The Curious Minds

19/07/2020

Q. An 83-year-old woman presented to the gastroenterology clinic with dysphagia and regurgitation that occurred with every meal associated with postprandial chest pain. For several years she had difficulty swallowing both solids and liquids. Barium esophagogram is shown. What is the diagnosis?

1. Scleroderma
2. Esophageal stricture
3. Esophageal web
4. Esophageal carcinoma
5. Achalasia

NEJM

12/06/2020

One of the lungs removed from the patient of COVID19. The surgeon said the damage was among the worst he’d seen.

Covid-19 Patient Gets Double Lung Transplant, Offering Hope for Others
The operation is believed to be the first of its kind in the U.S. The patient, a woman in her 20s, had been healthy, but the coronavirus devastated her lungs.

In picture: One of the lungs removed from the patient. The surgeon said the damage was among the worst he’d seen.

10/05/2020

Very Interesting Case Report From The Lancet
COVID 19 in a 26 weeks preterm neonate.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) emerged in December, 2019, in Wuhan, China, and has spread all over the world. This virus is responsible for a range of clinical manifestations in adults and children, ranging from mild respiratory symptoms to severe acute respiratory dist...

20/09/2019

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMicm1811998

Images in Clinical Medicine from The New England Journal of Medicine — Question-Mark Appearance of the Colon

29/07/2019

They are our apex predator, the deadliest hunters of human beings on the planet.

19/05/2019

As doctors got more fatigued, they defaulted to the easy thing: just writing an antibiotic prescription rather than taking the time to explain to patients why it is not necessary.

Everyone suffers decision fatigue, even physicians.

12/11/2017

The Man behind Fr

15/10/2017

"Immortality"

Telomeric shortening is like a molecular clock and, when its time is up, the lineage
will die out.
Cancer cells can use the enzyme telomerase to rebuild the telomere at each cell division, so there is no telomeric shortening and the lineage will never die out. The cancer cell has achieved immortality..

17/09/2017

Are you better at memorizing facts or at assembling a piece of equipment using a diagram? These two tasks illustrate two different types of intelligence proposed by Raymond Cattell known as 'fluid intelligence' and 'crystallized intelligence.'

Fluid vs. Crystallized
All the way back in 1963, a psychologist named Raymond Cattell noticed that there are two distinct forms of intelligence that he wanted to identify and study. The first type is what he called fluid intelligence.

Fluid intelligence is defined as the ability to solve new problems, use logic in new situations, and identify patterns.

Using a complicated subway system in a new city is a good example of how you might need to use fluid intelligence. The first time you use the subway, you have to figure out the names of the stops you need, which train will take you there, if you need to transfer in the middle, and so on. This type of intelligence is sort of like 'street smarts,' where you need to figure things out that moment and adapt to your situation.

One way you can think of fluid intelligence is that you'll use it slightly differently each time you're in a new situation, so it's flexible and adaptive - like water in its fluid form.

In contrast, Cattell also named a second, different type of intelligence that he called crystallized intelligence.

Crystallized intelligence is defined as the ability to use learned knowledge and experience. When you're taking a class at school, you use crystallized intelligence all the time. When you're learning a new language, you memorize the new vocabulary words and increase your vocabulary over time. You also learn the theory behind solving algebraic equations, or how to do long division, or the general rules of grammar when using a sentence.

Crystallized intelligence is like water as it turns into ice, or a solid form. Over time it gets more and more stable, like a crystal.

When you're learning a new task you'll usually need to start with fluid intelligence, but once that task is learned, you can probably rely on your crystallized intelligence. For example, if you grew up learning English as your first language, you might have trouble learning a language with different grammatical patterns or concepts, like nouns in Spanish being 'masculine' or 'feminine.' Making this adaptation will require your brain to be a little flexible as you think about the new ideas.

13/05/2017

"Dominique Jean Larry" Great French Surgeon in "Napoleon's Army" first used the term "Debridement"
Debridement /dᵻˈbriːdmənt/ is the medical removal of dead, damaged, or infected tissue to improve the healing potential of the remaining healthy tissue

30/11/2016

November 30, 2016
Jagadish Chandra Bose’s 158th Birthday

Sir Jagdish Chandra Bose was a master of scientific achievement with numerous accomplishments in various fields. Born in Bangladesh in 1858, Bose was to become known not only for his work in biophysics, but also his innovation in the world of radio and microwave sciences, ultimately inventing an early version of wireless telecommunication. As a testament to his numerous contributions to the field, a moon crater was named in his honor.

Sir Jagdish Chandra Bose was a master of scientific achievement with numerous accomplishments in various fields. Born in Bangladesh in 1858, Bose was to become known not only for his work in biophysics, but also his innovation in the world of radio and microwave sciences, ultimately inventing an ear...

26/03/2016

This innovative solution to plastic pollution will reduce the amount of waste piling up in landfills and swirling around in the oceans. To say that plastic is a burden to the environment is an understatement. Every year, enough plastic is thrown “away” to circle the globe four times; however, the ma…