Missing family

For the past few weeks, I’ve been missing my family members a lot lately and feeling a bit out of touch. It feels like it has been ages since we all got together and had a good catch up. I mean we all have Facebook, Twitter etc but nothing beats having a proper conversation face to face. The only exceptions to missing family are Saba and Sara – actually if I haven’t seen or spoken to those two for over 2 weeks then that’s pretty good indication that something is seriously wrong with either myself or them. If this ever happens, please call 999… things may be at a critical point and backup may be required :P

So yes I’m missing my family and it definitely makes me appreciate them a lot more. I share the good, the bad, basically everything with them. Ok so we don’t live in each other’s pockets and we all appreciate our own space, but what I’m trying to say is that it’s a really weird feeling when I haven’t seen any of them for a very long time (and by that I mean months). I for one, am glad that we all get on well with each other and hope we continue to maintain or better the level of understanding and friendliness in our relationships both now and in the future (iA).

I’m not sure why I’m missing everyone so much these days. It might be because I’m currently in the process of writing my thesis, so maybe I just need a time out to clear my head and feel refreshed. Or maybe it’s because in previous years, I usually end up going abroad for the summer holidays. Or perhaps it’s because usually around this time of year we usually have at least one family wedding, so we all end up meeting each other there. (I think that was a subtle enough hint right? :P)
Ah who knows? Anyway better get back to some serious work ;)...

Twenty20

Oh my god, the T20 world cup! This has to be the strangest series of cricket ever! How did England get beaten by Holland? How did the Australian team not make the super eight? But the biggest surprise - the Pakistan team, woo woo! England beat Pakistan (fine as I was supporting both teams, lol), Pakistan beat Holland (ok) and then got beaten by Sri Lanka (which was expected). However this marked the turnaround point – Pakistan then went onto to beat New Zealand (slightly surprised), Ireland (not so surprised) and then South Africa (shocker!). The team that were unbeaten so far in the series crumbled against Pakistan? I am gob smacked. So Pakistan makes it through to the finals and who are they facing? Only Sri Lanka! This was torture, to be so close to winning only to lose again, argh!

My dad really got into a celebratory mood after each match, which was cool as it was a chance for him to just chill out and enjoy the summer, stress free. Before the match had started, Dad said “You know Saims, even if Sri Lanka do win it doesn’t matter cos Pakistan have played really well so far. And you know it’ll be like our way of saying sorry.” Me: “Sorry for what Dad?” Dad: “You know for when the Sri Lankan team got attacked in Pakistan.” I get what he was trying to say but it was like he was expected Pakistan to lose… as did I but for totally different reasons.

10 minutes into the match, Dad abandoned our TV and rushed over to Tyagee’s to watch it with him, lol. Watching the Sri Lankan team bat first was agony as I was praying for them to make the least runs possible. But fair do’s to Sangakkara and Matthews for making a decent number of runs and also to Jayasuriya and Silva until they were bowled out by Razzaq and Gul respectively. Lucky break for Pakistan when one of the best players on the Sri Lankan team; Dilshan got bowled out very early on in the game. Then came Pakistan’s turn to bat and how excellent was their game? Afridi made the most number of runs and was deservedly man of the match. Pakistan ACTUALLY won something!

I rang dad after the match and was greeted by a cheerful voice that congratulated me on winning the twenty20 cricket. And yes it was my dad that answered the phone, lol. We spent the rest of the evening at Saeed mamoo’s house, as Saba and mamoo had just returned from their trip to Pakistan. After initial talk of the cricket, we spent the rest of the evening (and night) catching up with news and the family events of this past month. Pleased to see everyone together again :)

Huh? So why did you bother asking?

If you ask for my opinion (professional or otherwise), please wait until I’ve left the room before you totally disregard my advice, do the complete opposite of what I have said and then in the end discover that I was right all along. Apologies if I sounded arrogant just then but I honestly didn’t mean to! It’s just that I’m amazed that so many intelligent looking people fall for the most unbelievable things sometimes.

Before I start, can I just say that the asian population are making their mark in many areas such as food, fashion, expertise in IT and the list goes on. Yet within that population SOME of those people seem to forget logic and stick to their old beliefs and practices. And I’m not talking about religion versus science. That is something that I understand and I know the various reasons why people would struggle to take sides due to conflicts of interest. What I’m referring to is more about the culture and mindset of the people - those old tales and practices that have woven themselves so tightly into their everyday lives that they dare not think or do anything that would mean deviating from the norm of the society. It is the society that they have grown up in and have known all their lives.

I’ve come across a few people who rather than turn to a doctor for medical advice, often call upon new age healers such as wise sages, tantrics and even a few psychics for help. Alternative medicine as it is called, includes other areas such as reiki, aura/chakra healers and to some extent astrologers. I personally believe that some of practices should not be classed an alternative to medicine, as they are not actually based on any physiological or anatomical basis. But at the same time I will admit that practise such as acupuncture can be beneficial in certain cases. Personally I believe that the reason that these new age healers are successful in what they do is because of the communities that they practice in. More precisely it is the mindset of the community to accept such beliefs as they are more open to them. It’s a community that accepts the premise of such practices and something which I believe is essentially a different version of what in medicine is known as psychotherapy. In this situation those techniques traditionally used by a psychiatrist are the same ones applied by these new age healers but it is presented in a way that is more acceptable to the people, than perhaps in a clinical setting.

