Finals already...
It's barely 1 month and a half since school started and tonight is the eve of my final. To make it even more fun I have another final two nights from now. It's pretty crazy...I'm glad I'm not playing FFXI at all; I wouldn't be able to do anything in the game because anything significant I'd want to do in the game takes at least 2 hours. If I take study breaks in 2 hour chunks during exam time I can say adios to my current program.
At any rate, I learned that the antidote to acetaminophen (generic version of Tylenol) poisoning is the precursor of glutathione. Usually acetaminophen undergoes glucuronidation or sulfonation but in cases of toxic overdose acetaminophen is conjugated by Cytochrome P450 and leads to a quinone. Quinone usually is conjugated by glutathione but again with an overdose the limited amount of glutathione in the body will be depleted. Free quinone will then form a complex with hepatic protein (liver protein) leading to liver failure because the body will recognize the modified hepatic protein to be foreign and attack it. To make a long story short, massive overdose of acetaminophen is lethal; glucuronidation (Phase II metabolic pathway) is not well developed in children so for children a smaller dose can be lethal. Apparently acetaminophen poisoning is common.
I also learned that the antidote to methanol poisoning is ethanol, because ethanol has a higher affinity to ADH (alcohol dehydrogenase). When methanol is processed by ADH to formaldehyde, the formaldehyde is then oxidized by ALDH (aldehyde dehydrogenase) into yummy formic acid which causes blindness and death. It doesn't take much methanol for this to happen.
I'm not sure why I'm writing about this but it's definitely for myself since I highly doubt anyone reading my page would be interested in this stuff. Most people are just happy knowing that they shouldn't take an overdose of acetaminophen or drink methanol.
At any rate, I learned that the antidote to acetaminophen (generic version of Tylenol) poisoning is the precursor of glutathione. Usually acetaminophen undergoes glucuronidation or sulfonation but in cases of toxic overdose acetaminophen is conjugated by Cytochrome P450 and leads to a quinone. Quinone usually is conjugated by glutathione but again with an overdose the limited amount of glutathione in the body will be depleted. Free quinone will then form a complex with hepatic protein (liver protein) leading to liver failure because the body will recognize the modified hepatic protein to be foreign and attack it. To make a long story short, massive overdose of acetaminophen is lethal; glucuronidation (Phase II metabolic pathway) is not well developed in children so for children a smaller dose can be lethal. Apparently acetaminophen poisoning is common.
I also learned that the antidote to methanol poisoning is ethanol, because ethanol has a higher affinity to ADH (alcohol dehydrogenase). When methanol is processed by ADH to formaldehyde, the formaldehyde is then oxidized by ALDH (aldehyde dehydrogenase) into yummy formic acid which causes blindness and death. It doesn't take much methanol for this to happen.
I'm not sure why I'm writing about this but it's definitely for myself since I highly doubt anyone reading my page would be interested in this stuff. Most people are just happy knowing that they shouldn't take an overdose of acetaminophen or drink methanol.