Mnemonics

During the course of Anatomy classes a student has to come to terms with the fact that their quantitative abilities and analytical skills are of little use.  Much of Anatomy is brute force memorization, a simple storage of hundreds of proper names to be held just long enough to be regurgitated on a lecture and lab exam.

One of the most helpful things for me during Anatomy last year was the use of mneomic devices. I recall during a lab exam having over 50 parts of the human nervous system laying on lab tables across a room. The device that helped me ace the portion where I had to identify whether a nerve was sensory,motor, or both (seen in the photo above) was:

Cranial nerves: sensory, motor or both “Some Say Money Matters But My Brother Says Big Brains Matter More”:
· From I to XII:
Sensory
Sensory
Motor
Motor
Both
Motor
Both
Sensory
Both
Both
Motor
Motor
· Alternatives for “Brains”: Boobs, Buns, Bras.

The one I used for aiding me in the naming of these portions of the brain was:

For names in order: Oh Once One Takes The Anatomy Final Very Good
Vacations Are Heavenly

Each word’s first letter being a hint to the actual name,

I. Olfactory Nerve (smell sensations)
II. Optic Nerve (visual information)
III. Oculomotor Nerve (motor commands to eye muscles)
IV. Trochelar Nerve (motor commands to eye muscles)
V. Trigeminal Nerve (facial sensations & motor commands to chewing muscles)
VI. Abducens Nerve (motor commands to eye muscles)
VII. Facial Nerve (taste sensations & motor commands to muscles of facial expression)
VIII. Vestibulocochlear Nerve (hearing & equilibrium sensations)
IX. Glossopharyngeal Nerve (taste sensations & motor commands to swallowing
muscles)
X. Vagus Nerve (visceral sensations & motor commands to viscera)
XI. Accessory Nerve (motor commands to head moving muscles)
XII. Hypoglossal Nerve (tongue movements)

Today is the first day of school. I’ll be taking an intro to chem class this semester at a local community college, I am concerned about taking a class on the semester system since it would overlap with my Spring quarter at UCSD come March. The positive side is that this is an intro to chem class and not Chem I, which would make it less distracting from my upper division work at UCSD. It has been over 6 years since I’ve taken chemistry and I fell just 8% short of passing the districts petition test which would have allowed me to go directly to Chem I. It is a bit depressing to be spending time in an intro class when I have so much course work to complete, I hope the 16 weeks I’ll spend in class & lab will pay off come Chem I.

I feel fortunate to be a student in such an economy. I have been an equities and derivatives trader for over 5 years and was very fortunate to have worked with some very talented quantitative traders  during the long bull market and subsequent correction. I subscribe to various regression theories and the following image is what I consider to be an accurate analysis of market prospects. (click for larger image)

Room to fall

I better stop before I turn this into a finance blog

I have one last tidbit to share however: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2187rank.html

The US is now at the bottom of the world wide list of account balances.

My next post will continue on the metric system, but for now let me share what I consider the best health and nutrition blog on the net:

Here is an interesting post on Almonds vs Peanuts

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/index.php?s=peanuts”

another reason to steer clear of peanuts, something we’ve touched on briefly in the past but never expounded upon. Peanuts, along with a couple other crops we tend to avoid, like corn and cereals, are especially susceptible to a mold that produces a mycotoxin called aflatoxin.

I don’t remember how I came across this site, but it definitely is interesting. I hope the CDC has a much more elaborate method of keeping track of global disease. I’m curious to know if a shared multinational network exists.

“HealthMap brings together disparate data sources to achieve a unified and comprehensive view of the current global state of infectious diseases and their effect on human and animal health”

http://www.healthmap.org/en

*Update
This might be the system I was inquiring about: http://www.isid.org/

Is this easy? Or LOGICAL?

A foot 12 inches? A yard 3 feet? The imperial measurement system is absurd and the propagation of it in K-12 education is even more ridiculous. The Metric System is the most commonly used measurement system in the world and in the scientific community. The metric system uses the units in the following chart for measurement.

Unit	What it Measures
Meters	Distance
Liters	Volume
Grams	Mass
Second	Time
Kelvin	Temperature

Part I of a simple review…

Today we do temperature.

Celcius is also often used because of its easy conversion to and from Kelvin. Kelvin is the unit that is used in most calculations in Chemistry.Fahrenheit is unfortunately the most used scale in the U.S.

