Grade 9 | Madelaine's Blog

Apr
26

By madelainew2017

The Story of a Thrombocyte

Category: Science 9 Tags: ADL17cell 1 Comment

The name is Thrombo, a fellow Thrombocyte that lives in your blood. You may know me better as a platelet or a fragment of a megakaryocyte, a large bone marrow cell. There’s roughly 150,000 – 450,000 thrombocytes in a single microliter of your blood. My job is to assist in inflammation, tumor growth, natural and adaptive immunity, Hemostasis and Thrombosis. Those last two tasks of mine relate mostly to the coagulation and or clotting of your blood. I’m best described as irregular and disc shaped. We are used in many physiological processes within your body. A proper platelet count is an important part of your health. A low platelet count, Thrombocytopenia, or a high platelet count, Thrombocytosis, may be an indication of some sort of health issue. This health issue can be anything from minimal to something that is life threatening. We can be counted in three diverse ways, two of the three ways identified as electronic counting. There is Hemacytometer, voltage-pulse and electro-optical counting, electronic counting of us Thrombocytes is the most common. I have thousands and thousands of relatives. In both ways of electronic counting of platelets, diluted blood is passed through an electronic counter. The instrument is very specific, only counting particles of certain sizes ignoring any clumps of thrombocytes that exceed its size limit or any particle too small. There is no exact way to properly count each and ever platelet in a single drop of blood as there are hundreds of thousands. However, if you wish to receive the most accurate number in a platelet count, it is best to do it as soon as blood is drawn. If left too long, the platelets after leaving the body may change and vary in size and shapes. On top of that white blood cells may end up filtering out some thrombocytes or if a red blood cell was to burst, its debris may be counted as a platelet. This goes for Hemacytometer counting method as well. There is to be a drop of diluted blood on Hemacytometer slide, which will then be viewed at a specific contrast in a Hemacytometer microscope. It is easy to mistake other particles or cells as one of us Thrombocytes. It’s more likely to get the wrong number of platelets if the blood you took is from capillaries rather then veins which is proved to be a better source of blood for platelet counts. To find out more about me you best head to the Gale Science in Context Database as provided by SD43, you can find quite a bit of information there!! You would definitely need to play around on the keyword search. Since us Thrombocytes are more commonly known as platelets it is easier to put that as our keyword. A couple great questions a human may ask is; What is a thrombocyte? In what ways does a thrombocyte, or platelet, help our bodies? What is the main function of a platelet? What does thrombocytes assist with in our bodies? Would there be a problem if we have too little or too much thrombocytes? The human who I currently reside in asked all these questions, answering them to the best of her abilities with the help of a couple journals from the Science in Context database. She read through several articles finalizing her decision on those that had clear, concise language that still was able to give off its full knowledge. She would scroll down on each article and check for references, if it was deemed to be trustworthy she used that article. My human then read through the articles, taking down some research notes along the way. She tried using a few of the other databases but the journals and writings were too complex for her to apprehend which is why she chose to stay with Science in Context. After compiling her information she went on to creative commons to find suitable pictures, she cited the sources using EasyBib. The Science in Context, site actually had a built in tool for citation of the style you chose, so for the two articles, my human used the built in citation tool. She feels she could’ve done a much better thorough job had she had more time to work on finding out more about us Thrombocytes. My human wouldn’t have minded getting an extra block or two to do a deeper search that would result with even more conclusions and knowledge on the cell. Next time she would try to use different databases, read a few more articles and even watch a couple videos. Just incase you get a cut at anytime of the day, call me or any of my relatives up, we’ll be there trying to clot up your blood and prevent you from bleeding out in no time!

Thrombo, a important part of your physiological processes, the Thrombocyte is out of here.

