My DPHMI~

Roughly about 4 months more, i gotta end my diploma in pharmacy and proceed to my degree

(crossed fingers >.<) ~

time flies.. from the day i knew about this course ..

attracted by the extra experience of internship in community pharmacy as well as hospital

pharmacy which other diploma programs will not promise ..

the very first day i entered the class ..

rushing assignments and lab reports..

having fun with friends in lab and outside of the school..

till now..

i am counting down for the days i can spend with all my buddies ='(

I still remember...

the very first class i entered was Organic Chemistry.. it was a laboratory class.. i came in late as i enrolled late and had to wait for the office to process my data and gave me my timetable.. Feeling quite uneasy and tense as there are so many rules to follow in the lab and our lecturer made me felt like a small mistake and i might burn the lab !!

* thats why i always remember the procedures of how to light a Bunsen Burner .. close air hole, ignite, open air hole..adjust *

However, a cool guy from Kenya, the very first person i talked to in class, who really ease my nervousness by keep talking nonsense with me XD * thanks a lot bro !! *

my first semester was a bit struggling as i need time to adapt myself back to study life after such a long break ~ but i am lucky as i met those lecturers who are really helpful.. we were having fun in Math class, especially when Ms. Anita pronounced 'm' becomes ( yan) and 'n' becomes ( nen)

*my batch mates.. u all known what we did right when we heard that * =p haha~

The semester i struggling the most was my semester 4, in which i took 6 'HEAVY' subjects and had to rush for 5 lab reports per week.. However, it was the semester i love the most as i learnt how to do striking on agar plate and cultured bacteria.. observed their varieties and grow pattern in Microbiology class ~

#Staphylococcus Aureus--Gram Negative, cocci shape bacteria that can be found on our skin

# E.Coli --Gram negative, rod shape bacteria that can be found in our low intestine

Learnt about what is pharmacokinetic , pharmacodynamic , ADME ( Adminintration, Distribution, Metabolism and Excretion) , Cholinergic drugs and drug interaction, side effects and so on in Basic Pharmacology ~

Try to examine blood glucose lavel , perform urine test in Biochemistry class..

Tonnes of identification tests, assays and reactions in Pharmaceutical Chemistry 1 ~~

* feel like burning the notes and drink them when i tried to squeeze the identification tests of anions and cations * ...

It was the toughest but most fruitful sem for me as i really learnt a lot from all the classes..

This semester, is the 6th semester of mine and also my last semester in the college as i will go for my hospital and community pharmacy training during my final sem * looking forward ^.^*

I enjoyed learning all the subjects as my lecturers really ' install' lots of knowledge and experiences into our ' Hard-disk' ~ * no more space le *

The most interesting subjects are Report Presentation , Pharmaceutical Technology and Pharmaceutical Chemistry class because of their interesting lab ~

Report presentation is like final project and presentation for other courses, we are given a topic and have to find out the ways of doing the particular experiments.. i will have to extract the Acetylsalicylic Acid from Aspirin and weight the amount extracted.. it was really FUN as i like laboratory works~ the most wonderful feeling is seeing the end product !! after so many times of trying and research about crystalization morphology , i finally got it in shiny crystal form through recrystallization method^^

* see the shiny crystals !! *

In pharm tech class, i got a chance to make my own tablets, capsules, creams and ointments !!

* just realized Angie hasn't upload the pictures while we did tablets ~ pictures pictures !! *

The lab that always full of excitement --> Pharm. Chemistry 1 & 2 ~~

# The most time consuming experiments ~ Preparing Picric Acid !! Evolving of Nitrogen Oxide which is toxic and the reaction is so aggressive @.@ remember to perform this experiment in Fume Chamber !!

