Science Through Fiction Pages: Acceptable Risk

"A classic is a book that has never finished saying what it has to say."  

Italo Calvino

A bookworm

It happens so often that we prove our self a perfect bookworm when we communicate so much with the subject that the book becomes a reporting page with all the allied branches of human knowledge converging to, in a particular time and space of ours.

Acceptable Risk  

A 1994 Robin Cook's best selling medical thriller, which narrates the story of a young researcher isolating a stunningly effective anti-depressant from a mould first uncovered over 200 years ago. But there is more to the drug than anyone could have imagined....

 And when we love some subject, then the book becomes classic of it's own kind as it starts saying through our inscriptions on the same very pages of it !!

Some other source of alkaloid in nature

A curiosity took me to see Chem. Abstr. 1961,16915p and 1964, 60, 3945 p to know that this D-Lysergamide whose molecular formula is C₂₀H₂₅N₃O

^{And these chemical actually mimic the brain actions causing hallucination and delusions, which also found in :}

^{# Ipomea tricolor (Syn. I. violaceae) morning glory, family Convolvulaceae. Ergot alkaloid in seeds, producing psychosis like state.}

^{# Ergot disease of rye due to fungus Claviceps purpurea, may cause....}

^{# Ergotism in humans} 

The mystery molecule

The book amazes most as we find that: 
the molecular structure of the central character of this novel on a super computer by a new structural software, which reveals that:

Four ringed structural core of the compound, with five side chains, one was tetra cyclic and resembled LSD, another had two rings and resembled drug called Scopolamine. The last three resembled the brain's major neurotransmitters: norepinephrine, dopamine and serotonin.

Structural details of Central Nervous System of humans, mid brain highlighted

 ^{Our central Nervous system
And of course when it comes to Central Nervous System, brain and out of it's three major parts: Prosencephalon, Mesencephalon and Rhombencephalon;  
Mid brain i.e. Mesencephalon is focused in the story as this part deals with Reflex and Instinct.}

A Neuron body and mid brain in detail which controls the instinct and reflexes

^{Our mid brain is a mystery place}

<sup>Perhaps the young researchers have had the 'Shakes' belief that 'body can achieve, what mind can conceive'. 

Between the synapses of Neuron lies the chemical code transaction and this was the place where LSD mimics the brain. 

Extremely amazing cells are Neuron as they conduct electrical impulses up to synapses. 100 A° thickness of the neuron cell bears 70 to 90 millivolt of resting potential which is equal to 100,000 volt per centimeter. Amazing bio insulator is the plasma membrane.</sup>

<sup>Well, mid brain is going to play a major role here as this is also the part of brain of our ancestors of Jurassic period, need less to say that we humans are the carriers of Reptilians brain structure. 

So reptilian traits are going to be enhanced in this story due to this intake of chemical being tested on them self....as this is the part which deals with Instinct and Reflexes.</sup>

				Some relevant references of those times Science In The News: Voice Of America: 5th March 1996, Tuesday  Tobacco and Asbestos are known to cause Cancer. Earlier studies found that Beta Carotine (which breaks in to Vitamin A in our digestive system) have preventive effect in such cases only when taken in natural form, not in the form of pills. So isolation from the fungus extract, the pure form of LSD-25 was sure as going to cause a havoc in the story..........this way or that !! Some relevant references of those times  Science In The News: Voice Of America: 5th March 1996: Tuesday Food and Drug Administration (USA) approved a synthetic 'fat substitute' developed by Proctor and Gamble scientist after 20 years of research studies, altering the molecular structure of Sugar, adding fat in it's side chain, recommending to use as snacks (with potato chips), named Olestra (derived from Olein), 30 grams of which may give 10 grams of fat (vitamin A,D,E,K to be added along with), passing through human system as Carbose without recognizing and storing (by body) it as fat. But alarming is this human endeavor as: certain studies say it may cause stomach pain and mild diarrhea and further warned ----it may cause heart disease and cancer. All kind of possible alarming hazards were put aside by the team of these young researchers in this book. Kim (she) and Edward (he); Central human characters from the book: They identified their identical identities, but the mould which molded their destinies on unidentical tracks. The end of the story:  Fallacy/Irony/Tragedy........hard to choose from !!

And if I were Kim and Edward, both characters of this book 'Acceptable Risk', I had to put my feelings in a poem as below to express myself:

Someday
I would crumble down

Due my own sins,

And it's sheer pressure

Will cause me to

Turn in to the matter

----Like white dwarfs

----In to the dark matter

----To become a part of the universe
----Which is 90 percent

----Yet unseen !!

(Anjani)

Molecular structure of alkaloid D-Lysegamide

Notes related:

Dr. Robin Cook: is an American physician and novelist who writes about medicine and topics affecting public health. To date, he has explored issues such as organ donation, genetic engineering, fertility treatment, in - vitro fertilization, research funding, managed care, medical malpractice, medical tourism, drug research, and organ transplantation.^[8] 
Some notes about or by author: # I joke that if my books stop selling, I can always fall back on brain surgery," he says. "But I am still very interested in it. If I had to do it over again, I would still study medicine. I think of myself more as a doctor who writes, rather than a writer who happens to be a doctor." He explained the popularity of his works thus: "The main reason is, we all realize we are at risk. We're all going to be patients sometime," he says. "You can write about great white sharks or haunted houses, and you can say I'm not going into the ocean or I'm not going in haunted houses, but you can't say you're not going to go into a hospital.^[7]
# Cook says he chose to write thrillers because the forum gives him "an opportunity to get the public interested in things about medicine that they didn't seem to know about. I believe my books are actually teaching people."^[8]
# The author admits he never thought that he would have such compelling material to work with when he began writing fiction in 1970. "If I tried to be the writer I am today a number of years ago, I wouldn't have very much to write about. But today, with the pace of change in biomedical research, there are any number of different issues, and new ones to come," he says.^[7]