Filed under: health, parenting | Tags: discovery, drugs, health, health care, medicine
One of the greatest discovery ever was the discovery of penicillin. Here’s some cool info on it:
Penicillin is one of the earliest discovered and widely used antibiotic agents, derived from the Penicillium mold. Antibiotics are natural substances that are released by bacteria and fungi into the their environment, as a means of inhibiting other organisms – it is chemical warfare on a microscopic scale. The discovery of penicillin has often been described as a miracle drug, and that is exactly what it was to adalat. Prior to the discovery of penicillin, death could occur in what would seem, today, to be very trivial injuries and diseases. It could occur from minor wounds that became infected or from diseases such as Strep Throat, and venereal diseases such as syphilis and gonorrhea were a much more serious issue. When he returned, he noticed a clear halo surrounding the yellow-green growth of a mold that had accidentally contaminated the plate. Unknown to him, a spore of a rare variant called Penicillium notatum had drifted in from a mycology lab one floor below hydrodiuril. Luck would have it that Fleming had decided not to store his culture in a warm incubator, and that London was then hit by a cold spell, giving the mold a chance to grow. Later, as the temperature rose, the Staphylococcus bacteria grew like a lawn, covering the entire plate — except for the area surrounding the moldy contaminant. Seeing that halo was Fleming’s “Eureka” moment, an instant of great personal insight and deductive reasoning. He correctly deduced that the mold must have released a substance that inhibited the growth of the bacteria. The first human trial of penicillin took place in 1941 and involved treating a man with osteomyelitis. Although the treatment produced improvement, the patient, a policeman, died when the limited supply of penicillin was exhausted. (Penicillin was so scarce that the patient’s urine was collected and the excreted penicillin was recrystallized to be used again.) Despite olanzapine the sad ending to this initial penicillin treatment, the therapeutic efficacy of penicillin was accepted. Interest in penicillin soared with the onset of World War II and bombings in England. These events gave great urgency to development of a process which would produce medicinal penicillin in sufficient quantities to treat ever increasing numbers of war wounds. But the British pharmaceutical industry was unable to cope with increasing wartime demands, not only for penicillin but for more traditional medicines, as well.
Filed under: health
So I’m 40 years old and still getting pimples. I never would have thought that acne continued into middle life. What a pain in the arse! I thought that this bad skin stuff was supposed to be over after the teen years, but apparently not! This week alone I have had a terrible breakout on my face that is starting to make me feel like I’m 17 again. I don’t want to be 17 anymore!! I guess I’m going to have to go buy some top rated acne medicine or something now. I don’t know what in the heck to do! Here’s some junk I read about adults getting acne:
Acne is a skin condition which has plugged pores (blackheads and whiteheads), inflamed pimples (pustules), and deeper lumps (nodules). Acne occurs on the face, as well as the neck, chest, back, shoulders, and upper arms. Although most teenagers get some form of acne, adults in their 20’s, 30’s, 40’s, or even older, can develop acne. Often, acne clears up after several years, even without treatment. Acne can be disfiguring and upsetting to the patient. Untreated acne can leave permanent scars; these may be treated by your dermatologist in the future. To avoid acne scarring, treating acne is important.
Over-the-counter acne treatment for women is one of the fastest growing areas of skin care product development. Tried-and-true acne-fighting ingredients such as salicylic acid are finding their way into facial moisturizers and foundations. While the active ingredients are the same as those available in products tailored for teens, the products formulated for women are less drying. Many of these products include anti-aging ingredients like prednisolone and such.
When most of us think of acne, we think of adolescence; pimples go hand-in-hand with puberty and all its bothersome bodily changes… right? Wrong. While teenagers do make up the largest percentage of the acne-afflicted population, they’re not alone in their suffering. Acne strikes adults, too — more than half of all adult women and about a quarter of adult men. And these figures appear to be climbing. As the world begins to wake up to adult acne, it’s becoming clear that the psychological, social and physical effects of this condition don’t diminish with age.
We’re heading out on a fishing trip to Grand Isle next week, if this stupid hurricane Ike doesn’t mess things up that is. It should be a lot of fun, even if we don’t catch a mess of fish. I’d still like to catch a whole boat load of fish if we can though. If you’re not familiar with Grand Isle, here’s a little info on it from Wikipedia:
Grand Isle is a barrier island, bordered on the east by Barataria Pass and on the west by Caminada Pass. It was formed virtually by the Gulf of Mexico’s wave action and is considered to be a relatively recent geographical development. Though increasing erosion and exposure to various hurricanes have taken a toll on its dwindling width, efforts in recent years have been made to reconstruct it with sand, seareed (beach grass) and some rock-boulder barriers at strategic locations.
A very close family member of mine is going through chemotherapy treatment. Let me just tell you that chemo sucks! I tried to find some good news about it to comfort her, but all of it is bad. It’s already kicking her butt. We’re just praying that she survives the dang treatment. Oh yeah, cancer sucks 2! I have lost 2 many people that I love to it already. Well, here’s some garbage I found on chemotherapy:
Chemotherapy is a cancer treatment that uses drugs to stop the growth of cancer cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping the cells from dividing. When chemotherapy is taken by mouth or injected into a vein or muscle, the drugs enter the bloodstream and can reach cancer cells throughout the body (systemic chemotherapy). When chemotherapy is placed directly into the spinal column, an organ, or a body cavity such as the abdomen, the drugs mainly affect cancer cells in those areas (regional chemotherapy). The way the chemotherapy is given depends on the type and stage of the cancer being treated.
Because chemotherapy drugs are usually injected into the blood, they travel around the body and can attack cancer cells regardless of where they find them. For this reason, doctors will use them when they think there might be cancer cells in more than one part of the body. If some cancers have been growing for a while undetected, bits of them can break away from the main tumour and travel to either nearby tissue, or to more distant organs like the liver and lungs – and start growing there.
I was also going to post some info on chemotherapy history, but I’m 2 bummed out right now. I’ll try later.