Other than all the interesting labs and subjects.. the rest of my diploma life is made up by knowledgeable + helpful lecturers as well as the team- mates who struggle and have fun together =)

# with Ms. Grace and Friends in Pharmaceutical Chemistry lab

# with Ms. Uma ( who taught me Anatomy.. Basic Pharmacology and System Pharmacology ), Doris ( my funny coursemate) and Grace ( the most active coursemate) when we visited Putrajaya Hospital

Almost the end of my diploma year.. sincerely thanks to the lecturers ( Ms. Uma, Ms. Grace, Ms. Poon, Ms. Angeline, Ms Valice, Ms. Malar, Mr. Chan and etc.. ) who have been aided me in my pathway to be a pharmacist =) i will work hard, continuously .. hopefully, able to use the knowledge i gained from you to serve and help those who are in need in the future ^.^

Also thanks to all my friends and those people that i knew during my time in diploma.. especially to battle mates -- i will miss you guys ='( wherever pathway that we choose, i pray that we will meet again one day.. * perhaps, working in the same hospital XD * All the BEST !!

* Always believe in our DREAMS & fly high to reach it ..

because SUCCESS will be waiting for us there *

I love Vitamin C !!

Vitamin C has been a good friend of mine since i was 7 years old ~ some might wonder why i still need to take Vitamin C tablets daily even though i take in plenty of Vitamins .. Minerals .. and practising healthy diet in my life but still WHY ??

It all started right after i got mild anorexia when i was about 7 years old.. ( suprised ?? ) it wasn't because i wanted to loose weight or maintain my body figure but due to my bad eating habit. I have an uncle who was the supplier of ice creams, so, every weekend when he came over, he sure brought with him few boxes of ice creams ( assorted flavors !! ) ~ and

i.. staying with my grandparents..away from my parents' control.. i will just skip my regular meals and starved my hungry tummy with those delicious ice cream !!!

after a while, i started to lost my interest on other food .. and whatever i ate, they all tasted bitter and AWFUL .. i can only drink water that time because i will throw out whatever i ate since they all tasted BITTER ='( i became very very thin ( like those kids in the African ~) mum took me to doctor, and he suspected i got eating disorder due to my stomach cannot absorb any food. It took me quite a while to overcome the disorder and get back to normal.. ( don't ask me how.. i am too SMALL to remember what therapy i gt =p )

Even though i am back to normal since the end of therapy, but still, my immune system become quite weak.. so i become prone to diseases.. such as cough and cold when the weather turned cold.. Then , Vitamin C came into my life !! ( i kept went to visit doctor until he prescribed Vitamin C to boost my immune system )

i still remember the first vitamin C i took was a ' heart-shaped' one ~~ it was just so lovely ~ everyday, i had to take one tablet.. I was addicted to the sweet and sour taste when i chewed it .. since then.. i visit the doctor less .. and.. definitely.. i finished bottle after bottle of vitamin C =p

When i get older, i learnt more about the uses of Vitamin C ( Vitamin C now even come in water soluble tablet form !! ) and even previously i came across it in one of my chemistry

experiment in which allowed me to understand the structure of vitamin C ( chemically known as ascorbic acid or L-ascorbic acid ) , and its reaction with various reagents. Let me share some of the info i learnt about my favorite vitamin..

firstly..

Vitamin C or Ascorbic acid or L-ascorbic acid shaped like the monosaccharide-- ribose due to the present of 5 C in the structure. It is unsaturated due to the presence of double bond ( it is alkene !!) . Vitamin C containing hydroxyl group ( that's why it is water soluble ) and esters.

Vitamin C is water soluble vitamin ( it will not store in our body) and it cannot get synthesize by our body as we lacked of the enzyme which is essential for the biosynthesis of vitamin C from the crude form of D-glucose. Therefore, we are required to consume green leafy vegetables and citrus fruits to make sure we have adequate amount of vitamin C =)

What we MUST take vitamin C ??

because.....

• it can prevent and treat scurvy ( no more bleeding when brushing teeth =p)
• it is one of the important cofactor in synthesizing collagen , cartilage, bone and teeth
• it can promote the healing of wounds and fractures
• it facilitate absorption of iron from gut
• it promote the formation of haemoglobin and maturation of red blood cells
• it is ANTIOXIDANT to reduce the oxidative stress in our body
• it helps in the conversion of folic acid to folinic acid * pregnant women have to eat more ^.^*

The daily requirement of vitamin C is 45-95 mg depending on one's body size.. needs.. etc

However, overdose of vitamin C can lead to some side effects as well even though the excess vitamin C will not get absorbed and will be excreted through urine.. for example..

