The Weekly Dose - Episode 56

The Weekly Dose...

... the latest from Dr Karan

  Here is your weekly dose...  

Hi all!Here is your weekly dose of the Sunday Six! A few things I found interesting this week. If you enjoy this please feel free to forward this to friends. families and enemies alike!If you've enjoyed any of my content over the years, I know you will enjoy my new book "This Book May Save Your Life", available to pre-order here: My First Ever Book!If you enjoy interesting conversations and podcast, check out my brand new podcast "The Referral With Dr Karan"!**You'll find more in depth analysis of some of these subjects on my social platforms in the links just below, including Dr Karan Investigates! for deep dives into interesting topics on my YouTube channel.**

Predicting Your Health At 80...

The Harvard Study of Adult Development began tracking the lives of 268 Harvard students in 1938 - this study is now considered the longest running study on adult life, health & happiness (albeit with a small sample size).Here are 3 key takeaways worth knowing:1. Relationship satisfaction affects your health.A retrospective analysis of the 80 year old study participants revealed that relationship satisfaction at the age of 50 was a good predictor of healthy ageing.2. Loneliness is an age acceleratorWe are (mostly) hardwired to be social beings. We grow through our social support networks. The study participants who felt isolated and with the fewest number of contacts were subjectively less happy and experienced faster declines in physical and mental health than those with stronger social networks.3. Focus on relationship quality.The study also revealed that the quality of relationships you foster in a lifetime is a superior metric than just simply the quantity of relationships. A few close bonds are worth abundantly more than dozens or hundreds of nebulous ones.

Did Scientists Just Reverse Death?...

An interesting study published in the journal Nature looked into how neurons die and if there are potential ways to bring them back from the brink.

To investigate this, they used a pair of eyes from a recently deceased organ donor.

Now bear in mind these are a "dead person's eyeballs" - the researchers were able to get cells in the eyes responding to ‘bright light, coloured lights, and even very dim flashes of light’ within five hours of getting them.

This is very early research but these sort of discoveries could help answer questions about the irreversibility of neuronal cell death, and possibly provide new avenues for treating blindness.The study relied on a novel method to restore oxygenation (plus other nutrients) to an organ donor’s eyes taken within 20 minutes of death which allowed the generation of electrical signals in the eyes – just like eyes have when we’re alive!I've seen far too many horror films to sleep soundly tonight knowing that zombie eyes could be a thing of the future...but for science, anything!

Huge Alzheimer's Breakthrough! Or is it...

You might have come across headlines recently about a new BREAKTHROUGH AZLHEIMER'S DRUG - donanemab...and it is an excellent thing, don't get me wrong...but we need to contextualise it.Neuroscience research seems forever in it's infancy and when it comes to Alzheimer's (one of the conditions I fear the most), any positive effect could be considered a breakthrough. However, it is important to appreciate the real world effect of these drugs on brain function.These newer drugs work by clearing a toxic protein called amyloid beta from the brains of patients with alzheimer's. If we look at the brain scans, they do a pretty decent mop up job! However, if we analyse the cognitive tests score, those given the drug scored only 0.7 points better than those taking a placebo. This marginal gain is ultimately better than nothing and it is in a small group of drugs which have shown any improvements at all but we still have a long way to go.We also know that whilst amyloid beta is involved in the overall neurodegeneration process, it is simply a part of the process rather than the complete picture.Amyloid clearing drugs may be part of the package but we will need to understand more about the ageing process if we are to finally take down Alzheimer's - here's to success, but staying cautiously optimistic! 

What You Should Watch...

Lewis Capaldi - How I'm Feeling Now (Netflix)After coming across videos of Lewis Capaldi struggling with his Tourette's syndrome tics on the Glastonbury stage recently..I was intrigued into learning more about his life as a world famous singer and how he deals with the media frenzy that is very likely a usual part of his life (if you don't know who Lewis Capaldi is, I'm slightly envious that you can now discover this incredible singer for the first time).Lewis Capaldi seems like a pretty normal bloke as far as celebrities go (a pretty rare thing I'm led to believe) and his behind the scenes, all access documentary backs this up.There's nothing ground breaking about this short watch but it does make you think about fame, how it can be ruinous for many people's physical and mental health. On paper fame has a seemingly nice ring to it...money, notoriety, fans..and that all sounds great until the same fame can lead to burn out, an intense media spotlight which prohibits a "normal" life and constant scrutiny and detractors aiming to bring you down.A poisoned chalice. 

68 patients in 3 days...

68 new patients, 8 emergency operations, 2 awful hospital canteen meals...and I am done with another block of on call shifts.In fact I am writing this at 10.08pm after my on call because I can't break the streak of writing my weekly newsletter!I don't know if its a masochistic tendency that healthcare professionals frequently display but I love being on call (as much as I love to complain about it during the shift).I love the fast paced nature of the emergency surgical environment, I love getting into heated debates with other specialties about the management of patients, I love learning new things, seeing the odd surprise, struggling with challenging operative cases, removing cancer, divorcing people from disease organs and dare I say it..even eating the odd ultra processed, super saccharine canteen dessert with custard.In the midst of those three 13 hour shifts I completed this weekend, I was a machine. Now, after I've got home, had time to wrestle with my dog and eat my dinner...my biological energy reserves are flashing the red warning and I feel zapped.Thankfully I've taken 2 days off and will now be refuelling by means of copious naps, food and dog cuddles until Wednesday when I have an all day operating list.Do not feel sorry for me at all because secretly..I love this shit.

Maybe....Something Huge Is In The Offing...

This is by no means a certainty...in fact it might not even be a maybe. On a scale of 1-10, 10 being a dead certainty and 1 being a snowball's chance in hell....it might be a 3 or a 4..perhaps a 5 come to think about it. I don't know...but it's a thing.I've been wanting to get someone on my podcast that will just make people sit up and take notice of the episode and shock people and I *might* have someone who can fill that criteria.I'm going to keep this under wraps for now...and I will only tell you if it happens but with no offence to any guest on I've had so far because they've all been incredible...this one *could* be crazy. Lots of buts, ifs, maybe, coulds and perhaps....but keep an eye out!Sorry but not sorry for the tease but if I pull it off, you'll thank me later!If you spotted any grammar or spelling mistakes in this newsletter - blame my fried surgical brain after 39 hours of work this weekend! 

As always, please give me feedback on Twitter. Which of this weeks Sunday six is your favourite? Is there something you want more, or less of? I'm open to any suggestions so please let me know! Just send a  tweet to @drkaranrajan and use the hashtag #theweeklydose at the end so I can find it!

Have a wonderful week, all.

Much love,

Karan