Patholocide

Church of the Flying Glomerulus

2010-12-09T21:01:00.001-05:00

It's either this or all glory to the Hypnotoad.

A friend was talking to me about the glomerular tuft and how the professors were using that term without exactly explaining what it was. I said that I think it's a name that refers to all the capillaries and other goodness within Bowman's capsule and that if this was so, the name is kind of fitting since the glomerular components do look a tuft of random stuff just thrown together.

But anyway, I'm not sure how many people are familiar with this, but the glomerulus to me looks a lot like the Spaghetti monster in the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (which is a parody religious order). I think it was created to protest something about teaching Intelligent Design in schools along with evolution, but that's besides the point. The point is: if spaghetti were alive, I would want it to have eyes.

NASH: Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis

2010-12-09T20:49:00.000-05:00

What is MASH even about?

My poor blog, I've neglected you for far too long! And I'll probably ignore you from here until the new year, so here's a quickie to make myself feel like I've been up to something useful.

Here's a play on the MASH TV show! I've never actually seen it, so I think it makes the reference so much better. NASH stands for nonalcoholic steatohepatitis. It's a liver disease that looks like alcoholic liver disease because you'll find all kinds of fatty change to the cellular architecture on the microscope. You'll likely see this in obese patients.

Hemochromatosis

2010-12-04T18:50:00.003-05:00

More stolen chemistry humor!

Hemochromatosis is an iron overload disease.

It is a disease characterized by a defect in the HFE gene. This will negatively affect the cell's ability to produce hepcidin, a molecule that prevents cells from secreting iron into the blood. The cell cannot make hepcidin so iron will be continually secreted out of the cells and into the blood.

Hemochromatosis therefore = an insane load of iron in blood!

Vitamins The Body Can Make

2010-12-02T09:03:00.006-05:00

This is Donkey Kong. I don't know why he looks like the Hamburglar.

I know we all love Flintstones vitamins, but did you know that the body is capable of making two fat soluble vitamins? One is Vitamin D (via UV light hitting the skin) and the other is Vitamin K (courtesy of bacteria in your gut). DK stands for Donkey Kong. Donkey Kong Country for the SNES is quite possibly one of the best Nintendo games ever. Another fun Nintendo game involving monkeys is Super Monkey Balls, for reasons I won't divulge.

Hello Kidney/Bladder

2010-11-30T15:34:00.002-05:00

Rawr

OMG, I'm back online! Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving!

We started the renal block yesterday and what better way to kick off some studying with something I'm absolutely obsessed with? It's been a while since I was a little kid and yet I still collect Hello Kitty things...

I kind of stole the Hello Kidney idea from someone else, but hopefully I put a little spin on things by adding the Hello Bladder.

Destroying Angel Mushroom

2010-11-20T23:58:00.001-05:00

Toad is practically Super Mario's slave.

Head's up: there won't be any new posts this week. Why? It's Thanksgiving week and I've convinced myself that I'm allowed to be lazy.

I'm never sure why people decide to go mushroom hunting. I know the organic craze has its merits, but I wouldn't want to die from eating so fresh from nature. The Destroying Angel is of the genus Amanita and contains a toxin that will shut down your liver and kidneys. I say: avoid white mushrooms.

Toxic Megacolon

2010-11-18T15:00:00.000-05:00

Also known as the Chernobyl Colon, Poisonous Poo-chute, Septic Shi...

Lactose Intolerance

2010-11-17T21:01:00.001-05:00

"So give me coffee and TV" - Blur

You might remember the music video to "Coffee & TV" by Blur or you might not. If you do, you'll probably recall a milk carton walking around town trying to locate Graham Coxon (Blur's guitarist).

And speaking of milk, milk contains lactose, a disaccharide of glucose and galactose. People usually develop an intolerance to lactose because of the absence of the lactase persistence SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism). Lactose intolerance also becomes more common as we age, and can be secondary to a number of syndromes/diseases that disrupt the GI mucosa. Use the lactose-hydrogen breath test to diagnose!

Entamoeba Histolytica

2010-11-16T14:47:00.002-05:00

Most people who collect vinyl wear scrotum-crushing tight jeans.

If you're from California, and like the music and independent scene, and are more often than not annoyingly pretentious, you've probably been to the Amoeba Music record store. The one in Hollywood is a bit of a dump, and I'm still bitter that I stood there futilely waiting to see a free Franz Ferdinand gig.

Anyway, onto real amoebas. Entamoeba histolytica is the type amoeba you want to get if you're interested in a getting dysentery (compare that to Entamoeba dispar which doesn't cause dysentery). Sometimes they might affect the liver, creating an abscess, which on aspiration supposedly looks like "anchovy paste". Their virulence factors lyse WBCs, so if you're digging around in the stool and place it under a microscope, you won't find white blood cells hanging around!

Pancreas!

2010-11-15T09:15:00.003-05:00

A tribute to Lichtenstein

I'm probably the only one who thinks the pancreas looks like a gun.

On dissection it looks like mush.

Salmonella

2010-11-14T14:53:00.003-05:00

I asked for a Double Down and all I got was a drumstick with sprinkles.

Salmonella! A gram negative rod that can give you pretty bad inflammatory diarrhea. If like you like raw chicken, you'll love salmonella.

Hormones Implicating Obesity

2010-11-13T18:27:00.001-05:00

Come along and sing a song and join the jamboree! M-I-C-K-E-Y-M-O-U-S-E.

