My Stem Cells Research Paper

During late December 2011 I went on a four day course called Medlink (I have posted an article about this event further down my blog). This event was a workshop which was used to inform students wanting to study medicine about the life of medical students, the process of applying to university to study medicine and also about other subjects related in and around medicine. Whilst I was at Medlink, I came across an opportunity to write a research paper about Stem cells. This opportunity was only open to the attendees of Medlink and was available to sign up for only for a short time period. Therefore I did not waste time in grabbing this opportunity.

The reasons for which I decided to sign up for writing a research paper was, so that I had an edge over other candidates applying to do medicine (e.g. how many people do you know who have actually written a paper which has been graded and then published on to a website). I also decided to take part in writing a research paper as it was an opportunity to improve team working skills and communication between students working together - This would imitate the type of team work that may be required by students at university who are studying medicine. Finally, I  decided to sign up for the paper not only to enhance my researching skills and self motivation to complete work for deadlines, but it also provided me with a type of extra curricular work to complete.

The research paper which I was about to write was on Stem cells. The topic was chosen by the Medlink staff/team and was not negotiable. The process by which I began to start my research paper was by first assembling together a team of people who were willing and capable of working together to create a suitable research paper . The way I went about assembling a team was by posting comments (like adverts) in Medlink's student forum - This was done by going to a section of the forum and creating a topic which let people know that I am looking for a team of people to do the Stem cells research pear with me. Eventually two other students from different cities and schools joined my team in order to create the Stem cells research paper - At this stage my team was ready to start.

The topic 'Stem cells' which was set for the research paper was quite broad. This was done to allow the students some scope for developing different ideas on what they based the research on etc... As a group we decided that we would do our research paper on how Stem cells were used in the past, how they are used in the present time and what are the future developments of Stem cells. We titled our research paper as 'Stem cells - Today, Yesterday and Tomorrow', our research paper included research in "investigating current affairs concerning the development of Stem cell research with senses; including the study of Katie Piper, the girl who was blinded by acid burns and has recently a retinal Stem cell implant and is in the process of regaining some sight in the damaged eye, the possible future developments of Stem cell research concerning the rejuvenation of eye sight and hearing and the ethical issues surrounding the use of embryonic Stem cells to regress the damage." - This statement has been taken directly from our research.

During the process of writing and researching the information on Stem cells, I Learnt quite a few things on the way, The most obvious information which I learnt and increased my knowledge across has to be Stem cells in general, however I have now come to learn about the different ways in which it can and has been used and the extraordinary developments which Stem cells have the potential to become (hence Stem cells being know as pluripotent, totipotent etc...). Along the process of writing up the research paper, I became more and more confident and able to look at information, then turn it into my own knowledge, therefore being able to present it in a new original format. This has allowed me to become more fluent in writing up other pieces of information into my own style of research without having to copy some one else's research e.g. some of the posts in this blog. Finally I had to summarise my research into Stem cells and come up with a conclusion about future uses of them, This had to be a original idea of the future use, and allowed the group to combine their different ideas and communicate them together to come up with a reasonable and realistic conclusion - This has also enabled me to become more confident in summarising research in order to come to my own conclusions.

The main interpersonal skills which I gained and enhanced greatly were: the ability to work together successfully in a group, being able to lead the group in certain areas, and also step back and listen to what others have to say about the research, as well as taking their ideas into account. I think that this has benefited me in the idea that it has provided me with a bit of a taste of how students may work together in universities e.g. communicating with different people stepping out of their comfort boundaries/zones and being able to share the work out equally. I have also met my goal of increasing my self motivation to complete work without someone pushing me as well as meeting deadlines (as the research paper was due in to be marked by a certain date). This has overall pushed me to become more independent in taking on responsibility, but also academically.

The research paper which my group and I have created has been marked and passed. This means that our research paper has met the standards which the Medlink team were looking for and has been published onto their website, so that it can be viewable to all audience, the link to view the paper is: (http://www.medlink-uk.net/images/documents/pathprojectsstemcells2012/CookeZ&MazaniF&WaqasS.pdf)

Overall, completing research paper has inspired me to work harder in all activities in which I take part in, Whether this be academic or extra curricular. and has pushed me further in wanting to study medicine.

Anabolic Steroids

What are Anabolic Steroids?

First of all Anabolic means - The process of making small molecules into larger ones. and Steroids are a large class of organic compounds, which have a molecular structure, containing four rings of carbon atoms. So, straight away you would get an idea (even if you have no clue in what steroids are what so ever) that Anabolic steroids are molecules which are combined together to create larger molecules. What Anabolic steroids actually are, is as follows: Anabolic Steroids are synthetic steroids hormones which resembles testosterone, which is used to enhance the growth of muscle.

