Scientists at MIT are able to capture light moving through space by means of camera which has a shutter speed of Trillion frames per second.

I must say that it is a phenomenal achievement as light is the fastest moving object in nature. The device will be available to public within 10 years time & will benefit the medicine, in the form of handheld scanners, & industries by being able to identify minute surface defects.
Watch the video & see yourself the awesome wave of light.

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A section containing Medical Presentations has just been added to the Lounge & will be updated regularly. It will be containing presentations in Microsoft Powerpoint format & will be mostly related to Ophthalmology. They will be freely downloadable for everyone. If anyone wants to share their presentations, they can contact me at doctorahsan[at]live[dot]com.

Medicines are used for the treatment of various diseases but when they are no longer needed or expired, they should be properly disposed to avoid harm to other humans or animals.

FDA has published the following guidelines for the proper & safe disposal of unused / expired medicines:

Time lapse HD video of the Earth from International Space Station pictured from August to October,2011. Watch the beautiful Auroras, Thundering Clouds and the Magnificently Lit Countries. Simply Awesome!

Dr. Faisal Kashif has devised a non-invasive method for measuring the intra-cranial pressure for his PhD thesis at Massachusetts Institute of Information Technology (MIT).  

Recording of Intracranial pressure ( pressure inside the skull ) is very necessary in injuries, tumours of the brain to know its viability & blood supply. But the current methods are invasive & require drilling a hole in the skull.

But Dr. Kashif has came up with a way to measure the pressure on basis of physical signs & then analysing them through a mathematical model.

His team is soon going to develop a machine for it.

In a study conducted by the Institute of Cancer Epidemiology, Denmark on 350,000 people which followed them for 18 years, it was concluded that there is no link between mobile phones & cancer.

As the usage of mobile phones have soared up during the last few decades, many people started discussing that they might be causing cancers but the latest study has proved otherwise.

It is still said that mobile phone usage should be kept less as much as possible to avoid any other unknown  effects on the body.

What is Dengue Fever

Dengue Fever is caused by flavivirus which is transfered to Humans by a bite from infected mosquito named Aedes egypti. This mosquito typically bites during day time.

Symptoms

Fever, Malaise, Headache, Skin rash, Petechiae are the most common symptoms. In severe cases, the patient may have bleeding from nose, skin, ear leading to shock.

Looking like Grand Canyon, its actually a microscopic crack on the surface of steel, which was created due its bending. This image won the first prize in 2011 FEI Owner Image Contest. It was photographed by Martina Dienstleder of the Austrian Centre for Electron Microscopy and Nanoanalysis in Graz. Her colleague, Manuel Paller then coloured the image with rusty tones and added a cloud-dotted sky to complete the look.

Have a look at other position holders > http://www.fei.com/2011-image-contest/winner-announce.aspx

Markus Fischer & his team, from a company called Festo , have developed an ultralight robotic model which is able to fly like a real bird, by means of flapping its wings. Named SmartBird, its design is inspired by a Herring Gul. The wings not only beat up and down but twist like those of a real bird -- and seeing it fly leaves no doubt: it's a perfect technical imitation of the natural model, but just a bit bigger. Its wingspan is almost two meters, while its carbon-fiber structure weighs only 450 grams.

After seeing this video, I was very much impressed & really wanted to stand up in applause.

Chameleon are highly unique & distinctive lizards, possessing the ability to change their color, which serves as a mean for their communication, reflects their mood, temperature & as a mechanism to sway away the predators.
Another extra ordinary ability they possess is, they are able to move their eyes independently of each other & thus see two different images from their respective eyes.
They are found in forests of Madagascar, Africa, Yemen, Spain and India. Their diet includes snails, spiders, fruits, berries. Their average life span is 5-9 yrs, depending upon the species.

Have a look at the following video & get amazed by their awesome ability of changing colors & that too quickly.

Lovely Footage & Info by BBC.

