Engineering in Medical Sciences

Last week was mostly spent outside of the base. Even if you do nothing, being outstation, is itself relaxing. No need to check with colleagues about the health and happiness (plant’s health and boss’s happiness😋 which are interdependent). The atmosphere in Bhubaneswar was cloudy and humid. I had to hop between two hospitals to get the opinion of specialist doctors. In recent times, frequent hospital visits have forced me to remember the basics of Zoology (The last time I was closest to a Zoology book was when Mr. Vajpayee was Indian Prime Minister, twin towers of World Trade Center were rising proudly above the New York Skyline and 11^th September was just any other normal date). 

After studying chemical engineering (especially fluid dynamics / mass transfer / transport phenomena), I am able to connect the basic fundamentals of engineering in the workings of the human body. I remember, in 7^th or 8^th Semester during the mid-term exam, the transport phenomena professor had asked a question where we had to find after how much time a tablet will mix with body fluids in the intestines. Most of us had answered wrongly, but we were given marks for correct approach. The circulating system in our body works like a complex piping network. Most important part being heart, the lungs and the kidneys apart from the blood vessels which supplies blood to various part of the body. The heart acts as a positive displacement pump, pumping fluid across the network. The kidneys functions as a filter, which filters the blood to remove impurities and pass them to the urine. The lungs are where the carbon dioxide is removed from the blood and oxygen is enriched (application of mass transfer). Imagine, you have a clogged artery or a vein; it’s like a choked pipe line or a pipe with pinched valve. Due to the restriction in the blood vessel flow will be low, hence to some part of the body less flow will go. This is sensed by the neurons present and they signal the heart (through Brain) to pump blood more vigorously (application of Process Control). This will increase the discharge pressure of the pump and blood vessels will carry blood at the higher pressure. This, in common language, we call high BP. Now since, blood pressure is high, the kidneys functions at a higher pressure. Upstream pressure of the filters (kidneys) is high with same downstream pressure. Hence, some amount of materials which should have been retained in blood is discharged to urine in kidneys. Tests results of protein in the urine indicate performance of kidneys. High blood pressure may be a cause of under performance of kidneys but not the sole reason. The blood pressure in the vessels of the eyes are also high, which increase the size of the nerves and your eyesight may be affected. If any chokage of the blood vessel is found, (for which the heart is pressure is high), a stent is provided inside the artery / vein to increase the cross sectional area or a bypass of the clogged area is provided so that blood flows without restriction. This will ease the load on the heart and failure chances are minimized. Other methods to lower blood pressure are to give medication, which relaxes the muscle of the blood vessels so that blood flow is easy. That’s how the BP medicines work. Now a day’s whenever I come across a new medical term, I Google it and read. I am happy how an exposure to engineering fundamentals has helped me understand medical science better.

The day before coming back, I had few hours to kill. I was confused between Planetarium and Museum. A little analysis of pros and cons finally landed me in Pathani Samanta Chandrashekhar Planetorium near Achary Vihar in Bhubaneswar. The last visit to a planetarium was in June 2005 with Surya. We had visited the Birla Planetarium in Kolkata. The 30 minutes show showed concepts of big bang, our solar system, black holes, galaxies, nebulas etc.

Sometimes, I wonder, how as a civilization we have made immense progress in the field of science and technology. In some areas we are going up to the nano particles level, while in others, we are measuring distance in light years. The visit to the planetarium gives you a different perspective on life. All our happiness, sorrows, worry, concern, in fact everything, is just limited to planet earth. Whatever has happened in history, all the great men and not so significant men who were ever born were born in this planet. Our planet is just a small dot in the whole universe and if you compare our life time (65-70 years), is less than a blink of eye in the galactic scale. Let’s appreciate the fact and enjoy the impermanence of our happiness, sorrows, worry, concern as well as our lives.