A view from the cloud!

 Just got home from the gym and here I am sitting at the front of my desktop computer while surfing the net, eating my favorite dish "Pork Adobo" and at the same time browsing my books wherein it has something to do with "Endocrine System". Bishop, Calbreath and Marshall & Bangert, these are the authors of the books that will help me explain the Thyroid gland which is under the Endocrine system carefully.

Photo by Go Inso Photography

"I cannot lose even a pound of my weight!", "I hate this body! I'm so fat" and blah blah blah!. I hear it all the time at the classroom, gym, canteen or should I say Everywhere. Most of the times, it is kinda exaggerated as I watch the same people complain.Sometimes it disturbs me. Sometimes it makes me laugh. I said it "disturbs me" because not being able to lose weight is a very real biological problem for a very small percentage of the population, especially women. Sometimes these are the persons who actually done all they can do and give up and usually they succumb to the life of a couch potato out of frustration, of which the source is an underactive Thyroid Gland.

Photo by Pitt.edu

Just like what I've explained on my previous post, Endocrine system is  a system of glands that secrete chemicals called Hormones into the bloodstream and the Thyroid gland which is our main topic is a part of this. Hormones can act slowly or quickly, they are responsible for enormous growth and change and also they govern our emotions. 

 

Awhile ago, I mentioned the term "weight loss". Wherein in the terms of weight loss and weight gain, the spotlight is turned on a different part of the Endocrine system and a different type of hormone, of which is the Thyroid Gland is the star.

According to "Principles of Human Anatomy by Gerard J Tortora, page 617 of Chapter 18", thyroid gland resides in the front of the neck just below the larynx. It consists of two lobes which make the structure look a bit like a butterfly. Its power is not to be underestimated. This gland can make you either love your mirror or make you want to hide under your quilt in your baggy tracksuit pants since it's main job is to make thyroxine. Simply put, if you do not have an adequate amount of thyroxine in your blood stream to stimulate your metabolism, it will be very difficult for you to lose weight. 

The paragraph above already mentioned one of the hormones that the thyroid gland secretes,  Thyroxine(T4) which is an iodine-containing hormone. It is form by combining the amino acid tyrosine with iodine. The following are the functions of Thyroxine:

• It causes an increase rate in CHO metabolism.
• A sudden rise in rate of protein synthesis and breakdown.
• excites the nervous system and leads to increased activity of the Endocrine system.

The next hormone to be discuss is Triiodothyronine(T3), it affects almost of the every physiological process in the body, including metabolism, body temperature, heart rate and growth. It is the most powerful hormone produce by the Thyroid gland. There are two types of T3 thyroid hormones. The first one, called type I is found in the liver and the second, type II, is found in the pituitary. Both thyroid hormones. The following are the functions of Triiodothyronine:

• Increased the consumption of both oxygen and energy in the body.
• Increased the synthesis and degradation of endogenous macromolecules.
• Increased protein degradation and synthesis.
• has a role in the breakdown of cholesterol.

The last hormone to be discuss is the Calcitonin, wherein it has to do with calcium and phosphorus metabolism. The major source of this hormon is from the C cells that can be found in the thyroid gland.

Video by neurocirujo

Take note, to be a PROUD owner of a healthy thyroid gland, and have more efficient metabolism, you will also need to consume adequate amounts of the mineral, Iodine.

Upon reading my post, I know some of you right now are wondering if there is such a thing as an Overactive Thyroid. Well, the answer is YES!, there is, and NO!, no because it is not a ticket to slim heaven!

As of now, our Endocrine system is working hard, to keep us healthy and active, just like all the other systems in the body and it doesn't require much upkeep. All we have to do is stay healthy and get some regular exercise and expect our general metabolism to slow down a little as we get old.

Kudos everyone! Now, I'm off to eat a full dinner after some intense gym sessions. Thank you for your time reading my post. Salamat.

Images source:

Image by Go Inso Photography

Image by Pitt.edu

Book references:

Clinical Chemistry: A Fundamental Textbook by Donald F. Calbreath

Clinical Chemistry by William J. Marshall, Stephen K. Bangert

Clinical Chemistry: Principles, Procedures, Correlations by Bishop

Principles of Human Anatomy by Gerard J Tortora

Online source:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thyroid

http://thyroid.about.com/library/links/blthyroid.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thyroid_hormone

http://www.endocrineweb.com/thyfunction.html

http://www.uptodate.com/patients/content/topic.do?topicKey=~VxyrNsQJPivkur

Goodbye CC2, Welcome CC3!

