Posts tagged surgery

Musicogenic Epilepsy This can often be referred to as music induced seizures. It  is a form of reflexive epilepsy in which a seizure is triggered by music or specific frequencies. Sensitivity to music varies from person to person.  Some people are sensitive to a particular tone from a voice or instrument. Others are sensitive to a particular musical style or rhythm. Still others are sensitive to a range of noises. Extreme cases can result in any sort of music triggering a seizure, to even someone’s voice. What a strange nightmare. 

Musicogenic Epilepsy

This can often be referred to as music induced seizures. It  is a form of reflexive epilepsy in which a seizure is triggered by music or specific frequencies. Sensitivity to music varies from person to person.  Some people are sensitive to a particular tone from a voice or instrument. Others are sensitive to a particular musical style or rhythm. Still others are sensitive to a range of noises.

Extreme cases can result in any sort of music triggering a seizure, to even someone’s voice. What a strange nightmare. 

Musicophilia The books starts off with a strange symptom of Musicophilia. Often brought on by traumatic events, or in the books case a flash of lightning; musicophilia refers to a sudden strange connection and love for music.  Patients affected often hear music in their heads, have an urge to grab an instrument and play it, and write music. They do not have to come from a musical background, the music just comes to them.  This type of experience can be often traced back to cases of temporal lobe tumors. But it is still a mystery of how this exactly happens, and how a person can get so engrossed in music.

Musicophilia

The books starts off with a strange symptom of Musicophilia. Often brought on by traumatic events, or in the books case a flash of lightning; musicophilia refers to a sudden strange connection and love for music. 

Patients affected often hear music in their heads, have an urge to grab an instrument and play it, and write music. They do not have to come from a musical background, the music just comes to them. 

This type of experience can be often traced back to cases of temporal lobe tumors. But it is still a mystery of how this exactly happens, and how a person can get so engrossed in music.

Imagine what we look like to all the other primates.. they are probably thinking how do they do that with their spines? How are they standing upright? They’re such freaks and weirdos.
natural history museum, behind the scenes.
DUKE: Bioengineered Blood Vessel Transplant. The Duke team is not the first-ever to perform the operation as clinical trials for bioengineered veins began in Poland in December. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently agreed to allow a phase 1 trial involving 20 kidney dialysis patients in the United States. The concept of bioengineering veins came alive in 2011 when an East Carolina University team announced they successfully grew a bioengineered blood vessel. The refined technique uses donated human tissue to seed the blood vessel matrix. The resulting vein is washed with a special solution to rinse out any cells that might trigger an immune response. “At the end of the process, we have a non-living, immunologically silent graft that can be stored on the shelf and used in patients whenever they need it,” Niklason said. “Unlike other synthetic replacements made of Teflon or Dacron, which tend to be stiff, our blood vessels mechanically match the arteries and veins they are being sewn to. We think this is an advantage.”

DUKE: Bioengineered Blood Vessel Transplant.

The Duke team is not the first-ever to perform the operation as clinical trials for bioengineered veins began in Poland in December. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently agreed to allow a phase 1 trial involving 20 kidney dialysis patients in the United States. The concept of bioengineering veins came alive in 2011 when an East Carolina University team announced they successfully grew a bioengineered blood vessel.

The refined technique uses donated human tissue to seed the blood vessel matrix. The resulting vein is washed with a special solution to rinse out any cells that might trigger an immune response. “At the end of the process, we have a non-living, immunologically silent graft that can be stored on the shelf and used in patients whenever they need it,” Niklason said. “Unlike other synthetic replacements made of Teflon or Dacron, which tend to be stiff, our blood vessels mechanically match the arteries and veins they are being sewn to. We think this is an advantage.”

Bio-patch Measures Heart, Muscle, and Brain’s Electric Signals Engineers at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden developed a multi-purpose electronic device that can monitor a variety of electrophysiologic parameters simply by placing it on the relevant parts of the body. The Bio-patch, as it is called, can record ECG data when placed on the chest, while doing the same with EMG if stuck on skin over a muscle, and even EEG if it finds itself on a scalp. Moreover, the device has a thermometer built in for continuous body temperature monitoring. The Bio-patch has been made small enough to be stuck on the body with comfort for hours at a time. This was possible in part thanks to an internal battery that’s about as thick as a sheet of paper and the fact that all the electronics were mounted on a flexible foil that improves comfort when the device is worn on the body. Original article from medgadget, click through for it!

Bio-patch Measures Heart, Muscle, and Brain’s Electric Signals

Engineers at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden developed a multi-purpose electronic device that can monitor a variety of electrophysiologic parameters simply by placing it on the relevant parts of the body. The Bio-patch, as it is called, can record ECG data when placed on the chest, while doing the same with EMG if stuck on skin over a muscle, and even EEG if it finds itself on a scalp. Moreover, the device has a thermometer built in for continuous body temperature monitoring.

The Bio-patch has been made small enough to be stuck on the body with comfort for hours at a time. This was possible in part thanks to an internal battery that’s about as thick as a sheet of paper and the fact that all the electronics were mounted on a flexible foil that improves comfort when the device is worn on the body.

Original article from medgadget, click through for it!

