Hospital Online Social Campaign
Category: Hospital News
It’s been 40 days since we launch our online social campaign, we are so happy for all what we learn during these 40 days, the feedback , the tweets, the emails, some of the comments, and most important the increase of traffic to our hospital site, and sure our health blog ;
- we have now 8,844 awesome followers on our @myhospital twitter account,
- Our photo gallary on flickr account is getting attention day after day : hospital on flickr
- This blog has now over 40 posts , and more medical posts coming on way.
Most important is our re design for Specialty Hospital Site …
All this wouldn’t be real with our GM.DR FAWZI vision, our LOVELY IT MANAGER ENG. REEM, and all the hard work from our QUALITY DEPOT TEAM.
Vitamin C ascorbic acid
Category: Articles
Vitamin C (ascorbic acid), a reducing agent, is necessary to maintain the enzyme prolyl hydroxylase in an active form, most likely by keeping its iron atom in a reduced state. The precursor molecule to the protein collagen, procollagen, contains an unusual amino acid sequence in that every third amino acid is a glycine and contains a high frequency of two amino acids not found in any other proteins – hydroxyproline and hydroxylysine. These latter two amino acids are converted from proline and lysine, respectively, after the procollagen molecule has been synthesized. The hydroxylation of proline and lysine in procollagen is carried out by the enzyme prolyl hydroxylase using vitamin C as a cofactor.
A vitamin C deficiency results in an underhydroxylation of proline and lysine in collagen which results in a lower melting temperature of the resulting collagen fibers which causes a breakdown of the protein collagen needed for connective tissue, bones and dentin, the major portion of teeth. Collagen is a cementing material that binds cells together, and is an essential connective tissue protein in the body. Whenever the body is wounded, collagen glues the separated tissues together to form a scar.
A lack of collagen causes the walls of the body’s blood capillaries to break down and hemorrhaging occurs in cells throughout the body. When capillaries lose the “glue” that holds them together, symptoms of scurvy appear.
An affected person becomes weak and has joint pain. Internal hemorrhages cause black-and-blue marks to appear on the skin. At the first visible signs of scurvy, raised red spots appear on the skin around the hair follicles of the legs, buttocks, arms and back. When the tiny capillaries of the hair follicles hemorrhage, the hair-producing cells do not receive the nourishment needed for the hairs to grow normally. Consequently, the skin becomes flecked with small lesions that begin to appear on the body after about five months on a diet deficient in vitamin C. These lesions were the “spots” that James Lind observed on the skin of his sick men. Gums hemorrhage and their tissue becomes weak and spongy. Dentin, which lies below the enamel and is part of the root of teeth, breaks down. Teeth loosen and eating becomes difficult and painful. A personal account of scurvy.
James Lind’s observation that citrus fruits contained something that counteracted the ravages of scurvy was followed by his development of a method for the concentration and preservation of citrus fruit juices for use at sea. In 1795, the British Royal Navy provided a daily ration of lime or lemon juice to all its men. English sailors to this day are called “limeys”, for lime was the term used at the time for both lemons and limes. It was not until 1932, that W.A. Waugh and C.G. King at the University of Pittsburgh, and Albert Szent-Gyorgyi, a Hungarian scientist, isolated and synthesized ascorbic acid, or vitamin C.
Curiously, only primates and guinea pigs are unable to manufacture vitamin C on their own, having lost the genetic information necessary for the production of this important cofactor.
Scurvy
Category: Articles- What is scurvy?
Scurvy, also called vitamin C deficiency, is of the most serious diseases affecting teenagers today. It is caused by a dietary lack of vitamin C (ascorbic acid), a nutrient found in many fresh fruits and vegetables, particularly the citrus fruits. Ascorbic acid is important in the formation of collagen (an element of normal tissues), and any deficiency interferes with normal tissue synthesis.
- How can I tell if I have scurvy?
Scurvy is characterized by swollen and bleeding gums with loosened teeth, soreness and stiffness of the joints and lower extremities, bleeding under the skin and in deep tissues, slow wound healing, and anemia. If you experience any of these symptoms, you should consult a physician immediately — you may be suffering from scurvy.
- So what’s so special about this ascorbic acid stuff anyway?
When collagen is made, the proline amino acids are changed to hydroxyproline, by a process called post-translational modification. An enzyme called prolyl hydroxylase catalyses this change. This enzyme requires an Fe2+ ion to be present. Fe2+ is relatively unstable, and will become oxidized easily. Ascorbic acid, a water-soluble antioxidant, keeps Fe in the 2+ form, and not in the more stable 3+ form.
Fun fact: “ascorbic acid” comes from the New Latin “scorbutus” meaning scurvy!
Cool Scurvy Dudes
- Captain James Cook
James Cook, the great British sea captain, knew what was best for his sailors. Shortly before his death, he wrote in his journal:
Every innovation whatever, tho ever so much to their advantage, is sure to meet with the highest disapprobation from Seamen: Portable Soup and Sour Krout were at first condemned by them as stuff not fit for human beings to eat. Few men have introduced into their ships more novelties in the way of victuals and drink than I have done. It has, however, in a great measure been owing to such little innovations that I have always kept my people generally speaking free from that dreadful distemper the Scurvy.
- John Woodall
John Woodall (1556-1643) was a military surgeon in Lord Willoughby’s regiment in 1591 and later first surgeon-general to the East India Company in 1612 and surgeon to St. Bartholomew’s Hospital from 1616 to 1643. In 1617, he published the first edition of The Surgeon’s Mate, a volume containing an extensive inventory and description of the medicines and their uses and of the instruments that the chest of the Surgeon’s Mate should contain.
Woodall devoted pages 160-176 to “the scurvy called in Latine Scorbutum.” His therapeutic section considers treatments for a variety of symptoms and complications for associated conditions. The preface to this section includes the remarkable statement:
… [W]e have in our owne country here many excellent remedies generally knowne, as namely, Scurvy-grasse, Horse-Reddish roots, Nasturtia Aquatica, Wormwood, Sorrell, and many other good meanes… to the cure of those which live at home…they also helpe some Sea-men returned from farre who by the only natural disposition of the fresh aire and amendment of diet, nature herselfe in effect doth the Cure without other helps… [At sea,] the Lemmons, Limes, Tamarinds, Oranges, and other choice of good helps in the Indies… do farre exceed any that can be carried tither from England.
These observations are soundly in keeping with modern knowledge of the vitamin C content of the above remedies and of the labile nature of this vitamin when stored.
- James Lind
James Lind was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, the son of a merchant. At age 15 he was apprenticed to a physician and in 1739 passed the examination for surgeon’s mate in the Royal Navy. In 1753, he published his classic work “A Treatise of the Scurvy”.
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James Lind, a pioneer in |
“On the 20th of May, 1747,” the Treatise begins, “I took twelve patients in the scurvy on board the Salisbury at sea. Their cases were as similar as I could have them.” Lind went on the describe a classic therapeutic experiment on sailors with scurvy in which various proposed remedies were tested as antiscorbutics. His experiment provided clear evidence of the curative value of oranges and lemons and was also the first example of a controlled clinical nutrition study using human subjects. |
