This is (supposed to be) a reflective diary by a (not very) anonymous biomedical scientist who works somewhere in the south of England. One day this diary may well be submitted to the Health and Care Professions Council as evidence of ongoing continual professional development....
5 November 2011 (Saturday) - Trypanosomiasis
Trypanosomiasis is the generic name of several
diseases in vertebrates (not just humans)
caused by parasitic protozoan trypanosomes of the genus Trypanosoma.
Approximately 500,000 men, women and children
in 36 countries of sub-Saharan Africa suffer from human African trypanosomiasis
which is caused by either Trypanosoma
brucei gambiense or Trypanosoma
brucei rhodesiense, transmitted by the tsetse fly infected with Trypanosoma brucei, (sleeping sickness)
The other human form of trypanosomiasis, (Chagas disease) causes 21,000 deaths per
year mainly in Latin America, transmitted
by the assassin bug infected with Trypanosoma cruzi,
Diagnosis depends on seeing the parasites in
blood or other bodily fluids. Presumably in the fullness of time antigen-type
trsts might become available (as is the
case for malaria)…
3 November 2011 (Thursday) - Rbc Morphology
ScienceDaily
(Oct. 31, 2011) — Misshapen red
blood cells are a sign of serious illnesses, such as malaria and sickle cell
anemia. Until recently, the only way to assess whether a person's RBCs were the
correct shape was to look at them individually under a microscope -- a
time-consuming process for pathologists. Now researchers from the University of
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have pioneered a technique that will allow doctors
to ascertain the healthy shape of red blood cells in just a few seconds, by analysing
the light scattered off hundreds of cells at a time.
2 November 2011 (Wednesday) - Perthes Disease
This disease
attacks the femoral head (the ball part
of the ball-and-socket hip joint). Starting in children aged 4 to 8, it
occurs in boys four times as often as girls. Those who are small for their age
are also at risk.
LCP typically
affects only one hip in which the femoral head gradually weakens and dies from
a lack of blood supply. It becomes brittle and may collapse, leading to
deformity and arthritis. The problem develops gradually. The child will begin
to feel pain in the hip joint or knee, and then start to limp. The limp may get
worse with activity. The affected leg may be shorter than the other.
The causes are
still rather uncertain, heredity, trauma, endocrine, inflammatory, nutritional,
and altered circulatory haemodynamics have all been cited.
X-rays and MRI
may be helpful in confirming the diagnosis. The goal of treatment is to avoid
severe degenerative arthritis. Perthes disease is self limiting, but if the
head of femur is left deformed there can be a long-term problem. Treatment is
aimed at minimizing damage while the disease runs its course, not at 'curing'
the disease. However the child may need traction followed by bracing, or may
require an osteotomy to shift weight away from the collapsing bone.
27 October 2011 (Thursday) - CPD Archive
It occurred to me that I’ve not done very
much with my archive
of CPD presentations recently. So this evening I added a couple of talks,
and revamped the list so that the presentations now appear alphabetically.
If any of my loyal readers have any
suggestions for freely available PowerPoint presentations which are available
on-line, please drop me a line giving me the web address (rather than the presentation if possible) and I’ll add them to the
list.
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