Citations in MLA8 Form

commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1908_Platelet_Development.jpg.
“Imagen Gratis: Cada Vez Mayor, Vivax, Trophozoite, Plaquetas, Pila, CNTR.” PIXNIO – Imágenes De Dominio Público, 28 Dec. 2016, pixnio.com/es/ciencia/imagenes-microscopia/la-malaria-plasmodium/cada-vez-mayor-vivax-trophozoite-plaquetas-pila-cntr.
3 May 2010, commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Plateletpheresis_machine.jpg.
7 Feb. 2012, commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Inflammatory_response.jpg.
26 Mar. 2017, commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blood_Donation_12-07-06_2.JPG.
“Free Image on Pixabay – Microscope, Diagnosis, Lab.” Microscope Diagnosis Lab · Free Photo on Pixabay, pixabay.com/en/microscope-diagnosis-lab-veterinary-2352651/.
Lohr, John T., and Melinda Granger Oberleitner. “Platelet count.” The Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine, edited by Jacqueline L. Longe, 5th ed., Gale, 2015. Science In Context, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/CDKSBS968604740/SCIC?u=43riss&sid=SCIC&xid=3fb97428. Accessed 26 Apr. 2018.
Trolio, William M. “What do we really need to know about platelets and the laboratory?” Medical Laboratory Observer, Oct. 2016, p. 24+. Science In Context, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A466782558/SCIC?u=43riss&sid=SCIC&xid=1f175a48. Accessed 26 Apr. 2018.

Apr
15

By madelainew2017

Evolutionary Prosthetics

Category: Science 9 1 Comment

What does the world of medicine have to offer when mixed with electricity? Would upper limb prosthetics be more effective with a Neuroprosthetic or a Myoelectric prosthetic?

Apr
12

By madelainew2017

The Fascinating Effects of Language

Category: English Honours 9, Uncategorized Tags: Bloglogtwo9 1 Comment

Language is one of the most complex things to ever have been created by humanity. We have created around seven thousand different intricate dialects, each with a distinct articulation, sounds and symbol. Most of our languages have corresponding letters of an alphabet or symbol system, we put them together in different orders forming diverse words that make up our extravagant range of vocabulary. For centuries, people have been wondering if all the variety of languages shape the way we think. If our mother tongue was English compared to Russian, would are brains be wired to think and react unalike? Do languages affect the way we think? In the past we did not have any data or research to back up any side of the arguments. In the Ted Talk How Languages Shape the way we Think by Lera Boroditsky, she briefly describes how we form words through a sequence of huffs and puffs which then travel in air vibrations. Once the vibrations reach our ears, our brain processes the sound waves and turns them into thoughts. We recognize these distinct patterns of sounds and call many of them words. Boroditsky worked with an Aboriginal tribe from Australia called the Kuuk Thaayorre or Thaayorre Tribe, who speaks Kuuk Thaayorre Language, a Paman language. They are natives who reside in the settlement Pormpuraaw, the western part of the Cape York Peninsula, Queensland in Australia. This tribe’s unique language is such a wonder. They use cardinal direction, north, south, east and west, instead of simple left and right. However, they do use the cardinal direction for more then just direction, it’s used in greetings, telling time and moving objects. When we English speakers greet someone we normally say “Hello,” where in Kuuk Thaayorre you would say “Which way are you going?”. Our response is entirely different as well, people of the Thaayorre tribe would respond with “North, north, east in the near distance,” if all is going quite well. This unique way of simply just greeting people makes our universal language quite boring. Telling time is also different as well, it all depends on which cardinal direction they are facing, for each direction would mean a new arrangement. It’s not just this tribal language that has a unique system, Russian compared to English and German to Spanish also have many radical differences. In English when we see a colour, such as blue, we simply address it as blue. Russian speaker tend to differentiate light blue and dark blue respectively. As part of Boroditsky’s research, their team would watch brain patterns and the different reactions from multiple things of all sort of language speakers. Those who speak Russian, their brain has like a quick surprise/reaction when seeing a shade of blue change from light to dark, whereas in English speakers there wasn’t. A lot of languages have grammatical gender, different nouns and adjectives are categorized as a more feminine or masculine word. In German the sun is feminine, described with more feminine adjectives and the moon masculine. Contrastingly, in Spanish the moon is portrayed more feminine and the sun masculine. Certain languages train you to pay attention to different things. For example, in an accident, English speakers are more likely to remember who caused the accident where in another language people zero in on how the even actually unfolded. Languages shape the way we view time, numbers, colours, grammatical gender, memory and what we focus on. The variety of different sounds, symbols, articulation for each language is so unique, quite a fascination language is. It is unfortunate that currently we are losing around a language a week. Finishing the Ted Talk, I have concluded that the different languages we speak affect the way we think one way or another, all this research supporting this argument. Then again, our research is all done in just solely English by English speakers so is our research valid? Is all our research and data simply narrow minded and biased? What are we to believe?

