bagged syrup, seen in Universiti Brunei Darussalam, 2018.

it'sa me


i edit random medical pages here when i feel like procrastinating.


if you know me irl then send me a screencap of this saying you found me :V

thoughts edit

how much good can wikipedia do? edit

is it possible to save a life by dedicating a crazy amount of time to editing medicine pages, especially these: Wikipedia:WikiProject Medicine/Popular pages, but also those less popular pages that people explicitly turn to for medical advice.

E.g. somebody googling Aspirin is presented with this:

Aspirin, also known as acetylsalicylic acid (ASA), is a medication used to reduce pain, fever, and/or inflammation.[1] Specific inflammatory conditions which aspirin is used to treat include Kawasaki disease, pericarditis, and rheumatic fever.[1]

Aspirin is also used long-term to help prevent further heart attacks, ischaemic strokes, and blood clots in people at high risk.[1] For pain or fever, effects typically begin within 30 minutes.[1] Aspirin is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) and works similarly to other NSAIDs but also suppresses the normal functioning of platelets.[1]

One common adverse effect is an upset stomach.[1] More significant side effects include stomach ulcers, stomach bleeding, and worsening asthma.[1] Bleeding risk is greater among those who are older, drink alcohol, take other NSAIDs, or are on other blood thinners.[1] Aspirin is not recommended in the last part of pregnancy.[1] It is not generally recommended in children with infections because of the risk of Reye syndrome.[1] High doses may result in ringing in the ears.[1]

A precursor to aspirin found in leaves from the willow tree (genus Salix) has been used for its health effects for at least 2,400 years.[2][3] In 1853, chemist Charles Frédéric Gerhardt treated the medicine sodium salicylate with acetyl chloride to produce acetylsalicylic acid for the first time.[4] Over the next 50 years, other chemists established the chemical structure and devised more efficient production methods.[4]: 69–75 

Aspirin is one of the most widely used medications globally, with an estimated 40,000 tonnes (44,000 tons) (50 to 120 billion pills) consumed each year.[2][5] It is on the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines.[6] It is available as a generic medication.[1] In 2019, it was the 38th most commonly prescribed medication in the United States, with more than 18 million prescriptions.[7][8]

is the intro paragraph as concise as it could be? is the contraindication for Reye syndrome too late in the article / not stated severely enough?

This is taking into account, of course, that Wikipedia is not a medical primary source. But I reckon people do use it as such, so how can the information be written in the most prudent way?

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Aspirin". Drugs.com. American Society of Health-System Pharmacists. 6 June 2016. Archived from the original on 25 April 2017.
  2. ^ a b Jones A (2015). Chemistry: An Introduction for Medical and Health Sciences. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 5–6. ISBN 978-0-470-09290-3.
  3. ^ Ravina E (2011). The Evolution of Drug Discovery: From Traditional Medicines to Modern Drugs. John Wiley & Sons. p. 24. ISBN 978-3-527-32669-3.
  4. ^ a b Jeffreys D (2008). Aspirin the remarkable story of a wonder drug. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. ISBN 978-1-59691-816-0. Archived from the original on 8 September 2017.: 46–48 
  5. ^ Warner TD, Mitchell JA (October 2002). "Cyclooxygenase-3 (COX-3): filling in the gaps toward a COX continuum?". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 99 (21): 13371–3. Bibcode:2002PNAS...9913371W. doi:10.1073/pnas.222543099. PMC 129677. PMID 12374850.
  6. ^ World Health Organization (2021). World Health Organization model list of essential medicines: 22nd list (2021). Geneva: World Health Organization. hdl:10665/345533. WHO/MHP/HPS/EML/2021.02.
  7. ^ "The Top 300 of 2019". ClinCalc. Retrieved 16 October 2021.
  8. ^ "Aspirin - Drug Usage Statistics". ClinCalc. Retrieved 16 October 2021.