How do Anabolic Steroids work?

How Anabolic Steroids work, is by basically replicating the process of natural testosterone produced in the body of humans which increases the growth of muscles and strength - However these processes are increased within a very short and quick time period. This is the main reason for which athletes and other users are attracted to this type of steroid. 

Why do people use Anabolic Steroids?

As well as some of the reasons listed above, Anabolic steroids are used by many people for other reasons as well; such as helping people to repair damaged/torn muscle tissue, help overcome injuries and illness associated with muscle tissues and they are also used in medicine to treat diseases, such as anaemia, breast cancer and swellings of different body parts.

What are the benefits of Anabolic Steroids?
There are a few main benefits of using Anabolic steroids, these are mostly medicinal benefits such as curing cancer, aids and long term chronic illness as well as increasing testosterone levels in males which may have low quantities of testosterone.

What are the disadvantages and diseases caused by Anabolic steroids?

Although the short term benefits for using Anabolic Steroids may be appealing to a lot of people looking for a quick way to gain muscle and strength, there are downsides which most of them do not consider, these are the after affects or diseases which may be caused when the steroids have stopped being used. These diseases and problems include:

• Decrease natural testosterone levels.
• Increase blood pressure and cholesterol levels.
• Liver and hear damage (structural change to the left ventricle of the heart).
• Decreased fertility and testicular atrophy. 
• Increased body hair and premature baldness.
• Stunting of growth by not allowing bones to grow.
• Early puberty (in adolescence users).
• Decreased testicle size.
• Development of breast in some males as well as acne on the chest.

So, as you can see how greatly the benefits are outweighed by the long list of disadvantages, would you still consider using Anabolic Steroids for the short term strength and muscle? 

My Work Experience

After doing some research on universities, I discovered that most universities, prefer candidates who have had some kind of work experience. The main reason for this may be so that, an applicant can actually experience the day to day life of an actual doctor, or another person playing a different medicine based role. This would be so that applicants can decide weather studying medicine is for them, as they may be put off by the experience they gain and withdraw their application, however for some, the work experience may be how they expected it to be, and so they decide to pursue into studying medicine.

There are many ways of finding work experience in a medicine based environment, however in many cases it is not as easy to actually find a place to do the work, this is because of the number of people wanting to study medicine and the limited amount of space in hospitals and surgerys. For my work experience, I applied using a number of methods, these were such as: using NHS Notts work force - at NHS Notts work force, the staff find places for students wanting work experience in Nottingham, the work experience would range from a number of types and days, and would be based in one of the two main hospitals in Nottingham (Queens Medical Centre and Nottingham City Hospital). However due to the number of applicants in Nottingham, the spaces in these hospitals were absolutely full, and so I was not able to find a place using this method - Therefore I decided to use another method as I would be wasting my time trying to wait for a opening at one of the hospitals. To find work experience I also tried emailing doctors directly, This was also a long winded and unsuccessful method - As I had to look through directories of doctors, individually click on their names, and then use a search engine with their name in it to see if I could find an email address or any contact information, so that I could ask to do work experience with them. This did not work because the email address which were found on the Internet were not valid, and information on doctors is extremely difficult to find. Finally I found my work experience at surgery where one of my family members worked. This was with an uncle who was a GP at a private surgery (Melbourne Park Medical Centre - Nottingham). Although I found my work experience with a family member, it did not make it any easier to actually get them to free up their time table slightly to fit me in, as GP's are usually pre booked with patient appointments. I was first declined to do work experience with my uncle, but after I had explained to him how I have not been able to find work experience anywhere else, he allowed me to do work experience with him, for this to happen he said that I had to do my work experience at a later stage (during the summer holidays) when he will have more free time and a less busy schedule. So I agreed, as this was the only option for me.