Fahrenheit, Celcius, and Kelvin

• If you subtract 32 from the Fahrenheit temperature and multiply by 5/9 (or divide by 1.8 ) then it will convert to Celcius temperature.
• If you multiply the Celcius temperature by 9/5 (or 1.8 ) then add 32 it will give you the Fahrenheit temperature.
• Adding 273 to Celcius will give Kelvin, and subtracting 273 from Kelvin you will get Celcius.

I’m excited to be attending tonight’s new member orientation for UCSD’s PASS http://ucsdpass.org/. I plan to volunteer at the club table tomorrow after attending tonight’s orientation. I’m trying to join all the relevant associations on campus to gain experience and learn about internship and volunteer opportunities.

“The Pre-Medical Association of Students for Service (PASS) is a student organization dedicated to serving the local community, and providing our members with useful information regarding medicine and health related professions and preparation. Each year PASS members participate in over 75 service projects and complete over 3000 hours of community service. Located in beautiful San Diego, California, PASS is open to all University of California at San Diego (UCSD) undergraduate students.”

This truly inspiring!
He jumped the fence from Mexico to work as a farmhand and ended up a leading brain surgeon.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/0303/03.html

The Johns Hopkins brain surgeon and cancer researcher talks about what inspires him, how he prepares for an operation, and more. Hear the audio highlights or read the full interview.

Be sure to check out the temporary reader survey on the right side of the page.

Do Pre-Meds Really Need That Year of Organic Chemistry?

A great article from the Wall Street Journal:

The Organic Chemistry Backlash Grows

I thought this was funny, someone posted this in the comment section in response to the supposed attempt to cultivate interest in research in the students:

modern pharmaceuticals/bioengineered drugs coming down the pipeline are understood only by a highly specialized…wait for it…ORGANIC CHEMSISTS who have graduate degrees in organic chemistry

Macular Degneration

If you were to gradually lose peripheral vision, you may may not notice for quite some time. Loss of central vision, however, will be quickly noticed. Loss of central vision is a result of damage to the macula. The progressive destruction of the macula is a disease known as macular degeneration and leads to the creation of a macular hole.

Malattia leventinese: An hereditary form of macular degeneration that results in progressive and irreversible visual loss. This disease is characterized by the appearance in early adulthood of small round white spots (drusen), particularly in the macula of the retina, which progress to form a honeycomb pattern.

For you bioscientist:

Malattia leventinese is inherited in an autosomal dominant manner. The disease is due to a single mutation (Arg345Trp) in FBLN_3, the gene encoding the protein fibulin 3. (This gene is also called EFEMP1.)

gas laws

Before my non pre-med readers tune out from boredom, fellow triathletes please consider how this might be relevant to you.

You might initially inflate your tires to 120psi on a cool 65 degree morning. After arriving at the transition area the temperature is now 80 degrees, which is a 15 degree change from before, thus your pressure has risen to approximately 123psi. After all the time elapsed during your swim, the temperature has increased to 90 degrees, this does not include whether or not your tires have been sitting in the sun during the duration of your swim. This sunlight exposure would further raise the temperature to 110 degrees and your tire pressure would now be at 130psi. At this point the tire that started at 120psi could have exploded, if not then road friction/debris, pavement temperature, and braking could lead to a potentially dangerous blow out.

460 is part of the formula for finding absolute temperature, the rest of the values are inputted into a formula described further below.

(T1) Initial Temp = 65 degrees + 460 = 525 (absolute temperature 1)

(T2) Final Temp  = 110 degrees + 460 = 570 (absolute temperature 2)

(P2) Final Pressure is found by solving for P2 in the following: 120/525 = P2/570 (0.228571429 = 0.228571429 * 570 = 130.3psi).

As you know from my About page: 1 year  of general physics and lab (1 or 2 sequence) is required for pre-med. It will be helpful to review some basic concepts below before proceeding to the gas laws.

Pressure is force over area
The unit of force is a newton or N
The unit of area (in the metric system) is meters squared or m^2

N / m^2 = 1 pa (one pascal)

Boyle’s Law:
If pressure increases +, volume decreases – or vice versa (at constant temperature)
P = 1/v x  C
(C= constant, constant meaning anything that doesn’t change, we assume temperature and the number of molecules stay the same in basic applications)

Avagadro’s Law:
If the number of molecules increases, pressure increases or volume increase (depending on constants)

P = n x C or     V = n x C

Gay-Lussac’s law:
If temperature increases, pressure increases
P = T x C

(if volume and the number of molecules is held constant)

Using Guy-Lussac’s Law in relation to the bicycle example (Remember absolute temperature and pressure)

P1   /  T1     =    P2   /  T2

Charles’ Law:
If temperature increases, volume increases.

V = T x C

Check out this great physics gas laws primer: