Aspiring Doctors

Not your average med student
emeraldmuse: The percentage of the human genome that arose at a series of stages in evolution. 37% of human genes originated in bacteria. Credit: Originally by T. Domazet-Loso and D. Tautz ©2008 Mol Biol Evol. (Phys.org)—Throughout her career, the famous biologist Lynn Margulis (1938-2011) argued that the world of microorganisms has a much larger impact on the entire biosphere—the world of all living things—than scientists typically recognize. Now a team of scientists from universities around the world has collected and compiled the results of hundreds of studies, most from within the past decade, on animal-bacterial interactions, and have shown that Margulis was right. The combined results suggest that the evidence supporting Margulis’ view has reached a tipping point, demanding that scientists reexamine some of the fundamental features of life through the lens of the complex, codependent relationships among bacteria and other very different life forms. Continue article at: Phys.org

emeraldmuse:

The percentage of the human genome that arose at a series of stages in evolution. 37% of human genes originated in bacteria. Credit: Originally by T. Domazet-Loso and D. Tautz ©2008 Mol Biol Evol.

(Phys.org)—Throughout her career, the famous biologist Lynn Margulis (1938-2011) argued that the world of microorganisms has a much larger impact on the entire biosphere—the world of all living things—than scientists typically recognize. Now a team of scientists from universities around the world has collected and compiled the results of hundreds of studies, most from within the past decade, on animal-bacterial interactions, and have shown that Margulis was right. The combined results suggest that the evidence supporting Margulis’ view has reached a tipping point, demanding that scientists reexamine some of the fundamental features of life through the lens of the complex, codependent relationships among bacteria and other very different life forms.

Continue article at: Phys.org

(via shrinkrants)

stayingmedicallyinspired asked: To your post on respiratory alkalosis - I just finished studying that chapter for my systems physiology class! I'm in undergrad, so it's always fun to see that this class will be important for med school too :) It's a bit disheartening when you take classes like chemistry/physics and feel like they have minimal practical application. Did you find that these courses are actually helping you in school/to become a better doctor?

Physio is super important for the MCAT and med school- but the med school edition will be like 10x more concentrated, so prepare yourself for a mountain of material.

Exhibit A: my 1500 page (front and back, so actually 3000 page) medical physiology course packet:

(Side note- classes I wish I had taken in undergrad just so I could have a little bit of a base or familiarity with the concepts include histology, some form of biochemistry, and genetics)

I hated physics for the math part, but I really enjoyed the concept part (like how magnets make speakers work- magic! and how electricity is generated!). Kind of the same for chemistry, but I didn’t mind the calculations so much.

Anyway, all your pre-med classes are important because that’s the base from which all your knowledge of the body is going to be built upon. For example, I’m doing amino acid metabolism right now for biochem and there is a lot of ochem and basic chemistry in there underlying why things do what they do.

If you can understand the basic reason why something does what it does when everything is going the way it should, you can better understand why things happen the way they do when everything goes all to hell.

In one of our intro to clinical medicine modules we had to practice breaking down concepts that are old hat to us but can be complicated to someone with a limited science background such as recessive inheritance, how cancer starts, and why hypertension can lead to a stroke. It’s actually really hard to not use all the science vocabulary that is so second nature to us. Knowing how some of this works from the ground up can be helpful for coming up with analogies that are more easily understood. And communicating effectively with patients will definitely help in doctorland.

Brief list of things that can cause respiratory alkalosis.

Brief list of things that can cause respiratory alkalosis.

Medicowesome: Obstructive and restrictive lung diseases

medicowesome:

Happy friday everyone!
We’ll learn about obstructive and restrictive lung diseases today.
This is just a short summary for a quick review :)

Obstructive lung diseases - Characterized by airway obstruction
Increased compliance - Due to the loss of alveolar and elastic tissue
You have a problem getting air out of your lungs
Mnemonic: Obstructive Out

 They breathe like “poof poooooof”
In and oooooout
They take infinity to get it all out =P
So, FEV1 / FVC is decreased

TLC and RV increased - Flow volume loop shifts towards left

Examples: Any pathology that decreases the ability to develop a positive intrapleural pressure
Chronic bronchitis
Asthma
Bronchiectasis
Emphysema
COPD

Restrictive lung diseases - restriction of lung expansion
Reduced compliance - lungs become fibrotic, lose their distensibility and become stiffer
You have a problem getting air into your lungs
Mnemonic: Restrictive Reduced compliance

They breathe like “poof pof”
In and out
They get everything out in one second =P
So, FEV1 / FVC is increased

TLC and RV decreased - Flow volume loop shifts towards the right

Examples: Any pathology that decreases the ability to develop a negative intrapleural pressure
Pulmonary fibrosis
Asbestosis
Sarcoidosis
Pneumoconioses
Kyphoscoliosis
ARDS
Polio
Obesity

That’s all!

I know you must’ve found the “poof” sounds pretty weird because that isn’t the way you breathe
But they are a funny and they help me remember so I put it up anyway ^___^”
Just like “lup dubb” are official sounds for heart beats.. Which sounds would you assign to inspiration and expiration?

-IkaN

Relevant for physiology exam next week!

(Source: medicowesome.blogspot.in)

thenotquitedoctor:

In my opinion if studying medicine doesn’t make you sit back in your chair in awe of the human body at least once a day, you are doing it wrong.

image

(via thisfuturemd)

hart, MD: Reasons I Hate Multiple Choice Exams

hartmd:

In celebration of completing my last graded multiple choice exam as an MS2 at UT Southwestern, I present to you “Reasons I Hate Multiple Choice Exams.”

You cannot store information in me like a computer. I am not Epocrates. I am not Google. I am not the internet.

You can’t do a full history…

PREACH.

Tattoo appointment a few weeks ago had to be rescheduled and this was the only day he had open till end of June. So I’m working on amino acid metabolism while the design is finalized. One of my dearest friends is coming to hold my hand because I am a little bit of a wimp. I might ask her to quiz me.

Tattoo appointment a few weeks ago had to be rescheduled and this was the only day he had open till end of June. So I’m working on amino acid metabolism while the design is finalized.

One of my dearest friends is coming to hold my hand because I am a little bit of a wimp. I might ask her to quiz me.

malformalady: Human Skeletons hanging in the basement of the Mutter Museum in Philadelphia.   I went to the Mutter Museum last summer when I was in Philly. The Cute Boy and I are going in June, maybe I’ll drag him so he can understand maybe a little bit, how my brain works. Definitely recommend for anyone interested in medicine. Do not bring squeamish friends.

malformalady:

Human Skeletons hanging in the basement of the Mutter Museum in Philadelphia.

 

I went to the Mutter Museum last summer when I was in Philly. The Cute Boy and I are going in June, maybe I’ll drag him so he can understand maybe a little bit, how my brain works.

Definitely recommend for anyone interested in medicine. Do not bring squeamish friends.

(via mistressofsurgery)

Anonymous asked: One time (at band camp), I arrived at school without my lunch, didn't like my bag (too small but so good lookin'), and had a crappy parking spot. So I went home and started over again :]

That sounds like a good solution.

However, I’m trapped at school until 2:30 because I have a presentation on the etiology of peptic ulcer disease in a physio PBL (problem-based learning, mandatory group fun time).

This is my morning.

AND I forgot my lunch at home.

wordsthatididntsay:

I nearly started pouring decaf into my cup before I realized it was decaf.

I AINT ABOUT THAT DECAF LIFE.

It’s Wednesday. I’m strugglin ya’ll.

Decaf coffee is an abomination.

I’m glad you caught it before it was too late!