During my work experience, I was assigned two main roles. These were sitting with the GP and observing the relation ship between patients and the doctor, and the second main role was sitting with the nurse, observing her administer any vaccinations or vitamin boosters, asking her questions about her job and medicine as a whole etc... I Sat in with the GP for a number of three days, these were from 08:30 to 13:00/14:00. When I sat with the GP, I was able to observe the different illnesses the patients came to discuss. Whether these be from physical illnesses such as athletes foot or mental illnesses e.g. stress. During my days with the GP I learnt how to interact with patients by observing the GP himself - e.g. by being caring, collective of the information provided by the patient and also by being patient towards different patients with different personalities. Some things which the GP had told me to keep in mind were to respect the patient (and leave if they were not comfortable), not to interfere when the GP is in discussion with the patient, and finally the very important fact of patient confidentiality - meaning I was not allowed to name people when I left the GP's room, talk about peoples illness by naming them or pointing them out etc... Some discussions which I had with the GP were about the differences between a specialist doctor and a GP's role in medicine, I also learnt some key new facts which the GP had said to look out for e.g. the term 'ICE' (Idea, Concern, Expectation) - What this term was used for was, how a patient would interact with the GP e.g. If they had some kind of problem, they would have an idea of what it was, they would then have some concerns which they may ask the GP about, and finally the patient would have an expectation of the GP would do for them such as, prescribe medicine, give them a sick note etc... when I understood this term, I was able to observe it in almost every patient which came to visit the GP and was able to see how the GP communicated back to the patient in line with the term 'ICE'. The skills I gained by working with the GP were mainly patience in understating what the patient had to say, and also enhance communication skills by observing how the GP would address different diseases which different patients came in with.

I also sat in the nurses room over a period of two days, observing the types of patients she addressed, and the illness which she came across to deal with. the main type of roles for the nurse were giving injections to patients, dealing with dressings, and physical damage to the body e.g.treating scab wound from knock and bumps (mainly on the elderly). As I observed the nurse, I noticed that her role differed from the GP's quite significantly; were the GP would be mainly providing reassurance to the patient and the nurse would be  dealing physically with different conditions. During my time with the nurse, I was lucky enough to be able to physically examine an abbesses on patients which the nurse was treating and also gain information from her such as why certain injections e.g. vitamin B12 is applied in the muscle rather than veins etc... Overall the skills I improved on were communication when not only interacting with patients, but also when I was interacting with the nurse as well, I also improved my confidence via interacting with patients.

During the periods of time when I was not able to sit in with the GP or the nurse due to the patient feeling uncomfortable with a student present, I was able to work at the front reception desk. Here I learnt how to book appointments for patients and also sign them in - This was sometimes a pressure-full situation as there may be a line of patients waiting, and as I was new to the system the surgery was using, I sometimes made mistakes and held the line up, causing patients to become impatient etc... also during my time at the reception, I was given prescriptions and patient documents to file. over all this helped me to further develop my communication and confidence skills, as well as help me build my organisational skills.

In conclusion, the work experience which I did, allowed me to take an insight into a normal day as a GP and nurse, and overall I have enjoyed the work experience and am comfortable with the idea of working in this type of environment as I'm not put off by the amount of work expected from a doctor at a day by day basis. Furthermore this work experience has not put me off but has allowed me to push my self further into studying medicine.

The Worlds Most Dangerous Animal

The Common House Fly

Yes it is the common house fly which is the most dangerous animal in the world. Surprised? Well once you have read this post you will understand why the worlds most dangerous animal is the common house fly.

Musca Domestica

The common house fly got its name from living in very close contact with humans. It has evolved from its ancestors approximately 65 million years ago. Apart from extremely cold polar region, you can expect to find common house flies in almost every country of the world - This is what makes them so very good at transmitting diseases around from animals to people, and from people to people etc... The house fly is usually the size of a quarter of an inch and is of a dark grey colour. These types of flies tend to bread in areas full of waste e.g. garbage disposal sites, bins / trashcans, near pet habitats (dog kennels) etc... The house flies breed by producing eggs which then further develop into maggots and follow on to become the common known house fly. The flies live relatively close to where they breed, however they can travel manny miles in search for food.

How House Flies Feed

As the house flies do not have teeth, they can only take in food as a liquid form, the do this by absorbing the food. The flies can also spit or vomit on solid food turning it into a liquid form, so that it can be easily taken in. The house fly searches for food from many sources e.g. dead animals, liquids (juices, milk, water etc...) in glasses left lying around in or outside the house. However the fly is mainly attracted to feeding on animal waste / faeces. The reason for this is due to the fact that the faeces has a very strong smell, which makes the fly find it quite easily. As the fly moves from one food source to another, it starts to contract germs on its body, these germs come from the decaying matter, faeces, open wounds etc... Which the fly feeds on, and are eventually past on to animals and humans.

