Author: drsriramnathan

How a supposed preventive measure leads to more complication can be seen by this amazingly true story which every medico knows or must know!

In the novel Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers by Robert Sapolsky; it has been mentioned how stress can cause so many diseases and also how it can modify or alter the course of so many diseases!

In one such context you have this amazing history of SIDS!

Now that is not a cool acronym for a video game! It was a scary phenomenon!

As the novel explained parents used to put a normal healthy baby to sleep in the night and in the morning the baby would have passed away to everyones shock and gloom!

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) was thus the sudden, unexplained death of an otherwise healthy baby younger than one year, often occurring during sleep.

While the exact cause is unknown, it is likely a combination of physical vulnerability, environmental factors (like soft bedding or smoking), and developmental stressors.

SIDS is diagnosed only after a full investigation, including autopsy, confirms no other cause of death. Risk is highest between 1-4 months.

Now when you do not know the cause of a disease then you are sure to find many causes!

In the early 1900s, doctors observed that infants who died from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) had larger thymus glands compared to ‘other’ babies who died from malnutrition or chronic illnesses.

That was the basic problem!

Because they used malnourished infants as their baseline for “normal,” they assumed the healthy, larger thymuses were enlarged due to a disease called status thymicolymphaticus and were suffocating the babies in their sleep!

Imagine the ‘finding’! There is a gland near your trachea or the breathing pipe and it is enlarged! It may possibly choke the infant!

Sounds ‘scientific’ enough! Unfortunately it was all an ‘incidental’ finding and the most difficult issue here was you cannot simply TAKE OUT the thymus! It was a tricky surgery especially for an infant!

Then comes the RADICAL solution!

To prevent this supposed suffocation, doctors routinely prescribed radiation therapy to the necks and chests of babies to shrink their thymus glands!

Here when we think so many times to even do a simple x ray!

Of course the aftermath was not kind!

Decades later, medical studies revealed that a larger thymus in a well-nourished baby is completely normal and does not cause SIDS!

More importantly, the high-dose radiation used to shrink the thymus exposed the highly sensitive thyroid gland and nearby tissues.

As those children grew up, this historical practice led to significantly increased rates of thyroid cancer, breast cancer, and other late complications!
To add insult to the injury, the SUPPOSED shrinkage of THYMUS had no bearing on the rates of SIDS…

In an attempt to find a SOLUTION to a problem; sometimes you end up creating a BIGGER PROBLEM!

Which is why in the quest of solution you must first think! And may be listen to common sense or some great song! Maybe by Pankaj Udhas!

Now sleep without any stress on your crib…I mean bed!


Subh ratri…

In my time as a Resident while doing my post grad I was doing the Thesis work for my senior. Working all day and most nights on the tables and the studies compilation and the whole work!

One day he came and told me that he would  not be coming the next day since our boss who generally never gives any leave is giving him a day off to work on HIS thesis! Then the boss called me to say that I have to work harder since all those late nights were making me tired groggy and dull in front of the patients and in the Operation theatre!

I was left wondering and amazed how I was left doing all the job and still getting BURNT!


That experience is called  “cat’s paw” which has fit me so many times though I am a dog lover!

In the book 48 laws of power by Robert Greene the author states how to get ahead or be in power people have been using the cats paw!

The idiom “cat’s paw” refers to a person who is used by another as an unwitting tool or dupe to accomplish a risky or unpleasant task.

It usually describes someone who does another’s dirty work while taking all the risks, getting nothing in return.

The term comes from an old European fable, most famously written as “The Monkey and the Cat” by the 17th-century French author Jean de La Fontaine.

In the story, a cunning monkey wants to eat some hot chestnuts roasting in a fire but is afraid of burning his own hands. He flatters a naïve cat, tricking the feline into pulling the chestnuts out of the burning embers.

The cat bravely (but foolishly) scoops the chestnuts out one by one, burning its paw in the process. When the unsuspecting cat turns around to share the treat, it discovers the monkey has already cracked and eaten them all, leaving the cat with nothing but singed fur and a painful injury!

Of course as you grow older the more important lesson which you learn when you help someone is that; ‘Never expect anything in return!’ and also thank heavens that ‘Helping did not cause any harm!’

So next time you help someone just do it without any expectations and hopefully you will be ok! Let your heart not go dhak dhak with every cry of help though!

Which of course reminds me of the dhak dhak girl Madhuri!

Now help yourself to sleep!

Shubh ratri…

Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers by Robert Sapolsky mentions how stress is simply transient in a Zebra since all the Zebra has to do at that point of time is to eat and escape the lion!