Apr
9

By madelainew2017

The Veldt Sumative Assignment

Category: English Honours 9 Tags: veldtvideo18 2 Comments

After reading the short story, The Veldt by Ray Bradbury, I wrote this poem to acknowledge all the alienation that is forming within our society due to our ever advancing technology. Our excessive usage of technology is slowly leading us to a social devastation.

Chained Eagles

The sun used to shine brighter,

Back when the skies were clearer,

The eagle’s wings free with possibility,

When the children played amongst the trees,

Swinging from its able-bodied branches,

Humanity’s advancements,

Creating this obsessive compulsion,

These so-called improvements,

Sitting alone on a park bench,

The vacant swings moving at the command of the wind,

Slides dull and hollow,

The laughter from playgrounds no longer ring,

As they’re covered up by a tablets DING,

DING, a new notification,

Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter,

It’s like our communication skills has started to wither,

With every BEEP and DING,

Our anxiety builds up if we don’t check it’s ringing,

It’s a chain and ball confining our wings,

DING, a new posting,

Our new measurement of self-value,

Measured in the number of likes,

Followers and comments replacing our breathing,

Our technological solutions,

Ridding of all our emotions,

Dividing our connections,

A black hole,

A devastation,

No more eye to eye conversations,

Hiding from behind a screen,

Attacking, harassing, bullying,

Driving some to breaking,

With seven billion on the planet,

We’re facing this new lonely world alone,

Not many friends in real life,

As time’s days grow weary,

We do nothing but continue to scroll on our Blackberry’s,

Glued to our screens,

The new sustenance of living,

What has happened to playing amongst the trees?

When will the eagle soar freely once again?

References for Photos and Videos in the Poem Video.docx

Mar
6

By madelainew2017

Static Electricity Motors – Collaboration Fluency

Category: Science 9 Tags: collabfluency 1 Comment

Material	Lucite	Copper	Glass	Straw	Wood	Spoon	Ebonite	Aluminum
Silk	Attracts	Vibrates	Repels slightly	Attracts slightly	Nothing	Attracts	Repelling	Nothing
Cotton	Attracts	Nothing	Nothing	Attracts	Nothing	Attracts slightly	Attracts slightly	Vibrates
Polyester	Attracts slightly	Nothing	Vibrates	Nothing	Nothing	Nothing	Repelling a lot	Nothing
Animal Fur	Repels a lot	Vibrates	Attracts	Repels a lot	Nothing	Attracts a lot, then repels	Attracts slightly	Vibrates
Wool	Attracts	Vibrates	Nothing	Attracts	Nothing	Attracts	Attracts then repels	Vibrates
Plastic	Attracts slightly	Slightly repelling	Nothing	Nothing	Slightly attracts	Attracts slightly	Attracts first, then repels	Nothing

During these past two classes, we have been testing a variety of materials, to see which combination would create the greatest static electricity charge. We began with different rods composed of one material. We had Lucite, which is practically a plastic stick, Copper, glass, a flimsy plastic straw, a wooden stir stick, a rod of ebonite and a aluminum rod. Next we gathered several different cloths, silk, cotton, polyester, animal fur, wool, and plastic garbage bag. Our next part of experiment we, all took turns, recording the information, and charging the rods. We all observed the effects together. We put together all the possible combinations for getting a charge and I would say that Lucite was the most successful rod overall. The best cloth material would be animal fur, when charged with nearly all the rods it had an affect. We have come to a group decision to use a rod of Lucite and animal fur to be our combination for our static electricity motors.

What skills and strengths do each of the group members have to help you accomplish this project? (mention names and skills)

1. - Emily- Strong leader, keeps everyone in tack, efficient
  - Maddy- Dedicated, good time management, artistic
  - Claire- Creative, collaboration, keeps people together
  - Megan- Thinks outside of the box, sociable, confident in public speaking

How are you going to divide up the workload? What roles and responsibilities are assigned for each person?

- Maddy – Recorder
- Megan – Racer
- Emily – Racer
- Claire – Timer

What rules do you want to have regarding your collaboration? (e.g. equal workload, deadlines met etc.)

- Everyone will keep inside the timeline
- Everyone will get an equal workload
- Listen to others
- Encourage others ideas

What will you do if these rules are not being followed?

