Martes, Hulyo 10, 2012



TOXICOLOGY



This field is mainly focus in studying poisons with their mechanisms of actions and effects. 
 
In our everyday life, we always encounter chemicals or substances that have adverse effects to our health and  environment.

Some of this chemicals are things that other people willingly  to be exposed of for different purposes. There are individuals who uses drugs and other substance of abuse just to feel relaxation and pleasure without considering the long term effects.


























 


Interestingly, many people are exposed to toxins by some products well known to us and believe that they don't cause any bad effects to our health.























Branches of Toxicology

      Mechanistic toxicology, it deals with the effects of toxins to cellular and biochemical properties. It depends to different factors like the specific tissue or cellular components affected, solubility of the substance in water or in fatty tissues, the size of the molecule. All of these are important in determining the way a toxic substance cause harm.

    Descriptive toxicology,  prediction of what level of exposure will cause harm to an individual base on animal experiments

   Forensic toxicology, concerned with medico legal consequences of toxin exposure especially the cause of death.       
                                                                                                                                   
   Clinical toxicology, study of interrelationship of toxin exposure and disease states. Also concerned with diagnostic testing and therapeutic intervention

   Environmental toxicology, focuses on chemical pollutants in the environment which affects living organisms

    Food toxicology, the study of the properties, effects of toxic substances in food, and their disease manifestation in humans

Here is a video discussing the different kinds of substance of abuse:



























Exposure to Toxins

 -Intentional exposure, 50 % of poisoning cases are   intentional suicide attempts

 - Accidental exposure, 30% of cases and it occurs frequently among children

 -Occupational exposure, primarily occurs in industrial and agricultural setting

Most common route of exposure: ingestion, inhalation and transdermal absorption. . Most toxins are absorbed in the gastrointestinal tract by passive diffusion, this process requires that the substance cross the cellular barrier.


The dose  is important in determining the probability of a substance in causing harm to a individual. Establishment of an index of the relative toxicity of substances allow assessment of their potential pathological effects.

Toxicity Rating
Lethal oral dose in average adult
Super toxic
< 5 mg/kg
Extremely toxic
5-50 mg/kg
Very toxic
50-500 mg/kg
Moderately toxic
0.5-5 g/kg
Slightly toxic
5-15 g/kg
Practically nontoxic
>15 g/kg


Acute and Chronic toxicity    

Acute toxicity, associated with single, short-term exposure o a substance, the dose of which is sufficient to cause immediate toxic effects.
Chronic toxicity, repeatedly frequent exposure for extended periods at doses that are insufficiently to cause an immediate acute response.

TOXICOLOGY OF SPECIFIC AGENTS IN FOOD 

 As I've said a while ago, many toxic substances are exposed to humans by commercial products which we believe do not cause any adverse effects in our health. But there are substances incorporated as ingredients which are now found to  cause unbelievable effects. One good example of this is Aspartame.





As you can see in the picture, a product contain the substance Aspartame. What is Aspartame anyway?

Aspartame is discovered accidentally in 1965 by the chemist James Schatter in producing a anti-ulcer drug.

Nowadays, it accounts for more than 75% of adverse reactions reported by Food and Drug Administration (FDA) including  very serious reactions include seizures and death.










Other Symptoms
Headaches/migraines
Nausea
Muscle spasms
Weight gain
Rashes
Depression
Fatigue
Irritability
Tachycardia
Insomnia
Vision problems
Hearing loss
Breathing difficulties
Slurred speech
Loss of taste
Vertigo
Memory loss
                              
                                             
Disease Worsen
Brain tumors
Multiple sclerosis
Epilepsy
Chronic fatigue syndrome
Parkinson's disease
Alzheimer's
Mental retardation
Birth defects
Fibromyalgia
Diabetes

References:

Bishop, M. et al.Clinical Chemistry Techniques, Principles, Correlations. Lippincott Williams and Wilkins, Chapter 32 pp. 623-627
http://clinchem16b.blogspot.com/2010/05/endocrinology-toxicology-and-drug.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uk-ykYYwbu0
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Body-Sync-Bowen-Therapy-Adelaide 
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/11/06/aspartame-most-dangerous-substance-added-to-food.aspx







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Lunes, Mayo 14, 2012

Endocrinology

photo credit: http://www.webicina.com/endocrinology

Hormones are always at work; these are fundamental chemicals necessary for our body to work properly.  The feeling of love, fear, anger and sadness are products of hormones' function. They are also one of the reasons why there are normal individuals "literally speaking", and there are some who are not because they might have some hormonal imbalances. We are all familiar with the condition dwarfism. I know you have seen one in your life. Individuals who have this condition have a malfunction in their growth hormone, which is vital for normal growth development. Some people with endocrine disorders have gained popularity because of uniqueness that they have, so not everything is a disadvantage. You might have heard the tallest man, and the smallest man on earth, if no here is the video for you to find out.


                        
 Endocrinology is the study of human endocrine system which is comprises of tissues or organs and their hormonal products, together with carrier proteins that will aid in the diagnosis and treatment of endocrine disorders.
Medical technologists do the laboratory procedures in order to identify if a certain hormone in the body is on the appropriate level. Any slight increase or decrease is critical or crucial for having abnormality. Well that will be my profession God willing in the near future.
Endocrine system partakes in the maintenance of homeostasis or having equilibrium in our body. The presence of imbalances is a sign or explanation why a certain individual have some kind of disorders or worst why a person died.
Endocrine glands secrete hormones; these hormones are chemical messengers release to the blood stream and take its action at a specific target cell/s to stimulate certain processes and biochemical changes. It’s like a mailman that carries information for a specific individual. It must be specific, because if it is a mail you don’t want your letter to be read by somebody else, isn’t it? Just like hormones, they must land on the right place for an appropriate action to take place. Target cells could be near or far from the point of the hormone’s origin, that’s why the speed of travel and effectively is also varied. Some may take some minutes and even hours for it to be effective. Unlike nerve impulses that can travel in split second.
Vital tissues of the body  that can produce these chemical messengers are anterior and posterior pituitary, thymus, pineal, thyroid and parathyroid, pancreas, adrenalcortex and medulla, ovaries and testes.


Anatomic Position of the Endocrine Glands

Certain hormones partake in the sexual development (e.g.testosterone for males) that is the reason why boys at puberty get their voice lowered and more formed muscles. Females will have their first menstruation when this hormonal change takes place.
Another substance related to hormones are carrier proteins. Carrier proteins help in transporting hormones (e.g. steroidal and thyroid hormones) to go to their designated cell of action. Hormones that are peptide in structure do not need the use of transport proteins so they are moving throughout the body system unbound. 
 Changes in the concentration of certain hormones and carrier proteins from their reference values may help physicians in identifying endocrine disorders (e.g. cushing’s syndrome and addison’s disease). 
Each Endocrine gland and related disorders  will be discussed thoroughly in my next blog post. So be sure to keep in touch :)



WANT TO BE AN ENDOCRINOLOGIST.......... TRY THE ENDOCRINE HORMONES GAME SHOW... 

Snapshots:


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