Oh, to be alive in the ’70s. Apparently this video is from 1971 by Robert Alan Weiss for the Department of Chemistry of Stanford University, and shows some totally free loving hippies acting out protein synthesis as interpretive dance. I personally like the synth organ / bongo drums theme of mRNA binding to the 30s subunit about about 4:36 into the video. Hilarious.
Investigating a bit further into the Stewart Medical School craziness, there’s a Youtube account for someone claiming to be a med student there, and the videos the person favorited are craaaaazy lectures by this naturopath. (Medblogging gold, GOLD I say!) Like, seriously, seriously crazy, and you feel bad and worry for the students in the audience, ’cause there’s no way anyone could answer the questions in lecture, ’cause they make no sense:
“Tongues shaped like a hammer are the tongues of nymphomaniacs, as well as kidney problems.”
“If you get a patient who gets the flu, and a week later gets the flu again, what do you do? You have them throw away their toothbrush.” Also, if you have a high change in your morning cortisol levels, it’s “some kind of parasitic infection, some type of growth, some type of infection in the intestines.” A student asks him to explain these changes, and he says, “Oh, 15 years of gastroenterologists running correlations.”
A woman’s testosterone level is high because she is scared:
Okay so my idea for a daily randomness of linkage didn’t really pan out. But some random health care and non-health care goodies:
Mythbusting Canadian Health Care, Parts One and Two. Brings up a number of good points I hadn’t considered before–doctors that spend less time with billing and financial headaches have more time to read and keep up with their specialty.
My Favorite Liar: Blogger recounts a trick an Econ professor would use to keep his students’ attention during lecture. Brilliant. One of my best lecturers I’ve ever had was Dr. Gil Chu, who taught our Molecular Bio course. His trick was incredibly effective: 10 questions had to be asked during class before we were allowed to leave, and he kept a tally on the board. It fostered a classroom where the assumption was that the material was hard, that we were moving fast, and that he probably wouldn’t explain everything perfectly the first time. And because students felt comfortable asking questions–you were contributing to the class being able to leave on time–people also asked things they were curious about. We were thinking!
Why Meth Is A Horrible, Horrible Drug. (Probably not safe for work.) A terribly sad video of a young woman, turned psychotic by the drug, from the A&E show “Intervention.” If you ever hear of a person running naked through the streets… they’re probably on meth.
As I am counting down the days until I can get Step 2 over with (T-minus 10!), I’m going insane memorizing diseases I will never see in my lifetime. I need some laughs. So I’m asking everyone to please post their favorite medical joke. (And plus, it’d be a great chance to see people’s faces and comedic timing.) Oh, fine, if you’re anonymous, I guess you just can post the text, but come on, video is sooo 2008. (If you use YouTube, tag your video as “medicaljoke” so they’ll be easier to find.)
Either comment or email me the Youtube link or your blog posting, and I’ll start a running list here on this blog post. And if you don’t have a blog, just leave a comment! Please! I’m begging you! Help a guy escape from the hells of Boards reviewing. I’ll start:
If you ever had any interest in knowing what Violet the Vulva looked like from my standardized patient encounter last month, look no further. Tyra Banks and guest doctor provide said puppet, and an educational lesson to boot!
Totally, totally off-topic, but I am harnessing the amazing, gigantic audience of Over My Med Body (audience: 2, hi mom and dad!) to support my cousin, who made this video for Chipotle with seven classmates at KU. View it early, view it often–apparently if they win, they get some money, which college students can always use. Good luck, Patrick!
Hats off to the Nrityanjali Academy who created this video to educate Indians about safer sex, birth control, and preventing the spread of HIV and AIDS in both men and women. (via Best Week Ever)
Margaret Cho has this great bit about her experience with hematuria, and finally it is somewhat relevant enough to post! (I have no idea who she saw that employs a “vagina washer,” but maybe that’s how it works in the private OB-Gyn world. Who knows.)
A bunch of people beat me to it–a ton of knot tying workshops exist on YouTube if you need a refresher on the one-handed, two-handed, or instrument ties. (Clinical students, depending on your attending and rotation, they may not want you to do one-handed ties at first, wanting you to master the instrument and two-handed ties when you start out!)
I’ve heard arguments about creationism and intelligent design before, but the Creationists really shouldn’t have this guy arguing for them (unless he’s secretly trying to take down Creationism from within–if so, nice work!). Laughable video:
Flu vaccine maker Novartis has just launched a YouTube contest to make a video about flu prevention. While flu really only kills the young, the old, and the immunocompromised, it sure creates a lot of morbidity. (Unfortunately, most people think influenza is just a really bad cold. No no, it is much, much worse.)
Eco-friendly medicine is finding its way into selected practice: maggots can clean out an infected wound (after all, they’re competing with bacteria for food):
and leeches help optimize blood flow for amputations via their blood-thinning saliva:
Supposedly animated by the South Park guys (but not crude or rude or offensive): “LIfe–it was a musical thing, and you were supposed to sing or dance while the the music was being played.” Good to remember this, especially as you’re deep in medical school, residency, fellowship… Great, short video.
Grahamazon Theatre Presents! (Don’t worry, I’m equally offensive to all specialties.) If you’re viewing this through a feed reader or email, you’ll need to visit the site to see.
(I’ve opened up comments due to several requests.)
This is a medical weblog--a collection of thoughts about medicine, medical training, and health policy--written by a fifth-year medical student.
I recently stopped blogging, as I graduated from medical school and I'm now a physician in my residency training in New York City. But feel free to read and enjoy!
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