We will talk as a group to make sure everyone is on track, start again with fresh ideas.

Do you have any questions regarding the task that need to be answered? Do you understand the requirements of the project?

The project seems quite clear.

What goals for the task do you have for the group?

We hope to get everything done on time, completed to the best of our abilities, and hopefully exceed the expectations or do generally well on our evaluation marks.

What will the final outcome or product look like and what information is needed to accomplish the task?

Our final product will be able to move the ruler and at a reasonable pace. We will need to see what materials work best together to create the biggest charge to move the ruler.

If you were to break down the task into manageable pieces, what would the timeline look like, knowing that the project is due March 7? (add names and dates)

We take turns recording the information while two people are testing two different rod + material combinations at once. Our other person neutralizes the pith ball so one of the two ‘chargers’ can test their charge. It worked out pretty well and quite efficient.

We have chosen Subway as our sponsor and a Ferrari engine!

Feb
23

By madelainew2017

Inquiry Post #1

Category: English Honours 9 Tags: InquiryPost#1FEC 1 Comment

The Friday Everything Changed

Inquiry Questions:How does inequality get perpetuated? Why is stability often chosen over taking a risk? How does a fear rejection stop individuals from expressing their true selves? What motivates us in the face of despair and oppression?

Primary Source: The Friday Everything Change

Secondary Sources: Malala Marches Towards the Nobel Peace Prize

The Friday Everything Changed is a short story of the past, where society’s expectations and stereotypes are unalike to the ones we have in the twentieth century. Protagonist, Alma Niles, made ripples in her small class as she challenged a tradition of carrying a water bucket normally done by boys. In the 1900’s gender rolls were nearly set in stone, men were given the ‘important’ tasks while women were to remain at home or to tend to meaningless work. One of the girls wanted to see a change, and when the boys started to torment her for doing so, the girls united and stuck together for the first time. In our modern society we are constantly letting gender inequality perpetuate. We are aware of the discrimination that happens, yet we do nothing. We are as good as Donald Trump and the gun issues in America. Malala Yousfzai, a children education activist, went against the rules of her community and the Pakistani Taliban to fight for her right to go to school. Malala remained strong and determined, even when the Taliban shot her. In a way it’s a modern-day version of what happened in The Friday Everything Changed. Through the hardships they were forced to face, both girls persevered, and they never lost sight of what they had in mind. The world is an ever-changing place. With all our progression of modernization and the changing of our society and culture, some have been left behind. Fortunately, in first world countries such as America and Canada, the gap of inequality has lessened; Women are gaining more and more rights. Third world countries such as Pakistan still view women as less, expecting them to stay in a prison like house and mainly reproduce. Maybe we need more people like Alma Niles. Thankfully we have had those few amazing people who’ve tried to solve our problems, put in the effort to change the world for the better. Andree Geulen, Malala Yousfzai, Jade Hamiester all empowering women who have impacted the world in a positive outcome. One part of The Friday Everything Changed that I really admire Alma for, is when her cousin tries to talk her out of trying to carry the water bucket. “I’m sorry, Arnold.” she said. “but I’m used to the cold weather. In winter I walk to school the same as you.” That simple line proves that the reason we have limits is because we create them. We all perform the same task relentless of gender at one point or another. It is because we choose to set these rules and limits that gender inequality exists. If we were to all work together we can make it cease to exist.

Feb
20

By madelainew2017

Power of the Placebo

Category: English Honours 9 Tags: Bloglogone9 1 Comment

What is the placebo effect? The placebo effect is essentially a fake treatment, that has no active ingredients. I’ve heard of this ‘placebo effect’ multiple times throughout my life but I never understood the true meaning or concept of this complex situation. I’ve heard it on the news, movies, TV dramas a even read about it in books. It’s quite intriguing, if we are being told positive outcomes and more pros then cons while heading into a study for example, there is higher chances of the results being a better outcome, or vice versa with negative comments. In The Power of the Placebo Effect, it describes that we tend to treat things that seem to be of higher quality, normally in higher price as well, to be better then one of lower quality. If we are simply told that we are receiving something that would help us, we are often fooled into believing it would. I like that this article had a rich array of vocabulary, making it seem so much more sophisticated, and when giving examples of the effect it was very insightful and descriptive. They use words with depth like feasible, efficacy, beneficial and moderate, when they could’ve used more simpler words. I would say that the uses of the descriptive vocabulary and insightful examples helped the enhancement of the overall article. Us humans tend to believe things that aren’t necessarily true, we go along with what one says and don’t normally challenge it. It is an odd habit that we’ve revealed to continue throughout our entire existence, believing the world is flat or that the world is only composed of four elements. It proves that we are satisfied just being told things and not doing them ourselves to prove it’s validity. It exemplifies just how easy we can be swayed into thinking in one narrow minded way.

