Medicine, Mind and Me

National youth day

2012-01-11T22:28:00.000-08:00

Alumni association is conducting a formal function celebrating swami vivekananda jayanthi (150th birthday) and national youth day.

The exponential lag phase

2012-01-10T20:27:00.000-08:00

Time has been flying past the first internal. (That's exactly how the clock has been behaving all these years - overcome the inertia, and speed up to infinity)

human physiology experiments. Yeah! Stethoscope in our ears. Finally came to know what exactly those had to do in measuring blood pressure.

i discovered an awesome blog by one of our seniors - li-files.blogspot.com

skull looks cute.

I'm attending guitar classes now.

And, seniors finished their exams (or not?)

Happy New Year!

2012-01-02T04:47:00.000-08:00

The year's first mass bunk happened on the last day of 2011. Saturday. Up to 15 people were reported to have attended the classes.
And as expected, it was celebration throughout the midnight.
The mess hall turned into a dance ball.
The TV was the DJ.
Then, burning the hostel. Palm leaves, fire-logs, kerosene - inflammable combination.
Wishing everyone around the fire.
All networks were jammed at the right time.

+I learned the art of pulling out an all nighter. To finish the gross anatomy record. It was fun. Theophylline (instead of the preferred caffeine) and Taylor Swift's Love Story.

Then, yeah, Dr Asha, physiology dept., has agreed to give us all the presentations she uses in the class.Well, that could be called a stride towards being like MIT.

I guess my brain needs some sleep. ZZZ...

Brain in the Bag

2011-12-23T02:00:00.000-08:00

Friday was an awesome day at the dissection lab. Where we turned carpenters. Saw, axo, knife, chisel, and what not. Breaking open the skull, we took out the brain. The soft, really palpable tissue, in our hands, finally proving that brain, does, exist.

I came home for Christmas.

Hernia Ne Bana Di Life

2011-12-17T06:53:00.000-08:00

This post dedicated to Shubham, who is right here messaging some of the new friends he got, thanks to the inguinal hernia he had and which was operated y'day morning by Dr S K Balakrishna.

A surgery! What a way to start medical life!

Students' special ward, is the place. 11, 12.

And the fantastic thing about it is that he's now able to walk for short distances by this time I'm posting this.

Bactoclav (amoxycillin and potassium clavulanate injection) is the life saving antibiotic. And thanks to interns and pgs, we've stocked enough of those.

Food, is not a problem for him (he's got the tube delivery direct to blood)
but it is, for us. So lemme go and have dinner.

MAA Utsav 2011 end of session 1

2011-12-10T00:17:00.000-08:00

Lunch time and i came back to hostel. No more live commentary. Thanks for tuning in.
There's amusement in the afternoon, and two classes 2mro.

MAA Utsav 2011 - Dr Prashanth G R

2011-12-09T23:44:00.000-08:00

PET CT an introduction
consultant of nuclear medicine says the trend is moving towards molecular basis
it uses radio active isotopes?

Shows increased enzymatic activity. And cancer cells have increased glycolysis, etc

decisions are based on anato-metabolic imaging

this can be taken to the heart too and brain!

MAA Utsav 2011 - Dr M S Vishveshwara

2011-12-09T23:10:00.000-08:00

From deep x-ray to imrt

from current to current (state of art treatment)
change is the only constant thing in life

so, we should learn new things, change.

3 idiots dialogue.

To diagnose we use kilo volts, but to treat it takes mega volts. And radiation is no longer delivered using radio active substances, but x-ray

medical linear accelerator
rotates around patient to deliver from multiple angles

earlier the dose could be only given through a square or rectangle that could also include the normal tissue.
Then, it became possible to give custom shapes.

Then, intensity modulated radiation therapy. Dose required, is dose delivered.
Computer controlled multileaf collimater

cancers- head, neck, breast, prostrate, etc are all treated.

The media should be handled carefully
knowledge is power

and the video that explains the 360 degree treatment, except that it didn't explain how it comes from below the person - through the bed?

MAA Utsav 2011 - Dr Radhesh

2011-12-09T22:36:00.000-08:00

MR guided HIFU

high intensity focused ultrasound.
Necrosis of fibroids without surgery

leiomyoma - uterine fibroid is non malignant but very incapacitating.
Ok. So there is mri, ultra sound directed on the prone patient inside the machine. Painless, non-invasive, targeted, non-anesthetic, ends in 3 hours.

