All Asians want to be gora. White skin! Indians I knew about, but Chinese cherish white skin too.  Since forever. So sun is shunned.  From childhood. Krishna, Shiva and Kali of dark skin have been forgotten. All want to be Sita and Ram. And Asians, newly wealthy are the target for corporates. Money is to be made. Print, Radio and TV media tout western lightening creams and sun block creams. Articles expounding skin modern doctors, sun hating convictions, fill magazines and Cricket TV broadcasts. I ran across one just yesterday on my flight from Goa to Mumbai. "Just take Vit D supplements" it said and "cover yourself with sun screen". SPF - sun protection factors, of - different branded creams was conveniently listed. Just such nonsense is likely what brought a young man to see me the other day. I was surprised he had severe Vit D deficiency despite hours in the sun, golfing. He diligently applied expensive sun block cream every time he golfed. Lately he had b

Rare diseases are often given importance at Grand Rounds everywhere. Dartmouth is no exception. Esoteric is exciting, in medicine too! Today's topic Hepato-Renal Syndrome by Dr Block, is remarkably rare. It is a manifestation of end stage liver disease. We hear about MELD scores and renal/ kidney cortical venoconstriction. International Ascites Club... gets a good laugh. They have criteria to diagnose it. Type 1 die quickly without liver transplantation. Other types..2,3,4 live somewhat longer. New to me, fancy markers of Acute Kidney injury, Cystatin C and NGAL are talked about. More esoterica. Mayo does these tests. Apparently the results of these do not help patients. But keep your eyes out for these anyway. Great on rounds to impress your colleagues! And for high scores on tests! At DHMC they have not done too many trans venous kidney biopsies, Dr Block says. Can help clarify the causes of the kidney problems. In expert hands it is listed as safe. Sympathetic nervous s

Doctor Vinod's Wellness Blog: TURMERIC - A spoonful a day keeps the doctor away.

To sell Tylenol/Crocin/Paracetamol  we were brain washed with TV ads telling all how doctors used it in hospitals for fever most commonly. These ads ran for  decades in the 70's, 80's and some in the 90's. They were very effective, both for the lay public and nurses and doctors. I tried over many years to break the automatic Tylenol for fever habit but it was too ingrained in all health care providers. Nobody gave it any thought. If they had it would have been natural to question how a mechanism present throughout the human and animal kingdoms was anything but not protective. If they had given it thought it would be easy to believe that fever was good. That is how holistic practitioners think. Scientists want proof. Nurses and doctors are supposed to be scientific . Well proof is evident in the whole animal kingdom as shown in multiple elegant experiments. In humans and animals everything that fights infection works better when our temperature goes up. Fever is

Fever fights infection. In all species and humans fever is the First line of defence and lowering fever increases mortality. Frustrating to see how marketing is used to blitz the people of the devloping world from the famous brand names of the corporate world. Be it sugar laden Coke or liver toxic Tylenol/Crocin. We travelled to Sri Lanka for the first time this winter. it was lovely. It was sad to see that almost every small shop in the marketplace had a sign selling Crocin. The technique is also rampant in India. The brand du jour pays for the sign and the small shop gets to also display their own name. Crocin is Tylenol in N America. Acetaminophen and paracetamol are other names. It is sold worldwide. This commonly used drug is toxic especially when combined with other drugs or alcohol. It's toxicity has been underestimated. Unfortunately most people, doctors being no exception, just assume it is safe and that it can be taken with impunity. The truth is acetaminophen w

Bleach your kitchen counters. Kill all microbes. Is that wise? Let us understand the risks. Cases of food poisoning have increased since the 70’s. Strawberries, sprouts and now spinach. And green onions. All from mega producers and consumers of millions of pounds yearly of the products. " In the spring and summer of 1982, McDonald's held a special promotion -- two burgers for the price of one -- that led to the first reported outbreak of E Coli a food-borne bacterial infection that now sweeps the nation with some regularity." McDonald's, Jack in the Box, Schwan, Taco Bell, Taco John ...the beat goes on and on! Concentration in agriculture processes of meat, dairy and vegetable production and increasing importation of fruits and vegetables from countries with poor hygiene is likely the major reason. "Billions of farm animals are overcrowded in stressful, unsanitary sheds, pens, cages and stalls; no wonder we are increasingly plagued with infectious food-b

I used to love going to India. But progress came rapidly. Now I go because my family is there. And like others leave the city every chance I get. Motors,  electric and gasoline took over all aspects of life. Everyone wanted to do everything faster and quiet was owned in common by all so like our clean air was free for all to plunder. And each year the horns got more in number as well as loudness. The honk of the car became a scream.  As noise ( link to noise and health) increased the noise makers became noisier The old bus horns became the ear splitting air horns.   The old train whistles became louder . And people became angry? And more,  And more became deaf . WHY. Read this link also. And a long article in Hindi that I wrote for Rajasthan Patrika when the train whistle at night first got to me in 2006! Available by email only. Horn bajaana Gaali dena!