One very clear example I have of this is when an acquaintance of my mother’s was ill and also had some problems with her mental health. I can’t remember the exact medical complaint she had but she was convinced that it was best that she go and see this new age healer than was in town as opposed to her GP. When asked by mother why not see a proper doctor, the lady replied about how she wary of medicines that the doctors gave out as you never know what they put in them. Thankfully her son did take her to see a GP, however her treatment was not successful partly due to her non-compliance with the medication and partly because she had already convinced herself it would not work. Soon after the same lady visited a healer and he prescribed her some alternative herbal pills and performed a prayer in which her spirit was cleansed. The healer explained that the woman was under the influence of an evil spirit from another life and through the power of prayer he had now banished the evil spirit. In order to prevent the return of the spirit she must embrace life, be more cheerful and take better care of herself. He also advised her to do some sort of routine everyday which involved a prayer and donating something to the poor. The lady thankfully was cured however I can’t help but think that part of recovery was due to her belief being greater in one person over another.

So what does that show? Personally I believe it was a more a case of mind over matter – the woman had obviously convinced herself that the healer was the better equipped to deal with her problems than the GP. The healer’s meds had a similar mechanism of action to the GP’s meds, however I wouldn’t recommend taking medications if you don’t know the composition or where they were made. The words spoken by the healer in essence had the same purpose as the GP’s or perhaps a psychiatrist, as they were trying to promote a more cheerful sense of well being for the patient. However the GP had not shrouded his advice in a manner that was more pleasing to the patient and stuck to medical facts whilst the healer had played on the woman’s beliefs in mystical beings, evil spirits and so forth.

So where does that leave us? Should we let these healers continue their business based on technically shaky beliefs? Or should the medical world be a bit more forceful in these matters by dissipating such ideologies? Maybe we should work alongside these healers and have some sort of regulatory system set up? Or perhaps it’s time for medics to start offering the exorcism of spirits, cleansing auras and healing their patient’s chakras as well as the traditional, mainstream and more accepted practice of medicine. What is your take on the matter, where do you stand?

What’s your ethnicity?

When filling in forms, you always have a personal information section where it asks you to select your nationality/ ethnic origin etc. Sometimes I myself staring at the form trying to decide which box I should tick, lol. Recently I was watching one of my friends fill in a form for something and she ticked the box for ‘British’ under the question, what is your ethnicity. Ok so I may not be an expert but I was slightly puzzled as to why she hadn’t ticked Indian?

Friend: “Well I wasn’t born in India, I was born in Britain therefore I’m Asian/British. Simple”
Me: “Yea but that makes your nationality British, like me. The term ethnicity suggests that they want to know what your ethnic origin is, i.e. where your parents/grandparents originally come from.”
Friend: “So what should I tick?”
Me: *laughing* “Err, well Indian I guess!”
Friend: “Well Saims, there isn’t a box for Indian. Will south asian do?”
Me: “That’s ridiculous. There must be a...” *scans form* “Ok, you’re right. Weird, that there’s no Indian option. That’s a first!”
Friend: “Never mind that, I’ve just realised I’ve been filling in forms incorrectly for ages!”

We laughed and just chatted about what it really means etc. It made me wonder though, who does the term south asian actually refer to? More importantly, if there are south Asians surely that must mean there are north Asians as well – possibly even east and west? Ok so maybe I’m going off on a tangent, but I needed answers! Therefore when I got home I looked at the huge world map that is currently pinned to my 10 year old brother’s bedroom wall.
Exhibit A – A world map:

Ok so where do I draw the line? Should it be at A – thus dividing half of China as north and half as south asian? Actually I don’t feel comfortable doing this to China; they’ve had division issues in the past! So how about at B – making Kazakhstan south asian as well as the whole of China and Mongolia. Err, however according to the map, this would now make the Russians north asian? Lol!
My next course of action was “Dammit Google, tell me the answer!” And this is what Google said...or Wikipedia rather...

Exhibit B – Wikipedia:
Quote from Wikipedia
“South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities (see below), also includes the adjoining countries on the west and the east.

Topographically, it is dominated by the Indian Plate, which rises above sea level as the Indian subcontinent south of the Himalayas and the Hindu Kush. South Asia is surrounded (clockwise, from west to east) by Western Asia, Central Asia, Eastern Asia, Southeastern Asia and the Indian ocean.

South Asia typically consists of Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Republic of India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Some definitions may also include Afghanistan, Myanmar, Vietnam, Tibet, the British Indian Ocean Territories and Iran.”