The hifu heats the tumor to 60 degrees, it undergoes necrosis and get absorbed gradually. Reduced symptoms in 1 month.

So after voxel by voxel sonication, there's 80%+ non perfused volume.

Scars don't have blood, so it could burn. But there are scar patch beams

better quality of life!

MAA Utsav 2011 Dr Mahesh B H

2011-12-09T22:15:00.000-08:00

The last post was made a bit too quick. This year on, the orators are being given a silver medallion for the first time. And citation as normal.

Surgical approach to complex spinal deformity

this doctor was all India rank 1 in pg entrance!

MS ortho from aiims!

Non academic first 2 minutes. Experience at college. Late comer for 9 o'clock ward, copies during internal.

Scoliosis. Even Hrithwik roshan had it.

Stop the growth at convex side, allow concave to grow.

Skeletal maturity, if you wait for it after the first presentation, it's gross negligence.

Shows several cases. Operation is pure mechanics. Put steel, screws all over, straighten the spine.

And cervical pedical screws introduced even before the west has started using it!

So, again and again. All spinal deformities are best addressed as early as possible.

Catch them young.
Jisarspine@gmail.com

MAA Utsav 2011 Dr Nagarathna

2011-12-09T21:50:00.000-08:00

The first speech, about yoga and its effect. I missed the first part because i went for free breakfast :-D
in between, bad news for Divya Deepa trust. The plan for a stall in this meet didn't succeed because we hadn't asked for permission in time.

Ok. Back to yoga.
Says, yoga is better than normal exercise routine in increasing HDL.

Yoga for cancer!
Only pilot studies as of now. Hospital stay, anxiety, depression reduces during therapy.
cortisol level increased.

Aging.
They say yoga doing people can sleep better than normal exercisers

back pain
all the same story.
Yoga group better than normal exercise group.

I wish i could actually see how the experiments were done, what exercise did the non-yoga group do?

Says, techniques from sages have enormous healing potential that requires very little chemical interference.

MAA Utsav 2011 - Dr B S Ajaykumar

2011-12-09T21:15:00.000-08:00

Here's the summary of the first speech i listened to in MAA Utsav.

Dr AjayKumar is an oncologist and founder of hcg cancer treatment

the statistics, he says, say that there are only 1 million new cancer cases in India while it's 1.5 in usa. This is obviously error of enumeration.
And it's exemplified in the 'arogyashree' program of Andhra Pradesh where bpl people are given free health care (even tertiary)and this has led to an increasing number of patients crowding at all leading hospitals with cancer, cardiac or ortho care. The question is, where had these people been going before the inception of this particular program?
And then, it could be misused in a society like India's.
And then there's the health care system of Switzerland which's based on compulsory health insurance.

To finish, he talked about how India is now just following the west in medical methodology and not innovating anymore like she used to, before British came along. Why not we lead!?

MAA Utsav 2011

2011-12-09T21:04:00.000-08:00

In the audi listening to wonderful speech by Dr B S Ajaykumar, cofounder of hcg, cancer treatment institute in Bangalore and around India.
It's the alumni meet. And there are doctors all over (obviously, you don't expect engineers).
Dr C G Narasimhan gave an address too.

Next, is the scientific session. I shall keep updating as it comes.

Post examination post

2011-12-08T06:32:00.000-08:00

Yes, a lot happened after those tense two weeks.
No, I didn't go home. But I went around Karnataka with friends. Tumkur, Bangalore in 2.5 days. Thursday, past lunch you leave, Sunday for dinner you're back at hostel.
Then obviously there wasn't so much of what could be called a break, as there would not be.
The classes resumed right after the last batch finished their anatomy practical.
And Divya Deepa won the first round in spark the rise competition.
And went to the Dasara exhibition for the first time. The columbus boat rocks.
The SC/ST students got free Sony vaio worth 40k+ from college. And one of my friends bought a Toshiba C640 14013 laptop from Singvi computers for 24990 just today evening.
Got an invite from Diaspora, it's google+ itself.
Oh, btw, we've moved on to the head, brain and neck region in anatomy!
And, the good news: I passed in anatomy. 23/40 in theory, 26 in practical.
Physiology? 32. Only that it's out of 70 :D

Lesson learned: READ something, don't just blog, have fun, and marvel at the human body.

