It's A Day Off

I don't have time to write a heavy thinking today. Just enjoy the picture. I'm attending a symposium today (medical). It's about the benefit of fucoidan on gastric ulcer. I think it really works.

Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of Crispy Skull

"Famed archaeologist/adventurer Dr. Henry "Indiana" Jones is called back into action when he becomes entangled in a Soviet plot to uncover the secret behind mysterious artifacts known as the Crystal Skulls (www.imdb.com)".

Yesterday I watched this long awaited movie with all the hope to see an Indiana Jones film of the millennium era. But after one hour, I was rather disappointed. The story does not hold together well and the dialog rings intermittently false throughout the film. I wanted to love the movie - but I was disappointed. When I heard they were all waiting for the "right" script to make another Indy film - that sounded good. But it appears that wasn't really true. I have to assume they all just decided the timing was "right" and it would be fun to get the old group together to do a flick - because the script was poor. The movie is more like an attempt at what an Indiana Jones adventure SHOULD look like - but with no real substance. A series of Indiana like dangerous situations and exploits strung together loosely with some attempts at humor thrown in. But no clear beginning to end plot. And finally, I'm not really feeling excited to see the movie.

Anyone wants to see the movie must be aware. If you want to see "much upgraded" Indy, you have to be ready to be disappointed. But if you only want to complete the all series of Indy, the movie has adequate points to satisfy you. So, this movie is crispy, like potato chips I ate, not much more.

History Case: Typhus in the Past

A typical symptom of European typhus is the patient's marked psychosis at the peak of the illness, a state of incessant state of delirium. Typhus comes from the Greek "t uj o s " meaning stupor, referring to the frenzy developed by the sick.

Until the last century, typhus (also known as war fever, tabardillo, European typhus, jail fever) and dysentery killed more people during any war than did wounds inflicted by armed conflict. After 1914, typhus could basically be controlled through annual vaccinations in the German army (http://vho.org).

Typhus: Uncommon Disease, Commonly Said

Typhus refers to a group of infectious diseases that are caused by rickettsial organisms and result in an acute febrile illness. Epidemic typhus is the prototypical infection of the typhus group of diseases, and the pathophysiology of this illness is representative of the entire category. The arthropod vector of epidemic typhus is the body louse (Pediculus corporis). This is the only vector of the typhus group in which humans are the usual host. Humans are accidental hosts in other type of typhus; rats, mice, and larger mammals are the usual hosts.

Typhus patients should have exposure to an endemic area, or occupational exposure (medical and military personnel are potentially at higher risk than the general population in endemic areas). Overcrowding leads to close personal contact and spread of arthropod vectors (particularly lice) among individuals. And lack of personal hygiene: Infrequent bathing and changing of clothes provides a hospitable environment for body lice.

Rickettsia prowazekii, which is the etiologic agent of typhus, lives in the alimentary tract of the louse. A Rickettsia-harboring louse bites a human to engage in a blood meal and causes a pruritic reaction on the host's skin. The louse defecates as it eats; when the host scratches the site, the lice are crushed, and the Rickettsia-laden excrement is inoculated into the bite wound. The Rickettsia travel to the bloodstream and rickettsemia develops.

And at last we know the brief explanation of the difference between typhoid fever and typhus

Typhoid Case: Prince Albert (1842)

A wealthy middle-aged man presented to his physician a few days after the onset of flulike symptoms, including fever, myalgias, chills, severe abdominal pain, and a cough, in addition to severe abdominal pain. Over the next 2 weeks, he lost a great deal of weight. He had intermittent but ever-increasing fevers. About 3 weeks after the onset of symptoms, he developed a few pale, salmon-colored macules on his trunk. His cough became much more frequent and severe. He became delirious, listlessly wandering around the house fiddling with doorknobs. During the fourth week of his illness, he rapidly declined with increasing somnolence. After nearly 4 weeks of illness, he died surrounded by his loving family.

The patient was Prince Albert (image from www.wikipedia.org), the Consort to Queen Victoria. He was diagnosed with typhoid fever. His personal physician, Sir William Jenner, a leading expert on the disease, made the diagnosis of typhoid fever. Prince Albert received the best therapy of the day.

[Indonesian]Tifus, Tipes, Tipus, Tifoid?

Which one is the (near) correct term for a common disease?
In many occasion we hear patients mentioning the words, when they have certain kind of fever. But, actually they usually want to refer to the "typhoid fever". Tifus or typhus is rarely occur lately, because there aren't many rodent around. So which term is correct? (you could answer it by yourself).

And the left picture (from www.livescience.com) is not a flower. This color-enhanced scanning electron micrograph image shows the deadly bacterial pathogen Salmonella typhosa (in red) invading cultured human cells. Salmonella causes about 2 million deaths by typhoid fever globally each year, and many more sicknesses.

The two towers

Towers close to my house

Blinking bulb

I still don't know what to do for this blog. But something blinking in my head.


Above is "A Woman with Burdens" by Nurinwa (1998)

Over the sky 2

Over the sky

Scene above the cloud in Bali, April 08