Here are the articles I read;

http://bigthink.com/ideafeed/researchers-examine-how-the-brain-reacts-to-the-placebo-effect

http://bigthink.com/21st-century-spirituality/the-power-of-the-placebo-effect

http://bigthink.com/ideafeed/placebo-found-to-relieve-pain-even-when-participants-knew-the-treatment-wasnt-real

Feb
9

By madelainew2017

Pill Dissolving Experiment – Lab Report

Category: Science 9 Tags: ADL2017solution 1 Comment

Our first week in Science 9 Honours and we’ve already gotten to the fun parts of science! Experiments!! Mr. Horton assigned us groups that we’d work with to see which painkiller tablet would dissolve quickest. We wanted to test 5 different painkillers we regularly use and see if it’s dissolving rate affects the time it heals our pain. We often resort to popping a Tylenol or Advil when we’ve got a headache but have we ever wondered how do they work? How does the medicine actually reach to our source of pain? What is curing us of our pain? What is causing us the pain? Which pill works best and why?

Before our lab, we had a day to prep. We did some research and came up with a rough plan of action. Digging deeper into pain relievers, my group (Claire B, April T, Nolan F) found a number of interesting facts. A number of pills enter through the blood stream, not quite focusing on a specific area of pain. It spreads throughout your entire body and latching on to an enzyme that creates a molecule, prostaglandin (it develops pain through inflammation), and blocks it from making that molecule. With all the molecules being blocked, the body is now more at ease, the pain is subsiding. Advil is actually made up of ibuprofen, which is a drug that is recognized as a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug(NSAID) class. Other drugs that are similar are aspirin (which is also known as a acetylsalicylic acid) and naproxen (a propionic acid), they all have similar properties and belong to the same drug class which reduce fever, stiffness and even menstrual cramps. Naproxen is found in Aleve, Ibuprofen in Motrin IB along with Advil, and Aspirin is mainly in 3 different brands, Bayer, Excedrin and Bufferin.

They make one of the two major NSAID’s groups, the other is Tylenol. These two groups are the ones most commonly sold over the counters, they are used to alleviate mild pains opposed to morphine which relieves more severe pain. Tylenol is created with acetaminophen aka paracetomal. It is it’s entire other major group alone, funny right? The reason for that is unlike Ibuprofen, acetaminophen does not treat inflammation. Looking more, not too much is known on Tylenol or how it works. Paracetomal drugs include Tylenol, Panadol and Calpol. There is really not too much of a difference between ibuprofen and paracetomal, one treats inflammation and the other does not, and paracetomal supposedly causes less stomach discomfort. To sum it up, majority of the drugs listed above enter through our blood stream, latches on and prevents prostaglandin (pain molecule) from producing, is metabolized through our liver and promptly relieves our pain.

Taking Ibuprofen by mouth takes about 20-30 minutes before it starts to work, Aspirin 20 minutes, Tylenol on an empty stomach 15-20 minutes while on a full stomach 30-60 minutes. Must be the stomach acid content that affects the time. Pretty interesting stuff!

On to the actual lab part! Our original plan was to have 5 beakers each holding about 30ml of vinegar, 40ml water , 5ml milk and about 5ml of mushed apple. The next day we realized that we had changed to many variables so our lab would be inconclusive. We wanted a stomach like environment which is why we had brainstormed the plan before, now that we had reduced it we still wanted the same goal. Our stomach has acid in it, its what breaks down our food. On top of our change of fluid, we were surprised with the size of the vessel we’d be conducting the experiment in. We assumed it would be a 100ml+ beaker, instead we had a rough 20ml test tube. We had to reduce our size and ratios! At the end we ended up putting 12ml of water and 5ml of vinegar. Mr. Horton had purchased five different pain relievers. Advil liqui gel, Aspirin(Bayer), Tylenol, Motrin and Life Brand.

