Darwinism

It has been a long time since I saw a Kannada movie by name “Gouri Ganesha” but I keep recollecting certain sequences from the movie again and again. Not because it has some unparalleled comic scenes in it but because it gives a moral in the end. Those of you who have missed the moral or have not yet seen the movie, please go watch it, it’s worth it. If you aren’t familiar with Kannada language, I pray someone comes up with English subtitles or a remake of this more than 15 year old movie!

Let me brief up the story for you. The story revolves around an intelligent unemployed bachelor struggling to make his living in a metropolitan city. His cunning wit not only helps him cheat people and earn him that day’s living but also gets him caught time and again for his pranks. Next, he moves around the city in search of a new scapegoat only to get caught again. The story gets good momentum when he finds the diary of a deceased damsel in a mortuary and gets to know the intricate details of incidences in her life and persons behind her sorrows. She would have had escaped the clutches of three men in her life to remain chaste but ultimately would have failed to sum up the money required for the cardiac surgery for her illness which would have claimed her life. But the men are under the delusion that she isn’t chaste. The protagonist uses his resourceful wit to create a fictitious son for her and each of the three men believes themselves to be the biological father of that child and sends money to the protagonist assuming him to be the caretaker! The fixed monthly income solves the basic problem of the unemployed protagonist and things turn out to be favourable until a day when all the three men coincidently visit him to meet their sons. The movie reaches the climax when they all find out the truth and attack him. The protagonist confesses that he lied to them but he justifies it by saying he did it for his living. He then questions them, as to why is it that they believed him and sent him the money. They turn speechless. He ends the drama by saying; they were cheated because they had in them some weakness and their weakness was their lust. Also he urges the audience to correct their weaknesses, for as long as one has a weakness there are always guys like him to exploit it!

How meaningful it is! But the irony is that most people fail to take the moral of the movie and keep getting into troubles. You know how? Surf some Indian news channels at night (local time), and I am sure you will find some “Crime Stories” being aired. People watch them but they don’t learn anything from them. That is why most episodes have similar crime sequences! To illustrate a few, some stranger goes to a village and promises to double any amount of money given to him within just six months. He does so for a couple of months and sets the final trap. One fine day the stranger vanishes with a huge amount of money and people find the truth a hard pill to swallow. Viewers often tend to blame only the cheat and forget that it was the greed of the cheated that got them into the scandal. What’s worst is some people get cheated by the same person again and again. That reminds me of a proverb: “If you are cheated by the same person twice, then probably you deserve it!”

Well, if you observe closely, there are many incidents happening around us (or with us) that work on this “Weakness” principle. The stock market gives a huge return to some investors and that always comes at the cost of many people losing their investment. The gamble here is partly luck and partly intelligence. One who has the right information of the share market invests cautiously where as the ignorant erratically loses the gamble. This can very well illustrate that knowledge is strength and ignorance is weakness and wherever the weakness is exposed, it is exploited!

Now, who doesn’t have weakness? Well, in some way or the other, everyone has! I mean everyone. The rich? Yes. Richness is their weakness. Anytime, anything can happen in business and the equation may all of a sudden reverse, turning people from riches to rags. Same is the case with politicians. One defeat in the elections can push them to dark. Celebrities? Yes. A couple of flops in their endeavours can make the public forget them. That’s why you see those celebrities, politicians and business executives so very generous (?) when they visit Thirupati! The astrologers are intelligent enough to exploit their weakness!

If you read the Hindu Mythology, there are several instances where demons perform penance and get extraordinary boons from Gods and Goddesses and misuse the powers. The Gods then struggle to sketch a death plan to end their tyranny. For a moment, I wondered, why do the Gods grant them those boons? It is because, even God has weakness! Yes, goodness is God’s weakness and the demons exploit it!

Ah… when God himself has weakness, who else is spared? Practically none. Everyone has an element of either Greed or Lust or Anger or Jealousy or Ego or Pride. Sit back and reflect upon yourself. I am sure; you will discover your weaknesses. You need not feel bad about it. In fact, you should be happy that you ‘discovered’ it. Some weaknesses can be overcome. This is where a ‘Guru’ (teacher) or the company of good people can help you. And some weaknesses cannot be overcome. That is where you need to use your intelligence to hide them. Remember, there is a proverb, never show your enemy where you bleed.