I'm already done reading some of my books and surfing the net for my assignment in Clinical Chemistry 3 which includes Endocrinology, Toxicology and Drug testing. At first I made, a rough draft at Ms-Word to summarize all the things that I've read, I took a rest for a minute but after that I found myself sleeping in the front of my desktop computer and it’s already 3 a.m in the morning. So here we go!

I. Endocrinology

Photo by: Kequo

It’s already 3 a.m and still I am figuring how to start a good introduction here at my blog. So basically, I just told you guys that I got totally messed up because I found myself sleeping in the front of the computer. Now that I mentioned SLEEPING (sorry for the all caps, basically I hate this when this is happening to me), do you know that the hormone melatonin is the one responsible that help us to regulate our sleeping patterns. So as all we know melatonin is a hormone wherein it has something to do with the term Endocrinology. Let's start talking about Endocrinology!

Endocrinology is a branch of medicine dealing with disorder of the endocrine system and its specific secretions called hormones. Endocrine system is an efficient means of controlling by the use of hormones, it is the most important factor in the control of the basic processes of the individual, such as metabolism, growth and reproduction.

Human Endocrinology is easily understood on how hormones are being secreted by different glands into the blood and dispersed to cells within the body. Each of the hormone group is described in a separate chapter, dealing with the factors affecting the hormones secretion.

Hormones are molecules that act as signals from one type of cells to another. Those secreted by the endocrine glands travel primarily through the blood. The major endocrine glands are the thyroid, the two adrenals, the four parathyroids, the pituitary, the pancreas, and the paired testes or ovaries. Hormones are also produced by tissues or organs whose function is not primarily an endocrine one.

Source:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3285182

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endocrinology

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bookshelf/br.fcgi?book=endocrin

Lecture Notes: Endocrinology and Diabetes,Sam A,. Meeran K,. 2009

II. Toxicology

Photo by: rwsphoto

I went to the kitchen to find some foods at the refrigerator but suddenly I noticed there were ants at the dishes left at the sink that attracts them (maybe my brother was the one responsible for this mess). After noticing that incident, something came up on my mind. I remember the story that one of my friends told me, it’s about that a woman who was very upset because her little girl caught eating Fire ants / Red ants called him via phone. My friend quickly reassured her that ants are not harmful and there would be no need to bring her daughter into the hospital.

So, upon hearing his story I quickly get my laptop and start surfing the net if there are really poisonous ants. Some tells that ”Yes!” they are really poisonous ants, because they do have venom. That will cause you to itch. If bitten several times by numerous ants, this will cause any type of severe allergic reaction. Some said “No!”, they are not poisonous unless you eat them in cupfuls you should be fine unless. Enough of this Ant’s thing and let’s just move on to the next topic. The reason I wrote it is because they have something to do with toxicology, their venom.

According to Concise Pocket Medical Dictionary 2nd edition, 2009, U.N Panda. Toxicology, is a branch of science dealing with toxic substances, their detection, pharmacological action, selection of suitable antidotes, treatment and prevention of their symptoms.

Toxicology is typically divided between mechanistic studies, which understand and explain the basis for such effects and the second is observational studies, looking at what effects result from exposure to a particular substance. Clinical toxicology involves the application of toxicological principles within a diagnostic setting.

Source:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxicology

www.chemlin.net/chemistry/toxicology.htm

Casarett & Doull's Toxicology: The Basic Science of Poisons (Casarett & Doull Toxicology), 2001

III. Drug Testing

    Photo by: eowmg

After returning from the kitchen, I noticed my driver's license. My license has about to expire this year. So basically, I will need to renew it before it's expiration date and the bad thing is it is too expensive because you will need to pay for the medical examination which includes the drug testing and I need to get a medical certificate. Basically, the drug testing for me is just a quite weird for me. Because what is basically their point? An addicted to a certain illegal drugs like shabu, marijuana, cocaine and ecstasy can stop for a while taking drugs to renew his/her license. Weird! Anyways let's move to our next topic Drug testing.

