Edublogging? Like and Follow!

Edublogging... When I heard that this thing will be part of our CCIII,oooppss.. I considered it boring. Why? Because honestly, I do not have an interest in writing nor do I have an experience in making a blog. Even in creating a blogging account, I'm not interested too considering the fact that writing is not my passion. In fact  when I was in my high school years, I do not involved myself in Journalism, editorial and feature chuchu.. That’s not my thing, really. But all of a sudden, my perception in this field changed. It felt different lately. I realized so many things. I have learned that writing is fun! That, I can express myself in here and its sooo advantageous because through writing, I will not just enjoy and be entertained, but also, I'll be able to learn and educate others at the same time. Combo! :))

This is the first time I have done Edublogging, for some it may seem boring (Just as I thought before) but to be honest it helped me to enhance my mind more and organize ideas in a creative manner. Edublogging is a big help for those who are conducting researches and studies in certain field.

In Endocrinology, our focus is on the amazing thing called Hormone and we learned that the function of it is that it transfers electrical signals and messages to distant target organs and tissues. In Edublogging, our function is like that of hormone where we are able to send information to many people, educate them and make a difference.

Photo Credit:  http://www.justsaypictures.com/growth-hormone-23om.html

On the other hand, Toxicology, as how I understand it deals with the functions of the drug and the pathological conditions conforming the misuse and overuse of it. These, again, may be applied to Edublogging. How? We all know that a drug is designed to medicate and cure certain diseases. An edublog must answer other people's queries and not just entertain. Not any other blog, it is formal and must feed minds. A blogger must not be bias and should write what is true, nothing more, nothing less. (Drug Prescription :) )  because I believe that one is enough, two is too much and three is a poison that kills a person (Drug dependence and addiction :) ).

Photo Credit: http://flatrock.org.nz/topics/drugs/revving_up.htm

“An Edublog must be as good as our specimen in the lab; not contaminated nor hemolyzed”.

Photo Credit: http://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/d/drugs_test.asp

I said these things because I learned it during our CC III, to Ma'am Gaces, the mother of future MT's in AUF. I'll take this opportunity to thank you Ma'am G and all our instructors for the past four years who molded us, guided us and shared their knowledge and experiences for us to learn. I will never forget when we had a discussion in CC and Ma'am G dared us to define Learning. (There is plus points but nobody got the exact definition. Haha) Learning is a permanent change in behavior. A dynamic and continuous process. For us, this is just the beginning of our journey because as we go through, we will learn a lot of things. Things not just found in books, lectures and handouts (old testaments. Boom!). 

We should not be "bookish” but be hungry for knowledge and wisdom that we can apply to our everyday living.

Photo Credits: http://www.manycinemas.org/Irenna_Chang/articles/mc02_Chang.html

Instead of just merely surfing the net for the purpose of socializing, why not involve ourselves in Edublogging just like what we did in our Clinical Chemistry subject? Because even in our own little way we can sever humanity and when we do this, we also serve God.

I hope this piece of myself stir your hearts and inspire you guys to make a change and be able to say that.. “Hey, I will never be the same anymore!”  Edublogging? Like and Follow!

Photo Credit: http://blog.demandforce.com/tag/twitter/

To GOD be all the Glory. :)


References:

Worth-remembering experiences in CCIII Class. :)

What's behind the word "TOXIC"?

1 Rescue me, LORD, from evildoers;

   protect me from the violent,

2 who devise evil plans in their hearts

   and stir up war every day.

3 They make their tongues as sharp as a serpent’s;

   the poison of vipers is on their lips

-Psalms 140:1-3 (NIV)

Photo Credit: http://www.momeomagazine.com/tag/training-people-how-to-treat-you/ 

You might wonder why I started my blog with verses from the Bible. (again, this is not a Bible study Guys :)) A poisonous or toxic thing for me, is not simply a substance that may harm  someone or something but a tuckless or negligible word being held-out by a person that has negative impact on others.(perhaps, a TOXIC FRIEND. Haha) Death and life are in the power of the tongue so we should be careful in using this muscular hydrostat on the floors of the mouths. :)

The word "Toxic" as defined in Merriam-Webster dictionary, is containing or being a poisonous material especially when capable of causing death or serious debilitation but for us Medical students, specifically Medical Technology Students here in Angeles University Foundation, being toxic means, being in a state of stress and exhaustion. Why am I saying this by the way? Most of us, are familiar with this word, but does not have a better understanding of it. As we go on, you will learn more about it.