Anatomy practical exam

2011-11-28T08:50:00.000-08:00

10 o'clock. I slept.
10.55 ran to anatomy hall.
One sheet of paper. 2 questions, 5 spotters.
Study shoulder joint. Study tibia.
Dr Dakshayani, HoD ma'am came for my viva!
Tibia is one bone i didn't know very much about, the other bones include humerus, radius, ulna, femur, fibula, pretty much every bone :-D
but somehow i managed to tell some insertions.. Guy rope muscles.
Girl in between two surgeons
medical college lucknow, Lucknow medical college
the shoulder joint was no different.
Spotted implantation site of embryo, superficial palmar arch. Median nerve, supply, function of soleus, was all mistaken.
Ulnar nerve for surface landmark!

Histology lab. 10 slides. 10 minutes. 10 out of 10? Ha ha ha.
Got cardiac muscle for discussion.

Divya Deepa voting at men's hostel. Got many votes from first year friends.

Went chat street after that. Awesome rain! Stood inside the make shift tent of the small businesses. Ran in rain, back to hostel.

Relief!

2011-11-23T11:13:00.000-08:00

Gave up last night. Stopped studying after doing mammary gland alone, slept peacefully.
Went inside exam hall expecting sure failure.

But! Long essay - breast.
Short essays - fertilization!, femoral sheath, obturator nerve, long saphenous vein, lumbricals!
All of them, i had faint memories of.

Started the serious studying with biochemistry. Gerrad's quadret is alkaptonuria, cystinuria, pentosuria, and albinism!

Went out in celebration during night. Big bazaar's food bazaar is the place. Photo in my Google+ profile. (For that matter, I've made my Fb account dormant) if you want a link, see towards the right of the blog

Day 2 of first internal

2011-11-22T01:43:00.000-08:00

Was feeling less tense than ever going to physiology test. Went for jogging in the morning. Was ready with A4 size paper and all to write. But special notebooks were being provided.
And though 'blood' wasn't given the prominent status as we thought it'd be, i guess i did well.

Running to Biochem practical hall from there was easier than settling between intuition and lack of knowledge in there.
The solution 14 was clean, clear, colourless. Molisch's - check.
Iodine test:
3 mL of solution was taken, one drop of iodine was added. Deep colour was observed. And i wrote the observation. And then it struck! Doesn't that mean it's starch? But what about the clarity of solution?

Ah! That horrible moment in the chemistry lab when the solution back stabs you.
Confusion, confusion! And then i proceeded as if the answer was negative (not filling in the answer script, btw)
Benedict's - answers!
(Well, starch could have glucose units that drop down from the main chain)
osazone - no. Nothing in 5 minutes. Around 20 minutes and there's slight crystal formation, i guess (the kind i used to get in lactose/maltose, not enough to be transferred to slide)
ok. Barfoed's - no answer.
Ok. I'm gonna settle with starch, I said to myself. Hydrolysis, ok. Then Benedict's, obviously positive. Seliwanoff's - negative. Hmmm. Not Sucrose either. But what about the transparent solution? Looking at others on the way to osazone formation, i could see clearly white solutions of starch. What the?
Iodine test again! Same deep colour. Not exactly violet. Sort of black. Ok, that's what i got in 12th standard during the biology practicals. This is it. Starch!

And i still don't know if it was indeed starch or not. I even tried tasting (yes, that's against lab rules, but this is carbohydrates we're dealing with) and i had taken so little for the fear of cyanide poisoning that i couldn't be sure it was not sweet.

Professor Mahadeva sir comes for viva. And he takes my paper and starts asking about starch..

Then you know, that the companion is a bad book

2011-11-20T22:37:00.000-08:00

Just out of biochemistry exam hall. The questions were not all unexpected. And the answers were meager as expected.

Lesson learned: Don't study for an exam, study for life

Two hypothesis

2011-11-19T09:13:00.000-08:00

These are two of the various byproducts of preparation for exam

1. How is antibiotic resistance formed?
There are some resistant bacteria, and a lot of non resistant. Then the weaker ones are killed by tablet. Stronger by lymphocytes or macrophages. If tab stopped halfway, immunity can't wipe out all those rest, and they'll start proliferation. Most of these would be resistant.

So, why doesn't the resistant variety increase in number earlier itself? Limitation to increase in population (due to nutrition?)

ok. So, what if we go reverse, put weaker bacteria with strong ones, strangle the strong ones by competition, and then use antibiotic or anything?