Diseases Which a House Fly Can Pass On And Their Symptoms

The house Fly contracts many germs from feeding off of the waste materials it lands on, sometimes these germs can be passed on to humans and cause many diseases such as:

• Cholera - Symptoms of Cholera are: diarrhoea, stomach pain, dry skin, dry mouth, vomiting, concentrated urine and nausea. If some one has the symptoms of Cholera, they should be treated immediately with medical care, as if they are not, they may face imminent death.
• Typhoid fever -  Symptoms include: headaches, stomach pains, pink rash, high temperature, weakness of the body, loss of apatite. Patient suffering from typhoid fever should seek medical care from a doctor, this would usually be in the form of antibiotics, if a patient does not receive treatment they can become very ill, or even face death by secondary diseases / conditions.
• Shigellosis - Some of the symptoms of shigellosis include blood filled diarrhoea, fever, stomach pains. Most of the time this disease usually go unnoticed, as it has quite a mild affect upon the person suffering from it.

These are just a few of the diseases which the common house fly can pass on, however there are still many more diseases, ranging from the extremely dangerous (killing the person), and the unnoticeable ones, such as shigellosis. The best method to prevent someone from catching any strain / type of disease is by stopping the flies from coming in contact with our skin (open wounds), food, drinks etc...

How to Prevent The Worlds Most Dangerous Animal From Causing Harm to Us

There are some very simple steps to prevent the common house fly from affecting us, these are very basic and easy to follow e.g. Keeping your homes clean - This means washing used dishes after eating, not leaving food lying around (attracting the house flies), cleaning kitchen surfaces etc... Another way of keeping the house fly away is by removing waste out of the house and keeping lids on bins - This would stop the flies from smelling out the waste and moving towards it. You should also clean pet waste up immediately, as you know the odour would attract the flies to come and feed off of the waste and then possibly land on your food. Finally fly tapes can be hung from ceilings near windows, as this gives off a strong smell which attracts the flies causing them to get stuck on the tape and not being able to move.

know when you see a house fly, you can think of all the places its been and diseases it may be carrying making it the worlds most dangerous animal, and so that should be a good enough reason to give you, so that you protect yourself from this animal.

My Voluntary Work

As I have decided to study medicine, I figured that voluntary work may be helpful to me in gaining some useful skills which I might be able to take forward into a medicine career.

The first step I took in trying to find voluntary work was researching the internet for places where I could do voluntary work e.g. At local care homes, charities, hospitals etc... Unfortunately due to the time when I was free to do some voluntary work, so were other students (after exams), this meant that a lot of local charities, care homes and hospitals were already full with people doing voluntary work, and most of them simply didn't have enough space to allow more students to also come and do voluntary work.

However, I carried on looking and eventually found a nursery placement. The nursery in which I did my voluntary work (and where I am still carrying on after the summer holidays) is called Zaytuna nursery. The manager at this nursery was kind enough to allow me to do some voluntary work with them once a week, I was not able to do more than this as I was still attending classes in college and also due to the nursery staff having different shifts, which made it slightly difficult to be able to work more days a week.

During my voluntary work, my main role was working with the young children and showing them some basic ways of using ICT equipment, I was able to do this as the nursery had just got some interactive whiteboards and new computers installed for the children to be able to use - Therefore, the manager had asked me to if I would like to take on this activity with the children each week, as I had some ICT knowledge and was also studying ICT at A level I agreed to take this role on.

As I was working with the children most of the time, I had to be patient and be able to communicate well with the children, in order to help them learn some simple ICT skills. I had to work with the children at different levels, as some children were quick to catch on to what was being taught (as they may have been using computers, laptops, game consoles etc.. at home), however other children were not very quick to pick up the skills, this sometimes made me a bit frustrated, as I had too keep explaining the same process again and again to the children. However I kept calm as I understood that this was not an easy task for the children to grasp.

I think that the main skills which I gained and improved were skills such as: being able to keep calm - This may be a key skill for a medicine student or a doctor as they would have to deal with many obstacles in their daily routine e.g. hard to deal with patients, frustrating amounts of work from day to day basis, long work hours etc... I also improved my skills of being patient and I believe that this would also be a necessary skill in the day to day life of medicine. My main skills which I gained and improved on would be being able to take on a caring role - I tried my best to work in an environment where I could improve this skill, as in my opinion, caring for others is almost key for being able to study medicine, and I have recognised with in my self, that I am able to embrace the caring role and not shy away from this.

In conclusion, I think that doing my voluntary work in a nursery environment was probably as good as doing it in a care home, with a charity or at a hospital, as I have still gained the set of skills which I desired. Although I have done, and am still proceeding to do voluntary work at Zaytuna nursery, I will continue to look for voluntary work at a care home as well, so that I can gain skills of working and caring for people of different age groups.

