U.S. a third world country?

Wow. Throughout my life as a student, I've always heard other foreign countries referred to as 3rd world...Is America one of them? Check out the link below...

http://shiitushouldkno.blogspot.com/2010/08/10-signs-that-us-is-becoming-third.html

Never expected to hear the United States and 3rd world country in one sentence...

Recent News: Simple Blood Test can detect cancers before formation of tumor

On my way home from the grocery store, I heard the exciting news on NPR, and decided to do some of my own research on the topic.

Based on www.Oncoimmune.com, there are about 215,000 people diagnosed with lung cancer each year. Moreover, 161,800 of the affected individuals die on a yearly basis. Lung cancer kills more individuals than breast, colon, kidney, prostate and melanoma cancers combined. As we've all heard over and over again, early detection is key for the treatment and survival of the diagnosed individual.

In Britain, scientist John Robertson has spent the past 15 years at the University of Nottingham, developing a simple blood test that can detect presence of cancer 5-6 years prior to the development of a tumor. Dr. John Robertson explains that detection of cancers will start before the patient feels any symptoms, which usually occur after majority of the tumor has developed. Current screening methods detect already present tumors, after patients come in with specific symptoms; and often it is too late to take significant measures. This is how this new blood test differs. Oncimmune, the blood test, uses only 10mL of blood to detect signals of cancer before it significantly develops.

The science behind it is very well explained on the website. But long story made short:

Cancer cells release byproducts called antigens, early on, during the development of the tumor. Our immune system detects and fights off these antigens by releasing great amounts of autoantibodies. It is important to note that the immune system, in normal cases, does not produce antibodies against normal body tissues, and therefore the detection of autoantibodies is specific to antigens produced by cancerous tissues. The Oncimmune test measures a panel of autoantibodies associated with a particular type of cancer and provides an early diagnosis of a cancer patient.

A specific oncimmune test is the Early CDT-Lung, which assesses the risk of a given individual to develop lung cancer. Early CDT-Lung measures autoantibodies specific to lung cancer.

So, what does this all mean? Well, for one, the development of this test brings hope to better the outcomes of cancer patients by early detection. Personally, when I hear the word cancer, it brings with it a feeling of termination. However, I hope that these tests will provide promising results and hopefully change the outlook on cancer. By early detection, survival rates will most likely increase, and will hopefully reduce the fear that comes along with the diagnosis of cancer.

Cheers to Dr. Robertson and to a better medicine!

Done with Year 1

I am officially 1/4 of an MD. Aaaaaah <-- excitement and umm..nervousness. It feels absolutely incredible to get through the first year of med school. I've been putting my notes away into binders and have just recently come to realize how much material we have covered. Notice how I didn't say learn...hahaha. I have learned a lot of the material we covered, but obviously not all. Some classes are just a blur, while others were absolutely amazing.

I think my favorite classes this year were Physiology and Neuroscience. Both were so well taught, notes clear and concise, and the actual material so much fun to learn. We had about 300 pages of notes per unit [physio had 3 exams, neuro had 2], yet, the density of the material was the best part. As a student, we were forced to learn everything in so much detail that the concepts automatically were put together and made sense :) The best part were the professors. I really enjoyed the classes because most of the professors were so enthusiastic about the material. I think thats the key to what makes or breaks a class: the professor. For me personally, if the professor is passionate about what they're teaching, then that makes me want to learn the subject.

Like I said before it feels incredible to be done, knowing that for 3 months I don't have to study/take exams :) :) :)

Anywho, a recap on the year:

Anatomy:

Since anatomy was one of the first classes taken, I think the transition into med school makes it harder than it actually is. Since all of us are just starting to develop a work ethic (or getting over the fact that we can't just study 2 days before the exam), its important to take a little at a time. I remember being super overwhelmed by all the material, and I wish I had someone tell me to do a little at a time, to just break it down and memorize a few things a night, not try to take down the whole chapter. This class requires a lot of memorization, so you need to find a way that works for you. Whether its flashcards, or looking at a body part from 5 different angles, it really is just about what works for you. And, know that its okay to experiment with a few study techniques. Afterall, this is the time that you can do it. The books I recommend are: Netter and Rohan. I didn't use any other books.