If the lion has recently fed; the Zebra does not even have to run!

That is not a laughing matter! But then you get to know about those creatures who are the scavengers who can even eat the most rotten food and LAUGH about it!

In the movie, the Gods Must be Crazy it has been shown how Hyenas would not attack any other animal who is bigger that it! But it is known for amazing attacking techniques!

Many hyenas would spend hours tracking and trying to get a meal! Then after a sleepless night or day when they do get the kill, it has been seen that some lazy lion would simply follow or take the kill made by the hyenas!

That is when you get the laugh of the hyena!

It is in fact a cry of anguish and anger!

So it is seen that Hyenas “laugh” not out of joy, but as a complex form of communication to express stress, frustration, or excitement.

Typically made by subordinate clan members during intense feeding frenzies, the giggles signal submission, nervousness, or competition over food.

It has also been seen that a hyena’s giggle serves several specific functions in their highly complex, matriarchal clans!

One is to show the social hierarchy where subordinate hyenas laugh when they are being chased or pushed away by a higher-ranking animal, signaling deference and backing down to prevent a physical fight.

They also produce this sound during the chaos of a kill. It expresses the frustration of trying to get a bite of food while being nipped at or pushed away by other clan members!

It has also been seen that each hyena’s laugh is slightly unique. The pitch and speed of the laugh help clan members identify who is calling, as well as their age and social rank!

So when you hear a Hyena ‘Laugh’ it is actually a CRY!

Then again, do run away! Keep your Humanity for humans!

Then again you know how there may be many Hyenas but there is only one lion!

Like the lion Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj!

Big salute to the brave king …
Shubh ratri…

There are times when we Bloggers do not know what to blog!

Now of course there are a million things to write about but sometimes you just can’t get started!

Some sites like the Word press then suggest some topics to blog everyday and those who get lost in between can check them out!

I have never selected the topics given there since luckily I have loads to say since my social life is non existent!

The topic today was A BOOK WHICH YOU FEEL IS OVER RATED!

I could never do (never say never though!) that since I know the amount of work it takes to even write a novel! Let alone finish and publish it! I am in that phase for years now!

I would rather take a novel which I have read which is under rated!

This was years back when I used to roam the streets of Bangalore bus station for second hand or ‘Generic’ books! One novel caught my eyes since it was by Jeffery Archer! It was called The BLUE NOWHERE!

I haggled with the price since it was torn a little (I must admit though I am a very poor bargainer!) and was still happy with the outcome and ran home to get on with it!

Those days I did not have the Kindle since My brother had not given it to me yet! The Sony E BOOk reader he and my dear Bhabhi gifted to me during their wedding was one of the best gifts I have ever got in my life!

So anyway I rushed home and after a quick lunch settled on my favourite position! Only to realise that the author is not Jeffery Archer but someone called Jeffery Deaver! I was so heartbroken that I threw it away and did not pick it up for some time! Then while watching this movie called the Bone Collector (which is also my favourite!) I was shocked to see that it was based on a novel written by Jeffery Deaver!

To cut a long story short; I picked it up again!

It was written in the year 2001 and the internet was just getting common! But it simply blew me away! I have later on read most of his novels and if now I get a book with Jeffery then I will be sad if it turns out to be Archer than Deaver!

So you must check it out! You will learn about the internet in 2001!

Deaver delivers a fast-paced cat-and-mouse game centered around cybersecurity, social engineering, and the dark side of early-2000s internet culture!

The story follows a sadistic, brilliant computer hacker code-named Phate, who uses a custom-built malware program called Trapdoor to bypass global firewalls!

Phate tracks his targets through their digital footprints, learns their deepest personal secrets, and uses real-world social engineering to lure them into fatal traps!

To catch one hacker the cops take a gamble and release another one called Wyatt Gillette from prison!

Gillette is a legendary, idealistic hacker jailed for cracking government systems. He is paired with Detective Frank Bishop who is old school!

Together, this mismatched duo must decipher intricate digital trails to stop Phate before he deletes his path entirely!

The Blue Nowhere itself was a term coined by Deaver to describe the total digital landscape and humanity’s psychological relationship with computers!

Deaver explores the hacker subculture and shows the distinct dividing line between “white hat” hackers who seek knowledge and “crackers” or malicious actors who look to exploit and destroy!

At the time we had an old Zenith computer with a VSNL dial up connection! So all these terms were fascinating and interesting to say the least! The novel really charged the tech side of my life and made me a Jeff Deaver fan for life! In fact it is one of his best works and is even better than the Rhyme series!

So with all the social media blues; do not get lost in the Blue Nowhere!

