Beyond pharmacy blog
All posts from: April 2013
A Big Fat Tanzanian Wedding
Finally the date of the biggest wedding since Will and Kate's had arrived. It happened in Nyangao and I was invited. I had my £6 ticket and a new outfit and wasn't thrown by the last minute change of date. I received my official invitation the day before - a yellow, plastic biro with a pull-out scroll confirming the location and time - very secret service.
Royalty and snail-slime
Why is the colour purple associated with royalty? Because at one time the production of purple cloth was so expensive that only the extremely rich could afford to wear it.
Benefits of rapeseed oil
If spring had not been delayed this year, many British fields would now be turning bright yellow with the flowers of oilseed rape. The oil from the seeds of this plant has a variety of uses but is best known as a general purpose culinary oil.
Norfolk pharmacist’s aroma of Cromer
Increasingly finicky legislation has more or less put paid to community pharmacists’ ability to devise and sell their own medicines, toiletries, perfumes and other formulations.
Saint Who?
This Tuesday (23 April 2013) is St George’s Day, one of many days each year when the English fail to do much to be patriotic. According to one survey, England is the least patriotic country in Europe, with only one in three English people knowing when St George’s day is, and nearly half unsure why St George is their patron saint.
Hypochondriacs to valetudinarians
Hypochrondiacs can often be identified by experienced pharmacist. One study has shown that about 3 per cent of visitors to primary care settings are suffering from hypochondriasis.
But you may call me Clara...
This is my new name, here in Tanzania. Claire was proving too difficult to pronounce so we have settled on a more exotic adaptation. I enjoy it when someone exasperates "Oh, Claaaara!" after I've said something inappropriate, yet again.
Hamna hela and a little bit of hatari*
*No money and a little bit of danger
Haraka-haraka, habina baraka!
*Speed-speed, is without blessing. I don't think the dala dala drivers know this.
Nuns wear NIKE too
One month in and it feels like I have been here so much longer. It was my first full 5 day week on placement. Spent a morning in the CTC clinic (Care and Treatment Centre) dishing out medication to adults with HIV/AIDS. Children and pregnant women come another day. So many patients.
Not the only muzungu in the village
Claire Liew blogs about her two-year adventure with VSO at St Walburg’s Hospital in rural Tanzania.
Heri za Krismas na mwaka mpya
Claire Liew blogs about her two-year adventure with VSO at St Walburg’s Hospital in rural Tanzania.
A-FREAK-HER
Claire Liew blogs about her two-year adventure with VSO at St Walburg’s Hospital in rural Tanzania.
Bacterium without iron
Lyme disease is caused by the spirochete bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi, which is transmitted to humans by tick bites. The disease is often difficult to diagnose due to vagueness of the symptoms. If not treated quickly with antibiotics the pathogen can damage the host’s central nervous and circulatory systems.
Can we smell obesity?
Using the sense of smell as a diagnostic tool is nothing new. Medical practitioners have long been aware that a foul-smelling wound is infected and that the breath of a diabetic patient has a sweet smell. And electronic detectors can analyse the gases exhaled in a patient’s breath and use them as a screening tool for conditions such as sinusitis, pneumonia and lung cancer.
Enduring legacy of a founding father
The 200th anniversary of the death of the physician, writer, educator and humanitarian Benjamin Rush falls on 19 April 2013. He was one of the so-called “Founding Fathers” of the US, being one of the 56 signatories to the Declaration of Independence.
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