Histology:

I absolutely loved this class. Well, I guess I realized that after I took it. Yes, its a whole bunch of little, sometimes insignificant, details, but histo really does lay the foundation for a lot of other subjects we study. I'm not going to lie, but I didn't study the images till a few days before the exams, but fortunately it works out. Again, the first unit of Histo is the toughest because you are still transitioning into med school and getting used to all the studying. My advice to the first years is to read the notes, re-read them, and then read them again. There isn't a whole lot to understand in this class, its just mostly knowing facts--so again pure memorization.

Physiology:

Oh man, this class rocks! I took physiology as an undergrad, and I was expecting this class to be as dull and as boring as it was then. However, to my surprise, this class was amazing! Not only do we get to learn about all the systems of the body, but this stuff is actually applicable to our lives. For example, I now understand cardiac physiology and what valves are closing when auscultating. Moreover, I now know why my stomach growls, and what triggers it. I used the BRS physiology book, it really hits the key points and makes the main concepts very easy to understand.

Biochemistry:

Hmmm...lets just say my undergrad experience was horrible, so I was dreading taking this class. However, we have amazing professors (shoutout to Dr. Gatti) that made this class awesome. I think the hardest unit was obviously the one in which we have to memorize all the reactions. Practice practice practice. That's my advice. Once you sit down and write the reactions out over and over again, you'll be fine. The hardest part is getting yourself to sit down. In terms of books, I really didn't use any. A lot of the material is just pure memorization, so you just have to come up with mnemonics. There are many websites that actually have some of the reactions (Krebs cycle, urea cycle) animated, and many more with mnemonics already made up!

Nutrition:

Well, unfortunately this class did not meet my expectations. There were some very interesting facts that we learned. I really enjoyed the parts about caring for the elderly, children and also the lecture on pregnancies. However, majority of the material that was presented always ended it with: refer to a dietician. I understand that there are things that are beyond the scope of a physician, HOWEVER, please do not tell me about a condition and then skip over the material on how to manage the presented case. Clearly, not the best way to teach medical students. Fortunately, this class is only one exam and its only based off of the study guide that was given to us. I guess you can get whatever you want from this class. Like I said, the lectures I found most interesting were based around patient care, which I personally think should be the focus of this class.

Neuroscience:

Where do I begin? I loved this class! Yes, I am biased; I was a neuroscience major as an undergrad. But honestly, I could not recall anything from the 4 years of undergrad. I think I might go into neurology because of this class...we'll see. I honestly learned the most interesting things in this class...from the individual gyri and sucli of the brain to why we feel pain when we put cold hands in warm water...this class truly explained how the brain is connected to the rest of the body. To top it off, we had some of the best professors teaching this course. In terms of studying, I only used the notes with the help of wikipedia of course. We had very generous class mates that would send us drawings/tables of the detailed neuronal pathways. Other than that, the notes were great.

Genetics:

Oh genetics...what do I say about thee? I'm going to keep this short, simply because I am still bitter about that exam. The conditions we learn about are very very interesting, especially because there are so many patient panels where we get to interact with people living with specific conditions. In terms of studying, I was pretty much putting neuroscience before genetics because I had heard the exam was only on the objectives. Don't be fooled! We definitely need to know the problem sets and the study cases, moreover some exam questions were based off things we never covered. Grrr.

Clinical Medicine:

This course is great! Very low key studying, if you call it studying. The best part about this class are the site visits, where we go out to an assigned clinic and take patient interviews. I really liked this class because it keeps you grounded. It was a good reminder of why we're studying so hard in the first place. As a bonus, I actually got to use some of the physio and neuro I had learned :) In terms of exams, the first one was a bit challenging because of the math involved, but our professor, Dr. Stellini, does a great job reviewing for both exams. The OSCE was a bit nerve wrecking, but fortunately, I got enough experience through my site visits.

Overall, I had a great year. I do not miss the studying, but it feels great to look back and realize everything I learned. Yes, it was overwhelming. Yes, I hated it at times. But, dang, I got through it! If you're an incoming first year, always remember that you can do it! All the kids ahead of you, all the physicians that you encounter, went through the same thing. They know what it feels like to study for hours, and wake up the next day to do it again. So don't feel sorry for yourself, remind yourself of why you're doing this, and more importantly, HAVE FUN! First year really gives you lots of opportunities to let loose and have fun. So take advantage of it :)

Exam Time!!!

