Amazing - Peek Inside the 21st Century Doctor's Bag

A Peek Inside the 21st Century Doctor's Bag: Mobile Health Technologies for Medical Education from Academic Medicine on Vimeo.

A Peek Inside the 21st Century Doctor's Bag: Mobile Health Technologies for Medical Education from Academic Medicine

 Shiv Gaglani is a medical student at Johns Hopkins and an editor of Medgadget, which covers innovations in medical technology. He curated the Smartphone Physical, which debuted at TEDMED in 2013, and is interested in the potential of mobile health technologies to improve medical education and clinical exam skills. In this video, Shiv, co-author of a recent Academic Medicine commentary with Dr. Eric Topol, demos three mobile health technologies: the smartphone-based electrocardiogram, ophthalmoscope, and stethoscope.

Smile Saturday- Jimmy and JT

Smile Saturday- Jimmy and JT




Jimmy & Justin perform the fifth installment of the "History of Rap." Song list below.

LL Cool J -- I'm Bad

Run DMC -- Beats to the Rhyme

Crazy Calls - Wait for the Beep

Beastie Boys -- Fight For Your Right

Tone Loc -- Wild Thing

DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince - Fresh Prince Theme

Salt N' Pepa -- Whatta Man

Positive K -- I Got A Man

The Notorious B.I.G. - Big Poppa

Dr. Dre feat. Snoop Dogg - Dre Day

Warren G feat. Nate Dogg - Regulate

N.W.A. -- Straight Outta Compton

Ini Kamoze - Hot Stepper

Outkast - So Fresh, So Clean

Busta Rhymes feat. P. Diddy & Pharrell -- Pass the Courvoisier, Part II

Kris Kross - Jump

Skee-Lo -- I Wish

Jay Z - 99 Problems

Ludacris -- Move Bitch (Get Out the Way)

Drake -- Started From the Bottom

Kendrick Lamar -- Swimming Pools (Drank)

Kanye West feat. T-Pain -- Good Life

Run DMC -- Walk This Way

Subscribe NOW to The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon: http://bit.ly/1nwT1aN

Just For Fun - What Does the Spleen Do?

By Alvin Powell, Harvard Staff Writer

Who knew the spleen was so funny? And popular?

A parody video by a group of Harvard Medical School students went viral in December, garnering a million YouTube hits in just five days and surpassing 1.7 million since.

The video’s creators were astounded at its popularity, according to Ben Rome, a second-year student who filmed and edited the video. Rather than just basking in their 15 minutes of fame, however, the students are trying leverage the video’s popularity for a good cause: science education. They launched the HMS/HSDM Organ Challenge, a contest for primary and secondary school students to create a music video highlighting one of the body’s organs.

Read more here............

The Academy Of Hepatitis C Presents-1st Annual Cyber HCV Awards

The Academy Of Hepatitis C Presents

The 1st Annual Cyber HCV Awards

In the spirit of the Academy Awards, this overzealous blogger thought the HCV community deserved an award show of their own. Sit back and enjoy the 2013  impromptu almost live 1st Annual Cyber HCV Awards.

The Academy has voted in both categories, Oldest HCV Advocate, and Best Author. The results are sealed and on their way to the event.

Unfortunately, presenters along with our winners were unable to attend tonight's gala presentation. With great admiration this blogger is pleased to present and accept the highly prestigious award in their behalf.

Please join me in presenting our first award for ....

Oldest HCV Advocate 

The award goes to....

Cyber audience claps with excitement

Editor-in-Chief, Of HCV Advocate, Alan Franciscus

Bio with photograph montage flashes on the screen, music begins

Mr. Alan Franciscus founded The Hepatitis C Support Project (HCSP) in 1997, the next year the HCV community was presented with the first HCV Advocate newsletter.

 In 1998 the HCV community was in need of quality of information, HCSP gave us what we needed when the HCV Advocate Website was launched. Today, with numerous direct acting antiviral combination therapies in the pipeline, patients need an easy format to reference. Not to worry folks, patients can stay current by visiting HCV Advocate's News & Pipeline Blog.

In 2013 HCV Advocate along with their devoted staff continues to educate the 130–170 million people worldwide living with the virus. Thank you Alan Franciscus for over a decade of education, fact sheets and support.

I know, I'm excited too! Yes, our winner has been around awhile, but hes still hot in San Francisco.

Please join me in presenting our next and final award for.....

Best Author

The award goes to...........

The cyber audience may be surprised with the following unexpected announcement

This year the HCV Academy is pleased to announce two lovely female winners.