If you do get lost then you can watch a movie of Sachin Khedekar to get some reel magic!

That is a statement which is going nowhere unlike the Novel The Blue Nowhere!
SHubh ratri!

Have you wondered, oh! ‘that is rare!’ not the fact that you wonder! But something ‘rare’, like maybe your ‘boss’ is HAPPY with your work!

If you think that is rare then there are things which are more rare!

There are only two elements which have been named after a country! Or in other words ONLY one country has two elements named after it! One of them is rare!

If I tell you the country then you can get one element quite easily! At least in name!

The country is FRANCE!

So naturally the element is FRANCIUM! You can never in your wildest dreams guess the second element name after France though it was discovered much earlier than Francium!

The second element is Gallium!

Yes! Even I thought “But Gallium has nothing to do with FRANCE!”

Well; it does!

So Francium is named after France, the homeland of its discoverer, Marguerite Perey. Perey, a French physicist and student of Marie Curie, discovered the element in 1939 at the Curie Institute in Paris.

Then you come to Gallium!

So Gallium is named after Gallia, the Latin word for France. It was named by the French chemist [Paul-Émile Lecoq de Boisbaudran], who discovered the element in 1875 and named it to honor his homeland!

Now another interesting thing is that Francium is one of the rarest elements on EARTH!

Francium (Fr) has only about 30 grams estimated to exist in the Earth’s crust at any time, typically lasting only 22 minutes before decaying!


An element called  francium is present between 20 and 30 ounces on Earth at any one moment! Making it one of the rarest elements on Earth!

But even with that; Francium has to share the rare name! It is only the second most rare element!

The first place goes to Astatine!

Astatine (At) is the rarest naturally occurring element in the Earth’s crust, with an estimated total amount of less than 50–70 milligrams present at any given time. It exists only transiently as a decay product of heavier elements, with its most stable isotope having a half-life of only 8.1 hours!

Astatine is named from the Greek word astatos meaning “unstable”. This name was chosen in 1940 by its discoverers—Dale R. Corson, Kenneth Ross MacKenzie, and Emilio Segrè—at the University of California, Berkeley, because all known isotopes of the element are highly radioactive and short-lived!

One more interesting thing is that it is the only element discovered by a guinea pig!

This was because it was so hard to produce, that the scientists who first created it in 1939 couldn’t detect its existence directly and had to resort to a trick!

They created a tiny bit of astatine within a sample of bismuth by bombarding the bismuth with particles from a cyclotron!

They then fed the whole ‘soup’ to a guinea pig! And after a few hours of digestion the guinea pig’s iodine-hungry thyroid gland had filtered and concentrated the astatine!

It remains the only element discovered by a nonhuman!

Scientists are researching astatine-211 for targeted alpha therapy, a promising form of cancer treatment.

So it is rare to have two elements named after one country; it is rarer still to be Astatine!

Now that ‘Boss’ thing may be still rare for some though!

Rarer still is to have so much talent in one family! When you see my sketch and think he that is Pankaj Udhas! Well; I will tell you, do not be UDAS! It is his elder brother; the equally talented  Manhar Udhas!

Now try to have a good sleep which is also pretty rare nowadays!

Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers by Robert Sapolsky tells about how stress caused ulcers and then does a detour to tell how sometimes it is an infection!

This story is famous among the GE of the world!

GE  here stands for Gastroenterologists and not Genius though many may be!

Anytime you have an ulcer you know even your mother would tell you that you have STRESS!

That was the primary hypothesis till this bacteria came along!

No scientist would ever think an infection would cause ulcer! They would immediately tell how the strong acid would kill all the bacteria and no bacterium would ever survive that!

Till a mistake; I am starting to sense a pattern here! A mistake leads to a great discovery! Want more discoveries!? Well; start making more mistakes!

So from the land down under you had Dr Barry Marshall successfully culturing this bacteria over an Easter weekend after ‘mistakenly’ leaving plates in the incubator, a fortuitous mistake that revealed the bacteria’s need for longer, specific growth conditions!

While pathologists had observed spiral bacteria in gastric tissues as early as 1893, it was thought to be contamination!

In 1982, Robin Warren observed the bacteria in gastric biopsies!

Officially then both Barry Marshall and Robin Warren speculated that Helicobacter pylori is the primary cause of stomach ulcers and gastritis!

Of course the GE community was not impressed! They dismissed the whole idea till Marshall made another BRAVE MISTAKE!

Due to skepticism from the medical community, Marshall drank a broth containing H. pylori to prove it caused illness! Many called it a STUPID MIstake! It could have been a GRAVE one for sure!