As Charles Darwin puts it, there is struggle for existence at all the strata of life. One’s strength is another’s weakness. The lion’s power is the deer’s weakness. The deer’s amazing speed is the lion’s weakness. In the end, Darwinism says, “It is neither the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” Wow! Look at his prophecy! He just summarises the whole essence of life. The humans struggle against bacteria. The bacteria struggle against the human immune system. Humans through their intelligence found out antibiotics. If ‘intelligence’ alone were to be the criteria for the ‘survival of the fittest’, there should have been no harmful bacteria. But look at the nature. The bacteria are responsive to change! They develop alternative biochemical pathways once their niche changes and that’s what we now call “Antibiotic Resistance.”

So, whether you are mighty or weak, intelligent or dull, rich or poor, human or bacteria, you continue to struggle. As long as you struggle, you live. Therefore, as long as you live, you struggle!

A World without Cancer?

Shortly after I had that dream about Cancer, I was browsing for related details and one such thing worth mentioning was a video on Google videos by G. Edward Griffin “A World without Cancer.” Now, if you are a medical professional, student of medicine or biology, stop reading this, click on the link to see the video and you may directly go to the last paragraph. Griffin has got to tell you a lot. If this topic seems completely foreign and uncomfortable, then go on and read. I have tried to put Griffin’s words for you concisely.

Griffin has challenged the long stood belief of the medical fraternity that Cancer is either due to defects in Genes one carries or Carcinogens or due to both of them, each one contributing to the disease. He upholds Dr. Krebs belief that Cancer is a Nutritional Deficiency Disorder and can be totally cured if the missing nutrients are supplied. To illustrate, you may be familiar with simple iron deficiency anemia – you take dietary supplements of Iron for a few months and you will be cured of it. Dr. Krebs believes Cancer can also be cured by dietary modifications and vitamin supplements!

Griffin illustrates a few examples from history on how Scientists were condemned, ridiculed or executed for proposing theories that contradicted the then believed ones. He says he is also aware of the fact that the execution in the present day meant a ban on the license and practice of a physician (“professional death sentence” so to say) but in the interest of Humanity he claims he is propagating the idea.

Coming to the science of it, Dr. Krebs says cancer is a result of deficiency of a nutrient called Vitamin B-17 or Amygdalin or mendelonitrile beta -D-gentiobioside (natural product) or Laetrile (synthetic form of B-17). The dietary sources of Vitamin B-17 are the seeds of apple and apricot and to a reasonable extent millets and others.

The possible mechanism of its action is described by the Enzyme theory. Let me remind you once again that Enzymes are Biological Catalysts required to carry out almost all the biochemical reactions in a living being. Also, if you remember, Enzymes and their Substrates are very Specific in their interactions and they fit each other like a Lock and a Key (just to illustrate the specificity of their interactions). Now this Vitamin B-17 is believed to contain a Benzaldehyde and a Cyanide group in its chemical structure – both of which are highly toxic to human cells. All “normal” cells contain an Enzyme called ‘Rhodinase’ (protecting enzyme) which prevents the release of Benzaldehyde and Cyanide form B-17. However Cancerous cells lack this enzyme. What’s more, they contain another enzyme which the normal cells lack – ‘β-glucosidase’ (unlocking enzyme) which unlocks the Benzaldehyde and Cyanide groups from its structure. Together, they are more toxic to the cells than each of them present separately. Hence it is claimed that Vitamin B-17 is Potent, Specific and Safe.

To support the theory Griffin quotes the examples of animals which eat grass and other plant products rich in B-17, Tribal and other isolated populations which consume B-17 rich diet and it is observed that the incidence of Cancer in these populations is very nearly Zero! But they do not constitute a Matched Control to the urban population. You may say, let them breathe the same air we breathe, smoke the same cigarettes and use the same cosmetics we use, and then let’s see! Well, he says, it is observed that the incidence of Cancer among urban population which consumes B-17 rich diet is significantly lower than the other kind. He also correlates the increasing incidence of cancer with the Industrial revolution and changes in the diet of the people.