Backstage Gossip
Both women were up for "Oldest Advocate" however, because of our guideline in regard to age qualification, the two much younger contenders were excluded.

Once again the award goes to.....

Cyber audience jumps to attention - clapping with enthusiasm

Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of HIV and Hepatitis, Liz Highleyman and Author of Free from Hepatitis C, Lucinda K. Porter, RN.

Bio with photograph montage flashes on the screen, music begins

Liz Highleyman is a freelance journalist, medical writer and strong advocate for patient education. The celebrated author was named editor-in-chief of HIVandHepatitis.com in February 2011. The authors work focusing on hepatitis C is offered in numerous educational materials published by HCSP, additional publications by Liz are available online at POZ, NAM, and The Body - to name a few. Please visit HIV and Hepatitis  for an in-depth look at her extraordinary accomplishments.

Bio with photograph montage flashes on the screen, music begins

Lucinda K. Porter believes almost anyone can endure hepatitis C and its treatment with the aid of strong support and accurate information. Lucinda, a former clinical research nurse at Stanford University Medical Center's Hepatology division, is a strong advocate, speaker, and author of Free from Hepatitis C. Lucinda underwent HCV therapy not once but twice, as a patient herself the reader quickly connects with the author while reading Free from Hepatitis C. Since 1998 she has given us hope, and information through her monthly columns published in the HCV Advocate. Lucinda's publications can be found in Liver Health Today, the Union and the San Jose Mercury News. Recently, her blog has been featured online at HepMag.

Almost A Second Award Goes To Ms. Porter

In a recent TEDx event our accomplished speaker took the stage to discuss baby boomers, awareness and hepatitis C. The Academy would like to extend an honorary award to Lucinda K. Porter, RN for her performance, however, because we are short an award - its highly unlikely.

Inside Scoop
We are awaiting the publication of her new book, coming in 2013

Please join us next year when we expect to extend the show to include one new category!

Just For Fun - Could zombies exist?

Happy Halloween

Could zombies exist? Should we be preparing for a Zombie Apocalypse? Find out how these ferocious, flesh-eating creatures could become a reality, through a simple scientific pathway.

Written and created by Mitchell Moffit (twitter @mitchellmoffit) and Gregory Brown (twitter @whalewatchmeplz).

TWITTER: http://www.twitter.com/AsapSCIENCE
FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/AsapSCIENCE

Triple Hep C Therapy - Using Facebook Under The Influence

Establishing connections online is a highly beneficial experience to those who are newly diagnosed with hepatitis C. Although, when in the throes of HCV triple therapy it can be a challenge using a social site like Facebook.  

To put it gently, comprehension is somewhat limited during therapy, additional side effects include fatigue, depression, anxiety, insomnia, spelling and impaired typing skills. The last two debilitating side effects have never been acknowledged in a peer-reviewed journal, but I'm thinking they should be.

Imagine if you will, the confusion that ensues for an individual posting away on Facebook under these mental and physical restraints. Reading alone can be difficult, comprehending a comment or reply without face to face interaction is just dangerous.  Not to worry, there is hope for the therapy challenged on Facebook.  Finding a page dedicated to HCV ran by devoted people who understand brain fog, and late night mania can be a safe haven. Rather you are living with HCV or treating it, sleep deprivation and brain fog is a somewhat common occurrence.

The user is often wide awake posting on their wall at 3:00 AM, by early the next morning they are still transfixed sitting in front of the computer waiting for a reply.

* During these late night events experienced patients have suggested placing a pillow under any Incivek inflamed broken seats.

Today, we have some advice for those people living in this chaotic state and cautiously using the social network.

Five Tips For Using Facebook Under The Influence Of Triple Therapy

1. Problem - Replying to pictures of cats, dogs, chipmunks, parakeets, lamas, rodents and other small fuzzy animals.

Solution - In the event you're not a lover of cute little creatures, reply with a click of the "like" button. Never, and I mean never, admit to hating cats.  As for dogs? Replying with a picture of Garfield is always entertaining.

2. Problem - Waiting with great anticipation for a reply after posting on Facebook. 

Solution - Listen, these things take time, give it at least twenty four hours before assuming you're being ignored. Never reply to yourself - I know its temping. As you feel desperation slowly creeping in, remain calm, and remember  this - everyone knows when you "like" your own post. Relax, before you know it only your friends will ignore you.

3. Problem - In the middle of the night you find yourself rudely replying to a hotly debated topic. Woe is you.

Solution - Ask yourself this - How bad is it? Can you do a follow up reply to counter your offensive behavior? No? Edit your post, oops, forgot - no editing on Facebook.