Then again LUCKILY he developed severe gastritis (vomiting, bad breath) within days!

This confirmed his hypothesis and validating the infectious cause of ulcers

Of course even this was not accepted soon by the GE community till many such reports got reported and an eradication of this Bacteria caused a cessation of ulcers!

It was a victory of persistence!

Now research shows H. pylori has existed in humans for at least 100,000 years, migrating out of Africa with its host, and is present in nearly half the human population, though not always causing disease.H. pylori is now understood to live in the harsh, acidic environment of the stomach by producing the enzyme urease, which neutralizes acid and allows it to colonize the mucus layer!

Their discovery overturned the long-held medical belief that ONLY stress and diet caused ulcers, proving instead they were also  infections treatable with antibiotics which earned them the Nobel Prize in 2005.

This is ONE of the SEVERAL cause for your ulcers!

So even if it present it may not cause ulcers since like all infections it is an interplay of agent host and environment!

Then again if you are not well then you can be rest assured you will be taken care of by an amazing nurse!

Like maybe Bai Kashibai Ganpat who was a pioneering figure in Indian healthcare, recognized as the first Indian woman to undergo formal, modern nursing training in 1891!

A big shout out to all the amazing sisters out there! 

Shubh ratri…

Yesterday was mother’s day!

It was silly because a mother cannot have only one day!

But as mentioned in this novel  Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers by Robert Sapolsky there is an interesting and sad story which could tell you what a mother can (or cannot!) do!

The topic in discussion was stress induced Dwarfism! Yes! A stunted growth seen in children because of stress!

The story is of a family with couple of kids but the elder kid called David tragically is killed by an accident at the age of ten. The mother goes into depression as expected but the real tragedy was yet to come.

She completely neglects her younger kid and in some rare instances when she does acknowledges him it would be by mistake; DAVE IS THAT YOU!?

Then she would sometimes say that it is good that DAVE passed away with the memories of being a young kid who will never grow up and leave her and go back to her isolation…

The younger kid growing up listening only to ‘DAVE IS THAT YOU’; wanted only his mother’s love! So much so that he also wanted to never grow up!

It did really happen; his growth stopped! Even as a young man he was not even five feet tall!

With such an unfortunate tragedy you would think he would have had a sad life; well life is not so cruel!

He took this experience to create a story in which kids do not grow up! They always remain young! The story was also shown in the recently released movie MICHAEL!
The boy who is always a boy in a dream land called the NEVERLAND!

You got it! Peter Pan!

Peter Pan was created by Scottish author J.M. Barrie, first appearing in the 1902 adult novel The Little White Bird before starring in the acclaimed 1904 stage play, Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up!

Inspired by the Llewelyn Davies boys and his own brother’s early death, Barrie later novelized the story as Peter and Wendy in 1911!

Even now in many respected journals discussing dwarfism and stress induced dwarfism you can see PETER PAN! Hope you know why now!

All because of a Mother’s love which he rightfully deserved but never got! That is the power of Mother!

I have often told this, If a mother decides to ignore a child then even God cannot do anything and if a Mother decides to save a child, then even God cannot stop her!

Then again if you have talent like Prabodh Chandra Dey then you will shine no matter what! Now do not think too much! Prabodh da was known professionally as Manna Dey!

Now if you are lucky then wish call your mother EVEN after Mother’s day and sleep!

Miss you mom…

Shubh ratri…

When you play scrabble or the game letter boxed by the NYT; the most dreaded letters to get are Q and J!

If you need to get more points in scrabble or want to get a great letter in Letter boxed then remember this word; JONQUIL!

According to scrabble experts “Jonquil” is a high-scoring 7-letter word in Scrabble, totaling 23 points without any bonus squares.

It is a valid word in both American (NASPA) and international (Collins) dictionaries, making it an excellent play for competitive scoring!

I used it yesterday for Letter Boxed and even added an S! Which made me solve the Letter Box in three words on the stipulated 6!

So that is done and dusted! But what will you say when someone asks you what that means!

Well read on!

A jonquil is a type of fragrant, spring-blooming plant in the narcissus family (Narcissus jonquilla), characterized by clusters of yellow or white flowers and long, narrow, rush-like leaves.

The name stems from the Spanish word jonquillo, meaning “rush”.

It is commonly associated with themes of affection, desire, rebirth, and the arrival of spring.

Unlike common daffodils, true jonquils have cylindrical, reed-like leaves and intensely scented, clustered blooms.

Finally in the language of flowers, they represent friendship, love, and “desire,” or “domestic bliss”.

