it then? Well, it's just cruel. Animals are caged up with other animals in a small area, the quality of life is very poor. Also the antibiotics can cause bioaccumilation and can build up to dangerous levels when eaten by humans. Bacteria can mutate because of the over exposure to the antibiotics, which means a disease can mutate, infect and animal and spread within days.

Battery farming- the quality of meat may be better, but the quality of life of the animals is very poor. There is also a very high chance of illness of build up of antibiotics 

I used to be a railroad constructor like you, until I took a pole to the brain...

Once upon a time, a simple man in the 1800s had revolutionised the way we look at neurological science; the science of the brain. If I asked the question, "Could you survive a small crowbar passing completely through your head?" thanks to Phineas Gage, the answer would be yes.

On the 18th September 1848, Phineas Gage was working for his railroad construction company as a foreman, blasting out rock, in Vermont, in the US. His job was to form a hole in rock by using a tamping iron (a bit like a crowbar) and pack this hole with explosives. On this occasion, Gage was said to have been distracted by something and had carried out his usual procedure incorrectly, his tamping iron had struck a rock causing a spark to light the explosives. This caused an explosion which caused the iron bar to go right through Gage's skull, under the left eye socket, and emerged through the top of the skull. 

The tamping iron was said to have been found some 80 feet away "smeared with blood and brain.".Gage was unconscious, but had gotten up after a few minutes, started to walk with little assistance, was able to talk an had sat upright on his 3/4 mile journey in a horse cart to the town. The first physician to arrive was Dr. Edward H. Williams, here is his account: 

"I first noticed the wound upon the head before I alighted from my carriage, the pulsations of the brain being very distinct. Mr. Gage, during the time I was examining this wound, was relating the manner in which he was injured to the bystanders. I did not believe Mr. Gage's statement at that time, but thought he was deceived. Mr. Gage persisted in saying that the bar went through his head .... Mr. G. got up and vomited; the effort of vomiting pressed out about half a teacupful of the brain, which fell upon the floor."

The next physician to see him after an hour or so was Dr. John Martyn Harlow and this was his account of Gage:

"You will excuse me for remarking here, that the picture presented was, to one unaccustomed to military surgery, truly terrific; but the patient bore his sufferings with the most heroic firmness. He recognized me at once, and said he hoped he was not much hurt. He seemed to be perfectly conscious, but was getting exhausted from the hemorrhage. Pulse 60, and regular. His person, and the bed on which he was laid, were literally one gore of blood." 

The pressure on Gage's brain left him in a partial coma (semi-comatose) for a month  "seldom speaking unless spoken to, and then answering only in monosyllables. The friends and attendants are in hourly expectancy of his death, and have his coffin and clothes in readiness." Within months Gage was able to get out of bed, walk to his chair as well as up and down stairs. During the week when Dr. Harlow was absent, Gage was seen out in the street everyday, and his desire to return home was as burning as ever. He was "feeling better in every respect ... walking about the house again; says he feels no pain in the head."

I feel that Phineas Gage's adventures are far too thrilling to reveal in one blog, the fact that someone lived after an accident like that is just remarkable in itself. The next time I delve into Phineas Gage's life, I will see how this accident affected him in later years.

Sources:

http://www.thepsychologist.org.uk/archive/archive_home.cfm/volumeID_21-editionID_164-ArticleID_1399-getfile_getPDF/thepsychologist/0908look.pdf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phineas_Gage 

The iCigarette?

We all know the dangers of smoking; lung cancer, heart diseases, so on and so forth. And governments across the world have been spending money for campaigns encouraging smokers to give it up. We've all seen the ads on T.V. as well, the NHS "Quit Kits", nicorette patches and sprays. But here's an initiative that even Steve Jobs himself would be proud of. OK, it's not actually made by Apple or called the iCigarette, but it's called the Electronic Cigarette, or the E Cigarette for short.

The nicotine in cigarette tobacco is what makes smoking addictive, it has even been said to be more addictive than heroin. But why is it addictive? The chemicals in the brain are balanced, but nicotine changes this, which brings about a sense of relaxation and brings about a change in concentration levels, something that many smokers enjoy. The changes are quick, and many smokers are dependent on these changes, this dependence on nicotine brings about the addiction.


The well known ways of tackling smoking are the products that nicorette provide; the patches, the sprays, the gum, the list is endless; they even have an iPhone app. The NHS has also started to provide free "Quit Kits" which contain leaflets which boost willpower, nicotine gum and more information on why smoking is bad for health.


So what's so unique about this E Cigarette? Like many of the smoking alternatives, the E Cigarette gives the user a dose of nicotine during each "puff", but what's the point of the E Cigarette when there are easier and well known alternatives? Well the E Cigarette does exactly what it says on the tin; it is literally a battery powered cigarette, it even produces smoke that is exhaled and the end of the "cigarette" lights up. The white end of the "cigarette" is where the battery is contained, and the brown end contains a mixture of nicotine and "propylene glycol (also used to make stage smoke)"[1] The battery causes this mixture to form a vapour which is then exhaled. The nicotine cartridges come in different strengths, which is great for a gradual progress when trying to quit smoking. Why is this so great then? Well, as smoking for many smokers is a habit, the actual process and actions of smoking become a habit too. The E Cigarette allows smokers to carry out the smoking process, and it is also legal to smoke them indoors in public areas, as the vapour produced isn't harmful to those around them. 


However, I'm not here to advertise the brand, so I will highlight the disadvantages of them. Unfortunately nicotine is very harmful, which can cause circulatory problems, so all nicotine products that are used still cause this. Also the propylene glycol is said to have harmful side effects on breathing which could defeat the objective of giving up smoking. Also some of the components could be quite toxic if the E Cigarette malfunctions, seeing as this is an electronic product this could be quite likely.


It is amazing to see the alternatives and the wide range of products there are for helping people giving up smoking. But I hope the main message that I tried to put across is clear, don't smoke! But it is reassuring to know that the people who are trying to give it up have the suitable help and support available.  


Sources:
http://www.nicorette.co.uk/?gclid=CL3fmIq1360CFVBlfAodDHRPlQ Nicorette
http://smokefree.nhs.uk/quit-tools/quit-kit/ NHS Quit Kit
ecigarettedirect.co.uk/extra info/how it works.html How E Cigarettes work
http://www.primehealthchannel.com/electronic-cigarette-dangers-and-side-effects.html Why E Cigarettes are bad for you

Hello Bloggers!

Hi there!

My name is Ashar, I'm a student from Cardiff, in year 12, studying Biology, Chemistry, History, Philosophy and Physics. I will blog mainly about scientific and medical breakthroughs and advancements, as well as share my experiences of work experience, volunteering and life as a Sixth Former. I will from time to time, blog some advice and tips for younger students, especially those who are considering a medical profession, on how to survive Sixth Form life, and how to secure those vital work experience placements.

So that's a little bit about me and what I'm aiming to do. I should post weekly, unless the homework gets me first. If you have any queries, comments or anything else, just comment on the posts or my contact details should be on my main page.

Hope you enjoy my blog!