All Articles by Sajid Surve, DO
Dr. Surve is a physiatrist, acupuncturist, and osteopath who specializes in musculoskeletal medicine and integrative medicine.
Why a Smartphone is a Dumb Idea
A week's worth of New York Times newspapers contains more information and knowledge than the average person in medieval times saw in their entire life. In our current golden age of technology, we as human beings have come to embrace the notion of computers, and the idea that information is a commodity that must be available immediately. Products on the market in the technology sector are increasingly complex in scope and connectivity, and give us unprecedented access to an enormous yet speedily growing body of information. Nowhere is this trend more glaringly apparent than the recent developments in mobile phone technology.
Beating the Biological Clock – Clinical Trials of Tasimelteon
The Lancet recently published clinical trial data from a Harvard study which compares the experimental new drug tasimelteon to placebo in treating jet lag. The medication works by binding to the same receptor as melatonin, and activating it as a direct agonist.Melatonin is a neurotransmitter produced by the brain that is believed to play a pivotal role in the regulation of our "biological clock" or circadian rhythm. Melatonin levels fluctuate in the bloodstream throughout the day, and surge during the nighttime hours when it is dark outside and our bodies are inclined to sleep. The trouble with melatonin is that it falls under the FDA category of supplements and nutraceuticals, and is therefore largely unregulated in terms of potency, manufacturing process, and quality of ingredients. Studies are hard to conduct and successfully repeat for this reason as well.
Should Doctors Engage in Racial Profiling?
The time was June 2000. Scientists with the Celera Genomics Corporation, in conjunction with the international Human Genome Project, announced that they had successfully derived the entire sequence of the human genome. Furthermore, they noted that humans share 99.9% of their genetic code with one another. This discovery served as the platform for the medical community to declare that there was no genetic foundation for the notion of race, and we were all just human beings.
Reversing the Irreversible – Neuromotor Prostheses for Spinal Cord Injury
A young football player is running the ball downfield when he gets blindsided by two tacklers. They upend the player, who haplessly inverts in the air and lands on his neck. In an instant, his whole body goes limp, and the player has difficulty breathing. Paramedics are rushed to the field, and the player is speedily taken to the hospital, where a CT scan delivers the unthinkable news: complete spinal cord injury.The player is stabilized medically, and a team of neurosurgeons are brought onto the case. They attach electrodes to the boy's head, and begin mapping brain activity as they have him imagine using his limbs to carry out a series of specific tasks.
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