Index Home Blood is life. Human beings know it well. Over the centuries we have bled many of our own to death. In Mythology and history, blood represents valour, kinship, revenge and vitality. For example, in Indian mythology, goddess Kali sucks entire blood of a demon, to prevent its regeneration. There is also a reference to… Continue reading Blood banking: Life in a bag
Category: Streams
This category includes blogs about different branches of medical science
Neglected tropical illnesses and their postage stamps
Index Home All diseases are not equal. While some get more attention, others are neglected. This unequal treatment is often due to either a threat-perception, our ability to make a change, or simply because fewer people talk about them. Further, modern medicine has always had its focus on disease-threats in the northern hemisphere. For instance, tuberculosis… Continue reading Neglected tropical illnesses and their postage stamps
When sun, air, water and food treated Tuberculosis
Index Home Let’s begin this story in 1906. This is the year of first ever postage stamp on tuberculosis (TB). On 21st December, Netherlands issued a postage stamp. This was a semi-postal Christmas charity, where postal authorities sold 1c, 3c, 5c stamps at double the price. One half went to postage. They gave the other to… Continue reading When sun, air, water and food treated Tuberculosis
Lively Liver and Kind Kidneys
Index Home Liver is single, kidneys are in a pair. Our hollow intestines absorb whatever we eat or drink, and send it to more solid liver to process. It’s cells undergo a flurry of activities. Liver cells create substances, store nutrients, and let-go of things we do not need. Feed makes it busy, and starvation busier… Continue reading Lively Liver and Kind Kidneys
How to hear, and listen for the unsaid
Index Home Hearing is one of the five senses, and listening is part of the sixth. We capture sound, filter out the noise, and pass it on to our brain. This intricate process of hearing is just one of the many inputs that set a chain of thoughts. What we see, feel, smell, and taste add… Continue reading How to hear, and listen for the unsaid
Rare stamps for rare diseases
Index Home All health systems are designed to take care of common ailments. Postage stamps also pick up only those health themes, that are common. To put in numbers, diabetes and hypertension are common. Today, these conditions affect as many as 1 or 2 of every 10 adults respectively. Some other health ailments are even more… Continue reading Rare stamps for rare diseases
Heart dominates, but does it ?
Index Home Heart has a special place amongst all organs. While brain, blood, liver, skin and kidneys all work silently – heart is loud. It is the only one to beat, and to generate a perceptible pulse. Heart-beat and pulse are signs of life. Hence, dominant position of heart in all systems of medicine, should not… Continue reading Heart dominates, but does it ?
History of Pharmacy: to make, produce and dispense
Index Home When physicians were their own pharmacists Most ancient physicians formulated their own remedies, and dispensed them too. Physicians and their family members held on to recipes as a closely guarded secret. Identification, formulation, and dispensing was a family affair. Most physicians had their own pharmacy. While ancient pharmacopeias (or materia-medica) exist, their wider dissemination… Continue reading History of Pharmacy: to make, produce and dispense