Artificial Pancreas

Artificial pancreas! another marvelous product of bioengineering. It may be the dream of every type one diabetes. But with the help of Bioengineering it's not impossible. Unlike other false artificial pancreas this new product can be stored inside the human body . Not only that. It's living!
This method is to implant bioengineered tissue containing islet cells which would secrete the proper amount of insulin and glucagon the body needs.Encapsulation of the islet cells in a protective coating has been developed to block the immune response to transplanted cells.

How to hack a human?

How to hack a human?
For most of the people above question can be funny. But in our real life it's is not funny. In our day to day life we hack the systems of the other people. But unlike hacking computers, which require various technical skills, hacking humans may be potentiated by an affective look or a pleasant smile. Suppose that you want to marry some one. First you have to hack your partners system and gain access to it. Then you can create a permanent data link. Only after that your partner will love you. So what do you think about this. Your comments are welcome.

How do people die?

How do people die?

How do people die? This is an obvious question. But the answer is very long. In legal sense death of a person occurs when all his brain functions are ceased. But medically there are several different types of deaths,
These include
Somatic death
Cell death
Brain death
But this is not the answer to the above question. To answer the above question we should list the causes of the death. These include trauma, Infections, toxins, irradiation, suffocation, dehydration, Nutritional deprivation, congenital abnormalities, cancers and etc. This is a very long list and it is almost impossible to mention everything here.
These different causes have different mechanisms in the causation of the death.

How does trauma cause death?
In a trauma vital organs can be damaged. For an example if the brain is damaged to a considerable extent it can cause an instant death. In some traumas excessive blood losses can cause circulatory arrest and shock.

How do toxins cause death?

Almost all the toxins interact with the cells at the molecular level. Well known poison cyanide inhibits the enzyme cytochrome oxidase of the respiratory chain and diminishes cellular production of ATP. This cause an instantaneous death of all the exposed cells. Some toxins like organo phosphates can interfere with the neurotransmitter function and can cause death.

How does irradiation cause death?

Some radiations like, alpha rays, can cause direct burn injuries. But the other radiations may not cause such obvious physical damage. But these radiations can cause damage to cellular DNA damage which can ultimately lead to the death. Small DNA alterations can give rise to tumors and carcinoma.

How do Infections cause death?

Infections can cause death in many ways. Infective organisms can cause direct death of the cells which ultimately lead to the death of that individual. Some infective organisms secrete toxines which can damage cells in different ways. Some infections cause immunodeficiency which ultimately leads to the death by an infection from another organism.

How antibiotics cause bacteria mediated damage to the intestine?

As you all know certain antibiotics when taken orally can cause gastro-intestinal tract disturbances and sometimes it can extend to serious side effects. All these symptoms and signs occur due to the disturbance of the normal flora of the gut. As you know there are susceptible and resistant bacterias to a antibiotic of choice. When that antibiotic is administered the susceptible bacterias die or the growth is retarded. But now the resistant bacterias do not die and those have a better chance of overgrowing since all the other bacterias in the gut are less in number.

Pseudomembranous colitis

One classical example for this is Pseudo membranous colitis. It is an acute inflammatory condition of the colon where a membranous exudate is produced. Sometimes this can be lethal.

Pathogenesis of Pseudomembranous colitis

When the antibiotic Clindamycin is given to a patient most of the bacterias in the colon die except Clostridium difficile which present in very small numbers in the normal flora of a healthy individuals. Now an overgrowth of Clostridium difficile occur in the gut. Certain strains of Clostridium difficile can produce toxins.(pathogenic strains produce two toxic polypeptides,designated A and B. Toxin A is an enterotoxin that causes excessive fluid secretion , but also stimulates an inflammatory response and has some cytopathic effects. Toxin B is a cytotoxin. These toxins can cause the death of gastrointestinal epithelial cells and finally a pseudomembrane is produced. Complications include gastro-intestinal tract bleeding, perforation of the gut and peritonitis.

Treatment

Treatments include avoiding the causative antibiotic and oral metronidazole (Vancomycin is also used.)This condition is also known as antibiotic associated colitis.

Laboratory identification of Clostridium difficile
Cultured from stools using routine anaerobic procedures. Toxin can be demonstrated in stool extracts.

References

Wikipedia - Pseudomembranous colitis