From top to bottom:
Life brand, Advil Liqui Gel, Tylenol, Motrin, Aspirin.

We placed the test tubes that were filled with our mix into a beaker which was atop a heat pad. There we heated the liquids up to about a 40°C, quickly moving them to a test tube rack. We hoped that by the time we were ready to drop the pills in the temperature would stay around 37°C. Our stomach is about that temperature. Next we dropped the pills in, set up a 35 minute timer and a time lapse video. Here’s the video!

Here are some of the notes from the lab 🙂

Partners: Claire B, Nolan F, April T

Purpose: To see which pill dissolves the fastest, seeing which reacts in the least amount of time to aid our headaches.

Prediction: I think Aspirin will dissolve first.

Hypothesis: If we create a stomach like environment, then the aspirin will dissolve first.

Materials: 1 beaker, 5 test tubes, 3 graduated cylinders, 2 eye droppers, 1 heat pad, 1 test tube tray.

Procedure:

We put 12ml of water into a test tube plus 5ml of vinegar.
Then we stirred it briefly, before placing it into a beaker which was on a heating pad. We brought it up to about 40 degrees Celsius.
Next, we placed it into a wooden test tube tray/rack, where the bottom of the tube was exposed, and dropped the pills in at the same time.
We set our timer for 35 minutes, started a time lapse video and closely observed the pills.
We kept track of our observations periodically.
Unfortunately we had to stop the experiment after 15 minutes, 10 minutes remaining.

Observations:

31 minutes > Tylenol looks like white fuzz

Advil looks same, looks like expanding the letters peeled off
Asprin looks like a small gathered fuzz at bottom of test tube
Motrin A flattening pancake…starting to get fuzzy
Life Brand…exploding like the capsule broke open ‘fluff’ is coming out

26 minutes > Advil still looks the same

Tylenol still like a thick layer of fuzz
Asprin like a small amount of fuzz
Motrin looks like its rising pancake, still sorta fuzzy
Life Brand capsule breaking apart almost as if exploding from the inside out.

24 minutes > Advil looks like the top is evaporating? Turning invisible…the gel layer getting thinner.

20 minutes > Tylenol Fuzz expanding

There’s now a line split down the advil, it’s white on the edges
Aspirin still the same
Motrin deflated and now fuzz is like rising upwards
Life brand still the same, a pile of grossness with a miz of red and white fuzz everywhere in the bottom

15 minutes > Tylenol Still same amount of fuzz

Advil looks like a bean…top is narrower the bottom is fat
Asprin looks like weak amount of snow
Motrin looks like it’s climbing the sides of the test tube
Life Pill looks like blood in snow
They all got little bubbles in the test tube…Tylenol has the most bubbles

In the end, after spending 25 minutes, we had to stop the experiment 10 minutes early, submerged in our vinegar water concoction, the pills were pretty much dissolved. Our lab supported our hypothesis, the Aspirin dissolved the fastest. I was quite surprised that even after the Tylenol, Aspirin, Motrin & Life brand has turn to life a fluffy white powder in the tube, Advil liquid gel remained in its pill shaped form. At the beginning of this lab Mr. Horton had said that his son said that the Advil liquid gel worked best out of all the pills for him. We were shocked to see that the Advil barely even changed, the closest thing to exploding it did was balloon at the bottom and have a tiny slit down the middle with a white fluid slowly dripping out. At the end of the whole experiment I thought it was a enjoyable lab! It really did open many doors to learning more about pharmaceutical drugs and how they work. Our experiment was a one time go, if we repeated it a few more times our results would have a more accurate and clear answer. This is definitely one of the neat intriguing things that drew me to science!

Bibliography

“What Is the Difference between Paracetamol and Ibuprofen? | Acetaminophen.” Sharecare, www.sharecare.com/health/acetaminophen/difference-between-paracetamol-and-ibuprofen.

“OTC Pain Relief: Understanding NSAIDs.” WebMD, WebMD, www.webmd.com/pain-management/features/pain-relievers-nsaids#1.

“Acetaminophen: Uses, Dosage & Side Effects.” Drugs.com, Drugs.com, 12 July 2017, www.drugs.com/acetaminophen.html.