A company called, Pixel Optics has developed glasses which change focus when you look near or far. The device consists mainly of an accelerometer & lenses which are covered with transparent liquid crystals. When you tilt your head for near work, the accelerometer detects it and the liquid crystals change the focus of the lenses for near vision. When you look far, again the change is detected by the accelerometer & lenses are adopted for looking far in a fraction of second.

These glasses are a blessing for the persons who are annoyed of the line  in the field of vision, separating the lenses in bifocal glasses.

World Hemophilia Day was celebrated around the world on 17th April to increase awareness about this inherited disorder, which affects around 1 in 10,000 births every year. This year's theme was 'Be inspired, Get Involved in Treatment for All', telling affected people to inspire others by sharing their stories of success and getting everybody treated.

What is Hemophilia?

It is an inherited bleeding disorder, which affects only males. In this disease, the blood fails to clot after an injury & the bleeding continues for much longer.This is because of a clotting factor deficiency, which are needed for the formation of a blood clot after trauma. It is two types, Hemophilia A in which there is deficiency of clotting factor 8 and, Hemophilia B in which there is deficiency of clotting factor 9.

A recent study published in American Journal of Internal Medicine says that working for more than 11 hours a day increases the risk of heart disease by 67 percent, compared with working a standard 7 to 8 hours a day.

The study followed 7,100 British workers for 11 years. The researchers stressed that a question about the duration of work should be a regular part of history taking by the doctor.They recommended that people who work long hours, should be particularly careful in following healthy diets, exercising sufficiently and keeping their blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and blood (sugar) within healthy limits.

A new device has been approved in Europe which is offering sight to the sightless. The above picture is of Barbara Campbell, who lost her sight many years ago due to a retinal disease. She has been implanted with this new device, which consists of a small camera mounted on glasses and the images are converted to impulses that are sent to a transmitter on the side of the glasses.
The transmitter then beams the impulses to 60 electrodes that have been surgically implanted at the back of the eye. These electrodes bypass the damaged retinal cells and directly stimulate nerve cells connected to the visual center in the brain. She now sees a very crude image that has 60 points of light, compared to the millions of someone with healthy vision.

World Water Day is internationally observed today,i.e., on 22nd March, 2011 to increase awareness about the provision of Safe & Healthy water for drinking & everyday use for everyone. The history of this day dates back to 1992 when a resolution was passed in Brazil and was then announced by UN council to be observed annually on 22nd March.

The theme for this year is 'Water for cities - Responding to the Urban Challenge'.

Some Facts

-One out of four city residents worldwide, 789 million in total, lives without access to improved

sanitation facilities. 

-497 million people in cities rely on shared sanitation. In 1990, this number was 249 million.

-27%of the urban dwellers in the developing world do not have access to piped water at home.

-In Pakistan, 44 percent,i.e., 72 million people out of total 180 million dont have access to safe drinking water. The situation is more worse in rural areas where almost 90 percent of the people have no access to clean water.

Tonight its going to be Super-Moon, means the moon will appear bigger & brighter. This is because the path of the moon is elliptical in shape with one portion closer to the earth & the other away from it.

It is said that the moon will appear 10 percent bigger & 30 percent brighter than rest of the full moons during the year. It will be more prominent during the evening. A Super Moon of such scale is occurring almost after 18 years, last time it happened in 1992. 

A Super Moon, because of its proximity, influences the tidal waves to a bigger extent & can lead to Floods, Storms & Earthquakes.

Every year World Kidney Day is observed on the second Thursday of March, to raise awareness about the importance of Kidney & its associated disorders. The slogan for this year's campaign is 'Protect Your Kidneys and Save Your Heart'.

What is the function of kidneys ?

The main job of our kidneys is to remove toxins and excess water from our blood. Kidneys also help to control our blood pressure, to produce red blood cells, to keep our bones healthy & to maintain blood acidity.

Who are the main culprits causing damage to the kidneys ?

The common disorders causing damage to kidneys are,

-Urinary Tract Infection (UTI)

-Diabetes

-High Blood Pressure (Hypertension)

Woke up early today & really enjoyed the soothing experience of a morning walk. After the last night's drizzle everything was looking clean & clear at the sunrise. The flowers were looking very fresh & captivated my inner self.