Due to their early spring emergence, they also symbolize resilience, rebirth, and new beginnings.

They are often used as decorative, fragrant additions to gardens and bouquets in early spring.

While often used interchangeably with “daffodil,” the jonquil is specifically a type of narcissus with distinct foliage and scent! By the way daffodil is also a useful word when you have F in your kitty! It gets you 16 points!

Hope JONQUIL gives you Tranquil! Or for proper Tranquil watch any of David Frederick Attenborough’s videos!

Shubh ratri…

I have often said this!

Both of these compounds have the chemical formula of C or carbon!

Both are are pure carbon, but the atoms are arranged differently.

So while in diamond, each carbon atom is bonded to four others in a rigid, 3D tetrahedron, making it extremely hard; the graphite structure has carbon atoms which are arranged in flat, 2D layers that can slide over one another, making it soft and slippery!

So what would you choose? I would always take the graphite but I would like to be a diamond!

It is thought diamonds were first discovered in India around 2,500 years ago in the Golconda region, between the Godavari and Krishna Rivers. At this early stage, cutting and polishing had yet to be mastered, so diamonds retained their natural outer skin!

Textural and touchable, rough diamonds were kept as talismans and only later incorporated into jewellery, which initially only men were allowed to wear!

Then you had the craze for diamonds and then a clever MARKETING TRICK which made people THINK that they need a DIAMOND to get married! Even to propose!

All the while when you can take the graphite and make beautiful works of art! Or at least stuff which is yours! A diamond can never be owned! It will outlive you and never lose its shine while you will fade!

So we are all carbon based life forms and we must get inspired by Graphite and Diamond!

You must be flexible and soft like the GRAPHITE and be able to mould yourself to take up the challenges of life! You must not hesitate to improve and not worry that you are soft and brittle! But your basic humanity must be like the diamond! Pure and shiny and which does not get affected by all the hypocrisy all over! You must be like a diamond and stick to your GOOD principles!

This is the a reason why diamond is so hard and also why only a Diamond can cut another diamond! It is all CARBON!

Then you have some who may be carbon but simply make noise while some like
Vijay Thesingu Rajendar make nice (dialogues that is!). Though I must confess I sketched him because it is his birthday and using graphite to sketch him is a joyous art!

And you can’t make a sketch with diamond!

Think about it!

Subh ratri…

There is this series called the last of Us which is based on a video game of the same name! The emphasis here is Us not US!

The show as well as the game shows the struggle of Humans to survive after an infectious fungus turns ordinary people into zombies!

If you feel that is a far fetched notion then; well you might as well be a ZOMBIE!

The fungus actually exists in nature but for now infects only the ANTS! That too only a specific species! So you are safe for now!

The fungus has a complicated name called Ophiocordyceps unilateralis also commonly known as zombie-ant fungus which was discovered by the British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace.

O. unilateralis infects ants of the tribe Camponotini, with the full pathogenesis being characterized by alteration of the behavioral patterns of the infected ant!

Infected hosts leave their canopy nests and foraging trails for the forest floor, an area with a temperature and humidity suitable for fungal growth; they then use their mandibles to attach themselves to a major vein on the underside of a leaf, where the host remains after its eventual death!

It basically takes control of the body and brain of the ant but doesn’t cause immediate death, but keeps the ants alive till it has sucked it dry!

The “Zombification” Life Cycle or infection is a complex, multi-stage biological takeover starting with the fungal spores attaching to an ant’s exoskeleton and use enzymes to drill inside the body. Once inside, the fungus spreads throughout the body, though research suggests it avoids the brain itself, instead controlling the ant like a “puppet” by infiltrating muscle fibers!

Now do not worry even if you are close to ants! The colonies have actually developed defences by DISCRIMINATION!

So when healthy ants sense infection they carry affected members far away from the nest to protect the colony!

Then you have a bizarre twist of nature in which the zombie-ant fungus itself is often attacked by other “hyperparasitic” fungi. These secondary parasites can castrate the Ophiocordyceps, preventing it from releasing its spores and keeping ant populations from being completely wiped out!

At least the collective body of FUNGUS is working properly in keeping the naughty ones under control!

So next time you see someone climbing a tree with no coconuts then maybe he or she has got the FUNGUS or he or she is trying to get a good cellular reception! Either case; stay a little away for some time but have a heart and do not discriminate!

Speaking of Heart and you can only think of Devi Shetty! Working in his hospital for so many years I realised that Narayana is one of the best corporate hospitals!


Now stop thinking about the fungus zombie antS or humans and sleep!

Subh ratri…