“Here’s How Common Pain Relievers Actually Work in Your Body and Brain.” Business Insider, Business Insider, nordic.businessinsider.com/how-pain-relievers-tylenol-ibuprofen-work-2016-10/.

based., Independent. Not-for-profit. Evidence. “Treating My Child’s Pain or Fever – Paracetamol or Ibuprofen?” NPS MedicineWise, www.nps.org.au/medical-info/consumer-info/treating-my-child-s-pain-or-fever-paracetamol-or-ibuprofen?c=what-is-the-difference-between-paracetamol-and-ibuprofen-for-treating-my-child-s-pain-or-fever-40e2977c.

NHS Choices, NHS, beta.nhs.uk/medicines/ibuprofen-for-adults.

Feb
7

By madelainew2017

Community Connection

Category: PE 9 Tags: ADL2017connection 1 Comment

Interviewee – Dr. Harminder Antal

Here is a picture of her business card! Sorry the quality sucks!

Works at Coquitlam Centre Eye care

MW: Why are you passionate about your job?

HA: I’m passionate about it because I feel like vision is big in life, there’s more to optometry than just glasses! There’s the health of the eye, eyesight in general, it’s huge in our lives and it’s something very important to us.

MW: What obstacles have you faced to get where you are today?

HA: Rigorous training. Getting through school, just the interviews getting in to a good university is a challenge. The work for school is very intense and you have to be very focused.

MW: What made you interested in this career?

HA: I shadowed a lady doctor and she said as a woman it was an illustrious career. I saw that other opticians thoroughly enjoyed the job. In India I saw someone on the street with an eye problem and my brother in law, who is also an optometrist, was saying how if this was in a country like Canada we could’ve helped. I was inspired by those two doctors, they made me realize just how important this profession was.

MW: What advice would you pass on to someone who is interested you are doing?

HA: Shadow somebody, make sure it’s for you. It’s a distinguished career. People think it’s just glasses but it’s not, there’s the health aspect, you may have an emergent care and can have surprises, you have to be prepared!! Don’t underestimate what optometry provides in your life.

MW: Would you be open to further contact from Riverside students?

HA: Sure! This is my email hkaurantal@gmail.com

MW: Are there any negatives to your job?

HA: For patients, it’s not always covered by the government. For myself, I think vision care is so huge, so I tend to find more personal connections, at the end you really hope the patients vision is going to be fine.

MW: Describe a difficult experience you’ve gone through in this career field…

HA: When you know a patient needs the extra care from a specialist, but they refuse it anyways.

MW: Would you say it took teamwork to get you where you are today?

HA: Yeah! Even in aviation, before I was in optometry I studied aviation, you had to work as a team. You have to look at the bigger picture all while carefully paying attention to intricate details as well.

MW: Thank you so much Dr. Antal!

HA: No problem.

End of Interview.

Who did you interview?

For my community connection I interviewed Dr. Harminder Antal, she is an optometrist associate of Coquitlam Centre Eye Care. She works alongside two other opticians in this small yet successful clinic in Coquitlam Centre Mall. Her role in the clinic is enormous, she has to check every patient’s general eye health, their prescription and rule out any possible eye diseases they may have. Dr. Antal has to be very thorough with her work, definitely going back and double checking, making sure her information on the charts are correct. If the doctor notices there is something there they suspect, they also refer patients to eye specialists for extra care they may need. Overall they encourage people to get their eyes checked regularly to make sure that everything is in tack!

Why did you choose to interview this individual?

After high school I plan on going to university or college and study to become a doctor. Not quite sure which field yet, got to keep your options open! I chose to interview Dr. Antal because she is an amazing role model, inspiring woman, a great family friend and a even better person to work alongside. I work as a receptionist at Coquitlam Centre Eye Care so I get to know Dr. Antal personally and professionally. She is definitely someone I look up to 🙂

What did you learn from the interview and how did it connect to your interests?

I learned so much about optometry through this interview. You get to dig deep and get this quick crash course on the inside of a doctor’s job. I learned the hardships you go through to become a doctor, the whole deal of the job and what you might experience. I got to learn the depth of optometry and how important your vision is. It was a pretty cool experience, you get to be inspired by their experiences and you get an insight on their perspective of why they do their job.