whale

I remember reading news in Utusan Malaysia about a baby whale found lost at Kuala Sungai Menasi, Pekan, Pahang on 13 Oct this year. Never expected such case can happen in Malaysia sea shore - it does happen in several countries though. At first, the animal department (is it? or the fishinary department?) & the fisherman around there managed returning it to the sea. Sadly, it was found again, this time, dead, 2 days later.. T-T. From what I understand, the death was assumed due to injury on its head (maybe it hit big coral somewhere around there when it was returned to the sea), & food indigestion - plastic bottles, ropes was found in it's stomach after undergo 'postmortem surgery'..

I was inform from the news that it was the baby Fin, 10 m long, weighs around 2 tan.

comparing fin whale with human..

I was dragged to write little bit about this animal.

This whale was known to be the 2nd largest after the blue whale (the largest animal ever found). It migrate (like any other whale), & Pasific Ocean was one of the route they take to migrate.

this is how it eats

i'm not the expert of the whale, but i think these sites will give some of this fellow:

http://www.acsonline.org/factpack/finwhl.htm

http://marinebio.org/species.asp?id=40

Phlegmone a.k.a. Ludwig angina

This time I’m gonna blabber little about mouth

It has a space, filled with lots of components –

· Air- the gases (O2, CO2, & the rest)

· Liquid, - the saliva

· Solids – all the mouth’s main component – teeth, cheek, gum, tongue, palate, even the microbes!

Mature permanent teeth

These are some of microbes found in our mouth – found especially at teeth, gum, & surrounding:

· Bacterias

Gram (+)	· Streptococcus	· S. mutans · S. salivarius; S. vestibularis · S. constellates; S. anginus · S. mitis; S. sanguis; S. gordonii; S.oralis; S.crista · Peptococcus anaerobius; Peptococcus micros
	· Stomacoccus	· S. mucilagenous

Even microbes need food (the leftover stuck at between teeth- especially food that rich with sucrose) & shelter (that is the tooth & the environment) to live. IF their food is way much more than enough, then the population will grow, causing more space to be used, & much more waste produce – the ‘waste’of the microbs causing the tooth involve become erode because it is acidic. The acidic waste also killed most of the normal flora, & let the new population (the one which can stand in acidic condition) to grow & dominate.

The more the tooth were left untreated, the bigger the hole at the tooth, & the bigger the hole, the deeper the microbes can invade the tooth. The invasion will create pus within the area of invasion

At the same time, the tooth itself actually do trying it best to regrow by undergoing the recalcification process (process of building the tooth's structure). Anyway, the decalcification process (process of destroying the tooth's structure) overcome the recalcification process. That is why there's a white chalky thing within the destroid tooth.

Route used by microbes to invade the periapical & pulp

To makes things worse, the pus may spread into the jaw's environment (depend on which tooth was invaded). The outspread invasion occurs when one's teeth hygienes is really bad (either he/she cannot afford to buy a toothpaste, or really is a 24 hrs-sugar eater).

At this rate, the person might show up with thick skin & bloated, red, painful cheek & to wider spread - neck. The spit fluid difficult to be swallowed because the neck is painful when swallowing - so the spit end up drooling out of mouth. These signs show the phlegmone a.k.a Ludwig Angina. The worst outcome of phlegmone is death due to breathing difficulty (since the neck part were badly inflammed, & cause lots of fluid formed, & accumulate at airway part (at neck)).

references:
Pictures - Essentials Microbiology for Dentistry, Samaranayake, 3rd ed.

little bit on cleft palate

for me, it is a miracle - single cell become double, double become quadruplet, & so forth.. Then, the cells will transform themself according to the signal they received from the place they gather, into somepart that we have by now.. but if the signal is different signal, they will produce different 'product' - & depend - wether this product does not really bother the rest, or it is really troublesome for the life..

I'm blabbering about mouth-nose part - these part were form from pharyngeal arches (1st & 2nd part).. (I know this statement is incorrect, help yourself by finding the fact about cleft palate in Ear-Nose-Throat problem :p)

(reader: what a lazy, lame writer!)

Patients with clefts: (A) incomplete unilateral cleft of the lip, (B) unilateral cleft of the lip, alveolus, and palate, (C) bilateral cleft of the lip, alveolus, and palate, (D) isolated (median) cleft palate.

Cleft palate - problem with nose & mouth's ceiling (palate) formation.

This kind of malformation might disturbing - food (especially fluid type) might enter the wrong place, causing problem with the nose part. (eventhough nose & mouth actually share in a same tunnel at first, called pharynx) but will separate again - larynx for breathing, & esophagus for eating & drinking. Also, it might be disturbing for speech - especially the type where the palate is totally or partially not form..
but not to worry, the earlier it is detected, the better it can be handled to repair to normal condition. (but that does not mean if it is in children or adult, it cannot be repaired - it still can, but the process of the bone to reform will take longer - is it?)

How does it happen? It can be from many causes; the real how-it-happen is still in research. But for now, it can be started with the mum's pregnancy - maybe she consumes drugs (antibiotics, anti emetic (anti-vomiting)) or goes unhealthy diets (hunger...). Drugs or any substances that can cause baby in imperfect physically is called 'teratogen'.