4. Problem - You fall in love on Facebook. Oh my.

Solution - You can't fall in love in the middle of therapy, its impossible. Think about it folks, your emotions are all over the place, crying after watching "Judge Judy" is not normal.

5. Problem - Your wall is lacking friends.

Solution - Post pictures of of cats, dogs, chipmunks, parakeets, lamas, rodents and other small fuzzy animals.

There you have it folks, five tips on how to navigate Facebook while under the influence.

Disclaimer; Following these tips may lead to social isolation on Facebook.

Links;
HCV Support On Facebook and Twitter

Just For Fun; Gaaah!!! Nature!: Name that Monster

Gaaah!!! Nature!: Name that Monster “Curse You, Carl Zimmer!” edition

Posted: Tue, 19 Jul 2011 04:16:21 +0000

From PLOS Blogs http://blogs.plos.org/

By John Rennie

Source

No, it is not the fearsome olgoi-khorkhoi, the Mongolian death worm of legend once feared by Gobi desert dwellers, nor an unspeakable dhole from H.P. Lovecraft’s fiction. Nor is it a prop Shai-Hulud sandworm left over from one of the Dune films, nor a pre-Cambrian graboid from the Tremors movies, nor even something from Prometheus, Ridley Scott’s upcoming prequel to Alien, though it would fit right in with any of those productions. But by the carpeted dais of Carl Linnaeus, what is it?

A hydrothermal worm, but of what species? (Image: FEI)

The microscope maker FEI posted this scanning electron micrograph in its image gallery with only the label “hydrothermal worm.” (And thanks, while I’m at it, to Rob Beschizza of Boing Boing and JWZ for bringing it to my attention.) Unfortunately, that labeling leaves much to be desired because the description “hydrothermal worm” fits a great many wee beasties.
—And here, this post veers into a different direction than I’d first intended. You see, with the identity of the worm uncertain, I was about to challenge the hivemind of all of you to try to name the species to which our toothy friend belongs. For reasons that I’ll soon explain (*cough*Carl Zimmer*cough), that challenge is now unnecessary.

I would have pointed out that this hydrothermal vent worm was probably some form of polychaete—but that even if so, that assumption left no shortage of possibilities because the polychaetes (a.k.a., bristle worms) are an exceptionally large and diverse class encompassing more than 10,000 known species. My first hopeful guess was that this worm might belong to the genus Nereis, which is a particularly well-studied variety of polychaete, some of which (for all I knew) might live around hydrothermals. And that group includes a species with a face like this, about which we can reasonably ask, what the hell?

Scanning electron micrograph of Nereis. (Credit: Daniel Desbruyeres, lfremer, via BP Kongsberg Underwater Image Competition 2006.)

But the mystery specimen couldn’t be Nereis because worms in that genus seem to have pincer jaws rather than a toothy beak. Pompeii worm (Alvinella pompejana), head at bottom left. (Credit: University of Delaware)

It would have been convenient if it were a Pompeii worm (Alvinella pompejana), which very definitely does live around hydrothermal vents—hence the name. Pompeii worms are particularly amazing because they live with their posteriors parked inside the hydrothermal vents, exposed to water that may be 176 degrees F (80 degrees C), while their heads wave in the much cooler water outside. They survive because of the symbiotic bacteria that live on their backs and secrete what may be an insulating mucus. Unfortunately, Pompeii worms look like the image just above at right—and again, the mouthparts don’t match up.
The toothy mystery worm ought to have a truly menacing nature, which is why I also fleetingly hoped it would be a Bobbit worm (Eunice aphroditois). Consider this description of the Bobbit worm from Wikipedia (emphasis added):
Eunice aphroditois, the Bobbit worm, is an aquatic predatory polychaete worm dwelling at the ocean floor at depths of approximately 10 metres (33 ft) to 40 metres (130 ft)….
Armed with sharp teeth, it is known to attack with such speeds that its prey is sometimes sliced in half. Although the worm hunts for food, it is omnivorous. … [T]hese worms can grow to sizes of nearly 3 metres (9.8 ft) in some cases (although most observations point to a much lower average of 1 metre (3 ft 3 in)) and 25 millimetres (0.98 in) in diameter. A long lifespan may very well explain the size of these creatures….

In March 2009, the Newquay’s Blue Reef Aquarium in Cornwall UK, discovered a bobbit worm in one of their tanks. The workers had seen the devastation caused by the worm, such as fish being injured or disappearing and coral being sliced in half, but didn’t find it until they started taking the display apart in the tank.