Then what about the much believed Carcinogens (substances known to cause cancer)? Griffin claims that these carcinogens may just define the site and type of cancer and may just be predisposing the individual but the actual damage is done by the deficiency of B-17! So, can B-17 cure cancer? Yes, he believes, unless it has gone into a hopelessly bad state! Yes, some nutritional disorders are like that. For example, deficiency of Vitamin A causes blindness. It is possible to cure it only if it is detected at early stages. Once total corneal opacity sets in, no amount of Vitamin A can restore your vision. Griffin illustrates the case of a gun shot wound. You may successfully remove the bullet from one’s body, but he may still die, if the Wound caused by the bullet is large! But he illustrates some cases in which B-17 was opted as a last resort, but surprisingly some of them were totally cured!

Explaining the toxic side effects of B-17, he believes that the side effects would occur only when it is taken in such a large dose that even Water or Oxygen would be toxic at such doses. He also compares the ratio between Therapeutic Dose and Lethal Dose (also called ‘Therapeutic Window’) of Vitamin B-17 and that of Chemotherapy. There is a statistically big difference. The cure rates, he claims, are far too high with B-17 than with Chemotherapy or Radiotherapy or Surgery (orthodox treatment).

The next question that comes to your mind is why such an Ideal drug is not popular? To put it in Griffin’s words, “with billions of dollars spent each year on research, with other billions taken in from sale of cancer related drugs and with vote-hungry politicians promising ever increasing government programs, we find that there are more people making a living from cancer than those dying from it! After all, the science of cancer is not as complicated as the politics of cancer!”

A commission was set up to test Dr. Krebs theory and it was reported that Vitamin B-17 was not at all a drug that could do something to cancer. Griffin refutes that the experiment that lead to the conclusion was not done correctly in the first place. The drug doses and selection of patients was incorrect and Griffin believes that the report was falsified and the members of the commission were frauds.

To conclude, Griffin acknowledges physicians worldwide who came forward to test his hypothesis and give their feedbacks. He ends saying, “just as we are amused today at the primitive medical practices of history, future generations will surely look back at our own era and cringe at the senseless cutting (surgery), burning (radiotherapy) and poisoning (chemotherapy) that now passes for medical science.”

Now let us interpret this theory with an unbiased mind. As Arthur Schopenhauer says, “All truths pass through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.” It appears that the theory is in first or second stage. But are we so foolish that in the era of supercomputers and what not, we still are burying hardcore truths like B-17, just for some monetary gain? Well, being a student of science, it’s hard to believe that scientists like politicians can sacrifice humanity for selfish reasons! At least, we can once again put this theory to a Scientific test and interpret it in the light of advanced knowledge. We can subject those enzymes (Rhodinase and β-glucosidase) to extensive analysis using the latest molecular and genetic techniques and see if the claim is right. Well, let us say it is right. Now I am worried about the Drug Resistance! What if the cancerous cells mischievously undergo mutations to alter the affinity of the enzyme and thus escape Vitamin B-17? Or what if, by mistake, a mutation in normal cells can make them susceptible to killing by Vitamin B-17? Well, it is hard to predict all those things with the available data. Griffin may be right or Griffin may be wrong. But let us not behave like politicians; friends, we are scientists. Let us understand, experiment and discover the truth. Truth that benefits humanity – let only that truth prevail!

The night between 23rd September 2007 and 24th September 2007.

I had a weird dream on that night.

I was interning in the department of obstetrics and gynaecology. I had been late to the OT and to my bad luck our HOD had noticed that, lest I was prepared to give him a lame excuse. I cursed my stars and went ahead to the changing room of the Operation Theatre complex. My HOD scolded me and asked me not to enter the OT and that necessary action would be taken later that day. I was just sitting blank in the changing room when a professor entered. He appeared to be in his sixties and measured just three inches above five foot in height. His fingers had gross deformities and I assumed he must be having Rheumatoid Arthritis and wondered how he could perform gynaecological surgeries with such deformities. Strange! I cannot associate this character with any of my real life professors. Yet, he appeared to be very brainy.

