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capsule moments

KIDNEY FAILURE:

During National Kidney Month in April, I like to put in a small plug for organ donation.  There never are enough kidneys for the number of people waiting for one.  With the advent of 3-D printers, there is research being done on the medical use of this technology.  Right now, there are three main applications.  The first is replicating human organs for surgeons to practice on before performing complex operations.  It will  be sometime in the future before an actual human heart or kidney can  be printed and implanted to replaced the diseased organs.  Another use of 3-D printers in medicine is to produce surgical instruments like forceps, hemostats, scalpel handles and clamps.  These can be made very precisely and very small to operate on tiny areas and reduce damage to that area. Another use is making custom-made prosthetics to suit the wearer.  Better fit at a lower price.  As the technology progresses, I’m sure that using genetics and the patient’s own stem cells, 3-D printing will one day produce a tailor-made kidney or heart that won’t be rejected and give patients a normal lifespan.

IRON POISONING:

Symptoms of iron overdosing usually appear when amount ingested is greater than 20mg/kg of body weight.  Symptoms include severe vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain and dehydration and lethargy.  Immediate medical attention is important and parents should call poison control with information on the name of the iron product and approximate number of tablets ingested.

MONEY AS VECTOR OF INFECTION:

I remember back in the early 2000s, the introduction of the euro made many Europeans feel they would be inundated by international bugs and viruses. I couldn’t find any research that found that this was true but money does move around the world quite easily and money used in Thailand can end up in Canada the same day.  With the increasing use of debit and credit cards, perhaps the day will come when actual paper money and coinage will be just a memory.

FEET:

Sometimes, the feet can be a mirror to your health and an early sign of disease.  A person’s family doctor can be one’s first stop for a foot problem and blood tests can indicate some serious problems like diabetes or arthritis.  Mechanical problems can sometime be helped by a chiropodist.  Often the solution recommended are tailor-made insoles usually costing about $500.  These may or may not help.  Pharmacists who are asked for advice about a foot problem can ask certain questions to determine if further medical help is needed.