• it will cause ingestion when large amount is taken on empty stomach

• formation of kidney stone due to deposition of oxalate ( one form of vitamin C)

Furthermore, as vitamin C is very sensitive to surrounding condition such as air, so, it should be stored properly ( according to the storage condition stated on the bottle )

when it is exposed to air, it gradually darken and become dehydroascorbic acid ( still can be consume as it is still potent => )

also, don't ever store it with heavy metal ions or under light exposure. So, it should be stored in air-tight container and avoid contact with metals

Vitamin C 500mg Tablets that i have been taking daily after my dinner =)

understand more about vitamin C ? ? so, remember to take your vitamin C daily if you are not vegetables or fruits lover so that your health can be maintained at all time =) cheers ~~

Chemistry For Me

When i was still a freshman in my secondary school, one day, i passed by a laboratory in which there were a lots of seniors busy doing their experiments. I was amazed by looking at them, pouring some solution from a test tube into another test tube , a while, the color changed or there was a colored layer on top of the clear solution, even at that time, i witnessed all these through the window. Then, years after years, i stepped into my forth year of secondary school, that was the time i knew, what they were doing is a part of chemistry; the wonders of chemistry !!

At first, my chemistry wasn't good.. too many 'alien' and scientific terms to memorize and the teacher is strict . Somehow, my batch was the very first to learn all science subjects in English and the teacher can't really communicate well with us in English. So, even we raised questions, her answers never clear and will only make us " lost in the jungle" . I was kinda stress at that time. However, even i don't really enjoy the theory class, but my spirit towards chemistry always get 'ignited' when come to lab classes. It was just so FUN to

prepare all sort of chemicals, undergo the process of mixing, boiling, crystallization,

filtration and so on to get the final observation.

Then, my basic of chemistry was built by my tution teacher - Mr Tan. From him

, i realized the common table salt that we used is sodium chloride ; the mystery of why

ice cubes can float in the water; the rusting of iron is due to redox reaction and so on. Then, he taught us how to balance the chemical equation, how to calculate molarity, no of moles, as well as what reagents or indicators to use in the experiments for determination. Becauseof him, my chemistry results were always in flying colors. He was one of the 'elements' who advised me to carry on my studies as a Pharmacist due to my passionate in Chemistry.

Then, i entered college as a Pharmacy students, learning Chemistry in details ( due to Organic Chemistry and Physical Chemistry ) . I felt stress again in the theory class, due to

the same reason while i was still in my secondary school. However, luckily, the pretty strong foundation i built from secondary school aided me through the very stressful 2 semesters. Although it was quite tough, but the lab still FUN as usual even we will have to clean, wipe and dry the apparatus before we leave the lab ( can you imagine we have to wrap tissue around glass rod, use our 'newly invented tool' to wipe the inner side of test tube -.-" ) . Now, i am doing my Pharmaceutical Chemistry, a branch from Chemistry which deal more specifically with how to design, synthesis and do testing for a pharmaceutical agents---->drugs ~

I appreciate a lot in this Pharmaceutical Chemistry, as for the very first time, i got a 'GOOD' lecturer in my chemistry subject. She taught me a lot and even come out with very colorful ways to ease us from squeezing so many assays, properties, reactions, and names of chemical compounds into our brain !! The most important thing is I don't have to 'create

more ' mummy-like glass rod ' to dry the test tube =p

After so many years of studying chemistry subjects, if you would ask me what chemistry is to me i will say chemistry is a studies of what matter is and how the properties of matter can affect a process, for example, diffusion of particles ( no matter gas or colored ) happen in gas or liquid medium in short period of time but more time consuming in solid medium ( eg : agar ) due to the arrangement of particles of the medium * more space for diffusion to

occur in liquid and gas medium due to their particles are loosely arrange if compared to solid * . Also, Chemistry is not only just a branch of science but it is a pathway that enlighten my interest to study Pharmacy as through Pharmaceutical Chemistry, i understand the drugs that we took are the wonderful products of chemistry and it was amazing to learn how the combination of compounds and complicated structures can treat illnesses =D

Although it is tough in the process of gaining more knowledge of Chemistry, but i am sure the passionate and curiosity that i have on it will drive me through all the difficulties =p In the future.. one day, i might use the knowledge that i have to synthesize one drug to treat cancer, perhaps XD