As he changed, he asked me, “So, you are good at mathematics?”

I was hiding my ignominious face and so, I just nodded in silence and tried to avoid any eye contact with him. “Then, tell me, what is Cancer in terms of mathematics?”

I was surprised at his question and reflexly looked at him. “What? In terms of Mathematics?” I retorted interrogatively. He nodded and continued, “Yes. How do you explain the growth of cancerous cells and their ability to spread to different body parts, in terms of mathematics?”

“Hmmm… sir,” I appreciated his ability to bridge two entirely different subjects and continued unconsciously. “I think, you can compare it with … factorisation of an irrational number… I mean, just the way, it goes on endlessly…”

“Wow, very good thinking! Come on, change your dress and get into the OT,” he appreciated me and disappeared into one of the theatres, leaving me perplexed in the changing room!

I was even more perplexed when I woke up and tried to interpret it. I could associate only a few components of that dream with my daily events. Earlier that day, I was watching a documentary on Discovery Channel about ‘Greatest Discoveries in Chemistry.’ One of the discoveries that the documentary featured was, the chemical structure of Benzene and how Kekulé arrived at it by interpreting his dream of a serpent trying to catch its own tail. The incident had inspired me to take a rather different approach if I think of making a progress in therapeutic Oncology (that’s my long term career goal and I think about it very often). And later that evening, I was discussing with my brother the achievements of one of my friend. He had put up in his website the methods of factorising a number which is nearly 50 or 100 digits long!

Wow… but how can I associate these two things and subsequently both of them with my dream? It is there that I lost the link and hence decided to blog it and let you people do it for me. It has been more than six years since I last did some serious mathematics and now I don’t even remember what is an irrational number, let alone whether it can be factorised or not. It was actually my dream and I pardon myself even if the whole concept of factorisation of an irrational number is mathematically vulgar!

Happiness - continued

Shortly after I wrote on Happiness, I happen to read a related article in a newspaper ('Vijaya Karnataka'). If any of you remember the author, let me know, I forgot his name.

Anyways, the article focussed on a survey by a London-based psychology team and it was termed World Happiness Survey. The study found that Nigeria was the happiest country in the world. The third world countries like Bangladesh, Ivory Coast and developing countries like India were happier as opposed to the 'Developed' countries like US, UK, Russia and others. If you are surprised at this result then sit back and think again, 'Can money buy happiness?'

The article (not the study) has given some illustrations to ponder over. One such example was the life of a hotelier. There was a waiter in a tourist hotel in Uttar Pradesh, India. He was earning a very meager salary though he was a hard worker. He was greatly dependent on the tips the visitors gave him. But he had a dream to own a big hotel someday. And it so happened that the owner of the hotel was about leave the city permanently and put his property on sale. The waiter approached him with the small amount of money he had saved and his wife's ornaments. Clearly the amount no way came close to the property he wished to buy. But the hotelier had belief in him and asked him to pay the remaining amount in installments. He took special interest in the management of his new hotel and raised the profit bars month after month. He finally owned it! But that wasn't all he had dreamed. His hard work made him move closer to his dream and he established The Oberoi group of Hotels.

He was not only a big name in the hotelier's list but also was addressed many a times as the most successful person. His assets were sky high and he was a powerful personality. But he had lost son in an accident; divorce cases, ill health and many other problems were left unsolved in his personal life. He wasn't happy at all. When asked about it he had replied, "The happiest moments in my life were the days when I was a waiter in a small hotel." After all, what is the use of so much of wealth, power and fame when you are not HAPPY?

We see happiness in a horse called money and run behind it until we realize that the horse is actually an illusion. But in the bargain, we would have lost some costly things in life - family life, kids, friends, social and religious life. And it is difficult to gain them back because your Money cannot buy you Family, Kids... Ever wondered why is it so? Allan Watts puts it very deftly - "Happiness is not a result to be attained through action, but a fact to be realized through Knowledge. The sphere of action is to express it, not to gain it." Life gives each one of us some pleasurable moments and some painful moments. It's not a matter of how many pleasurable moments you had against those painful. It is how you react to them. Such things are better dealt with when you have a sound family, friends, social and religious life. How far can you expect money to help you at those times?

