Adventures of a Neurotic Premed.

malformalady:

This goldfish, named Einstein, suffers from swim bladder disease. The ailment, which is common in aquarium fish and controls their buoyancy, caused him to turn upside down and sink to the bottom of the tank. But now things are looking up, after his owner Leighton Naylor, 32, from Blackpool, made him his very own life jacket so Einstein can maintain buoyancy.

malformalady:

There are restaurants in Vietnam that specialized in snake meat offering the ‘10 course snake banquet’. Here you can pick your own snake from a cage. The handler will then bring the snake alive to your table, smack it in the head and slice it open. The blood will be drained into a glass with rice wine and then served to you, along with the heart which will still be pumping and the bile. The rest of the snake will be turned into several snake dishes, like spine soup and snake skin cracklings. Every single bit of the snake is used and it is believed that each part have some health improvement properties, like eating the pumping heart will give strong sexual powers.

Oh, home country. You are too awesome. :)

thisfuturemd:

“The important this is not to stop questions. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.” - Albert Einstein

aspiringdoctors:

mynotes4usmle:

CARDIAC CYCLE

KNOW. ALL. OF. THIS.

zygoma:

The corpus callosum is a band of nerve fibers located deep in the brain that connects the two halves (hemispheres) of the brain. It helps the hemispheres share information, but it also contributes to the spread of seizure impulses from one side of the brain to the other. A corpus callosotomy is an operation that severs (cuts) the corpus callosum, interrupting the spread of seizures from hemisphere to hemisphere. Seizures generally do not completely stop after this procedure (they continue on the side of the brain in which they originate). However, the seizures usually become less severe, as they cannot spread to the opposite side of the brain.

A corpus callosotomy, sometimes called split-brain surgery, may be performed in people with the most extreme and uncontrollable forms of epilepsy, when frequent seizures affect both sides of the brain. A serious type of seizure — called a drop attack — often results in the person having sudden falls with a high risk of injury. In addition, people considered for corpus callosotomy do not experience improvement after receiving treatment with anti-seizure medications.

Candidates for corpus callosotomy undergo an extensive pre-surgery evaluation — including seizure monitoring, electroencephalography (EEG), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and positron emission tomography (PET). These tests help the doctor pinpoint where the seizures begin and how they spread in the brain. It also helps the doctor determine if a corpus callosotomy is an appropriate treatment.

A corpus callosotomy requires exposing the brain using a procedure called a craniotomy. After the patient is put to sleep with anesthesia, the surgeon makes an incision in the scalp, removes a piece of bone and pulls back a section of the dura, the tough membrane that covers the brain. This creates a “window” in which the surgeon inserts special instruments for disconnecting the corpus callosum. The surgeon gently separates the hemispheres to access the corpus callosum. Surgical microscopes are used to give the surgeon a magnified view of brain structures.

In some cases, a corpus callosotomy is done in two stages. In the first operation, the front two-thirds of the structure is cut, but the back section is preserved. This allows the hemispheres to continue sharing visual information. If this does not control the serious seizures, the remainder of the corpus callosum can be cut in a second operation. After the corpus callosum is cut, the dura and bone are fixed back into place, and the scalp is closed using stitches or staples.

The patient generally stays in the hospital for two to four days. Most people having a corpus callosotomy will be able to return to their normal activities, including work or school, in six to eight weeks after surgery. The hair over the incision will grow back and hide the surgical scar. The person will continue taking anti-seizure drugs. [x]

(via thisfuturemd)

malformalady:

This is Nembrotha cristata, a colourful sea-slug found in the tropical Indo-West Pacific Ocean. They grow to about 50mm in length and have black bodies with a strange luminous green “trim”. Like most nudibranchs, they deliver a painful string. They do not produce the stinging cells themselves but incorporate them into their own tissues from their prey, stinging jellyfish.

malformalady:

Coining, or cao gio, is an alternative treatment for minor ailments such as fever, cough, headache, backache, and other minor illness. This therapy originates in Southeast Asia. The technique is deemed to be effective if the coin rubbing produces a red mark. The ecchymotic areas produced by coining usually persist for a few days.

When I was younger, my mother used to do this to me whenever I was sick. “Cao gio” is Vietnamese and literally translates to “scratch wind”. The belief is that you get relief from your illness by ‘scratching away the bad wind that caused it’. You take a coin, usually a quarter, and apply Eagle brand medicated oil to your neck, back, and shoulders and scrape the coin against the skin covered in oil until it turns red.