Aaaah! Neuro exam in 2 days...and I feel like I know nothing. This will hopefully keep me going. Its hard to find motivation when you study all the time...but little quotes and pictures like this definitely helps :o)

Weekends not close to exams :D

So, its sunday night...well Monday morning, and I thought I would quickly blog about my weekend. Weekends way before exams are always fun, you don't have to worry too much about studying, and there is always enough things you want to catch up on.

One of the highlights of this weekend was actually school-related. Wayne State has a co-curricular program in which students have to do a certain number of hours of community service, shadowing, attending specific seminars. Within this program there are several options of what types of service and shadowing an individual can choose to do. I've chosen the Humed program [Humanistic Medicine]. So this weekend, we had a "retreat," for which we watched a video on alternative medicine called "The New Medicine." The documentary emphasized how medical practice in America is changing to include treating the whole body rather than individual symptoms.

Now, I know there is a great deal of controversy on how effective alternative medicine is, however, several studies have been conducted showing that CAM (complementary alternative medicine) is highly effective. One specific study we discussed looked at the medical relief acupuncture & acupuncture-like treatments provided to patients with low back pain as compared to patients taking customized prescriptions. The study found that the patients that received acupuncture or simulated acupuncture rated their improvement of back pain much higher than those taking customized prescriptions. Now, the question is, what is "acupuncture-like treatments" and why was there no difference seen between these treatments and real acupuncture? The article described the simulated acupuncture as, treatments that mimicked needle acupuncture without skin penetration. The question of why simulated acupuncture and need acupuncture produced similar results remains unanswered.

My take on this that perhaps these treatments were not effective because of their actual mechanisms of healing--rather they produced therapeutic benefits because of the time & "human touch" that the doctor/caregiver gave to the patients. It seems like doctor visits nowadays last hardly ten minutes-which to me is not enough time for the patient to fully describe what brings them in. Moreover, patients hardly get to ask questions (based on personal experience). "The New Medicine" had an interesting point, it was along the lines of: The patient provides the best diagnosis, for he is the one living with the disease. I completely agree with this--physicians base their diagnosis (most of the time) on symptoms described to them by the patient themselves. Moving back to the point I was trying to make, I really think that human touch and greater time spent with patients, talking to them, really getting to know how they feel will most likely produce more effective treatments. I'm definitely going to look into this more.

Hmmm, another interesting part of my weekend was seeing my brother act in a Russian play, The Schooling of Bento Bonchev, written by Maksym Kurochkin. Now, the play was set in the future in a time where there were no sexual relations between men and women. Bento, the main character, is researching "ancient times" when sexual attraction did exist--but loses faith that love, sex, relationships ever existed. The play was performed by University of Michigan's students in the residential college of drama. I absolutely enjoyed the play -- one, because it was something other than neuroscience and nutrition, but more importantly, because it made me realize how our perception of the "ancient past" is most likely way off. I've never really thought of our present being someone's past -- and people will actually look for proof to explain our lifestyles. I remember making a time capsule way back in elementary school, and I think I put a barbie, a Time for kids, and a pepsi can and some other things that I can't think of, that was to be opened in the year 2050. I don't know if that will ever serve as proof for our existence, for the way we grew up and lived -- but I'm glad I had the opportunity to take part in something like that. Maybe I'll be lucky enough to live that long and go open my time capsule 40 years from now. Anywho, in conclusion, my brother was amazing, he was the best (of course I am biased)! But I do recommend people go watch it -- they're doing a shortened version of the play on Tuesday 7pm at the Keenes auditorium in East Quad (University of Michigan).

Alright, I'm out. Time for some sleep.

Finally getting this started

After months of my dad trying to convince me to start blogging, I have finally taken the initiative to sit down and create this blog. My goal was to get started during spring break, clearly that was a big fail. Being in medical school makes you cherish the little free time you have...and use it to do absolutely nothing :D

Anywho, now that I have started writing, I'd like to incorporate a few things in my blog:

• Give suggestions & tips for pre-medical students
• Describe the life as a medical student
• Explain a particular condition/disease that I have learned about

To all my friends: you know how lazy I can get, if you see me wasting time on gchat or facebook, tell me to go update my blog :D

On that note, I am now going to sleep so I can wake up bright and early to deal with the most amazing internet provider ever: COMCAST. Take note of the sarcasm. I will start my real blogging tomorrow.

good night all.

Oh and I am a student, not a doctor (yet) so please do not take my words as facts AND if I say anything to offend you I apologize in advance.