Pari Talks

Chikungunya P.K.Ghatak,MD No. 57 An ethnic group known as Mokode who live along the banks of Ruvuma River in Uganda and Mozambique call Chikungunya in their language, a bend over posture from bone pain. A viral infection acquired from mosquito bites produces fever, skin rashes and painful arthritis. The patients assume bend over posture to minimize pain and resist movements of joints. Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) has jumped from the wild animals to humans like so many other viruses have. The virus infects humans from bites of Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitos. That makes CHIVK in the arthropod virus group and because it produces arthritis, it also belongs to the Semliki forest antigenic Alphaviridae group. CHIKV is a small spherical 70nm in diameter virus and has an envelope made of a double lipid layer, the materials for the envelope are stolen from the host and the virus makes infected cells reproduce viral particles, like all other viruses. The first endemic of Chikungunya i...

  MagLev Trains: P.K.Ghatak,MD No: 56 The common properties of magnets – similar poles of magnets repel, and opposite poles attract each other are utilized very ingeniously in superfast trains - Maglev Trains. The train is lifted up from the tract (Levitation), movement forwards and backwards (Linear Acceleration) and keep the train steady on the tract (Guidance). These three properties are achieved in Maglev Trains by cleverly employing permanent magnets and electromagnets. Levitation: The human quest for levitation is mentioned in a story of Buddha. Buddha came upon a group of ascetics, while he was waiting for the boatmen to ferry him across the river, he saw the ascetics were meditating. One of the ascetics recognized Buddha and invited him for some religious discourses. Buddha asked him what he was trying to achieve by meditation. The ascetic said, “to walk across the river on water”. To that Buddha invited them to join him on the boat in crossing the river and advised him to ...

  Fall Color P.K.Ghatak, MD No 55. Fall Colors. Every year before the long winter sets in, Nature presents us with the most spectacular display of Fall Colors. Those who live along the mighty Rocke mountains, on the shores of the Great Lakes, Catskill and Blue Ridge mountains are fortunate to enjoy the treat each year. The leaf colors of the deciduous trees last only about 3 weeks and are often delayed or cut short by adverse weather, however, dazzling colors make people happy. We take it as granted and do not think much about the chemistry or science of plant physiology at all. Where the colors come from: The Green is the color of chlorophyll which gives the leaves their green color. Chlorophyll is produced in the Chloplasts within the leaves and also present in the green stems and green branches. The chlorophyll is made up of 4 pyrrole rings, like human hemoglobin with an exception having metal magnesium in the center instead of iron as in the hemoglobin. And like hemoglobin, ch...

                                                                        Summer Gripe. P.K.Ghatak,MD No.54 The Webster dictionary calls gripe spasmodic contractions of the gut. In the nautical fields it conveys something very different and in European countries summer gripe'e means summer influenza which produces fever, aches with runny nose, watery eyes and cough. It is more like a common cold than flu in the summer. In those days when illness due to viruses was unknown but the medical community knew Koch's postulate; in one experiment a group of volunteer prisoners in Ohio, USA were fed clean filtrate made from rectal swabs of patients suffering from Summer Gripe. All volunteers came down with similar symptoms like the source patients...

  The Spring Fever P.K.Ghatak, MD No.53. We wait so impatiently to usher in the spring at the end of winter. Then we welcome Easter with a fanfare; followed by egg hunts, costume parades and lovely family dinners. Seasonal allergy sufferers hate the arrival of the spring because it is also the beginning of their period of misery of sneezing, coughing and not feeling well and unable to join the rest of the family with outdoor activities. The bursts of outdoor activities, festivities and entertaining is not only limited to humans but also by the plant and animal kingdoms. The plants initiate the process by a burst of colors, flowers and new leaves. Plants sense the arrival of the spring by judging the lengthening of the day and not by the thawing of snow due to increasing temperature. The role of eyes: Retina. The retinae of the eyes contain the light and color sensors; these are rods and cones respectively. They are connected to a layer of bipolar cells. The optic nerve originates f...

  Winter Blues. P.K.Ghatak, MD No. 52. Winter blue is one of these shades of blue colors. Winter blues is a temporary phase of depressive mood in the winter months. It is not a disease. It is a fairly common feeling in the winter, lasting only a short period of time and clearing spontaneously. Winter blues is more common in women and generally follows a specific event, stress of holidays or missing a loved one. This sad mood does not interfere with normal functioning of daily activities of the individual. Some experts think winter blues is an early phase of an illness known as Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). Unlike winter SAD, some may feel SAD in summer months. The real cause of SAD is not known. It is linked with increased production of melatonin from the pineal gland in the brain, producing prolonged periods of sleep and an additional reason for decreased concentration of serotonin in the brain. Reduced serotonin produces decreased concentration ability and alertness. Winter ...