Photo Hunters : “Steps”
Thousands of steps take you from one tower to another along the Great Wall of China, the only man-made structure that’s visible from the moon, running 6,400 km from Shanhai Pass in the east to Lop Nur in the west.
Photo Hunters : “Water”
The themes over the past few weeks have been somewhat related to “water”, so looking for photos for the theme was a bit of a challenge.
The WATER-WAYS are the HIGH-WAYS in the interior of Sarawak on the island of Borneo. Many parts are inaccessible by road and the rivers are the main route of transport. Here is the Baram River in Miri Division of Sarawak.
View of Baram River from the air.
The Melinau River by night..
Long boat up the rapids
And a bit more “action”…
An underground river feeding the Baram. This is in the Mulu Cave complex.
A rushing river in the caves…
While we’re at the caves… i might as well show some other cave photos…
Lincoln’s profile at the mouth of the cave
Sunrays
Photo Hunters : “Drink”
We often take for granted the simple act of drinking. Where does the drink go? Here’s a drink of barium, which shows on an X-ray. This is done to diagnose patients with difficulty in swallowing.
A barium swallow, showing the passage of barium down… behind the voice box and down the oesophagus
However, this patient couldn’t swallow properly, food and drinks get stuck in the throat. See the bulge marked with red? That’s a tumour blocking the smooth passage of food down the oesophagus. So, be happy that you can swallow well.. it’s something that we don’t even think twice about when we drink.
Now, what are the risk factors of oesophageal cancer? Among them are cigarette smoking, gastro-oesophageal reflux and too much of these:
A hard message to swallow but as Mary Poppins says, “A spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down.”
Eventually, after drinking, the water goes gets excreted. The majority of the water excretion is done via the urine. A urogram shows the passage of urine from the kidneys at the top to the bladder at the bottom.
Photo Hunters : “Salty”
It’s time for the Saturday Photo Hunt again. Here’s something salty that I see everyday…
Can you guess what it is?
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Here’s a closer look at the source of the “salty” fluid.
It’s “normal saline” a.k.a. 0.9% Sodium Chloride.
0.9% NaCl has an osmolarity of 300mmol/L which is the same osmolarity of human body fluids. That’s why it’s called “normal saline”.
Here’s another commonly used fluid that is iso-osmolar (the same osmolarity as body fluids):
Recognize the components?
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It’s Hartmann’s solutions. The contents are shown in the label.
These are life-saving salty stuff.