Peter Mere Latham (1789-1875) is credited with the statement "Poisons and Medicines are oftentimes the same substance given with different intents". While this remark was penned in a bygone error, it is probably truer today that it was then. Sometimes, the thing that is intended to benefit us, may harm us when we improperly used or utilized it. 

What is Toxicology? Toxicology is the study of the adverse effects of chemicals on living organisms. It is the study of symptoms, mechanisms, treatments and detection of poisoning, especially the poisoning of people. It may also be defined as a science that combines biology and chemistry to study poisons and their effect on biological systems. Toxicology addresses a variety of questions. For example, in agriculture, toxicology determines the possible health effects from exposure to pesticides or herbicides, or the effect of animal feed additives, such as growth factors, on people. Toxicology is also used in laboratory experiments on animals to  establish dose-response relationships. Toxicology also deals with the way chemicals and waste products affect the health of an individual.

Photo Credit:  http://www.gaia-health.com/articles101/000142-by-law-chemicals-dont-have-to-be-listed-if-hurts-profits.shtml

Sub-Disciplines of Toxicology	Description
Environmental Toxicology	Concerned with the study of chemicals that contaminate food, water, soil, or the atmosphere. It also deals with  toxic substances that enter bodies of waters such as lakes, streams, rivers, and oceans
Occupational (Industrial) Toxicology	Concerned with health effects from exposure to chemicals in the workplace. This field grew out of a need to protect workers from toxic substances and to make their work  environment safe
Regulatory Toxicology	Gathers and evaluates existing toxicological information to establish concentration-based standards of “safe” exposure. The standard is the level of a chemical that a person can be exposed to without any harmful health effects
Food Toxicology	involved in delivering a safe and edible supply of food to the consumer
Clinical Toxicology	Concerned with diseases and illnesses associated with short term or long term exposure to toxic chemicals
Descriptive Toxicology	Concerned with gathering toxicological Information from animal experimentation. These types of experiments are used to establish how much of a chemical would cause illness or death.
Forensic Toxicology	Used to help establish cause and effect relationships between exposure to a drug or chemical and the toxic or lethal effects that result from that exposure.
Analytical toxicology	Identifies the toxicant through analysis of body fluids (e.g. urine, blood, bile, oral fluid, vitreous humor or cerebrospinal fluid) and tissues (brain cortex, liver, heart, kidney, fat tissues), stomach content, and/or drug paraphernalia. Hair is mostly used to detect long-term exposure to drugs of abuse.
Mechanistic Toxicology	Makes observations on how toxic substances cause their effects. The effects of exposure can depend on a number of factors, including the size of the molecule, the specific tissue type or cellular components affected, whether the substance is easily dissolved in water or fatty tissues.

Photo Credit:  http://www.chicagonow.com/so-you-have-a-girlfriend/2012/03/the-toxic-relationship-2/ 

Classification of Toxic Agents:

Toxic substances are classified into the following:

A.  Heavy Metals

Metals differ from other toxic substances in that they are neither created nor destroyed by humans. Their use by humans plays an important role in determining their potential for health effects. Their effect on health could occur through at least two mechanisms: first, by increasing the presence of heavy metals in air, water, soil, and food, and second, by changing the structure of the chemical. For example, chromium III can be converted to or from chromium VI, the more toxic form of the metal.

B.  Solvents and Vapors

Nearly everyone is exposed to solvents. Occupational exposures can range from the use of “white-out” by administrative personnel, to the use of chemicals by technicians in a nail salon. When a solvent evaporates, the vapors may also pose a threat to the exposed population.

C.  Radiation and Radioactive Materials

Radiation is the release and propagation of energy in space or through a material medium in the form of waves, the transfer of heat or light by waves of energy, or the stream of particles from a nuclear reactor.

D.Dioxin/FuransDioxin, (or TCDD) 

It was originally discovered as a contaminant in the herbicide Agent Orange. Dioxin is also a by-product of chlorine processing in paper producing industries.

E.  Pesticides

The EPA defines pesticide as any substance or mixture of substances intended to prevent, destroy, repel, or mitigate any pest. Pesticides may also be described as any physical, chemical, or biological agent that will kill an undesirable plant or animal pest.