According to our friendly neighborhood Wikipedia, Drug testing is a technical analysis of a biological specimen - for example urine, hair, blood, sweat, or oral fluid / saliva - to determine the presence or absence of specified parent drugs or their metabolites. I know before reading this, you guys exactly know what is drug testing all about.

As mentioned above there are different types on how to conduct a drug testing. As a future medical laboratory scientist, Urine drug testing is the most common test we do and not only by us, but also other federally mandated drug testing programs. Oral drug testing or the saliva testing is non-invasive and easy to collect specimen while sweat drug testing is very easy to collect the specimen and no comfort room needed to collect the specimen, these drug tests are relatively tamper proof since they are hard to manipulate. A laboratory is not required for analysis.

Source:

http://www.drugtest.org/

http://aboutdrugtesting.org/drug_test.htm

Biopharmaceutics and Drug Hypersensitivity (Pharmacology - Research, Safety Testing and Regulation) by Paul Mossillo and John Pinzini

Colorimetric method for Potassium

First of all let me define first what does a colorimeter do.

According to wikipedia, A Colorimeter is a device used in colorimetry. In scientific fields the word generally refers to the device that measures the absorbance of particular wavelengths of light by a specific solution. This device is most commonly used to determine the concentration of a known solute in a given solution by the application of the Beer-Lambert law, which states that the concentration of a solute is proportional to the absorbance.

The assigned topic to me is colorimetric method for Potassium determination, before I start explaining the method I will explain first what is Potassium. Potassium is an element (and an electrolyte) that's essential for the body's growth and maintenance. It's necessary to keep a normal water balance between the cells and body fluids. Potassium also plays an essential role in the response of nerves to stimulation and in the contraction of muscles. Cellular enzymes need potassium to work properly.

There are many methods or test wherein you can use the colorimeter and one of these test is the Potassium Determination. This colorimetric method for the direct determination of potassium in serum or plasma is based on the selective complexing of potassium by a specific macrocyclic polyether, with the subsequent formation of an ion-pair with a colored anion. The colored anion is extracted into an organic solvent, clarified by centrifugation, and then measured at 415 nm. The absorbance of the chromogen varies linearly with [K+] to at least 15 mmol/L. Results of this colorimetric method (y) correlate well with the results obtained by a flame- photometric method (y = 1.04x - 0.22, r = 0.97, n = 81), with CVs ranging from 2 to 4%. We observed no interferences from lipemia, added bilirubin, or various electrolytes. We also evaluated the use of this reagent in a new automated blood analyzer developed by Abbott, a two- dimensional centrifugal system (Clin Chem 31:1457-1463, 1985). Potassium determined with this system (y) correlated well with results by flame photometry: y = 1.02x + 0.02 (r = 0.94, n = 168). With this system one can use whole-blood specimens in measuring potassium. 

Image from: http://img.directindustry.com/images_di/photo-g/colorimeter-for-the-petroleum-industry-139333.jpg

References: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC437895/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorimeter

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-colorimeter.htm

Hard work

My definition of hard word is that which challenges you.

Most of the people choose the easiest instead of choosing the hard one. Why?

Because they think that it will benefit them that much. That's why you readers should do the opposite. The opportunities of life will be attacked of bunch of people who are seeking what's easy but they don't know that the much tougher challenges will usually see a lot less competition and a lot more opportunity.

Thinking back of my high school years, I spent all my time studying my lessons because at that time, I believed that if you want to become someone on the future you should work hard to earn what you really want. My point here is that tough/strong challenge is connected with strong results. You can get lucky every once in a while and find an easy path to success.

But the question is..

Will you able to maintain that success or it's just luck that made you there?

Will you able to repeat it?

The willingness to do what is difficult is like having a key to a special private treasure room. Just like the image above says, All that hard work PAID OFF. It is really true that hard work pays off. The greater our capacity to hard work is, the more rewards will fall within our grasp. The dipper we dig the more treasure we will find.

So, as to end this article I strongly advice you guys that stop avoiding and fearing hard work and simply surrender it. Make it your ally instead of your enemy. It's a potential to have it on your side. 

"The big secret in life is that there is no big secret. Whatever your goal, you can get there if you’re willing to work."

Picture taken from: http://s201.photobucket.com/albums/aa192/commentcastle/glitters/graduation/images/hard-work-paid-off.gif

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