2. Sleepy when lying down
probable reason. Pressure towards cephalic part increase. So, to compensate blood pressure is decreased. Brain's .. Oh. Forget about it

Dream, dream, dream

2011-11-17T04:10:00.000-08:00

Here's the resolution that's doing its round: "I'll study systematically after this exam"

well I've been telling that ever since 9th standard.

Let's see, how the habits formed during stress conform during relief.

Not to forget the "6 pack abs before human experiments in physiology" resolution. As a part of it I've been jogging 6 to 7 for the past 3 days. And Mysore is a place beautiful enough to enjoy a run.

Histology slide review. All 21 slides, 2 times those, were kept ready under 42 microscopes. Everyone would stand at their positions (some as dummies) and then there's this slow round like a music chair competition. You get one minute to identify the slide you're viewing. And then you've to pass on to the next slide. 50 minutes later we check our answers only to find that what we thought spleen was a serous salivary gland.

Not to forget how bold we finally became in Physio lab, to prick our fingers. Because this day, we had to finish 4 experiments including differential wbc count. And those who hesitate, won't finish. Learned a few lessons there. Even when in hurry, make the blood reach the finger tip by appropriately pressing proximal parts before pricking. Otherwise no drop of blood's formed even when the lancet has penetrated all the way to your bone.

The anti b serum must be faulty. Mine didn't show any agglutination though i was pronounced b positive the last and only time i did blood typing.

Ok. Time for revision..er..first vision of some topics.i

Micro gazing with both eyes open

2011-11-11T19:02:00.000-08:00

It was very tough for me to close one eye alone, without using my hand. But turns out that when you're viewing even a monolocular microscope, professionals prefer to keep both their eyes open!
www.labessentials.com/Microscope_Compound_Basics.html
and luckily this was easier for me.
Here's how to view a single eye piece microscope with both eyes open.
In the beginnings,
1. Focus the slide with one eye closed, like you're accustomed to.
2. Use your hand to close the eye while you keep watching the slide.
3. Now, instead of closing the eyelids with the hand, cover your eye with the hand, such that no light enters your non-gazing eye, and keep it open (to see nothing but darkness).
Continue watching the slide with the active eye.
4. Focus, concentrate on the slide. Slowly remove the hand covering your eye without being conscious about it.
5. You must now be having both eyes open, but seeing only the slide.

Yes, the nose piece sometimes superimpose on the slide while viewing like this. But that's just a lapse of concentration, or may be too much of it (because the trick is to forget the other eye and its views)

one tip is to not keep your eyes too close such that your eyelashes block your view

Samyukth

2011-11-09T05:49:00.000-08:00

The magazine of year '10-11 was just released from the auditorium..

Plus, the secretaries, committees, etc have rolled over to the new one..

All sports and cultural achievements were recognized.

And we're now waitin for cultural activities

The beauty of first MBBS

2011-11-05T23:47:00.000-07:00

Here's what we learn in the first year of MBBS... Touch any point on your body, we're gonna be able to tell what structures lie underneath (anatomy), what reactions occur in the microscopic picture beneath it (biochem) and what the implication of these reactions are, in other parts of the body (physiology)...
that is knowing every nook and corner of the body.

Internal's turn

2011-11-04T06:59:00.000-07:00

The very first internal exam's gonna happen on 21st, 22nd and 23rd of November, as it was put up in biochem lab.
New general secretary, coordinating secretary and magazine secretary talked to us after dissection (during which we disarticulated the lower limb, bathing in fat and blood doing the adduction) mentioning the magazine (of 10-11 batch) release happening on November 9.

Treating the disease and not the symptoms

2011-11-02T07:07:00.000-07:00

If you had the power to change one thing about India, what'd you choose? Corruption, inequality, injustice are all issues that need to be given a death knell as soon as possible. But our journey towards a better India needs a start from elsewhere - better education.
"But we already have quality schools!?" is the question that pops up. No! You're wrong. There might be schools that produce intellectual giants, or money spinners. But there is hardly any place where nation builders - the incorrigible set of young achievers who'll strive till their last breath for a better world - are born.
And that is where Kaliyuva mane makes its humble entrance.
"The soul of India lives in its villages" said Gandhiji. Everyone shook their heads in agreement. And then? Then they continued their soulless city life. The 740 million rural population were left to till, plough, reap, but not to enjoy their toil.
It's in one of these 638,000 neglected villages that Kaliyuva mane is, now, growing.

Will it change anything? It doesn't require a lot of optimism to understand that nothing else will.