Wellcome library, known for maintaining a free collections of books, manuscripts, archives, films and pictures on the history of medicine from the earliest times to the present day, hosted the Medical Images Awards for 2011 recently. The judging panel included scientists who have to choose the best from around 400 images. The aim was to select those images which not only conveyed scientific information but had an artistic beauty as well.

Shown above is the scanning electron micrograph of a honeybee. The honeybee has a hairy thorax and segmented abdomen, a pair of double wings and three pairs of segmented legs. Each leg has a different 'tool' designed for a specific function to assist in the collection and transport of pollen to the hive for the production of honey.

In a recent study published in Science Translational Medicine, researches have showed that benefits of painkillers can be boosted or completely wiped out by manipulating the expectations of the patients.

Heat was applied to the legs of 22 patients, who were asked to report the level of pain on a scale of one to 100. They were also attached to an intravenous drip, so drugs could be administered secretly.

The initial average pain rating was 66. Patients were then given a potent painkiller, remifentanil, without their knowledge and the pain score went down to 55.

They were then told they were being given a painkiller and the score went down to 39.

Then, without changing the dose, the patients were then told the painkiller had been withdrawn and to expect pain, and the score went up to 64.

So even though the patients were being given remifentanil, they were reporting the same level of pain as when they were getting no drugs at all.

Chris Wild, Director of the WHO International Agency for Research on Cancer - IARC, talking on World Cancer Day ( Feb 4th ) said that the research over the last 20 years indicates that low levels of physical activity are associated with a high risk of colon cancer and there is also reasonably strong evidence that the same is true for breast cancer.

It is estimated that between 165,000 to 330,000 cases of cancer could have been prevented in 2008 if the population had maintained sufficient levels of physical activity.

Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide and accounted for 7.6 million deaths (around 13% of all deaths) in 2008. Tobacco, alcohol, poor diet and too much sun exposure are linked to cancer. Chronic infections with viruses such as those which cause Hepatitis B and C or human papiloma virus are also risk factors for cancer.

Few days ago, I was sitting in my Medical Officer room, preparing list of patients who were to be operated the next day. A woman of medium stature having fair complexion, appearing to be in late 40's entered the room & greeted me with a smile. She then handed over the file & I started to enroll her for the OT list. She was going to have Phacoemulsification of her left eye cataract with an intraocular lens implant.

She asked me, " How long will be my stay ? " 

I replied, " You will be admitted today, operated tomorrow & discharged day after tomorrow. "

She responded, " But I want to be operated today & discharged as soon as possible. "

I replied that it is not possible because of the patient load & you have to stay here for 2 days. Then I asked why there was too much urgency.

She said after taking a deep breath, " I have come alone & also there is no one at home to care for my family. I have prepared 1 day's meal for them so that they can consume it during my absence. "

I asked, " Why you have come alone & there is no one at home? "

She replied, " The reason I have come alone is that we are very poor. When we had bungalows, cars & every luxury of life, everyone wanted to be with us & enjoyed our gatherings. But now when everything is gone, no one comes to see us. " 

As she started to unfold her story, expressions of grief on her face, gradually became more prominent.

She continued, " I have a husband & two sons at home. My husband is a patient of congestive cardiac failure & is suffering from Tuberculosis these days. My sons are 14 & 12 year old. I have been facing problems since the start of my marriage. When I got married, my lower limbs lost their function due to unknown reasons & I spent 7 years in bed after which I recovered. I didn't had any babies during this time. After this, I had 4 Cesarean sections leading to 4 babies, but 2 of them died. After that I had Myomectomy ( benign tumour of uterus, removed by surgery ) which didn't yield significant results & was latter followed by Hystrectomty ( complete surgical removal of the uterus ). Now I suffer from diabetes & hypertension for last few years. And the reason, I am here is that the cataract of my left eye is causing a disturbance in my daily left activities, as I am the lone carer of myself, my husband & my sons, besides Almighty Allah."