So, it makes me feel happy when I can sleep peacefully for 6 hours a day (and many other apparent small things) because I have something which a millionaire may not be having! Doesn't it make you happy too? Just as we compare ourselves with others in terms of money and assets, why can't we compare ourselves in terms of Happiness? Think about it. You can express the answer!

Doctors, Media and Advertisement

“Cough – not a disease; an indicator of disease” by Dr. Ravindra A. S., Mobile no. blablabla ‘Prajawani,’ June 2^nd, 2007 issue.

It was printed in this article that IgG Test is very effective in diagnosing Tuberculosis. IgG is a class of antibody. There are variants in it which are specific to a disease. I wanted to know which IgG variant was effective in diagnosing Tuberculosis. I called up the author and spoke to him. I asked him which antigen that IgG was targeted to and how efficient it was. He said, “Even I don’t know. Inquire it in the laboratory. I had sent a patient whose all investigations were normal. Only IgG could identify it as Tuberculosis.” That could have been a fluke. Or the guy must have had the infection long back and must have gotten well with it. Can it be because of the BCG vaccine that was given to him in his childhood? Or who knows, that guy might not be having tuberculosis but some other chronic granulomatous pathology, in which case the test would be false positive. There are many things that have to be tested before certifying a diagnostic tool. When asked about the details of the investigation, he said he was not a technician but a doctor.

Even I am a doctor. To diagnose infections and other diseases, it’s common to send laboratory investigations. But which investigation to be done, which one should not be, which one would give accurate diagnosis - is not the work of a laboratory technician. It’s entirely reserved to the physician’s decision. Whichever investigation it may be, it should only help the physician to arrive at a diagnosis and should not make a diagnosis by itself.

I’ve been doing research since three years on the efficacy of these blood tests (serodiagnosis) in diagnosing Tuberculosis. I’ve examined and studied more than 300 patients in detail. I’ve classified them as tuberculosis of lung, of abdomen, of nervous system and many other types and tried to study the efficacy of these blood tests in all these sub-types. I’ve read about IgG, IgM and their sub-types from more than 10 text-books, more than 50 Scientific Journals and innumerable Websites. What I’ve learnt from my experience and from the experience of other experts in this field is that no single IgG or IgM is till now found to be significantly effective in diagnosing this disease. “You can do research for 10 years, I don’t care. It’s the work of a technician and not a doctor,” he said. I cannot describe you my feelings when I got such a response from him. It was like telling a physicist, who is involved in years of research on superconductors, that my technician has discovered a superconductor and you don't know about it!? With words, can you describe how much will he be annoyed?

Well, when you don’t know something, it’s a crime to even comment about it, let alone publishing it in newspapers, I believe. Writing a scientific article is very much different from writing personal views or opinions or experiences because, as Karl Pearson says, “The classification of facts, the recognition of their sequence and relative significance is the function of science, and the habit of forming a judgment upon these facts unbiased by personal feeling is characteristic of what may be termed the scientific frame of mind.”

Should the author have any such authentic information on the efficacy of that IgG test, let him publish it in a scientific journal. Let the world of science also know about the technology and appreciate the author. Why should he write it for a newspaper, get his mobile number printed in it and advertise himself?

And now, coming to the journalism. As the competition goes on increasing, our Editors begin to publish unnecessary details for a common man. I can write endlessly for a newspaper on such topics, if you want. Instead nutritious diet, personal and environmental hygiene, immunization against infectious diseases, scientific logic to drive away the superstitious beliefs - put in a simple language that evokes awareness among common men – that should be the aim of publishing health-related articles,; not an article that includes unnecessary details (that too wrongly printed) just to make the newspaper look more colorful and voluminous than the others. Instead of publishing such a debatable article, if you were to create awareness among the public regarding personal and environmental hygiene, will not an appalling disease like Tuberculosis be contained to a certain extent at least? Give it a thought.