Nice. That’s a worm with gratifyingly homicidal tendencies. (I can neither confirm nor deny that it is named after Lorena and John Wayne Bobbit and their legendary penis-severing tabloid adventure—but I really hope it is.) Alas, once again, as you can see from this picture of a Bobbit worm, its mouthparts bear no resemblance to those we seek. And if the jaws don’t fit, we must acquit.

The terrifying Bobbit worm, Eunice aphroditois. It only gets 9 feet long and slices its prey in half. Sleep well, little children! (Credit: Jenny, via Flickr and Wikipedia)

All my speculations would have probably ended there. But we’ll never know whether any of you would have come up with the answer because while I was writing this post—bam!—the bio-omniscient Carl Zimmer identified it all by himself on his Tumblr account: it’s Lepidonotopodium piscesae Pettibone, first identified in 1988. (Yes, I know: that was going to be your first guess, too.)

Lepidonotopodium piscesae Pettibone, 1988. (Credit: lfremer, via LifeDesks)

LifeDesks has a gallery of shots of this worm, and if one sees the whole creature and not just its menacing mouth, as in the picture at right, it looks rather more cuddly than carnivorous. This type of Lepidonotopodium crawls on the seafloor near the vents and uses those teeth to munch on mats of bacteria and protozoa it finds there. The worm seems to be distributed across the Juan de Fuca Ridge, off the coast of Washington state and British Columbia, and according to at least one paper from 1999, it seems to be adept at surviving in extreme conditions there.
But even if it has lost some of its fearsomeness, it is still an intriguing creature. See the white hairs protruding in clumps from between the scales on its back? They aren’t hairs; they aren’t even technically part of the animal. They are filaments extending from symbiotic bacteria that live among the scales. It seems that like the Pompeii worms and many other organisms that live at hydrothermal vents, Lepidonotopodium depends on bacteria to survive, though it seems to be unclear whether the bacteria are providing nutrients to the worms or providing some other service.
In summary: Carl Zimmer made this post unnecessary and ruined all our fun, and the saw-toothed worm that inspired it turns out to be rather more gentle than I’d hoped. However, in case anyone is tempted to dismiss the threat of hungry polychaetes, remember the Bobbit worm and consider this recent news story, as reported in the Herald Sun:
Horror as tiny worms with teeth attack Victorian couple
A VICTORIAN couple endured a health nightmare after tiny worms with teeth began eating through their bodies.

It is the first time humans have been infected by the parasite in Australia.
It is believed the couple became ill after eating a fish they caught on a WA camping holiday.
Alfred hospital infectious disease physician Andrew Fuller said that when the couple ate the fish, believed to be a black bream, they also ingested the gnathostomiasis larvae.
“The worms are 1-3mm long and have got these sharp little teeth and they can go anywhere they like in the body,” Dr Fuller said.
The worm works its way around the human body until it dies or is killed by the immune system.
And what do the mouthparts of Gnathostoma larvae look like?


Gnathostoma larva. (Credit: Pichart Uparanukraw, Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, Chiang Mai University, Thailand, via the CDC)
Nasty. (Update: Or should I say gnasty?)

Reference:
“Physical and chemical factors influencing species distributions on hydrothermal sulfide edifices of the Juan de Fuca Ridge, northeast Pacific.” J. Sarrazin, S. K. Juniper, G. Massoth, P. Legendre. Marine Ecology Progress Series, vol. 190: 89-112 (1999). doi:10.3354/meps190089

Just For Fun; Whats Up With Pruney Fingers?

The reason I find this interesting is because about 8 years ago, I read an article about a four year old child who had severed nerves in three fingers.
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Sometime later the mother was playing with her toddler in the family pool and noticed those three little fingers were starting to prune, she reported it to her physician. Good news ensued,  the "pruney fingers" meant the child's nerves were slowly improving...lovely story.

Over at Nature  today I read an article by Ed Yong , who writes that Mark Changizi, an evolutionary neurobiologist has a theory - "he suggests wrinkling of wet digits evolved for a reason."

Here is a bit of what  Mark Changizi and his colleagues had to say.

Changizi thinks that the wrinkles act like rain treads on tyres. They create channels that allow water to drain away as we press our fingertips on to wet surfaces. This allows the fingers to make greater contact with a wet surface, giving them a better grip.

Scientists have known since the mid-1930s that water wrinkles do not form if the nerves in a finger are severed, implying that they are controlled by the nervous system.

"I stumbled upon these nearly century-old papers and they immediately suggested to me that pruney fingers are functional," says Changizi. "I discussed the mystery with my student Romann Weber, who said, 'Could they be rain treads?' 'Brilliant!' was my reply."

Read more............