What is the pancreas' main function?
exocrine digestive enzymes, amylase and lipase
delivered to duodenum via pancreatic and common bile duct

One out of every seven healthcare dollars is spent on what medical condition?
diabetes mellitus

( from Miller's notes, part 4Collapse )

I learned of his passing from a friend on facebook. He was airlifted out of Grand Canyon last October with acute abdominal pain, and died last Friday night (3/13/09) of pancreatic cancer. Lars was a California boater, a formidable athlete, and a down-to-earth nice guy. Handsome, too. I met him only in passing, but among river runners he is a Legend. He is the only person I know of that has run he Grand Canyon of the Toulumne in Yosemite National Park, and also I believe he paddled the gnarly drops where the Merced River exits Yosemite valley and cascades through a morraine. Lars Holbeck took paddling to a level that few others could imagine, much less accomplish.
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A friend sent me this abhorrent story that illustrates how modern medicine treats symptoms (palliates) instead of seeking the cause of the malady and a cure. This woman was given a half-baked diagnosis that could have been ruled out completely by properly interviewing the patient. And the diagnosis was not just incorrect, it completely missed the severity and seriousness of the problem. How could they!? Missing diagnoses like that could be fatal! We are instructed to go for the big, obvious diagnoses first and dig deeper as we rule those out, but seriously now folks. ARgh. OK, here's the story:
( lower back painCollapse )

What are the inputs and outputs from the amino acid pool?
--Inputs: diet, stomach digestion, pepsinogen, pancreatic enzymes, intestinal processing, absorption, turnover of endogenous proteins
--Outputs: excretion, protein building in fed state, aa catabolism during a fast
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