Medical Breakthroughs/Miracles

My interests have included many things: politics, economics, science (in particular astrophysics), poetry and culinary delights! Though I cannot boast about my authority in any particular field I consider myself as a Jack of all trades. However in the recent past two issues or rather fields, in a broad sense, have been successful in capturing my attention: that of medicine and stocks. Not because these two are elite fields which can fill coffers quickly, but rather because of the awe and risk associated with them. The pure sense of disbelief which grips an individual whenever something big happens. Whether it is the rise, continued by a further rise and then a sudden fall in the stock prices of a company having its offices in Lexington or the prospect of saving a four-year old somewhere in UK, it gives me an unknown high when I hear about it. The conversation might happen over a casual cup of tea with this new doctor friend of mine, who has an ardent interest in poetry and painting, or over a platter of medhu vadas at the local Indian restaurant with a couple of friends after a visit to the temple.The last week I came across some information which generated enough excitement in me to jump up, read it loud and share it with my friends and family.I thought it was worthy enough to put it on my blog.

The pancreas is a small leaf like organ which produces both exocrinic and endocrinic juices. In short it plays a very important role in the digestion of the food you partake and also in regulating the blood sugars. However in some cases people get diagnosed with pancreatitis. It basically means that your pancreas is inflamed. This could lead to several complications including death. There are two types of pancreatitis: Acute pancreatitis (symptoms include nausea, vomiting, acute abdominal pain) and chronic pancreatitis. Both these forms are dangerous and can cause tissue death of the pancreas. There can also be complications leading to pancreatic cancer. One of the greatest discoveries that can happen is a way of dealing with this problem : Something that would amount to the regeneration of the pancreas. There seems to be light at the end of the tunnel!!Scientific American reports that Belgian scientists have found pancreatic stem cells in mice. If this could be extrapolated to human beings it would serve as a great boon to people suffering from diabetes resulting from the destruction of the beta cells in the pancreas. Hip Hip Hurray!! Though one cannot say with conviction that a cure will be found in the next decade or so, it is still a beginning. A beginning that could bring cheer, to more than 180 million people world wide (according to a WHO estimate), suffering from this disorder. Yes people diabetes is not a disease it is a disorder!

The other piece of news which astonished me was the ingenuity of doctors in UK to use Viagra to keep a four year old alive and fighting a serious heart condition. Viagra is not something one would associate with young girls, but it required thinking out of the box to use it to keep a human life going! Let us hope and pray that Jessica Findlay survives severe multiple bilateral pulmonary stenosis (that’s the name of the condition she suffers from). It is at times like this I start believing in Karma. As a physicist it’s almost blasphemous to be thinking about it, but how else does one explain this cruelty meted out to an unfortunate few?

Demi-Lee Brenan, a fifteen year old Australian girl, witnessed her blood group change from O negative to O positive on receiving a liver transplant. The livers blood stem cells brought about this change by invading her body’s bone marrow. Having happened for the first time this has baffled doctors and scientists all over the world!