First and foremost, sorry for the lack of posting. I was thinking of backtracking and fooling Blogger into thinking that I actually posted on the days I've missed out this week (which was practically every day), so if you see a post on Wednesday and the like... well, I cheated!

Anyway, what makes mice fat in experimental studies? Let me count the (hormonal) ways.

You could have a lack of anorixegenic peptides (CCK, PYY, oxyntomodulin, glucagon like peptide 1, pancreatic polypeptide). In class we concentrated on PYY. This rises after we eat and tells the pituitary/hypothalamus to STOP EATING. But man, do I love food.

You could also have too much ghrelin. Ghrelin levels are highest when we're in the fasting state ( = when I'm starving for a brownie). Fun clinical correlate: Prader-Willi (chromosome 15 paternal deletion, to jog your memory) patients have high levels of ghrelin. Ghrelin is also hard for me to pronounce and write.

Volvulus: Coffee Bean Sign

2010-11-10T15:03:00.002-05:00

I'll have a venti triple shot half foam double whip cappuccino with non fat soy and 1/2 shot hazelnut, bitch.

In the previous Peeps post I talked about volvulus, a twisting of the colonic mesentery. Turns out you're more likely to see this huge bean looking thing on an X-ray to visualize this condition. Man I hate coffee.

Also, I drew this in two minutes.

Volvulus

2010-11-09T17:04:00.004-05:00

Disgusting. Worst Easter treat ever.

I saw this CT with contrast for volvulus on one of the lectures and it totally looked like a Peep! Volvulus is a twisting of the mesentery (usually of the sigmoid colon or cecum) and also turns up as a "coffee bean" on a plain abdominal film. The beak of the Peep is the point where the twisting occurs.

Papillomatosis in Reflux Esophagitis

2010-11-08T12:24:00.002-05:00

It was either this or the Jigsaw puppet from the Saw movies.

Acute changes in reflux esophagitis include the presence of intraepithelial segmented WBCs, basal cell hyperplasia, papillomatosis ( a saw tooth appearance), and erosions.

Chronic changes include fibrosis (manifesting as a stricture) and Barrett's esophagitis (where you see esophageal epithelium looking more like small intestinal epithelium).

Bacillus Cereus

2010-11-07T19:53:00.001-05:00

Why so... cereus?

Bacillus cereus apparently causes diarrhea and can be found in fried rice. I still love Panda Express.

Pill Esophagitis

2010-11-06T13:37:00.008-04:00

Pills > Suppositories

What are a couple of causes of pill esophagitis? What kinds of drugs will kind of give you a very painful feeling in the throat?

Tetracyclines are a known culprit... and also alendronate, quinidine, KCl, and a couple of chemotherapy drugs (daunorubicin, bleomycin, 5-FU).

Parietal Cell

2010-11-05T14:11:00.002-04:00

Where my Rooty Tooty Fresh 'N Fruity at?!

This is a picture of what I ate for breakfast... or rather what I wish I ate for breakfast. I'm usually lucky enough to eat the bits of cereal left on the table. Anyway, the circles in the stomach cartoon are supposed to resemble fried eggs because that's what the parietal cells of the stomach are supposed to look like! They are the principal cells for acid secretion (HCl) and to me are the coolest looking.

It's also my birthday today! I'm going to have ice cream to celebrate. Now how are my gut organs supposed to handle all the fat/sugar after my ice cream binge... hmm...

Pepto Bismol MAX!

2010-11-04T11:00:00.001-04:00

When you have nausea, heartburn, indigestion, upset stomach, diarrhea!

Pepto Bismol was my go-to OTC medication for diarrhea as a child, and it wasn't because of their really catchy jingle on the TV. I never knew how Pepto worked before though, and now I sort of do!

Also, this cartoon is a caricature of me. I'd love to be a door-to-door Pepto Bismol salesman.

Rugae Reggae

2010-11-03T09:09:00.004-04:00

Ya mon!

Rugae are the ridges and folds in the stomach. I remember in anatomy class when I had to scrape out all the contents from the stomach to visualize the rugae. All that junk was green. I also helped scrape/scoop out all the feces from the large intestines out of the rectum. I'm a good scraper.

Chief Cell

2010-11-02T15:15:00.001-04:00

Remember that song in Peter Pan? "What made the red man red"? Yeah, sorta racist.

Chief cells are found in the body of the stomach and are chiefly (hah?!) responsible for the secretion of pepsinogen, the zymogen to pepsin. The nucleus is located basally along with basophilic rough endoplasmic reticulum and on the apical surface you can see the graunules filled with eosinophilic pepsinogen.

P-ANCA

2010-11-01T09:30:00.006-04:00

HULK!!!

Anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies and just about any antibody in general are helpful for immunological testing. p-ANCA will stain in a perinuclear fashion (around the nucleus - which is not shown well in the drawing) on a neutrophil and is anti-myeloperoxidase. Microscopic polyangiitis and Churg-Strauss patients will usually have p-ANCA positive neutrophils.

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-31T08:32:00.001-04:00

What's this? What's this?

Jack Skellington looks cachexic and probably has COPD... or CHF... or cancer?

Aspergillus

2010-10-30T10:28:00.000-04:00

Or is it ASSpergillus?

Small Cell Carcinoma

2010-10-29T07:24:00.000-04:00

What a great show.

Small cell carcinoma: known for it's high N:C ratio and salt and pepper chromatin coloration!