Been wanting to post this for weeks, but as I’m feeling just crappy enough to justify not studying, now’s the perfect time.
I use Lippincott’s Illustratred Pharmacology for a study tool-it’s an excellent book, and really well organized. I was flipping through the pages a couple weeks ago and came across sildenafil-ie: Viagra -and found what is, quite possibly, the best illustration of a drug mechanism ever :
Okay, so a bunch of bloggers are posting about how funny the CDC Disease Cards are, but I have to admit, I think they’re kinda cool. I was really pulling for a coccidiodes (Valley fever!) or histoplasmosis (mimics TB). I am so lame.
Maybe it’s just the homosexual in me, but any time I read or say “toxic,” as in “Doxorubicin is cardiotoxic ” or “Tetracyclines are phototoxic ,” that damn song starts playing in my head.
Ever since my friend Ann told me about This American Life , an hourly show on NPR, I can’t get enough. Especially of David Sedaris’s readings. I present, for your listening pleasure, a few short pieces (only about 5 minutes long, and very funny). It starts at 37:20 (RealAudio file); the first is about the Orthopedic Surgeons Convention, and the other is, of course, about the largest turd in the world.
Besides the fact that they really just don’t seem that fun, part of my lack of interest in sports is my overall lack of coordination. On multiple occasions playing basketball on a team through my middle school years, I’d find myself shooting a basket under the backboard, only to have it hit the underside of the rim and come right back at my nose. As more evidence, I present my almost uncanny ability to choke on water daily. It somehow always manages to slip back into the wrong pipe, and make me cough violently. I, of course, am not to blame. My cerebellum is.
The cerebellum is, in a nutshell, your anti-klutz center. It helps coordinate and automate movements, and does error checking, too: if I reach for a glass and knock it over, the cerebellum gets a signal to adjust its coordination in the future. Mine, however, seems to mess up in spurts. I’ve have a month or two without a problem, and then out of nowhere, a whole slew of goofs, leading to large messes and stained clothes. (I have, for this reason, become something of a stain-removing expert.)
Today was one of those days. I’m surprised I didn’t end up wrecking my car. Then again, the day isn’t over yet. I ended up dropping a big yogurt container, splattering it everywhere, followed by staining my jeans with some Indian paneer sauce and splattering it all over the kitchen. Then I almost spilled the curry *again*. Oh, and this morning, I knocked my deodorant into the toilet. And just now I dropped my keys and almost lost them over a ledge. Please pray for my safety. On days like this, I need it.
From new kid on the block Shephali comes some decent medical cartoons . Kind of hit or miss, but definitely worth the click.
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Like my previous Rock Bands , I present, for your literary pleasure, medical terminology that could be confused with Harry Potter spells:
* Status Asthmaticus
* Medial Lemniscus
* Olecranon
* Staph Aureus
* Eosinophilia
* Rhabdomyolysis
* Ipratropium
* Amiodarone
As always, feel free to add your own. If some of them don’t sound like it, try saying it with a teen British accent. You’ll see what I mean.
My old boss gave me the ultimate in compliments last year. And I quote, “Graham, you’d make a good argument for human cloning.” Nothing has really come close, until I found Vivian’s note about me on her blog:
bq. 23 year old graham blogs about med school. my question for you: would you marry him? like, right now. would you? like i would marry jon stewart and ed helmes right now if either asked me (i put in some serious thought just then when i was thinking of who i’d marry). and you should know that i take questions seriously, my mec interviews take forever because i think hard.
I’m seriously flattered. But I’m sorry, long-distance just won’t work for me. What a tangled web we weave.
Blogborygmi’s latest just made my day .
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