Nano Needles In a world where everything is getting smaller and smaller, it was only a matter of time, where our medication would be nano-sized.  Researchers at Norwegian University of Science and Technology have been developing a bed of nano needles that can be used to inject chemicals directly into cells. The compounds to be tested are applied to the tips of the needles and cells are positioned on top. The technique still has a way to go since some of the cells are happy to be impaled and readily absorb the drugs being tested, while others tend to grow around the needles. This technology can have amazing uses for very specific targeted disease treatments, and cancer therapies. I can’t wait for future studies being released!

Nano Needles

In a world where everything is getting smaller and smaller, it was only a matter of time, where our medication would be nano-sized. 

Researchers at Norwegian University of Science and Technology have been developing a bed of nano needles that can be used to inject chemicals directly into cells. The compounds to be tested are applied to the tips of the needles and cells are positioned on top. The technique still has a way to go since some of the cells are happy to be impaled and readily absorb the drugs being tested, while others tend to grow around the needles.

This technology can have amazing uses for very specific targeted disease treatments, and cancer therapies. I can’t wait for future studies being released!

Turner Syndrome A 66-year-old apparently male patient made a stunning discovery when he sought treatment for swelling in his abdomen. The swelling was a cyst on his ovary and he was in fact a woman. The condition was caused by a very rare combination of two genetic disorders. One, Turner syndrome, causes women to lack some female features, including the ability to get pregnant. Sufferers usually look like women, but in this case the patient also had congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH), which boosted the male hormones and made the patient look like a man. The case was reported by doctors from Kwong Wah Hospital and Queen Elizabeth Hospital, who treated the patient. It was published in the Hong Kong Medical Journal yesterday. The 66-year-old Vietnam-born Chinese man is an orphan. He has a beard, small penis and no testes. Just 1.37 metres tall, he has decided to continue perceiving himself as a male and may receive male hormone treatment, the report said. A very strange case; something that we wouldn’t see too often today. 

Turner Syndrome

A 66-year-old apparently male patient made a stunning discovery when he sought treatment for swelling in his abdomen. The swelling was a cyst on his ovary and he was in fact a woman.

The condition was caused by a very rare combination of two genetic disorders. One, Turner syndrome, causes women to lack some female features, including the ability to get pregnant.

Sufferers usually look like women, but in this case the patient also had congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH), which boosted the male hormones and made the patient look like a man.

The case was reported by doctors from Kwong Wah Hospital and Queen Elizabeth Hospital, who treated the patient. It was published in the Hong Kong Medical Journal yesterday.

The 66-year-old Vietnam-born Chinese man is an orphan. He has a beard, small penis and no testes. Just 1.37 metres tall, he has decided to continue perceiving himself as a male and may receive male hormone treatment, the report said.

A very strange case; something that we wouldn’t see too often today. 

UCSD: Shape-Shifting Nanoparticles Lodge Themselves Inside Tumors to Deliver Targeted Therapy Something I am personally very interested in is the delivery system of medicine. The main things we think of are IV or pills, but beyond that there are so many unique methods being researched everyday. Here is one that shows our technology at its finest. Most nanoparticle delivery systems in development that target tumors rely on using antibodies to bind specific receptors on cancer cells. This allows the therapeutic particles to both get to the tumor site and to stick to it.A new technique in development at University of California, San Diego instead uses novel materials that change shape in response to the presence of enzymes commonly found in some cancers.  Check more out here

UCSD: Shape-Shifting Nanoparticles Lodge Themselves Inside Tumors to Deliver Targeted Therapy

Something I am personally very interested in is the delivery system of medicine. The main things we think of are IV or pills, but beyond that there are so many unique methods being researched everyday.

Here is one that shows our technology at its finest. Most nanoparticle delivery systems in development that target tumors rely on using antibodies to bind specific receptors on cancer cells. This allows the therapeutic particles to both get to the tumor site and to stick to it.

A new technique in development at University of California, San Diego instead uses novel materials that change shape in response to the presence of enzymes commonly found in some cancers. 

Check more out here

Books Books Books.This summer I am going to have a lot of time to read… I was hoping to get some opinions from you guys!My favorite types of books/authors.. Medical:Oliver SacksAtul GawandeSherwin Nuland These authors have kept me busy with something to read for literally years, I have also read various other books similar to it, do you have any other favorites?Non-Medical:Fitzgerald Fitzgerald Fitzgerald, I love fitzgerald. 

Books Books Books.

This summer I am going to have a lot of time to read… I was hoping to get some opinions from you guys!

My favorite types of books/authors..

Medical:
Oliver Sacks
Atul Gawande
Sherwin Nuland

These authors have kept me busy with something to read for literally years, I have also read various other books similar to it, do you have any other favorites?

Non-Medical:
Fitzgerald Fitzgerald Fitzgerald, I love fitzgerald. 

Medical School.

So June is approaching rapidly, which means another cycle of medical school applications will be opening. 

It makes me so nervous and excited to be thinking about applying. I can’t wait to make the next jump in my life, but am scared that I might not have the opportunity. 

The uncertainty in my life drives me crazy. I know where I want to be, the directions I want to take and the things I want to achieve. But, my path there, is still being formed and I will have to adjust as I go along. I was fortunate enough to have the opportunities I’ve had so far to be here, and I can’t wait to see what’s ahead for me.