Human Tapeworms

Today I came across a fact that interested me quite a lot, and so I thought it may be interesting to share. As I was reading across some scientific facts, one jumped out and caught my attention - This fact was that Human Tapeworms can grow up to 30 feet and live in a humans body for up to 30 years. In my opinion I thought this was quite amazing and so decided to do some more research on Human Tapeworms. Here is what I found out:

What Are Human Tapeworms?

Human Tapeworms are parasites, they belong to the Cestoda parasites family (which are a class of parasitic flatworms), Tapeworms are known to be one of the oldest parasites since life began. The Human Tapeworms feed off of a host i.e. Humans and usually live in their intestines. If a person gets infected by a Human Tapeworm they usually do not feel any symptoms, and so the Tapeworm can go unnoticed. Hence being able to survive within a human for up to 30 years.  

The Body Structure Of a Human Tapeworm

The Structure of a Human Tapeworms body is fairly simple. It is divided into three main parts, which consist of the head, the neck of the worm and a long tail like feature which are divided into segments called Proglottids.

As the Tapeworm lives in the intestines of the human, it must be able to stay stuck there without being excreted with waste products. How a Human Tapeworm manages to stay in the intestines is by attaching it self to the walls of the intestine. The worm is able to attach itself to the intestine walls as it has many hook like mechanisms on its head, which allow it to stay stuck to the walls of the intestine.

How Does The Human Tapeworm Reach its incredibly Long Size?

The Human Tapeworm has both female and male sex organs (gonads), this enables the worm to fertilise its own eggs. The eggs are contained in the Proglottids, once the egg is fertilised it can either break off and become a new Tapeworm somewhere else in the body, or it can join on to the original Tapeworm becoming another Proglottid. As this process carries on over the life span of the Human Tapeworm, more and more Proglottids join on to the original worm and therefore increase its size (size can increase up to 30 feet for a Human Tapeworm).

Symptoms And Effects Of Human Tapeworms

Human Tapeworms usually go untreated because the symptoms they cause do not really indicate that a Tapeworm is present in the host. some of the symptoms which they cause are listed below, and once you have read them you may be able to understand why they do not indicate directly to the presence of a Tapeworm.

Some symptoms include:

• Diarrhoea  
• Abdomen Pain
• Weight Loss
• Muscle Weakness
• Constipation

If a Human Tapeworm is not detected and diagnosed it can have some sever effects. A few of the effects include:

• Neurocysticercosis - This causes the swelling of the brain which is very sever as it can lead to death.
• Alveolar Hydatid Disease - Formation of parasitic tumours mostly in the liver, followed by the lungs, then the brain, and many other organs   
• etc...

How To Treat Human Tapeworms

If a person does discover a Human Tapeworm in their digestive system, they can consult a doctor who would carry out some Antibody tests. If the test proves positive, and there is definitely a Tapeworm present, then the doctor can give the patient some conventional drugs which will remove the tapeworm from the patients body. Most people tend to make a full recovery once they have been diagnosed and treated.

How You Can Avoid a Human Tapeworm Growing Inside Yourself 

Here are some simple tips on how to prevent being infected by a Tapeworm parasite:

• Make sure meat and fish are cooked properly.
• Treat Tapeworms in pets as soon as discovered.
• Wash hands regularly e.g. before eating, after using the toilet, when touching meat etc...

I know that these steps sound pretty simple and obvious, however it is when not following these simple steps, which causes most people to become infected by Tapeworm parasites. So make sure that you follow these easy steps, and hope that there's not a monster growing inside you.

E-Mentoring

On October the 4th 2011, I went to Nottingham University to join a mentoring programme. This programme was a scheme in which the university paired up some students studying A level, with students who were currently studying medicine. The aim of this programme was to get current medicine students to mentor A level students in the attempt to guide the A level students in the path to study medicine.

The features of this programme included:

• Ability of mentor and mentee to email each other to ask questions, give advice and useful information about studying medicine - This allowed me to communicate with my mentor and find out useful information e.g. what events I should visit, any courses I should take etc... In my opinion, this was the most useful feature of the programme, as it allowed me to ask for important advice on anything I was not sure about, gain reassurance and also ask the mentor about their path into medicine etc...
• Another feature of this programme was, the website which the students were told about (https://www.brightjournals.org). This website was helpful as it provided resources of good quality information which I found to be useful. This information helped me, and possibly other students on the programme in areas such as work experience, different career choices within medicine, personal statement etc...

Overall I think that this e-mentoring programme helped me a lot through my AS levels, and therefore I have decided to stay on the programme for more help and support during my A2 Levels, I would also recommend this programme to anyone else who is also wanting to study medicine.