F. Microbial toxins

Bacteria, fungi and algae are the microorganisms typically associated with  microbial toxin production. Cholera toxin produced by Vibrio cholerae is the virulence factor responsible for the massive secretory diarrhea seen in Asiatic cholera (5 million cases each year).

G. Mushroom toxins

Several mushroom species (e.g. Amanita phalloides, A. virosa), produce a family of cyclic octapeptides called amanitins. Symptoms of intoxication appear at the end of a latent period of 6-48 hours during which the patient shows no symptoms.

H.  Plant Toxins

Different portions of a plant may contain different concentrations of chemicals. Some chemicals made by plants can be lethal. For example, taxol, used in chemotherapy to kill cancer cells, is produced by a species of the yew plant.

I.  Animal Toxins

These toxins can result from venomous or poisonous animal releases.

Subcategories of Toxic Substance Classifications

All of these substances may also be further classified according to their:

•  Effect on target organs (liver, kidney, hematopoietic system),
•  Use (pesticide, solvent, food additive),
•  Source of the agent (animal and plant toxins),
•  Effects (cancer mutation, liver injury),
•  Physical state (gas, dust, liquid),
• Labeling requirements (explosive, flammable, oxidizer),
• Chemistry (aromatic amine, halogenated hydrocarbon), or
• Poisoning potential (extremely toxic, very toxic, slightly toxic)

References:

 Poisoning and Toxicology Compendium with Symptoms Index by Jerrold B. Leikin (1998) Clinical Chemistry: Techniques, Principles, Correlations 6th Ed. by Michael L. Bishop et al. (2010)

http://www.eoearth.org/article/History_of_toxicology

http://www.thebts.org/Careers/ToxicologyDisciplines.aspx

http://www.lnt.ch/Toxicology.pdf

Hormones: Simply Amazing :)

                                                                                                          

“For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be."  Psalm 139:13-16 (NIV)

Photo Credit:  http://techentrepot.blogspot.com/2010/05/touch-screen-phones.html 

How will start? When I was thinking of my introduction, I closed my eyes and then I was convicted to read the Bible, which lead me to book of Psalms and this is how it goes. J

We are perfectly and wonderfully made by God. He is the author of ALL things. Our Cells, our Tissues, Organs, the systems and processes in our human body are evidences that God is truly awesome. He created each detail of our being harmoniously, so no one should say that “Ohh..I am ugly L” because “Hey, we are all beautiful just like our creator, Jesus”. We are His perfect masterpiece, formed and shaped according to His likeness. A Hormone is just one proof of how great the Lord God is.

As what the literatures say, it is defined as chemical signals, released by different glands and controls different activities throughout our body. There are different types of Hormones, depending on organ source and as well as mode of action. In addition, there is male hormone; and of course, a hormone for female. (Jesus is God of fairness and equalityJ)

Its purpose cannot be limited to just human development because it has lots of functions. It is found not only in humans, but also in plants and animals, since it is a component of multi-cellular organisms. Endocrinology is the study of Hormones that includes Hormone source or the Glands of the Endocrine System, Hormone mechanism of action, and clinical manifestation whether there is Hormone dysfunction, Overproduction or Underproduction.

Endocrine System in the other hand, is the assembly of glands that procedures hormones
with its physiologic activities. I have read that Endocrine and Nervous systems are
regulatory systems in our body and that there is an intimate link between these two
Endocrine has a longer lasting effect and is the one acting slowly.

Hormone is vital in our system. Without this hormone functioning normally, there will be imbalances that will eventually lead to lots of complications, some of which are diabetes, sexual problems and thyroid conditions.

Amazing God, right? For me, this one revelation is enough for us to be grateful and thankful to Him. Enough for us to face the mirror and say “I am Beautiful!” Let’s count our blessings and not the things that we are not or the things that we don’t have. Trust Him for He will always love us, through infinity and beyond. <3

                                    The Endocrine System
      Video Credit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDy_p9912ao&feature=related

References:
William's Textbook of Endocrinology, 11th edition by Henry M. Kronenberg (2008)
Essentials of Anatomy and Physiology by Seeley, Stephens and Tate

http://www.endocrinology.org/public/endocrinology.html

http://www.indy-endo.com/endocrol.html

http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=3238