Ok, this is better clarification. But is there such a thing as north asian? In short according to Wikipedia – err no. We can refer to the actual land of Russia as north Asia (however that is NOT common practice) but calling actual Russians as north asian is a no no. Ok fine. So basically all Indians, Pakistani’s etc can put a big tick next to “south asian” when next asked about their ethnicity on a form and so on. We are all one big happy family and are totally cool with using a shared term to identify ourselves. Just like the English, Irish, Welsh and Scottish are happy to be called British; the Indians, Pakistanis, Bengalis, Afghanis etc are happy to be called South Asian. Ok so I’m clear on all that now. Good. Sorted :)

I should probably now get back to my uni work on neurology and... Oooh wait, nope. Sorry. I have just found an article that may not be entirely happy with everything I just written... (Googling to avoid doing Uni work, plus news about Bollywood – err why yes of course I’m going to read it!) Ok so maybe not everyone is happy with the term. I guess you can’t please everyone all the time. Meh, so after all that thinking, I guess it’s back to being just British then? lol!

Update:
Thank you dear reader for the following website: http://www.indiansareasian.com/index.html it definitely made me giggle, lol.

The Apprentice!

2009 winner - Yasmina Siadatan

Ah, the apprentice. Compulsory viewing as always, well for me anyway :) So onto this year’s contestants then...

Both of this year’s final two, Kate and Yasmina did want to win for genuine reasons as opposed to becoming famous. However Sir Alan felt that Kate Walsh was hyped up, preferring Yasmina and I am pleased that she won. Kate Walsh was definitely a worthy opponent and also her blossoming romance with fellow contestant Philip Taylor was a constant source of gossip this series. I initially quite liked Phil to win as he was a good contestant but the ‘Pantsman’ episode (LOL!) changed my mind. It was probably the funniest moment of the series! The crazy person this year was Lorraine Tighe who I’m sure is a good business woman but towards the end of the series seemed to constantly be arguing someone in each task. Evil person of the series was Debra Barr who actually not that much older than me. Unfortunately she had this incredible ability to rub everyone up the wrong way including Sir Alan and the time she told Margaret off the boardroom... well Sir Alan was not amused. Two types of idiots this year – the annoying kind would be Ben Clark, he got a scholarship to Sandhurst if you didn’t know (!) I mean I think it’s great that he got the scholarship but the point is that he never actually went and yet he never failed to mention his scholarship in every task! Bloody annoying or what?! The other idiot (of the lovable kind) was James McQulian, who was such a sweet guy. I don’t think he even realised the things he was saying half the time, which often made Sir Alan smile and that is not an easy thing to do! After the interview stage, the time had come to choose the final two and it was down to Kate, Yasmina and James. I think everyone cried when James got fired, including Yasmina and Kate. He was a genuinely lovely guy and his exit interview with Adrian Chiles in ‘You’re Fired’ was the best one yet.

Overall, I did enjoy the series but I felt that something has changed with the apprentice this year and I’m not quite sure what. Maybe it’s because this was the last year that we saw the Nick and Margaret team in action as Margret Mountford is leaving the show to pursue her studies in papyrology at University College London. I wish her the best of luck but her presence will be missed on the show. Perhaps the level of people in show is different to previous years or maybe it is just not very exciting anymore more. Who knows? I wonder if there even will be another series next year as Sir Alan Sugar has now been appointed the business tsar by Gordon Brown so things may have changed. I guess we will just have to wait next year to find out.

Stem cells (hair follicles)

The basis of the hair cycle is that hair growth is split into three distinct stages; Anagen (growth), Catagen (regression) and Telogen (resting). This was previously covered in the post ‘curing baldness’ but here’s a quick recap in the diagram below.

For those of you that require more details i.e. the genetic bit, please follow this link.

The original hypothesis was that our head has millions of hair follicles which are produced when we are at our earliest stage of development; a developing foetus has all of its hair follicles by week 22. It was thought that after the embryo stage, no more follicles could be produced and therefore any hair damage/ loss after this stage would be permanent.

However subsequent research has proved this to be untrue. Studies have found that in actual fact hair follicles stop functioning and lay dormant until reactivated again. But what is it that switches these hair follicles on and off. This it is this part that still remains a bit of a mystery.

New research at the University of Pennsylvania has discovered that the Wnt gene (previously used to help facilitate wound healing) may be involved in making new hair follicles.

In an animal study, a group of mice had a small piece of their epidermis removed to create a wound. These wounds were then monitored very closely and left to heal naturally. The results showed that the combination of Wnt genes with stem cells allowed the wound to heal but also allowed the formation of new hair follicles.

Scientists believe that the appearance of a wound triggered the Wnt gene to switch on the hair follicle in the area surrounding the wound and so kick starting the hair follicles back into action. Further tests showed that if the Wnt gene was off, no new hair follicles were produced. When the Wnt gene was switched on, hair follicles were produced and if the amount of Wnt gene proteins were increased, leading to increased gene activity, then the number of hair follicles also increased.

Future work involves activating/deactivating Wnt genes in a safe manner. So this research may form the basis of future hair therapy? As I mentioned in previous posts, personally I feel it is better to concentrate our efforts of reactivating existing follicles that are currently dormant, as opposed to producing new follicles via stem cells.